Blog: Entries Tagged With 'wildfires'

It doesn't feel like it to me, but it's now been over six months since Priscilla and I moved back to SoCal, and over three months since I left my job with Pure. Where does the time go?

This has been an eventful time for sure. We've seen my parents on 11 occasions, her parents on 5, and Aaron and his family on 8. The most recent time was just last Sunday when we saw my family to celebrate our nephew's 5th birthday. Wow, he's 5 already?? Time really does fly.

Back in August, we signed up for lifetime memberships at our local gym. We go 1-2 times per week, depending on Priscilla's schedule. I'm usually lifting while she goes to the Pilates/yoga and Zumba classes, though I might be going to Pilates/yoga with her more often (I've already gone once) since my back has been acting up and I need to strengthen my core. Gary from our church usually joins me at the gym biweekly since he gets every other Friday off from work.

We've committed to the church in Thousand Oaks that I previously mentioned, and we submitted membership applications in November. We're still waiting to be approved, as applications are supposed to be reviewed at the next elder meeting, but this is just a formality and we're already somewhat involved in church life. We visited four fellowship groups and ultimately joined one that has people similar to us in life stage. There are usually 8-10 people in the group and we meet weekly, with one week per month set aside for an outing to a restaurant (we haven't always gone to those). We value the discussions and getting to know people in the group.

Despite not having a job right now, I feel as busy as ever. Since 2013, I've been using a spreadsheet to track my notable daily activities, but last October I started also using Google Sheets to track a breakdown of my activities in five categories: Mind, Body, Spirit, Others (i.e. other people), and House. I don't always do something in each category every day, but it's a good goal to have. When I feel like time has gone by without much to show for it, I can look back at the sheet and remember that I did do meaningful things, even though each of them might've been fairly small. I've learned that life is less defined by grand acts and more by small but cumulative actions. I gave the sheet the title "The Next Right Thing," the name of a song from Frozen 2 - not a very memorable movie, but the song has a powerful message about just putting one foot in front of the other, especially when things are hard.

We've spent a good amount of time with family and friends (both new and old). We've met most of our immediate neighbors, though our relationships haven't developed past the quick hello on the street yet. We've gotten half of the house set up the way we want; the gym and master bedroom still need to be done. I've been brushing up on various topics like chemistry and biology, and every time I learn something, I put it on the sheet and highlight it for easy reference. Fitness has been okay, but there's still a lot of room for improvement and I still have my near-term goals that I want to hit. I haven't quite found my "grand purpose" and perhaps I never will, but I've been getting little doses of purpose in daily life. Maybe that's enough.

We also had a memorable time in November when evacuating due to the Mountain Fire (as I talked about in a previous post), and this month there have been a lot of wind-driven fires in SoCal, most notably the hugely destructive Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire in LA. Challenging times ahead.

Speaking of challenging times, Priscilla's dad's dementia has been slowly getting worse. He seems somewhat okay during the day, but past the evening his clarity diminishes and he gets more confused - this apparently is known as sundowning. Priscilla's mom asked us to buy a door knob cover so that he can't leave the condo late at night; he had already wandered out twice. Two weeks ago, we stayed three nights at their place to help them with various things, and it was somewhat challenging. We're going to stay with them one night next week in order to help them with more things, including driving them to a doctor's appointment 45 minutes from their place. A sign of things to come, but this is what we knew we'd have to deal with when we decided to move down.

Overall, we're glad that we moved down and still glad that we settled down in Camarillo, even though it's an hour drive, give or take, to get to parents. It's nice to have a little bit of separation, and we like our house, neighborhood, and city. Retaining a bit of comfort will be critical when we find ourselves helping parents more. But we'll deal with that as it comes, one day at a time. Doing the next right thing.

In my last post, I mentioned that the Mountain Fire was raging in Camarillo Heights and areas to the north. Our neighborhood was evacuated that Wednesday. Fortunately, Priscilla and I were able to go stay to my parents' place far from the fire (one of the benefits of not living too close to parents). The power at our house was cut in the morning but was restored 7 hours later, so we had a limited view of our street from our Ring Doorbell camera.

The first day was excruciating, not having much information and fearing the worst. The fire map showed that the fire was 2,000 feet from our house. At least two of our neighbors decided to not evacuate, and in the evening one of them sent Priscilla a picture showing the sky glowing orange just over the ridge in front of our house. Fortunately, the 60mph winds that fanned the blaze started subsiding that evening, returning to a normal light breeze the following afternoon. Had the heavy winds continued for longer and in our direction, I could imagine the fire, or at least embers, coming down the hill and reaching our house. The 182 structures that ultimately burned were in the mountain area north of us where there's more vegetation and where there aren't as many direct roads into the area, but I think it could've easily been a lot worse. We're thankful that our neighborhood was spared.

