I couldn't help but to be a little amazed by the fact that the one and only night that we had unexpected 45 mph winds, the fire that was effected by it was quite a ways away from here. Though this fire was blown quite a distance in a short time, it was pushed through a lot of empty fields and forest that contained no houses or buildings. By the time it reached the back door of our community, the wind had died down and the fire fighters were able to get a handle on it.
They expected the same sort of wind to happen again, but night after night, it never did. Why do you suppose this is? Could it be because lots of people were praying? Could it be because God knew that there are quite a few residents in our community and also limited escape routes? Could it be that God knew that there might actually be casualties if the fire rushed too quickly into town?
On the news, they said that fortunately, "Mother Nature" has been on our side, yet several of my friends have said, "No, not Mother Nature, but Father God." I tend to agree.
I was praying the whole time for the community, because let's fact it; if the fire reached our house, it would have to burn it's way through a whole bunch of other houses first and the devastation would have been massive, so I pleaded with God and told Him that I didn't find that sort of devastation acceptable.
A friend of mine, who is a little more Pentecostal in her approach, commanded the fire, in Jesus Name, to not enter the town. Interestingly, the homes that were destroyed were outside of the city limit. The more resent fire that was caused by the thunder storms did not destroy any homes in our community at all. It really does appear that God was on our side. Praise God!!
Keeping that in mind, I think that my husband and I can go on vacation now and not worry about leaving our house in His hands. Praise God!!
Showing posts with label California Fires. Show all posts
Showing posts with label California Fires. Show all posts
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Summing it Up
They removed the Precautionary Evacuation Status from our area last weekend. I don't remember any more exactly when it was that ours was removed. I guess it was on Sunday, but it may have even been on Saturday night. When they did that, though, they sent the out of town fire fighters either home or to other fires.
We remained a little nervous at first because the last time that they did this, there was an unexpected wind the following night and we were put on Precautionary Evacuation again. Because of this, I was reluctant to unpack at first, since I had already done so twice, but we did finally unpack a little each day throughout the week and I think that we've gotten it all back in the house again. It sure is good to have my things back inside the house and the smoke has been much better. Praise God!!
We are getting ready now to go of a trip to Canada. I was really nervous about going because the fire is actually still burning. It has been 70% contained since Monday and is now 80% contained and the fire fighters continue to report good progress on it, but it is still not out.
Interestingly, in the next post down, the men who commented thought we should go on the trip and the women who commented understood my reluctance. Well, it looks like we are going. It's only been postponed by a few days. Mom and Dad will be here either Monday or Tuesday and soon after that we'll be heading out.
Please continue to pray that the fire fighters will get every single one of the Northern California Fires out. Thanks.
We remained a little nervous at first because the last time that they did this, there was an unexpected wind the following night and we were put on Precautionary Evacuation again. Because of this, I was reluctant to unpack at first, since I had already done so twice, but we did finally unpack a little each day throughout the week and I think that we've gotten it all back in the house again. It sure is good to have my things back inside the house and the smoke has been much better. Praise God!!
We are getting ready now to go of a trip to Canada. I was really nervous about going because the fire is actually still burning. It has been 70% contained since Monday and is now 80% contained and the fire fighters continue to report good progress on it, but it is still not out.
Interestingly, in the next post down, the men who commented thought we should go on the trip and the women who commented understood my reluctance. Well, it looks like we are going. It's only been postponed by a few days. Mom and Dad will be here either Monday or Tuesday and soon after that we'll be heading out.
Please continue to pray that the fire fighters will get every single one of the Northern California Fires out. Thanks.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Finally, Some Encouraging News
Well, it looks like they are finally getting a handle on the fire again. They actually removed the Mandatory and Precautionary Evacuation Status from a lot of different areas and are letting some of the evacuees come home. It's just like I said on the last comment that I wrote, as of the time I posted this, "At present, the fire that we are personally threatened by is moving in a different direction, threatening a different community other than ours." I guess that's not so good for this other community, yet I must admit that we have been on Precautionary Evacuation for so long, that I really think it's high time for a break. Perhaps it's someone else's turn for awhile.
Actually, though, our particular neighborhood is still on Precautionary Evacuation, but I'm not as nervous because they're making progress. Since they have removed some of the Precautionary Evacuation areas, hopefully, it will only be a matter of time before they remove ours as well, so I'm praising God!!
