The land of shake and bake

Anyone close to me knows that although I live in LA, I dislike it -- for many reasons. One of those reasons being earthquakes (the "shake" in my title). Another reason being the fires (the "bake" in my title). And today, for the second time in less than a year, a fire came dangerously close to my house. Ok, so maybe I'm exagerating a little bit. It wasn't nearly as close as the fire this past October (pictures to the right and below), but still a little too close for comfort.

The fire in October was pretty big -- about 150 acres burned. It came so close that I was evacuated within 10 minutes of being notified of the fire. Not to mention, all of this happened at 2am!!! Ugh...what a nightmare that was!

Now, here I was again, 8 months later watching flames creep closer and closer to my house. And this time I wasn't at home to 'save' any of my stuff. The flames weren't in my backyard this time or anything, but they were close enough that the police weren't allowing me to go up to my house. Close enough that my grandma felt the need to call me while at work and tell me not to worry. Close enough that there were (and still are, although it's 8 hours later) firetrucks on my street. And close enough that the sweet smell of ash fills the air, the calming sounds of helicopters will put me to sleep tonight, and you would think it's foggy outside but it's only smoke.

These pictures are from earlier today. As I write this post, the fire is 90% contained and I've been allowed up to my house, but the streets are filled with firetrucks and the traffic on the freeway is still pretty bad. I'm dreading the drive to work in the morning...AHHH! (Another reason I dislike LA...traffic!)

My conclusion....I need to move out of this area, maybe even LA. But I think I'm going to have to put up with a few more years of shakin' and bakin' before that time comes (if it ever does).