Fire update

Me, working outside & trying to protect myself against smoke inhalation.

When huge swaths of Santa Rosa's residential neighborhoods burned up in the fires, I thought about Charles Schulz, longtime resident of the city. I actually thought about the ice rink in Santa Rosa Schulz once owned bearing Snoopy's name. Will it survive unharmed?

What I didn't stop to think about was Schulz's family home where his widow recently had to escape from before it became engulfed in flames.

Snoopy's Ice Home

From what I understand, most of Schultz's treasured memoribilia & original artwork are housed in the Charles Schultz Museum in a part of town that escaped harm's way. However, what a terrible shame that she, along with thousands of other residents, have been displaced. 

Given the capriciousness of the wind and the extremely dry weather conditions in No. California, fire containment is still a long way off. Since Sunday, the fires have claimed more than 31 lives, destroyed more than 3500 structures and ravaged over 190,000 acres of land. Hundreds of folks' whereabouts are still unaccounted for. 

My aunt, living in the town of Sonoma, evacuated from her home two days ago. A friend's boyfriend, deployed by an organization called Cal Fire, has been fire fighting up north since Monday. He checks in with her by phone daily, but I can tell she's on edge. They've a baby on the way & she wants him home in one piece. 

The smoke continues to filter down south. The haze and smell of smoke are constant. -a very sad reminder of what's happening not very far away.