Here's a picture of the charred south side of San Bruno Mountain. The fire line actually went even lower on the mountain (which means the fire got even closer to us!) than I thought. Yikes!

Good Idea
This may be something all parents out there should do.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/06/24/national/a213405D63.DTL&tsp=1

Good job Madelyn! Smart thinking Jessica.

Another Close Call
We had another close call last night when a wildfire broke out on San Bruno Mt. at about 7:20pm. While the grass fire that broke out on May 21st burnt 7 acres and was contained within a couple hours, last night’s fire grew to 5-alarm and burnt over 200 acres. It was declared under control at midnight but full containment wasn’t declared until 11am this morning, 16 hours after it started. Cause of the fire is still undetermined.

Our house is about 0.5 to 1 mile from the fire site. We had a clear vantage point of it from our kitchen window and our backyard. Here is a picture I took from the backyard. You can see the fire outlining the mountain ridge.

Fortunately for us and especially for all the people in the surrounding neighborhoods, weather conditions last night favored firefighting efforts. Relative humidity was high and winds were considerably calm. With winds blowing to the east and our house being to the south and west, we were confident we were not in the path of the fire. Actually, RF was more confident than me. I was a bit nervous to be honest. Just one wild gust of wind can blow an ember any which way to spark another fire totally unexpectedly. Thank goodness that didn’t happen.

Here is a SF Chronicle report of this fire and all the other fires in the Bay Area over the weekend:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/23/BAS011DN5B.DTL&tsp=1

Every generation is probably going to have a different version of this. Comparing generations may give insights on how the country progressed, or in some (most?) cases, regressed.

Here’s a look at what the folks in 1955 said:


- I'll tell you one thing, if things keep going the way they are, it's going to be impossible to buy a week's groceries for $20.00.

- Have you seen the new cars coming out next year? It won't be long before $2,000.00 will only buy a used one.

- If cigarettes keep going up in price, I'm going to quit. A quarter a pack is ridiculous.

- Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging a dime just to mail a letter?

- If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.

- When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 29 cents a gallon. Guess we'd be better off leaving the car in the garage.

- Kids today are impossible. Those duck tail hair cuts make it impossible to stay groomed. Next thing you know, boys will be wearing their hair as long as the girls.

- I'm afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.

- I read the other day where some scientist thinks it's possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.

- Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $75,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn't surprise me if someday they'll be making more than the President.

- I never thought I'd see the day all our kitchen appliances would be electric. They are even making electric typewriters now.

- It's too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet.

- It won't be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.

- Marriage doesn't mean a thing any more, those Hollywood stars seem to be getting divorced at the drop of a hat.

- I'm afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign business.

- Thank goodness I won't live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to congress.

- The drive-in restaurant is convenient in nice weather, but I seriously doubt they will ever catch on.

- No one can afford to be sick anymore, at $35.00 a day in the hospital it's too rich for my blood.

- If they think I'll pay 50 cents for a hair cut, forget it.

Vietnam
Although I didn’t dare to the ride a bike in Vietnam when I visited almost two years ago, I can relate to a lot of the things touched upon by this article. The descriptions of the sceneries, of the people, of the lifestyle along with accompanying pictures, all brought back images from my trip. Reading this article brings the whole trip back to life. Enjoy.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/06/15/TRFB10URQ6.DTL

What If?
As most of you know, my husband and I purchased our home about two months ago in April. We actually didn’t mean to purchase a home that early. Our original plan was to get married in January, go on our honeymoon in May, then start looking for a home in June. But in February we got teased by the declining prices and decided to jump the gun on our home purchase. By April we found and purchased our current home. At that time we heard all sorts of opinions on the timing of our purchase. “Buy now…it’s a buyer’s market.” “Wait a little longer…prices are still falling.” Yadi Yada. After 2 months, we sometimes wonder “WHAT IF we had waited another two months like we originally planned?” With home prices continuing to drop, would we have gotten a better deal now? That is hard to say. But both my husband and I are very happy with our decision to buy at the time we did and here is why.

The real estate bubble started to burst last August. By April of this year the market had already accumulated a large inventory of unsold homes. With that, prices had already gone down significantly. It’s true prices are still falling as we speak, but how much speculating can one do? We are not property flippers looking for the best deal. Like many middle class workers out there, we’re merely normal citizens who were bitterly priced out of the real estate market since the early 2000s but finally saw a glimmer of hope as the market waned. By April, prices were finally affordable enough for us to consider paying mortgages, property taxes, and whatever expenses that may come with homeownership.

Since the down turn of the real estate market, the country has been on pins and needles about a looming recession. This led the Feds to slash interest rates by 3% in the matter of months. This was another important factor to drive us to buy - interest rates were lower than they had been in a long time. So at that point in time, we enjoyed the benefits brought on by the combined factors of lower home prices and lower interest rates.

Then little did anyone (including us) could predict, mortgage rates have actually been steadily rising again since April. Today the rate is 0.875% higher than the day we locked in our mortgage rate. Do not under estimate the difference of 0.875%. This equates to $235 more a month in mortgage payments. That’s a significant amount.

To analyze if we made a good decision to purchase our home two months ago compared to purchasing one today, let’s put these two factors together - decreasing home prices and rising interest rates. With mortgage rates 0.875% higher than two months ago, a comparable deal today would require a purchase price that is 10% lower than our purchase price two months ago. I don’t know what the statistical numbers are but from what I see in the market nowadays, there isn’t a comparable house similar to ours that is selling for 10% cheaper. Houses in our area that are listed for that price level all require a substantial amount of work to bring up to par. So in retrospect, we made a wise decision to purchase our home two months ago versus now. Versus one year from now? Who knows. The bottom line is we are happy with our purchase and we thank all the forces that came into play to make it happen.

Call Me Skeptical
I was at Costco again yesterday. Although I wasn’t there for gas (I learned my lesson already), I couldn’t help but take a peak at their gas prices to compare. A gallon of regular unleaded went for $4.40 a gallon. Compared to $3.99 on May 27 (the last time I bought gas there), the price had gone up $0.41 in 2.5 weeks. 41 cents in 2 and a half weeks!! That’s beyond ridiculous. Call me skeptical, but I cannot ignore any suggestion of price fixing in the oil industry.

Miracle Baby
This is the kind of stories I like to read. The kind that leaves me smiling. The kind that leaves me to believe in miracles and hope.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/24999650/?GT1=43001