Waking to the Sound of Fire Truck Sirens

It's Sunday morning and before the sun came up I woke up to the sound of fire truck sirens. Not just passing by, but sitting near my front door blaring away. I could hear some people yelling and then 2 car alarms began going off. I could tell they were trying to wake people up.

With all of that, I didn't smell smoke. It's about 4 hours since I woke up and upon going outside I saw that the red brick building in the picture, which is on the same side of the street as me, in the other block, is burning. I noticed people standing behind my house looking at something and I walked back there to see another house on fire.

I talked to my neighbor, Mary who seems to know everything, and she said that there were a total of 4 buildings on fire. The bottom floors of the buildings housed businesses, a children's art school, a laundry mat, a hair salon and an attorney's office. The top floors are residential. Mary informed me that no one was injured.

The wild thing... is that with all the fires that I have lived through in California.. never has one been so close to where I live. I think that is wild.

For some reason I didn't hear the siren that blares through the streets to wake up the volunteer fire department. I just heard the fire truck sirens.

I am really not 100% surprised by the fire. These old buildings have very old wiring. Something that people aren't required to get updated and replaced.

Ciao

Hiking in PA

This is the month that the tourist come to Pennsylvania. The leaves are changing and it is really something to see.

The weather is fantastic! Around 60 degrees during the day and 40 degrees at night. Sweater weather!

A client told me it was 115 degrees in the San Fernando Valley last week. The San Fernando Valley is where Woodland Hills is located. Where I use to live.

And once again, California is burning. Big fires in the San Bernardino area.

This past weekend was a hiking weekend for me. My special guy and I went to the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. Bet you didn't even know that existed, well neither did I. The picture in this post of of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon. It is situated in approximately 160,000 acres. Their are a couple of trails and bike path. It's really something to see.

I also went hiking in Ravensburg State Park. It is on 78 acres of beautiful wooded mountains.

Hiking is excellent exercise. During my lifetime I have spent too many hours in a gym. It's time for me to get my exercise in the outdoors where I can breath clean air and see real beauty.

Ciao

California's Burnin' Again

Last week there were 8 separate fires in California. Air quality alerts were being issued in Las Vegas because of the smoke blowing in from California. That's wild!

The worst part is that the "official fire season" isn't until October, which is when the warm dry winds of the Santa Ana start blowing.

I have a bunch of friends who live in California and are on FaceBook. Only one of my friends has actually mentioned that the smoke is pretty unpleasant. Everyone else seems to be in some mystical LaLaLand. Who cares if it's all burning ...... We're in California!!!! Yipppeeee

Last weeks Time magazine had an article about the fires. I was surprised when they said that one of the reasons the fires were so bad in California is because "there are more people to start them". Well, as wild as this may sound... it's true. The fires in California ARE NOT a natural, normal occurrence in nature, such as a hurricane or tornado. These are fueled by evil intent. Yea, sounds like just the right kind of place to live.

We'll just keep our fingers crossed and pray for every one's safety.

Ciao