I consider myself to be a Texas Girl. Up until a little less than 2 years ago, I had lived there most of my life. Yes, it's hot there & it takes like 10 hours to drive all the way across it, but I like it... in fact, I love it. It's home. After living here in California for almost 2 years, I have made some observations about this west coast state... some of which I love and others that I get rather annoyed with at times.  :)

**Fires... Not just one little fire that gets put out easily in one day. HUGE fires that last for days and spread with the wind and turn the ground, and anything else in their way, completely black. October seems to be the main month of fire season. Fire #2 of the season, is currently blazing out on Camp Pendleton... around this time last year, fires # 1- 10 were all blazing together at the same time.
**Weather... it's pretty much beautiful here, all the time. It gets a little hot sometimes, but, being from Texas, it's pretty great to hear people complain about the 90 degree weather (that only happens for like 2 weeks during the summer!). :) Most apartments don't have air conditioning, which we were concerned about when we first moved in, but now I realize that it's not such a big deal. This week it has started getting cold and breezy at night. Love it!
**Grocery Stores... are STINKING EXPENSIVE!! (well, so is everything else, but seriously!?) And, of course, there is no HEB. :( bummer. At most grocery stores you have to have a stupid little card to get a slight discount on things. But you don't have the pay for the card, so you can get them from every little grocery store in town, and there's really no incentive to shop at any particular one... so why bother with the cards? seriously!
**Church... is different here, but I love it! Our experience with our church has been amazing. The emphasis on community is huge, and we have a cool group of people our age who have quickly become great friends. The best thing about my church is that it's challenging. It's not just a "come here once or twice a week and then move on" kind of place. (totally not implying that all churches in Texas are like that either, don't worry.) So it has been really cool to see my faith growing and being challenged in ways it never has before. ...but, there's no Sunday School here... which I kind of miss. ;)
**The Ocean... which I only get to see a much browner/less wavy version of in Texas, maybe once a year, is AMAZING. By far, my favorite thing about Cali is the ocean. Anytime I want I can make the 5 minute trip to the beach, and even in the winter, I can still go walk along it and soak up the sun. It is so beautiful. Some of my greatest memories are from the just north or south of the Oceanside Pier (including it being the place we got engaged before I even moved out here). And I am definitely going to miss this aspect of creation that I have been able to be a part of for the past 2 years.
**People... In general, people are a lot more "liberal" here. Sometimes it's kind of wierd being close to the most conservative person I know! lol. (Luckily we live right next to a Marine Corp base, and there are people from all over the country, otherwise I might feel grossly out numbered. ;) ) Not saying it's a bad thing, just different from what I'm used to in oh, so conservative Texas. :) I like to tease one of my co-workers, saying I'm glad my desk isn't in the same office as his liberal desk, and that I feel sorry for my friend Jennie who has to listen to his support of _______ all day long. (insert name of the presidential candidate you KNOW he supports here... but I'm not even going to go there right now.)  hahahaha ;) But, at the end of the day, he and his wife are some of Brian and my closest friends, and people who we absolutely trust and respect - liberal opinions, and all. :)
(and this is not meant to offend anyone! I'm just making observations here, and what I said goes for all my friends out here (and back in Texas)... you know I love you and I respect your opinions - whether they are the same as mine, or different... seriously, some of my best friends have a far different opinion than I do, and that's ok. :) )
**and finally, Running... running is one of my favorite things. And running in Cali is just so much more delightful than running in Texas. :) The morning air is in the 60's, the humidity is low, the smell of the ocean is all around (well, most of the time... sometimes it's the smell of the stupid manure they use as fertilizer for everything! ...insert barfing noise here...), and the view is beautiful. I have run 2 half marathons since living in California (the most I had run before leaving Texas was a 5K), and I love it! Hopefully I will be able to keep on running when I move back to Tejas... but, oh the humidity. ;)

So, these, among many other things not mentioned, are a few of my observations about Cali... a state I have truly grown to love, and will truly miss (well, mostly) when I move back to Texas.

