Nuys feels the wind

It blew like a mother------ last night in Van Nuys ... and in the rest of the Valley and probably all of L.A.,for that matter. And with Thursday being trash day in our Southeast Van Nuys neighborhood, cans were blowing down like crazy. I had to prop up a few of ours before they got picked up, and Ilene had to do the same for us and our neighbors. Many a recyclable spilled across our moonscape of a street. We're just lucky our next-door neighbor already took out the giant, wild tree between our houses.

And here in Woodland Hills today, the power kept cutting out. Our PCs are on a UPS system, but the Internet itself was a bit shaky at times. According to City News Service, 10,000 DWP customers in Woodland Hills and an additional 1,600 in North Hollywood lost power due to the high winds. And 2,000 Southern California Edison customers didn't have power either, KFWB radio was reporting.

There was also a grass fire sparked by downed power lines near Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Riverside Drive, as well as a brush fire on North Beverly Drive in Beverly Glen -- and one home was burning, KFWB also reported. (We've got the ever-knowledgeable Ken Jeffries broadcasting from our newsroom, so when they know it, we know it).

I'm on coffee No. 5 or 6 (I lost count), so on with the show.