In the garden, and RAIN!!!!

POSTED BY: SIGNYM
UPDATED: Thursday, December 25, 2025 04:27
VIEWED: 1007917
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SIGNYM

Friday, December 5, 2014 9:37 PM (P)

Wow, this has been a hard, hard year for gardening. Last rainy season started out early and promising; October 2013 we got a couple of good rainstorms and then .... nothing. Nothing. More nothing. Which dragged on to the historic drought.

Usually my water usage goes down during winter, but not last winter. I had to water the garden areas every week, and the lawns twice a week (one of the reasons I'm xeriscaping) just to keep them alive. I took special pains with the two avocados and the camellias because they're the grandparents of the backyard, planted by the previous owners sixty years ago. I soaked them deeply at least once a month. But despite my best efforts, the plants still suffered - not from lack of water, but possibly from high salt buildup or basic soil ... the older avocado and camellia leaves took on a pale bronzy color, and needles on my canary island pines were just beginning to turn yellow.

In addition, the tomatoes were crippled and the eggplant killed by a horrible infestation of spider mites. Last year, I gave away almost thirty pounds of homegrown tomatoes and had all of the eggplant I wanted. This year, I was lucky to have enough fresh tomatoes for a weekly salad, and just a few eggplant before they gave up the ghost. The spider mites went on to attack a few more plants (which fortunately I didn't care so much for). My Italian flat beans- which I've never grown before - and my sunflowers (which I HAVE grown before) were spindly and unproductive. Same seed source. I wonder if the seed was good. At least the corn came up OK.

Two of my recently-planted sundrops died, I only have one left. This is a good representation of what the survivor looks like in my garden

and one of my verbena lilacena died, I only have two left ... another good representation

For no reason that I can see except they really, really didn't appreciate such hard wellwater. And then, the summer was hot and humid - tropical, even - and some native plants which are adapted to cool wet winters and hot DRY summers responded with a fantastic case of mildew. I broke down and got some Neem oil so that next year I'll be prepared for the onslaught.

I have NEVER failed with so many plants all in one season! This was a gardening year I was happy to close the book on, and I now have a much MUCH greater appreciation for the commercial farmer, who lives or dies by whether plants produce or not.

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But in order to be a gardener or a farmer, one must be an optimist, I guess. I've been buying my xeriscape plants mostly in onesies and twosies because I really don't know how they'll grow, or what they'll look like ... or what I want ... and the reality is that I'll still have a surprising amount of bare space, even when the plants mature.

So I took out several of my CA native/ xeriscape gardening books, and just looked at the pictures and figured out what I respond to, and what I hate, and the principles behind both. And I just ordered a crap-ton of plants: Spanish lavender (because it looks most like the Great Basin sagebrush that I like, which won't grow here because the winters are too warm),

penstemon BOP which looks like a micro boxwood when not in bloom

white monkeyflower

blue-eyed grass

and Indian rice grass

to go with the germander sage, Dusty Miller, red autumn sage, and the creeping Oregon grape and various native currants and snowbe

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Saturday, December 6, 2014 2:02 AM (P)

Too hot for snow?

SIGNYM

Saturday, December 6, 2014 4:55 AM (P)

Oh, I miss snow!

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

AURAPTOR

Saturday, December 6, 2014 6:26 AM (P)

Quite the garden.

SIGNYM

Saturday, December 6, 2014 10:50 PM (P)

Why, thanks RAPPY. I know gardening isn't your thing, but I appreciate the kinds words.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns. But maybe you can grow one with plants!

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Monday, December 8, 2014 4:00 AM (P)

So are things flowering at this time of year in your part of the world?

Summer has just started here, so a lot of the spring flowers have finished and we are not onto the summer blooms.

I have a number of salvias in my garden, including lots of this one - pineapple sage, smells yummy

My big bottlebrush out the front has just about finished, but I have a few smaller varieties out in the back

The blooms on the hydrangea is almost ready to colour. Pity my husband hates these, otherwise I'd plant a few more.

It's a cool and rainy start to summer. Okay by me. Anything to prolongue the start of the fire season.

AURAPTOR

Monday, December 8, 2014 4:19 AM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Why, thanks RAPPY. I know gardening isn't your thing, but I appreciate the kinds words.

I'd have made a poor hobbit, but I do appreciate the green growing things.

Fathom the hypocrisy of a government that requires every citizen to prove they are insured... but not everyone must prove they are a citizen

I'm just a red pill guy in a room full of blue pill addicts.

" AU, that was great, LOL!! " - Chrisisall

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Tuesday, December 9, 2014 1:18 AM (P)

these plants grow amazingly in this area. It's a cool temperate region, officially. High rainfall, cool winters, warm to hot summers.

I do feed them, but they almost grow wild.

Along with these

azaleas

and these

rhodedendrums

and agapanthus really do end up being weed plants

1KIKI

Tuesday, December 9, 2014 1:32 AM (P)

Magon's

I was going though a heavily wooded area in Pennsylvania years ago. The snow had melted but the trees hadn't leafed out yet. It was dreary, dreary, dreary. And in a clearing was a bright pink azalea in full bloom. I had never seen anything growing wild that was that bright and fancy - to my mind almost gaudy - until then, and haven't since.

I had had the idea that wild flowers were small ... and inconspicuous ... and plain, and that they didn't become extravagant until the hybridists got their hands on them. That azalea made me realize that nature can put on quite a show, all by herself.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Saturday, December 13, 2014 3:49 AM (P)

Our weatherguessers are saying all our snow will melt in the coming days. Is your garden getting drowned or blown away? How fragile are the plants you referred to?

SIGNYM

Saturday, December 13, 2014 5:53 AM (P)

Not drowned (yet!) or blown away (yet!)

MORE RAIN IN THE FORECAST! MORE RAIN! MORE RAIN! MORE RAIN!

does the happy-dance!

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Saturday, December 13, 2014 11:24 PM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Not drowned (yet!) or blown away (yet!)

MORE RAIN IN THE FORECAST! MORE RAIN! MORE RAIN! MORE RAIN!

does the happy-dance!

No mudslides?

SIGNYM

Sunday, December 14, 2014 5:26 AM (P)

Oh, who cares about mudslides when we're getting RAIN! Glorious RAIN!

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

AURAPTOR

Sunday, December 14, 2014 5:55 AM (P)

GA suffered through a couple of droughts several years ago, and I can understand the happy dance for rain. Fortunately, the rain came in the summer, where it was needed most, and man, it was truly glorious. Screw the umbrella, let it rain , baby!

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Sunday, December 14, 2014 9:10 AM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Oh, who cares about mudslides when we're getting RAIN! Glorious RAIN!

Glad you're finally getting some water, Signy. Enjoy your rain.

SIGNYM

Monday, November 2, 2015 11:14 AM (P)

Some rain in the forecast, maybe. El Nino isn't supposed to kick in until late this month, but the weather is finally FINALLY cooling down. Up until about 3 weeks ago, it was still hitting 100+ during the hot spells. Time to plant more CA natives!

The reason why I'm posting isn't because of the rain (altho I got my fingers crossed, and it gotta say that makes it DAMN hard to type!)

No, the reason why I'm posting is because I saw a blue jay (scrub jay) in our backyard

and a female goldfinch

shortly afterwards.

This was the first time I've EVER seen a scrub jay here. I've been trying to attract them for quite a while, with peanuts and water, but the only thing I think I ever attracted was squirrels, possums, rats, and raccoons. Yanno, I really missed seeing blue jays, my sis has them (and woodpeckers) all around her house about 40 minutes from here, but we're just not "country" enough. They kind of remind me of my childhood running around in the fields and woods and at daycamp in the summer, so it was a real treat to see one flitting thru the climbing rose bushes.

Also, my backyard is now a certified habitat.

Does another happy dance!

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Wednesday, December 2, 2015 10:24 PM (P)

SAVING A TREE, FOUR GALLONS AT A TIME

There is a small parking lot where I park every Farmer's Market day, and it has a lonely tree... I think it's a Bradford Pear ... that I try to park under, for the shade.

