So Much Rain... too much rain

Looking North up the creek at the cherry blossoms and water.

Moss covered retaining wall. Cherry trees with the blossoms. Willow trees are in bloom too. That's down in the creek near the cherry trees. I put tarps up over the back porch and side deck to keep the kitties dry and keep the late afternoon sun off the house in the summer. 

Takes a good rain for the creek to flow like this. For a while I thought it was going to be a weak winter and not much rain. This last storm really brought a lot of rain and raised the water table to the point I have wet concrete in the cellar. It's amazing how the grass grew in everywhere even where the water flows. When I first moved in here the water flowed all year round but now it's only in the winter time after a hard rain.

Another view of the creek from the front porch. Before this storm I was going to mow the grass in the creek because it looked like it was the last of the storms and I wanted to knock the weeds down before they went to seed.

Linked-In, spyware and address book theft

Hope you didn't get an email from me saying go to this site or to sign up for "Linked-In" because I didn't send that email to you. I did sign up to "Linked-In" until I figured out they planted spyware on my computer and took my address book. Then they started sending me letters asking if I knew these people. Since I know people from around the world it's not random that several names show up together it was "Linked-In" sending my own names back to me. "Linked-In" also was using my mail accounts when I was off line, without any internet to send mail out signed by me with my email account. Microsoft turned the accounts off because of the high volume of mail other then the pattern of mail I'd be doing. I kept wondering why a company would steel names. Then it dawned on me they are going for public offering and need to look like they are a thriving business. Doesn't matter if the names they have are valid accounts. Since it was a machine using my address book it tried sending emails to phone numbers. Those went undelivered and tipped off Microsoft. I have a few friends that are upset at me because of the spyware with my name attached to the emails. "Linked-In" even hijacked my blog and was making posts but I put a stop to that. So why did "Linked-In" come from no where to having a public offering. Is it about take the money and run on an over rated company? Now to figure out how to remove social groups from Hotmail online. I didn't put them there and don't use them. I hope if you get a email from a friend that your friend really sent the email to sign up to "Linked-In because most likely the mail list or address book was stolen and if you open the email up that you will get spyware that steels your address book and email accounts and passwords.

The Glowing Orb

There's that orb in the night sky again. Keeps showing up every 28 days. There must be some sort of conspiracy . Soon as the sun goes away then it gets dark outside, amazing.

The Magic Hour

The old shed. The wood is cut but not finished milling because it came from the lumber mill. The planks are 1 inch thick. If it was milled finish it would be 3/4 inches thick.

The little shed in the lower left center is the old well pump house. Nothing like early morning light, it's so soft and the colors are soft like, sort of a pastel look. That old well house is being eaten by moss and slowly falling apart.

The tree with white on it is an apple tree that was knocked over on December 3, 2008. The snow was so heavy it broke the roots. I trimmed it up and painted the trunk to keep it from over heating in the direct sun light. There are still ropes that I used to hold the tree in place. I used a lot of rope, webbing, levers to pull the tree back up. I cut about half the tree off to lighten it up so I could pull i up. It took about three days. Two days working on the tree, trimming it. Another day was clean up and bring the tools and bi-pod down to the house. It was also the first time I got a pinched nerve in my back which kept me laying down for a month until I got to a doctor for prednesone a steroid that reduces swelling. I couldn't believe the amount of pain I was in. I couldn't do anything because moving just caused more pain. To get up and out of bed I had to roll out. I got myself into what looked like a sitting position laying on me side. I'd bring my feet to the floor the same time I brought my body up. That was the fast version of getting up but took a while to figure that out. At first I was rolling over letting me feet touch the floor laying on my stomach.  From there I'd push with my arms to get me moving upward and would work my feet under my body. I as in a squatting position. Then all I had to do is push with my legs to get fully upright.All this while trying to keep my back from bending. I really didn't know what to do at the time. After a few weeks of the pain not lessening I went to a pain clinic. That lasted through 2009 and 2010. I got surgery in February 2011. I had more pinched nerves over that period. I can't believe all the pain I went though and all the time I lost. I think I put off surgery partly because of fear, since I had two back surgeries 20 years earlier. Compared to the first two this one was a lot more. I had the first part of the surgery on February 2 where they went in through my stomach. February 4 was 15 or 19 hours and they put little bone spaces in with titanium rods bolted to my spine and hips I gained 5 inches which I had lost over time as my disks wore down. It's not over just yet, I'm still recovering one year later. Next is to get my knee fixed. Doctor says I need a metal knee replacement. So won't be doing any running now and in the future. Everyone says I'm doing great but at times I don't feel it. I'm just going through some stress. I should be grateful I'm up and walking around even if it's with a painful limp.

