There's a massive power outage effecting the OC, Low desert (Palm springs, Coachella) and apparently a lot of San Diego and even into Baja Mexico.  They had a crawler on the TV talking about an 'emergency.'.  Of course, anyone in that area will not be watching TV, so I'm not sure what good that did...  The outage may last into tomorrow.

I usually do ( Read more... )

The repaved the street last week, and paved over all the manhole covers.  Today they were taking a jackhammer to all the paved-over manhole covers to free them.  Now the street is dotted with manholes sticking above the pavement and orange traffic cones.  It looks like a downhill ski course.

We went t one of those "does the government owe you money ( Read more... )

calicougar came up today and we drove up to the Frazier Park/ Mount Pinos area.

The first thing we saw once we got off the freeway and headed towards the mountains were some cars stopped at the side of the road.  There was a large black bear dead on the shoulder.  I assume it was hit by a car, although it appeared unmarked.  So we stopped, and stood and ( Read more... )

Baby it's Hot Outside.

Went to the LA Zoo yesterday with calicougar  (+ Sam) and dustmeat .  We got there right as it opened (NO traffic driving down.  I was shocked), so for most of the time we were there it was not horribly crowded.  Unfortunately, it WAS horribly hot  (note to self-- do not go to zoo in August.).  Suddenly any animal exhibit with shade became very ( Read more... )

I went down to Ventura Blvd yesterday for an appointment, and since I was in the area I stopped at a bookstore.  There were two extremely agressive panhandlers working the lot (this was a very large parkinglot shared by about 10 stores along the block), one of whom was shouting at cars and chasing after people walking to their cars.  The other one ( Read more... )

Continues to be hot hot hot ( Read more... )

Contrary to the learned pundits, the LA freeways this weekend are more like the song "Ghost Town" than anything else.  Everyone is staying home or in their immediate area.  I can tell the newscasters are bitterly dissipointed this has not turned into the proverbial clusterfuck.  However, all is not lost, because there's still a chance that it will ( Read more... )

Not talking about the ones from south of the border, either.

On our late-night dogwalks, me and furtech  have encountered a variety of people.  Drunks, a crazy person, teenagers grabbing some nookie or causing trouble, and a crazy person.  Add to that list the guy we encountered last night on a bicycle.

Usually after we call the dogs off the bike path so ( Read more... )

How do I know summer is really here?  I nearly stepped on another rattlesnake!  A nice big Southern Pacific rattler (Crotalus oreganus helleri), about as long as my arm, stretched out across the trail.  This one did do a respectable rattle after I stopped, then slithered off into the bushes.

I guess i should be resigned that at some point my luck ( Read more... )

I went to the LACNHM Bug Fair yesterday, along with iisaw , his wife, dustmeat and drakegrey .  It was hideously crowded.  Like, ComiCon level of crowds.  There were a lot more vendors selling live bugs (not orchid mantids or assassin bugs, unfortunately.)  Lots and lots of tarantulas, hissing roaches, scorpions, silkmoths, mantis egg cases, ect.  I picked up some fruit ( Read more... )