And The Circus Continues. Larry Garrson? Answer THIS!

To start with, I am going to put in a response to Mr. Larry Garrison, the Anthony family "spokesman", who left a comment on my post about the "circus" the day before yesterday. For those of you who missed his comment, here it is again:

Get your facts straight. I worked with Dave Holloway for three years trying to exposed the Arubans and Joran Van Der Sloot. I co-authored the book.

I am not doing a movie and book on The Anthony Story. I am the spokesperson and I am trying to stop the spin and lies like this. I am not getting paid and I am disgusted with BS reporting like this.

Instead help the family search for Caylee. She was kidnapped and you can make a difference.

Larry Garrison

And, here is my response that day:

Wow! You must be googling your name to find my little blog. How sad for you. Perhaps you can give me a suggestion as to how a person in California is supposed to search for this poor little girl? Should I be out beating the bushes here in Northern California? Fat chance of finding Caylee, wouldn't you say?

As I said in a previous post, if I were closer to Orlando, I would be out searching for that child

Ok, that done, I will get on with more of a response to him. First of all, if I managed to get the wrong information about Mr. Garrison and the Natalie Holloway case, perhaps he should hunt down the source I got the information from and correct them so that no other bloggers like me can write about it again. But, this isn't about the Natalie Holloway case. This is about the Caylee Anthony case.

Mr. Garrison, if you are the designated "family spokesman", why don't we see your face on the news instead of the "world famous" bounty hunter, Leonard Padilla? Why aren't you being interviewed by all those newscasters?

Can you give a positive "spin" to anything? How do you explain Casey taking the investigators on that wild goose chase to a place of employment (that she hadn't worked at for a couple of years), or to the empty apartment where the "nanny" lives (and said apartment had been vacant for months), or to the neighborhood where the "nanny's" mother supposedly lived (where Casey "couldn't remember which house the "mom" lived in), or any of the other stories (lies!) that are documented in the search warrants or the arrest warrant?

Can you give a positive "spin" to the statements by Cindy and George about the car that smelled like a "dead body" had been in it? Or, wait, that dead body got changed to an old pizza in the trunk. Oops.. It got changed again to an old pizza with laundry soap! What's up with that stuff, Mr. Garrison?

Perhaps the public would appreciate some truth from the Anthony family. Perhaps the public would prefer not to hear someone spinning stories. I know I'd like to see some truths. Especially from Casey! You say that you are "disgusted" by the BS that you are seeing about this case. Well, you want to know something? I am disgusted as well. Disgusted by the whole Anthony family. Cindy and George want their granddaughter back and I can understand that. But, both have yelled at the "public" to go out and find Caylee. Casey is the one they should be yelling at. Casey is the one who "lost" her daughter and then proceeded to party on at Fusion and pursue her relationship with the new boyfriend, Tony. Caylee is missing and there are no clues to give anyone a chance at searching for her. Where would a search start? The empty apartment? I think not. What does this Zenaida look like? How about a better description of her? And perhaps an actual, truthful location of where Casey left her daughter. What was Caylee wearing when Casey "lost" her? Has that ever been mentioned? I sure haven't seen it.

I have another question for you, Mr. Garrison. You told me in your comment that I should help the Anthony family search for Caylee. You (and the rest of the Anthony family) say she has been "kidnapped". How the hell am I supposed to "help the Anthony family" search? Send me a plane ticket and give me a place to stay in Florida and I'll go out and beat the bushes and search for the "nanny". I've seen numerous mentions of you doing your "spin" control on blogs, on message boards and in emails. Why aren't you in Florida helping with the search? Or is your job just to sit and google your name or to search the blogs and message boards for posts so that you can tell people that they need to help the Anthony's?

Maybe, Mr. Garrison, you should get together with Casey's lawyer and try to figure out a way of getting Caylee's location from Casey, after all, she is the one with the answers. Not this blogger in California. Not the posters on message boards. Not the people who've sent you emails. And not the bounty hunter and his pals.

End of rant.

I will be very surprised if Larry Garrison finds this blog again, and I would be very surprised if the actually replies to any of this... So, on with the circus. Casey is out of jail and has her new piece of jewelry on her ankle. Cindy and George have their daughter home with them now. But, her lawyer has ordered her not to speak to anyone about the case. So, Caylee is still out there somewhere and Mr. Baez has his priorities set up. First and foremost is Casey's defense. After that, comes finding Caylee. It seems to me that the first priority should be finding that child. If the child is found safe, wouldn't the defense be a lot easier to "spin"?

Other Stuff
When I got my mail from the post office yesterday I found a jury summons. I have to report to the Sutter County courthouse on Sept. 3rd. I have no clue what kind of cases are coming up over at the courthouse, so it's a mystery to me as to what kind of cases they're doing jury selection for. The summons says I have to check with the courthouse the night before or early on the morning of the 3rd to see if they still need me to drive over there. We shall see, I guess.

First annual Man-bellies and Hairy-backs Carwash?

Last weekend in Placerville I had the opportunity to participate in a "different" carwash. Pat Barron had been bouncing ideas around to help generate funds for this years "Kacie's Ride for Hope." We had talked about doing a carwash with us men washing the cars. We joked about going shirtless in all our glory to treat the women for a change. Beer bellies and hairy backs exposed with a couple hard bodies included. We were ages about 8 to 60 and did we have fun!!! For 6 hours on sunday starting around 9:30 in the morning, we washed and dried cars non-stop. We were a bit spastic at first but after about an hour we fell into crews and worked exceptionally well together. Two hoses going were either pre wetting or rinsing as two men attacked the wheels and 4 to 6 men would wash and scrub the vehicles vehicles two at a time. Then we would pull the vehicles up and another crew would shammy the cars, blow them off with a leaf blower (Pat's idea), and wash windows. Only a man would think of the leaf blower and it worked really well!!! We recieved enthusiastic compliments and we had a few people go get other cars. The 30' motorhome was a challenge and about 10 men worked on it until it was done. A few people drove in just to make contributions to the fund.

So there's a lot of severely sunburned bellies, love handles, legs and feet this week. But every time it hurts, I smile remembering how much fun we had.

All said and done, with expenses covered, we raised $1,100 to put in the purse for this years run and ultimately add to this years contribution to the women's center now named "the center for violence-free relationships." We are thinking of making this an annual thing too. If so, I'll try to post announcements next year prior to the wash.

Pat sent me what was in the Mountain Democrat but sent me a scanned picture that was very poor. I'm not sure but believe it was his letter to the editor, here's the print:



Kacie’s Ride For Hope, man bellies and hairy backs car wash
PAT BARRON Placerville August 19, 2008 16:35
EDITOR: Our first-time car wash, Aug. 17 at Breaker Glass was a huge success. The funds we raised from the wash will assist us with “Kacie’s Ride” this year and in turn will support The Center for Violence Free Relationships. I know it would not have been a success without all those dirty cars, even a 30-foot motor home, the cars were non-stop. I thank you all for those generous donations and the opportunity to wash your vehicles, and to those that just handed us money, a special thanks to all those bellies and hairy backs that brought their families out and did all the work. Kevin Brown and Breaker Glass on Placerville Drive, we could not have pulled it off with out you and the use of your parking lot. I am especially proud of the way my family shows up and supports me at all these events. Once again our community stood up for a good cause. With your continued help, together we can all make a difference. Thank you all. Kacie’s brother.



The run is coming up soon, on September 13th! You can get info for the run @ http://www.kaciesrideforhope.com/ . There you can find pictures of past runs, donation forms, a map for the run and more. Last year was a blast and we expect more to participate this year.



Had fun, having fun and planning on more.

Chaplainlimeygene.

The Anthony Circus?

The news from Orlando about Caylee Anthony is still crazy and getting crazier by the day. In my opinion, the whole case is becoming a 3 ring circus. Meanwhile, 3 year old Caylee Anthony is still missing out there somewhere.

• Ring #1 is filled with Casey Anthony and her lies and maybe her lawer, Jose Baez. I suppose we can put the elusive Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez in this ring as well as the rest of the invisible co-workers and friend that Casey told the police about. At one point, I tried listing all the lies that Casey had told, but David Lohr with Investigation Discovery had done it so much better than I could that I deleted my file.
  

