Update on this. Apparently it was a structure fire. Firefighters have gotten it under control, and they brought in helicopters with water buckets to soak the area as a precaution. Had this happened early last week with the winds, likely would have been a very different result. It’s a heavily timbered area. Thanks to all the first responders out there!
Seriously. Closed my Twitter a year ago, Instagram 6 months ago and deleted my Facebook account, which I'd had since the mid-2000s when it was a college thing, about 6 weeks ago. Told my family if they wanted to "share" something with me to do it over email, the phone, or in person.
Haven't missed it one iota.
Also, haven't heard from anyone in my extended family since.
www.portlandoregon.gov
It's kinda strange when you see stuff like this on TV news you tend to feel really bad for the people involved and in the back of your mind all you can say is thank God it wasn't me. Of course the news media works hard to find some whiney cry baby and a few big eyed little kids to tug at your heart strings but that's not the real picture. Meeting my neighbors for the first time yesterday jokes like, that'll buff out, Love what you've done with the place and whose you decorator? were common ice breakers. Most are just taking it in stride, the spilt milk thing. Even those big eyed little kids are pretty tough and are doing pretty good with it. It's a pain in the butt for sure and going forward it's going to be a pain in the butt for a while, I'm guessing. Everyone say's "It's just stuff" and that really hits home when it's you. You realize that you really didn't care as much about about that stuff as you thought you did. Like my my daughter who lost her house told me with a smile. "It kinda sucks loosing everything but on the other hand, I get all new stuff now." We were joking about all the ratty furniture and all sorts of junk we had been putting off getting rid of because it was a big hassle to deal with getting rid of it. Now it's gone, no problem. What I miss most is the 18 quarts of applesauce, 12 half gallon jars of pickles, countless jars of jams and jellies, all the frozen bags of green beans, corn, swiss chard and spinach and all the pumpkins and squash ready to be harvested in the garden. Stuff I had a hand in creating. Didn't have any wild game in the freeze yet, other than a couple of packages of trout, so at least I didn't loose any of that. It's like what my doctor said when he told me I had prostate cancer "This is just another thing in life you have to deal with" That's all this is, just another thing in life to deal with, same as we all have been doing all our lives.
Sure have to love your attitude sir! Hoping the best for you and your family. As they say, "you've got a LONG row to hoe". Best of luck with all!