Thanks for all of your prayers.
PS - If you Came to this Page by way of a Google Search and want to Know more about the Fires, then Click on the Link to the Right Entitled "California Fires". Enjoy.
Actually, though, our particular neighborhood is still on Precautionary Evacuation, but I'm not as nervous because they're making progress. Since they have removed some of the Precautionary Evacuation areas, hopefully, it will only be a matter of time before they remove ours as well, so I'm praising God!!
Thanks for all of your prayers.
PS - If you Came to this Page by way of a Google Search and want to Know more about the Fires, then Click on the Link to the Right Entitled "California Fires". Enjoy.
Things I'm really Getting Tired of
Here's something that I started writing Yesterday, but didn't actually finish until Today...
The longer the Precautionary Evacuation continues, the more items get added to our stash in the trailer and cars. After awhile, I was also adding some of my favorite pictures and nick nacks, but lately, I've been missing the things that are packed away. All my favorite things are packed in the vehicles. Since we don't quite have enough duplicates supplies of things that are needed both in the trailer and in the house, it has been difficult to decide, what to pack and what to leave in the house.
I'm tired of having all the family photos that were hung up on our walls packed away on and off for weeks in our trailer and cars for evacuation. I'm tired of looking at the empty walls where these pictures used to hang. I miss some of my favorite things that are packed away. I'm tired of continually having to go out to the trailer and cars to retrieve something that I need that I had packed out there for evacuation. I'm tired of wondering when and if we will ever get that call telling us that it is time to evacuate. I'm tired of stressing and worrying about the fire. I was tired of sleeping in my cloths after only two nights of doing so and decided a couple of nights ago to start sleeping in my nightgown again. I'm even tired of watching the news. This has gone on far too long. It's time for it to rain or something. Lord, yes, please do send the rain.
The longer the Precautionary Evacuation continues, the more items get added to our stash in the trailer and cars. After awhile, I was also adding some of my favorite pictures and nick nacks, but lately, I've been missing the things that are packed away. All my favorite things are packed in the vehicles. Since we don't quite have enough duplicates supplies of things that are needed both in the trailer and in the house, it has been difficult to decide, what to pack and what to leave in the house.
I'm tired of having all the family photos that were hung up on our walls packed away on and off for weeks in our trailer and cars for evacuation. I'm tired of looking at the empty walls where these pictures used to hang. I miss some of my favorite things that are packed away. I'm tired of continually having to go out to the trailer and cars to retrieve something that I need that I had packed out there for evacuation. I'm tired of wondering when and if we will ever get that call telling us that it is time to evacuate. I'm tired of stressing and worrying about the fire. I was tired of sleeping in my cloths after only two nights of doing so and decided a couple of nights ago to start sleeping in my nightgown again. I'm even tired of watching the news. This has gone on far too long. It's time for it to rain or something. Lord, yes, please do send the rain.
Smoke Kills
I didn't mention this on Thursday, when I wrote my last post, because I felt like writing about something else, but we also received some bad news on that day. A friend that we know from church has been informed that he is dying. He has had Congestive Heart Failure for quite some time and yet has continued to be basically Ok. Unfortunately, with all the smoke that we have had in the air because of all the fires, our friend's Congestive Heart Failure has moved into the next phase and he's been told that he is dying.
Well, yeh, he's dying of Congestive Heart Failure, but you know what? He has been living with that now for several years and was basically Ok, until all these fires started and the air has not been clear, so I figure that the smoke has taken away some of his remaining time on this earth.
We felt the same way about our dog, Casper. He basically died of lung cancer, but how much more time would he have had if there had not been so much smoke? He died pretty fast as far as I'm concerned. Once he had that one seizure, he was gone in 10 days. Prior to the seizure, he had been coughing a little, but was quite energetic and appeared pretty healthy.
It's just like when ever there is a major heat wave, there are some casualties. The healthy handle it just fine, but the elderly and those with health problems can die from a heat stroke. The same is true of smoke. It can kill those who have respiratory problems. These are the casualties that are not reported.
The smoke was so bad on Thursday that we couldn't see very far. My husband and I had not been wearing masks, but on this day, we did. Yesterday and today, it was a little better.
