Category Archives: News

The Birds! The Birds!

Even though our 6:00 AM beach walk was socked in with a marine layer we were very happy because this change in our weather is helping out the fire fighters who are battling the Jesusita Fire in Santa Barbara. The fire was 30% contained the last we heard and 38,000 people have been evacuated so far. Our nephews college, Westmont, has been evacuated for the second time this school year. There is some optimism today that things are getting better. They estimate containment on May 13th. Our nephew won’t be able to move his personal belongings out of his college dorm room until the evacuation orders are lifted. The last day of school was Friday.

Our walk today was all about the birds!

Can you see all the holes in the sand that these little birds have made looking for breakfast?

It is so much fun to see these birds move up and down the sand as a group.

I was practicing catching birds in flight today.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. For all the mothers out there, a very Happy Mother’s Day to you with all God’s blessings!

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

She’s Stepped Away From the Computer…

 

Today my daughter Katie arrives for a visit from Seattle. She will be here until next Tuesday. The main event she is coming for is the wedding of one of her Wheaton College friends here in Southern California. After I pick her up from the airport today we head to a family gathering in Whittier. We will be having many adventures while she’s here so if I’m AWOL from Bloggy world you will know why.

Blessings and see you sooner or later! :0)

Out of the Pan Into the Fire…Sylmar Firestorms

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR PINK SATURDAY!

Sheesh! I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings but Southern California is experiencing yet another State of Emergency with a fire in Sylmar. This photo is not from the Sylmar fire but just a visual to give you an idea of the type of area they are dealing with today. Right now every freeway in the North San Fernando Area is shut down so the fire department can have easy access to the fires. The fire jumped the I-5 fwy and the 210 freeway.  So Interstate 5, 405, Highway 14, the 210 fwy, are all shut down in the North San Fernando Valley. The 118 fwy in the San Fernando area is shut down, too. The only north/south freeway that is open right now is the 101 fwy. The 101 fwy runs along the coast and then heads southeast through the southern part of the San Fernando Valley, through Hollywood, into East L.A.

 

We were going to be driving south today to a birthday party in Whittier but we are now staying put even though the freeway closest to us is the 101, the open freeway. We figure everyone else who tries to go south or north today will try to get to our freeway and what a nightmare it might be trying to travel. We in the Southern California area are also being asked to really conserve electricity because two major electricity converters/transformers were damaged in this fire and they are concerned about electricity suppy. We are expecting the temperatures today, because of our Santana wind conditions, to be in the 90’s! We are hoping that the winds die down soon so firefighters can get a handle on this devastating fire. One whole mobile home park has been totally destroyed (600 mobile homes). We’re praying for the comfort of everyone who suffers loss and for the fire fighters to have extraordinary strength to keep fighting…

Yikes! Now there is a fire in Yorba Linda and people are evacuating to Esperanza High School. The School where my niece teaches…

Anaheim Hills is now sitting on pins and needles. My BIL and his wife live there. They have a reservoir behind their home and I just got off the phone with them listening to the helicopters overhead gathering whatever water they can from that very low reservoir. They are not in danger unless the fire jumps the 91 fwy. Boy oh boy, things are scary for a lot of people in Southern California right now…

Whoa! Now the evacuations in Brea are getting close to my parents. They haven’t been told to evacuate yet but the evacuation area is about 2 miles from their senior apartments. They are getting their documents together and leaving to go to my sisters house in Whittier.

Photos from my niece Annie driving home to Anaheim Hills and then a photo of the helicopters coming to the reservoir behind their home retrieving water…

 

The 91 fwy. at Imperial in Anaheim Hills/Yorba Linda

 

The reservoir behind their home in Anaheim Hills…

The Corona Fire which jumped to the Yorba Linda Fire and then jumped to the Anaheim Hills Fire and moved on to the Brea and Chino Hills Fire is now threatening parts of Diamond Bar. The 57 freeway remains closed. The Sylmar fire is looking good. The winds seem to be cooperating better today although there are still gusts.

As far as the Tea Fire goes here is an update from this morning.

By and large, last night was quiet and today, the fourth day of the Tea Fire, should see further recovery efforts by firefighters. So far, 1,940 acres have burned and 210 homes have been lost — 130 in the City of Santa Barbara and 80 in the County of Santa Barbara. Damage assessment is continuing.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and demanding a ransom for me to access them. I’m slowly cleaning up many of my posts where PB have added ugly black and grey boxes where my photos used to be. So frustrating!

Montecito Fire ~ Prayer Request!

Update: November 17th! Sounds like classes will resume at Westmont College Monday December 1st…

Update on Tea Fire as of 10:30 Nov. 16th!

By and large, last night was quiet and today, the fourth day of the Tea Fire, should see further recovery efforts by firefighters. So far, 1,940 acres have burned and 210 homes have been lost — 130 in the City of Santa Barbara and 80 in the County of Santa Barbara. Damage assessment is continuing

Looks like my nephew Caleb’s room was spared fire damage. Still need to assess the smoke damage.

Here’s a link to photos from Westmont from the fire. Just click here.

Update: Saturday 9/15 ~  I just received this email from my SIL whose 2 sons attend Westmont. They are preparing for taking in some of the students displaced because of the fires at Westmont. I’m sure there are more people who live in the Southern California area that will have extra students staying at their homes this weekend.

Hi,

Everyone is fine, or as fine as can be.  I’m expecting several carloads of kids to start arriving shortly.  Everyone has been moved off campus until next Wednesday as  they assess damages and decide where to move people around.  There have been broken gas lines etc. so there is no way to keep kids there and to feed them.  Caleb wanted to stay closer to campus yesterday in case he could get up to his dorm.  His section is one of the ones that burned, but he’s on the bottom floor and there is a chance some of his stuff survived.  We’ll see.  They hope to resume classes late next week, some of that will depend on facuilty…since so many lost homes.  The President is making an announcement Monday night…I guess then we will learn how long we will have houseguests for:)

We are praising God that no one was hurt.  With the speed it whipped through those neighborhoods it’s amazing everyone got to safety.  Caleb said they were expecting an earthquake drill that day so people didn’t automatically respond to the fire alarms.  He heard people calling that it was a fire, so he walked out of his room…saw the flames on the hill…went in his room to get his laptop…and by the time he got out there were already flames at the edge of campus.  He’s at the farthest end from the gym and said people were hurrying by then and when they got to the gym they already had embers landing on them and the trees around them.  Once everyone was accounted for they sealed up the gym and let the fire run through…they could watch it through the glass doors at the front of the gym.  After about 5 hours or so, the worst had passed and they let people out to get provisions from the DC of water and muffins etc.  By about 1:00 they started letting people with cars at the gym leave campus so Levi left with his girlfriend who had been there for a PE class, but Caleb opted to stay with his suitemates.  Yesterday they were figuring out who was from out of state and didn’t have anywhere to go and were dividing them up…

It was also College Preview Days, so there were extra high school students on campus…I’m sure that was pretty scary for them.  Luckily many of the homes that burned are second homes and people weren’t there.  There just aren’t very many roads out of the mountain so it’s hard to move quickly…that’s why Westmont built the firesafe gym, without a fair amount of lead time they would never have gotten all the cars off the mountain.  The worst losses were the faculty homes, some of them friends of ours.  So sad.  Several of the other buildings that burned were slated for demolition anyway, as the school is int he midst of a building program.  Caleb said most of the trees and gardens survived, and it didn’t look as bad as the news made it sound.  (Isn’t that always the way)

Thanks for all of your prayers.

Scroll down for updates…

Local

Breaking News Update -TEA FIRE

9:00 P.M. 300 + ACRES HAVE BURNED

MANDATORY EVACUATIONS:
Above Hwy 192 (East Valley Rd/Sycamore Cyn Rd.) between Cold Springs Rd and Hot Springs Rd.
Evacuation Center will be located at San Marcus High School
Tune to AM1680 and your local cable news for more information

WESTMONT COLLEGE
STUDENTS BEING EVACUATED INTO THE GYM THEY ARE SHELTERING IN PLACE.
THERE ARE REPORTS OF SPOT FIRES ON CAMPUS, STUDENTS ARE NOT THREATENED

I have 2 nephews that are students at Westmont College. They and all the students have been evacuated to the Gym which they say is fireproof. Please pray that all the students will be safe and that Westmont College is spared any further damage and that the resident halls do not burn. Please pray for all the residents of Montecito!!
Here’s an update from my SIL whose 2 sons are on campus.
Roy sent me an email…he’s on the board of directors so has been kept updated.  Evidently the gym was built as a ‘safe’ building evacuation area for this sort of thing because it is so hard to get that many people out of that area.

Here is what Roy said…

The latest I’ve heard is the following….

Students, staff and faculty who were on campus will evacuate “onsite” in the gym.  This is a safe building approved by experts and will not burn.

Noozhawk.com reports that two cars in the Page parking lot burned, and that trees by the baseball field are ablaze.  But the latest is that there is no structural damage to the campus.  Firefighters are on campus.

Keep praying!


