Hello Friends,

I just wanted to let all of you know that I am going to be taking a break for a week or so while I get my last writing assignment done.

There is also a whole lot of other stuff going on. The Carr Fire in Redding, CA, was only about 40 miles away from us. However, it didn’t reach the downtown area or the city itself, just the outskirts. Unfortunately, we do know people who have lost their homes or are still evacuated. So it has been a very scary week here.

Our daughter was supposed to have this whole past week off since last Wednesday. But she got home that night and had to leave to work a fire camp (she is NOT a firefighter) with her crew on Sunday morning. The fire they are at is near Susanville and Eagle Lake. It is much smaller and not spreading as fast as the Carr fire. That one spread very rapidly overnight and has burned over 98,000 acres so far. The good news is that for now, it is 20% contained.

There have been five deaths that they know of. One was a firefighter, one was a bulldozer operator, and one was a great-grandmother with her two great-grandchildren. They were 4 and 5 years old. It was very tragic.

Somehow I have managed to keep working on my assignment but it feels slow-going now. I still think I will make my deadline, though, which is August 15th.

But I do not have any new artwork in the works at the moment. I probably won’t be starting any for another week or so. I just wanted you to know I didn’t fall off the face of the earth! And I will answer comments and questions on this post.

Have a wonderful day, and give someone you love a big hug! 🙂