Fires, Cancer, Plan #2

Citrus Heights, CA – Sister’s House

There are SO MANY pictures of the fires in Napa, Santa Rosa, and down in LA…but this one is the most dramatic.  This is the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa, with the top picture from Google Earth, and the bottom picture taken after the fire went blazing through on Sunday/Monday.  (click on it and it gets bigger)  The fires came so quick, with such fury…listening to the stories of people telling how they got out in the nick of time…how neighbors woke them up and they had 2 minutes to grab things…and then there is the story about Sara and Charles Rippey.  Charles was 100, Sara 98…they met in Elementary School 90 years ago.  They did not get out of their house, and though they slept in separate rooms, Charles tried to get to Sara’s room before the fire consumed their house and them.  Their son was content that they at least died together, he knew they would have liked that, though probably not from smoke and fire.

Much of Northern California is under a fire watch or extreme fire watch…including the Yosemite area.  This has changed our plans completely…though we are not yet sure what plan #2 is going to be yet, but I do have some ideas.  We are in no hurry…would sure like to have some rain come and soak the state again, but there is none in the foreseeable future, though the winter is suppose to have normal precipitation from what I have read. As we come up with plan #2, we will let you know.

Above is a picture of mom (right) visiting with Marcia and my Aunt Florence (dad’s brother’s wife.)  Well, mom was diagnosed with Lymphoma back in 1998 (give or take a year).  Two doctors told her that some day, it would be back.  Here we are about 20 years later…and it was time for extensive tests again.  I took her last week for blood tests, doctor’s appointment, and then a CT Scan.  The GOOD news came on Monday…the CT Scan shows no abnormities, and the blood tests are fine outside of her high sugar readings due to her diabetes.  (Perhaps I should put her on Skruffy’s diet!)  Now with that behind us…time to formulate plan 2….

F is for Fall and Family and …

Citrus Heights, CA – Sister’s House

Fall and Family get together for a Family Get Together…hard to beat that!  It has been many years since everyone of my 3 brothers (all older than I) and 2 sisters (both younger than I) and mom and dad all got together…and unfortunately, due to a wedding in the Santa Cruz area where one of my brother’s was the caterer, my brother Bob (#2 in age) was unable to be here for it.  However…we got him locked in to catering the Burdick Christmas Party in December…and the oldest brother (Jim) has committed to be there…so this Fall Party was just a prelude to the family getting together. 

   

Some of the family was inside, others outside, with many going back and forth.  The two pictures above include two ladies who are 190 years old collectively!.  Here is another picture of them to the right.  Fern is in the Blue sitting in the wheelchair…she is my Aunt Florence’s mother, and is 95 years old.  Arny’s mother, Euleda, is sitting in the big chair…she turns 95 in December. Toss in Mom and Dad who are on the couch, and well...that takes us back to the time of Columbus!  😜

I won’t bore everyone who is not family with the names and relationships of everyone else…let’s just say that we all had a good time, great food, and we are looking forward to the December gathering where both Burdick families will get together at a local church that is typically used for this type of gathering. 

Got an email from Yosemite Pines RV Park (Resort).  We stayed there back in 2012.  Yosemite is “ONE” of my favorite all time National Parks…and I have been debating with myself if we should go back there.  We talked about it a few days ago, and with the email coming yesterday, it seems like it is the thing to do.  The email was for a 3 for 2 deal…3 nights for the price of 2, October only.  “IF” we go, it will probably be next week. 

Stay tuned…