Winter Storm

We had major rain and wind here today.

There was no chance of a photo -- the wind was blowing the rain in all directions and I would not subject my scrumptious new camera to that kind of weather. At one point this afternoon, the wind was gusting right out of the west, and hit our front windows in spite of the porch. I opened the front door to look out, and rain blew into the house! That's never happened before.

We had a river of water flowing off the porch, and the sidewalk was under water. I went out several times (no thunderstorms to worry about) to rake leaves off the storm sewer, getting soaked each time. It was wonderful. The dogs went out with me and "helped" clear the gutter by grabbing sticks and leaves from the water.

The scrub jays who beg for peanuts on a regular basis didn't venture to our back patio today, and we only had three or four sparrows. However, the Hog Finches showed up en masse and gobbled down all four freshly filled sock feeders. They were all drenched, too, looking like they had all come from a bath.

One good thing, for sure: the heavy rain washed most of the birdshit off everything.