Summer Officially Here!

Now (the collective Southern Calif.) we can get back to worrying about fires as well as earthquakes. And sleeping naked under mosquito netting for the next six months.

Hot, windy conditions sparked several brush fires on Monday, including one on Catalina Island and Tujunga Canyon.

Los Angeles County Fire Department officials were concerned about a fire that broke out behind the Catalina Yacht Club this afternoon and was threatening the structure, according to L.A. County Fire spokesman Matthew Levesque.

Two helicopters are now doing water drops, and 100 firefighters are being sent to the island by barge from San Pedro, he said.

Barge? That's not too encouraging. Do they have to row themselves?

LATER (2315 PDT):

There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.
— Raymond Chandler, "Red Wind" 1938