In the wee hours of Tuesday night or Wednesday morning, a bear scaled a 6' chainlink fence, ripped out the hardware cloth, and shimmied 4-5 feet into a hen house and took three chickens without a trace. Minimal feathers, broken roost, busted nesting box frames, no blood, but chickens were gone. This happened on a property above the water tanks. It sounds fantastic, but it happened.

Hi all - There has been a fiber optic cable that was cut or damaged somewhere between Goleta and Santa Maria that has wiped out the phones and Frontier's internet. Unfortunately this is not something that can be addressed with a generator. I'm told it should be repaired later today. I can only hope they have a better bead on the location of the damage.

A huge thank you to Nick Hart, Erik Norberg, Stu Philkill, Jenny VanSeters, Doug Hatt, Alan Struebing, and Christian Winnewisser for not only shoveling out PC Rd, but for also shuttling stranded residents from their stuck vehicles to the community. For those of you who are newish around here - If you made it through the rain/mud event a month ago, the wind event two days ago, the snow event today, and have a fire scare under your belt... you're golden. Everything else is a cake walk. Even the tarantula in your living room, or the skunk on your porch pales in comparison. An excellent lesson for everyone. Stock up, and keep some extra things in your car. If you have three days of food in your house, you might want to bulk up a little bit. Keep a coat, gloves, maybe a shovel in your car. Not only do we look at weather road closures, but if there is a fire nearby and they call for a 'mandatory evacuation'... if you leave your property (or the community), you can't get back until they lift the evacuation order. Sometimes, they issue the order even though there is no immediate threat. During the Zaca Fire in 2007, our evacuation order lasted for at least a week and the fire was nowhere near us. Another round of gratitude to all those that threw their hands and backs into the effort today. Sleep well and be warm, Jessica