Pasadena Santa Ana Wind Storm, Part Three

I would like to thank the City of Pasadena for its swift response to the damage caused by last night's Santa Ana wind storm.  I have been listening to the musical stylings of chainsaws all afternoon as clean-up crews attack the fallen trees.  I cannot imagine how long it will take to clear all of the debris, but it seems like the City effectively triaged the situation.

I would also like to commend my postman, who is still delivering the mail, despite the fact that half of the blocks in my neighborhood are impassable.  Benjamin Franklin, the first United States General Postmaster, would be proud:

And finally, as I wrap up these storm posts, my thoughts and prayers are with my neighbors who suffered serious damage to their homes and personal property.

It's only 2011, but I hope this was Pasadena's "Storm of the Century."

Pasadena Santa Ana Wind Storm, Part Two

Holy crap, I'm exhausted!  It's only 3 p.m. and I'm ready to crawl into bed and spend the next 18 hours sleeping.  This probably has something to do with the fact that I spent several hours today cleaning up damage from the Santa Ana wind storm that swept through Pasadena last night. 

We had to rake leaves, fish leaves out of the pool, clear away branches, and pick up dozens of roof tiles from the ground.  And after all our work, it still looks like a tornado ravaged the backyard last night.

There's more wind in tonight's forecast (YAY!), so we also relocated chairs, pool toys, the deck box, etc. into our garage.  I'd like to think that tonight will be better.  But in case it's not, I don't want a watering can flying through the bedroom window.

In all, my husband and I feel very lucky.  Our pool filter is clogged and might be broken, and the wind blew tons of tiles off the roof, but we are safe and unhurt. 

The 100 year old trees in our neighborhood were not so lucky.

I feel so sad for the trees.  They are so old and majestic, and they gave our neighborhood so much beauty and character.  I still feel overwhelmed and shocked every time I look out the window and see the trees lying across the street.  Poor trees.

Wind Storm Damage: Part One

Last night, we had a wind storm in Pasadena.  The Santa Ana winds were in rare form.  All night, the winds howled and raged and swirled around our house.  It felt like our house was a ship at sea in a storm being pummeled by waves.  I also kept thinking about Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West. 

In the morning, I looked out the bedroom window and saw this:

I was not surprised by all the leaves in the pool, but I did not think the wind was actually pick up our deck box and throw it into the deep end of the pool:

When I looked out our front window, I teared up.  Our street is lined with beautiful old trees and almost all of them sustained serious damage.  The hurricane force winds snapped off enormous branches.

We were able to clear away the branches that were blocking our driveway, but we cannot do anything about the tree in the street:

It feels like we survived a rainless hurricane. 

My B.S. Holiday To Do List

It's here!  The holiday season!  That wonderful time of year when we slow down and enjoy time with our loved ones.

So why the hell are there so many dumb ass b.s. things on my To Do List? 

I feel as if my To Do List is oppressively long.  Address Christmas cards!  Bake cookies!  Wrap presents!  Get a wreath!  Put out decorations!  Buy more decorations!  Holy crap we need more decorations!  Make a gingerbread house because oh my god if you do not make a gingerbread house, the whole world will hate you.  Make an Avent Calendar because the magic of the season will be RUINED unless you have a homemade Advent Calendar made from lace, macaroni and elf dust.  Why are you sleeping?  That's not on the To Do List!  You can sleep in 2012!  You have to bake more cookies!  Why are you using store bought butter?  YOU NEED TO CHURN YOUR OWN BUTTER OR SANTA WILL CRY.

(Excuse me while I go lie down and have a panic attack).

But here's the thing about my holiday To Do List: it's mostly bullcrap.  Oh sure, I still need to buy a few more presents.  And yes, I would like to mail our Christmas cards before Valentine's Day.  But everything else is OPTIONAL and does not actually belong on my To Do List. 

I've deleted most of my holiday "to do's" from my To Do List.  For example, I thought it would be fun to make homemade Christmas gifts.  But then I remembered: knitting a scarf at 3 a.m. is not fun.  Cross "homemade gifts" off the list.  I also wanted to make a Christmas village for the mantle.  I had this murky vision that involved lots of glitter. And then I had a vision of myself in the ER, with my elbow glue-gunned to my forehead.  Cross "glitter Christmas village" off the list.  

Now that I've revised my Holiday To Do list, I am much more excited for December.  I've embraced a new mantra: I am not Martha Stewart; I do not have an army of interns at my beck and call; I do not need to buy any more freaking decorations. 

Instead, I'm going to sit and enjoy the (fake) Christmas tree in our living room.  Oh sure, it has lots of gaps and needs more decorations.  I suppose I could spend every free moment crafting and shopping for more ornaments.  But instead, I smile and remember that every year, our tree will have a few more ornaments.  And someday, we'll have too many ornaments. But this year, right now, we have just the right amount.

Seriously, Does That $%&*ing Dog Have To Bark Everyday?

There's a dog in my neighborhood.  It likes to bark.  A lot.  Especially in the afternoon.  It's barking right now as a I write this.  

I really, really, really hate that dog.   

I mean, SERIOUSLY - HOW LONG CAN ONE DOG BARK?  It barks for two hours every afternoon!  TWO FREAKING HOURS!  If I tried to bark for two hours, my throat would start to bleed.  Does this dog have super powers?  Is it a genetic experiment?  Or is it the devil's demon spawn? 

There are dozens of dogs in this neighborhood, but you never hear the other dogs barking.  They have dignity and self-control.  There's just one stupid insecure egomaniac dog that feels the need to defend it's territory every &^(*!&)#@ing day.

AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON THE OWNERS.  Those stupid, thoughtless, I-hope-they-burn-in-hell owners.  Are they completely oblivious to the fact that their dog barks for hours every afternoon?  Do they think the neighbors actually enjoy the musical stylings of Spot or Rex or Whatever That Effing Dog's Stupid Name Is?  I hope a meteor destroys their house (when they are on vacation - no need for bloodshed) and they are forced to move far, far away. 

Procrastination: The Basement Edition

I should probably deal with the storage situation in our basement.  It might be time to purge all the crap that we have abadoned down there.

But not today.

You Know What I Need?

More catalogs. 

To all the catalog distributors of the world: please note my sarcasm.  I realize that sometimes tone gets lost in the written word, so I just wanted to be clear on that point.  I do not want any more catalogs. In fact, if I receive any more catalogs, my postman will have a nervous breakdown and dump my mail in the gutter.