An article this morning in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat newspaper included info about MomtoMany ... I'm quoting below the parts relating to her family:
"Gary and Lynda Bayless bought too much food for their house warming party.
The couple who moved July 18 back into a home that was destroyed by the Tubbs fire a year and nine months earlier had planned to host a “thank you” party Saturday for family and friends, builders and firefighters.
But the firefighters were busy battling the Kincade fire.
Lynda brought them the leftovers.
The fire came within a mile and a half of their new home Sunday night, and it again sent Mark West Springs, Larkfield and Wikiup residents who lost 1,729 homes two years ago scrambling to evacuate ahead of another massive, terrifying fire.
“In some ways it was more impactful than it was the night we fled the (Tubbs) fire,” Lynda said, taking on a reflective tone while she worked to water plants under smoky skies at her home Monday afternoon. “It’s because I had more time to think about what was happening.”
Residents in this sprawling neighborhood north of Santa Rosa have watched for days since the Kincade fire sparked Wednesday night 30 miles north in The Geysers. They watched as it gained steam Thursday, Friday and Saturday, reaching 54,000 acres by Saturday night. It chewed through another 12,000 acres overnight Sunday, destroying homes a mile and a half from the Baylesses’ new home and charring property within the Mark West Springs canyon — at Safari West, and in the Loch Haven neighborhood that lost four homes to the Tubbs fire.
Just 59 homes have been rebuilt in Mark West Springs, Larkfield and Wikiup since the 2017 fire. Another 260 homes are under construction, their fresh wood gleaming amid charred trees as far as the eye can see in the Mark West Springs Road corridor.
When the Baylesses abandoned their home Oct. 8, 2017, they didn’t have time to think. They rushed out of the house, grabbing a couple of photo albums and hoping for the best.
This time, the couple was evacuated with plenty of warning. They have spent the past two days in San Francisco, enjoying the sights, sounds and food of the world-class city while the Kincade fire raged in northern Sonoma County.
“Languishing in that beautiful city, taking the cable car, having breakfast at The Buena Vista … we tried to be cheerful,” Lynda said. “But all we wanted to do was watch the television, check the Facebook pages. And we felt so far away.”
They came back Monday morning just to be home for a little while.
Lynda admits there’s not much they can do. The to-do list was sparse.
“We brought the car back, fed the wildlife, watered the plants, and once again we’ll say goodbye,” she said. “I’m just growing weary of saying goodbye to something I love so much.”
The complete article, with a pic of Lynda watering her trees, can be found
here.