DOES A BEAR…

VIEW FROM DECKER CANYON SPRINGS FIRE

Why does my bathroom smell like Smokey the Bear? I know a bear is supposed to shit in the woods but I think one went in my potty.

I don’t live near the fire. But my husband was living in it for days. I finally realized the smell was coming from his clothes. He smelled like a manly barbecue. And that was from two days of covering the blaze. The second day in Hidden Valley the flames were everywhere. He said it was chaos getting the people and the horses out. No houses were destroyed. The fireman saved all those homes and all those lives. I know we always say God Bless the fireman and the cops. My dad was a cop, so I say take a moment to really pray for them. God knows they need it.

A few years ago my husband and I were both covering a fire in Malibu. He walked right into my live shot. Mr Investigative reporter was too busy to talk to me. So (always so professional) I pinched his butt. I was standing by the Carbon Beach Fire Station. I took the kid, the dog, the cat and the 2 lizards with me when I left the house because I wasn’t sure how close the fire would come and if I would ever get back. A friend took Nash. A famous neighbor on Carbon Beach took the dog (Milky rode out the fire in style). I had the cat and the lizards. That may have been a bad combination.

I was getting ready to go live when the flames came from nowhere. Suddenly they were licking the fire station. How wild if the wildfire burned down the fire house. The firemen got right on it. As they sprayed hillside 5 deer came flying down the hill. They jumped over the madness (maybe reindeer really can fly). I was afraid a car on PCH might hit them. But there was only one vehicle. It was the Governator (Schwarzenegger) coming to survey the fire. The fireman were spraying, the Governor was surveying, the deer were flying and …I saw a rainbow. I swear I am not making this stuff up. The water they sprayed made a perfect rainbow. Rainbows are good luck right? The deer were safe, the fireman saved the firehouse and most of the houses. And of course they didn’t come to me live so that moment was not on TV. It just lives in my memory.

I lost my church in that fire. Malibu Pres burned to the ground. But we have rebuilt it. All my friends and all their pets lived through that fire. We suffered the loss of one family member. We lost Lemon. All our animals have food names (blame my son). There is Oatmeal the cat, Mlky Way the dog, and the lizards Banana and Lemon.

When I got back to the car Lemon was gone. Never to be found. I choose to believe Lemon left us for a better life. Others have gently suggested my cat ate my lizard. Now I know the cat ate the canary (and the a bear shits in the woods) but I don’t like to think one family member ate another. Lemon doesn’t taste very good in Oatmeal…