Also you can watch live coverage at this website.http://cbs2.com/firewatch

WILD FIRE NEAR WESTMONT

At 9 p.m., an update was given to everyone sheltered in place in the gymnasium. There is no threat to the gym and air quality is improving there. Those sheltered in place seem to be doing well under the circumstances, and are now watching a movie. To our knowledge, no one has been injured on campus.

The fire has damaged several minor buildings.

Photos from Westmont College

If you have students at Westmont be encouraged that there are fire fighters on campus and that not only have they evacuated students to the gymnasium but local residents have been evacuated to the gymnasium because of it’s fire safety!!  They are in the safest building in Montecito right now…

update:

A residence hall and several classrooms were destroyed at Westmont College, a private Christian university, and about 800 students were evacuated to the school’s fireproof gymnasium, where they were out of harm’s way.

I will confirm with my brother and SIL but it sounds like Clark hall has fire damage. That is probably the residence hall being referred to above…

Late night update

November 14th, 2008

1:14am

Students who are on campus who wish to leave and have means to do so are allowed off-campus. Those leaving campus will not be allowed to return for at least 24 hours.

All faculty and staff who are currently off campus should not come to the campus unless specifically requested to do so by their supervisor.

There have been more than a dozen houses at Las Barrancas (faculty housing) destroyed in addition to the structures already mentioned.

Those wishing to extend temporary housing to those displaced by the fire should send their name, phone contact information, e-mail address, house address, and the number of individuals they can accommodate to: westmonthousinghelp@gmail.com.

WILD FIRE AT WESTMONT

November 13th, 2008

Update: 11:44 . A natural gas line has broken, forcing the fire department to shut off natural gas to the college. This has brought down our generators. We have between 1/2 hour and 4 hours of UPS left, so may not be able to post further updates through the web site.

Update: 11:36 p.m.
After consulting the Fire Department and the Red Cross, the decision has been made to continue sheltering in place at the gymnasium tonight.

The Red cross is brining 60 cots and 200 blankets to the gym.

Additional cots and blankets on campus are being brought to the gym.

There will be no classes on Friday.

….

previous messages…

Conditions on campus improved to the point where staff were able to get food from the Dining Commons and bring it to the gym, where the community is sheltered in place.

Conditions in the area may make it possible now to leave the campus for a Red Cross shelter, but that option is still being explored.
Firefighters are currently attempting to put out several fires at Clark Hall. Structures lost to or significantly damaged by fire include the Physics Building, the ‘old Math” building, Bauder Hall and the Quonset Huts.

Again, we are grateful that no one has been hurt on campus, and everyone is safely in the gymnasium and in good spirits.

Thank you for your prayers.
The emergency hotline number at 1-888-565-7911 has current information..

My nephew Caleb’s dorm sounds like it’s the dorm that has been damaged by the fire. From the photos we’ve seen looks like his room is a goner…

Here’s the latest update from the Westmont College Site:

8:00 a.m.
There are no active fires on campus, no injuries, and everyone is safe.7:21 a.m.
All students and employees are fine. We are assessing damage this morning. Updates will be posted shortly.

Wesmont has 326 students remaining in the Gym; those students with transportation have been released from campus because it is safe for them to travel on area roads.

Westmont has lost eight structures, four buildings in Clark halls (F,G,M,S), the physics building, the old math building and the two quonset huts. The later three structures were scheduled for demolition soon.

Fourteen faculty homes in Las Barrancas have burned; there is damage to trees, and wooded areas on campus, but much of the formal gardens remains intact.
Fires out. Assessing damage.

No fires remain active on or in the campus area.

Seattle Sounders FC ~ Yippee!

Over 14,500 fans registered their vote for the new
MLS in Seattle team name.  Thank you for your participation. The fans have spoken…

The name of Seattle’s new
 MLS franchise is:

Seattle
Sounders FC

We finally get a MLS team in Seattle. If I was still living there full-time I’d buy myself season tickets for sure. Did I ever tell y’all that I’m a huge soccer fan. In fact while I’m lounging about today with horrible muscle spasms in my lower back I’m watching the soccer channel to wile away the hours of pain, watching Aston Villa walk all over Bolton.

Goodbye Brita ~ Hello Reverse Osmosis

We are so excited around our little condo because we get to say goodbye to this

and say hello to this

Soon we’ll be getting the water we want to drink right from this faucet. On Saturday Dear installed this unit under our sink

 

Once the tank fills 3 times and we empty it three times we’re set to go with good drinking water. We will probably only have to change the filter once a year for the two of us here in the condo. If we used 10 gallons a day we’d have to replace the filter twice a year. It takes up a lot of room under the sink but it is well worth it. Our water here in Ventura county tastes bad and it is very hard. So tomorrow morning it’s water right out of my new tap for my pot of coffee!

Update: I had my first glass of water from this new reverse osmosis tap and I am so pleased. It is very good, indeed!!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage and they have blacked them all out. I’m slowly working at restoring my posts without their help. Such a tiresome bother!

My Blog is One Year Old March 3rd!

Update: The name drawn to receive the Butterfly necklace is Rosemary from Seasonings of the Heart! I’ll contact you.  Thanks to everyone for your kind words and visiting my party!

Happy Birthday Happy Wonderer!

So I contemplated how we should celebrate the anniversary of that day.

Should I serve one of my Russian favorites that my mom bakes, Roolyet? Make sure you roll your tongue on the roo part of the word.

 

Or maybe I could serve this dessert I’ve made that is so simple and I’ll include the directions below.

But in the great Hobbit Birthday Tradition I decided I would give away a gift to celebrate. The winning of this gift is open to all my regular bloggy friends and bloggers who participate in the same weekly memes I do. All you have to do is to leave a comment and make sure you include a good email address so I can contact you if you win. If you’re a guy I’m sorry that this is so feminine but if you win maybe you could give it to your wife, mother, sister, or friend.

I thought this was appropriate for the hope of Spring and new life it brings.

So thanks for stopping by my party and take time to comment and enter the drawing. It’s been a fun year for me getting to know all about blogging. I appreciate the friendships I’ve developed and am grateful for y’all.

Blessings..
ellen b.

Easy directions for individual trifle like desserts…

Cook one larger package of Vanilla pudding (not instant) according to package directions then put plastic wrap right on the surface of the pudding and let it cool in the refrigerator. While the pudding is cooling wash and cut 1 large carton of fresh strawberries into bite size pieces. Put them into a bowl and sprinkle sugar on top of them to make them juicier and sweeter. After the pudding has gotten cold whip up 2 cups heavy whipping cream (I add 1/4 -1/2 tsp. pure almond extract to the cream). Save some of the whipping cream to top the desserts and fold in the rest of the whipped cream into the cold pudding. Now all you have to do is assemble the individual trifles. Put some of the strawberries in the bottom of a fun glass or glass bowl, then add some store bought pound cake torn into pieces or angel food cake torn into pieces, next put some of the pudding mixture then keep layering in this same order. Top with a dollop of whip cream and a strawberry.  Simple and refreshing and yummy. (You could also make the layers in a Large Trifle bowl)

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage. I’m working on updating my blog posts very slowly.

Brown Plate Special ~ Week 4

I had to weigh in a day early because of my schedule tomorrow. I am happy to report that my weight remained the same. So to date I’ve lost 6 pounds total. I am feeling changes in my bulk this week even though I didn’t lose any more according to the scale. I’m very content with this eating style and activity level. You might wonder why I’m so excited about this new plan. I’m going to show you a little of what I ate this week and still managed to maintain my weight. Now the added steps in my day are really key here and not eating after 6:00 PM at night or in between meals is important toward my loss and maintenance. I’ve walked one hour a day besides my regular activity steps around the house.

 

I’d like to invite you back to my blog tomorrow because it’s my One Year bloggy birthday and I’m giving away a gift.

Ventura Harbor ~ High Surf Advisory

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage. They have blacked out all those photos on my blog posts. OH BOTHER! I’m slowly cleaning up my posts.

Monday I drove up to the Ventura Harbor to see the high surf that was promised because of storms in the area. The day was clear and warm for a North-westerner. The power of the waves was amazing. I wish I could have made a video with the loud crashing sound. The power of the waves produced airy foam that floated up on the shore.

 

 

I was amazed that this boat decided to head out in this surf.

 

 

 

The awesome power of God’s creation is breathtaking…

And the Winner Is ~

 

 So I am happy to announce the winner of my bloggy giveaway! The generator chose #33 from the 797 comments left on my blog for this giveaway. Whew I’m tired just thinking about it. So who is #33 you ask….

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:

33

Timestamp: 2008-02-01 14:01:14 UTC

My number 33 commenter is (drum roll please!) Barbara H. from Stray Thoughts!!!!

Here’s her comment ~

on January 28, 2008 at 6:44 am33 Barbara H.

Ellen, that’s gorgeous! You know I love hearts. -) Count me in!

So Barbara you were counted in and you were the winning number. Congratulations. I’ll be emailing you for your address. Blessings and may love flow from your heart when you wear this necklace or give it away….

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway.