This was such an unusual happening, the local Fox remote Catalina camera got these shots of heavy surf in the normally pond-like Avalon Harbor. I took these shots of the TV yesterday morning as the waves were happening. None of the usual open air putt putt cars seemed to be going up and down Crescent and Via Casino as normally is the case.

And roll they did:

A moderate earthquake occurred at 11:42:15 AM (PDT) on Tuesday, July 29, 2008.
The magnitude 5.4 event occurred 4 km (3 miles) WSW of Chino Hills, CA.
The hypocentral depth is 14 km ( 8 miles).

Damsel and I were at home and at work, respectively, as shown by the two red spots in the shake map below. We both felt a jolt and then about 90 seconds of light rolling with another jolt sometime in the middle of the rolling. I needed to get my sea legs when I stood up to look out of the window. Neither of us had any damage or anything tip over. Bear, our Shepard/Lab mix dog hid under Damsel’s desk for a long time after the shaking stopped.

With Gas prices so high, it appears that some Southern California moms resort to transporting their kids in a more gas conserving way. At least the kid is tied down to mom with a safety belt and wearing a helmet.

Could be a really big bottle of sparkling wine - or, it could be a champagne-colored round of .357 magnum ammo in the cylinder of a S&W 686 revolver - your choice.

We watched some of the proceedings at the NRA Convention in Louisville last night and today and really look forward to next year when the convention goes west - we plan to attend that one.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, families and friends after this terrible tragedy. Captain Ed at Captain’s Quarters has the most thorough blog coverage of this horrific event that we’ve seen. Here’s an excerpt from CQ regarding an interview with Governor Pawlenty of Minnesota:

Governor Pawlenty warned in the interview that it would take quite a while to remove the debris from the river and to get a new bridge designed and approved. It will take longer than a year to replace the collapsed structure, which will mean long delays and heavy frustration with traffic here in the Twin Cities. Today, though, it looks like many people have opted to take a day off to give the state some time to adjust.

Photo credit: AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune

UPDATE: New Panoramas added at the bottom.

There is a wildfire on Catalina Island this evening. Near real time pictures are available on the Catalina Interior Webcam from Los Angeles Coastal Monitoring Network “interior webcam.”

I made this composite panoramic view of the fire at just after 7:20 PM (Pacific Daylight Time) this evening. Click on the panoramas for a full-sized view.

Update - 7:50 PM:

More updates below the fold.

Continue reading » Catalina Fire

Update III: Not as bad as thought. See RECAP Below.

Update II: Looks like the count is 8 homes destroyed, 5 damaged and no injuries reported.

Update: Live TV Feed.

Breaking news: A wildfire threatens many celebrity homes in the Malibu Colony area.

Photo: A Structure fully engulfed in flames. Courtesy KTTV Fox News.

Update: Map of the Malibu Colony fire area:

RECAP: Only 4 homes with significant damage - one guest house destroyed. Many celebrities own homes in the area but no specifics on whether any of them received damage.
Continue reading » Malibu Celebrity Homes Threatened

A few months ago, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, California, acquiesced to Donald Trump’s installation of a giant flagpole on his Trump National Golf Club in spite of not having a permit to do so. Recently, he got into a flap with the City of Palm Beach, Florida for about the same thing. Putting all the squabbles aside, The Donald did the right thing in both locations.

Last week, when our 38th President, Gerald Ford, passed away, Trump National flew their giant flag at half staff for the late president. I took this shot from Palos Verdes Drive South with the new telephoto lens.

Year’s end brought us a flurry of deaths. President Gerald R. Ford passed away in Rancho Mirage, California. James Brown died in Atlanta and Saddam Hussein was hanged in Baghdad. Regardless of that, the sun rises, the wind blows and the windsurfers hit the waves.

A windsurfer at Cabrillo Beach — December 2006

I posted about our Thanksgiving Day, and Damsel posted about the sacrifice our military families make on holidays. All good and well — but — imagine having an untimely event happen in your family on this holiday and having to make the best of a bad situation — well that’s exactly the scenario for Retired Geezer and family as they rushed to be with their son recovering from a helicopter crash. Seems like Brian is on the mend and will recover — A Thanksgiving, indeed.

Note to Brian: get well soon — and welcome to the club. “They” say there are two kinds of helicopter pilots: those who have crashed and those who are going to. You and I are both past that milestone now. I was lucky and walked away from my crash in 1979. Damsel and I hope you keep flyin’ Brian . . . I kept at it and I’m thankful that I did.