I have not been able to contact Mee. I just called her again about 10 minutes ago. I have been getting what used to be call a trunk line busy signal (fast busy signal). Considering how close the fires are to Descanso, the phone lines are likely fried to a crisp. She has to have at least 4 foster daughters. I think most of them live pretty close by to Descanso. One of them must be in a non-fire-threatened area. I don't have their numbers. Knowing them, most probably live in out-of-the-way places such as Mee favors so it wouldn't surprise me if most of the phones were down in those areas too. Sunday we had a fire just up and across a couple streets from us. Burned about half the hillside in two hours. I am keeping the cat carriers out in the living room until I am sure all the fires are under control. And Dirt Bag has to stay inside. He is not happy, but is cooperating. Today is the first day we have not had a smoke-filled sky - the winds here changed last night and the air here in San Clemente is clear...I even saw some clouds very early this morning. Weather forecast is for fog (had that, now dispersed) and possible drizzle. Good news. Many of the fires have about burned themselves out of fuel, the air is now moist, Santa Ana winds have died down, fires are traveling much more slowly. Many members live in the Pasadena area. The smoke is probably terrible, but I don't think that L.A. (Robert Parker) or the greater Pasadena or Hollywood area are actually threatened by fire (Pat Colville, Charles Hardman, Lee Poulsen, John Ingram, Doug Westfall (Long Beach)... I don't have Andrew Wilson's number here - he lives in No San Diego near Encinitas. There was a fire there yesterday, but I think it was confined to along the ocean side of the #5 Fwy (started by some car dragging something and making sparks). Cathy Craig EA > I keep looking at the pictures of the fires and the maps and trying to > figure out which members of our group might be in danger of losing their > homes. Does anyone have any news of Marguerite English? She lives east of > San Diego in the mountains and that looks like one of the bad areas. I > tried calling her and her daughter for news since Cathy said if she had to > leave she'd probably go to her daughter's house. I didn't expect to get > through, but thought there was nothing to lose. All I got was a busy signal. > > How are all of you coping in southern California? > > Mary Sue