Oh somebody please come get Bambi, she's eating my bushes!! Oy!

Beware, this is a rant. These last few days of the Station Fire have made me realize some folks are just whinny little babies. First, I heard folks complaining about not receiving a reverse 911 call from whomever to tell them to evacuate their homes. Hello! Think about the good old days, if you will, when people knew there was a fire nearby, smelled the smoke, saw the flames and got the hell out. Why are folks acting like everyone owes them something and they can’t move their fannies to save their lives unless someone tells them to do so. What is wrong with these people?

A friend of mine had no problem doing just that. She saw the fire coming over the ridge and she loaded up the truck and she headed out. No one had to tell her to leave, she didn’t wait for an invitation to evacuate, she didn’t look for officers to come knocking door-to-door, she just left.

Again, since California is a cash-strapped state you would think folks would stop thinking about who owes them something and take the initiative to move on their own. Help the state, help the city, help your neighbors for peet’s sake and take some initiative. It’s all about me isn’t it? I’m just saying.

Next, we have the folks mad with firefighters because they didn’t save their homes. Hello! You chose to move into an area with tall trees, wild brush, and your house hangs off the side of a canyon. You knew or should have known this day would come. Had it been me with a house in the mountains knowing a fire could strike at any time, I would have my stuff laid out and ready to go. It’s called a disaster plan. I’m out. I will return to rebuild later. I do not want firefighters risking their lives for my material possessions. Knock down the fires and if my house goes it goes. Hopefully, if I have insurance or can get insurance I will rebuild the thing. Nothing in this world is worth losing your life or risking the lives of others, particularly for material possessions. Have a disaster plan and be done with it.

In Altadena it got particularly cute. Folks got their panty hose and boxer shorts out of alignment when Altadena was skipped for names like La Canada, Pasadena, and Sierra Madre. Folks actually attended a meeting — as they should have — some stating they were going to represent for Altadena. Hello! Who cares!!! We are all in this together, all of the Foothill communities and I could not care less if they mention Altadena or not. Quite frankly, until I moved here I didn’t know this place existed and as stated in a prior post, if you blink you’ll miss it. I cannot blame news men and women who don’t get it because we are, to be blunt, surrounded by Pasadena and mountains. It’s easy to make the mistake particularly when you are truly operating under fire.

I will admit, I did find it funny though when one person shouted out “what about Altadena” and another shouted out “what about Seattle, Washington.”   Yeah and what about Chicago, Illinois.  Basically, who cares!!!

Take care of your families, ensure the sick and shut-in can get out, spend time concerning yourself with people because life is too short. Who cares about this other mess.

Then there were the folks who complained stating how quickly fire departments rushed to put out the fire in Rancho Palos Verdes. I have friends who live in Rancho Palos Verdes and I want you to know PV is dense with homes in all sorts of nooks and crannies. To avoid loss of life they had better get in there quick and put that fire out. Sure, there are some fancy and very expensive homes in there but oh my God is the place filled with them. That’s right folks, run, fly but don’t walk to put a fire out up there.

Of course, with all fires comes the comment “if we were in Malibu . . .” fill in the blanks. If memory serves me, I did see a lot of the fires in Malibu, Topanga Canyon, and the more recent one in Santa Barbara. Sure, they got a lot of news coverage because, HELLO, this is Southern California the home of Hollyweird. The news folks love talking about the homes of Brad Pitt, Oprah Winfrey and so many more. I also remember a lot of those homes of famous people burned completely to the ground. Those big names did not save those big homes. Like everyone else who builds a house or lives in one atop a mountain or in a canyon, it can and will go up in flames and trust, the fire won’t care who owns the home.

Finally, the poor animals. I cannot believe folks are now flooding the lines because they are finding deer in their backyard doing the “I can haz your bushes” party. They want them out, out, out! Hello!!! These poor guys just lost their home. They’ve been hiding out trying to escape death. Let’s not forget we have moved into their territory and we love them, we love the wildlife and that’s what we love — I hope — about living near the foothills. Stop whining!! Let them eat for heaven’s sake and remember we are their caretakers too. Let them eat the doggone bushes and replant the things when this whole mess is over and their bellies are full.

One woman asked me the other day “but don’t deer carry ticks?” Wow, you didn’t know? You’ve been living out here all of these years and didn’t realize they’ve been in your neighborhood eating all your bushes with their parasites in tow? Yes, animals in the wild have fleas, ticks and other parasites. That cute but rather fat skunk (or raccoon and there are some big ones out here) may have ticks and fleas too.

Don’t get me wrong, I am saddened by the news of those who lost their homes, their possessions, animals, those who were hurt and the death of two firefighters. But, I think in Southern California there is a disconnect between what one should concern themselves with in a disaster and superfluous BS.  Of all of the bulletin boards I saw, very few posts were concerned with helping the elderly, concern for their neighbors who are non-ambulatory, didn’t hear anything about putting another up in a hotel who could not afford it.  No, the multitudes were concerned with me, me, me, or complaining about what they didn’t get and what they believe they were owed by their cash-strapped state and cities. Give me a break.

Sure, it’s okay to vent like I’m venting now but please, please, consider others for a change and take your ego out of it. Good grief.

Now I’m seeing signs up everywhere thanking the firefighters and they should be thanked because their job was a hard one in 100 plus degree heat.  But, if you really want to help them, clear your property of brush, create mountain teams to help clear brush, set up evacuation teams on your block or in your neighborhood to assist with evacuations, simply do something besides look for someone to do something for you.