Oh, Not That Tree!

The dog barked, and the baby woke up from her nap. I'd been sitting by the fire, and heard nothing. But then John called to me, "Did our tree just come down?"

I ran to the garage, and could see from the side door an ominous cloud of new eucalyptus growth -- sideways across the driveway. Going out the side gate (which would be at the far left on this pic) I saw a wall of Downed Tree that went well into our neighbor's front yard.

Now, of course I said, "Shit" when I saw this, but the very next thing I said was "Thank God!" -- because Alex was away at work with her car, and Bernie and Lil had gone out to the ranch to feed the horse ... and so neither car was in the driveway.

I went next door to let the neighbors know I'd have to go through their yard to get out, and we all milled around, looking at the carnage in awe.  The neighbor used her phone to call Steve's Tree Service, and though he was tied up at another job, he promised to be at our house as soon as possible to get us a path to the street. That's what you see in the picture -- taken after he'd cleared the sidewalk and a narrow walkway on our drive.

And now it's gone.

The tree has shaded the front of our house from harsh summer sun for so long, been our respite on summer afternoons, kept us from having to look into the neighbor's yard across the street, been a haven for hundreds of birds who needed a residence at night.

What a wasteland.

Why did it fall? As it turns out, there was a vast amount of rot occurring in the tree at the juncture of its many branches. The heavy rains over the last few weeks prompted A LOT of new growth (such is the nature of the tree) and that, with the rain, proved too much weight to bear.

Just glad it fell when and where it did, instead of on the house or on people or on cars.

Bleahhhh

 It was a dark and dreary day.

20 degrees below normal.

It rained yesterday.

It rained last night.

It's going to rain again this evening.





It was so chilly in the house that Sebastian wouldn't lie on the floor. He curled up in Bernie's chair and went back to bed.

And so did Howie.

PS. Howie let me examine his gums -- not a sign on swelling or tenderness. Who knows? I'm just glad he's okay.

Storm Chasing

There is a spot out the road where the sky is wide, and this is where we go to view weather.

Bernie woke me one night and dragged me here in the car to watch an amazing sight -- a dry lightning storm fracturing the darkness with bolt after bolt onto the distant Altamont Mountain Range. Today we were curious about what the sky would hold, as the early morning forecast was for showers, thundershowers, funnel clouds and possible tornadoes!

There was no doubt at all that the sky was unsettled; we could see isolated showers to the left and to the right. However, the only really freakish thing about the weather was that it was January weather in mid-May.

We went to Mass last night so that we could stay home and watch the craziness. I even declared today a junk food day so that we wouldn't have to be distracted from oohing and aahing at the dangerous clouds, the laundry room ready to shelter us if a tornado did decide to show up.

Well, we had some interesting clouds ... and one soaking rain shower JUST when I had decided to pick some alstromeria and clean up their stems outside, but other than that, we've had sun, and the forecasters are all looking sideways pretending not to have predicted a disaster.

The junk food was delicious -- homemade chicken wings, sliced summer sausage, Irish extra sharp cheddar cheese, cold shrimp, green olives, pizza, strawberries ...

And now the freak weather can take a hike. It's time for us to leave January behind and find California sunshine waiting for us every day until say, the end of October.

Ock, Ook, Why Wind?

The wind is back.

It was chilly enough today that when we went out to the store, I wore an undershirt beneath a flannel shirt, and long jeans.

The sky looks like trouble, and the sound of the wind in the trees is somehow chilling.

It's not that cold, but it sure doesn't feel like Spring.

Roadkill?

No, of course it isn't. Sure looks like roadkill, though, doesn't he?

Our weather forecast was for more filthy, hateful wind, but sunrise came calmly. Bernie and I took the dogs and trudged me around a couple blocks to break up the rust in my joints, and then we sat in the sun on the brick patio out back.

In the shade, we needed sweatshirts over our shirts and undershirts, but in the sun ... we shucked down to our undershirts and basked. I went to the garage to get something, and outside the garage door, in the dirtiest dirt around, found Fourmyle sacked out on his back in the sun himself.

When I got back with the camera, he hadn't moved a fraction of an inch, though I had watched to make sure he was breathing before I left him the first time.

The weather forecast was correct; the wind is so nasty out there that the gusts make the garage door bend inwards (I'm in the studio today) with loud creaks and pops and "Wooooooooo!" sounds in the tiny gaps. Nevertheless, I remember the sweetness of drinking in the sunlight this morning ... and so does Fourmyle.

Day's End

There's nothing like being busy all day long, from sunrise to sunset.

Kind of makes you feel like a homesteader --

Okay, not a homesteader, that would be an exaggeration that the ghosts of homesteaders would haunt me for. Nevertheless, I was busy today from before the sun rose until ... well, it's well after dark and I'm not done yet.

A simple enough start: I got up, dressed, and said my morning prayers. I took care of the livestock, receiving grateful doggie kisses in return. I fed myself, sat in the morning sun with Bernie for about ten blissful minutes, and then set to the hard task of the day: calling our homeowner's insurance.

Saturday's torrential downpour for some unknown reason caused a leak in the garage ceiling in a number of places -- a freakout disaster for me because that's where my studio is. Fortunately, the leak did not touch any of my canvases or papers or pastels, and Bernie was clever enough to get a bucket under the worst leak before it soaked the rugs.

Indeed, the insurance people were very helpful. I told AAA that I had never had to call them before, and what should I do? They had a plan in seconds (wow, almost like they do this as a business) and investigators and more investigators would be here by suppertime to investigate all the wet bits and possible causes.

Then it was getting the Piker Press up and running for the week. The major obstacle was trying -- after three years of not doing it -- to get a Fever Dreams cartoon to upload properly. That, and the omnipresent laundry cycle, took until it was time for a quick lunch, then ...

The neighborhood erupted like a bunch of ants. The man across the street had some lumber for us (for kindling, or whatever) and some pavers, which we did need for a project, and then the neighbor next to him was trying to unload landscape blocks (which are damned expensive) and did we want them (hell, yes, a savings of about a hundred dollars. Haul, stack, haul, stack.

The insurance dudes arrived. Lots of explanation and chat, photos, photos, then the next round of insurance dudes, lots of paperwork, more explanation and chat, finally done, time to return to the laundry room to fold two bigass loads of clothes and stuff, shift the next two batches.

So good to see the sun go down, and find my chair and my laptop and finally relax.

Spring Needs a Few Tweaks

Wait. This was supposed to be the week of the height of the almond blossom bloom. It wasn't supposed to be COLD and rainy. This week should be balmy, and fragrant with almond blossom perfume.

And didn't Alex's book on gardening say that the last frost date for this area is mid-January? And didn't I already have my tomatoes in the ground by the end of February last year?

Alex covered all the frost-tender plants last night, and we'll have to have them covered tonight, too. The storm blew furiously through the area rapidly yesterday, drops of rain dancing four inches off the sidewalk towards the end. The cold temperatures didn't materialize during the rain, so we didn't get the predicted snow, not here.

It looks like we're going to have to get another 1/4 cord of wood on Monday; most years we've used 1  1/2 cords to heat for the winter, but this year, we had to use wood early in the season as well as late, bringing us up to over 1 3/4 cords we've bought.

The cold weather that has dithered around has moderated the blossoms, too; on January 20th I saw my first open almond blossom, and fretted that the bloom was coming too early, but the chill and rainy weather has delayed things somewhat.

Somewhat? Somewhat? Who am I kidding? I hate being cold this late in the year! This is irresponsible, and I'm going to sue the jet stream for cramping my style, or throwing me off my groove, or for mental and physical cruelty! I demand highs in the 60's, or recompense in the form of free long johns!

Cuddle-Buns

I took this picture of Sebastian and Howie because I am continually amazed at how much they enjoy each other's company.

They were both tired from a long run by the river, and after Howie jumped up on the loveseat for a snooze, Sebastian hopped up, curled into a tiny ball, and nestled in.

Howie never would have done that with our German Shepherd, Babe, because Babe would have roared at him. Likewise, Babe would never have done that with Desi, the border collie we had when we adopted Babe, because Desi would have bit the shit out of him and driven him away.

But these two are buddies, in spite of Howie giving Sebastian his puppyhood beatings several times a day for a couple years. They like each other, and wait for each other when they are out together.

For the record, Howie is a trim 65 pounds, and Seb just had a vet checkup that pronounced his physical condition "perfect" at 75.

(Also for the record, it's been raining steadily all day. Until the last half hour or so. Now it's pouring steadily. I have water standing on the back brick patio in lakes, and the north side of the house is about two inches deep in water, with rain pouring off the roof like a waterfall. This is an inconvenience for our dogs, but could be an absolute disaster for the almond farmers.)

Storm in October

Yesterday this was a nicely-swept patio.

I swept it clean of the piles of hopseed seeds (I suppose they look like hops) because I had this idea that if it rained on the drifts, they would become like cement. There was a fair amount of effort involved, because at this time of year the hopseeds let loose their branches and flutter to the ground. Knowing that there were heavy rains involved as well as high winds, I'm not sure why I thought I should make the effort.

As you can tell, that effort was pointless. The sparrows could not find their birdseed under the hopseeds, the bluejay was damp and disconsolate that there were no peanuts to be had, and there will be no less work for me in cleanup than had I not bothered to sweep the patio before.

It's a fine example of a storm out there, with high winds (gusting to 40 mph, they say) and a substantial amount of rain. The nice thing is that it's not a COLD storm, so Lillian and Sebastian and Howie -- and a little later -- her friend Megan from up the street were able to play in the gutters and the rain until they were soaked and chilled. (Outside temp about 60 degrees.) Since the winds were out of the south, our garage was sheltered, so Bernie and I watched the storm (and the girls and dogs) after lunch until he had to get ready for work.

I came into the house and made a fire, which is taking that clammy edge off the house, and providing a comforting focal point.
Bernie, driving through weather-crazed traffic on his way to work (his commute took a half-hour extra because of all the accidents), suggested I go out and net up all the stuff that blew off the neighbor's sequoias into our pool.

Can you guess what I told him in reply?

I'm looking forward to Thursday or Friday's horse ride to see what happened to the orchards in this mess. The air will be CLEAN, though I suspect a lot of trees will be down due to recent shaking and the wet and the wind.