Spring Growth & Deer Friends

Shades of Yellow. I really like the deep yellow in the center of the flower, it's so rich. Flowers started coming up in January when we had the warm spell that was like summer weather. Then it started raining and snowing. This pattern started about 5 years ago. The blossoms would start coming out then be hit with a hard rain or snow storm knocking the blossoms off the trees. That made it real bad for fruit. I'm sure it has something to do with climate change. It's also effecting summer month where we have more over a hundred days back to back. There's no delta breeze which normally would bring moist cool air up the foothills and up the mountains. San Francisco is the only opening in the West coast where clouds move through freely. The clouds normally would travel due East but the last five or so years they make contact with the foothills and mountains farther to the North of Highway 80. Talking with people that have been here their whole life, they say the snow was greater before the 1950's. In one area they said they would get snow to the third wire on a barbed wire fence. Near Auburn at Forest Hill they get two feet of snow and it's a big deal because lately it's only been a few inches. Before they would get three to four feet every winter. Last year they got a couple feet and many of the new comers thought it was a lot but the old times thought it was nothing,

Standing on her back legs the deer is eating the tender green sprouts. I was surprised at how long she stood there eating.

Nibbling on the greens, my deer friends like sweet leaves. They are sure fun to be with. To walk around with each other. They follow me to the fruit trees to get apples and plums. They proved to me that they are smarter then people give them credit.

Kitties on an overcast day

Momma Kittie laying on velvet green. She finds that moss on the old tree stump comfortable to lounge on.

Daddy Tiggers here to lounge and play with the kitties. For being so wild I'm surprised I got this close. Daddy kitty is so big and baby Tiggers is still growing into it's body. When you mix Daddy kitties long hair and Momma kitties extra long hair, you get a baby kitty with a lion like hair style.

What's interesting about the kitties is they seem to get along with all the wild animals here that are about the same size. They really like playing with the raccoon's. Sprockets gets all affectionate at the sight of some of the raccoon's. The baby raccoon's confused plays with Sprockets after seeing if it's okay with Mother Raccoon. I've never seen cats like these guys. The trees they climb and how they play. One evening as  it was getting dark, Sprockets took off running from the walkway near me to the first tree and went up about 10 feet. Then turned and ran to the next tree and climbed it too. She kept doing that through the trees always climbing up about ten feet and running between the trees as fast as she could until I couldn't see her. It was like she was showing of for me.

Tiggers Kitties

Watching birds fly is Tiggers favorite sport beside swatting moths out of the air. What a kitty with those big eyes.

The Baby Tiggers and Daddy Tiggers, lounging on the box together. Baby Tggers is less then 8 month old. Look at the size of Daddy's head, he's still growing.

Daffodils

Daffodils of all shapes and sizes.

Spring showers and snow can't keep them down. After the snow I thought they had it being all bent over but they perked right up. The flowers grow in groups and every group is unique to each other group.

Still Winter, sort of...

With the warm winter we had so far the snow coming this late was mixed, good for getting more water not so good for blossoms on fruit trees. Up top on the mountains the ski resorts got over 100 inches of snow this storm. Not over yet, more rain and snow in the forecast later this week. Was amazing that January and February had 60, 70 and 80 degree days. The Iris flowers came and went. Daffodils are poke up and now laying over pressed down from the snow. The mint plants are all smashed into the ground. Haven't been out today to see any damage but noticed a few downed branches yesterday.

Sunday Morning: A break in the storm. 

 I do like the cast of blue on the photos. This was day break here about 7AM and just getting light out. Snow wasn't over yet and I wasn't going out to see it. Had this dry popcorn snow later in the afternoon and evening. The clumpy stuff seem to be falling on and off through the day. The sounds of snow falling from overweight branch could be heard all night and day.

Cherry tree on right of road. Creeks farther to the right.

My official CHAOS Muscle hat from Canada. It's the warmest hat I ever had. Always seen them in movies and shows. Wondered why people were wearing them. Now I know why, they are so warm.