I must say that yesterday was a day with a lot of twists and turns. We are getting more adaptable all the time. And they say old people are set in their ways.

Yesterday started at 0100 hours (one in the morning) sitting in our bathroom watching this to our east.

It was unclear which way it was going, OR if it was flames or we were seeing of just the reflection of flames on the clouds? This would be 1/2 KM-1 KM from us. The wind was strong and seemed to be blowing towards us. I was afraid to go to sleep. Started putting things closer to the front door.

Although the wind was blowing towards us, the fire seemed to be moving to the left (north)

Gradually this all went to the left, and was no longer bright. So we went to sleep. I was thinking that this was GOOD for us, but likely NOT good for someone else. Sure enough the following pictures were posted the next day… the people east and north of us in Sorrento were seeing something totally different from we were seeing.

AND in Sorrento there had been sirens going all night. It was like about the same time we went to sleep, everyone else WOKE UP. There is a chicken farm over there and all the fire departments in the area were over there working on those structures and apparently ultimately saved them all. The animals had been moved. We had not heard any sirens.

It started to rain somewhat heavily in the AM, and with the wind, the smoke all cleared and finally we could see the mountain behind us, after being shrouded in smoke ever since we got back there. With the cooler, moister air, we decided to hike up to Mount Baldie to have a look around. We have a trail through our properties that leads up to Baldie, separate from the formal trail. We ran into these guys, our neighbours, on ATVs, with shovels and chainsaws.

So we joined up with them, very interesting seeing inside where the fire has been. They were clearing a lot of the fallen trees, many that have been there for years. It is not a maintained trail. They were clearing it so that they would have access up to Baldie area AND the area over their homes to be able to see what is going on. The 5 homes that sit below us are essentially backed into the forest, so it must be hard to tell where there is fire from down there. We saw lots of totally green areas, and then areas like this, smouldering along. Some of the areas of fire were amenable to just stomping them out, or covering with dirt.

(I should point out here that this area is the area that was burned a week and a half ago, NOT the area of the fire pictures I showed at the beginning of this blog.) )Mount Baldie is west of us and a wee bit south) People in our area have been going up into the woods and dealing with the small hot spots ever since the big fire went through.

THIS sort of stuff looks more concerning, and the crew we were following did not have equipment to put this sort of thing out.

Ken and I decided that with this fire, the wind, and we could hear the helicopters over head … we decided to head back to our house. I DID have bread rising on counter. 😊. On our way back down the hill we got the call that we were being ordered to evacuate again.

So we went home, I baked my bread, we did a load of laundry, and dried it on the line. We figure that we will not be home for awhile, because we are leaving on Monday on a trip to England. So we took longer to pack this time because we needed to make sure that things were OK with the house etc. Just when we were ready to leave, Search and Rescue came up to record that we were leaving and how many of us lived in the house etc. (and animals)

AND more plumes coming up again…. You can really see how fires go on for months and never really go out until it gets cold and rains…. a lot.

Thanks for all of your wishes, Ken and I and Tucker are doing well. This is nothing more than a frustration, we have been through MUCH bigger challenges in our lives that this one

Much love, Janet, Ken and Tucker