The goats opened up my view tremendously since the brush was at least six feet high. This area is now a popular lookout where, on a clear day, you can see all across San Diego County, the Pacific Ocean, islands, and even into Mexico.  Tuesday, October 23, 2007 was quite a different view: 

The fire photo above was taken by a Deputy Sheriff while we were out of town.  We were on our way home from vacationing in North Carolina.  Friends were helping our son Nathan, evacuate our horses, then he drove our motor home off the mountain packed with photo albums and keepsakes.  We changed planes in Dallas when I got the call that those wonderful fire fighters stopped the fire on the other side of the road.  From what I understand, a very successful back burn was set right there where the goats had been, and the raging fire was kept off the top of the Mountain.  Having the goats graze on about 10 acres turned out to be a tremendous investment for the County and all of us.   

After taking the photo above showing the burned area right up to the road, I turned around and took this next one showing our home.  That is only our fall colors on the trees and I am amazed that the only fire damage I see from the house is the little bit of burned grass around those rocks where the goats had such a nice feed.  The trees all still look beautiful.

The generator operated the phone system since the power is expected to be out through January.  That is the big phone transmitter there on the right and in the distance, above our house, you can see the County cell towers.  These were important saves for the County, the infrastructure of the Mountain, and our family!

Don stayed at our place with all the drama of keeping 17 horses happy, helping neighbors with generators, and downed trees and hot showers.   He helped move the last of the Christian Conference Center horses to our turnout for a few days.  As they were loading them in the trailers, two horses refused to load.  One of our friends who also enjoys jogging, Dutch Bergman, took reins in each hand and jogged those horses and the camp's billy goat up a couple miles to our house.

As one of the most fortunate evacuees ever, I benefited from the generous hospitality of good friends who manage the Lake Henshaw Resort. It was very comfortable in our RV, with a beautiful view of Lake Henshaw and the Mountain, shared with others in the same situation. The morning I took this photo, so much of the smoke had cleared.  The generator was  running, my Verizon card was plugged in for internet access, cell phone worked great and I enjoyed (really!) a self-heating dinner from the Red Cross.   

After nine days, the roads were open and we were allowed back on the mountain.  Don moved our RV to the city where I stayed for another 9 days until the phones were working and I clicked my heals together three times when able to go home again.

We are very sorry for the owners of the 14 homes and cabins that were lost in the fire on the South Grade, East Grade and a wonderful tree house on Nate Harrison Grade. In some of those areas, 20,000 acres burned in just two hours. So many people also had their land burn with such a great loss of trees and wildlife in our 49,000 acre fire.
There is a tremendous amount of recovery, restoring, rebuilding and erosion control ahead of us.  Efforts are already in the works for neighbors helping neighbors, working together in our communities and the others impacted by the fires of 2007.

The two fire and snow photos above were taken from the lookout across from our home.  The wind was blowing the snow on December 8th--not smoke, this time, and you can see how far down the goats had eaten.  That clearing made it so much easier to control the fire -- many thanks to God, all the fire fighters, and on State Park Road, those goats.