Where are you Smuv? I grew up in La Canada (mom's still there) and my relaitves are in Tujunga, La Crescenta, and Altadena, all right up against the mountains of course.

Monrovia, north of Foothill, up against the mountains.

I just talked to Liz, my friend who lives in the Mt Washington neighborhood. She's about a 30 minute drive from the peak of Mt Wilson. She was wearing a wet bandanna over her face when we talked. She can only see a hazy shape that is Mt Wilson from her house now. They won't get burned where they are, but things are bad in LA.

Current news reports say that the Mt Wilson observatory and antenna complex will be overrun by the fire sometime tonight. On the plus side, firefighters have been on site pretty much all day laying down foam and other retardants, setting backfires and removing other fuel sources so that, when the fire does come, it will have much less chance of doing catastrophic damage to the historic scientific facility and the communications center right next to it.

For me it's less about what I would take and more about how far could I get down the list before the car got full. Usually, my planning is more centered around flooding rather than wildfires, so it often involves moving all the expensive electronics and furniture up to the second floor in the hopes that the water doesn't go that high.

Another picture, more here.

From xoB's link, our house is about an inch below the bottom right corner of this photo.

One of the side issues of the fire is that wildlife has been flooding down from the mountains into the hillside neighborhoods. There are always some woodland visitors, but in the past week, it's been a parade of bears, deer, even mountain lions, and they are getting quite bold. A bear walked into someone's home yesterday morning, and started going through their pantry.

I remember that. A few years ago, bears were strolling into Mesa, AZ. Mesa is the... less evolved? side of Phoenix. They hit them with tranq guns and sent them back to the mountains.

I'm waiting for a joke that starts ... So, three bears walked into a bar....


(...and so I figured ...)


... and walked up to the barman and said "Is Ian here?"

"Ian who?" replies the barman

"You know" say the bear "He's always in here. He's the one with the helmet with the horns".

"Oh, right, the Bar Bear Ian...."


.


Sorry.

is there something that makes that funny in basswords ops center?

oh lord, that's an awful joke.

Ye Omniscient Google sayeth: No results found for "basswords ops center".
Whassdat?

True. :hangs head in shame:

The nerve!

:whip: ten lashes for that one

:eek: