Sunday, 24 January 2010
apres moi, le deluge
It never stops: we have another storm coming in this afternoon, stronger ones tomorrow and through Wednesday. All's well up here, though: and I'm getting a lot of writing time in!
Thursday, 21 January 2010
Storm Track
Now the storms have settled into a calmer pattern; NWS says rain, rain, rain, right through to next week, but with a sort of break on the weekend. Our cottage is still intact, watertight, and warm; so far no more electrical outages. I have no idea how the roads beyond or above Boulder Creek may be faring, but we're not going to fare forth on them until Saturday afternoon – when we'll try to get down to Capitola to take Julie out for a belated birthday luncheon, and to stock up on Trader Joe's supplies before next week's storms move in.
I guess the El Nino predictions were on target, eh?
Just to update you on the denouement of the tree-toppling: after the electricity came back on in our park at 7 PM on Tuesday evening, John went down on Wednesday morning and retrieved the car and it's safely parked in the driveway now. I drove to the Post Office yesterday afternoon to mail off birthday cards and packages, and got caught in a sudden short thundershower with light hail -- but I was almost home as it hit, so no problem – grabbed the mail from our box at the foot of the hill and crawled the car back up to our driveway. Feeling I deserved a treat at that point, I pulled out a last slice of Trappist fruitcake from the box in the fridge, made some Gingerbread Spice tea, and shared teatime with John.
We had homemade chicken-vegetable soup last evening for dinner and went to bed before 10 PM because we never know when another electrical storm will interrupt our sleep. However, it was beautifully quiet all night, with light showers lulling us to slumber.
I've gotten a lot of writing and reading done this week, a great benefit of being housebound. We are so blessed to have this safe haven; rain and all, we just love being here.
I guess the El Nino predictions were on target, eh?
Just to update you on the denouement of the tree-toppling: after the electricity came back on in our park at 7 PM on Tuesday evening, John went down on Wednesday morning and retrieved the car and it's safely parked in the driveway now. I drove to the Post Office yesterday afternoon to mail off birthday cards and packages, and got caught in a sudden short thundershower with light hail -- but I was almost home as it hit, so no problem – grabbed the mail from our box at the foot of the hill and crawled the car back up to our driveway. Feeling I deserved a treat at that point, I pulled out a last slice of Trappist fruitcake from the box in the fridge, made some Gingerbread Spice tea, and shared teatime with John.
We had homemade chicken-vegetable soup last evening for dinner and went to bed before 10 PM because we never know when another electrical storm will interrupt our sleep. However, it was beautifully quiet all night, with light showers lulling us to slumber.
I've gotten a lot of writing and reading done this week, a great benefit of being housebound. We are so blessed to have this safe haven; rain and all, we just love being here.
Wednesday, 20 January 2010
And They Are So Right
Flood Advisory
Hazardous Weather Outlook
High Wind Warning
Today...Very windy. Rain...locally heavy at times...and isolated thunderstorms. Some thunderstorms may produce gusty winds and small hail. Highs in the mid 40s to lower 50s. Southeast winds 30 to 45 mph...becoming south 20 to 30 mph with gusts to around 40 mph in the afternoon.
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We may lose power again ... lights flickering a bit already, and winds rising ... so sending out this bulletin while I can. More later when possible. We're warm and dry, but not goin' nowhere!
Hazardous Weather Outlook
High Wind Warning
Today...Very windy. Rain...locally heavy at times...and isolated thunderstorms. Some thunderstorms may produce gusty winds and small hail. Highs in the mid 40s to lower 50s. Southeast winds 30 to 45 mph...becoming south 20 to 30 mph with gusts to around 40 mph in the afternoon.
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We may lose power again ... lights flickering a bit already, and winds rising ... so sending out this bulletin while I can. More later when possible. We're warm and dry, but not goin' nowhere!
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
El Nino Viene
It's raining gatos y perros! At long last the National Weather Service, so often a plaything of fate, has been right on target for California.
