This afternoon at around 1:30pm I had started to watch an episode of "Rawhide" when I heard the sound of a helicopter circling overhead. It was pretty loud, so I figured it was close. The sound made it hard to concentrate on the show, but I persevered. Later on, the noise got even louder and it sounded like a second copter had joined in whatever action was taking place outside. This continued throughout the 50 minute duration of the show, so when it was over I went out to see what was going on.
There were cops standing across the street, in front of the building that replaced the Northridge Meadows. Down on Plummer Street, there was yellow tape covering all sides of the intersection. News vans were down there too, with cameras on the sidewalk. I walked back home, just a block away, to Google KTLA News, and I discovered that the police were searching the area for a pursuit suspect who had abandoned his car on Baird Street and escaped on foot into an apartment complex. From where the choppers were circling, this appeared to be somewhere behind the location of the Meadows.
My own street was blocked off at Reseda Boulevard, which had a massive traffic jam of it's own due to the closure of the Plummer intersection, so in continuing our series of Traffic Jams this week, we can add this one to the list. It didn't help that CSUN was letting out (that never helps), and so, figuring that any chance for a hike was lost, I stuck around to watch the action. There wasn't much to see until it was over at 4pm, almost three hours after it began. Then, cop car after cop car began leaving the scene, and I have never seen so many police cars in my life. I saw regular LAPD cruisers, plainslothes squad cars, big white K-9 SUVS, cars that looked like they held SWAT members, and a few unmarked white trucks with extended beds, which were covered and had metal cabinets on the side, almost like construction trucks. God only knows what those are for. I also saw several CHP cars. The pursuit may have started with CHP, I am not sure of all the details, but they were there too. In all, there must have been between 25 and 40 law enforcement vehicles on scene, plus two LAPD choppers. Another news copter hovered in the distance, a mile or so down.
But they finally caught the guy, and from what I saw - woe to any bad guys who try to run from the cops. I am a huge supporter of LAPD, and am grateful for what they do to maintain order in our often chaotic city. Like our firefighters, they are the best in the world at their jobs, and if you saw what happened today, you would see what I mean. /////
So that was today's excitement, and we kept up our streak of traffic jams.
By 4:15, they took down all the yellow tape and the traffic began to thin out a little bit. I was now free to exit from my street, so I took a drive out to Porter Ranch, to check on the status of Limekiln Canyon Park. As you know, it is another of my local hiking spots. After parking just off Rinaldi I walked to the trailhead, but the gate had been pulled across the entrance and yet another sign read "Park Is Closed".
So that makes all three of the Rinaldi-area parks that are closed : Aliso, O'Melveny and Limekiln. Three of my favorite trails. Que sera sera, I suppose, but man this is so sad to see. All I can do is trust in The Lord and Mother Nature to restore these beautiful, wonderful places.
I did watch a movie tonight : "The Intruder" (2019), starring Dennis Quaid. It was recommended to me by Grimsley. Usually I don't seek out new movies, but on his word I gave this one a try, having found a copy at Chatsworth Libe. Quaid plays a psycho who sells his Napa Valley mansion to a young couple, only to stalk them after the purchase. He is very attached to the house and has trouble relinquishing possession. At first, the movie reminded me of the kind of thrillers they made in the late 80s and early 90s, like "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle", or more specifically a movie with Michael Keaton called "Pacific Heights". The premise of "Intruder" had a lot of possibility to take the stalker/psycho genre down new roads, and Quaid was great, at least in the first half of the film. He and Meagan Good, the actress who plays the wife of the young couple, are the reasons to see it, but unfortunately the director doesn't seem to know what to do with his script, as all the early options of where to take the plot go unexplored. He was given a fair amount of ideas to work with, and a great first half performance from Dennis Quaid (who is a frightening nut-job), but he just seems content to let things play out in a cliched and time worn fashion. It's too bad because he could've had something here.
Instead he and his movie get one and one half thumbs up - written in lower case - with a positive nod to dennis quaid and meagan good. "The Intruder" is one of those movies that begin with a lot of promise and then let you down, not because they turn bad all of a sudden, but because they turn average. ////
It's me again and it's now Friday afternoon. I'm gonna have a snack and then maybe drive out to Corriganville or Santa Susana. It looks like on our hikes we may be limited to West Valley and Simi parks for a while.
See you tonight at the Usual Time.
Tons of love. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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