Swoop

AS YET ANOTHER rain storm passes through the Southland, some of the canyons hit by the fire are on a flash-flood watch, but no mandatory evacuations are expected this time around, not in Orange County.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service has a squadron of planes hydromulching the bejesus out of the hills in the canyons—to “stabilize” them.

Essentially, they're gluing things down using dive-bombers.

The Reb, who lives in Modjeska Canyon, called me today, inviting me to bring my camera and check it—i.e., the hydromulchery—out. So, taking a break from grading, I did.

The aerial H-mulching is all very cool, if you ask me, but a person (such as Reb) could easily get weirded out by all these noisy crop dusters buzzing so close to the ground and to homes. I mean, as soon as I arrived, without warning, a plane roared from behind a hill and commenced swooping and mulching right at me. I think Reb ran inside.

I could see the pilot as he flew by (see). Couldn't see his eyes. I think he was a Republican.

Check out my pics.

LATER, I WENT Christmas shopping, guided by an article I found today in the online version of OC Weekly: 25 TOYS FOR THOSE 25 AND OLDER.

The article is a slide show with mostly the kind of stuff you’d expect the Weekly to notice (e.g., a Hillary Clinton nut-cracker). But I did like three of the toys:

"#17 Holy Toast Bread Stamp: Who says ALL toast can't be holy?" —This is way cool, doncha think? Too bad I don't eat toast. But my friends do.

"#20 Nun Punching Puppet: Because no one messes with a nun." —I think Tom will like this. I can just see him wearing these things and going at it.

"#25 Periodic Table Tarot Cards: For those of us who can't decide whether to be into science or pseudo-science." —Unfortunately, I can give this one to nearly all of my friends. Most of 'em go to chiropractors or worse. I'll gift 'em. Then, I'll mock 'em.

ALSO APPEARING today in the Weekly is a nifty post by our pal Scott Moxley:

SCHROEDER LAW ENFORCEMENT EMPIRE AT STAKE TODAY:

Mike Schroeder will jump out of bed this morning in Corona del Mar, neatly hang his Darth Vader pajamas in the closet, shower, kneel at his USC football altar and don an expensive, natty suit befitting Orange County’s leading Republican strategist-slash-chiropractic insurance company king.


It’s a big day in Schroederdom. He’ll drive his jumbo-sized, black Hummer to the state court of appeal (COA) in Santa Ana in the hopes of teaching a onetime disciple a lesson: Don’t Mess with Mike. Schroeder—consigliere to both District Attorney Tony Rackauckas and Sheriff Michael S. Carona—wants the justices to toss First District Republican Supervisor Janet Nguyen from office.


…Schroeder claims the Registrar of Voters certified the wrong Nguyen as the winner (by just three votes) in last February’s special election. He says the Republican who finished second, Trung Nguyen, should be seated. Surely coincidentally to the merits of the case, Trung is, to put it bluntly, Schroeder’s boy. Janet, on the other hand, has had the audacity to show occasional independence from local GOP bosses like Schroeder.


…If the COA tosses Janet’s election, Schroeder—the reigning mastermind of OC insider games—will be in excellent position when his pal—the federally indicted Carona—leaves office prematurely. How? In his corner, he’d have three likely votes on the board of supes: Trung Nguyen, Pat Bates and Bill Campbell. That board majority gives Schroeder key influence over who will complete the remainder of Carona’s term at the county’s most powerful government agency.

So if you see Schroeder running excitedly into the COA building on Spurgeon this morning, it's not a pit stop. It's not even to distribute Mitt Romney For Prez brochures. Half of his law enforcement empire is at stake.