A Visit and Fire

I am pleases to say that all of our utilities currently work. Well, water and natural gas never let us down, but it is awfully nice to have both cable and power at the same time! -- And thus I can blog.

We had the pleasure of my parents visiting last week. I was really glad to see them, and particularly excited to show them around this beautiful town of Santa Barbara. The weather really held out for their entire stay. I was a little worried it'd get fairly cloudy, but it was perfectly sunny everyday. Even though they came down with some serious colds, we were able to fit in a few activities. Specifically, my mom I and went shopping downtown until we were both worn out. I can't usually get Charles into all the art and jewelry stores, so I likes having a different shopping buddy :-) Also, my dad and I went to see the Mission and then the History museum. The mission was a pretty impressive building-- and I didn't know that they still use it today as a church and a library. I especially enjoyed the planetarium they had at the museum, and our presenter asked my dad if he wanted to work there! Apparently it's hard to find people well versed in cosmology (I can't find anything in the night sky except for Orion).

We were all able to tour the campus, and Charles showed off his office (and the view!). I also took them to the wharf and we got to see the ocean and look at all the gift shops. I think they had a good week despite not feeling 100%.

I'm glad my parents came the week that they did, because on the 2nd, a forest fire started just up the mountain. Charles and I saw it when driving to the book store, just a little red dot on the mountain side. Since then it has grown quite a bit. Our power went out on Wednesday, and has been iffy ever since. Our cable was out all day Thursday and most of Friday. I guess I can kind of understand. At the bank on Thursday we got a call from the fire department-- our power would go off that evening since the fire was below the power lines. Needless to say-- closing the bank was exciting. The power kept hiccuping, we had to balance the vault as quickly as we could, before the power shut off. And the sky-- most afternoons the wind blows the smoke towards the coast. The sky turn a reddish brown color, and the sunlight barely gets through. The light is very yellow and big clumps of black and white ash fall from the sky. It's like an apocalypse zone. I just hope that the fire department gets this fire under control soon. Oh, and that the bank doesn't burn down; that would be nice, too.