[MSNBC]

[Reuters]

We just had a fire close by on Camp Pendleton last Wednesday, but today I got word at work that there was a huge fire by the Country Store on Camp Pendleton. This is just about 4 miles from our house, so I obviously headed home quickly. This thing looks horrendous folks, and while the car IS packed up and Rudy's dog food and medications are prepped, we're just sitting here waiting to see if our housing area may be evacuated. There ARE some mandatory evacuations (Papagallo/Alexandrine/Pilgrim Creek area and now Sleeping Indian Rd.--El Camino High School is an evacuation center on Rancho del Oro), but so far we have not been asked to leave, so I guess blogging about this is a way for me to keep busy. Does that make sense? It's mostly been a case of 'hurry up and wait' and it's the waiting that's making me nutso. While the winds HAVE moved the smoke away from us and (fingers crossed) things are looking "okay" for us, any SoCal resident will tell you that all it takes is one little ember in these Santa Ana winds and POOF, another fire.

I'm trying to upload pictures and videos and will try to update information on the fire. Sadly, one thing SoCal seems to have NOT learned from the horrific fires we've had over the past 3 years is that there MUST be better up-to-the-minute information for residents. Pretty much the ONLY way to stay up-to-date is to read the comment sections from local newspapers.

Off to upload stuff. Please keep this area in your thoughts everyone...thanks! :)

The following pictures were taken in the 5 o'clock hour and at 6:30PM.
[gallery]

These videos were taken in the 5 o'clock hour.

And can you believe THIS video? Oh well, it made us chuckle a bit. :)

Taken at California State University, Northridge and parking lot across CSUN dorms.

AVISO DE VIENTO E INCENDIO PARA MEXICALI
CENTRO DE TORMENTAS INVERNALES METMEX
14:30 TIEMPO DEL CENTRO DE MÉXICO LUNES 13 DE OCTUBRE 2008               

METMEX EMITE UN AVISO DE INCENDIO Y VIENTO PARA LA CIUDAD DE MEXICALI BAJA CALIFORNIA... DEBIDO A UNA ALTA PRESIÓN UBICADA SOBRE NEVADA... ARIZONA Y CALIFORNIA SE ESTAN PRESENTANDO CONDICIONES PARA LOS VIENTOS DE SANTA ANA... LAS CONDICIONES SERÁN DE UNA BAJA HUMEDAD Y AMBIENTE SECO POR LO QUE SE MANTIENE BANDERA ROJA PARA EL ÁREA... ESPECIALMENTE PARA LA ZONA OESTE DE SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO POR LO QUE INVITAMOS A TOMAR PRECAUCIÓN A LAS PERSONAS QUE CIRCULAN EN LA MEXICO 2...

Redactó                                                                                                                                                           MetMEX                                                                                                                                                       Invernal                                                                                                                                                    Fabrizio Sandoval

In both fires the victims had non-working smoke detectors in their homes. 

We indicated in yesterday's post that a smoke alarm is often a family's sole defense against fire.  A non-working smoke detector is useless.

Many people allow their smoke detectors to go dead because they have failed to change the batteries.  Other people take-out the batteries when the smoke detector has gone-off once too often while cooking.  These are recipes for disaster.

Here are two recommendations from FDNY on keeping your detector working:

• test your alarm monthy; and
• change the battery twice a year regularly, such as when you change your clocks.

In a larger home, you should have two smoke detectors.  One should be near the kitchen.  The second should be near the bedrooms.  Multi-level homes should smoke detectors on separate levels.

It also appears that yesterday's blaze in Brooklyn was caused by a candle in the next apartment.  Unwatched and unprotected candles are very dangerous. 

  Great care should be used with candles, such as

• be sure that there is nothing flammable near the candle, such as drapes or curtains which can be blown to the flame;
• make sure that there is nothing flammable on the table where the candle is placed and that the candle is placed on a non-flammable surface or tray
• if you use decorative candles, use the ones which are enclosed in a glass; and
• train your children that candles are dangerous.

We do not recommend the use of candles except for religious purposes. 

We had a case where a client was using a candle in his bedroom on his night table.  A cloth covering the table caught fire, and the client was burned while trying to extinguish the fire.