• Ring #2 is full of the rest of the Anthony family. George, Cindy and Lee. I almost miss Cindy's daily news updates where she contradicted herself, her husband and the investigators. She's silent now because of what is in Ring #3, I guess. All we can do is wait for Jose Baez to tell us how Cindy's prediction of Casey the world giving Casey the "Mother of the Year" award when he makes his opening statements at trial.
  

• Ring #3 has the "world famous" bounty hunter, Leonard Padilla with his team and the newly hired "family spokesperson" Larry Garrison. As for the "world famous" bounty hunter, the only reason I was familiar with his name was that he in in the news in Sacramento periodically. He wanted to be the Mayor, for one thing. He's been in the news for a few other things as well. Like offering "his" property up for the homeless to camp on. Apparently his neighbors didn't think too much of the idea. Then it also came out that the property wasn't exactly "his" to offer up. Something about a dispute with the IRS, I guess. I was surprised to read that this character has a "Bounty Hunter" show on the National Geographic channel. I've never seen his show, and have no plans on watching it. Oh well.
  
  Now, the other character in Ring #3 is this guy, Larry Garrison, from California who somehow got himself appointed as the family spokesperson. Mr. Garrison seems to be an opportunist and seems to enjoy inserting himself and his company, SilverCreek Entertainment, into high profile cases. He jumped into the Natalie Holloway case and "represented" Joran Van Der Sloot, then he got involved in the book about "the true life story" of Natalie. He promoted a book about the "true life story" of Bonny Bakely, Robert Blakes wife/victim. He also promotes a book called "Breaking into Acting For Dummies". The interviews I've seen with him so far have only shown that the guy knows practically nothing about this case. Talk about misinformation! Heck, Cindy was better at handing out the misinformation than this guy!

The bounty hunter guy announced last Friday that he was going to fly to Orlando and bail Casey out of jail, then stay with her 24/7 and get her to tell him where Caylee is. Well, here it is now, Wednesday, and Casey is still in jail. Supposedly due to paperwork problems and the "jealousy" of other Florida bail bondsmen who are alledgedly making it difficult for Casey to get out on bail. Leonard Padilla is on all the news shows every day, spouting off about his theories of why Caylee is missing. Larry Garrison chimes in once in a while, but Leonard is the one we see the most. Do I believe the guy? Uhm. No. The whole thing is a circus and if it weren't for the fact that there is still a missing child out there, I wouldn't even be following the case at all. But, Caylee is still missing, so I still watch. And hope.

Kudos to the folks who have been trying to do something. The bloggers who got together there in Orlando and actually searched for the child. The investigators who are still trying to run down each and every lead that gets phoned in. And, I guess we should give credit to a lot of the news reporters who are keeping Caylee's picture out there. I'd like to hand out bops to the head for some of the reporters who've put out information without verifying first though. Like Nancy Grace and her "headline" about how much money Casey had charged on her parent's credit cards. $45,000? I'll bet it was supposed to be reported that it was 4 to 5 thousand dollars. I supposed someday we might find out the truth. But I'm not going to hold my breath.

Why Won't The Anthony's Wake Up?

The stories out of Orlando Florida are so conflicting right now, it's hardly worth trying to write anything about the disappearance of Caylee Anthony. We do know that George and Cindy Anthony did visit Casey Anthony in jail yesterday. There was a bit of a ruckus before the grandparents went in when one of the reporters asked a question about the theory of an "accidental death" and Grandpa George started yelling again. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut! Up!" he yelled... The man seems to be nearly at the end of a rope and his hands are slipping. Cindy and George seem to want to believe that Casey has been telling the truth all along. In a way, I can't say that I blame them for that. If I had a grandchild missing, I would not want to believe that the child was dead, nor would I want to believe that the child's mother was responsible. But, in the face of all the lies that their daughter has told investigators, I can't see how the grandparents can continue their belief in what Casey says.

Today, rumor has it that the grandparents will be getting a spokesperson who will be the one with contact to the media and they will no longer be speaking to reporters. We shall see.. So far, it's just a rumor, but they have been very quiet since their visit with Casey yesterday. No interviews on their way back to the car after the visit with Casey. And they both looked extremely distressed as they walked across the parking lot. What did Casey say to them? And what did they say to Casey? It may be quite a while before the tapes of that visit are released. According to the news this morning, an Orange County Sheriff's Office detective said all video of the visits between Anthony and her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, are being withheld "due to a criminal investigative exemption". It makes me wonder if something was said during this most recent visit that gave the investigators some kind of clue. At this point, we wait. We wait to hear something from the investigators. We wait to hear something from the grandparents (or the "spokesperson" they're rumored to be getting.). And we wait for poor little Caylee to be found.

I'm sure everyone has seen the video of Caylee with the book that was taken on Father's Day. I know I've seen it dozens of times, but I had never been able to view the entire video with sound. I found the video yesterday morning on YouTube and was able to watch and hear the child "reading" her book. I don't know why, but the video with sound surprised me. I suppose it's because of some of the things that Cindy has said about Caylee. I expected to be able to understand more of what she was saying as she flips the pages on that book. I have a 4 year old grandson and I'll admit that a year or so ago, some of the things he said were kind of hard to understand, but we did understand him most of the time. Caylee is adorable. But her language skills aren't what Cindy led everyone to believe. Reporters kept asking her if Caylee ever mentioned "Zanny" and other things. If the child's language skills are what this video shows, I doubt if she was able to tell Grandma much about her days with "Zanny" or anyone else. Take a listen and tell me what you think.



The news media have been reporting about the phone calls that Casey made in the days after Father's Day. The "flurry" of calls the afternoon of the 16th seem very odd. Keep in mind that George said in his interview with Greta that he saw Casey and Caylee leave the house that afternoon just before 1:00pm.

• 3:03pm - she calls her dad on his cell phone
• 4:10pm - she calls her mom at work
  
• 4:11pm - she calls her mom on her cell phone
  
• 4:13pm - she calls her mom on her cell phone
  
• 4:14pm - she calls her mom at work
  
• 4:19pm - she calls Tony Lazzaro (ph)
  
• 4:21pm - she calls Jesse Grund (ph)
  
• 4:24pm - she calls her mom on her cell phone
  
• 6:32pm - she calls her mom on home phone
  
• 6:33pm - she checks her voice-mail
  
• 7:06pm - she calls her mom on home phone
  
• 7:20pm - she calls her friend, Amy
  

So, what happened between the time she left the house and the time she made the call to her father? There's a gap of about 2 hours there. Then there's another gap of an hour and she tries repeatedly to get a hold of her mom, then tries to get a hold of Tony and Jesse. Then there's another gap of about 2 hours and she tries again to get a hold of her mom and then her friend Amy. What is she doing during those gaps? Very odd... And very suspicious, in my opinion.

They've also been talking about pings on her phone and an area near the Orlando Airport. Orlando Channel 9 has an article up about them finding out that Casey's phone "pinged" out near the airport where there are a lot of ponds and dense woods. What was she doing out there? And where did Channel 9 get the information?

The investigators are playing this whole thing out very close to the vest. They're not releasing very much information and since yesterday's visit, the grandparents are being quiet. Perhaps the investigators had a long chat with George and Cindy about their blabbing to the press about their ideas of kidnappers and how "sources outside the norm" are helping and watching the kidnappers. It's been said that every time George or Cindy would open their mouths about "their" investigation, the detectives would be flooded with calls from all over the country. What a waste of time for them to have to sit there and take those calls about the "kidnappers being watched" or the "tips" that Cindy gets on her cell phone, home phone and emails. I hope the rumors are true about the family spokesperson. And I hope that person will be intelligent enough to not give interviews about what George or Cindy's "investigation" (Perhaps imagination would be a better word.) has revealed.

Hey, It's Tuesday!

