What do you take?

11:15 pm: The power goes out with a pop and I know that means the fire has move much closer in a short time. I know where the power lines are located between me and the fire. This is it. It is time to leave.

What do you take? Pets, photos, and papers are packed. There’s room for a few special things like Grandma's cookie jar (yeah, that ugly thing), Grandpa's tea pot, Randy's baby cup, that old stein that my mother-on-law has always insisted was valuable (but I really like it anyway). My husband got the guns, the cameras and the plasma screen TV.

Now I can pack that “overnight” bag. I check on the fire and see how much the fire has moved in the last few hours. I realize that I am potentially packing the “rest of my life” bag. This maybe all the clothes I have left in the tomorrow morning. So I grab more socks and underwear. I dump all my semi-precious and funky jewelry into a pillow case and grab the Estee Lauder. Then, oh, what the heck? Save the Jack Daniels Black Label. It was nearly a new bottle after all. I see my daughter and she is thinking the same thing.....she has a bottle of Proseco in her arms. We look at each other and then around as if we may never see this place again.

We drive out of the canyon and decide to drive out on the far side where we see lots of headlights. Cars are going on the far ridge to get a better look at the fire. We realize that the cars are heading out and away and then we see why..... The fire is really close to the top of the canyon. This is when it really hits and I call my daughter in the car behind me. We are both in tears now. It is really scary and we have real doubts about our home surviving this danger.

We are welcomed by Nana who lives about 15-20 minutes away in Montecito. We can't see the fire from here, but the power was out earlier. We have a fine dinner of fresh plums, lean cuisine and homemade apple pie.

We head of to the little guest house in the back where we get out our lap tops and connect to the wireless. That accomplished, I update the blog, say a prayer for the firefighters, and open the Proseco. Good night everyone.