If you have been injured in a fire, please feel free to call to me at 800-244-9313 for a free consultation.

Mark E. Seitelman, 10/13/08, www.seitelman.com.

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Abahlali baseMjondolo (KwaZulu-Natal & Western Cape)
Landless Peoples' Movement (KwaZulu-Natal & Gauteng)
Rural Network (KwaZulu-Natal)
Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign (Western Cape)
South African National Civics Organisations (eThekwini region)

The City Wide Shack Fire Summit called by Abahlali baseMjondolo was initially scheduled to be held in the Foreman Road settlement. It had to be moved to the Kennedy Road settlement after the Foreman Road settlement burnt down on 13 September leaving thousands destitute and homeless and Thembelani Khweshube dead.

The Summit was attended by shack dwellers from all over Durban and from various organisations. It was also attended by Abahlali baseMjondolo members in Cape Town and representatives from our comrades in the Poor People's Alliance - the Landless Peoples' Movement, the Rural Network and the Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign. SANCO also participated in the event. This statement was written and approved by the four organisations united in the Poor Peoples' alliance and is also supported by the eThekwini region of SANCO.

A State of Emergency

Statement after the City Wide Shack Fire Summit on 22 September

The day before the shack fire summit we held a mass prayer to mourn all those who have died in the fires. We mourned our comrades from Kennedy Road, Foreman Road, Cato Crest, Isipingo, Clairwood, Sea Cow Lake, Kimberly, Ermelo, Cape Town and Johannesburg.

Our struggles start from the fact that we are all human beings. We cannot allow the experts to define us, we define our own status. We define the situation that we face and how we choose to face it. Our summit was held so that we could define ourselves and our situation and then begin an open and public discussion amongst all shack dwellers' organisations on how to defend ourselves and our communities from the fires.

The Abahlali baseMjondolo report on shack fires shows that there is an average of ten shack fires a day in South Africa and a fire almost every other day in Durban. Last year 20 people died in shack fires in Durban alone. In the five biggest cities in South Africa an average of 200 people die in shack fires every year.

If the rich were being burnt like this in their suburbs it would be taken as a crisis for the whole country. But because it is the poor that are suffering this crisis is taken as if there is no crisis, as if it is just normal for poor people to burn.

People loose everything in shack fires. They loose money, clothes, documents, medicine - everything. Children that loose uniforms can't go to school. People that lose ID books can't get grants and pensions. People that lose HIV treatment are sometimes considered to have defaulted. People sometimes lose jobs and have to drop out of studies. Children are haunted by nightmares. They can no longer feel safe in their own homes. Sometimes parents have to move to outbuildings that they can't afford or to accept relocation to the human dumping grounds outside the cities because their children are too scared to sleep in the shacks.

We are human beings. Our lives matter as much as anyone else's life. Our communities matter as much as anyone else's community. Therefore these fires are a crisis for the whole country. They are a state of emergency. They must be stopped by all means possible. If the government and the rich are not willing to recognise our humanity and continue to fail to recognise that shack fires are a crisis for the whole country then we will have to force the government and the rich to recognise the humanity of the poor.

The causes of the fires are clear. The fires happen because shack dwellers live close together in small shacks made of plastic and cardboard and because we are forced to rely on candles for light, paraffin stoves for cooking and braziers for warmth.

The politicians who say that we burn because we are drunk or that we burn because we set the fires ourselves so that we can be prioritised for housing insult our intelligence and dignity. Their failure to spend even one week living in a shack so that they can start to learn something about the conditions in which the poor must live indicates their contempt for the poor. It is clear that they know nothing about our lives and communities. You cannot be pro-poor if you are not with the poor – finished and klaar.

We reject those government officials like the notorious Lennox Mabaso who say that the solution to shack fires is that shack dwellers must be educated. This is no different to those who say that the poor get cholera because they have not been educated to wash their hands when of course the real problem is that the poor do not have access to safe water. The solution to shack fires is not the education of the poor – it is the education of the rich so that they can learn to recognise the humanity of the poor. The long term solution to shack fires is land and housing for all. The short term solution is fire hydrants, access roads for fire trucks, more taps, better building materials, fire breaks in the settlements, good support from the fire brigade and, most of all, electricity.

Fires are also a major problem in the rural areas. They are just one of the many problems that come from the fact that democracy has not reached the rural areas.

The situation is different in different cities. In Durban shack dwellers now, after a long struggle and many arrests and beatings, get very good service from the fire brigade. In Johannesburg they must still fight the fires on their own. In Durban shack dwellers have been denied legal access to electricity since 2001 when a decision was taken to stop the electrification of shacks. In Cape Town and Johannesburg shacks are still electrified.

But everywhere all communities connect themselves to electricity in order to ensure their own safety. Everywhere the government considers community organised connections to be illegal. Everywhere they send in the police to de-electrify people. Often this is violent and people are arrested. Everywhere people just reconnect themselves the next day. It is clear that if the government cannot or will not give poor people the electricity that they need to be safe then the poor will have to do it themselves. It is clear that the people are already doing this and that they will not stop until the government gives them electricity.

It is clear that the 2001 decision to stop electrifying shacks in Durban is unacceptable and completely inhuman. Many people feel that shack dwellers are deliberately being left to burn in Durban so that they will be forced to accept relocation to the human dumping grounds outside the city.

Everywhere people are connecting themselves to taps in order to ensure their own safety and to respect their time, especially women's time. People will not stop this unless the government gives them enough taps.

In Durban Abahlali baseMjondolo is negotiating with the Municipality to get access roads and fire hydrants. These negotiations are very much welcome but we need these things for everyone.

In Cape Town people have often got building materials from the government after fires. In Durban this happened for the first time after the Kennedy Road fire. All settlements need to get good quality building materials after fires.

Everywhere it is clear that shack fires, and floods too, are being misused to force people into the notorious 'transit camps' or 'temporary relocation areas'. This started in Joe Slovo in Cape Town but now it is happening everywhere. This is a way of exploiting the suffering of the poor, a suffering caused by government neglect, in order to force the poor out of the cities. It must be resisted.

Everywhere government comes with top down ready made solutions after fires. This is unacceptable. Each community must decide its own future. Councillors do not speak for communities. Communities must be able to think and speak for themselves.

In Durban there are many reports that support provided to communities after fires are being allocated on a party political basis. This is not democracy. This is unacceptable.

It was noted that the eThekwini Municipality failed to attend the City Wide Shack Fire Summit. It is clear that they are not yet serious about shack fires or democratic development.

It was noted that some big and very rich NGOs that like to talk for the poor but are very scared to talk to the poor failed to attend the City Wide Shack Fire Summit. It is clear that they are not really serious about partnerships with democratic poor people's organisations that are only accountable to their members.

It was noted that everywhere the councillors are undermining the people and doing nothing but trying to build their own power over the people.

It was noted that some left NGOs and academics continue to behave like councillors.

It was noted that some pastors like power too much.

It was noted that middle class people also drink and knock things over.

It was noted that the government will have to be forced to recognise the humanity of the poor.

It was noted that capitalism is a war on the poor.

It was noted that a living solidarity between poor people's movements can strengthen the struggle of the poor.

Two suggestions were made for a way forward:

1. All of the movement present organise one march every month until the fires are recognised as an emergency and the settlements electrified.

2. All of the movements present engaged on a country wide defiance campaign in which people openly connect to electricity and taps in the name of dignity, safety and justice until the government admits that the poor are also human beings and should also be safe from fire.

Delegates will take these suggestions back to their movements where they will be discussed. Once everyone has had a chance to discuss these proposals, or if necessary to suggest new ones that should be discussed further, the way forward will be announced.

For more information and comment please contact:

Abahlali baseMjondolo: S'bu Zikode – 083 547 0474
Landless People's Movement: Maureen Mnisi – 082 337 4514
Rural Network: Rev. Mavuso – 072 279 2634
SANCO (eThekwini Region): Mabuyi Nhlumayo - 083 317 5811
Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign: Ashraf Casiem – 076 186 1408

To Hell With Shack Fires!

Sekwanele!

Alone we are weak. Together we are strong. All together we are the flood.