It's Tuesday and I've been "absent" from my blog for a few days. Sorry about that... I've been watching the news and stuff but hadn't really found a lot to rant, rave or post about. Lets see... First we'll start with a "funny"... Love this picture of the bear in the tree with the orange tabby cat sitting below... Sure makes you wonder how that came about, doesn't it? lol...

more cat pictures

Next topic. A good friend of mine (The trucker that I occasionally mention in the blog..) took off on a long awaited vacation early yesterday morning. To England! I was a bit jealous, of course. I would love to see England someday. But, last night the "jealousy" went away... The poor guy got stuck at the Charlotte, NC airport. He left Sacramento yesterday morning, switched planes in Las Vegas and then flew to Charlotte expecting to board the flight to London. I saw him in my Yahoo messenger about 9pm last night and sent him a smiley and a wish for a fun vacation. The message I got back wasn't a happy one. He told me to call another friend of ours, Dan (The computer genius that helped me convert the video of George Anthony's rant the other day.) for the whole story. The story behind Dan knowing what was going on, is that Dan and his wife, Jan, sent a laptop computer with my trucker friend to give to Jan's son in London. Her son needed to know what was going on so he could meet the plane there in London without waiting for hours for it to come in.

Anyway, Dan said that our trucker friend boarded the flight to London there in Charlotte okay, but then the plane sat there because there was a mechanical failure somewhere on the plane. The airline then had everyone get off the plane and come back in the terminal while they shuffled things around to get another plane there to pick them up. The airline gave them all a voucher for a meal, which our trucker friend wasn't happy with since the only place to eat was a sandwich place there in the terminal. So, there he is, sitting in the terminal. Hadn't had a smoke since he left Sacramento early yesterday morning and he was stuck and not at all happy about it.

After I went to bed, my Yahoo messenger received more messages from him. At about 1:15am, he messaged that they were boarding a plane again; "just got on plane now, still going to be a few mins before take off, hopefully no more delays or issues." Then about 3am another message comes in; "same prob again, waiting on new plane now. I hate this city." And then finally, at about 5am, one more message from him: "just got on a new plane, hopefully will be there soon." I just checked the Gatwick airport's flight information and it says they are expected to arrive there at about 8:50pm (London time) tonight. They were supposed to have been there at Gatwick at 8:45am this morning! What a way to start a vacation, huh? A 12 hour delay, apparently because of mechanical problems? Definitely not a way to keep my impatient trucker friend happy! I sure hope the rest of his vacation goes smoothly!

10:15am: Dan and I found a site that tracks flights and gives you an image of where the plane is. We were curious if the plane had actually taken off after that last message from our trucker friend. According to the tracker site, FlyteComm, the plane is somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, so they did take off after the last message I got from him this morning. Hurray!



Ok, next topic. Caylee Anthony is still missing and the investigators are still trying to put the pieces together. Mom Casey refused a visit from her parents, Cindy and George, on Sunday. Her brother Lee scheduled a visit for today but then canceled it yesterday afternoon. Her parents have another visit scheduled for Thursday. We shall see if that actually happens. I have a hunch that Casey's lawyer, Jose Baez, is behind some of the cancelations because he doesn't want any conversations with Casey being recorded.

Casey's lawyer got shot down by the appeals court in Florida yesterday as well. They denied his 2nd motion to reduce Casey's bail for the third time. So, she has to sit in "protective custody" at the jail a while longer. Until there are some answers as to what happened to Caylee, I doubt the courts would allow Casey out of jail. She, after all, is the only "person of interest" in the disappearance of Caylee and hasn't been at all honest in her dealings with the investigators so far.

The grandparents, meanwhile, are driving around central Florida with a rolling billboard with little Caylee's photo and information on it. But, they met with the investigators yesterday morning before heading out to "get the word out" about Caylee. And, of course, when they came out of the Sheriff's Office, they answered more questions from reporters. And, again of course, Cindy dropped a new hint to the media of a supposed phone call from Caylee to her great-grandmother after the child was alledgedly "kidnapped" by the babysitter. Plus, Cindy claims that the phone records that the investigators are working with are false. According to her, the phone company left off the call that Casey said she recieved from Caylee, the one that investigators have said didn't happen. (Hey, Cindy! Is the phone company now supposed to be part of a conspiricy against Casey?) Another thing about the phone records slipped out yesterday as well. Casey had run up a bill of over $700 and it wasn't paid, so she, her attorney nor Cindy have the records of that phone that are dated after July 7th! The investigators do, though, I'm sure.

There are searches going on in Orlando now. A team of psychics, with search dogs, led by Gale St. John have been conducting their own searches for Caylee. "Gale St. John said she had a vision of a place in Orlando near a lake, surrounded by trees and wildflowers. That is where she believes Caylee Anthony can be found, but not alive." So, now we have a team of psychics searching, George and Cindy driving around with the mobile billboard and the investigators following any leads or tips that come in. It could all be so easily solved if only Casey would open her mouth and tell the truth about where, when and with whom (If there was a "whom"!) she left her little girl.

Travel Update 12:44pm:
Dan found another flight tracking site that is kind of neat. It's iFly.com and it uses Microsoft Virtual Earth to give you a 3D view of where the plane is at any given time. (Allowing for a 10 minute delay, that is.) Here's the view of where our trucker friend's plane was when he found the site. By the way, according to the Gatwick airport flight info, our friend is just about there... He should be landing in just a few minutes now.

A "Safe House" for Casey?

Yesterday, I posted about George Anthony's temper tantrum and rant at the media. Today, I've got a video to embed, thanks to a good friend of mine. Thank you, Dan! We had a heck of a time trying to get the video, which was in a strange format that none of our conversion programs could recognize, into a format that YouTube would accept and Dan played with it yesterday afternoon and evening and finally got it converted and emailed it back to me. I sure appreciate all his hard work on it! So, here it is... Excuse the weird color thing at the beginning, something in the conversion process kind of whacked it.



On the Orlando station, Channel 6 there is an apology from George to the media. "A lot of you probably saw on the news how I sort of lashed out at the media today and I can tell the media right now that I'm sorry," George Anthony said. He "sort of lashed out"? No, that wasn't just sort of, George. You just plain lost your temper. I am guessing his losing his temper that way had something to do with Casey refusing to see her brother yesterday afternoon.

Now, about this "Safe House" thing that I saw in the news this morning. In the same article on the Channel 6 website, Cindy Anthony is quoted as saying ""Right here, I don't think is the ideal place for her not because we don't want her in the house and everything but we may have to hole her up somewhere in a safe house," Cindy Anthony said." A safe house, huh? Supposedly this is because of "threats to the family". For crying out loud, Cindy. Casey is pretty "safe" right where she is, isn't she? Apparently Casey's lawyer, Jose Baez has launched a new appeal to get Casey's bail amount reduced. I imagine that the Judge(s) will do the same for this appeal as they did the last one. The bail amount will stand and Casey will have to sit in jail until trial, or until further charges are filed.

In a way, I do feel sorry for this family. Today is the birthday of Caylee. If she weren't missing, the child would be enjoying her third birthday with a party and lots of presents. That would be hard for any family. But, that does not excuse the lies or "mistruths" that has come from this family since the beginning of the case. Casey should have told someone that her daughter was missing the minute that she realized she was missing, if her story were true. Her story of searching for her daughter by herself for a month before the police were called sounds like so much baloney. Then her parents, Cindy and George, have had a problem with staying consistant in their statements. Car smells like a dead body, then it smells like spoiled pizza and then it's pizza with laundry soap. None of it makes any sense to me. I don't think there will be a good outcome to this case and that is heartbreaking for all the people around the world who are following this case. A lot of us would love to help find this child, but... How? Where do you start? I can only hope that the investigators can find this child. I hope they can tell the world what happened to her.

Dear Caylee, I hope you are found soon. I hope you can have a happy birthday. Unfortunately, after all this time, it looks pretty bleak. No child should be "lost". Ever.

Anthony Family Meltdown Coming?

