I'm happy to say that the community has spoken up for our veteran/son, and now the court is trying to figure out how to end the case while letting others know that civil disobedience is not encouraged. Things will be OK for our friend. Like so many other Iraq veterans, he was trying to get attention for his message to get out of Iraq.

In the more recent news, you may have heard about Montecito burning up. Montecito is a "wealthy enclave" a few miles from Santa Barbara. If you live in the 93101 zip, you want to move up to the 93108. 93108 means you've made it to Montecito.

The fire began near the Tea Gardens. Search Mar y Cel on Google and you'll come up with a few places that have some interesting history. In the middle of Montecito, the Tea Gardens were a place to party when I was in high school, and I guess it still is. The wind was raging about 50 MPH at that time, 5:45 PM Thursday afternoon. The fire spread in seconds.

I'm in downtown SB (at the base of the Rivera) and I watched the blaze on the ridge of the Rivera along Las Alturas Road, one of the most amazing roads on the planet, IMHO. Houses were destroyed, trees acted as matches to feed the fire and it's 100 ft. flames. I've seen fires come from the mountains to town to the sea in 90 minutes with help from the hot, dry winds, so we were on 'adrenaline mode'.

After a night of quiet, I hear the helicopters and the planes out there again.  Thursday night, 9 choppers made water drops using night goggles.  They were fueling a few blocks from home at the junior high school/armory complex so I heard them 'til dawn.  They came right over the building, our neighbor cat, Buddy, showed up on the roof outside my window, totally freaked out.

As daylight appeared, the planes began flying in to drop the chemical loads to help extinguish the fire.  I used to watch them out at the SB Airport filling up with borade, a red substance which left the underside on the plane a red rouge tinge.  I know they are using something different now, but I'm not sure what.  Don't  have a lot of time for research! 

At dark last night, it got very quiet.  There was no longer any deep red glow from the other side of the Riviera.  Although I was on 'Evacuation Warning', I felt things were a lot safer.  And now I hear the planes and choppers working just as hard as yesterday. 

This fire have covered a lot of territory.  The latest I've heard is 117 homes lost.  That's not a certain number, though because some might be covered by trees or brush, making it impossible to count accurately from the air.  I didn't see it but Oprah talked about the fire on TV in Chicago, since it is right there by her estate.  Yesterday, I heard a media person say that no A or B list celebs. had lost their home in the Tea Fire.  Well, what about those A list people that you don't hear about on TV?  There are many of those who did lost their home.  Many of the Montecito and SB residents are like you and me, they just bought their house years ago, or inherited it through their family.  There are people of every walk of life around here, not just "rich and famous".  I won't go so far as to mention which ones make better neighbors...

The City is asking us not to use water if we don't need to, so it is there for the firefighting efforts.  It's getting hot.  It is dry.  I'm trying to stay indoors to avoid the smoke (which is burning homes, trees, and poison oak). 

I wanted to check in so you all know I'm OK, but the winds can change and create an inferno within an hour.  So I'll hope and pray for the best.  There are many shelters for the 2,000 plus who have been evacuated.  Horses and pets have been taken to the Earl Warren Showgrounds.  It is eerie seeing the homes on the Rivera with no traffic.  They are still evacuated.  The police and sheriff are patrolling to be sure no looting goes on. 

So, how's you day?  I hope it's good for you all.  I'm using my son's mac laptop and I'm not sure about images, links, etc.  I tried, but it didn't work.  If you Google map on Las Alturas Road, Mission Canyon Road, Sycamore Canyon Road, East Mountain Drive, Cold Springs Road, or even Westmost College, you can get an idea of where it is that's burning.  Yes, Westmont has lost a couple of buildings, too.  I wish you all a good weekend!  Appreciate the clean air you breathe!!!  The things we take for granted 'til they're gone!