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Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

Good morning,

Woke up to our first nearby brush fire--about 1.5 miles north. No wind though and easy access so it shouldnt be a problem.

Sorry about the job opportunity not panning out, Paddy.

X_LA_Native
Admin
8 years ago

WoW.
Nice to see teh Mermaid again! ::waves::
Hi Cali! And Happy Anniversary! (you’ll find a way through the waves on Saturday, I’m sure of it)
I know all about demolition -- it’s putting it all back together that’s the hard part, and part of why I opted for putting off a remodel of the master bath as part of a barter deal Mr. X had.
That and I didn’t want to incur the additional debt “mission creep” would add. And it would.

Aw crap, sorry, Paddy.

A friend posted something excellent on FB the other day:
“An arrow can only be shot by pulling it backwards. When life is pulling you back with difficulties, it means it’s going to launch you into something great. So just focus, and keep aiming.”
I liked it.

Too hot to type--hit over a 100 here today and guess what? The next 3 days are supposed to be hotter.

Welcome to Mac’s, Rabbit’s and my worlds. Mr. X keeps getting pissed at NOAA in Galveston for issuing “heat advisories” at 4am -- and he can’t figure out how to acknowledge the alert and make my phone shut up -- so he just turns it off.

Other than that, not much to report. The prairie is very quiet in this heat. Even the fish in the pond don’t want to come within a foot of the surface, and that’s when we’re throwing food pellets at them.

The good news is, Blue Bell’s Alabama plant is online, and trucks are delivering ICE CREAM! I hope our local plant is next.
Everybody’s jonesing.

On to production day -- and hoping the stress monkeys won’t get outta hand.

*mwah!* y’all

Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

The fire started after a collision on the freeway flipped one of the vehicles over the railing and down a canyon about 300 feet. That’s a bad spot to have that happen.

Hi X! Yeah, I know you guys have it hot, but with all the measures CA has taken to combat global warming, you’d figure it would have some effect and cooler temperatures here. Gaia should be thanking us. Snicker.

Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

And thanks, Mac, for all the wonderful thread pics you put on day after day.

X_LA_Native
Admin
8 years ago

The fire started after a collision on the freeway flipped one of the vehicles over the railing and down a canyon about 300 feet. That’s a bad spot to have that happen.

That happened last Friday, down the road from my buddy Bob in Anza. Thankfully, he had an uneventful weekend, because like you observed, the winds were calm.

Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

Apparently the driver was still in the car; they had to helicopter rescue him out.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
8 years ago

Happy Friday, Gerbil Nation!
Good morning, TeX and Sven!

Sven -- I’m glad the winds are calm -- 1.5 miles is not far away when talking about brush fires with Santa Ana winds.

TeX -- good luck with production day. If you have any stress balls laying around you can try throwing them at the stress monkeys.

As the start of school rapidly approaches, and the job openings slowly diminish, it begins to look more and more like teaching just isn’t in the cards. Unfortunately, after 8 years of teaching and 10 as a small business owner, I’ve been away from industry for too long, so those prospects don’t look very good, either. Sorry for the maudlin post -- just feeling depressed.

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
8 years ago

I’ve been having conversations with a few friends on FB. Ever notice how you can’t get a liberal to give a straight answer to a simple question? If a question requires them to support their viewpoint, or even just to define it, they just ignore it.

Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

Cough cough, sniff, hack, hoarse voice. I’ve decided to play hookey today and call in sick.

Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

I’m sorry, Paddy. You have every right to be feeling down about your situation--you deserve none of this hardship.

Maybe it’s time to look out of state?

X_LA_Native
Admin
8 years ago
Reply to  Just Sven

The State of Texas says, “Hi!”

Salaries aren’t comparable, but the cost of living is A LOT less.

X_LA_Native
Admin
8 years ago

Oh!
But speaking of fires…

Y’all know my husband’s a volunteer firefighter and president of our VFD. This means we have a pager for fire calls.
If you don’t clear it after the daily evening tone-check, you’ll hear ALL the area calls (or, if you have a chief’s radio you can too).

I didn’t clear the pager, so I heard it go off last night. Since I still haven’t totally tuned into which tone is ours, I ran into the office anyway (even though last night was drill night and the entire dept. was together).

It was from in town. And at first I thought the dispatch was breaking up, there were so many pauses in the transmission. Then I realized the dispatcher was trying very. hard. not to laugh, broadcasting a “still alarm” (reported fire, not confirmed) at “[unintelligible Pizza], … there’s … smoke coming … from the oven … suspected pizza rolls on … fire.”

The city responds, regardless. Apparently every firefighter at drill last night yelled at the chief’s radio, “Shut the oven off!”

Paddy O'Furnijur
Editor
8 years ago
Reply to  X_LA_Native

I hope it was a wood-fired oven.

Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

I’ve been in a decluttering cycle. Boxes of books and books on CD and cassette ready to go to the Salvation Army. Today, it’s the upstairs closet and I’ve filled another couple of boxes with too small and out of style shirts, pants, and such to join with the boxes of books.

I’ve been listening to Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch detective series. Bosch is an LAPD homicide cop and a lot of the action takes place in Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley--places I’ve been to or driven through--which gives me that rush of familiarity. What’s interesting though is that the first book in the series, The Black Echo, was published in 1992 and the book’s setting is the 90’s LA, but the little details in it make it seem like it was published a lot earlier than that.

Bosch smokes in his office, looks around for pay phones when he has to call in, waits around for FAXs, and has to dig through microfiche files to get information. Computers are around, but the internet is all dialup with chat rooms and not very prominent. He carries a Polaroid camera with him so that he doesnt have to wait for the crime scene photos to be developed. People rip pages from the phone book, watch porn on VHS tapes, and Blockbuster is big. Albums are still on vinyl.

It’s so last century. Grin

Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

Another fire just started up--this one about 6 miles west of here. Bad time of day as the winds shift direction and blow towards us.

Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

This one is burning in the hills near the Reagan Library. 30 acres so far, but right now it’s in a nice accessible area so here’s hoping they knock it down quickly. Temperature is around 99 here.

I can’t wait until next month and the Santa Ana winds.

Just Sven
Editor
8 years ago

Good news for Fatwa:

“There’s a high probability that Southern California will experience drought-busting rains and local flooding this winter, after meteorologists announced Thursday that the chance of a strong El Niño had reached above 90 percent.”

http://www.dailynews.com/environment-and-nature/20150813/godzilla-el-nino-could-save-southern-california-from-drought-bring-flooding