Dear FML friends,
 
You may remember that I posted something last week on preparedness for
evacuation.  Since then, my neighborhood has gone up in flames and my
family has had to live with friends in another town.  I'm sure most of you
have seen photos of the ruins.  However, we (humans, dogs, cat, rats, and
ferrets) are ok, in spite of this horrifying forest fire.  It is still
burning, and is up to about 50,000 acres.  The mountains surrounding Los
Alamos are now blackened and lifeless.  But no towns are threatened now,
and Los Alamos is working hard to let us go home.
 
On Wednesday of last week, I was at lunch at the deli with some coworkers.
(It's a small town--just one deli.)  The deli owner popped his head out the
door and told me that our neighborhood was being evacuated and to get home
quick.  So I did.  Gathered up the ferrets, the dogs, the rats, the duffel
bag, and stuffed everyone in the truck.  The cat ran off.  And the sky was
brown and orange.  The police finally told me to leave, so I had to go
without the cat.  (Heartache and worry.  But he is also ok, although I hate
to think of how afraid he must have been.  Our house was in the middle of
the inferno.)
 
Amazingly, our house survived.  It looks untouched.  Ours is the only house
left on my side of the street.  The arroyo (dry creek) on the other side
is a ruin.  The house behind me and across the street are also ok, so I
believe the firefighters must have made a stand there.  Blessings on them!
(This fire melted the aluminum on cars on my street and moved at over 100
mph.  They were incredibly brave.)
 
The area where I live looks like Beiruit.  Or Dresden, or Mars.  The county
is fencing off the ruins and trying to sweep up all the asbestos.  (These
old houses are full of asbestos--countertops, floor tiles, furnaces, water
heater closets...)  The EPA won't let us back into the area yet.  They're
stringing new power to my house, I've heard.  So maybe my family can go
home by Sunday.
 
I recognize way too many addresses on the destroyed/damaged list.  Ken, the
owner of the deli, lost his house.  And his mother and brother lost theirs.
Karen, the owner of the cafe, lost hers.  Liz's shop teacher, her friend
Nicky, one of her old elementary teachers, the girl who found our lost
ferret, the old lady who put up decorations for every holiday....it makes
me sick at heart.
 
Still, I have to say I'm proud of us, and actually awed by the goodness
of people.  The dozens of organizations working on this catastrophe are
performing phenomenally in the face of all sorts of logistical problems.
And the citizens are behaving with dignity and patience.  People in
completely unaffected areas of Los Alamos are putting up with no gas or
power without whining.  Tiny, very poor villages in northern NM have left
themselves open to considerable danger by sending their firefighters in
to help.  The Santa Fe and Espanola and related animal shelters and
organizations deserve a Nobel prize for all they have done to find and
care for Los Alamos pets (horses, dogs, cats, ferrets, rabbits, birds, even
turtles) even while the town was evacuated, and to reunite the animals with
their families.
 
I personally can't complain.  My own situation is so much better than most
of my neighbors that the inconveniences are trivial.  I'd like to get back
into my house, but we are also well taken care of by our friend and her
landlord.  (I saw my house for 15 minutes, under military escort, on
Tuesday, then the EPA shut down my whole nieghborhood.  I am pretty sure
there's just smoke damage.)  Liz and I really are ok.
 
Silver, Blackfoot, Evie, and Hogley are with me, along with the three dogs
and the rats, at a friend's house in Santa Fe.  (The puppy is digging holes
to China, and the landlord says it's ok.) The rest of our critters are
farmed out across the state.  But that's all right.  They're being very
well cared for.  Paula Federici is spoiling Joe, Ivy, Nameless, and Killer
rotten, even though they are busily teaching all her ferrets new tricks,
like how to get over ferret barriers to go where they aren't supposed to
be.  And Mini Tafoya is being a wonderful and very patient mom to Attila,
Hannibal, Fang, and Chester, who give new meaning to the term
'rambunctious.' These two good people are helping out other fire evacuees
with their ferrets, organizing care and supplies.  And other people, like
Gwen McMurray and Chere McCoy of the FFDRI, are also making sure the
ferrets and their owners are ok.
 
I am truly touched and deeply grateful for the sincere caring and help
these shelter folks are offering.  To know that all my animals are in good
hands is a genuine comfort.
 
Fellow FMLers, please help support them, as they are doing all their usual
load of shelter work and on top of that taking care of a lot of extra
ferrets evacuated from the fire.  If you can help (I would be sincerely
grateful) please send supplies or donations to Paula Federici, PF Ferret
Shelter, 2640 Calle Primavera, Santa Fe, NM 87505.  She will distribute
also for Gwynne McMurray at the High Dessert Ferret Shelter at 329 Moon,
NE, Albuquerque, NM 87123 and to foster homes housing the ferrets.
 
sincerely,
Jacqueline Snyder
[Posted in FML issue 3056]