Our Monday (yesterday) was spent in tightening up our rough-weather plans: John tied down the carport/awning against the blown-umbrella effect of high winds; I inventoried our well-laid-in food supplies and noted a few little missing items. Around 11 AM, the man of the house drove down through light rains beginning, to pick up the necessaries in the village.
While he was out, the power followed suit: it went out, at around noon. After John had parked a half-mile down from our cottage and hiked up the rest of the way with the groceries, he regaled me with the reason for the sudden silence in our house. A lightly rooted oak tree had tumbled down across power lines and blocked Big Basin Way, the main route to our place from the village.
Fine; we change our day's plans. Now it's hot tea and reading in the big back room, where those lovely windows let in all the daylight there is available. Wrapped in lap-robes and warm with the coverage and the tea, we plowed through our well-selected pile of books chosen for this eventuality. Could be worse, eh?
As the light faded, our brave John donned slicker and boots and went down to the Bracken Brae entrance to see what could be seen: a lot of disgruntled workers standing around in the rain, waiting for a P G & E crane truck to lift the tree off of the wires. These poor peons were ready to do their work of cutting up and removing the big tree, and P G & E linemen were ready to restore our power. But meanwhile, they awaited and awaited the arrival of the crane.
Other local denizens were out prowling around too, and camaraderie abounded – but not light. So John came back up to the cottage, built a warming fire in the woodstove, and gratefully accepted a drink. I lit candles and set up the kitchen for a stovetop dinner, with camping lanterns and matches for lighting the propane stove.
Rain continued; and the power came on at 7 PM. We had dinner and went to bed; rain continued..... but not the predicted high winds (yet).
At 5 AM today, we were awakened by a powerful and spectacular thunderstorm; the reverberating booms echoed down our valley, reminding us of a similar great storm we once watched engulf the Stubai valley in Austria – as we discovered where Wagner got his musical ideas.
So now we are into Day 2 of the week of storms. If the NWS continues lucky, we are due for two or three more powerful storms, day by day, throughout the week. Whenever we have power up here I will try to update this blog, so stay tuned if you can.
Our Monday (yesterday) was spent in tightening up our rough-weather plans: John tied down the carport/awning against the blown-umbrella effect of high winds; I inventoried our well-laid-in food supplies and noted a few little missing items. Around 11 AM, the man of the house drove down through light rains beginning, to pick up the necessaries in the village.
While he was out, the power followed suit: it went out, at around noon. After John had parked a half-mile down from our cottage and hiked up the rest of the way with the groceries, he regaled me with the reason for the sudden silence in our house. A lightly rooted oak tree had tumbled down across power lines and blocked Big Basin Way, the main route to our place from the village.
Fine; we change our day's plans. Now it's hot tea and reading in the big back room, where those lovely windows let in all the daylight there is available. Wrapped in lap-robes and warm with the coverage and the tea, we plowed through our well-selected pile of books chosen for this eventuality. Could be worse, eh?
As the light faded, our brave John donned slicker and boots and went down to the Bracken Brae entrance to see what could be seen: a lot of disgruntled workers standing around in the rain, waiting for a P G & E crane truck to lift the tree off of the wires. These poor peons were ready to do their work of cutting up and removing the big tree, and P G & E linemen were ready to restore our power. But meanwhile, they awaited and awaited the arrival of the crane.
Other local denizens were out prowling around too, and camaraderie abounded – but not light. So John came back up to the cottage, built a warming fire in the woodstove, and gratefully accepted a drink. I lit candles and set up the kitchen for a stovetop dinner, with camping lanterns and matches for lighting the propane stove.
Rain continued; and the power came on at 7 PM. We had dinner and went to bed; rain continued..... but not the predicted high winds (yet).
At 5 AM today, we were awakened by a powerful and spectacular thunderstorm; the reverberating booms echoed down our valley, reminding us of a similar great storm we once watched engulf the Stubai valley in Austria – as we discovered where Wagner got his musical ideas.
So now we are into Day 2 of the week of storms. If the NWS continues lucky, we are due for two or three more powerful storms, day by day, throughout the week. Whenever we have power up here I will try to update this blog, so stay tuned if you can.
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