Not a single trick or treater tonight, live or virtual.  Maybe the headless flaming demons on their flying seahorses really have decimated humanity as we know it.

The Reverse 911 call came at around 3ish this morning.  About twenty minutes later the firemen started doing their door to door while I was carrying what would be the last load to Nissantruck.  There wasn’t much smoke, but there was a pretty intense glow coming from the far side of the hill where I took last Monday’s picture.

Back at the Mission Hills Evac Center now.  The first reports here were that new winds got the Lake Hodges part of the San Pasqual Fire to flare up again, and it’s currently working its way north through Escondido.  The southern half of the town is pretty much gone, including Casa.  Cable is dead here; power is going on and off, except for some lights attached to a generator by the door.

[via BlackBerry]

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Now that things are settling back to normal in San Diego, clients seem to be wanting to get caught up on everything.  Almost everything.  Certainly not pay invoices.

The BlackBerry is showing it’s contempt of mandated correctness by refusing to accept that Daylight Savings Time didn’t change (is it starting or ending?) last weekend.  Love the attitude – it proves this is My BlackBerry, even if I am getting a little tired of resetting the clock every morning.

Alone in Casa for a few days while Spinner plays astronaut with the kiddies out near the fire zone.  Not sure which movie reference to use.  Captain Kirk and the redshirt fifth-graders?  Lieutenant Ripley and the various doomed crewmates?  Obi-Wan and the starstuck acolyte(s) probably fits best, even if it isn’t as dramatic as I’d like. 

Good article in the Union-Tribine on San Diego’s Wild Animal Park and the efforts to evacuate the animals, including a number of endangered species under their protection.  Six hundred acres were scorched at the park, but none of the public areas were reported damaged.

Among the endangered species threatened by the fire were five California and two Andean condors housed in the breeding facility.

They were also the hardest to capture, Mace said. The birds have 10-foot wingspans and a bad attitude.

Mace said the birds were anxious because of the fire and disliked being chased around their enclosure by pesky humans.

The article includes a good photo at the end showing how close the fire got to the public areas.  This is a self-portrait taken overlooking that same valley last November. 

After a day of decompression and complacency, the wind has shifted bringing the smoke back into our neighborhood, and the noise pollution is off the scale as the trees and brush separating Casa from the neighboring transformer station (no Nala, not Transformers) get removed.  Also pissed at myself for breaking some glass while unpacking from Monday’s evacuation.  Is drinking before noon really that wrong?

Both the destruction and close calls are becoming more photogenic as the smoke clears and travel restrictions are lifted. Driving around town it becomes clear that harsh lines had to be drawn when choosing where to fight and where to give ground.  Five new photographs here were taken this afternoon and are all from within one mile of Casa.

Police presence in this part of Escondido is sharply reduced from this morning, but a lone National Guardsman was stationed at the site of one burned out house, and firetrucks lone and in convoys were on the move on every street.

A few little bits from here and there, kinda like the ash all over my balcony:

• Nice article by NBC’s Martin Savidge refuting the reckless comparisons between the SoCal fires and Katrina.
• While out and about this morning, I saw at least a dozen motorcycle police officers blocking off streets and driveways in anticipation of The Great Tourist and his entourage.  I wonder what else they could have been doing.
• One third to one half of the nation’s avocados are gone, possibly for years to come if the trees are destroyed as well as the fruit.  Better enjoy that guacamole dip while you can afford it.

The Presidential Helicopter Overflight just passed to the east.  Ironically there was too much haze to actually see anything.

Got in a short swim today as part of the effort to get back to having a life.  Not here, but at an indoor pool I know, and it felt really, really good.

Great evacuation post by Clayfin at Six Foot and Perfect.