Wild Weather

Today's storm has to be the worst storm since I moved here. When I stuck my head out the front door the rain was so load I couldn't hear the radio I was standing next to. It was dark all morning with minor rain but about noon it really started coming down. There was so much hail so quick that the rain gutters were over flowing. As far a visibility goes I could almost see the other side of the creek from my desk. If I didn't know what was there I wouldn't know what it was. This storm was on a North Northeast trek so it came up from the South. I heard a lot of thunder and saw a lot of lightning. You know it's close when you see the flash and then you hear the boom. I didn't have my computer on at the time and could here the thunder from my computer speaker. Heard a couple calls to the fire department to put out houses that were hit by lightning. PG&E is disconnecting the power from one burning house so the fire department can put out the fire. There were several car accidents all one car. From all the report I've been hearing it looks like this storm is following Highway 49.

 

My friend Carly is having her funeral today. So sorry to see her go we were just starting our friendship and relationship when she became ill. She died last Tuesday.

March 11 2006 and more snow

March 11, 2006 and a nice white morning. Don’t know how long it’s been snowing but there’s three inches of snow over everything. The hens came walking up the road single file to the house from the south. The males came from the north. First squirrel here was at 6:00 AM. The turkeys got here at 7:00AM. I hear the snow level is down to 1000 feet or so but then that the weather people. The pictures I’ve been taking have been coming out rather blue. As the little birds fly through the trees they knock clumps of snow and powder from them. This is the first time I’ve seen ice sickles in many years. My forest is a white wonderland. Snow is falling again not as heavy as it did last night. Just amazing! I need to get to town for feed.  I don’t have chains and hesitant about driving. Just took the temperature, 33.1 degrees. Tree branches are bent over touching the ground. Should I stay or go now or will it clear later.

SNOW and a lot of it

Living in the Sierra's always has surprises with the weather. It's not bad here at the 2000 foot level but on top is another story. Weather people said on top of the hill it's getting 4 feet of snow for every storm. People back east think they know what snow is but unless you've seen 20 feet of pack you never seen nothing. Had two avalanches this week off Highway 50 on the way to Tahoe. I could use more grain for the critter, I went through 80 pound today. I'm so amazed at people who call themselves hunters, they know so little about the animals they hunt. My little fur balls have been here all night. Why can I walk up to animals and animals run away from other people. There are two visiting skunks and they don't get along with my skunks to well. Noticed one thing I never knew before about skunks, each one has a distinct odor. Well enough looking outside time to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day picking up branches that feel over night. Have to eat a lot of calories if I'm going to be outside.

Bushs fear mongering

Bush’s fear mongering backfires, when it comes to the port transaction deal with UAE. Bush has been preaching terrorist, terrorism and fear for so long the people voted down the UAE port sale. Rove campaign to scare the people of the United States has work. Lets see how warrant-less wire taps hold up in court. What gets me these days the people that Bush was attacking he wants more of. Bush had called scientist elitist but what about a rich son that gets to go to two high dollar colleges. The said part of all this is Bush is just a puppet of Rove and Chaney with out them he’d be drilling dry well and going out of business. Only in America does a failure get to buy the presidency. The only people that are doing well with this administration is Bush’s buddies. By the time Bush leave office there will be two world powers and the United States isn’t one of them.

COLD

Raining now but snow is on the way. The raccoon came by I was happy to see he was still alive after the hash weather. He was startled when he first saw me but a smile and a wave let him know, I wasn't going to hurt him. The little guys hair was all standing up to keep him warm. He ate about a pound of the cat food I put out for the skunks. Really feel sorry for the skunk with only one eye. He really has a hard time getting around. I guess he got into a fight that he could finish. Skunks are like that, in that they bit at each other but no one gets hurt. Poor wet critters. Last night I could hear one of them under the house snoring. It could have been him cleaning himself too. The skunks seem to take very good care of their fur. Well I better make something for dinner to warm me up. Need those calories.

