Hey, I'll Be Damned, It's Still There!

Welp, it was one heck of a week, lemme tell ya!

This week we had screaming winds for days on end, a flood AND a whole bunch of snow.  And the flood and snow were within a day of each other!

To give the weather service credit, everyone was amptly warned, given the standard 'Be prepared to be on your own for 3-5 days' instructions, etc.  And the weather service, the local government and emergency services were fully prepared and communicated and meshed well together.  It really was a fine example of handling a not-too-fun situation in the best way possible.

So we had a solid week of heavy-duty weather, everything from high winds to 'catastrophic' (the weather services' word, not mine) rain/flooding to MORE high winds just for fun (weather service missed that 48 hour episode though), then a blizzard that has and *still is* dumping snow on us.  Oh, and meanwhile, the earthquake swarms in our area continue.

Plague of toads must be backordered.

But anyway, this morning when I got up the chicken coop & run was still there...

As far as the yard goes, it's either covered in snow or supremely muddy.  Ya gotta watch where you step though, since the yard had about 6 inches of floodwater standing that froze overnight and then got snowed on to the tune of about 6-7 inches.  When I took this pic most of the snow had melted away.

The coop doors were damaged pretty heavily and we'll have to replace them. Unfortunately we haven't been able to check the house for wind damage yet since it snowed so quickly and thoroughly.  But they say it will melt off in a few days, then we'll know what--if any--damage there is.

At lease the chickens had a genuinely great time ice skating on the frozen lake-that-was-once-a-yard before the snow came!

Plus they had their own Japanese zen garden pond!

Fun With Weather #342

Today it got weirdly cloudy and all thunderstormy, which developed into this covering the sky over our entire valley for about half an hour or so:

They were quite tumorous looking and freaky.  They are apparantly Mammatus clouds and are usually the harbingers of heavy weather.  By the time we'd driven home and I'd grabbed the camera they'd faded to this, they HAD been quite a bit more impressive earlier.  Strange, but lovely!

It's That Magical Time Of Year...

...fire season. Today we had dry lightning around the valley which sparked at least three fires, two of which are creating tons of smoke--these pics are about 50/50 smoke and clouds. Just before dusk the sky was glowing, it was making the chickens VERY nervous.

Another one off to the right, this one is closer and responsible for most of the smoke in our neighborhood. The local fire crews are right on top of all of them, of course.

Tonight the air is warm, close & still, we'll see what morning brings as far as how the fires are doing. At least the fires up here smell like a campfire rather than a trash fire!

Where IS That Pot Of Gold...?

Yesterday we had a sudden, unexpected thunderstorm, and had a nice double rainbow to go with it! The view out in the front yard was quite different from the back:

 You can just see the secondary rainbow to the right of the main one.

 ...and the end ended in my chimney!

And from the back yard:

...and once again, it ends on my house!

Meanwhile, the chicks have started doing that weird snakey-head-use-your-sisters-as-a-pillow thing...

 Chicken neck-braiding.

If you don't like doing that, why just pal up to your little sis and show her you love her by protecting her in any way you can.

1972 Is Done & Hot, Hot, Hot...

The tacky 1972 calender is DONE!

And it's just as obnoxious and bright as it has every right to be, it's glorious.

The 3D effect of the stuffed fruit really makes it pop.

Stupid heat wave. Right now I've got 5 chickens inside who weren't taking the heat well at all. The rest are making do with the sprinkler running all day, sitting in the cool mud under the bushes. Our oldest hen, Chicken Sister, may not make it--she's an old, old lady and her time is nearing, I think. She's been sitting under J.'s desk all day.

This is my spiffy electronic indoor/outdoor thermometer that J. got me for Christmas. Today it's reading some numbers I'd rather not see...at just before 4PM, AFTER the hottest part of the day, it's 105 degrees. That's DOWN from what it was, 106.5. Not much better inside, where it's bearing out what J. always says--the best you can hope for is a 20 degree split: it's 87 degrees in here.

The humidity, not to be outdone, SUCKS as well--29% outside, 38% inside. This morning it was raining nice, hot rain. Gross. This is California, and we're not set up for that. Earthquakes yes, sticky disgusting humidity no.

I love the little man in his swim trunks. He ought to be screaming and melting.

Oh Good, More Rain.

I just can't say that and sound sincere anymore. And I love rain. But really...Mother Nature, are you listening? Enough, please. The snowpack is good, the lakes are full, the lawn is lush, the car has been rinsed clean. We're good here. I think that Texas is most likely still (or again) on fire, could you send a little their way? Thankyouverymuch.

