box of rain

southern california has had more rain since 2005 began than it often gets in an entire year. the storms have stopped for now, and hopefully for a while. runoff is still going strong in the canyon, gurgling down the street and bubbling out of the sewers. things are much worse in other areas -- a big mudslide in la conchita killed 10 people (confirmed) and maybe more. one man lost his wife and three of his daughters. horrible! a guy in malibu hit a mudpatch in his SUV and plunged to his death into the pacific ocean. a toddler was swept away and drowned during a rescue attempt. a giant boulder landed on topanga canyon boulevard -- i think they've dynamited that into submission now, but apparently a body was found in its wake.

even nearer to us, just on the valley side of LCB, a 5,000-square-foot house slid into the street after getting swept up in a mudslide. part of the hill to the south of us slid into the street; you can see tree roots sticking out of the hillside like old bones. as of this morning, parking enforcement types were still routing northbound traffic via little laurel, and letting only southbound traffic through on the lower part of LCB south of the country store. they seemed to be restricting northbound traffic through the canyon, as well. i dunno what it's like on the valley side, but there must be a barricade at either LCB or mulholland, b/c this morning we still weren't seeing the usual amount of traffic flow from the north, either. the quiet is nice, but not at this price. it's almost eerie to wake up at 8 a.m. and not hear the usual stream of traffic flowing by.

the power went out again on sunday night, from midnight to 9:30 monday morning. but we have electricity now, although our phones are down. not having internet at home is a drag (dammit, should've gotten that cable modem!), as is not having a land line, but at least i have my cell. (although for a while, in the thick of the rain, not even that was getting a signal.) 00soul's land line was the only one working, but it went out yesterday. it's back on, sorta, today. a repair tech was supposed to come out today, but so far that hasn't happened. i've seen SBC trucks hunkered down next to phone-line boxes all over the city, however, so they are obviously busy.

this has all been slightly annoying, but (for once) i really can't get too worked up about it. i haven't even ranted or anything. (ah, maturity.) it's just impossible for me to feel anything but grateful at this moment in time. right nearby, people have suffered a lot worse than we have, and, of course, compared to the tsunami horror on the other side of the world, this is nothing at all ... at least, not for me. so ... thanks, universe. i owe you one.