Some time in late-June, I guess, I noticed the tree was looking really stressed ... some branches had brown leaves, many other leaves on other branches were curling back. I guess nobody was watering it, or the irrigation system was broken or something. So I grabbed my emergency gallon of water and dumped it on the tree, and have come back each weekend with four gallons of water. There I am: a crazy old lady watering a parking-lot tree.

I can proudly say that I saved that tree from certain death. With water, the dieback stopped, some branches had out-of-season bloom, and the bud tips on the branches stayed viable. Until we get some actual RAIN (when IS that El Nino showing up, anyway???) I'm going to keep on watering that tree.

Also, most of my CA natives got planted: ceanothus arboreus (CA lilac) - if I'm lucky it will look like this ...
,

zauschneria (Ca Fuschia, epilobium)
http://www.dancingoaks.com/shop/images/th2_ZauschneriaEverettsChoice09
09p.JPG
https://www.nargs.org/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/photos/D
SC08528.JPG?itok=Cy55CBAB

Juncus effusus (rush)

penstemon spectabilis (showy penstemon)

and quercus tomentella (Island Oak).

It may not be raining, but at least it's gotten cooler, and the plantings are surviving.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Thursday, December 3, 2015 12:30 AM (P)

Yes, PLEASE!!!!

If I wish for it really hard, and you wish for it really hard, maybe the rain goddess will make it happen?

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Friday, January 1, 2016 1:03 AM (P)

I miss wind and rain. I miss thunderstorms. I'm a transplanted New York upstater who got yanked out of my home state BEFORE I had a chance to get entirely fed up with snow!

When I first moved to CA, aside from my initial reaction to looking down at the air basin from the Cajon Pass, at the end of a 10-day smog siege in August while 3 fires were burning, at the setting sun barely glowing thru the smog, surrounded by rocks and dry stubble, and thinking... I'm moving to Mordor ... well ASIDE from that my SECOND reaction was... Doesn't it ever RAIN here???

Well, it looks like El Nino is making a late entrance. Finally! We've been eking out a tenth of an inch here and there. The state, at the latitude of San Francisco to Porterville, is at about average rainfall. The state ABOVE that latitude is above average. Redding, CA (more than halfway to between San Fran and the Oregon border) is at about 1.5X normal. Portland is at 2.5X normal (flooding). Vancouver BC looks a bit more normal.

www.wundergound.com

Storm after storm has swept north of us. We've gotten the trailing ends of about six storms, eking out 0.1" of rain here and there, but So Cal is definitely below norm. '

Well, it looks like ... after four+ years... rain may finally be arriving: about 1" is forecast for (Mon-Tues crossout) Tues-Wed. The biggest El Nino EV-AR in recorded history is finally bringing some rain. The elephant labored and brought forth a mouse. Not that I'm ungrateful or anything; I'll sacrifice some of my shower-water to the rain-goddess in thanks. (Oh wait! I'm already doing that! That ungrateful rain-goddess! Such a byatch! )

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

There is a difference between THUGR is a genius., and THUGR is a "genius". And everyone knows it except THUGR, who is a "genius".

SIGNYM

Sunday, January 3, 2016 9:40 PM (P)

Maybe it will be a rainy spring, and the rain will wash the pollen out of the air???

Let me know how that goes. I too have massive allergies - not sure to what, haven't been tested yet - which stuffs my nose up all year round to the point where I HAVE to use decongestant and steroid spray at night or I can't breathe.

----------

Been having fun watching the storm approach, via my favorite website (wunderground.com).

It's a great website because it predicts for YOUR ZIP code, not the for the nearest airport. That makes it a lot better for us, since our local tennis courts are inevitably 5-10 degrees F hotter than the airport, and if I'm going to play tennis, I'm NOT going to play in 90 F weather, dang it!

Although its great at temperature predictions, it tends to underpredict rain. (On the other hand, radio and TV forecasts tend to overpredict rain, so I guess it's "as good" as anything out there.) I have fun watching the "%chance of rainfall" graph as it approaches the day. The way it's been working, for the past 6 storms or so, is that it start out looking like robust chance of rain (50% over two days) ten days out, but as time goes on the chance of rain goes lower and the duration gets shorter until pfffft - nothing! THIS time, the predicted chance of rain has gone HIGHER, the storm has separated into four distinct bands, and the predicted total has gone to 2" instead of 1". So I guess we really WILL get some rain this time, and I take back my comment about the rain goddess.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

There is a difference between THUGR is a genius., and THUGR is a "genius". And everyone knows it except THUGR, who is a "genius".

1KIKI

Monday, January 4, 2016 1:31 AM (P)

So, ahem - speaking of rain ... after an insane delay of 2 years with city permitting (never buy a historic house, and if you think it's going to hit the 90 - 100 year mark while you're still in it, pass it by!) ... I FINALLY got the new roof completed just last week. I was pretty nervous because all the long term predictions were that the 'powerful' el Nino was going to start at the end of November. So, let me just ask rhetorically - and WHAT month and YEAR is it NOW??! I just couldn't imagine what a nightmare it was going to be with it raining and the entire roof off. Though we desperately need the rain and I was disappointed at the lack thereof, I was at the same relieved. I had very mixed feelings.

But now I can say - let it rain, you rain spirits!! Do your best to help us out!

As for allergies - generally the flowering plants aren't an allergy problem. They have flowers to attract the pollinators because their pollen it too heavy to travel on the wind. OTOH grasses and many trees are wind-pollinated. So I suspect that an allergy that comes at the same time as a particular bloom is some unnoticed grass or tree (or mold) doing its thing.

I had allergy testing done to the most common allergens here (about 25 of them), foods, and some specific additional ones - like mouse and horse. If you live in an area with mice, you should get tested though it's not a common test, also, if you live within a mile of horses get tested for horse allergies, as I was told the dander's extremely 'sticky' and doesn't wash or blow away easily.
And it turned out I was very allergic to some molds and somewhat allergic to everything else that's airborne (except two plants), and also some foods. I did do allergy shots for many years and avoided those foods I'm allergic to, which helped somewhat - at least I don't itch everywhere all the time. But I think I need to go back because I still have a hard time breathing when it's humid. So some allergies may have strengthened again, or I'm allergic to some uncommon allergens that weren't tested for.
That's been my experience with allergies, and some of what I learned in the meantime.
Other things I learned are that Yews - planted everywhere for their landscape value, are slow growers that only start blooming after many decades, but once they do, they can cause severe allergic reactions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxus#Allergenic_potential

Allergenic potential

All parts of a yew plant are toxic to humans with the exception of the yew berries (however, their seeds are toxic); additionally, male and monoecious yews in this genus release cytotoxic pollen, which can cause headaches, lethargy, aching joints, itching, and skin rashes; it is also a trigger for asthma. These pollen granules are extremely small, and can easily pass through window screens. Male yews bloom and release abundant amounts of pollen in the spring; completely female yews only trap pollen while producing none.[4]

Yews in this genus are primarily separate-sexed, and males are extremely allergenic, with an OPALS allergy scale rating of 10 out of 10. Completely female yews have an OPALS rating of 1, and are considered "allergy-fighting".[4]

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Tuesday, January 5, 2016 9:22 PM (P)

Congrats on the new roof! Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!

I myself got new wiper blades last night. I haven't needed them for ... a long time!

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

1KIKI

Thursday, January 7, 2016 8:20 AM (P)

Hopefully just enough.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Thursday, January 7, 2016 8:05 PM (P)

According to LADWP (Los Angeles Dept Water & Power) most rain gages recorded somewhere between 2" and 5" of rain in the last 72 hours.

http://www.ladpw.org/wrd/precip/alert_rain/index.cfm?cont=48hr.cfm

I'd say that those were two good storms. Since that eliminated the deficit from OCT/NOV/DEC, all we need is about 10 more of those and we'll be right at average!

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Monday, February 1, 2016 8:32 PM (P)

I hate to complain about lack of rain nearly every time I post, but we just had (yet another) blow-by rainstorm from this El Nino, that was supposed to be the biggest on record. Yeah, this storm huffed, and this storm puffed, and from three to one days away it was predicted to bring somewhere between 0.75" and 1" of rain. Which would have just brought us up to average, you realize. And then it did what most storms have done so far this year: Speed up and evaporate. I think we got maybe 0.1" out of it.

