Reasonably Educated Bumpkins

(Photo stolen from hyperjet on Flickr)

Greetings from Middle of the Puddle, California, USA! If you've been watching the Weather Channel lately -- and, let's face it, who HASN'T been glued to that network? -- you know that Mother Nature has been kicking our collective butts up and down the state of California for all of calendar year 2008.

First The Great Storm of Ought Eight blew in from the south. Lots of almond trees uprooted. Huge swaths of Northern California without electricity and Peanut M&Ms. Barns tumbling down and fences sagging. Trees wanting to come inside homes in the worst way.

(Photo stolen from Smitty)

Then, after a week, pretty much everybody had lights again -- and the north wind showed up. Wind gusts up to 75 mph around here, and higher in the mountains. Trees which were LEANING to the north were now shoved over to the south. Whole barn roofs were torn off and dumped in pastures. It was way, way too windy to venture out for cat food or Peanut M&Ms.

As the wind died away and we all caught our breath, the fog crept in on big fat cat paws, curled up on our laps, and had a nice nap for a couple of days.

And then the rain started.

Noah, please call the office.

I typed a note to my friend in Australia last night, telling her about the rain. But first, a weather check.

ME: "Chas, how many hours in a row did it rain?"

CHAS: "Well, it started at about . . . blah blah blah . . . thirty-four."

ME: "Thanks, I knew you'd know."

CHAS: "But it rained for 50 out of 53 hours here, you should mention that."

ME: "It did? Huh, I wasn't paying attention." (As usual)

So I was unprepared when taking our little country road north on Saturday -- headed for the Red Bluff Bull Sale, which is another story for later -- when we had to ford a small river across the road. The slough that runs along the north edge of the property couldn't keep up with the water, and the water spilled over the road, a couple of inches deep. It was not dangerous to drive through, however, so don't worry.

Snow hit the valley floor in Redding last week, at least twice. Mudslides threaten southern California after the torrential rains they've had, on top of hills burned bare by October fires. A tornado hit somewhere along California's central coast the other day. And today the sunshine is so brilliant and the glare is so strong that I'm thinking of wearing my sunglasses when I walk past the front windows of our office.

I feel a musical ending coming up . . .

Seems it never rains in southern California
Seems I've often heard that kind of talk before
It never rains in California
But girl don't they warn ya
It pours, man it pours*

*From Albert Hammond's "It Never Rains in Southern California"

(Photo stolen from this person)