Ready to Go Now

Ciao a Tutti Amici,

I have posted 2 photo Galleries in my photo bucket. For easier and faster to viewing, click on the link "slideshow" in the upper right corner of the page. This is just a small sample. Otranto and also Salanto. I took thousands of pics and will eventually post another maybe 6 galleries with samples of Lecce, It., 2 of Bari, Basilica of Otranto, Netherlands etc...

Okay.... so I am ready to go now. lol. Run away from the fires that is.

It has been 5 days now that we are living inside the clouds of smoke and ash from the nearby fires. My daughters and I have been suffering many health issues like wheezing, coughing, headaches, sore throat and stinging, tearing eyes. We have an air filter running inside the house that helps a little. But we have to come and go for work and such. Going outside for more than half hour gives me a headaches and eyes streaming. So last night each one of us talked about where we will go... if it gets worse or lasts too much longer.

I got voted... to be the one who stays to hold down the fort.

The fact we have the smoke is actually good. It means the winds are low and the fire fighters are making progress getting control. Seems like it starts to get a little clearer in the afternoon... when the winds pick up. But rather than feel relieved that I can breath again... I worry that the fires are getting stoked up. If a fire gets into heavy fuel (a thick forest that has not burned for more than 25 years) and the winds come up, it can cause a firestorm. I have seen this over and over. Firestorms create their own wind, move very fast and are impossible to contain. Whole towns can get roasted. I went with the Board of Forestry on a field trip to see the results of one of these a couple years ago. A fire in San Diego moved 17 miles in 45 minutes. It burned 3,000 homes and killed 13 people. Two of the fatalities were fire fighters that tried to take a stand against the wall of fire and got trapped in a house.All you can do with a firestorm is run away as fast as you can. The NY Times and Associated Press did and article about the Northern California fires here. here. There are more articles, photos, videos and access to archives relating to the California fires here.

The most disturbing thing about this for me is that it's so early in the fire season and the article says that we may have months of this...

I guess maybe the smart thing to do would be to work up an evacuation plan. Figure out what essentials are needed and what valuables we could move... just in case... the smoke gets thicker, persist too long, the fires get more severe or come closer to us than we feel is safe. This would not be too difficult for me, having lived out of a few suitcases the last 3 months.

Living small like you do when traveling was very good for me. Since getting home I have had the urge to purge myself of nearly all my possessions. I was doing just fine with just a few things lol.

well i better get busy organizing my affairs just in case... love you all and I will be in touch.