We interrupt our regular programming...

to say THANK YOU to all those firefighters, on the ground and in the air, who have been busting their butts to save ours!!!!!!!!!!!!  San Diego has, once again, been plagued by bad "wildfires" (wild or arsonist, jury's still out...) these past few days.  The weather's been horrible - near, at, or over 100 degrees, single-digit humidity, and the worst - those Santa Ana winds.  Happily, it looks like things are winding down now.  The winds are almost non-existent (still hot and dry though).  And while many had scares and had to evacuate (including my mom and several friends) and some poor folks lost their homes and one apparently their life, the damages could have been so much worse.

Living in our RV still, we are just one mile away from the R. airport and the local Cal Fire air attack base.  We have been watching and listening to (I love the sound of those big ol' engines!  Nothing piddly there - they sound serious, and certainly they and their pilots mean business!!) these guys coming and going all day.  It's a reassuring thing.  The aerial firefighting is probably our best weapon against these fires, and when they're hitting it hard and heavy - and esp. early-on - you feel you're in good hands.  We've had teams from everywhere, including the military, join ranks for this one.  Our drought and Santa Anas are tough to do battle with, and we often have big losses, but we also have some very talented and dedicated fighters, who do amazing work in some of the worst conditions.

 Surprisingly, almost all the fires have been to the west of us.  This is fairly unusual.  I know all of Ramona must have been bracing for their turn, for that time when they looked to the east and saw smoke headed their way, for the news that they had better evacuate - but it never came!  And because those Santa Ana winds (out of the east) were so unwavering in their direction, we didn't even catch any drifting smoke until yesterday, when things began to shift, the on-shore breezes starting to win out again.  So I have no nasty smoky photos to share (yay!) - only reverent and grateful aircraft shots...

OK, so I played around with some of them too...

I don't know any of these folks, but I loved having them fly right over us!  They and their flying machines feel like friends!  And definitely the kind of friends you want to have around!!