I can take a joke.

Californians Gather To Celebrate Annual Wildfire Tradition

Sort of.

Hey, what about your twisters, Flyover People? And your Hurricanes, Gulf Coasters? And how are you liking that humidity, ya fuckin' Eastern Seaboard snobs? Likin' the storms, are you? Got Mr. Howell lined up to help you escape?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Last night the wind started blowing toward La Canada; I hoped it wouldn't spread the fire, but it did.

This morning the soot was in the air, and the smoke was visible. By noon that had changed. Now it just looks like hazy sunshine out there, but the flames are spreading again: the authorities aren't letting some of the evacuated Sierra Madreans back into their homes (in case the wind changes direction again), and now they're extending the evacuation into the eastern edge of Pasadena.

It looks like Altadena might be up next; what a nightmare. The evacuation/shelter map, courtesy of Foothill Cities Blog, is here.

I know, I know: I'm supposed to be grateful that homes aren't being destroyed. And I am. Really, I am. But it's still heartbreaking to lose some of Southern Cal's best hiking trails. Griffith Park last spring. And the area around Julian in last fall's massive tragedy.

(If I sound heartless, please keep in mind that in Southern California our wilderness areas and parks are the equivalent to Central Park in NYC: there are issues of identity involved that are difficult to explain.)

Please pray for us; this is one of three major things we have to worry about here. In some ways, it's worse than floods or earthquakes—wildfires move like lightning, and they kill a lot more people than the other two.

Water, around here: it's like cops and hookers. Ya know?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 04:59 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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He's running a nice little primer on disaster preparedness—including how to cope in the coming Zombie Wars; truth be told, Glenn links a lot of this stuff; so it's probably worth doing a search on disaster and survival over at his blog if you get deeper in.

The one caution I would have is that on the West Coast the biggest thing that happens to the average family is an earthquake, for which there is never any warning. (Those who tell you there is such a thing as "earthquake weather" got the idea from Elvis, who shows up for Sunday dinner around their tables now and then, and asks for a peanut butter sandwich.)

And the second/third biggest concerns are fires and floods, for which the "bugout bag" is a good idea—but so are such things as sandbags, fire-retardant landscaping, and the conventional wisdom that you don't "pre-soak" the roof (the water will just evaporate). We've gone so far as to pack up all the non-digital photos and my good jewelry, and had 'em ready to load into the car with the usual duffel bags full of change of clothes, canned food, medicines, and the like.

The point is, regional variations are important when you're making emergency-preparedness plans: the East Coast and Midwestern guides don't always suit my needs, because we just do not have storms here. Not as people in other states understand the term. (Don't get me wrong: we respect water in SoCal, but part of the reason is that this house is built on a hillside; the rest has to do with the common one-two punch of heavy rains and windstorms. We've lost a lot of trees on this property when the soil is saturated and the wind starts blowing heavy timber down at 70 mph or better. That's always fun.)

Of course, riots do fit the profile of East Coast/Midwestern storms in terms of the fact that there is generally some warning before there's a riot. But why, oh why, wouldn't you have as much canned food and water on hand as possible, along with a little camp stove to place on the balcony and cook up whatever is about to go bad in the freezer when the power goes out? It's horrible to go to the store when everyone else is doing it, unless you're making one last run for fresh produce.

And I do imagine that the guidelines for fighting zombies will be similar all around the country; that part shouldn't change from region to region.

By the way—anyone want some 55-gallon water drums? We won't be able to fit them into the new condo.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:09 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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writ large.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:26 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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There is a draft coming in. I had to put socks on, and I'm considering closing the window.

Next thing you know, I'll have to put a jacket in the back seat of my car every fucking time I leave the house. I'm getting pretty sick of these goddamned weather extremes.

Fuck; it's just out of fucking control.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 09:20 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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It's this weird thing that happens a couple of times a year. You know that stuff we use for plants?—the gardener sets it up so it pours up into the air, and comes down on the landscaping, and I guess it keeps everything healthy and cuts down on the risk of wildfires.

Well, once in a while I go outside and this stuff is like, everywhere. So I figure the sprinkler's broken and I should talk to the gardener so it will get fixed.

But then I get into my car, and it's like everyone's sprinklers are broken. I mean, the plant-food stuff is all over the place. Just rampant.