This missing child case gets more and more strange every day. I hardly know what to say about any of it anymore because so much of what Casey, Cindy and George has said to reporters is so bizarre. Yesterday's big news was the release of the search warrant that was served on the Anthony home the other day. The search warrant was very interesting to read as it gives a very good detailed narrative about what the investigators have had to deal with since little Caylee Marie Anthony was reported missing on July 15th. I have been watching the news about the case pretty much since it started, but had never had a complete detailed story of what Casey had told investigators right after the case was reported. I am amazed at how boldly Casey lied to those investigators. It also came out yesterday that Cindy actually "tampered" with evidence! Apparently there were a pair of Casey's slacks, a pair of boots and a pair of shoes in the back seat area of the car. Cindy took those things out of the car and washed the slacks! She said that she washed them because they "smelled like the car", which in the 911 call she said "smelled like there had beein a dead body in it". Hey, Cindy! What the heck were you thinking? Your granddaughter is missing, the car smells of decomp, and you wash the clothes for your daughter?

Then we have "poor" Casey, sitting there all by herself in jail without her "favorite pillow and cover"... (Daddy George is the one that mentioned her sadness at not having the pillow and blankie.. Oh boy..) Her mother, Cindy, cancelled the scheduled visitation with her earlier this week and this morning, Casey's brother showed up at the jail to visit his sister and Casey refused the visit! Check out the news report below from Fox News:



Just before going in to the jail for what he thought was going to be a visit with his sister, he answered some questions from the media. Here's a video of the report, again, from Fox News:


I guess that Casey's refusal to see her brother, Lee, has angered her Dad, George. I just came across another video on YouTube where the reporter says that George came out of the house, apparently with a bag of trash or something in his hand and he more or less threatened the reporters! This video is also from Fox News:


This whole family seems to be unraveling fast. I have to wonder if the whole family is headed for a massive meltdown. And all because of Casey and her "inability" to tell the truth of what happened to Caylee. Caylee's 3rd birthday is tomorrow, Saturday. The whole family bought into Casey's tale that Caylee is ok and will be home for her birthday party and it's looking like they are finally starting to see the lies. And to realize that the chances of Caylee celebrating her birthday with them are pretty bleak. I have to wonder what else is going to happen today. Do we get more from Grandma Cindy? Will we have more from George? Or even Lee? These folks are getting scary....

Update: George's Rant
I have a copy of the video of George Anthony's rant that I grabbed from Channel 6 but it's in the wrong format for uploading to YouTube. I'm going to see if I can find a way of converting it and then I'll add it to the blog... But, you can watch it on the Channel 6 link here.. Or on the Channel 9 link here.

Caylee is Still Missing

Updated below.

The poor child is still out there somewhere and the Grandparents, George and Cindy, have announced that their "regular Sunday Night Vigil" is going to be replaced by a vigil at a church this Friday evening. I have to wonder what is going to come out of their mouths at this one! Last Sunday we had Cindy demanding that everyone get off their asses and find their granddaughter. But, that does contradict other things that Cindy has been saying. She wants us to believe that the reason that Casey hasn't given up the truth of Caylee's location is that if we know where she is, her life is in danger. If her life is in danger if her location is known, then why the hell does she want us to go find her? In an interview with Fox News outside her home this morning, Cindy Anthony told reporters outside her home that her jailed daughter, Casey Marie Anthony, issued a warning about 2-year-old Caylee Marie Anthony's safety; "Casey is telling us Caylee's life is in danger," Cindy Anthony said.

Which is it, Cindy? Do you want us to "get off our asses" and find the child or do you want us to sit on our hands the way you have? I'm also trying to figure out when you got this "warning" from Casey since you cancelled your visit with Casey at the jail yesterday? George was the last one to visit her, right? Are you getting psychic messages from your daughter now? Geez!

The big news yesterday was that Casey Anthony was formally charged with child neglect (a 3rd degree felony) and lying to investigators (a misdemeanor). In an interview later after the charges were announced, Cindy proclaimed it a "victory", because they didn't charge her with anything more serious. She seems to be under a mistaken impression that now that these two charges have been filed the prosecutors can't file anything else. In her interview, she said that yesterday was "the last day they could file anything". Uhm.. Lady, you need to talk to the attorneys a bit more. The prosecutors can file additional charges anytime they want. As soon as they have proof of anything more serious, all they have to do is file them. There is no statute of limitations on murder, you know?

Then, last night on Greta Van Susteren had an interview with Grandma Cindy and Grandpa George in their living room. One of the "mysteries" in this case got "solved" last night. One of the things that came out in the last week or so was a police report of the Anthony's shed being broke into and some gas cans being stolen. In previous interviews, both George and Cindy tried to brush off questions about those gas cans. Denying they were stolen, denying that Casey had anything to do with the incident, etc. etc... Well, last night, George let the cat out of the bag. He got the gas cans back from Casey! Here's the part of the transcript from On The Record where they were talking about the shed and the gas cans:

VAN SUSTEREN: Are these the sheds were there was some report something was stolen from the sheds or broken into?
CINDY ANTHONY: Yes, and we actually need to replace a lot of stuff out here. But yes, this is one of the sheds that we would normally keep locked and normally keep the shovels in, which we do keep the shovels in. This is his toolshed. The lawn mower, you know, weed-whacker, that type of thing, shovels, axes, hoes, anything you do gardening work is locked up in here, like that. I mean, it's a normal shed.
VAN SUSTEREN: Was something reported stolen from this, though?
CINDY ANTHONY: Yes, gas cans.
VAN SUSTEREN: When was that report made that gas cans were stolen?
CINDY ANTHONY: You'd have to ask George.
VAN SUSTEREN: Was that, though, before Caylee was -- had been reported missing or after, that the gas cans...
CINDY ANTHONY: That was before.
GEORGE ANTHONY: Absolutely.
VAN SUSTEREN: And gas cans were -- how many gas cans?
GEORGE ANTHONY: Two, the 2-and-a-half-gallon and one about a gallon- and-a-quarter, something like that.
VAN SUSTEREN: Now, you made the report on June 24, though. That's when you noticed it. Do you remember when you last were in there, so you have some sort of window of when that could have happened?
GEORGE ANTHONY: It could have been Sunday. I believe I was in there Sunday. I don't believe I was in there the day before that, like, on the 23rd. I'm almost positive it's a Sunday.
VAN SUSTEREN: So the Sunday the 23rd, you might have been in there?
CINDY ANTHONY: Well, Sunday would have been the 22nd.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. So as best you can tell, it happened between the 22nd and the 24th. someone broke in there.
GEORGE ANTHONY: Uh-huh. That's when I saw my daughter. I was getting ready to go to work, and the garage door goes open and my daughter comes in. This is about 2:25, 2:30 in the afternoon on the 24th. As she comes in the house, and I said, Hey, how're you doing? And she says, Fine, Dad. I says, Well, what's going on? And she says, Oh, I'm just stopping home for about 10 minutes, get some clothes. I go to go back to work. Where's Caylee? She's with Zanny. And I said, OK, when are you guys coming home? She says, Oh, we'll be back home maybe late tonight or the next day.

I said, OK. Have you been talking to Mom? Oh, yes, I talk to Mom every day. I said, I know, but did you talk to Mom today? She sort of hesitated for a moment and she says, Yes. And she says, Oh, by the way, it's a shame what happened in the shed. And I said...
CINDY ANTHONY: Yes, because (INAUDIBLE)
GEORGE ANTHONY: And I said, Really? She says, yes. I said, Interesting. And I just said, Hey, by the way, I said, I'm getting ready to rotate your mom's tires on her car. There's a little metal wedge that fits underneath your tires so your car doesn't rock back and forth. And I said, Well, I'd like to have it, so in case you're not here over the weekend, I'd like to be able to do it.

She was hesitant about letting me get in the car. And I said, Well, listen, I got an extra key. I'll just go get it. Well, she was adamant about -- about that.
VAN SUSTEREN: What, not letting you into the car?
GEORGE ANTHONY: Yes, didn't want me to get into the car to get the stuff out. Dad, I'll get it for you. Dad, I'll get it out. I said, It's no problem. I know where it's at. I'll get it, get it out and be done with it.

