Looks like we may get a reprieve from this long nightmare

The fire by us has a name now (probably as of yesterday or the day before). It is being called the Santiago Canyon Fire. At this point, the authorities are saying it is about 50% contained. The worst of it seems to have settled over the Foothill Ranch, Modjeska Canyon, and Trabuco Canyon. It is no longer aiming at Irvine.

Soot and ash covers everything outside. The sky here is gray-brown. My lungs are tight and feel like they have lost elasticity. I am staying indoors for the most part.

I had to go to Trader Joe's today because we were running out of milk. It was like a ghost town in there. No one is going out, except for going to work or school. I have never seen the shopping areas so deserted.

The school district has stopped all outdoor activities for the school children, until the air quality improves. All of the kids have ants in their pants, because they have no outlet for their natural energy. Meanwhile, it seems as if all of the parents are about to run out of their energy reserves, due to the stress of this whole thing.

All of our eyes are bloodshot, I am on "firestorm overload". I can only watch about 2 minutes of the coverage now without wanting to throw bricks at the television. Thankfully the local affiliates of the major networks have stopped the 24/7 coverage of it.

I have a low grade headache, I am sure it is from reduced oxygen in the air.

Yesterday it got up to 99 degrees outside, today it is 95. I cannot imagine how hot the inside of all that firefighting gear gets when the ambient temperature is this hot outside.

Many of us are sleep deprived. I know I am. I do not so much sleep, as I just collapse at the end of the day and spend a few hours unconscious, only to wake up, not feeling rested at all, to get up and do it all over again.

One tiny sliver of a good thing in all this...I have not had to bend over to pick up all the flyers and business cards at my front door this week. Apparently the flyer runners do not work during wildfires.

I know there are hundreds of thousands of people who have it a whole lot worse than I do in this situation. I feel deep empathy for them. I also feel extremely grateful that we were spared the nightmare of losing everything.