Matthew Wayne Selznick

We were at Disneyland today… we rode some rides we’ve never ridden (or at least I don’t remember riding), mostly kiddie stuff, we wandered around, and I got to watch the crows.

I think the crows are my favorite thing about Disneyland. There are an awful lot of them there, and they’re such big, beautiful, intelligent birds — social creatures, you know, but not to the extent of their larger cousins the ravens.

Once, years back, I saw at Disneyland a murder of crows so large, they would have succeeded at murder had they set their minds to it. I mean, well over a hundred of the birds, gathered in an empty corner of the parking lot, as well as all over the air above. It was an awesome sight, and sound!

Today, they were rambunctious, probably due to the impending storm. Great fun to watch.

The storm didn’t really hit until we were on the way home… and then, at about 10:45 up here in the High Desert, it started to snow. My wife pulled me out of the shower with an ecstatic announcement: “It’s snowing, hurry up, come on!”

It’s been a couple of years since it snowed at my town’s elevation, and never since we’ve lived here. We took pictures. We threw snowballs at each other. We let the dog wander around, then took pictures of the snow on his black back, just cuz.

I took pictures of the front and back yard, the white rooftops, the trees. We took pictures of each other with snow in our hair. My wife gathered snow in containers to preserve in the freezer.

Here’s something I didn’t know: snow interferes with satellite reception. Knocks it out, in fact. I’m not sure if that’s the snow on the dish, or just the extra stuff in the air, acting like chaff in the way of the signal.

It stopped for a little while, then it hailed, lightly, now it’s snowing harder than ever. Very cool.

I can now add snow to my list of weather experiences up here: Dust storm, fire storm, snow storm!

Heee hee!

We never needed to have left our home.

On Halloween night, it rained.

It was perfect.

We continue to await the hopefully not inevitable voluntary evacuation notice — we’re still several miles away from the front line of the fire, but the wind is pretty strong, so anything’s possible.

Those of you who might expect a call, we won’t be calling until it’s to let you we’re leaving… if you don’t hear from us, we’re fine.

I just heard that 90% of the homes in Julian, California, have been lost. Julian is a lovely little town in the high desert of San Diego County, where I had the pleasure of staying a few times. My thoughts go out to the Rockin’ R Ranch…

Thanks to International Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu for this image of the wildfires, taken Sunday, when things were just starting to sizzle…

It’s pretty creepy up here now.

The animals — we have four cats, a dog, and a turtle — are getting weirded out. Okay, I don’t know about the turtle, but you get the idea. The dog keeps wanting to go outside, where he just walks around and eats grass. The cats are whining.

I’ve got a little air purifier running in the back of the house, cuz that’s where I’m hanging out, but the air quality in the front of the house is noticeably worse… every window and door, including the flue of the fireplace, is closed, but the air outside is more smoke than air.

There’s still no fire in Hesperia. Heh. I said, “Still.” There’s no indication that there will be, but man, it’s a little eerie out there. I’ve been pretty much stuck in the house (see exceptions in previous entries) and with the stars gone from the sky and the air fouled, I’m feeling a little boxed in. The darn animals are probably getting buggy cuz I’m getting buggy!

There’s a voluntary evacuation in a neighborhood about five miles southeast of here, and a mandatory evac a bit south of there near the Cajon Pass. I don’t think my house is in danger, but I’m betting I’ll be up all night — I’m too keyed up.