Besides which, the chickens look like drowned rats and are NOT happy. When they aren't happy, they blame ME.


The "Before" version of Phoenix:

Phoenix soaked and embarassed:

Oh NO!!! Don't take my PICTURE!

Earthquake Weather!

I used to have a boss who would practically foam at the mouth whenever someone used this phrase, which since we worked in a dental office in southern California, was pretty darned frequently. For some reason patients would figure that since he was a doctor, he MUST KNOW about all things scientific, or even pseudoscience--of which there is a multitude, as everyone knows.

Be that as it may, every time we have this strange, still, hot-during-the-day-and-cool-at-night weather, it summons up the spectre of 'Earthquake Weather'. Everyone tosses off the phrase lightly, but still with a nervous laugh. Today was a perfect example, and tonight it suddenly got VERY foggy, but still with not the slightest breeze. It's as if southern California is holding it's breath in anticipation. I've noticed it makes people decidedly on-edge and jumpy. To make matters worse, yesterday and today we DID have a couple of minor tremors, somewhere between 2.1 and 2.9 on the Richter scale, pretty much right under us. Not much if you aren't right there at the epicenter, but when you are it gets your attention. We used them to practice our family earthquake drill and N. got into the designated doorway quickly and without the usual dawdling when asked to do something. Afterwards we discussed again what to do in an earthquake, etc. Good practice.

I really like fog, as long as I can stay home and enjoy it--driving in it sucks. I do wish there was a bit of a breeze though, as the air is very still and dead. Uck.

Irretrievably STUPID People...

Just got home, it's 3PM and about 110 degrees
outside--no exaggeration. We're having a really nasty heat wave and I
have to go out every hour and hose off the yard and the chickens. We
had gone out to the local party supply store to get some things for my
daughter's upcoming 6th birthday party. We came out and yippee skip,
the car won't start...

OK, call AAA, tell them it's really hot and we have a young child with
us, they say they'll hurry. Terrific. (I LOVE AAA). We see across
the parking lot a young woman with two kids and and older woman
standing next to a car. The older woman is one the phone, and they
have been since we got there, roughly 10 minutes before. We stand
around sweating...I take my daughter back inside the air conditioned
store to wait, watching out the front windows for the tow truck. DH
is rummaging in the trunk for the jumper cables.

After a few minutes I see him on his cell phone, grab the tire iron
out of our trunk and walk quickly across to where the women and kids and
standing by the SUV. I figure they've got a flat and DH is offering
to help, naturally. After another minute here comes AAA, so I go
outside to meet them. DH has headed the driver off and is directing
him to the women and kids, so I figure DH is going to get them taken
care of them first. No problem.

It turns out, THERE ARE TWO TODDLERS LOCKED IN THE CAR!!!
AARRGGGHHH!!! Every stinkin' year, we see news stories about kids who
die in very short order because their dumbshit parents leave them
locked in the car for 'just a minute' while they run into a store. My
DH had the tire iron because he was just about to break one of the
windows of the SUV! He was on the phone with 911, telling THEM what
was going on since the women HAD NOT! The AAA guy jumped out and
after quickly trying his lockpicking tool on several doors, was finally able to jimmy open one of the
locks. The kids inside had gotten so overheated by then that they had reached the stage where they had
stopped crying, were pale, bathed in sweat and listless. I was all ready to have to preform CPR on them. We told the
women to take the kids somewhere for a cold drink RIGHT NOW, so they
took them next door to the McDonalds. The older woman at least had
the sense to look shaken and was muttering, "Never again..." I also
told her NEVER again to leave the kids in the car like that, it's fatal!

We told the AAA guy he had without a doubt saved two lives that day,
and thanked him all over the place for being a hero. My husband let
911 know that all was well and the car was opened and the kids were
OK. I'm going to call AAA and praise the AAA driver.

I'm so damned mad I could spit. WHY those women had not had the sense
to let 911 know that they had little ones locked in a car on a hot day
for 20 minutes I'll never know. The cops would have been there in seconds. Or why they hadn't flagged down
ANYONE in the parking lot and asked for help. My husband had walked
over to them on his own when he saw them lean over and talk to someone
in the car! If that had been my kid I wouldn't even hesitate or wait
for AAA, I'd grab a rock and break a window immediately and chalk it
up to my own stupidity. But then I have never and WILL never leave my
kid alone in the car, not for a moment for any reason...I've always
been that way.

*whew* OK, I feel better now...but it turns out that my car needs a new alternator...