So as we're walking out through the garage, she's still telling me, Dad, I'll get it. Give me a minute, I'll get it. I said, Casey, I'm capable of reaching inside your car, and I got it. So -- and she opened up the trunk of the car...
CINDY ANTHONY: The gas cans were there.
GEORGE ANTHONY: (INAUDIBLE) The gas cans there. She's the one that took the gas cans.

Yup, Cindy and George admitted that their precious daughter was a thief! And Cindy even admitted that Casey is a liar! But, according to Cindy "lying isn't a criminal offense. Lying doesn't mean that you're a murderer." Uhm... Hey lady! Lying is against the law when you lie to investigators! Isn't that one of the charges that were filed against your daughter yesterday?

And the grandparents (Or Grandzillas, as one of the commentors on my blog named them.) are planning a birthday party this coming Saturday for Caylee because Casey has promised that her little girl would be home by her third birthday on Aug. 9. If this child magically shows up for her birthday party, I would hope that the whole damn family be put in adjoining cells.

Greta says she and her crew have some "new information" and they'll tell us about it tonight on her show. So it looks like I'll be watching On The Record tonight to see what they dug up.

Update 11:15am:
I just stumbled upon another news story and just had to add it here. According to one of the Orlando, FL news stations, WFTV 9, Casey may not have a visitor tomorrow either. Grandzilla Cindy canceled out on her visit with her daughter yesterday and now, Casey's brother Lee just might not show up for his scheduled visit tomorrow. And Cindy is apparently backing off the plans for the birthday party for Caylee. And, according to Cindy, the gas cans have fingerprints on them that aren't Casey's or the rest of the Anthony family. Uhm.. I think I'll wait until the investigators announce something like that. Cindy hasn't exactly been truthful so far, why the heck would she start now?

Shame on Cindy Anthony!

Cindy Anthony decided to rant at the vigil for Caylee last night. I saw a bit of it late last night on Geraldo or one of the other news shows and was shocked that the grandmother of this missing little girl would go "off" the way she did.

I finally found a video of the interviews and stuff about the vigil last night on the Central Florida Channel 13 website. The article they wrote up, titled "Cindy Anthony Uses Choice Words At Vigil" gives a bit of the background of why she went "off". According to the article on their website, the thing that "upset" Cindy was a supposed call from "someone saying that someone called her to say that a 911 dispatcher in Pennsylvania told a caller that Caylee was dead." Here's what else Cindy had to say:

"I'm telling everybody, get off your a** and look for my granddaughter. I don't care if this is on the news or what, but she is out there. She’s out there and God knows what I'm talking about," said the toddler’s grandmother.

Uhm.. Excuse me, lady! I know you're under a lot of stress because your granddaughter is missing. And I know you're under a lot of stress because you and the rest of your family are busy running around trying to cover for yours and Casey's lies. But! I think before you start screaming that everyone should get off their asses and go look for your grandchild, you should try telling the truth and give us a timeline! A truthful timeline! How the hell are we or anyone supposed to look for a child when no one knows when she was last seen, where she was last seen, what she was wearing or anything else? Yes, I know you just want to protect your precious daughter, Casey. But face it, lady! Your daughter is lying and has been lying for a very long time! If you truly want to know where Caylee is, ask Casey! Or maybe ask your "God" where the child is. According to you, He knows what you're talking about!

Here's the Channel 13 report:


What do you folks think? Does Cindy's yelling that we should "get off our asses" and go look for that child make you mad? It sure made me mad!

Oh, and by the way, George... All of those photos of Casey partying weren't from before Caylee disappeared. The ones of her in the blue dress at the "Hot Body" contest at Fusion were from the 20th according to the photographers who took the pics.... And, another thing George. If all those pictures were from before Caylee was born, why the hell is Casey drinking? She's 22, right? Caylee is almost 3, right? Isn't the legal drinking age in Florida 21? What a find upstanding "little girl" you have...

George Anthony Speaks.... And Lies?

I watched this "interview" of George Anthony this morning. If you haven't been watching the news and don't know who he is, he's the grandfather of the almost 3 year old little girl, Caylee Anthony, who's been missing from Orlando, FL since sometime in June. The only one who knows for sure when the child disappeared is her 22 year old mother, Casey, who is in jail and isn't talking. Her grandmother, Cindy, has floated a few dates around, but no one really knows for sure except the jailed "mom". Anyway, here's the "interview" with George:



One of the things that bothers me about this "interview" is how George talks about the "pizza experiment". Here's the background on the pizza thing. Sometime in June, Casey abandoned a car, supposedly a car she "borrowed" from her parents, in the parking lot of a check cashing place there in Orlando, Florida. After a few days of the car sitting there, the owner of the lot/shopping center had it towed away. After another few days, the grandparents received a letter from the tow company/impound lot telling them that they can come pick up the car. (After paying the tow and impound fees, of course.) Anyway, apparently George and Cindy managed to get the car back from the impound lot on the same day that George and their son Lee went and picked the car up. In the 911 tapes that were released to the media, the first call is fairly calm, which seems odd to me since the missing child is more or less mentioned almost as an afterthought. The second call is the one that mentions the smell in the car. Cindy tearfully in a panicked sort of voice tells the 911 operator that Caylee had been missing for a month and that they had "just found the car" and that it smelled like there had been a "dead body in the damn car".



In later interviews, Cindy backed off the "dead body in the car" statement and started saying that the smell was from a pizza that had been in the car for 12 days, then 19 days and then 15 days. Uhm. No, Cindy. 12 day old, 15 day old or 19 day old pizza does not smell like a dead body. And now, with George's interview today, he's saying that the pizza has to be in a small trash bag and there has to be some Arm & Hammer dry detergent in a box in the bag with it. Hello! Arm & Hammer plus pizza would not equal a dead body smell! Get a clue, Anthony family! The lies are going to come back and bite you folks in the butt!!!

Another thing that bothered me about the "interview" with George today is his plea for money. He says its going to be for flyers, billboards and the like. Oh yeah, and a trust fund for Caylee. Excuse me, a trust fund for the missing child who is most likely dead? After all the lies that Casey, Cindy and Lee are blabbing to the media, they expect the world to open up their wallets and give them money? How gullible do they think everyone is? Apparently they think we're extremely gullible.

And another thing about George (And Lee!) that is odd. On the "Caylee is Missing" MySpace page, George and Lee advertised for "personal assistants". Volunteer personal assistants! Here's their "ads":

Personal Assistant to George Anthony
24 hours On-Call DAILY
Locations: Charity office space located near Sand Lake Road and Orange Blossom Trail, Anthony Family Residence at 4937 Hopespring Drive Orlando, and also the possibility of working from home.
Purpose: Coordinate daily volunteer efforts at Publix Tent location and Call Center location. Check emails from the public offering to help volunteer, distribute supplies, and/or donate supplies or resources towards the search efforts. Will also be responsible for scheduling volunteers, and to assist in coordinating distribution of supplies to individuals/areas nationally.
Skills/Resources Required: Must have a valid drivers license and a personal cell phone. Ability to take and execute direction given by George Anthony. Great organizational skills, ability to multi-task, Windows-based computer skills to include Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook), Internet Explorer, and email. Ability to lift 50 lbs and work with little to no supervision. There is no compensation for this position.
Whom to Contact: George Anthony - xxx-xxx-xxxx cell - (email address removed)

Personal Assistant to Lee Anthony
24 hours On-Call DAILY
Locations: TBD, willing to travel within greater Orlando area with the potential for out of state travel.
Purpose: Run errands, schedule meetings, answer emails, update Myspace and HelpFindCaylee.com websites, etc.
Skills/Resources Required: Must own or have regular access to a personal computer, cell phone, and reliable transporation. Must have a valid drivers license. Ability to take and execute direction given by Lee Anthony. Great organizational skills, ability to multi-task, and work with little to no supervision. Knowledge of how to maintain a myspace page, basic html/website design, and other internet based resources such as search engines and news media sites is a must. This is a jack-of-all-trades position that may be cross utilized in all aspects of the search for Caylee as well as any personal need of the Anthony family, as directed by Lee Anthony. There is no compensation for this position.
Whom to Contact: Lee Anthony - xxx-xxx-xxxx cell - (email address removed)

