Pictures of the disaster ~ not for the faint at heart

For the beginning click here

Last week I spent a day down at ground zero with water and treats for the rescue crews and it really humbles you.

To see ALL this loss in such a short time on day 2 we took the ERV (Emergency Response Vehicle)
Me and my team getting the ERV ready to head out...

The blast on TV the night before

The blast zone where all the fire was coming from And what makes me sick about all of this now is that PG&E KNEW that the pipes were OVER PRESSURIZED before the explosion. That people CALLED them to tell them they smelled gas....
Getting the truck set up with a picture of me when we arrived.. Look at the contrast to us and then EVERYTHING is gone behind the truck?

This was the 2 homes immediately in front of the blast. The big hole is right behind these homes in the middle of the street
I took this picture because it was so ironic the green car is from a "Disaster emergency company" and the logo on the back of the car says "Like it never happened" and contrast to the homes on the street with NOTHING LEFT but the chimneys? I doubt they could live up to that motto in this situation.
I took this picture then asked permission to use it.. This fire fighter was crying while he surveyed the damage... Seeing firemen, and police cry really makes it hard to keep ones composure. I never want to see someone cry because it makes me cry, I have learned that when I see a grown man cry... I sob..

Melted cars
The whole block was gone...
It was so hot the glass melted...
A childs playground
This was the home where a family perished. There were 3 people home at the time, Jacqueline Greig, 44, her 13-year-old daughter Janessa, , and 81-year-old Elizabeth Torres..... The coroner said they did not even know what happened it was so fast.
As a sign of solidarity the fire and police hung this flag across the street from where the family perished where the worst damage was done at Claremont and Glenview..

The news states 7 bodies have been recovered and 53 homes lost. Please pray for these families in the days to come as the recovery process starts...

Called to action

So I am sure y'all have heard about the huge explosion in San Bruno, CA?

Anyways last night after watching the news till about 12am about all the destroyed homes I hunted down and dusted off my old Red Cross vest.


And headed down to ground zero for the relief efforts to see if they needed me.... And I was put to work gathering all the information from the people that were evacuated the night before...


And I made the news... Yeah I am on the right rubbing shoulders with California's lieutenant governor. (Arnold Schwarzenegger was in China) He was really nice and even posed for pictures after the press conference. I was asked to "Represent the American Red Cross" for the conference.












Hard at work.. That's me on the right...


And Monday I will be with the Red Cross again all day doing whatever they need me to...

Its amazing at the out pouring of help that has come from the community, people have such good hearts.

GET OUT THERE AND VOLUNTEER WITH YOUR COMMUNITY

There is nothing like the feeling of being part of something bigger than you are...

Helping the needy

So one of the jobs I work for I mentioned that we should put together a team to do stuff in the community. Volunteer, help with events and so on. Well one of my managers (we have 5) and I joined together and came up with the "Community action team"


This was a couple weeks ago, we helped pack up and distribute goods to to the needy at a community center that was scheduled to distribute turkey dinner to 450 family's.


Me on the truck doing some heavy lifting.
Packing up the boxes
In the pantry me and a co-worker with the same name..


After a hard days work! All sweaty and dirty!


It was lots of fun. I would be lying if I did not say there were some tears. Its amazing what people do without. It was so humbling to hand out boxes of food to people and family's who need it.

We also had to say no and turn some people away. In order to get the packaged goods you were required to register the week before hand. My general manager and I had a "code word" actually be quawed like a bird to be honest when people showed up and were not on the list. There was LOTS of food and we actually did this for 2 days straight and it was REALLY hard to look someone in the eyes and tell them no.

So for some people we did not.

Nope.

We added them to the list and sent them off with a cart of goods.


But to be honest, when a gentleman comes up with tears in his eyes and asks "how can I get a few cans of food? My wife was laid off from her job 3 weeks ago and we have nothing left" (the center has fresh bread and donations daily for free all you have to do is walk in...

You give him a cart of food, with a turkey and maybe a few extra and when he grabs you in your arms crying and whispers "god bless you" into your ear.

You cry too.

Do you ever have that feeling?

When you are somewhere and it just feels like you belong? Like you ended up in the place so that you can make the next steps?

Well I was at a function this weekend at a retirement community and I had the weirdest feeling come over me. The moment that this feeling came over me a volunteer coordinator walked right past me.

So long story short I have a new volunteer position at a beautiful retirement community!! I am SO excited. The facility is beautiful. Everyone that works there seems really nice, so I will be volunteering on Mondays. And the best news is I get to do whatever I want. Paint toes, read books, play games.

And in the process of telling my new volunteer coordinator that I was SO EXCITED to get started a lady from The American Heart Association overheard me and asked if I ALSO wanted to volunteer with them?? She said I was very out going and friendly and I would be a great asset to their team too!! They do a bunch of fun events to educate women about heart health and basically they provide all the training and I pick which events I want to do!!

I am SO EXCITED!!! 2 new volunteer positions. In 1 day!

Antelope, Fishes and snakes oh my!

Hell has just frozen over!! A little anyways... Yep that is me with a gun and CAMOUFLAGE! In all honesty the event I was required to attend for work WAS SO much fun!! I got to teach people (serious, she who has not used a gun in 15 years TAUGHT children) how to use them. After a refresher of coarse.



I was at a Hunting and Fishing Expo and saw enough camo to make anyone sick. To be honest at first I was a little affraid, but to see SO MANY PEOPLE so passionate about our state and hunting, and wildlife preservation. It was really great.

This is my new boyfriend... shhhh don't tell the hubby!


This is a little bull nose snake I got to play with, its actually crawling down my arm when I took the picture...


Beautiful Wyoming


This little guy looked like he was waving "What's up?" Oh and Dixie this is a HORNY TOAD....


This was AMAZING to me, these guys who are all volunteers that I was able to work with are all over the age of 80 and LOVED to teach these kids to shoot. They are so passionate about guns and gun safety (they volunteer for The State Shooting Association) I think this picture says ALOT...


The hand gun with scope valued at $3600 that I was one number away from winning... They lady who did win it cried so I was excited for her.. but you can bet I came home and started to talk to the hubby about maybe getting a gun and learning to shoot it...



Who knew there were SO MANY types of Antelope.. I sure did not...


So many antlers so little time