Fire, Laura, Remodeling

A quick catch-up on the weekend. The Station Fire continues its journey in the mountains. This is the second recent fire I have discussed which originally started in La Canada and has made its way all the way across the San Gabriel Valley to the barn where the Morris fire was threatening the barn where I keep my horses last week. I am so very ready for these fires to be done. Out. A memory. The road was closed to EVERYONE this weekend to the barn, so I couldn't even getup there! The fire has consumed 160,357 acres at this time. Containment is at 56%. It is the largest fire in the recorded history of Los Angeles County. Cause: Arson and is now a homicide investigation due to the two firefighters that lost their lives. We will be attending the memorial service this Saturday.

My friend Laura was in town this weekend. It is always so nice to spend time with her. We did some wine tasting at Red, White + Bluezz while listening to Eli Brueggmann and then finished off our evening with a Champagne flight at Pop.

The remainder of our weekend was spend sanding, stripping and painting our laundry room walls and trim. We got new windows to replace the drafty louvered windows, and a new door. We are about half-way through the project and it is looking much better already. We ripped up three layers of the ugliest linoleum you have ever seen and now have to figure out what kind of floor we want. Can't be tile or anything too heavy due to the large trap door in the floor that leads to the basement. We are leaning towards a wood floor to match the rest of the house. Still need to stain and varnish the windows and doors.

BEFOREDURING

Murphy has a new friend, his name is Baxter McLovin. He is my friend Michele's puppy and lives across the street. They have had several play dates and are so cute together!

Tweet

Fire, fire everywhere! Thursday Evening

Four major wildfires are buring in southern California. Hemet, Azusa, Rancho Palos Verdes, La Canada Flintridge are all getting smoke in their eyes, several homes lost, more threatened. Most of the fires began yesterday. The Station fire (La Canada), burning in the Angeles National Forest is picking up in intensity and spreading fast. We went out driving around tonight to check it out because you can see the flames from around where we live. It is not too close to us, but the flames are high and what a sight to see when I was driving home from the barn tonight. They announced that 500 acres had already burned in the Station Fire and that five buildings and 500 homes were possibly at risk, evacuations have begun. We were not the only ones out tonight checking it out, there was a full parking lot at a lookout with a view of the fire. People even brought chairs to sit watch the flames!

We stopped for some gelato at Bulgarini Gelato in Altadena on the way home from checking out the fire. I get the small size. You pick three flavors and get scoops the size of a melon baller - perect size for me and I love trying different flavors. My choices tonight were Hazelnut, Goat Milk with cocoa beans, and Yogurt with Olive Oil. Very unusual flavors, but all very delicious. Hazelnut - Ground hazelnuts studded throughout the creamiest base. The goat's milk is rich and pleasantly tangy. The yogurt with Olive Oil was tart and delicious, a traditional Roman flavor. Sounds weird, but it was really good! Can't get too sick of any of the flavors because there is only about two bites of each.

I cannot figure out how to take night shots on my camera, but this was a view of the La Canada Fire overlooking the JET Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

View out my car window on the way home.

The Morris Fire (Azusa), the one near the barn, has scorched more than 2000 acres and is only about 60 percent contained. It is not threatening the barn anymore, it is burning in the other direction. There is still no electricity at the barn, but they have a generator running, so at least the automatic waterers are working. The road to the barn remains closed based on the status of the Morris Dam fire, but the highway patrol officers have been very nice and let me through every night. The entrance to the ranch is not too far past the road block they have set up and now they recognize me and don't ask too many questions.


The horses got a beauty session tonight but no riding. Besides that fact that it was 100 degrees at 6pm, I was worried about the air quality.

Tweet

Day three - Morris Fire Update

An air tanker drops retardant during the Morris Fire up highway 39

The fire continues to burn out of control in steep inaccessible terrain above Azusa, and has grown to 1750 acres. The fire remains at 10 percent containment.


Air quality officials issued a smoke advisory Wednesday for areas of the Southland impacted by smoke from the wildfire. The photo above was taken at the barn in the early afternoon, but last night by the time I got there after work, it seemed the winds had blown much of the smoke away. I didn't even smell the smoke in the air and I could see blue sky, which I was glad about for the horses sake.

The forecast for today is another hot, dry day with 10-20 mph winds out of the west, very low humidity and temperatures as high as 104 degrees at low elevations. Ugh! Thankfully, the forecast did not call for any strong Santa Ana winds that typically stoke the worst Southern California wildfires.

Late Wednesday, a new fire erupted in the Los Angeles suburb of La Canada Flintridge. At least 20 acres had burned by evening with 20 percent containment, U.S. Forest Service spokesman Bruce Quintelier said.

Tweet

Update on the Morris Fire

Since yesterday at 4:30 when the fire started, it has spread to over 750-acres as of this morning and is only 10% contained with no estimate on containment. The weather conditions are not in our favor. The National Weather Service issued a red flag alert for low humidity and extreme fire danger. Weather officials expect temperatures to reach into the triple digits in the valleys today. I believe the fire is burning in the opposite direction from the barn, but fires are never very predictable. It's a tough battle for firefighters because of the difficult steep and rocky terrain.

The smell of fire is very heavy in the air. I can smell it very strongly at my house and I am about 15 miles away from it.

Tweet

Fire in the canyon

On my way from work to the barn tonight I noticed a large plume of smoke in the sky. Unfortunately, not too rare of an occurrence here in southern California. As I drove along the freeway I started wondering where the fire was burning, and as I drove further along I started worrying that it was burning in the area where I keep my horses. After a couple of phone calls it was indeed burning very close the the barn! I couldn't get there any faster than the heavy traffic would allow, and it seemed like it was taking forever! As I got closer and closer the smoke cloud grew. The sky was filled with helicopters and planes. Six air tankers and five water-dropping helicopters were trying to halt the flames at a ridge top not far from the barn. Chad and I were ready to load up the horses at a moments notice, but as the sun set the fire seemed to lay down. At a press conference tonight, officials said we should be safe for the night because the fire was burning in the opposite direction.

The fire has grown to at least 250 acres, with no estimate on containment, authorities said tonight. More than 600 firefighters are battling the blaze near Morris Dam, the U.S. Forest Service said. But air operations have been suspended during the nighttime hours, officials said. The cause of the blaze was under investigation.


I am on notification duty...the electricity at the barn is shut off so no TVs or computers to get updates. If I get any updated information, I will call them and inform via cell phone. There are people that live on the property, so I am not too worried right now. We have been through this before and had to evacuate ALL 80 or so horses. I am hoping we do not have to evacuate this time.

Tweet