March 3rd snow and no power

March 3rd 4:44PM. Snows almost melted. Hundreds of little birds are still feeding like crazy making every second of day light count. I’ve been hearing sirens all day some close and others on the highway. Most people wouldn’t hear them but I’m funny that way. From the days where I was doing studio work to being in front of a stack of speakers at a arena. I’ve told people the sound is so loud that your ears bleed. Now I’m here and I can tell what kind of bird that is chirping a hundred yards away. I’ve always had good hearing with a photographic memory. Same with smells also which could bring back memories from years past. Just saw a flash at first I thought it was the TV but it was thunder. Well time to batten down the hatches. One squirrel is getting a few more seeds before the cold night. Here comes more snow or hail or rain what ever it is it’s cold here. It’s really coming down now, little white beads of frozen water. It’s that popcorn like hail. I walked the creek and the water is really moving. What was once grass is now rocks with broken branches. I was going to unload the grain from the car but I think I’ll wait, at least my cars nice and clean on top. How wild I see blue sky in the white puffy clouds. Well I better do it now while there’s a break in the weather. Nop, can’t do it, have a squirrel eating on the porch. Ya, I’m such a softy I’ll let her eat until she leaves. If I scare her off she wouldn’t come back for a while and by then it might be dark or harsh weather. Every year I’ve been here the weather has been different. The only thing I can count on is it will be hot or cold. How the miners ever lived here has got me this is the most inhospitable and harshest place on earth.

All right night shift is taken care of now it’s time to take care of me. Chicken tonight, so it looks like my little stinkers are going to eat good too. So goes my nice clean pants. I thought they would have stayed clean more then a couple hours.

I’ve noticed that the deer during this wild weather have a harder time of finding their way. I’ve seen them stumble or at least heard them stumble when it was real dark without any starlight.

I was watching the noon news to see what the weather was going to be like then a reporter in P’ville said it was a blizzard here. Of course it was only a mild snow which just go me. I’ve been in blizzards and this is no blizzard. I even was cross country skiing in a winter blizzard on the east side of the sierra’s by mammoth mountain. Then I knew if I stopped for to long I’d die and wouldn’t be found until the spring thaw. I wish they would give these news readers a yard stick to give accurate measurement because 2 inches turns into a foot. One foot turns into three feet. Sixty mile an hour wind gusts turns into hurricane force winds. I bet when they go fishing they catch hundred pound fish on 10 pound test line and the fish is described as 10 feet long when it’s a minnow.

News Hours on.

March 3rd snow and no power

March 3rd, snow and no power. Snowed all night and most of the morning. Suns coming out now and things are melting. Since I had no power or phone and going outside looked way cold I stayed wrapped up in my down bag looking out the front door. Three male turkeys just arrived and look very hungry. They must have been burning a lot of calories. I’m sure the squirrels and little birds have done the same. I put out seeds under the picnic table so the little birds feed and it’s working out good for them.

I’m going to have to remind the phone people to finish what they started because my phone hasn’t worked for a week now. So far since November I’ve had about 3 weeks of service. What gets me is the phone company thinks I need to pay for service I don’t get. Isn’t that just like a corperation.

March 2 2006 snowed

March 2, 2006 snowed last night. It’s news time and the snows almost melted it’s in patches here and there. I took a cold walk around and found several large branches that broke last night from the weight of the snow. Two willow trees lost three large branches that were budding. The squirrels and little birds were eating all day. I saw some young squirrels I haven’t seen before. They could have sat in the palm of my hand. Life’s hard in the forest. I think I found the rest of the body of the Cooper Hawk. I think the cold weather did him in, I’m going to miss seeing him flying around here. The creek is flowing rather good and so are the hills. I haven’t been down the hill to see where my creek joints the other creek yet but I’m sure it’s really moving. It’s to bad that the snow is coming in spring and not winter. Now the snow pack is melting with the rain so the snow doesn’t get to soak into the ground. From what I’ve heard that this area used to get a couple feet of snow that would stay through the winter. Want to hear a good joke? People are buying $500,000 dollar houses below sea level in the Sacramento delta.

