In and around Williams Canyon

This is maybe a mile above Cook's Corner, heading toward O'Neill Park. See the horses?

Oh good, the bomb stopped ticking

.....Well, it’s been exciting again, here in the mountains.
.....Yesterday, the Reb and crew were evacuated from Modjeska Canyon and came to my place. I, of course, am experiencing the twin maladies of cold and gout; I pronounced myself “not fit for human company” and hobbled and coughed my way to my parents’ house nearby. I'm not sure what that says about my parents or my regard of them.
.....But, by then, it was 11:00, and my parents had locked up and gone to bed. So, there I was, in the driving rain, banging on their door. I think I scared a few years out of ‘em.
.....But it all turned out OK.
.....This morning, no doubt owing to the diminution of rain, officials declared that canyon residents may return to their homes. That is odd, for mudslide danger exists because of the existing state of saturation of canyon walls, not because of rain per se. That is, things are as dicey in (some parts of) the canyons right now as they were at the height of the rain last night. So why call off the mandatory evacuation?
.....According to the Register,

.....Emergency officials decided to lift the mandatory-evacuation … although they continued to urge residents to stay away under a voluntary-evacuation request.
.....…Orange County Fire Capt. Mike Blawn said the worst of the initial storm had passed through the county. Emergency teams were not anticipating any more serious rainfall until late this evening, he said.
.....The storm was strong enough to trigger a brief flash-flood warning earlier this morning. It expired at 8:30 a.m., but the National Weather Service continued to warn that the danger of mud and debris slides and flooding was high.
.....For the moment, at least, the barren hillsides in the burned canyon areas seemed to be holding together in the face of the storm. "We have had no reports of property damage or injuries, and no debris flows or rock slides," Blawn said earlier this morning.
.....But, with storm clouds still hanging over the county, he warned county residents not to get complacent. "We don't know what the accumulative effect of the rainfall is doing to the hillsides," he said.

.....Am I nuts, or what? Calling off the evacuation makes no sense. I mean, isn’t this like evacuating a building cuz somebody found an apparent ticking time bomb inside, but then letting people return cuz the bomb stopped ticking?
.....Which reminds me. The evacuation center for this storm was set up at Villa Park High, which is where I graduated 30-some-odd years ago. (In the end, nobody slept there last night. Typical.)
.....Among my warm and fuzzy memories of that place—besides Kevin Costner and my lonely advocacy of George McGovern—were the constant bomb scares that occurred one year. An anonymous individual would call the school, declaring that he had placed a bomb in building X. Then we’d all go through the drill, ending up somewhere outside, yammering about the usual bullshit: Jethro Tull, Nixon, Up With People.
.....It was great fun.
.....No bomb was ever found.
.....Or maybe one was, but the damn thing stopped ticking, so they let us back inside. Could be.