Hmm... "24 hour, on-call daily" personal assistant? What the heck? Are they going to have these "volunteer personal assistants" doing errands in the middle of the night or something? I have to wonder if they've gotten many applicants. I know I sure wouldn't "volunteer" for something like that from a family that seems to have no problem at all lying to everyone! (By the way, I x'd out the phone numbers and removed the email addresses. If anyone is gullible enough to fall for the lies from this family, they can go to the MySpace page and "apply" for the jobs.. I'm not advertising them! LOL)

Gremlins, Anyone?

more cat pictures

Well, first of all, I will apologize to those who come and read my blog regularly that have found nothing new for the past few days. I'm sorry for not posting anything! lol.. No excuses, though, I don't have any. First of all, the news about my Mom is all good. Everything is going fine with the new pacemaker and her healing from the surgery to replace the old one. I spent the last couple of days helping my trucker friend spend money.. lol... He's getting ready for his vacation and he needed some new clothes and stuff. He's preparing to go to England for a visit and some sightseeing. So, I went along and gave advice about things to take and things not to take. Things like comfortable shoes, clothes for both cool and warm weather and stuff like that. We also met up with another friend who had a job interview on Tuesday and gave him some moral support, along with crossing our fingers for him. Hopefully he'll hear back from them with a job offer. Yes, my fingers are still crossed.. lol

The firefighters are gaining a lot of ground with the fires from the lightning storm last month. According to Cal Fire there are 25 active fires burning in the state. And not all of them are from the lighting event. I've been putting the statistics for both the state and national fires up on the California Fire News website every day. Check it out... Hopefully the weather will hold and the firefighters will be able to contain the rest of the fires soon. The thing that worries me is that this is the end of July. Traditionally, the worst months for fires in California are September and October. We still have August to get through... Yikes.

As for the crime stuff I've been watching, first we have Drew Peterson, who's going to have to face the gun charges against him. Too bad for Mr. Brodsky, who predicted on a couple message boards and on TV that the gun charges would be dismissed. I wonder if he'll be making anymore predictions about Drew being charged in the death of Kathleen Savio or the disappearance and possible homicide of Stacy Peterson?

Another situation I've been watching and reading about is the missing 2 year old child in Florida, Caylee Anthony. The "drama" the child's mother, Casey Anthony, has caused is twisted beyond belief. Lies upon lies upon yet more lies. I truly feel sorry for the investigators in this one because even the Grandmother, Cindy Anthony, has been putting lies out. For instance, take the pizza in the car scenario that the Grandmother insists on. In the 911 call, she tells the dispatcher that the car smelled like it had a dead body in it. Later on, she tells the media and the court at Casey's bail hearing that the car had a bag of pizza in it for 12 days. What happened to the "dead body smell" that she was screaming about in the 911 call? One of news stations in Orlando, WFTV Channel 9, did an experiment. They put a whole pizza in a car in the hot Florida sun. Here's what they had to say about it: "But the Eyewitness News experiment doesn't support the smelly pizza theory after temperatures in the 90s. After seven days, the moisture was gone from the pizza and it had the consistency of shoe leather. More importantly, you have to get really close to smell anything and, when you do, the smell is pizza." And that is just one of the statements by the Grandmother or the Mom have made that have been proven false. The InSession message boards have a lot of information and a lot of speculation as well about the case.

At this point, it's going to take a miracle to bring that child home alive. I've never seen a missing child case in the news with so much misinformation handed out by the family that has been so easily proven to be false. The Grandmother rants on about how "no one is looking for Caylee" on all the news programs. But, how is anyone to even know where to start looking? The date she went missing keeps changing. We have no idea where the child was last seen because the Mom lied to the investigators about where the mysterious "nanny" lived. We have no clue what the child was wearing when she was last seen. Uhm.. Wouldn't that be an important bit of information? In normal missing child cases, it's reported to the police shortly after the child goes missing. In this case, the child being missing wasn't even reported until the child had been gone for 31 days! Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.

Updates ~ Fires and Other Stuff

The California Fire News blog has some good updates on the fire conditions. The good news that I'm seeing is that the state is down to a total of 27 fires now. Bit by bit, the firefighters are gaining ground, especially when you consider that a month ago there were over 2,000 active fires in the state. All we can do is hope that the weather keeps cooperating with them so they can continue containing all the blazes. The blog owner, Bob Blogger, has also been putting some of his own photos up on the entries and one of them for today is pretty impressive. The winds have apparently changed directions again and are sending smoke down in the valley again today. When I step outside, there is a distinct aroma of smoke in the air. Ugh.

Other Stuff
I spoke to my Mom last night, and she's recovering very well from the surgery to have her pacemaker replaced. She says all she is taking for the pain is an occasional aspirin. It won't be long before she's back to 100% the way she's going.

Drew Peterson made the news again yesterday. After his friends let it out about the secret taping of their conversations, Drew and his attorney, Brodsky have been hitting all the news shows for interviews. The funny part is that yesterday morning, while Drew and Brodsky were being interviewed on the Today Show, his friend Len Wawczak was letting another "cat out of the bag". For a while now, there has been a blog where a woman/girl named "Ashley" was posting screen shots of her chats with Drew. In those chats, Drew was proclaiming his "love" for Ashley among other things. For instance, if you were watching Larry King a while back and saw Drew and Brodsky on there, with Drew tugging his ear fairly often, you were seeing Drew "signalling" his "love" to Ashley. Well, Ashley has "come out". Ashley was Drew's friend Len! I am quite sure that the news wasn't pleasant for Drew to hear... lol.. Almost every message board that I visited yesterday had folks laughing like crazy at Drew and his excuses. One of these days the Grand Jury in Will County will finish and hopefully will hand down some indictments against Drew. For his murdered exwife, Kathleen Savio, and for his missing wife, Stacy Peterson.

Hey! It's Wednesday!

And I should probably apologize for not posting anything yesterday. So I'll do that and then get on to the explanation. I'm sorry for not being on my computer yesterday! Uhm.. Well, I'm not that sorry.

I spent most of the day yesterday hanging around a hospital. Last Thursday, my Mom went in for the usual checkup on her pacemaker and they found that it wasn't working properly anymore so they scheduled her for surgery to replace it yesterday. We had to report to the hospital at 8am yesterday morning, so I had to get out of here well before that in order to get her to the hospital on time. No time for the computer then.

I met my folks at their house about 7:30, and we headed over to Rideout Hospital in Marysville. Mom already had most of the check-in stuff done before we went yesterday, so all she had to do was go up to the cardiac floor and check in at the nurses station. They got her settled in her room and we stayed there for a bit, at least until they started bringing in the needles and stuff to get her hooked up to the IV and the machines. Then my Step-Dad was ready for breakfast (or escaping from the needles!), so we left Mom there and headed back over the river to Yuba City, and the Cook'n'Pot restaurant (Mmm.. Good food!). After breakfast, we went to their doctor's office to pick up a prescription for Mom and then back to the hospital. Once back at the hospital, we settled in for the long wait. The wait before they took her to surgery, the wait while she was in surgery and the wait afterwards while they monitored the new pacemaker to be sure that it was doing the job it was meant for. I wish hospitals had more comfortable seats, both in the rooms and in the waiting areas! Anyway, we finally left the hospital around 5:30 or so and stopped at another restaurant, California Red's (Mmmm.. More good food!) for dinner. Poor Mom was pretty hungry by then. All she'd had all day was a dry turkey sandwich and some carrot sticks after she came out of surgery. By the time I got home last night, the computer (and the blog) was about the furthest thing from my mind. But, I'm back on it this morning....

Fire Stuff
I got a call this morning from a friend of mine. His wife works up in Paradise and he said she told him that the smoke this morning in Paradise was thick enough to cut with a knife. With the changes in the weather over the last couple of days, the smoke is hanging in there again. Bad. I noticed the increase in smokey air last night on my way home from my folk's house. The setting sun was the dark orange-red orb hanging above the coastal range again. I could look straight into it through my windshield as I drove home and it didn't bother my eyes at all.