Well, yeh, he's dying of Congestive Heart Failure, but you know what? He has been living with that now for several years and was basically Ok, until all these fires started and the air has not been clear, so I figure that the smoke has taken away some of his remaining time on this earth.
We felt the same way about our dog, Casper. He basically died of lung cancer, but how much more time would he have had if there had not been so much smoke? He died pretty fast as far as I'm concerned. Once he had that one seizure, he was gone in 10 days. Prior to the seizure, he had been coughing a little, but was quite energetic and appeared pretty healthy.
It's just like when ever there is a major heat wave, there are some casualties. The healthy handle it just fine, but the elderly and those with health problems can die from a heat stroke. The same is true of smoke. It can kill those who have respiratory problems. These are the casualties that are not reported.
The smoke was so bad on Thursday that we couldn't see very far. My husband and I had not been wearing masks, but on this day, we did. Yesterday and today, it was a little better.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Still Here, While Sleeping Giant Creeps
Well, this blog has become more like a personal blog lately about all the frustration and stress of someone who is experiencing the Northern California Fires. I didn't mean for it to become that. At first, this blog was more Political and then, as it progressed, it became more Spiritual, and then more recently, there has been so many things going on in my life that I can't seem to write about much other than the fire.
My goal is to get back into the Political, as soon as life stops stressing me, but I have no idea when that's going to be. If you are interested in something other than what I am writing about at the moment, please don't go away, just check on my labels on the right and go to a subject you're more interested in.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they are going to be getting a handle on this fire any time soon. The fire just sits there quietly, not doing much because the wind has been still, yet all it would take is another strong wind like we had that one night and the fire would be up in our town in no time.
It's just like I said in the last post when I wrote the words, "Just Yesterday, things seemed to be winding down.", which in relation to that post, was July 7, so we went and picked up our travel trailer, that we had left at a friend's house, just in case we needed to use it, if and when we were evacuated, unpacked it of all the things we had packed in it a couple weeks prior, while meanwhile, a bunch of the fire fighters actually left the area because there were other fires that were considered higher priorities.
Well, besides the heat wave, that was somewhat expected, we also got low humidity and high winds, that were not expected. We're talking 45 mph winds and that is very high for this area. These 45 mph winds, over night, blew a fire that was not even really that close to us over a rather large area (fortunately uninhabited forest) all the way over to our back door, while at the same time, blowing the fire that was close to us over the fire break that the fire fighters thought would hold when they left our area. Over night, we went from feeling secure enough to unpack our trailer and vehicles, to a Precautionary Evacuation Notice that required us to pack up again.
The fire maps have been showing a fire that is huge and not that far away. It is only the absence of any strong winds that is causing this fire to slowly creep towards us at a non-threatening speed, but I'll never forget the words of a Mayor of one of the effected towns. He said that "This fire is like a Sleeping Giant." and that "Anyone who has made the decision to get out of town has made a wise decision."
Basically, what I get out of these words is that the fire is currently "Sleeping", only because there have not been any strong winds, yet if the incident that occurred with the 45 mph winds repeated itself, this "Sleeping Giant" could very easily rush up into our town in no time.
These were the words that I was thinking of last night, when I was strongly urging my husband that maybe it would be wise to evacuate and we probably would have, except for the fact that we will be taking someone more elderly with us that does not handle these things as well as we do, so the decision is to put off evacuation until they make it mandatory and perhaps, if we are extremely lucky, this trial will pass without us having to evacuate at all.
My goal is to get back into the Political, as soon as life stops stressing me, but I have no idea when that's going to be. If you are interested in something other than what I am writing about at the moment, please don't go away, just check on my labels on the right and go to a subject you're more interested in.
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they are going to be getting a handle on this fire any time soon. The fire just sits there quietly, not doing much because the wind has been still, yet all it would take is another strong wind like we had that one night and the fire would be up in our town in no time.
It's just like I said in the last post when I wrote the words, "Just Yesterday, things seemed to be winding down.", which in relation to that post, was July 7, so we went and picked up our travel trailer, that we had left at a friend's house, just in case we needed to use it, if and when we were evacuated, unpacked it of all the things we had packed in it a couple weeks prior, while meanwhile, a bunch of the fire fighters actually left the area because there were other fires that were considered higher priorities.