Also see:

Fire at XA Settlement AbM Western Cape Statement, 6 October, 2008
No more fires! No more evictions! The poor assert their right to the city!, Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign Press Statement, 21 September 2008
Slums Built on the Ashes of Apartheid, Sunday Tribune, 21 September 2008
Massive Fire Devastates the Foreman Road Settlement, 13 September 2008
A Big Devil in the Jondolos: A report on shack fires, 8 September 2008
Another Huge Fire Devastates the Kennedy Road Settlement 31 August 2008
Land & Housing: The burning issues Speech by S'bu Zikode at Diakonia, 28 August 2008
Armed De-electrification in the Motala Heights Settlement, 19 August 2008
Abahlali baseMjondolo eThekwini Calls for City Wide Shack Fires Summit, 8 August 2008

Això de les fires és el que normalment anomenaríem la Festa Major de la ciutat. Però a Girona, i depenent d'amb qui parlis, ho anomenaran Fires o Barraques. Normalment ho anomenen Fires els nens, els papes dels nens i els avis dels nens (per raon òbvies). Barraques és com ho anomenaria la "muchachada" de la província, la joventut sanota que durant tot l'any es deixa les peles (i el fetge) a la costa brava.

Tot comença quan s'instal·len els firaires a La Devesa. Allà copmences a veure els elements típics de les fires de tots els pobles: el "caballitus", les parades de xurros i menjars (poc recomanables si es té l'estómac delicadet), i els venedors de globus, "cachivaches" i demés xorradetes. Però si hi ha una cosa que defineix les Fires de Girona és l'enorme "noria" que et permet veure una panoràmica de la ciutat realment espectacular (si no t'importa passar fred durant una estona).

Poc després, Barraques ocupa tot el protagonisme. Ja sigui per aquells que busquen concerts, com per aquells que només busquen passar una bona estona, Barraques és un bon lloc per passar una nit de dissabte. Tot i això, tot l'ambient està cobert per una mena de boira permanent que al principi costa d'empassar, però que al final et permet veure tot l'ambient d'una manera més... feliç. Allà et trobes bàsicament tres tipus de persones: els que van a veure els concerts, els que van a veure amics i coneguts a qualsevol barraca que hi hagi, i els que van a beure. A beure molt. Si ets un jove d'esquerres, independentista o senzillament antisistema, aquest és "the place to be".

Amb tot això, quins són els meus records de tardor? Des de fa gairebé deu anys, passar més aviat fred, disfrutar d'un sopar amb la colla i veure la major concentració de joves que es pot veure a la ciutat. Però ja m'està bé. Què cony! Em sembla perfecte! I si és amb l'Anita, ja és immillorable.

Una última coseta: m'he activat un perfil pel blog a Google Analytics, a veure si m'aclaro una mica més amb les estadístiques.

Actualització: No es pot fer servir Google Analytics amb Wordpress. Ho podeu llegir aquí.

How do you know which flue type your house has? Before you can install a brand new gas fire, it is imperative that you have your chimney professionally tested by a CORGI registered chimney sweep. When your chimney has passed its inspection or the required work has been completed you will receive a safety certificate stating which type of flue you have. Simply take this certificate to your local gas fire showroom and their knowledgeable staff will be able to guide and advise you in choosing your perfect gas fire.

Des de ja fa uns quants anys el primer cap de setmana d'octubre es fa a la zona del Collsacabra la Fira del Llibre, cada any a un poble diferent (així no s'abrallen...), així doncs es van alternant: l'Esquirol, Tavertet i Rupit-Pruit . Aquest any li ha tocat a Rupit-Pruit.

Hi hem anat el dissabte, ja que el diumenge teniem el Triraid de Banyoles (un altre clàssic de principis de tardor, del qual podeu veure la crònica a l'apartat de RAIDS, al marge dret del blog--->).

Com que es fa en pobles petits i hi va molta gent sempre optem per deixar el cotxe i acostar-nos-hi amb btt o caminant. Aquest any ens han acompanyat la Lídia, la Laura, la Carla i la Marta i hem decidit fer l'aproximació a Rupit caminant pel cingle des del Far. Aquí us podeu baixar el mapa i l'altimetria de la ruta.