I mean, it's on the streets. In vacant lots. Like it's just coming out of the sky or something. The kooky thing is, it tends to get cold when this happens.

I'm afraid the gardener is going to charge us extra again to fix it, like he did last year. I'm not sure how he manages to fix all the neighborhood sprinklers at once, but he always manages to get it done sooner or later.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 01:24 AM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
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post-hurricane plant rescue, down Florida way. She should come out here and water my inside plants, which I keep forgetting about till they have brown marks on the edges of their leaves. Very bad.

And now, unrecovered from the last two hurricanes, she and her spouse get ready for just an "ordinary" storm. I can't imagine how they're putting up with it. Of course, my husband has friends in the New Orleans area who have been living like gypsies for months—hopping from state to state as the threat levels change around.

Posted by: Attila at 12:26 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Holy shit.

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Keep him in your thoughts. Fortunately, it looks like his kids are safe with their mommy in another part of Florida where the storm didn't hit.

And he has some feedback on solitary activities in severe weather. I believe he recommends a pack of cards.

Posted by: Attila at 12:37 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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. . . has some fascinating reporting on the atmosphere in Houston, which didn't get knocked nearly as hard as we all expected. Especially noteworthy is HPD's muscular response to some pre-storm looting, and the efforts of a few armed citizens to also be visible.

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. . . from Rightwing Sparkle.

I suspect that means she and her family decided to get out yesterday, and are further North by now. Good on her.

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. . . sent his wife off to safety (via train, as I understand it) and is toughing it out with his cats. He's got a few pre-storm photos and is (of course) planning his last "kitchen-cooked meal."

He also has an extensive collection of links to Houston and Galveston bloggers.

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Laurence, who's been loading, unloading, and reloading his truck all day:

Hell, send Hurricane Sam, Timmy, and Ursula here and I'll be at 175 pounds in no time.

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If I lived in the Houston area I'd have a delicious Clash bassline ringing in my ears right about now.

Rightwing Sparkle:

I just can't decide whether to leave or not.

Posted by: Attila at 11:35 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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. . . over what's happening in New Orleans. Attila the Hub hasn't been able to get through to our friend in the area; we're hoping she evacuated her home early. We know she was right on top of the threat last time. Since Katrina unfolded more dramatically/suddenly, I'm hoping she just didn't get a chance to send an e-mail out this time. But it's worrisome.

The whole thing certainly puts things like my car problems and dental issues in perspective. (The other day as I complained about my post-40 aches and pains in what I deluded myself was a humorous way, my husband remarked that "these are problems that live people have."

"Yes," I conceded. "Getting older beats the hell out of the alternative." Then I looked at the calendar and apologized to him.)

Mostly I've stayed away from Katrina because I just don't feel like I can contribute much to the situation from thousands of miles away. Glenn has an interesting TCS story from 2003 on how our infrastructure needs to be hardened against natural/man-made disasters. It's worth thinking about.

(Via . . . well, via Glenn.)

Posted by: Attila at 10:25 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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[naturally, I stole that headline from an MSM report on the storm]

K's Quest has some pretty good (mostly) real-life coverage of the disaster from Florida. And now she has electricity, so there's much rejoicing and a virtual panegyric to the beauty of wall outlets.

Just keep scrolling.

Posted by: Attila at 10:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Sorry about bringing the bad weather to California while guest posting. The weather is more like we get here in the Carolina's, whith the tornado's and all. Mudslides, no. Y'all be carefull out there.

Posted by: William Teach at 08:21 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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1 I'm having quite a bit of fun tweaking my California in-laws about the harsh and unpredictable weather out there in California. None of that for me here in Chicago, nosirree.

Posted by: Dave Schuler at February 22, 2005 09:39 AM (u/h/J)

2 Ca is getting the kind of weather we are used to here in NC. Been too nice in NC as of late.

Posted by: William Teach at February 22, 2005 10:27 AM (TFSHk)

3 It's just crazy: I actually drove through some of it yesterday while returning home. In between cloudbursts, it was beautiful in the Central Valley, though. Just gorgeous.

Posted by: Attila Girl at February 22, 2005 10:34 AM (RjyQ5)

4 I've been through more of those types of days that I care to remember. The type where you look up and see that funnel cloud.

