We're having a very light rain now - emphasis on very light!

So far not a drop here, but the cooler weather is much appreciated. It will be short lived since it's going to be 100 degrees again this weekend.

As some of you already know from Cubits, I had some family in the middle of one of the big fires. They are all safe and so far I haven't heard about any of them losing their home. I was there helping evacuate their belongings and it was pretty darn scary. I will be heading back over this weekend with some relief supplies for those who lost everything.

Rob How can we help? Is an organization helping out? Frankly I don't trust the Red Cross.

We're having some rain up here in Mendocino County, nice and steady for the past hour.
Hope you're getting some rain too,Rob. Also hope the rain will contribute to putting out the fires! Perfect for planting the new irises too!

Thank you for the offer Lucy, that is very kind of you. It wont be an agency, just my Mother, sister and me. If needed, I may stay over there for awhile to help out.

I don't know what to suggest to any of you who are wanting to helping out. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Still not a drop of rain here Jan.

There are some food and clothing collections. It's terrible that
some families lost everything! The authorities have cautioned people
not to go into the fire areas. If anyone is interested,I could try to get
addresses and phone #'s for the groups that are active.

Someone who we can trust please. Too far to ship things, but they do cost money.

Right now there is a radio show on the fires - and info on how to help.
Go to kzyx.org for a live broadcast.
Or go to lovelakecounty.org. They are diligently vetting the organizations under their umbrella
organization.
Right now they are discussing how some motels and hotels gouged some of the famiiies whose houses
burned down!

At least we got a decent amount of rain yesterday - about .70 inches. It was a boon for the exhausted firefighters.

I hope they keep track of the businesses taking advantage of the people injured/harmed by this disaster and make their names public!

Apparently there are laws to prevent the raising of lodging prices during a disaster, that these fires are.
There are many more stories of people opening up their homes to victims of the fires. Thousands are now
homeless.

This weekend, I'm helping the people in the Butte fire. I don't know if any rain hit that area, but it was great to see some rain hit the Valley fire (Lake County) yesterday.

Shame on those motels! I do hope their behavior is made public, with names, so others outside of the area learn what is happening. And yay to the people taking the homeless in since that takes a huge amount of understanding and trust.

I posted on the Mindless thread:

I am 1 1/2 hr south of the Valley Fire which has confirmed three lives lost so far. I know of 5 families that lost their homes. Donations have been pouring in, they said they are good for immediate supplies at the Red Cross shelter in Calistoga but are accepting monetary donations made directly to Red Cross. There are volunteers out there doing wonderful things, one guy bought hundreds of pounds of meet at
and has been BBQing at the shelter for days. Verizon and insurance trucks on site too

Nice to hear of so many being generous!

I hate people who gouge. I hope the names of hotels which did so are published so work can spread to stay there only as a last resort.