Fire Days

Due to the huge fires that have been raging around San Diego county, there's not much for us to do right now. UCSD has closed the campus for the week, and although I still rode my bike to the lab yesterday it probably wasn't a good idea. The air quality is terrible, and after I finished going each way I had to brush the accumulated ash off my shirt. Similarly, they advise against taking your kids outside in the bad air. Parks are a bad idea anyway, since everything's covered with a layer of ash and soot. You can actually look at the sun just fine; there's so much smoke in the air that it's not too bright.

By noon today, the kids were literally running around the apartment screaming like chickens with their heads cut off. Oh wait, headless chickens can't scream... you know what I mean. We heard from a neighbor that a Mesa resident whose parents live in eastern San Diego County had his parents staying with him, and that their horses were quartered in North Mesa, so we decided to brave the air and look for the horses.

They were there, and the boys loved them! They loved petting them, watching them crop the grass, and of course mentioning what they saw coming out of the back end. They got to sit on the horses, and although Daniel was too scared to sit on a horse at first, he loved it even more after he decided to try. Click the picture to get the full effect of his smile:


Joshua even got to ride the horses, and had a great time too (you can click any of these pictures to see a larger version):




He even got to ride off into the (smoky) sunset:


We are grateful to this couple who helped our boys have some fun outside and experience something new and exciting, even though they've got to be terribly worried about their home. We pray for all of those who are adversely affected by the fires, especially those who have been displaced and whose homes have been destroyed.