This El Nino, so far, is a bust. Out of something like 5 predicted blow-bys and five predicted direct hits, we get two real storms of about 1" each, and only a couple of other 0.1" rainfalls to nothing at all. Lady Rain- such a tease.

"The elephant labored and brought forth a mouse". It would take a miracle parade of storms in February and March to just keep So Cal at average, much less reduce the water deficit.

OK, I'll stop complaining now. I just had to get that off my chest.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, February 2, 2016 2:26 AM (P)

Late to the topic, but that scrub jay with the peanuts is having the best day of their life.

1KIKI

Tuesday, February 2, 2016 5:10 AM (P)

Oh damn! Here it is, too late today to do anything about the rain! I just thought - maybe I could wash the car.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Wednesday, February 3, 2016 9:25 PM (P)

I heard and excellent idea- instead of building an oil pipeline from Canada to the USA, how about a WATER pipeline?

Imagine, the person who told me this said, what a kind of "damage" a pipeline leak would create: GREEN GROWING PLANTS.

I love it!

Oh, don't believe that groundhog, BRENDA!

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Monday, February 15, 2016 12:24 AM (P)

Wind generally isn't a factor in LA. Rain isn't either, apparently! So you can have my umbrellas, BRENDA. Just tell me where to ship them.

Yep, that El Nino ... it's still there, but hasn't produced any rain for us. I keep hearing on NPR "We need your el Nino stories.." and I'm like ... WTF??? What El Nino"?

Not only are we way behind on rain, even with the so-called biggest El Nino on record happening, do you have ANY IDEA what the temperature has been like around here???

NINETY THREE!

Yep, NINETY THREE!

This isn't "like summer", this is like a summer heat wave.

So, my El Nino story is that I'm watering more now than I was in summer, because this is the season for CA plants to grow. Can we have that water pipeline from BC now, BRENDA? It's a good thing I had most of my lawn ripped out!

------

On a happier note, I mentioned that I made a certified backyard wildlife habitat. I have all of the things in place for little critters to thrive: water, shelter, and food. Most of the natives that I planted are in deference to the small creatures that we share the earth with- flowers for the bees and hummingbirds and butterflies; berries for the birds, possums, etc.; and mulch which seems to keep a healthy population of bugs and grubs and lizards and raccoons going; avocados which the squirrels seem to enjoy, as well as hummingbird feeders.

Over the past few years, I've seen more and more unusual birds stopping by for a drink or food. So aside from the usual crows, English sparrows, mockingbirds, and Allen's hummingbirds, I've seen Orioles feeding from the hummingbird feeders, black Phoebes and yellow warblers picking bugs from the ground, mourning doves eating the seed I throw out from time to time, bluebirds (real honest-to-gosh bluebirds!), a scrub jay, and yesterday a Northern flicker drinking from the birdbath.

I'm just as excited as all get out! As my plants grow and start to bear fruit, I expect I'll see more and more birds stopping by. On top of that, my fuschia-flowering gooseberry set off a bunch of blooms this year, and my pink flowering currant is going to bloom for the first time too.

I wait in happy anticipation!

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

1KIKI

Monday, February 15, 2016 1:50 AM (P)

Sad to say. I'm watering my trees in February.

Last year even though it was dry, I skipped the water, and the trees were late to leaf out, with a far smaller number of, and smaller, leaves and flowers. (Though the flowers that they had were unusually bright.) So what I learned was that even though not much appears to be happening at this time of year, the plants - even the ones that appear dormant - are laying down the cells for growth. I intend to help them along this time. The other thing I noticed was that last year seemed to be a great year for wild oats, but not the other wild annual grasses (especially not the wild barley, which I loathe, because it catches in fur and works its way under the skin of many unfortunate animals - due to its sharp tip and barbs) . Though there wasn't a lot of rain last year as well, it was just the right combination of cold and wet, I surmise, at the right time, for the oats. This year, not so much. I think there was not enough rain and cold at the same time.

The little brown birds are secretively nesting again in the Catalina Island Cherry hedge. And, once again, I'm hoping for a Great Northern Owl pair to nest in the Incense Cedar. It only happens rarely but it does happen! C'mon guys - there's plenty of mice!

I have a lot of birds nesting in my yard during the year, but then they go make their living on the wild hill across the street, and probably elsewhere. I like to see their little comings and goings as they bustle about and raise their families. I'm glad they have the all those spots that suit them.

wild oats

wild barley

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Monday, February 15, 2016 3:14 AM (P)

A wild hill across the street- lucky you! Any coyotes? If so, care to share? I have a few too many feral cats around. I DID see a coyote, once, but I guess it doesn't like a diet of feral cats because it didn't stick around!

Good thing, then, that I'm still watering that parking-lot tree, four gallons at a time.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

1KIKI

Monday, February 15, 2016 3:21 AM (P)

Coyotes - yes. I WISH I could share them!

And many years ago a bobcat. I hope there're still some around, but they're secretive things. You don't often see them.

I'm glad you're watering the tree too! I imagine a happy tree, going 'aaahhhhhh...' in tree-speak.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Monday, February 15, 2016 5:43 PM (P)

Not my front yard, but something to aspire to:

You can add energy and interest to even the plainest, smallest, flattest piece of ground

http://www.californianativelandscapedesign.com/

I think my love of CA native plants and naturalistic designs comes from my childhood of running wild thru the fields near our house, altho that was 55 years and 3,000 miles away.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Thursday, February 18, 2016 6:12 PM (P)

Hey, after two weeks of ridiculously hot temperatures (86-93 def F. Or, for you Brenda, 29 to 34 deg C) we got a spell of rain. Unlike the previous storm, which dumped a lot of rain onto the foothills but not much elsewhere, this one was a widespread storm that hit the LA basin pretty much everywhere. You can see LA DWP rain gages here: http://www.ladpw.org/wrd/precip/alert_rain/index.cfm?cont=36hr.cfm

So altho we are terribly behind in rain this year, again, at least we got a bit of a reprieve. The plants are happier now, the fungi ans bacteria, the bugs, earthworms, grubs, lizards, mice, rabbits, gophers and other small creatures will be happy too, as the plants respond to the rain. So will the hawks and coyotes and bobcats. The land here is smiling. We have been blessed.

The forecast is for more hot weather afterwards for about ten days. We're going to need a whole season's worth of rain in March if we're going to catch up to even average. It's happened before, but to give you an idea of how rare that is, that single event has a specific name: Miracle March, and it happened in 1991.

I'm particularly vexed about the weather because I had planted a bunch of seeds: cosmos, bachelor buttons, mixed-color CA poppies, lupines, wild oats, and purple three-awn, right before the weather turned ridiculous, and as of now only a few lupines started coming up. The CA poppies need to be sown in place- they can't be transplanted. But I ordered more seeds, and I have a bunch of used styrofoam cups and potting mix/ garden dirt ready, and I'm going to start seeds indoors- to hell with the weather.

In addition to a regular birdbath, I have a large water-filled 2 1/2 foot blue ceramic tray .... the kind of thing you might put under a very large houseplant ... on the ground for the little animals. As I recover from surgery, I get a chance to see the backyard doings. Three days ago I was none too please to see a feral cat drinking from the tray, but two days ago a squirrel came for much-needed water. So it prolly serves the night-time community as well.

Onward with the gardening! Happy with the rain.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Friday, February 19, 2016 1:55 AM (P)

In addition to a water pipeline from BC to CA, I propose an air pipeline! That away, we can send you our hot air and you can send us some water!

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Tuesday, March 1, 2016 7:58 AM (P)

I finally bought the last of the "big" front-yard plants. Most of the shrubs are for the front of the house, to shade the wall in the morning:

Sugar bush (rhus ovata) is a big lady who will go between the two windows

Underneath the two small windows will be small island manzanitas, arctostaphylos insularis

and underneath the large living room window will be a short (but wide) coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica)

Off to the side of the island oak (quercus which has already been planted)

will be a couple of bushes of the ever-elusive hollyleaf redberry (rhamnus crocea ilicifolia), which I've been looking for since more than a year ago. Finally found a source last week. If it's happy, it will reward you with lots of tasty berries, assuming that you can get to the before the birds do.

Most of my plants were chosen from CA natives to be water-wise, pretty, and have some value to birds, hummingbirds, pollinators, moths, and butterflies. Altho I have three hummingbird feeders up, they haven't been visited lately - I guess because there are many more flowers in bloom now.

And just as I was pleased to see animals drinking from the large dish of water on the ground, I saw a hummingbird busily working the red autumn sage (salvia greggii) which- contrary to its name, is just beginning to bloom in spring. The hummer was completely ignoring the feeder not ten feet away!

Other flowers blooming now are the pink flowering currant, sundancer daisy, and monkeyflower.

In the forecast: One inch of rain, starting Sunday. Uh huh. I'll believe it when I see it. So many storms have approached us ... It's coming! It's going to be HUGE! Get ready! ... only to see the storm front peak and then evaporate away. So while I have my fingers crossed, I guess I'm not going to get too excited about it.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

1KIKI

Tuesday, March 1, 2016 8:37 AM (P)

[img][/img]

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

1KIKI

Wednesday, March 2, 2016 8:53 AM (P)

That sure sounds nice to me ...

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

1KIKI

Monday, March 7, 2016 3:47 AM (P)

For whatever reason the website's always been pretty lackadaisical about getting data up. If this last storm dropped an inch of rain we're still 3 inches behind. At this time of year it's a 25% shortfall.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Monday, March 7, 2016 10:21 AM (P)

I set out a little straight-side plastic container, it looks like we got about 0.5". Not the whopping storm that was predicted, but better than nothing. At least we're only a couple of inches below average, not six inches, like last year. I predict there will be a nice annual flower show, except for lupines as they seem to need a lot more water.

So, I got my water bill, and they show what you've been doing for the past year and how it compares to the year before. OK, granted that in that two-month billing period we had a couple of storms that let me turn off the irrigation for two weeks, but I also watered once a day for a WEEK to try to give my seeds a running start. (It didn't, I just couldn't overcome the record-setting hot, dry weather.) So given all the pluses and minuses of the last billing period, and comparing the highest bill of the previous year to the lowest bill of this year, which was the most recent, I dropped from 45 CCF to about 7 CCF (centicubic feet).

WOW, that's pretty damn good!

Today we got into a spurious Spring Cleaning. It started with the new computer .... but the desk needed cleaning, and the wall and floor. And really underneath the printer stand, and how about taking out the old printer and putting in the new one? And getting rid of some of those tangled wires? And the sofa really needs vacuuming, the sofa-blanket needs washing, and what about that crap that's been collecting dust in the other corner and ...??? WHEW!

None of the stuff that I usually do on Sunday got done, and a "15-minute" job turned into an entire afternoon. But we all accomplished a lot.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Sunday, March 13, 2016 1:13 PM (P)

Another late storm adding about 0.3" to the total.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

1KIKI

Sunday, March 13, 2016 1:20 PM (P)

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

1KIKI

Sunday, March 13, 2016 1:21 PM (P)

The last couple of storms coaxed the wild oats to grow.

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Monday, March 14, 2016 9:57 AM (P)

Yeah, unfortunately someone helpfully weeded them for me!

RECIPE FOR CHICKEN TAGINE MOVED TO PROCESSED FOOD IS KILLING US thread.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Sunday, March 20, 2016 9:42 PM (P)

That last rain was the last rain for us, this rainy season. Not even at normal, but given how sparse the rains have been for the last three years the oak trees were signaled to bloom, and they're blooming like I've never seen them bloom before.

This is the height of the flowering season, and not only are my Joseph's Coat and White Lady Banks climbing roses (planted by the previous owner) at the height of their season, but ... list of blooming plants right now

avocados (Also dropping their leaves as usual. What a chore!)
pink and white geraniums
lavender (French and Spanish)
salvia gregii (deep red)
pink flowering currant (just fading)
camellias
sundancer daisy
blue-eyed grass
verbena lilacina
pincushion flower
Canary Island pine
kalanchoe
holly-leaf cherry (just beginning)
fuschia-flowered gooseberry (fading)
penstemon spectabilis
mimulus (monkey flower, renamed to diplacus, I think)
coffeeberry
golden yarrow
pink and white azaleas

No wonder the hummingbirds (and bees) are ignoring the feeders! But they'll be back in summer, when nothing is blooming!

The Dara's Choice salvia - apparently a very early bloomer- is done, but the bees had a field day with them!

Walking the garden with my gardener, a mourning dove burst out from under the Cleveland sage and a fledgling toddled out as fast as it could after her. Family and helper were stressed by the apparent abandonment of an "injured" fledgling, but I know that fledglings stay on the ground for at least a couple of days and that mom and dad might be back, given space. I tossed some seed out to induce the adults to come back, and saw two adults and heard cooing on the ground that day, and kept tossing seed out. Was gratified to hear that both adults and fledging were seen on a nearby roof- apparently the baby mourning dove survived its perilous time on the ground and is now flying. Yay birdee!

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Sunday, May 15, 2016 9:19 AM (P)

The front garden is is looking better and better as the plants grow and fill in and the penstemons are attracting hummingbirds while the fancy-colored CA poppies are attracting native sweat bees. But the backyard is where all the action is!

Last weekend I refilled the hummingbird feeders - finally- and made sure the birdbaths were filled, and this weekend I tossed out some birdseed and peanuts and not only did the usual mourning doves show up but this time I had a small flock of happy English sparrows (their population had been decimated by West Nile), two female and one male hooded Oriole dicing with the hummingbirds for the sugar water and splashing in the birdbath, of course a lot of Allen's hummingbirds, and a couple of jet-black starlings with their bright yellow beaks. And a poor squirrel with a third of its tail missing.

Over the past several weeks I've seen crows hunting fence lizards in the yard (their population was also decimated) stalking the garden carefully, so I started putting out some meat scraps and sure enough, the scraps reliably disappeared. I assume the crows were feeding their young.

This is in a very suburban neighborhood, where everyone's lawns are mowed and all of the hedges are shaped into poodle-shapes, so not only is my turf-less CA native front yard a poke in the eye to all of the uptight neighbors, it's a refuge for small animals.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Sunday, May 15, 2016 9:30 AM (P)

Yesterday has a sparrow hawk wandering around underneath the hedge eating a baby magpie. Nature can be harsh. I have lots of salvia in my garden too- pineapple sage flowers bright red and you can make tea out of it as well.

1KIKI

Sunday, May 15, 2016 10:31 AM (P)

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Sunday, May 15, 2016 1:01 PM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by Magonsdaughter:
Yesterday has a sparrow hawk wandering around underneath the hedge eating a baby magpie. Nature can be harsh. I have lots of salvia in my garden too- pineapple sage flowers bright red and you can make tea out of it as well.

When I feed the crows, I know that there will be more crows next year, eating more lizards. Feeding the hummingbirds just means that there will be more hummingbirds straining after the same resources next year. So whatever I put out isn't really a permanent favor, animals will breed to the capacity of their environment and there will still be animals dying at the margin between "just enough" and "not enough".

But people are smart, and we know to respect the limits of our environment, right?

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Sunday, May 15, 2016 4:37 PM (P)

"May it be" by Enya

May it be an evening star
Shines down upon you
May it be when darkness falls
Your heart will be true
You walk a lonely road
Oh, how far you are from home
Morni? ut?li? (Darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Morni? alanti? (Darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
May it be the shadows call
Will fly away
May it be your journey on
To light the day
When the night is overcome
You may rise to find the sun
Morni? ut?li? (Darkness has come)
Believe and you will find your way
Morni? alanti? (Darkness has fallen)
A promise lives within you now
A promise lives within you now

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

1KIKI

Monday, May 16, 2016 4:27 AM (P)

SAGAN: We are releasing vast quantities of carbon dioxide, increasing the greenhouse effect. It may not take much to destabilize the Earth's climate, to convert this heaven, our only home in the cosmos, into a kind of hell.

SIGNYM

Monday, May 16, 2016 4:58 PM (P)

OMG!!!! So after I tossed out the seed and peanuts THIS weekend, I saw TWO scrub jays and what I think was a yellow warbler, and of course the ubiquitous mockingbirds.
I was absolutely thrilled with the scrub jays, as they have the prettiest blue on their tails and wings!

Now, as much as I like to pat myself on the back for making such a nice (National Wildlife Federation certified) habitat, I realize that these birds don't ALL live in my backyard! All I'm doing is tempting MOST of them into my yard with extra-tasty food.

No indeed- they live someplace else, and find enough food to stay alive someplace else.

The only birds that "live" in my yard are the hummingbirds and mourning doves (when nesting). The hummers seem to have taken up permanent home in my climbing roses, and the morning doves had a ground-nest under the sage.

The yellow warbler always seems to come from the back-door neighbor's yard, which is filled with the kind of tall (camellia) bush/ short (apple, lemon/grapefruit) tree that they seen to favor. The crows were nesting somewhere in my side door neighbor's yard I think- at least, I saw them a few times glide in stealthily with nesting material in their beaks. - It sure would be nice to know which areas have enough habitat to support some of the bigger birds, especially the scrub jays.

----------

Planted 2/3 of my modest vegetable garden yesterday too: four tomatoes, seven Japanese eggplant, three basil. Today I'm planting four pepper bushes and two zucchini. The last tie I planted zucchini, the bushes failed to produce a single one. I have no idea what went wrong except the leaves were very mildewed.

Also played (at) tennis- for the first hour and some I was driving the balls pretty hard to the baseline, after that my arm got kind tired and I had to slow my shots down. But for was miserable as my hitting was last week, this week it was spot on and a lot of fun!

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Tuesday, May 17, 2016 4:36 AM (P)

Snowed on Friday and Saturday, which really reduced roadway visibility.

Three weeks ago my Godmother's rhubarb was already going to waste.

SIGNYM

Wednesday, May 18, 2016 9:57 AM (P)

Snow?

SNOW????

Where the hell do you live, Alaska???

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Wednesday, May 18, 2016 8:53 PM (P)

Oh, didn't you mention somewhere that you live in NY state?

I saw that they had some cold weather and graupel (soft hail) at the western end, and snow upstate. Also snow in WI, OH, northern and western PA, and New England. That's a late storm! I hope the rhubarb and all budding plants survived.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Thursday, May 19, 2016 5:40 PM (P)

I guess a lot of weird weather can be tied to those bigger "loops" that the jet stream is taking now, and that it doesn't precess as quickly as it used to so those projections of very cold (or warm) weather stay in place longer.

In the midst of the "strongest el Nino ever", February here was ridiculously hot and dry - like August. http://ktla.com/2016/02/09/as-record-heat-hits-socal-officials-warn-of
-fire-danger/

But just a couples of weeks ago, we got a VERY late-season rain, http://ktla.com/2016/05/07/flash-flood-watch-issued-as-more-rain-expec
ted-to-hit-socal-this-weekend/

I'm not complaining about the rain, not at all! I guess my point is that everyone should count themselves lucky if they get normal-ish weather!

And snow in Nova Scotia ... isn't that, like, normal?

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Friday, May 20, 2016 4:01 AM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Snow?

SNOW????

Where the hell do you live, Alaska???

WI. Friday in Green Bay, getting the withered remains of the storm, and Saturday in Niagara - that was the bad visibility.

SIGNYM

Saturday, May 21, 2016 12:02 PM (P)

Quote:
Snow?
SNOW????
Where the hell do you live, Alaska??? - SIGNY

WI. Friday in Green Bay, getting the withered remains of the storm, and Saturday in Niagara - that was the bad visibility.

So basically you followed the storm by traveling west to east, along with it?

Did that once, from Detroit to Buffalo to London (Ontario) to Rochester. It kind of pooped out by Rochester.

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Saturday, May 21, 2016 12:03 PM (P)

Quote:
It's normal for winter Sig. But not sure about May.

No, you're right. Prolly not May. But I've heard so much about bad Nova Scotia weather, I assume it's usually awful there!

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Saturday, May 21, 2016 7:23 PM (P)

Yanno BRENDA, it seems like every time you post about the weather, it's raining.

Did you get a LOT of rain lately? Or is this normal for your area?

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Tuesday, June 7, 2016 9:10 PM (P)

Today I saw what I'm pretty sure is a common redpoll. It was far enuf away to be mistaken for a house finch or purple finch, but the very red cap flashing about, and red face and black around the bill indicates - I think a redpoll. It was eating the cosmos seeds.

Redpoll

House finch

Purple finch

--------------
You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

SIGNYM

Monday, September 12, 2016 1:57 PM (P)

It's been a while since I posted here.

I'm still saving that parking lot tree, six (sometimes eight) gallons at a time. So I'm still that crazy lady with the milk jugs full of water, watering that Bradford pear. Although it suffered some permanent dieback due to extreme neglect, it's looking a lot better than last year. I hope that next spring it will be full of blossoms again, since the tree as had enough water to set buds. Those flowers... they stink, but they look pretty; and when the pears are full of bloom the petals drift down like snowflakes.

The garden still needs... oh, about 100 more plants to be complete. Who would have thought that a xeric garden would need so many plants?

My inspiration is here ... https://cynthiasnativegarden.wordpress.com I know I've linked this before, I just wish I had her "eye" for arranging plants so nicely.

I'm still seeing a lot of different birds around, although not anywhere near as much as at my sister's house! Scrub jays still come to visit now and again; they're such a pretty blue.

I did encounter one kind of wildlife tho that was a little disturbing .... I had put the hummingbird feeder in a bucket and was on my way inside when I saw what I thought was a large praying mantis on the feeder, so I took the feeder back out and carefully placed the mantis (?) on some plants nearby.

And then I decided to look up what I thought I'd seen, and what I saw was this

Yep, a scorpion. Oh well, it's a good thing they're not TOO toxic!

--------------
I think it's time you disabused yourself of that pleasant little fairy tale about our fearless leaders being some sort of surrogate daddy or mommy, laying awake at night thinking about how to protect the kids. HA! In reality, they're thinking about who to sell them to so that they can get a few more shekels in their pockets.

SIGNYM

Sunday, September 25, 2016 9:51 PM (P)

This weekend's heat wave ... 100+ ... I hope is the last hurrah for summer. I've been giving that parking lot Bradford pear 8 gallons every weekend; good thing too because of the heat!

Refilled the hummingbird feeders (which I do once every two weeks now; the hummingbirds migrate so I guess they migrated out of the area?) refilled the birdbath and ground tray (which I do twice a week) and soaked the avocado trees ... ran water for four solid hours for them. I'm sure our water bill will show that! But I think that will help them weather this latest heat wave, and I shouldn't have to do that again until next summer. I hope.

Not much going on, the veggie garden has been squeezing out just enough tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers for weekly home use. The zucchini failed, again, this year, after producing just a few squashes. Some day I'm going to figure out what's wrong with them! Raccoons are digging up the mulch looking for grubs. A typical end-of-year lull; and waiting for a more persistent cooling down so I can plant some plants, and the beginning of the winter rains in December assuming we get any.

--------------
I think it's time you disabused yourself of that pleasant little fairy tale about our fearless leaders being some sort of surrogate daddy or mommy, laying awake at night thinking about how to protect the kids. HA! In reality, they're thinking about who to sell them to so that they can get a few more shekels in their pockets.

SIGNYM

Tuesday, October 25, 2016 1:13 AM (P)

RAIN! Rain last week, and rain last night!

Now for you non-southwesterners, 0.31" and 0.08" of rain doesn't sound like much, but after 6 years of drought, it sounds like heaven.

But the reason why I'm posting is because ... I can't believe it... I saw a HAWK in the birdbath! A real live hawk, in my very sub-emphasis-on-URBAN landscape!

And, I'm still watering that tree. It's doing pretty well!

Hillary is a WAR CANDIDATE, and that's just what we need, right? More war?

G, THUGR, MAL4: Oh BTW, please define intelligence.
http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.aspx?bid=18&tid=60903&p=4#1
018100

1KIKI

Tuesday, October 25, 2016 2:51 AM (P)

I've been told that there are over 550 bird species in So Cal. Though I think that a fair number must be transients.

The only hawk I'm really familiar with is the red-tail, and their tails are truly a distinct brownish-orange. Like the towhee, E sparrow, scrub jay, mourning dove, crow, acorn woodpecker, and mockingbird, they're seemingly EVERYwhere here. They supposedly do really well in urban landscapes which is why they're so commonly seen.

Though I was lucky enough once to see what I think was a Cooper's Hawk, identified by its small size and by its very long legs.

And YAY!!! for keeping the tree alive!

Let me just point out that the author left out vital relevant facts in the opinion piece. Doing that is known as cherry-picking. And whether you do that in the news, in discussion, in debate or in opinion, when you distort the facts, you've changed the nature of your communication into propaganda. But WE don't have any of THAT in the US, do we?!

1KIKI

Tuesday, October 25, 2016 6:49 AM (P)

I just wanted to add - that you had a hawk IN YOUR YARD!, IN YOUR BIRDBATH! says something AWESOME about your yard!

Let me just point out that the author left out vital relevant facts in the opinion piece. Doing that is known as cherry-picking. And whether you do that in the news, in discussion, in debate or in opinion, when you distort the facts, you've changed the nature of your communication into propaganda. But WE don't have any of THAT in the US, do we?!

1KIKI

Tuesday, October 25, 2016 10:30 AM (P)

i take it you're in an area that's white, and rain is more a nuisance and less of a blessing?

Let me just point out that the author left out vital relevant facts in the opinion piece. Doing that is known as cherry-picking. And whether you do that in the news, in discussion, in debate or in opinion, when you distort the facts, you've changed the nature of your communication into propaganda. But WE don't have any of THAT in the US, do we?!

SIGNYM

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 1:12 PM (P)

Okie dokie, for all of you outdoor-types and naturalists.

I have another kind of critter in my yard (and maybe my house).... not so welcome as some of the others, and this kind BITES, damnit.

Whatever it is, is small. I don't notice the bites until 2-5 hours later, but once they start to itch I know I'm in for 2 sleepless nights and 3 days of misery. The bites are intensely itchy, and it seems as if I scratch them (unavoidable as I scratch them in my sleep, which is how I wake myself up) I spread whatever it is that's been injected into my skin and cause a 2" itchy welt. But, if I manage NOT to scratch, the bite has a distinct red dot in the middle, and once I scratch the red bump, it reveals an actual hole in my skin, which weeps serum for days.

And I've tried Chinese balm, benadryl gel, hydrocortisone and clobetasol cream, and oral benadryl, and the only thing that seems to help is oral benadryl because at 150 mg at least it knocks me out!

So, I know it's not regular mosquito bites bc I sure know what those are. Not fleas, not wasp or bee stings, not ants.

I've more-or-less narrowed it down to chiggers, no-see-ums (yes, there really is something called no-see-ums), or the new imported Asian tiger mosquito or yellow fever mosquito (Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, respectively).

I think the narrow bore-hole in my skin is an important clue. Any thoughts???

SIGNYM

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 1:36 AM (P)

Quote:
I've more-or-less narrowed it down to chiggers, no-see-ums (yes, there really is something called no-see-ums), or the new imported Asian tiger mosquito or yellow fever mosquito (Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti, respectively).

It's one of the two new (imported, illegal alien, invader) mosquitoes. I saw one biting me, and interrupted its blood-feed, but what I got was the same extremely itchy welt, albeit smaller than the others. I looked at it rather closely n didn't see the black-n-white stripes, so I believe it is the Aedes aegypti mosquito, but I seem to have an exaggerated allergic (histamine) response. Be on the lookout for it in your neighborhood! http://www.dailynews.com/health/20160907/zika-prone-mosquitoes-found-i
n-san-fernando-valley

Well, at least now I know!

But the reason why I'm posting isn't because of the mosquitoes or because of anything particularly new, but because I saw, in quick succession, two infrequent visitors in my garden: the blue jay and the Anna's hummingbird.

That blue-jay screech. It takes me back to my childhood: it's the same from coast-to-coast, and the streak of blue is so rewarding! And the Anna's hummingbird male, whose entire head is a bright tinfoil-shiny rose! What beautiful flashes of color!

I'm still watering THAT TREE. A few leaves are turning deep red; and soon the tree will be deep red, orange, and purple. And then, I can stop watering it so much, because it won't be evapotranspiring through so many leaves!

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

1KIKI

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 2:27 AM (P)

I'm glad you figured out the critter that's biting you!

YAY! for keeping the tree alive through the abysmally dry weather. And congratulations on seeing the birds coming to you 'CERTIFIED WILDLIFE HABITAT' yard. I'm sure it's a haven for them!

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

SIGNYM

Tuesday, November 15, 2016 4:17 PM (P)

Dry and sunny, I hope?

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

SIGNYM

Monday, November 28, 2016 2:40 AM (P)

Finally, we're getting some rain too. Last weekend we got about 0.5" and this weekend we got 0.2". It doesn't sound like much but for us it's great.

Looking at El Nino, which is "traditionally" a time of rainy weather, our So Cal hardly got any. All of the rain went north ... central CA and up. THIS winter, a La Nina winter which is typically a dry time, we're getting a good start on our rainfall.

One of the thoughts I had about changing patterns was the presence of "The Blob" ... a very hot-water mass off the west coast of the USA. Except for hurricanes, rain occurs on the interfaces of hot and cold air. We depend on cold air coming down from Alaska to lift moist air up and wring out the moisture. But if the ocean is so terribly warm, cold air masses won't survive to make it this far south, so maybe El Nino will no longer be a time of rain, but a time of heat and humidity.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

1KIKI

Monday, November 28, 2016 4:41 AM (P)

After persisting for two years (or was it three? I don't remember), 'The Blob' finally dissipated. The weather people afaik still don't know from whence it came, and where it went.

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

SIGNYM

Monday, December 5, 2016 5:06 AM (P)

OMG! I think I saw a kestrel hunting across the street! It's now in our star pine!

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If I could write inflammatory commentary to scorch the eye brows and lashes off Trump, Signym or 1kiki, I would.- SECOND"

SIGNYM

Monday, December 5, 2016 8:22 AM (P)

Yes, it was definitely a kestrel, I played the birdcall and recognized it!

Also, I have a mouse in the house. Need to find a live trap and set it loose on the riverbed.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If I could write inflammatory commentary to scorch the eye brows and lashes off Trump, Signym or 1kiki, I would.- SECOND"

SIGNYM

Monday, December 5, 2016 9:06 AM (P)

Please please please, send some rain this way!!!

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If I could write inflammatory commentary to scorch the eye brows and lashes off Trump, Signym or 1kiki, I would.- SECOND"

1KIKI

Tuesday, December 6, 2016 10:19 AM (P)

I could go for snow ... and I deeply dislike snow.

Kitty brought in a baby rat today. Fortunately he killed it shortly afterwards, so it didn't end up lost, scampering around the house. 5 weeks, 2 rats, 3 mice. 1 rat dead, one mouse rescued, and the rest ... (I'm sure the house is cosier than outdoors).

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

SIGNYM

Friday, December 16, 2016 7:21 PM (P)

RAIN!

Rain, rain, rain! I imagine water seeping into the ground, flowing into streambeds, roots beginning to wake up, trees, shrubs, grasses, forbes ... all the mountains and foothills sighing a relieved sigh.

*kisses the falling rain, kisses the ground, dances the happy dance*

Please dear Lady, let this not be The Last significant rain event this season!

I see also that the drought-striken southeast, where all of those terrible fires were burning, has gotten significant moisture too. The land is smiling and we have been blessed again.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If I could write inflammatory commentary to scorch the eye brows and lashes off Trump, Signym or 1kiki, I would.- SECOND"

Hillary knew all about the Electoral College when she ran for office. All of this after-the-fact bitching is still just an attempt to rewrite history. I guess you're all still in various stages of grief, including anger, denial, and bargaining, all rol

SIGNYM

Sunday, December 18, 2016 2:17 AM (P)

It sounds like the weather is often dreary and sometimes downright miserable where you are. I wish we could exchange weather every once in a while, just for ... yanno... a change of pace.

It's funny, but when we first moved here (from the Buffalo area) after a few months of relentless sunshine I kind of complained Doesn't it ever RAIN around here?

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If I could write inflammatory commentary to scorch the eye brows and lashes off Trump, Signym or 1kiki, I would.- SECOND"

You're suffering from the various stages of grief including bargaining, denial, and anger, all at once

SIGNYM

Sunday, December 18, 2016 9:20 PM (P)

Then I hope wherever it is that you're living is cozy and warm.

How's your Christmas shaping up, Brenda?

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If I could write inflammatory commentary to scorch the eye brows and lashes off Trump, Signym or 1kiki, I would.- SECOND"

You're suffering from the various stages of grief including bargaining, denial, and anger, all at once

1KIKI

Monday, December 19, 2016 5:07 AM (P)

Hey Brenda -

I truly wish things were better. From personal experience I know it's hard to feel happy when you're cold. I wish I could do do something.

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

1KIKI

Monday, December 19, 2016 9:18 AM (P)

I would gladly take some!

I hope you have good holidays!

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

SIGNYM

Monday, December 19, 2016 4:29 PM (P)

Hi Brenda,

I understand the insecurity of walking in the snow, sometimes it makes you feel like you're going to slip and fall, and your feet are always cold.

OOC what would make you feel cozy? A blanket? A jacket? A sweater?

What kind of landscape do you imagine you would enjoy? Deserts? Tropical beaches? Temperate forests, like where you are, but only in summer?

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

SIGNYM

Thursday, December 22, 2016 6:18 PM (P)

This past 24 hours of "chance of showers" has turned quite unexpectedly into a major rain event. From San Ysidro to Saugus, So Cal has gotten anywhere from 0.4 - 1.4 inches of rain, with most rains gages in the LA area reporting about 0.5 inches, and most rain gages in the San Diego area reporting almost 1 inch. YAY!

Because this wasn't expected, I didn't have my own little "rain gage" deployed, so I don't know how much our location got, but there's another event expected on Friday. We seem to be making good progress into our rainy season, now that "the Blob" (and the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge and Redux which was driving it) has dissipated. Here's hoping that this year is at least normal rainfall (unlike the previous six years).

All we need is twelve more significant rain events for that to happen! *fingers crossed*

And while the contiguous US is reporting about-normal to colder-than normal weather, with Arctic air swooping down the west coast and central-to-eastern USA ... if all of that cold air is down here, how is the Arctic faring?? Not surprisingly, the Arctic is having its lowest ice coverage ever for this time of year. At the time of season when meteorologists and earth scientists expect the fastest ice-build, there is a lot of open water. Energy and matter can never be created and destroyed, and once you trap heat in a system - you can push it around, but if you can't dissipate it - it goes into a lot of unexpected places (melted ice, deep ocean, earth's crust) but never disappears.

I've learned from watching the US Drought Monitor http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ that there is always drought somewhere. (The downside of the drought monitor is that it doesn't show when areas have a rain surplus, which creates a rather unrealistically negative picture). So FWIW: that drought in the southeast .... looks like rain is coming their way, again. Hurray for them too! If our luck holds, then by year's-end we might be at a point when there is no "exceptional" drought anywhere, which would be rare indeed.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

SIGNYM

Friday, December 30, 2016 8:55 PM (P)

The last rain event, which was Dec 21-24, dropped about 1.75" in my backyard. That was a great Xmas gift!

It's anticipated to rain, on and off, for today and tomorrow and is sprinkling a little bit, even as I post. Not much rain is expected this round ... possibly up to a half inch (I have my "rain gage" out in the yard, just to see!) ... but there is a larger rain event anticipated, not this Sunday but the following Sunday.

Unlike the previous six(!) years, where the rainstorms got thinner and weaker before (usually) disappearing altogether at they attempted to break through the blocking high pressure/ warm air ridge, THIS year the ridiculously resilient ridge is gone. Now the storm fronts are gathering a little steam (literally) as they approach the coast, probably picking up moisture from The Blob, which- according to NOAA - has NOT disappeared entirely, although El Nino has. So we have relatively warm coastal waters lofting moisture into the approaching storm fronts: a good setup for normal rainfall.

If I sound obsessed with rainfall, that's because of the drought. And my fingers are crossed that we get more - we need it! Although we had 4 inches of rain so far this December, which makes it the wettest Dec since 2010, we need another three rounds of rain just to make it to average, and our rainy season barely extends into March.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

6IXSTRINGJACK

Monday, January 2, 2017 6:03 AM (P)

Uggggggg.... Water. I feel like the GD Wicked Witch of the West. My sump system will be the death of me, I know it.

Recently, we had a huge thaw, and my sump system was going off like crazy. Then it started to get loud. REALLY LOUD. I went into my nasty crawlspace and found that the seal on the check valve broke and was spraying not only on the plastic lining the floor and walls, but the joists for the first floor and the insulation as well.

I covered the whole thing with a tarp, bought a check valve, and was waiting for tomorrow to fix it when it's going to be fairly warm. Two days ago it was louder than ever, so I decided I had to fix it ASAP. To my horror, I realized that there was a "mudslide" in the well. The previous idiots who lived here installed a shower in the basement leading to the well, and rather than install a new polyresin well with proper measurements they just took a sledgehammer to the concrete wall.

I always thought this might be a problem, but it never was... until it was.

I thought for sure this was something I couldn't possibly fix myself. I thought the seal broke and I could just put in a new check valve. But the unit itself had moved about 4 inches, likely sliding all over the place with the "lubrication" of all of that mud introduced to the well. For the meantime, it was at least pumping out enough water to keep the basement from flooding again, but what could I possibly do to fix this???

I went out to my garage with a cup of coffee and had a few smokes while looking around at various odds and ends I had saved up over the years from various projects and what not. I wasn't looking for any permanent fix, but just a temporary band-aid to make it to warmer weather so I wasn't working in water that was nearly freezing.

Suddenly, as if a ray of light from Heaven illuminated it, I caught glimpse of a part of a dryer install kit left over from when I bought my dryer 5 years back. Separated by the seam and unrolled, it was just about 12"x12" and I thought it could possibly be PERFECT for what I needed.

Working in a dimly lit area with nothing but a flashlight, a few screwdrivers and a pair of tin-snips, I went to work. I'm sure a math genius like JO could have taken measurements of the awkward breaks in the well and could have come up with an exact design for our new aluminum wall, but I'm not that smart. This was going to be trial and error. This was going to be cold. This was going to be messy.....

A little snip here, a big snip there... over an hour putting it in and taking it back out and making minor adjustments to make it fit snug everywhere and we had a PERFECT new wall for the old well, with plenty of "lip" left on all sides to keep it from caving in.

I filled the vacancy left by the mudslide with 5 gallons worth of river rock and some mud in between and did my best to remove any residual mud out of the well by hand in the freezing cold water and then I tested it out. 3 full loads from the washing machine and it works like a charm. Didn't even need to install the new check valve.

What's even better is that there were small square holes at the top of the aluminium piece so I was able to snake the dehumidifier drain hose through it so I don't even need to use a brick to secure that into the well anymore.

I woke up the other morning thinking the worst and that I'd have to spend at least 1.5k to a plumber to re-haul my entire system. It ended up costing me nothing but a scrap piece of aluminum in my garage and about 2 hours work in total. Chances are, the integrity of the well will outlive me now.

Don't let anybody make you think you're dumb because you didn't go to college. At least half of the CEO's who've been bailed out with million dollar parachutes over the last decade never went to college. A few of them never even finished high school.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

SIGNYM

Monday, January 2, 2017 2:59 PM (P)

Well damn! Ingenuity and persistence pays off! Hats off to YOU, SIX!

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

SIGNYM

Thursday, January 5, 2017 11:24 PM (P)

I heard that there was a big warm front following this big cold front. So Brenda, I hope it will!

And we have yet MORE RAIN! This small storm follows a larger one about a week ago. In deference to the small cold and hungry animals, I've been very careful to toss out more seed, more peanuts, and to keep the hummingbird feeders full.

And this morning, since I had to stay home to make some phone calls, I was rewarded by seeing crows and a blue jay and squirrels coming in for the peanuts, and sparrows and mourning doves aiming for the seeds, and a black phoebe looking for ....? Bugs?

They are happy! So am I!

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

SIGNYM

Thursday, January 12, 2017 8:19 PM (P)

If you're happy with your upcoming weather Brenda, so am I!

Down here in CA ...

