NASA/Reuters satellite image - Sunday, Oct 21. Catalina island on the lower right, Malibu fire is the smaller plume in the middle. Long Beach is just where the land runs into the right edge of the picture. Orange County is further right off the image. One of the news programs here once used the lead-in, "From the mountains to the sea and in all of Southern California....", which seems appropriate to this day. Not only from the mountains to the sea, but also from Santa Barbara to the Mexican border - a lot of miles. After I said no fire in Orange County last evening a crazy arsonist set three fires in the hills above Irvine, which are now one fire that threatens thousands of homes. The smoke and ash are horrendous. I thought of going to Long Beach in the wee hours to stay with the Poodle Prince and his parents, but I didn't, which was a good choice because they also have smoke and ash blowing south from the fires in Northern LA County. Five million people suffering from raw throats and scratchy eyes!
The wind is whipping up again this evening, the house creaks and rattles. I was surprised that I didn't see more damage while I drove the 20 mile round trip for a doctor's appointment this morning. Maybe a dozen trees down and a block wall pushed over onto the public sidewalk. But great drifts of leaves, twigs, palm tree debris, pine needles and trash (of course) were everywhere. Plastic bags float through the air like jelly fish, signs on poles waggle like those in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and the sound of chainsaws can be heard in the distance. The prediction is for the wind to last through Wednesday - may the Goddess protect us! Send water dropping aircraft, please.
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