For fire updates, go to the California Fire News blog. "Bob Blogger" is putting the information up there now. You'll even find a post from me on that blog today! I posted the newest satellite photo of the smoke and fires in California there earlier this morning. Yep! I am officially one of the writers for the California Fire News now! I won't be putting all of the stats up here on my blog anymore. If (and when) Bob Blogger gets called out to the fire lines with his water tender again, I'll be putting the updates from Cal Fire and the National Interagency Fire Center on his blog for him.

Other News
Drew Peterson hit the headlines in the papers again this morning. Drew is under suspicion in the death of wife number 3, Kathleen Salvio and is a suspect in the disappearance of wife number 4, Stacy Peterson. Apparently the investigators have him on tape now. They "recruited" two of his friends a while back. They wore "wires" when they went to "visit" Drew for several months. The friends are also the ones that were in the news recently in articles about that folding gun that Ric Mims mentioned a long while back. The articles in the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun Times are pretty interesting. It's also pretty interesting to see how Joel Brodsky, Drew's so-called attorney and Drew are trying to spin this new story. According to Mr. Brodsky, the whole taping thing never happened and according to both Drew and Brodsky, the only reason this is hitting the news is because those friends, Paula Stark and Len Wawczak are trying to "profit" from Drew's problems. Uhm. Yeah, sure Drew... (Insert rolling eyes icon here. LOL)

To end on a "positive" note, I'm going to put in a plug for the 3rd annual Kacie's Ride For Hope. The ride will be on September 13th and will start in Placerville. They've got a map posted on the website now that shows the route the ride will be going on. If you are at all interested in spending a day in the mountains on a bike (Meaning motorcycle type bike!) check this one out. All proceeds from the ride goes to a really good cause. To quote from the website: "All proceeds generated from ticket sales and raffle prizes, as well as cash donations will be donated for Emergency Services to "The Center for Violence-Free Relationships", formerly "The El Dorado Women's Center"." The website also has a lot of photos posted from last year's ride...

And, for the end of my post for this morning, here's another LOLCat picture... hehe...


more cat pictures

Monday Morning Fire Updates

This may be one of the last updates I do on the fires for a while. The fellow who blogs at California Fire News has come down off the mountain with his water tender. Until they call him back out again, that is. Anyway, he made some updates to his blog with the same sort of information that I've been posting and I know that more people look to his blog than mine. I doubt if all the information needs to be duplicated, so I will defer to the California Fire News blog once it's being updated regularly again. Yesterday, he posted an article from the Redding newspaper that gives an idea of what it takes to feed all those firefighters out there. It's well worth the read.

Anyway, that said, here's the statistics from Cal Fire for this morning. They're looking pretty good.

Statewide Fire Overview - Lightning Series

Current Situation: Over two thousand fires have been contained through the endless firefighting efforts of state, local and federal personnel and equipment from California, the rest of the nation and several foreign countries. Isolated thunderstorms are expected this afternoon over the northern and eastern mountains. Isolated showers and thunderstorms expected over the mountains and deserts of Southern California east of the Cajon Pass today. Firefighting priorities are the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/21 at 9 a.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

Statewide Fire Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 2,096
• Total Fires Contained: 2,063
• Total Active Fires: 33
• Total Acres Burned: 953,907

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

CAL FIRE Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,007
• Fires Contained: 1,004
• Active Fires: 3
• Acres Burned: 289,994

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.

Statewide Resources Committed

• Personnel Committed: 15,573
• Fire Engines: 845
• Hand Crews: 404
• Dozers: 133
• Water Tenders: 247
• Helicopters: 90

Highway closures: Travel on state highways, county and local roads remains restricted throughout California due to wildfire and flood activities. All major roads are now open except for periodic closures on State Highway 299. Travelers are advised to seek current information on secondary road closures from local law enforcement. Click here for detailed road closures.

Evacuations: Areas of Humboldt, Trinity, Shasta, Lake and Mendocino counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Monterey and Trinity counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary. Click here for detailed evacuation information.

Structures:
Threatened : 4,958 residences, 139 commercial, 2,166 outbuildings.
Destroyed : 123 residences, 1 commercial, 138 outbuildings.

CAL FIRE Summary of Fires by County

Butte: The Butte Lightning Complex has burned 55,440 acres and is 90% contained. The Butte Fire Information Number is (530) 538-7826. Click Here for more information.

Shasta & Trinity: The Shasta and Trinity Lightning has burned 86,500 acres and is 95% contained. The Shasta-Trinity Unit Information Number is (530) 225-2510. Click Here for more information.

Mendocino: The Mendocino Lightning Complex burned 53,300 acres and is now 100% contained. The Mendocino Fire Information Number is (707)-467-6426. Click Here for more information.

Humboldt: The Humboldt Complex burned 1,325 acres and is now 100% contained.

Lassen, Modoc: The Corral Fire burned 12,434 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Mariposa: The Oliver Fire burned 2,789 acres and now 100% contained.Click Here for more information.

Lake: The Walker Fire burned 14,500 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Napa & Solano: The Wild Fire burned 40,000 acres and is now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Santa Clara: The Whitehurst and Hummingbird Fires burned a combined 994 acres and are both now 100% contained. Click Here for more information.

Its good to see the numbers for the total fires going down, and to see more and more of the fire complexes being contained, isn't it?

Cal Fire & National Fire Updates for 9am, 7/20

The news is looking good from the firelines. The total number of fires around the state has decreased again. It's down to 34 active fires in California. The weather is good here today, but from what they're saying, we could have thunderstorms "wandering" around sometime tomorrow. Hopefully if thunderstorms do happen, they will be wet ones. And I hope that they won't be the gully washers that cause flash floods or mud slides in the burned areas.

Here are the statistics from Cal Fire:

Statewide Fire Overview - Lightning Series

Current Situation: Over two thousand fires have been contained through the endless firefighting efforts of state, local and federal personnel and equipment from California, the rest of the nation and several foreign countries. An upper level low pressure will be gradually deepening offshore on Sunday, before moving onshore sometime Monday. By Monday it may be unstable enough to generate isolated localized thunderstorms in the North. Firefighting priorities are the protection of life, property and natural resources.
Download the latest fact sheet. (Updated 7/20 at 9 a.m.)
Download the latest statewide map.

Statewide Fire Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 2,096
• Total Fires Contained: 2,062
• Total Active Fires: 34
• Total Acres Burned: 940,782

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred from state, local and federal firefighting agencies beginning June 20, 2008.

CAL FIRE Statistics

• Total Fires at Peak: 1,007
• Fires Contained: 1,004
• Active Fires: 3
• Acres Burned: 289,994

These numbers are total fires and acres that have occurred ONLY in CAL FIRE jurisdiction since June 20, 2008.

Statewide Resources Committed

• Personnel Committed: 16,871
• Fire Engines: 909
• Hand Crews: 427
• Dozers: 154
• Water Tenders: 287
• Helicopters: 90

Highway closures: Travel on state highways, county and local roads remains restricted throughout California due to wildfire and flood activities. All major roads are now open except for periodic closures on State Highway 299. Travelers are advised to seek current information on secondary road closures from local law enforcement. Click here for detailed road closures.

Evacuations: Areas of Humboldt, Shasta, Lake and Mendocino counties are under evacuation orders at this time. Precautionary evacuation orders currently exist in areas in Monterey and Trinity counties. Residents are advised to monitor their local fire situation, check with local law enforcement agencies for information, and be prepared to evacuate when necessary. Click here for detailed evacuation information.

Structures:
Threatened : 5,111 residences, 139 commercial, 2,225 outbuildings.
Destroyed : 123 residences, 1 commercial, 140 outbuildings.

The National Interagency Fire Center has also updated their page with the newest information too. Here's what they have:

July 20, 2008

The large fires in northern California burned actively yesterday, where several communities are still under evacuation orders. Despite these conditions, firefighters are working hard and making progress toward containment goals. Yesterday, 114 new fires were reported across the country, but thanks to the initial attack efforts of firefighters, all of them remained small. Fire managers have prepositioned crews, engines, and aircraft in anticipation of the lightning storms that could hit the western states Monday and Tuesday.