Ens ha fet molt bon temps, i encara sort! perquè la temperatura era baixa. Vam arribar-hi a les les 12 i vam atrevir-nos a llençar-nos per una tirolina, i dos cops que ho vam fer!

Un video que va fer en Pep mentre es tirava...

Sempre comprem algun llibre aquest any ha tocat un CD de la cartografia de la Cerdanya, o sigui que ja sabeu quina serà la propera excursioneta que us explicarem!

Oh the horror of having yet another person being stabbed in the city! This incident on the 500 blockof West 8thSt. at 120 am on October 03.  On top of the stabbing, the apartment stove caught fire from newspapers atop the burners during the scuffle!  AND, this person refused to press charges and cooperate with the police!  There were some interesting comments on this Erie Times News story [on their forum]. Among other points, that  some landlords are not doing due diligence in checking prospective tenants' histories and references and are interested solely in collecting their rents. That once "nice" neighborhoods are being brought down by these bad tenants and uninterested landlords.  This kind of thing makes the newly formed neighborhood watch even more critical to the area.  People are nervous and afraid to walk the street anymore. It is tragic.  Fortunately there are enough of us saying "ENOUGH" that we hope we can still turn this trend around and re-establish the "neighbor" in the word neighborhood.

On a slightly lighter note, unless you are taking OHL hockey very seriously... The horror and heartbreak of yet another loss for the Erie Otters last night versus London. London lead 5-0 in the first period, 5-1  in the second and the Otters launched a comeback in the third tying the game and sending it to overtime! But alas, a victory was not to be! In overtime, London scored to win the contest 6-5. It must have been quite a game for the 3,372 fans in attendance!

Oh, the Horror of the chill in my bones as the forty degree temperatures return! I dug out the gloves and hats and wore three layers of shirts this morning after rising! We spent a wonderful restful day out in the country at my brother's fifty+ acres-wandering the fields, watching the wildlife, laughing at Cricket, Sophie, and a sadly much older Clifford run and leap through the mown fields stopping on occasion to smell the grasses, nip at the bugs and explore the woodchuck holes! We harvested walnuts in the woods, Helped clear some brush from paths, picked some apples, and breathed in the fresh crisp air! AHHHH! It was grand!

today's quotes~ "The human race has only one really effective weapon and that is laughter." ~Mark Twain.

"Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused." ~Noah.

:-)

"All the great things are simple and many can be expressed in a single word: Freedom, Justice, Honor, Duty, Mercy, Hope."  ~Winston Churchill.

C'est fini.

Fire Damages WildFlower Pool House By Gary Stivers

 Sun Valley Company's Wildflower sauna and pool house caught fire sometime late Saturday night or early Sunday, September 27, doing severe damage to the mid-60s-era structure before the smell of smoke alerted emergency personnel in the City of Sun Valley half a mile away.                                                     "They followed the scent back to the source in fairly short order,"Sun Valley Fire Chief Jeff Carnes said. "They were out on Sun Valley Road by the entrance to the Horseman's Center when they smelled it."  

"Smoke –lots of smoke- was issuing out of the back of the building but it looked to me like it would be fairly easy to handle," Carnes recalled thinking as he topped Elkhorn Hill, "but after I spoke with the cops and they said the flames were just 20 feet from the end of the [residential] building, I called for mutual aid [from the Ketchum Fire Department]. We wanted KFD to stage their pumper at the old hospital."            Then Carnes arrived on the scene.  

 "My engine crew went in and found fire in one of the change rooms and knocked it down. They determined the main part of the fire was in the women's area, around the sauna. The building was built in the mid-60s by Bill Janss' crews [and older, earlier fire codes].

"We used four teams on it and got the fire out fairly quickly," Carnes said, almost smiling at the efficiency of modern fire science and his groups' organizational precision. "But when we pulled up the section of roof above the women's sauna, the fire came out at us. We foamed the daylights out of it. Our investigation showed the sauna heater to be the cause. It burned right in the women's sauna area. It was a textbook-perfect firefight," Carnes smiled. "We foamed it to death and there was no re-start."

