Fire Season

image from Nasa.gov

A video that shows what the fire is like in Granada Hills

It happens every year, the winds kick up, a spark ignites it and we have a fire storm in the hills. I have lived in Southern California all my life and I am used to the fire season-the smoke the evacuations. In California we are used to these events like people in other parts of the country are used to hurricanes or blizzards. I am home from work today, school is closed due to the fires. Yesterday, we could see the fire from the school back parking lot. It was burning up what I think is mission peak (though I don't know my Granada Hills peaks all that well). The smoke was really bad, they gave the teachers masks and we had the rainy day evacuation car line. My church Shepherd of the Hills is an official evacuation site. It was fun to see my church and people I recognized on the news, though I would prefer it to be in less tragic circumstances.

A few minutes ago I received a call notifying me that school will also be closed tomorrow. I am sure the kids are happy, it is the west coasts version of the "snow day". Our school does have many families affected by the fire. A couple of our friends live very close to the fires. I called a couple of them to see how they are doing. Yesterday, Chris and Amanda's roof was visible from the news helicopter and broadcast on channel 2.

So what did I do with my "fire day?" I was productive, I wrote my Unit 5, reflective essay two paper which is due this Sunday. It is great to have that done as we are going to Disneyland all day Sunday with my cousin Jenn, her husband and their baby Caiden. I can't wait! I love Jenn and JK and I have never been to Disneyland together.

Today, I also wrote about 80% of my final paper due on the 25th of this month. It feels great to get a jump start on that! Since I am off tomorrow, I will probably finish that up, do my discussion questions go to Trader Joe's. I am so boring, but I want to get ahead of the work so I can enjoy my weekends. Fellow teacher Pam called me today and invited me to the mall, but studios girl that I am I told her I had to write my paper. Four months. In four months I get my life back.
This months class has been one of the easiest I've taken. I have two more. I hope November is a good class, but not overwhelming.

Tomorrow, in celebration of her birthday I am taking Pam and myself to get Chinese foot massages. I made the appointment for after school, but now that we are not working I will probably call and try to make the appointment earlier. Should be fun - who wouldn't like Chinese foot massages? I will post all about it tomorrow.

OH! OH! I can't believe I didn't mention this first: I PASSED. That is right! I passed section one of the science CSET. I recieved an email informing me that I passed about an hour ago. I am so happy that I won't have to take that again. I still have section 2 and 3 to knock out, but it is just a relief that I have completed section 1. Section two is microbiology, ecology, evolution. Section three is in depth life science. I better start studying. : )