After the first two days, the fire perimeter was kept from expanding significantly more thanks to the tireless work of the fire crews. We returned to our home on Friday, and the evacuation order in our area was downgraded to a warning later that day. We're also grateful that we receive city water and didn't have the water quality issues that some other Camarillo residents had. Many of the outlying areas are unincorporated and have their water provided by local companies, some of which had issues with contamination due to toxins and firefighting chemicals seeping into the water supply.

As of today, the fire has burned 19,904 acres and is 98% contained. Life in our area pretty much returned to normal that weekend, just 3 days after the fire started, though air quality was noticeably impacted for the first week or so. There's still a trace of smoke at night, but it's so much better now.

This ordeal made me and Priscilla think about our priorities. We didn't bother getting fire insurance when purchasing our house because it seemed pricey and the fire risk in our area seemed low. Our next-door neighbors don't have it either, and apparently neither did some of the people who actually lost their homes. Our neighbors who have lived here for 13 years told us that a fire has never gotten this close to our area in that time. But we're considering getting insurance now. Premiums will probably increase due to what happened, though rates in California are still being kept artificially low - that's why a lot of insurance companies are leaving the state. We still think that our house will probably be fine, but it's good to have peace of mind. And I think of it as a way to help subsidize insurance for people who need it more.

But moreso than insurance, we've been thinking about the things that we treasure. Seeing how anxious we were about our house, and thinking about how devastated we would feel if we lost it, made us realize that we don't have enough of a stewardship mindset. Ultimately God owns everything, so if it's His will that we should lose something, then we should be able to say like Job, "blessed be the name of the Lord." Easier said than done, of course. Lord, increase our faith and our dependence on You, and let us act as stewards over all you've given to us - our home, money, time, and relationships.

We're not even a full week into November and already this month has turned out to be one for the books.

Last Friday, Priscilla and I visited my parents and then her parents. We stayed two nights at her parents' place so that we could drive them to the memorial service at CCAC for Priscilla's uncle William, since her dad can't drive anymore and her mom isn't comfortable driving far. It was a nice time seeing parents and the memorial was really touching. We didn't know Uncle William well, but we learned about his great faith and his love for others and desire to see them come to Christ. He had a quiet spirit but such a profound faith in the Lord. His words of "Be a Christian on the inside," as recounted by his granddaughter, were such an encouragement to us all.

On Sunday, we drove over to Hollywood and stayed at the Lexen Hotel. We joined Gina, Weber, their parents, and Gina's friend Sally at the Hollywood Bowl for the concert for David Foster's 75th birthday. A lot of the songs were too old for us to recognize, but it was cool to hear and learn that he had produced songs like Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You," Celine Dion's "All By Myself," and Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up."

Fast forward to this morning when news broke that Donald Trump had won the presidential election in a landslide. I consider myself a moderate, and my views on various issues generally fall closer to the middle than towards either end of the political spectrum. That said, in terms of character and moral fiber, I think Harris would've been the better person by far to represent this country, and had I lived in a swing state, I probably would've voted for her out of fear for what Trump's presidency means for the country and for the world. I really hope that Trump will serve with integrity, humility, and fairness, and that he will submit to the perfect Judge who gave us the ultimate example of love.

With a Republican majority in the Supreme Court, Senate, and possibly the House, I'm concerned about issues like the environment. But regardless of who's in power, I think massive repercussions of climate change will be inevitable. Society is just not willing to make the drastic lifestyle changes needed to avert a crisis, and by many accounts it's already too late. As followers of Christ, we know that this world is temporary and will eventually pass away. The book of Revelation talks about hail and fire and a third of the earth being burned up - metaphors for climate disasters and nuclear warfare, perhaps? It saddens me how many people, some Christians included, don't seem to act like stewards when it comes to taking care of this world. Nonetheless, our ultimate hope must be in Christ, knowing that only what is done for Him will ultimately last.

And on that note, I'll finally mention that there's currently a wildfire blazing in parts of Ventura County including Camarillo Heights. We lost power this morning when the power company shut off power to tens of thousands of residents as a precautionary measure. The Mountain Fire, as it's now called, quickly grew to over 10,000 acres due to the strong winds that are expected to last until tomorrow afternoon. We had to leave around noon when the evacuation area expanded to our neighborhood. On the fire map, the fire boundary appears to be 2,000 feet from our house. Supposedly, many homes to the north have already burned, but that area seems a little more remote with more vegetation. Some of our neighbors stayed behind and one of them just texted a photo showing the sky lit up in orange behind the hill that's close to us. Power was restored around 3:30pm, which is encouraging. I have confidence in our fire crews and I know they're working tirelessly to contain the fire. We know that the Lord can (and does) give and take away, and that He is sovereign over all things. It's hard to not be anxious, though. And I don't think that anxiety will just go away. We just need to trust, and pray. In all things.

