TV just stopped. No satellite signal. Waiting for electric to go

[Cleita]

out any minute. It's pouring outside, but I can't complain. I petitioned the rain spirits for it.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. The Sorcerer's Apprentice, eh, Cleita?

[Cleita]

2. Hmmm. I like to think of it more

as being in touch with my spiritual side.

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Do mud slides have a spiritual side?

[Cleita]

6. Sort of. They are the result of fires and vegetation drying up during the dry season.

We kind of live with this in the hilly parts of California, fire and then rain, then floods and then mud. There's an interesting show in the Museum of Natural History in Los Angeles about the fires and rain cycles and how it's good for keeping the ecosystem going. Mother Nature doing her job it seems. Unfortunately, we humans build our homes in the path of these natural phenomena. It's no different than people who build in tornado alley, hurricane areas etc.

I personally, wish the government took more interest in this, tightening building codes and other things that could be done. They do a lot but more needs to happen.

[Warpy]

3. As long as your house doesn't slide down a hill, you're OK

unless somebody else's house slides into yours.

It looks threatening and the radar says we're getting a rain shower here but nothing is reaching the ground, it's just too dry.

Shit.

[Cleita]

4. No house behind me except one being built and only the foundation has been laid.

I am on a hill though and it does concern me, but we survived a couple of El Ninos in the past without too much damage, so I think we are okay. Those houses in the way of mudslides were where there were fires or dead vegetation and the ground just gives way when the plant life watershed is gone.

[WhiteTara]

7. I learned that there are many different types of raindrops

sometimes as a mist,
sometimes as rain drops
sometimes as a sheet or wall of water
sometimes so hard you wonder if everything will hold together
and it's constant, no starting and stopping, just constant.

Since I lived in Northern California, I have never looked at rain in the same way.

[Cleita]

8. I have lived in states that have rain every day, but it's a soft rain and the sun comes

out after. Our California rain is different in variety and often severity.

[WhiteTara]

9. True, true. Did you live in Hawaii? That's the only

one I can think of that has daily rains. And I love the mist rain. It is my favorite gardening weather.

[Cleita]

10. Actually in north Idaho. It's in an area they joke as the banana belt because the

weather is nicer than the rest of those states.

[Cleita]

11. Also, I forgot to add Florida although it's too hot for my liking. n/t

[Cleita]

12. So TV came back on but nothing to watch, but it's cold enough to

be able to sit down with a cup of hot cocoa for a change instead of iced tea. Also, nice to get to wear my sweaters instead of shorts and a tank top like I had to all through January. I hope everyone is well and have not been swept away with too much of a good thing turning ugly.