Posted by: William Teach at February 22, 2005 01:36 PM (cuTsc)

5 I've never seen a funnel cloud in my life. I thought they were only on TV/movies . . .

Posted by: Attila Girl at February 22, 2005 03:59 PM (RjyQ5)

6 As with any chaotic system every now and then you're going to have extreme conditions. BTW, the last I heard this is not an El Nino year. Current Conditions: Sunny. But clouds are on the way.

Posted by: Alan Kellogg at February 23, 2005 06:59 AM (gy/JT)

7 El Nino turned out to be mostly hype anyway.

Posted by: Attila Girl at February 23, 2005 10:51 AM (RjyQ5)

8 AG, my understanding is that an El Nino year tends to exhibit certain conditions. But not always. When things line up just right (as in this year) you can get conditions such as what we're going through now. At the same time, if things line up just right even an El Nino year can be a tad ... usual. The worst case would be a situation where we are having a full-blown El Nino, and circumstances shake out as they have. Back when we had the last big bout of rain storms word was San Diego County would be getting 3" in one day. Only had one inch as it turns out, but the possibility was there. A full blown El Nino this year could've made it much more possible.

Posted by: Alan Kellogg at February 23, 2005 02:39 PM (eYPNt)

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Jay Tea just published another "Winter Driving Tip." Here is mine:

When deciding where to live, look around for one of the following three objects:

1) palm trees;
2) cacti;
3) Joshua trees.

If you don't see any of these items in the landscape, do not move into the area.

UPDATE: This entry is in my "Extreme Weather" topic category, because to me extreme weather means anything below 55 degrees, or above 105. Or if it rains, of course: that's extreme.

Posted by: Attila at 06:42 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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1 What, no link? You expect us all to just know how to get to Wizbang?

Posted by: McGehee at February 13, 2005 11:54 AM (S504z)

2 Actually, I think there was supposed to be a link there. But it's certainly funnier if I don't fix it, and thereby make everyone click on the ad to get there. (Which also, of course, increases my click-through rates. Hm.)

Posted by: Attila Girl at February 13, 2005 12:56 PM (RjyQ5)

3 Alas, an attack of conscience led to my fixing the link. I'll never amount to anything in the world, I'm afraid

Posted by: Attila Girl at February 14, 2005 02:28 PM (RjyQ5)

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And I hope it stays that way. There's water flowing through our yard, like there has been for the past week and a half. All our footpaths are little streams, and there's an almost-mildewy scent in the air that suggests to me that the leach fields for our septic system are underwater. Even in between rains, the water just will not stop coming.

When I went out last night in a not-too-heavy rain I saw roads closed all over, since the local hillsides have started giving way. There's one tree down in our neighborhood, and there's been hardly any wind: it's just that when the hills are saturated and losing soil due to fast erosion, there's not too much holding the trees in place.

If we get high winds in the next month this town will lose a lot of houses: there are a lot of very large trees around here, and some of them will fall down in the wrong directions.

It's a beautiful day, and the clouds over the nearby mountains are as lovely as they always are. But with the weather forecasts mixed, I find myself scrutinizing the clouds, and more ambivalent than usual about the "drama" of the view: snow-capped mountiains. Lots of clouds.

The drainage system at the house across the street (and considerably uphill) from us has jumped its confines, so there's a fair amount of sand, mud and gravel on the road.

There are little waterfalls everywhere.

But all will be well if the rain doesn't start again.

As I said before, it's almost never been intense. There have been very few cloudbursts, other than the one a week ago that included hail and caught me in the parking lot at Ralph's wearing jeans and a cashmere sweater. ("Well, who knew?—real weather. If I lived anywhere else I'd have the sense to be wearing a jacket.")

Mostly what we're getting is a steady drumbeat of water, water, water quietly overwhelming all the systems we have in place to dispose of it. More rain in two weeks than we usually get in the entire rainy season.

If it lets up, and if we don't get high winds while the hillsides are still saturated, there won't be too much more property damage, and—I hope—no more people will die.

And I can go back to loving the way the clouds look over the San Gabriels.

Posted by: Attila at 02:20 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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. . . to stop by Kathy Kinsley's place for hurricane updates. Her big roundup is here, but be sure to scroll her main page.

Kay has now sent me a few notes, and though they are leaving the plywood up because of Ivan, they've reinstalled the towel racks in the bathroom. Towel racks! You could fill a book with what I don't know about storm preparation.

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