Aftermath of the damage

I went on a trail ride to survey the damage out at the stable- pretty incredible. The landscape looks so barren and alien; saw some charred small animal remains as well, which was pretty sad. You can see some of the pictures I took here-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/daisylind/sets/72157608192744832/

Fire on my mind

It's hard to work all day when all you can think about is the fires going on. Wish I could be up in the canyon with my horse and making sure everything is ok/ helping out at the stable.  I heard they weren't allowing people into the canyon still due to hotspots and flare-ups, but last I heard, the horses are all ok still.

Fire Pony

One of the major fires out here in LA swept over the canyon where I keep my horse today. After a long night of looking for her in horse evacuation centers (and not being able to get through any phone calls to my ranch), I decided to try and make my up the canyon to see if I'd be allowed in, even though I assumed she had been evacuated.

The police/ FD let me through, and I saw the aftermath close-up; I've never seen such a big fire's aftermath so soon /close after a fire. There were glowing red embers from the surrounding valley/trees as we drove down the road, and when we passed my old stable (where I painted their sign- I think it's burnt up now), you could see a lot of damage and burnt up trailers. They apparently lost a horse and both their barns- this is where I used to board Ghost up til last year.  The entire valley is just burnt up- the only thing that I can describe it is scalped.

But when I made my way to my current stable, all the horses and the owners (who live there) were safe and sound, but just barely. The fire came on so quickly, that nobody had the chance to evacuate, so the whole canyon was left to bunker down and fight out the fire. The fire miraculously came all the way up to the property (it destroyed the building that houses the bathroom on the premises), and surrounded the stable, but thank god spared the property, the owners, and all the horses and dogs.

So, I found Ghost and all the other horses in their stalls; she's totally sooty and covered with ash, but I'm just so happy that she and most the canyon's inhabitants were ok, since they had no chance to escape.  Whoever was looking down and watching her and the others, thank you.  My heart goes out to whose horse it was that wasn't so lucky down the road.