Raging brush fires threaten L.A. area homes

Raging brush fires threaten L.A. area homes

Its raining in Portland today. The sky is darn, wet, overcast. I wish I could sent it down south. These pictures are from my co-worker’s house. They came within 200 yards of his back yard.

A wildfire, fanned by the first Santa Ana winds of the season, has charred at least 16,000 acres along the Los Angeles-Ventura county border, forcing hundreds from their homes and closing schools today.



Raging brush fires threaten L.A. area homes

Shambhala Prison Community

Shambhala Prison Community

I’ve had the house to myself a lot this week because Paul has been in prison. Bill Karelis from the Shambhala Prison Community was up to do a three day Shambhala Training Level One at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem.

Prisons are very abstract to me. I’ve heard of them. I’ve seen them on TV. I don’t know anyone or have spent any amount of time with anyone who has actually done hard time.

pris·on

    noun
  • A place for the confinement of persons in lawful detention, especially persons convicted of crimes.
  • A place or condition of confinement or forcible restraint.
  • A state of imprisonment or captivity.
  • [Middle English, from Old French, alteration (influenced by Old French pris, taken) of Latin prÄ“nsiō, prÄ“nsiōn-, a seizing, from *prehÄ“nsiō, from prehÄ“nsus, past participle of prehendere, to seize.]

    One man was doing 7 years because he threw his car keys at the chest of a cop. He contested it in court and was found guilty. Oregon law has a minimum sentence if you contest and thats what he got.

    SF vs. Oakland

    Westin Saint Francis

    I stayed last night at St. Francis Westin in San Francisco. I am now completely oriented to BART and can go where I please. San Francisco is beautiful and lively and the sidewalks don’t trip me. I took the BART from 19th Oakland. Peter Espiritu insisted on escorting me to the station (which I didn’t need) because he thought it was the right thing. (Contrast to my first dark night in safe Pasadena in March) Public Transit & San Francisco are much more ‘my style’ than Taxis & Oakland.

    The St. Francis was build in 1902 and survived the 1906 earthquake.