Now that it's fall, I figured I'd better get to writing an update for the rest of summer. A lot has happened since I wrote my last blog entry!

Workwise, the situation has remained unchanged. I'm still working from home, as Pure has directed all non-essential staff to continue to do so for the rest of the year. Priscilla is still working from home only 2-3 days a week.

In late June/early August, I decided that I may never be able to set foot in my gym again and that we should start purchasing gym equipment. We originally wanted to keep our two spare rooms free in case we decided to rent them out again in the future. So we were thinking of having an outdoor gym, which would involve removing two trees in the backyard and installing a canopy and hard flooring with rubber flooring over it. But eventually we decided to convert our larger spare room into a permanent gym room, meaning we'll never rent out that room again, which we decided was acceptable.

So I bought rubber floor tiles and had a glass company install a 8x6' mirror. I also purchased a weight bench and dumbbell rack on Amazon. I wanted dumbbells because they're the most versatile. The problem was that they were sold out everywhere, and the price gouging for used dumbbells on Craigslist was insane. I'd heard of Rogue Fitness and knew that they were well-regarded in the fitness community but also that their stuff had been considered pricey. But unlike most companies, Rogue had seemingly not increased prices during the pandemic, making their gear competitively priced by today's standards. It took a couple weeks, but I was finally able to order 10-50lb dumbbells, and later 60lb dumbbells and a 35lb kettlebell. Orders were naturally quite backed up, so it took 5 weeks for everything to arrive, but it was awesome once it did.

Unfortunately, now I have a problem with weight distribution. The dumbbells plus the rack weigh about 850 pounds, which is a lot to put in one small area given that we have a crawlspace and a foundation that doesn't seem too strong. We don't have major foundation issues, but we have creaking floorboards everywhere, a sagging floor in many spots, and evidence of minor settling all around. I went into the crawlspace and found that we have 4x6 beams with subfloor planks on top. No joists and no plywood, unlike with modern homes. I did a lot of research about foundations and also had a structural engineer come take a look, and he determined through very generic calculations that I can have no more than about 360-400lbs of weight in that area. I loaded up the rack with 375lbs (including the rack's weight of 75lbs), and a couple weeks later, I noticed some thin cracks on that side of the room where the floorboard was starting to pull away from the wall. I'm not sure if the floorboard was like that before, but I didn't want to take chances and exacerbate the problem, so I took the 40lb dumbbells off the rack. Now the lighter dumbbells are on the rack while the heavier ones are distributed around the edges of the room.

I have the rack centered over two beams, though it's slightly wider than the beam span by a few inches on each side. The structural engineer didn't go into the crawlspace as I had hoped he would, but he gave me a suggestion to install one additional pier per beam to support the weight of the rack. I'm having an actual foundation repair company come next week, and they will actually go into the crawlspace and give me a free estimate. Of course, I'm afraid that any work they do will cost a lot.

But the gym room has been an investment that's already been paying off. I had been feeling down due to not being able to go to the gym for 4 months, let alone losing a lot of my previous strength gains. I had the cheap adjustable dumbbells in the shed, but it wasn't the same. It's been awesome physically and mentally to be able to get a real workout again. We also added an exercise ball as well as a custom metal sign hung on the wall to complete our gym setup. Overall, we spent around $4k on the home gym, and Priscilla's parents graciously paid for most of it (they insisted). But perhaps we may have to shell out another $4k for foundation work - who knows.

Not to be left out, Priscilla decided that we should convert the other spare room into her spa room. Our last renter left a twin bed and some small furniture when she moved out. At the start of July, I purchased a Casper Wave Hybrid mattress, hoping that it would help with Priscilla's back pain. Casper was among the many companies having supply issues, and the mattress shipment kept getting delayed and ultimately took 5 weeks to arrive (and probably would've been longer had I not emailed customer support). The new mattress was pretty pricey at $2,360 (though we got a $109 refund due to the delays), but it's been an invaluable investment since it's helped a lot with Priscilla's back pain when all other mattresses we've tried have failed. Since our previous mattress was only 2.5 years old and still in good condition, we didn't want to just toss it. So Priscilla decided to use it as a backrest between the wall and the twin bed, creating a day bed. Thus, her day bed and spa room was born. It seems like we will never have renters again while we are living here. I guess we're at that stage of life now where we are ok with that.

Our other home improvement projects have been focused on the backyard. I had a handyman come and fix some things around the house including repairing some rotted wood behind the shed door hinges. We finished planting green onions in the planter box and also planted 6 tomato plants that Priscilla's coworker gave her. I installed a 3ft fence around the perimeter of the planter box to keep cats from pooping there (and it has worked!). I pressure washed the patio and also surprised Priscilla one night with string lights hung from the patio cover over our patio table. Afterwards, she bought tiki torches and a gas firepit so that we can enjoy our backyard at night in even more style.