Well, besides the heat wave, that was somewhat expected, we also got low humidity and high winds, that were not expected. We're talking 45 mph winds and that is very high for this area. These 45 mph winds, over night, blew a fire that was not even really that close to us over a rather large area (fortunately uninhabited forest) all the way over to our back door, while at the same time, blowing the fire that was close to us over the fire break that the fire fighters thought would hold when they left our area. Over night, we went from feeling secure enough to unpack our trailer and vehicles, to a Precautionary Evacuation Notice that required us to pack up again.
The fire maps have been showing a fire that is huge and not that far away. It is only the absence of any strong winds that is causing this fire to slowly creep towards us at a non-threatening speed, but I'll never forget the words of a Mayor of one of the effected towns. He said that "This fire is like a Sleeping Giant." and that "Anyone who has made the decision to get out of town has made a wise decision."
Basically, what I get out of these words is that the fire is currently "Sleeping", only because there have not been any strong winds, yet if the incident that occurred with the 45 mph winds repeated itself, this "Sleeping Giant" could very easily rush up into our town in no time.
These were the words that I was thinking of last night, when I was strongly urging my husband that maybe it would be wise to evacuate and we probably would have, except for the fact that we will be taking someone more elderly with us that does not handle these things as well as we do, so the decision is to put off evacuation until they make it mandatory and perhaps, if we are extremely lucky, this trial will pass without us having to evacuate at all.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Northern California Fires Still Burn - Now Round 3
I can't believe this! Yesterday things seemed to be winding down so much that we actually decided to go pick up the trailer that we had left at our friend's house, just in case of an evacuation. We unpacked the trailer and our car of all the things that had been in it on and off for several weeks now and this is the second time that we have done so.
During the first fire, which started on the 11th of June, about 4 weeks ago, the evacuation area was in a town near by and we did not appear to be threatened, yet even so, we felt nervous enough that we packed up a bunch of our valuables and photos in the car.
Well, sometime around the 19th or 20th of June, as we were preparing for some out of town company that visited us over the weekend, the fire threat had calmed down enough that we unpacked our car and hung our family photos back up on the wall.
On the 21rst, the same day that our company arrived, there was a horrible thunder storm that started a whole bunch more fires. Everything was fine for a day or two, yet soon after our company left, they were announcing another precautionary evacuation of an area closer to us than the last one was, so we packed up our car again and this time also packed the trailer and moved it to a friend's house.
Well, just Yesterday, things seemed to be winding down again so we went and picked up the trailer from our friend's house, unpacked it and also our car of all the things we had packed in it a couple weeks ago. A bunch of the fire fighters actually left the area because there were other fires that were considered higher priorities.
Well, wouldn't you know it, the minute we get unpacked again, something else happens. Besides the heat wave that we are getting and the low humidity, the winds came up unexpectedly, fanned the fire, blew it over one or their fire breaks and continued to blow it our way. This time we are, for the first time, actually officially in the precautionary evacuation area.
Man! Is this ever going to end? Why was I so darn efficient Yesterday in unpacking everything? Well, it's all packed up again and ready to go. Though I sort of doubt it, there is a possibility that they might call us in the middle of the night and tell us to evacuate. We're all ready to leave now at a moment's notice.
Sometime Tomorrow, we might evacuate anyway, if they tell us too or not.
It feels like I'm going to miss all my friends on the web. If you write comments and they disappear in the moderation mode and don't appear for awhile, you'll know that we're gone from our house. Unfortunately, we do not have a lap top. It would really be nice if we did.
Hopefully, this won't go on much longer and please pray that we won't loose our house. I'm still thinking, "No, that's not what's going to happen." If it does, there will be quite a few other houses also involved, so it wouldn't be good. Lord, please stop this fire.
Naturally, I don't want our house to burn down, but you know what I want even more than that? I want life to go back to normal. I want to unpack our car and trailer again in an undamaged house and return again to normal life.
I don't want to stress about fire. I just want to blog and eventually write about something other than the fire. I want to share my ideas. I want to eventually be so non-stressed that I can even write about politics. That's my prayer.
Well, if you want to keep reading about the fire and yet have not clicked on the California Fires Label on the Right, there is more. Just skip over the next two posts down and keep reading about the fire.
During the first fire, which started on the 11th of June, about 4 weeks ago, the evacuation area was in a town near by and we did not appear to be threatened, yet even so, we felt nervous enough that we packed up a bunch of our valuables and photos in the car.
Well, sometime around the 19th or 20th of June, as we were preparing for some out of town company that visited us over the weekend, the fire threat had calmed down enough that we unpacked our car and hung our family photos back up on the wall.
On the 21rst, the same day that our company arrived, there was a horrible thunder storm that started a whole bunch more fires. Everything was fine for a day or two, yet soon after our company left, they were announcing another precautionary evacuation of an area closer to us than the last one was, so we packed up our car again and this time also packed the trailer and moved it to a friend's house.
Well, just Yesterday, things seemed to be winding down again so we went and picked up the trailer from our friend's house, unpacked it and also our car of all the things we had packed in it a couple weeks ago. A bunch of the fire fighters actually left the area because there were other fires that were considered higher priorities.
Well, wouldn't you know it, the minute we get unpacked again, something else happens. Besides the heat wave that we are getting and the low humidity, the winds came up unexpectedly, fanned the fire, blew it over one or their fire breaks and continued to blow it our way. This time we are, for the first time, actually officially in the precautionary evacuation area.
Man! Is this ever going to end? Why was I so darn efficient Yesterday in unpacking everything? Well, it's all packed up again and ready to go. Though I sort of doubt it, there is a possibility that they might call us in the middle of the night and tell us to evacuate. We're all ready to leave now at a moment's notice.
Sometime Tomorrow, we might evacuate anyway, if they tell us too or not.
It feels like I'm going to miss all my friends on the web. If you write comments and they disappear in the moderation mode and don't appear for awhile, you'll know that we're gone from our house. Unfortunately, we do not have a lap top. It would really be nice if we did.
Hopefully, this won't go on much longer and please pray that we won't loose our house. I'm still thinking, "No, that's not what's going to happen." If it does, there will be quite a few other houses also involved, so it wouldn't be good. Lord, please stop this fire.
Naturally, I don't want our house to burn down, but you know what I want even more than that? I want life to go back to normal. I want to unpack our car and trailer again in an undamaged house and return again to normal life.
I don't want to stress about fire. I just want to blog and eventually write about something other than the fire. I want to share my ideas. I want to eventually be so non-stressed that I can even write about politics. That's my prayer.
Well, if you want to keep reading about the fire and yet have not clicked on the California Fires Label on the Right, there is more. Just skip over the next two posts down and keep reading about the fire.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Impressive Support to Fire Fighters
I feel as if I should write another short note about the fires up here in Northern California. A friend of mine was telling me about this one church in our community that was feeding the fire fighters three meals a day and allowing them to sleep in their building. They could not believe the amount of support that was being donated by various different individuals and businesses in the community. Apparently, there was one room just filled with food and supplies to the point in which "it looked like a Wal-Mart". One lady even showed up and was giving some of them massages.
The fire fighters were amazed and some of them said that they had never before received such good treatment. So often they just sleep out in the brush, on the dirt, and eat rations supplied to them by the government.
Our community was really neat, though. Some of the residents that live along the main highways posted signs in front of their houses thanking the fire fighters. I don't know how they could have missed the fact that they were appreciated and loved. I don't think that the ones who came from the bigger cities are used to such treatment.
The fire fighters were amazed and some of them said that they had never before received such good treatment. So often they just sleep out in the brush, on the dirt, and eat rations supplied to them by the government.
Our community was really neat, though. Some of the residents that live along the main highways posted signs in front of their houses thanking the fire fighters. I don't know how they could have missed the fact that they were appreciated and loved. I don't think that the ones who came from the bigger cities are used to such treatment.
Northern California Fire Stress & Our Lost Friend
Well, I thought this post was going to be about the fires, yet once I got going, I ended up talking about our dog Casper again. Hopefully, you guys will not be too tired of the subject. It seems that I have to work my way through it somehow before I can move on.
You see, as these fires were burning, we were stressing over our sick dog, Casper, that had lung cancer.
Starting from the beginning, on June 11, Casper had what appeared to be a seizure, so we took him to the vet on the 12th. Due to the fires, the power was out during our first trip to the vet, so we couldn't get any x-ray's done, but they did do a blood test. Later that evening, Casper had another seizure, so we called the vet back on the 13th and she prescribed a seizure medication and we also scheduled some X-rays for Monday, June 16.
Meanwhile, the fires were burning and they evacuated part of a town near by. They did not evacuate our area, yet there was enough of a scare that there were gas lines at the pump, to fill up with all this wonderful expensive gas, just in case of an evacuation. I think that I might have written about this in one of my comments somewhere. A lot of the streets were closed to everyone but fire trucks and the ones that weren't were congested with people trying to evacuate. A lot of the gas stations were actually running out of gas and the gas trucks were having trouble getting in in order to deliver more gas to the stations. What a mess!!
We packed up our car, just in case we would have a need to evacuate, yet I was really hoping that we wouldn't have to because I wasn't sure that our sick dog would make it through such an experience and anyway, how are we supposed to get those x-rays done if we are required to leave town? I was so unbelievably stressed.
Well, luckily, we didn't have to evacuate, yet the x-rays that were done on Monday did not bring us good news. Casper was diagnosed with lung cancer and was not expected to live too much longer.
The following week was really hard. As the fires kept burning, Casper was having trouble breathing and after awhile he stopped eating.
By the end of the week, they appeared to have the fires under control and since we were expecting company on the weekend of the 21rst and 22nd, we decided to unpack our car and put our house back in order. In the hope that Casper might decide to eat something, we cut back on the dose of the seizure medication that we were giving Casper because it was making him sort of groggy and depressed, unfortunately, he still wouldn't eat.
On Friday, the 20th, Casper did something sort of interesting. He walked through every room in our house and just stood there and stared at each room as if saying good bye to his house. He also walked over to some of the furniture that he used to actually sit on when he was strong enough to jump up onto it and laid his head down on each of his favorite spots. It was sort of sad to watch.
Saturday morning, June 21, at 9:40 AM, Casper passed away. I heard a thud in the hallway next to the front door and when I went to check on him, he was gone, so we put his body in a box and took him to the vet for cremation. When we got home, I had to finish cleaning the house for our company that arrived later that evening.
In the afternoon of that day, there was the most horrible thunder storm and I was thinking of how it was sort of a blessing that Casper had passed away in the morning, early enough to miss experiencing this storm. Casper always hated thunder and this storm was so loud that it even made me shutter. I don't think I've even heard one quite so close and loud as this one. It would have killed Casper for sure and I felt grateful that the thunder storm was not his last memory.
Our company admitted to not being really strong dog lovers, yet they were quite supportive anyway and it was really nice to have the company.
Well, wouldn't you know it, the thunder storm started more fires and before long, we had our car all packed up again for possible evacuation. I've been wondering all this past week, if this is ever going to end. I've been feeling really tired of feeling stressed and I really would like to return to normal life soon. On one day, it seemed like the fire might be coming our way and we actually packed up our travel trailer and moved it to the property of some friends of ours, just in case we might decide to use it later. Well, we are still here and no evacuation has been announced for our area.
I want to thank you all again for your kind words of condolence and sympathy that you've put on my previous posts about our dog. I was telling Gayle in one of the comments that perhaps "the mourning process wouldn't be taking quite so long if they could just get these fires under control." This seems to just go on for days and even weeks.
"I praise God that, so far, they have been able to keep the fire from coming our way, yet I'm so tied of the smoke. I'm tired of wondering and stressing and I even miss some of the family pictures that have been removed from our wall. If they would just get these fires under control, we would be able to move on with our lives in relation to both the fire and the loss of our dog."
On a more positive note, the smoke did clear a little later yesterday afternoon and I was so glad to hear the sound of the helicopters flying over head. The smoke has been so bad that they have not been able to fly their aircraft over the fire and without the air support, the fire fighters have not been able to make much head way in getting these fires under control. As the air cleared and I begin to hear the helicopters, I was really praising God!!
It is even getting easier for me to look at the pictures that I've posted below of Casper without crying, so I can tell that there will be better days. Praise God!!
If you want to see some pictures of Casper and read more about him, than skip over the next post and go on down to where the pictures are and than read the post below the pictures. He was really quite a pretty and also special dog. Enjoy.
You see, as these fires were burning, we were stressing over our sick dog, Casper, that had lung cancer.
Starting from the beginning, on June 11, Casper had what appeared to be a seizure, so we took him to the vet on the 12th. Due to the fires, the power was out during our first trip to the vet, so we couldn't get any x-ray's done, but they did do a blood test. Later that evening, Casper had another seizure, so we called the vet back on the 13th and she prescribed a seizure medication and we also scheduled some X-rays for Monday, June 16.
Meanwhile, the fires were burning and they evacuated part of a town near by. They did not evacuate our area, yet there was enough of a scare that there were gas lines at the pump, to fill up with all this wonderful expensive gas, just in case of an evacuation. I think that I might have written about this in one of my comments somewhere. A lot of the streets were closed to everyone but fire trucks and the ones that weren't were congested with people trying to evacuate. A lot of the gas stations were actually running out of gas and the gas trucks were having trouble getting in in order to deliver more gas to the stations. What a mess!!
We packed up our car, just in case we would have a need to evacuate, yet I was really hoping that we wouldn't have to because I wasn't sure that our sick dog would make it through such an experience and anyway, how are we supposed to get those x-rays done if we are required to leave town? I was so unbelievably stressed.
Well, luckily, we didn't have to evacuate, yet the x-rays that were done on Monday did not bring us good news. Casper was diagnosed with lung cancer and was not expected to live too much longer.
The following week was really hard. As the fires kept burning, Casper was having trouble breathing and after awhile he stopped eating.
By the end of the week, they appeared to have the fires under control and since we were expecting company on the weekend of the 21rst and 22nd, we decided to unpack our car and put our house back in order. In the hope that Casper might decide to eat something, we cut back on the dose of the seizure medication that we were giving Casper because it was making him sort of groggy and depressed, unfortunately, he still wouldn't eat.
On Friday, the 20th, Casper did something sort of interesting. He walked through every room in our house and just stood there and stared at each room as if saying good bye to his house. He also walked over to some of the furniture that he used to actually sit on when he was strong enough to jump up onto it and laid his head down on each of his favorite spots. It was sort of sad to watch.
Saturday morning, June 21, at 9:40 AM, Casper passed away. I heard a thud in the hallway next to the front door and when I went to check on him, he was gone, so we put his body in a box and took him to the vet for cremation. When we got home, I had to finish cleaning the house for our company that arrived later that evening.
In the afternoon of that day, there was the most horrible thunder storm and I was thinking of how it was sort of a blessing that Casper had passed away in the morning, early enough to miss experiencing this storm. Casper always hated thunder and this storm was so loud that it even made me shutter. I don't think I've even heard one quite so close and loud as this one. It would have killed Casper for sure and I felt grateful that the thunder storm was not his last memory.
Our company admitted to not being really strong dog lovers, yet they were quite supportive anyway and it was really nice to have the company.
Well, wouldn't you know it, the thunder storm started more fires and before long, we had our car all packed up again for possible evacuation. I've been wondering all this past week, if this is ever going to end. I've been feeling really tired of feeling stressed and I really would like to return to normal life soon. On one day, it seemed like the fire might be coming our way and we actually packed up our travel trailer and moved it to the property of some friends of ours, just in case we might decide to use it later. Well, we are still here and no evacuation has been announced for our area.
I want to thank you all again for your kind words of condolence and sympathy that you've put on my previous posts about our dog. I was telling Gayle in one of the comments that perhaps "the mourning process wouldn't be taking quite so long if they could just get these fires under control." This seems to just go on for days and even weeks.
"I praise God that, so far, they have been able to keep the fire from coming our way, yet I'm so tied of the smoke. I'm tired of wondering and stressing and I even miss some of the family pictures that have been removed from our wall. If they would just get these fires under control, we would be able to move on with our lives in relation to both the fire and the loss of our dog."
On a more positive note, the smoke did clear a little later yesterday afternoon and I was so glad to hear the sound of the helicopters flying over head. The smoke has been so bad that they have not been able to fly their aircraft over the fire and without the air support, the fire fighters have not been able to make much head way in getting these fires under control. As the air cleared and I begin to hear the helicopters, I was really praising God!!
It is even getting easier for me to look at the pictures that I've posted below of Casper without crying, so I can tell that there will be better days. Praise God!!
If you want to see some pictures of Casper and read more about him, than skip over the next post and go on down to where the pictures are and than read the post below the pictures. He was really quite a pretty and also special dog. Enjoy.
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