Carnes showed reporters pictures of the 'alligatoring' of the roof joists. "It takes several hours of burning to make wood look like that," Carnes said. (See below.)

Carnes also recalled hearing something about the pool house from Sun Valley Company personnel earlier this year. 

"Sun Valley Company employees said they'd had some trouble with a heater in the pool house, how the sauna heater's 'high' switch wouldn't turn down and got too hot.'

"We've since learned the girl working there the previous day said something smelled funny as she was closing up last night. She looked around and then closed up.

"A neighbor walking around early Sunday morning said he smelled smoke but the clouds rising from the place seemed normal to him, since the hot pool and the pool house always had steam rising from the area.

"What happens now is up to Sun Valley Company, Carnes said, adding it's not a terrifically bad time of year to have to renew pool facilities with summer over and Christmas still almost three months away.

"There's no insurance company involved in this since The Company is self-insured," Carnes said. "Our investigation was done at noon yesterday and corroborated what the Company pool girl had said. If that high switch was bad, you could easily get sustained voltage there and, eventually, flame."

And the moral of the story?

"If you've any kind of problem –small or large- with an electrical device, disable it," Carnes said, "and then think of who to call. And when you smell smoke, stop and immediately call 911. It's no problem if there's nothing to it. We'll check it out quickly and go about our business.

"If it had gotten bigger, there could have been a much bigger problem," Carnes said. "I'm grateful our cops on Sun Valley Road smelled it when they did."

No estimated value of the damage was immediately available and Sun Valley Company has yet to issue a statement on the temporary loss of a guest amenity.[gallery]

What I had also forgotten was that open fires don't really give off all that much heat. I'd love a wood-burning stove, but it's not really practical in a rented cottage. Still, it did enough to keep the heating off for one more evening, and that's got to be worth something at least. And it proved, if nothing else, that I am easily amused.

The normally quiet Vassaides neighborhood at the north end of Alliance Road in Arcata was the staging area for a fire at the corner of Alliance and Spear.  Arcata fire fighters and Arcata police began arriving at the scene shortly before 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 29.

The building on the southeast corner is currently a gift shop called The Emerald.  The building is about 100 years old and was once used for cold storage for hunters.  Smoke billowed from the rooftop as fire fighters struggled to gain entry to the attic area.

Determined to access the fire, they used a chain saw to cut a huge hole into the upper façade of the building.  Over an hour later, the firefighter had the upper hand on the burning building and by 4 p.m. the activity was slowing down.

On Saturday there was a fire just south of Bulahdelah that closed the Pacific Highway for two hours. From what I understand the fire is thought to have begun by a discarded cigarette thrown from a car travelling on the highway.

The fire started at about 3.30 pm and as the fire intensified cars were seen travelling on the wrong side of the highway in a bid to keep clear of the fire. With the thick smoke about this was not the best move to make.

Another fire was burning off the highway near the Karuah Bridge on Monday, again producing thick smoke.

With the massive amount of growth in the bush over the last couple of wet growth seasons, the fuel load is now massive and fuel reduction burns have been limited. With temperatures already peaking in the low thirties (Celsius), the season ahead looks grim.

En motiu del 30è aniversari de l'Associació de Celíacs de Catalunya, i coincidint amb l'entrada en vigor del Real Decret 1245/2008, pel qual es modifica la norma general d'etiquetatge, presentació i publicitat dels productes alimentaris aprovada pel Real Decret 1334/1999, es celebrarà el proper 26 de setembre, a l'Auditori AXA Winterthur de Barcelona, el Primer Congrés Internacional de Celíacs.

En aquesta jornada s'oferiran dos programes alternatius, un de científic i un altre agroalimentari. En el primer cas es tractaran els avenços en el diagnòstic i tractament de la malaltia. En el segon cas es presentarà el nou real decret, i quina serà la seva aplicació en la gestió del gluten a la indústria alimentària.  

Per a més informació podeu accedir al programa del congrés a http://www.celiacscatalunya.org/pdfs/triptico_congreso_2008.pdf