Winter Update

I've long had this idea that when the pyracantha shrubs are covered with berries that it will be a wet winter. During the drought there were berries, but lots of stem showing. Last year we had more berries, and more rain. This year you can't really see the stems...so many berries...and so much rain!

We have been fine, only losing power a couple of times and, of course, not flooding since we sit at the top of a hill. Last week many of the surrounding roads were flooded. The major highway that stops in Sebastopol, Hwy. 12, was closed for a couple of days when the Laguna flooded the roadway and a nearby shopping area (the Barlow) and the Community Center and a few other places nearby. For people who have lived here longer than a dozen years or so this wasn't a huge surprise since similar flooding occurs anytime the Russian River crests over it's banks...the streams that feed into it like the Laguna have nowhere to empty, so they back up and flood out into the surrounding farmlands and, eventually, onto the roads and into the low lying structures. The Community Center has been through this many times so they moved everything that was movable upstairs or out of the area and that made the cleanup and refurbishment much easier. For most of the businesses in the Barlow, which has only been around for 5 years, it was a major shock and many lost all their stock. Some businesses are just going to close down after losing machinery, inventory, etc.  In the photo above, the railing is around an outdoor seating area that is actually many feet above the sidewalk. (photo: NBC)

Another community that was badly flooded was Guerneville, but there, again, they are used to this and many houses were built higher after the last major flood in the 90s, so those houses came through fine. Others suffered the flooding and many also lost their vehicles to the flooding. It is a close knit community with great spirit, so many businesses are already open and ready for you to come visit. The river is still pretty muddy, but seeing that power as it sweeps under the old bridge and the new one reminds us that you don't want to mess with Mother Nature...and we have been. (Photo: San Jose Mercury News)

On a more positive note, I spent much of the last rainy period painting the downstairs bathroom. Gone are the egg yolk yellow walls and most of the cider colored trim (lowest photo). The walls are now a warm ivory and the trim a vibrant deep turquoise. There is a new light fixture, too, with LED bulbs that give a warm but bright light but use much less electricity (upper photo).There are still a few areas that need to be finished but overall it's a nice, new, clean feeling space just in time for spring. I have some new towels, but still need to buy a few more, plus soap dish and that sort of thing.

As you might have guessed, during the time I've been painting I haven't been baking and have barely been cooking. The cooking has been things like a Almost-Cobb salad the other night with chicken chunks from a Costco cooked chicken, cooked bacon pieces, hard boiled egg, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and lots of shredded lettuce. Sweetie had a blue cheese dressing and I had cole slaw dressing. There was a tiny bit of cooking involved in cooking the bacon and hard boiling the egg, but mostly it was chopping and peeling and layering the ingredients. I didn't even get a photo!

We have more rain coming for the next four or five days, so keep your fingers crossed that the flooding is over.