Bump for Rob Hanson
#22
Well, It has been nearly a year. The 8th of November is just a few days off.

I am not commemorating. There is nothing to look back at. What was left has been excavated and hauled off in dump trucks.  So there is living in the now, working to make it as good as possible, and charting the best course for the future. Hindsight is 20/20, and I have accrued a bit of that.

There was a fire one year before this, and the stopped forward progress 1 mile from our place. It was a wake up call and I took action for preparing if we had to go. I studied lists, and made our own. I purchased some things I though we would need and staged others so they could be packed quick. Bug out for real. 

We packed my wife up first and I sent her out. Power went out about 5 minutes after she left and I had to do what I could with a flashlight in one hand. packing one handed slowed me bad. Smoke was thick, it was dark as night. I own a headlamp now, and it's a good one with back up batteries. That's a bigger deal than you might think. Not long after I sent her out, Propane tanks were exploding nearby. I didn't have time to finish packing that day, it happened that fast. A deputy stopped and told me it was time to go, and so, living down a long cul-de-sac, I listened, and he was right. Glad we took what we could, it helped a lot. 

So, fwiw, Life's not the same but we'll make it as good or better if we can. I see things differently, and I have plans for contingencies that I will always have. I look at most things that way now, but it's good. You just have to know that cutting the losses is key or it will skew future momentum. The future is not as long as a lifetime, so you have to make the best judgements you can, I think. I have faced tough things before. This is another. It is what it is. 

There is not really any way to describe what people in Paradise, CA went through that day in words, but here is a very good Documentary on YouTube which has a ton of cell phone footage and eye witness testimony. You are seeing the real fire we faced that day. 

If you wanted to know what our November 8th was like, give it a look. It's a little less than an hour. 

California's Deadliest Fire.

Yes, It was like that. Just can't seem to find words that equal the experience. There are a few other documentaries about it on YouTube as well if you want to have a look. 

Thank all of you for your concerns and support. It means a LOT to us.


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