2021
Rebuilding & Restoring Nature
To-Do List
Designing our House
Finding an Architect
Starting with Permits
Still not done
Building permit
Solar PV
January 2021
The weather is already crazy.
On January 14, an unusual high of +88°F followed by strong Santa Ana Winds that damaged our old oak tree (Grandpa). Additionally, a hailstorm occurred on January 23.
House design
We continued interviewing architects who were knowledgeable about the County permitting process (few and far between) and available. In the meantime, we played house design using SketchUp, a drone, and flagging tape. In September finally, we found someone who seemed the perfect needle in a haystack to be our architect- we chose Tim McNamara, who partnered with his brother Terry, a renowned veteran Malibu architect for our rebuild.
Wildflowers
It is wonderful and rejuvenating to see all the wildflowers in bloom again.
Oak trees are growing
Some of the oak acorns we planted in October 2020 have started to sprout after six months.
Milling the dead trees
What to do with all the 180 lost trees? We bought a portable mill and started to mill the trees we lost in the fire. We will use the milled wood for furniture, flooring, and other items.
Road repair and relocating power poles.
Over the year the road work in our canyon continued. Many days, we had to wait to get to and from our house through the roadblocks; sometimes, we had to carry our groceries a few hundred feet. Some deliveries have been delayed or canceled. As a bonus, we got twice a flat tire driving through nails and screws left behind by the crews.
SCE relocated the power poles from one side of the street to the other. It’s a long story. We’ve been told that SCE operates the lines with an easement; therefore, they need to keep the wires hot all the time. If they didn’t, they would lose the easement. There is no customer at the end of the line. The camp and neighbor’s house burned down, and at the moment, there is no plan to rebuild. A costly move for us ratepayers.
BTW. We also lost power for a few nights.
Birds
Over 380 species of birds live in the Santa Monica Mountains, a third of which are year-round residents.
I have only photographed 50 different species so far, and I’m still on the lookout for others.
Winter Storm
A big Winter storm between the holidays in December blocked the road in both directions for several days and damaged our property.