However, we haven't been able to spend a lot of time outdoors since August. The second week of August, we saw a record-breaking heat wave. And then on August 16, a rare thunderstorm event caused a long period of dry lightning that sparked hundreds of fires. We were kept awake most of that night by the frequent sound of thunder; I have never heard so much continuous thunder in my life. Over the next few days, over 12,000 lightning strikes were recorded over Northern California, sparking up to 585 wildfires. In an unprecedented fire season, massive wildfires burned across Southern and Northern California, as well as Oregon and Washington, spreading quickly and wide due to hot weather, dry conditions and high winds. The August Complex, which originated as 38 separate fires, soon became the largest fire in recorded California history. Pretty much the entire West Coast was on fire, and firefighters were stretched thin, and it took a few weeks before any real progress was made. I found myself incessantly checking the AQI on PurpleAir and AIRNow, as most of the time the air outside was very smokey and not ideal for going out, let alone for cardio exercise. At times, the air quality in the Bay Area was the worst in the world. A couple days this month, the sky was red and orange all over the Bay Area, making everything look apocalyptic. With all that's been going on, it certainly felt like it.

Across the three states, more than 5.8 million acres have now burned - a combined area larger than New Jersey. Containment on many of the fires is still ongoing, but firefighters have been working relentlessly and under straining conditions. Finally, a couple weeks ago, the Bay Area started seeing healthy AQI levels again. Since Priscilla and I hadn't been able to travel since the start of the pandemic, we had planned a trip to Yosemite from September 26-29. We booked this a week before the start of the fires. Unfortunately, Yosemite air quality has been greatly impacted by the nearby Creek Fire, and there are a couple smaller fires burning inside of Yosemite itself, so the park was closed for about a week prior to our scheduled trip. We decided that we should go down to LA instead, so we drove down last Saturday and stayed until yesterday. Since Priscilla's parents are older and thus more at risk to COVID, we saw them first for two days, followed by my parents for the latter two days. We also got to have dinner with my brother and his family. It was nice to be able to see family again; we hadn't seen them in person since the start of the pandemic.

While the Bay Area has been seeing healthier air than LA as of late, that's now changed thanks to the Glass Fire in Napa and Sonoma which started on Sunday. Air quality all around the bay is now back in the "unhealthy" range. People are getting fire fatigue, and those having to evacuate and go to shelters have the added danger of exposure to the virus in the middle of this pandemic. Things could be worse, but they have not been great. And weather conditions and wildfires are probably just going to get more extreme with time thanks to global warming. In all of this, while the future can look bleak and hopeless, we as Christians must remember that while we are stewards of this world and its resources, that ultimately man is sinful and creation is fallen, and our hope must be in our Creator who will redeem all things.

Thank God the fierce winds have died down, and most of the Southern California wildfires have been fully contained by now. The firefighters have handled the situation superbly, and though there have been 1800 homes destroyed and half a million acres of land burned, the total destruction is far less than we saw in 2003. Our thanks go to all those who have laid their lives on the line in this time.

Still, people are now saying that we haven't learned from 2003 and we still don't have enough federal funding to prevent and fight wildfires. It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out in the bureaucratic realm.

There are now over a dozen wildfires blazing in Southern California, stretching all the way from Lake Arrowhead to Irvine to San Diego. This is reminiscent of the wildfires of 2003 which I blogged about briefly almost this exact time of October. Fortunately, unlike last year, the fires aren't yet close enough to my home for me to see them.

Though there have been homes lost and casualties suffered (the bulk of them in San Diego), firefighters continue to do an outstanding job, especially with their already short manpower being stretched thin, at combating the blazes. We should be in prayer for them and for residents who have been displaced from, or have lost, their homes.

Thank God the fire around Porter Ranch seems to be under control!! I took my math midterm today; all the problems seemed extremely easy.

I didn't know how bad the Simi Valley wildfire was until my mom called me tonight, saying that she could see flames over the hills surrounding our house. She asked me what I wanted my family to pack in case they needed to evacuate, but all I could remember was my secret money box.

I got on AIM and talked individually with Roger and Raymond. I was feeling pretty worried and hopeless. Elaine from Van Nuys messaged me, comforting and assuring me that everything would be ok as long as my family was safe. "Your house can be replaced, but your family can never be replaced," she said. Later Roger, Raymond, and I went to a chatroom and talked and typed short prayers. I know that whatever happens is because God has allowed it to happen, so I need to trust Him with this. The Bible verse Romans 8:28 came to mind. Also one of my reference booklets had a good verse: Psalm 18:2.