by Bill Kisliuk
Pasadena Sun

After years of political tension prompted by the response to the Station fire, the U.S. Forest Service has agreed to begin training crews and preparing helicopters for night flights to battle wildfires, several California lawmakers announced Thursday.

Rep. 

” SOLAR FLAIR “

from gloriana casey

Old Al Jolson, he made his fame
by singing “Sonny Boy.”
Now Cal Tech has a winner too
in Solar Toilet joy!

A contest —Gates Foundation made
inventions do abound.
For science to the rescue then
with toilet of renown!

The winning toilet of top 3
$100,000 prize,

The scissors paper rock salon (Altadenablog sponsor) will hold a "Girl's Night Out" with skin care specialist Tatiana Siegfried on Tue., Aug 21, from 6-8 PM.  

Enjoy wine & cheese while learning about the basics of skin care. Demos on "how to do your makeup in 5 minutes" for the on-the-go Mom and a "natural student look".

Our Pasadena Sun column is up — thinking of Christmas is soothing during the dog days!

Lonnie Fehr, the caretake at Millard Campground, emails us that the heat has driven rattlesnakes out in search of food in his camp.  Lonnie reports several incidents this month of dogs and humans being bitten.  and of snakes seen by Millard Creek hunting for lizards.  Be careful and watch your step hiking, keep your dog on a leash,

We're enjoying the last few days of summer with the family, so entries will be light this week — we'll be back up to speed soon!

• Travel with a friend, or better yet, a group of friends when riding your bike or walking to or from school or other destinations.
• If a stranger offers you a ride somewhere,

• Bees: Altadena is of course a beehive of urban agriculture (it’s part of the Altadena Food Culture movement) but not everybody is so enamored, either of agriculture or beehives: Mary Catherine O’Connor at Grist reports on some massacres of urban beehives, including hives belonging to Altadena beekeeper Michael Schwartz.
• Office hours: The Arroyo Food Co-Op is holding “office hours”  at the Altadena Ale & Wine House this Thurs.,

Are you having problems with excess weight … relationships … stress … self-sabotage?

Get started on tackling those problems and many more with the boadacious Revvell Revati, who will hold an introduction fo Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) and Voice Dialogue next Mon., Aug. 27, at the Coffee Gallery, 2029 N. Lake Ave. at 7 PM.

Entry is $10 with reservation, or $15 at the door —

Agenda items are to include the Altadena tree replacement plan and some planning/zoning items. 

UPDATE 1:45 PM: The agenda arrived … Diane Marcussen of the town council tells us that there was a typo in earlier versions that went public, and the correct address of the CUP property is 2511 E.

Altadena Heritage is urging its members to push the county to put more trees on the west side of town.

“We most definitely don’t want to start any kind of rivalry between the two sides of town, but we would really like to see some equity here,” said AH President Mark Goldschmidt in an email to members.

Last week, a map of the proposed tree locations showed that East Altadena is getting the lion’s share of new plantings and trees to replace those blown down in the 2011 windstorm.  

It's summer vacation time, which means the kids are out of school, which means we're trying to have an enjoyable summer together over here!  Just a reminder that we're operating at half speed as we enjoy some family time.

Members of the Altadena CERT  (Community Emergency Response Team) are hosting a meeting for the public on Sun., Aug. 19, from 4-6 PM at the Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena Dr.  The purpose is to help educate the public on disaster preparation, show them what CERT can do, and organizaing a Neighborhood Watch group.

But they’re also looking for help inside and outside of CERT to make the meeting a success.

The National Night Out will be held in Altadena on Tues., Aug. 7, from 5-8 PM, and the newest participant is the Salvation Army.

In addition to enjoying the barbecue and information available, you can clear your closets and make a donation to the Salvation Army.

In addition, there will be a Community Oriented Policing Survey to help the local sheriff’s station know how to benefit the community,

The “Parks After Dark” program at Loma Alta Park continues through the month of August starting tonight.

Thursday through Saturdays, the park will have a variety of activities for all ages and interests, from sports to the arts to family events and movies.  

There will also be presentations on community preparedness on Aug. 9 and 25, a teen dance on Aug.

Your only purely local news website is also the only one with purely local sponsors, who help us bring you the news of Altadena every month!  The valuable members of our sponsor team are:

Altadena Ale & Wine House

Altadena Heritage, sponsors of the Altadena Farmers Market

Altadena Solar

Arroyo Food Co-op

Baietti-Seyffert/Podley Properties

Curves Altadena

Dhari Thein Real Estate

Dr.

We are traveling today, so entries will be correspondingly light.

(And to clarify, thanks to a reader:  he’s in a double-blind study trial for a new muscular dystrophy medication out of UC-Davis Medical Center — he’s not being tried for a criminal offense!)

A county official has shed some more light on how the locations were chosen for replacing downed trees in Altadena.

In our earlier story, we mapped out that most trees being replaced thru a county grant would be planted on the east side of Altadena. Altadena Heritage has urged the county to not only equalize the distribution,

There will be two LA County hazardous waste/e-waste collections coming up locally on Sat., Aug. 18.

One will be in Sierra Madre at the Mariposa Parking Lot, Mariposa Ave. just west of Baldwin Ave. in Sierra Madre, which will run from 9 AM-2 PM. The other will be at the Santa Anita Racetrack parking lot in Arcadia,

from Robert Staehle of the Altadena Crest Trails Working Group:

Please note on your calendars that the Altadena Crest Trail Restoration Working Group (ACTRWG) meeting on Tuesday, 14 August has been CANCELED for summer break. Many folks are traveling this month and, hopefully, enjoying trails in far places. 

We hope you can join us for the next ACTRWG meeting in September on Tuesday,

from gloriana casey

The ancient Greeks, they did believe
that eyes were wondrous things.
An entrance to a person’s soul,
of character—it sings.

And car windows, they do reveal,
just like the human eye.
An owner’s life is plainly seen,
and robbers, they will spy.

We car windows, we give a glimpse
into car owner’s life.
Computers,

… but they don't listen to me. (Nobody does, really!).  This week's column is up at the Pasadena Sun.

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Here's a live feed of the Curiosity landing, scheduled for 10:31 PM tonight.  Mission Control is at JPL in Pasadena.