Australia, New Zealand, and Canada are providing 59 fire specialists and managers to assist with fire suppression operations in California. Canada is also providing two crews to California.

Six MAFFS C-130 air tankers are supporting the State of California. All aircraft are based at McClellan Airport in Sacramento, California. The Mission Commander is LTC Mike Barkdull, 153rd Airlift Wing, Cheyenne, Wyoming. One aircraft is provided by the 145th Airlift Wing, Charlotte, North Carolina, three from the 302nd Airlift Wing, Colorado Springs, Colorado and two from the 153rd Airlift Wing, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The following table lists the number of personnel assigned to the wildland fires in California. This information was provided by the U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region and CalFire.

July 20, 2008
Resource	Federal	State	Other	Total
Total Personnel	6,245	4,512	6,114	16,871
Helicopters	40	1	49	90
Hand Crews	175	123	128	426
Engines	246	289	374	909
Dozers	6	10	138	154
Water Tenders	8	2	277	287
NOTE: Total personnel includes all personnel assigned to California. Individuals assigned to resources such as engines, dozers, overhead, etc. are included in the "total personnel" category. The "other" category includes contractors, military, and local government.

Weather Discussion: Most of the West will be hot and dry today. Widely scattered mixed wet and dry thunderstorms are expected over portions of the Great Basin, Wyoming, and Montana. Wet thunderstorms are forecast for the southern Sierra and the southern California mountains and deserts.

Source: National Interagency Coordination Center

Current Wildland Fires:

California

American River Complex (Tahoe National Forest): 20,541 acres at 75 percent contained. This complex of two fires is 11 miles northeast of Foresthill. Residences are threatened and evacuations are in effect.
Information: Call (530) 367-6223 or visit the web site.

Basin Complex (Los Padres National Forest): 133,709 acres at 70 percent contained. This complex is five miles southeast of Big Sur. Emergency Passes issued by the Monterey County Sheriffs Department are required for residents and their employees to enter the voluntary evacuation areas along the Carmel Valley Road and Cachagua Road. The passes are available at checkpoints 24 hours a day.
Information: Call (805) 961-5770 or visit the web site.

Bear Wallow Complex (Six Rivers National Forest): 2,565 acres at zero percent contained. This complex of two fires is 13 miles southeast of Happy Camp. Visibility and terrain are hampering firefighter containment efforts. Approximately 16 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) has been closed. The trail closure extends from Etna Summit to the intersection of the PCT with the Canyon Creek Trail (#5532).
Information: Call (707) 457-3879 or visit the web site.

Blue 2 (Six Rivers National Forest): 4,465 acres at 22 percent contained. This fire is 12 miles east of Klamath. Cultural resources are threatened.
Information: Call (707) 457-3879 or visit the web site.

BTU Lightning Complex (Butte Unit, Cal Fire): 55,240 acres at 90 percent contained. This complex of two fires is 27 miles north of Yuba City. Fire activity was minimal yesterday.
Information: Call (530) 538-7826 or visit the web site.

Canyon Complex (Plumas National Forest): 35,105 acres at 71 percent contained. This complex of six fires is 16 miles northeast of Paradise. Communities and archeological sites are threatened.
Information: Call (530) 283-7882 or visit the web site.

Cub Complex (Lassen National Forest): 19,718 acres at 95 percent contained. This complex of two fires is 16 miles southwest of Chester. Traffic flow is restricted on Highway 32.
Information: Call (530) 258-3932 or visit the web site.

Gap (Los Padres National Forest): 9,443 acres at 97 percent contained. This fire is located six miles northwest of Santa Barbara. Structures are threatened.
Information: Call (805) 961-5770 or visit the web site.

Hell's Half Complex (Six Rivers National Forest): 11,414 acres at 60 percent contained. This complex of two fires is eight miles southwest of Burnt Ranch. Communities are threatened. Mandatory evacuation of the Dry Lake area is in effect. Evacuations continue for 56 residences south of the fire.
Information: Call (530) 629-2184 or visit the web site.

Iron and Alps Complex (Shasta-Trinity National Forest): 55,545 acres at 49 percent contained. This complex of seven fires is one mile north of Junction City. Mandatory evacuations are still in effect for Corral Bottom and the following ares of Junction City: Red Hill, Cooper's Bar, Dutch Creek, Evan's Bar, and Soldier Creek.
Information: Call (530) 623-6415 or visit the web site.

Lime Complex (Shasta-Trinity National Forest): 89,823 acres at 67 percent contained. This complex of 11 fires is 14 miles west of Hayfork. Residences, ranches, camps, and private lands around Hyampom, Indian Valley, Hayfork Bally Lookout, Wildwood, Buck Camp, Saddle Camp; and Tomhead Lookout, South Mountain Road area, and communications towers are threatened. Cultural sites south of the Yellow fire, in the Yolla Bolly Wilderness are also threatened.
Information: Call (530) 226-2500 ext. 2 or visit the web site.

SHU Lightning Complex (Shasta-Trinity Unit, Cal Fire): 84,988 acres at 75 percent contained. This complex of two fires is in Shasta and Trinity counties. Residences are threatened and road closures are in effect.
Information: Call (530) 225-2510 or visit the web site.

Siskiyou Complex (Klamath National Forest): 48,000 acres at 20 percent contained. This complex of two fires is 18 miles southwest of Happy Camp. Steep, inaccessible terrain and rolling material continues to hamper containment efforts. Smoke trapped by inversions has hampered air operations. Significant Karuk and Yurok Tribal cultural and religious sites continue to be at risk. Structure protection is in effect along Highway 96, in cooperation with the Ukonom Complex.
Information: Call (530) 493-1518 or visit the web site.

Soda Complex (Mendocino National Forest): 8,581 acres at 79 percent contained. This complex of two fires is 15 miles northwest of Upper Lake. Active fire behavior was reported. Seven residences were evacuated between Deadmans Flat and Sunset Gap.
Information: Call (707) 275-2017 or visit the web site.

Ukonom Complex (Six Rivers National Forest): 25,155 acres at 22 percent contained. This complex is 10 miles east of Orleans. Structures are threatened and road closures are in effect.
Information: Call (530) 627-3291 or visit the web site.

Colorado

Grand Complex (Grand Mesa National Forest): 1,632 acres at an unknown percent contained. This complex of two fires is 20 miles southeast of Grand Junction. It includes the Coal Creek fire. Fire activity was minimal.

Louisiana

Range (Kisatchie National Forest): 482 acres at 90 percent contained. This fire is 11 miles southwest of Alexandria. No new information was provided.

Nevada

NEW Callaghan (Battle Mountain Field Office, Bureau of Land Management): 630 acres at zero percent contained. This fire is 14 miles northeast of Austin. Extreme fire behavior was reported. Structures are threatened.

North Carolina

Evans Road (North Carolina Division of Forest Resources): 41,553 acres at 75 percent contained. This fire is located seven miles south of Creswell. Fire activity was minimal. Residences are threatened.
Information: Call 919-218-3179.

Texas

NEW Well 35 (Texas Forest Service): 1,200 acres at zero percent contained. This fire started on private land 26 miles west of Mineral Wells. Residences are threatened.

NEW Miller (Texas Forest Service): 482 acres at 90 percent contained. This fire started on private land two miles northeast of Memphis. Residences are threatened.

Virginia

South One (Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Reserve): 4,664 acres at 95 percent contained. This fire is located 12 miles southeast of Suffolk. No new information was provided.

Washington

Cold Spring (Gifford Pinchot National Forest): 7,956 acres at 60 percent contained. This fire is 40 miles northwest of Goldendale. Minimal fire behavior was reported. Cultural sites are threatened.

Spokane Valley (Washington Department of Natural Resources): 1,006 acres at 95 percent contained. This fire is four miles west of Spokane Valley. Fire activity was minimal. Residences are threatened.
Information: Call (123) 456-7890 or visit the web site.

I think I'll close with a funny... lol, Not a cat this time, but it does mention the feline types...

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