Monday March 6 2006

Monday March 6, 2006. Waiting for the storm. Sun has come in and out over the morning. Lot’s of young squirrels zipping around playing “chase” and “dare ya.” It’s a squirrel version of follow the leader. They keep testing themselves to see what they are possible of doing.

Doesn’t look like I need to worry about snow from this next storm but the weather people don’t read it right some times, you never know.

Saw the “flicker” today again, three days in a row.  Very aggressive when looking for bugs, no loose piece of bark left unturned.

I need to get outside, feed the birds and squirrels, turn the antenna around, get cat food and get ready for tonight “24.” Not before I have more coffee. Just not ready to get in the cold damp air, my bones are telling me not to.

Okay, got a lot done. Dinner??? What to do…  Backs doing it to me having a lot of pain standing. News, the evening break, time to lie down and make it count.

Feeling rather cold in the house. Pledge break on News Hour.

One hour before “24,” deer are feed. skunks are feed.

Chicken tonight; guess who’s getting the scraps. All three guys are here checking out the new cat food. They also look like they better eat because something bad is coming.

Got about an hour of phone service yesterday.

Was looking at the deer yesterday. Two youngsters a dark one and a tan one both male. As I looked out the door at them I was reminded of Hank Hill’s neighbor Lu talking to hank but it was the deer talking to each other. The little brown deer kept saying to the other deer, “You hillbilly deer, look, look it’s human.” Tan deer, “relax dude Bob’s cool.” I found out there is two type of deer, black tail and mule deer.

Skunk fight, break up all sore of wild things. Only rules here no fighting or eating your neighbor.

No snow yet so I don’t think there will be any. I saw an area up the mountain on TV and it had fog. So moistures in the air and it’s about freezing.  

Tuesday March 7 2006

Tuesday March 7, 2006 hale! And a lot of it. No driving today. In the last few minutes it’s been haling and now the place is covered white. One squirrel is avoiding the weather on the porch, just eating seeds like nothings happening. Turkey’s got his head facing into a bush. As fast as it started is done. The sky is looking brighter then it was, still gray but brighter. Hearing rumbles of thunder. I was under the impression that we were going to be drying out for a few days. I think I like when it snows better it’s a more quiet type of event. Yup, it’s cold outside and now everything is dripping. Through out a couple pound of sunflower seeds. There’s a few birds trying to dig out seeds on the picnic table. They can see the color distortion under the hale and that’s where they start digging. The creek looks real nice with the blanket of white meeting the water.

News has past and now for CBS’s new show. Smells like a skunk passed gas and it lit on fire. Sort of smells like burning plastic, the skunks don’t even like it. Had a couple stray skunks coming over along with the cat. Was hoping to see the raccoon.

Oh darn it’s so cold in and out of the house. Just have that low-pressure type feeling and the start of a headache. Weather people said it might snow. I’m in for the night no more going out t o night. Did laundry today nothing like the feel of warm cloths.

Sunday March 5 2006

Sunday March 5, 2006 waiting for the storm. Turkeys and squirrels have been here all morning and afternoon eating and cleaning making sure that everything goes right in this next storm. They look serious about this storm like they did before the last snow, I watched one of the young male practicing his fighting moves like a dancer would test his choreography. The winds been gusting, I heard a warning for Napa earlier. Ground so wet water is running out of every gopher, mole and ground squirrel hole. Ant’s are moving to high ground, my kitchen. I see the male turkeys are under a large ponderosa tree sort of in the shadow of the tree. Can’t see any hens, they’re doing military maneuvers getting to get out of the wind and weather somewhere. I was looking at the direction they have been going and it low shrubs.  Always wondered what they might do in harsh weather. Whether they would still roost in the pine tree at night with these winds.

I’ve noticed that the turkeys are separated by age with the youngest in the center. Then it’s the mothers older young males then the old males. There’s one young squirrels rocketing around the trees, I hope he’s not lost. This little one has just left the nest in the past couple days.

Getting dark now and the deer are coming in along with the storm winds.

Phone just came one. Try e-mail.