For the first time in 11 years the Yolo Bypass is flooded. The Yolo Bypass is a straight valley, 3 miles wile and 40 miles long, that is just to the west of a looped portion of the Sacto River. There is a passive weir at the top of the valley: if the Sacto River is above roughly 30 feet, it overflows into the Yolo Bypass. Further downstream, about midway through the loop and closer to west Sacramento, if the Sacto River and American River reach 28 feet and are expected to keep rising, up to 48 wooden flood gates are manually unlatched (with long pole-hooks) which allows further spillage into the Yolo bypass, keeping west Sacto dry.

Not only is the Yolo bypass an important farming area in the (dry) summer, it's an important breeding ground for Chinook salmon, a stopover point for migrating birds, a prime wetlands habitat full of wetland species, AND (most importantly for the area farmers) an important groundwater recharge basin. That mkaes filling the Yolo Bypass important.

The parade of storms which we've been getting .... some of them have hit us head-on, but many of them are merely the edges of much LARGER storms in central and northern CA.

Areas like the Yolo Byass should be everywhere in CA: the safest and most capacious place to store water is not behind a dam but in the ground. Here in So Cal, our groundwater is actively managed and there are recharge basins up and down the San Gabriel and Rio Hondo rivers. As part of our "water infrastructure" we (as a state) should be making MORE groundwater recharge areas .... up and down the LA River (for example) and up and down the other rivers in the central valley.

As rainy as it seems to have been, we are just at NORMAL for this time in our water-year. We still have another 4-5 inches of rainfall to go, just to be at average. This abnormal-seeming normal rainfall is a testament to just how dry the past six years have been.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

SIGNYM

Friday, January 13, 2017 5:37 PM (P)

Warmer weather sounds like GOOD weather for you, Brenda. I hope the ice melts soon!

Down here in So Cal, we got two storms back-to-back. The first one on Tuesday was kind of a blow-by, the second pretty much passed directly through. As of Thurs AM we had collected 2.0" of rain, but then I had to empty the "rain gage" to prevent it from overflowing. Just glancing out the window last night, it looks like we accumulated another 0.5" or so ... I'll check it in the AM. Then about six days of clear weather, and another storm or two coming through, if the forecast holds out.

This is such a reprieve. There was a huge tree die-off in the past three years, literally millions of trees dead due to drought, throughout the central and southern CA, and even in the Sierras. At least the survivors will be able to recoup and regroup.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

6IXSTRINGJACK

Saturday, January 14, 2017 4:53 AM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Well damn! Ingenuity and persistence pays off! Hats off to YOU, SIX!

Thanks Sigs.

We've had a lot of rain since and it hasn't been a problem since the fix. Actually, it seems to have made things quite a bit better down there. I always just assumed I was going to have a musty smell in the basement because it's a tri-level house with a dirt crawlspace. It looks as though the ground inside the home doesn't get wet when the french drain system is able to work like it's supposed to and dump into a sealed well.

It's not "sealed" yet... I'm going to caulk it all up in the summer when it's bone dry. For now though, it seems to take care of a majority of that water as is.

Do Right, Be Right. :)

SIGNYM

Sunday, January 15, 2017 8:57 PM (P)

After the rain: sun. At least for several days. We've had to kind of weather that makes people wish they were here: mid-60's and sunny, white puffy clouds, clean air and a mild breeze. But that's OK folks, we pay for it in drought, smog, and hot summers and autumns (and winters) the rest of the time! If the forecast is to be believed, more rain is coming our way this weekend.

Oh, the measured total in my backyard for the previous two (Tue-Thurs) storms was 2.4". Just before the last two stormfronts I tossed out some plant food for the avocadoes, roses, camellias and azaleas. The plants will be very happy. It seems like it's raining all the time, but (hard to believe) we are barely above average for this time in the water-year (July to July). The plants blooming right now:

Groundcover sage. Yesterday about a dozen hardy honeybees came out to gather nectar, and that's where they landed. The bees love these plants; I don't. They turned into garden thugs, and are about a foot taller and a couple of feet wider than they're "suppose" to grow.

Red camellias. These were planted by the previous owner, and are almost small trees in their own right. The white and pink camellias will follow soon.

White azaleas. Again, planted by the previous owner. Breathtakingly pure white flowers. The pink azalea, which has soft-pink lilly-shaped flowers with deep pink speckles and is extravagant in its blossoms, will follow in May.

A few sporadic blooms from the Joseph's Coat climbing roses, beautiful fragrant sprays of medium-blue flowers from the California lilac (Ceanothus arboreus) and brave lavendar aster-type flowers from the beachside daisy (Erigeron glaucus) fill out the blossom list.

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

1KIKI

Monday, January 16, 2017 1:20 AM (P)

Despite the rain - which does an excellent job of washing PM2.5 out of the air - air quality is predicted to be only 'moderate', not 'good'.

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

1KIKI

Tuesday, January 17, 2017 10:10 AM (P)

Rain. Blessed rain. I'm glad for you, Brenda.

How did your beloved 'democratic' party fuck up so badly?

SIGNYM

Wednesday, January 18, 2017 5:26 PM (P)

Three more storms, heading squarely for southern CA.

IF the rain totals come up as predicted, we should see about three inches in the next week. If I've got my rainfall added up properly, that should bring us to within an inch or two of average, which is far, far better than the previous six years!

The United States Drought Monitor (see here for current) http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/ has erased "exceptional" drought from all of CA except right where I live: in the Los Angeles area. With these storms, the last of the "exceptional" drought should be erased.

That's good news for CA wildlife! Reprieved! But to find a dark cloud behind the silver lining, one of the key wells in the LA area is down 50 feet.

-----

Say Brenda, the storms that are heading our way are cold, so how's the weather up there?

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

SIGNYM

Friday, January 20, 2017 4:55 PM (P)

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Hey Sig,

Weather is warming up some here. Was suppose to hit around 9C which is 48 degrees F. With rain the rest of this week.

I guess the cold air has slipped down here, and you got our warm air! But I'm not complaining!

The last storm dumped its predicted 1.25" into my "rain gage", the next storm is raining even as I post and predicted to bring 1.3", and the one following THAT is predicted to bring 3+" of rain to our area. I THINK that brings us almost up to normal, so even if the rain goddess shuts off the tap we'll at least be close to normal. Which is a helluva lot better than the past six years years!

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

"If you aren't aware, Texans don't have much concern for the well-being of Yankees or Californians, even Yankee factory workers in Indiana "- SECOND

SIGNYM

Monday, January 23, 2017 7:34 PM (P)

So the Tuesday-Wed storm brought 1.25" to my raingage. The Thursday-Friday storm brought 1.75". And the latest storm - the Saturday-Sunday-Monday storm brought 3.35" (I had to empty my unofficial rain gage late night because it was going to overflow.)

Here's hoping we get more rain in the (roughly) 1.5 months that we have left in our rainy season- it would be such a blessing! I hope to see lupines blooming everywhere, and I wonder if we will be treated again to a blizzard of Painted Lady butterflies, thanks to beneficial desert rainfall.

I'm glad I refreshed and refilled the hummingbird feeders. I didn't think they'd brave the rain, cold, and wind to feed, but they did! Did you know that hummers metabolism is so high they would starve to death overnight? So they don't sleep, per se, they actually go into a short hibernation- torpor - each night, just to conserve energy. I've been tossing out extra food so that the birds and squirrels will have more to go on. You should see the crows in my neighborhood: sleek and so shiny they're blue-black. That's because nobody on the house like chicken liver (except me) so guess who gets it...

In the meantime, I was just looking out the front window at the rain, and saw a little bird I've never seen before pecking avidly at the ground under by CA epilobium, It was a busy little bird, hop-hop-hopping! The best ID I can make (It refused to turn fully around) was either a white-crowned sparrow or a white-throated sparrow. Not rare, but just not ID'd earlier.

Hey Brenda, how is that patch of snow? Gone, I hope?

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

6IXSTRINGJACK

Monday, January 23, 2017 7:38 PM (P)

It's been a pretty great winter here. I keep the thermostat at around 57-58 degrees. I've only broke down and put it up to 60 when it gets below 10 degrees, which hasn't happened much at all. Hasn't snowed as much as usual either. Really a blessing after two back to back awful winters. :)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

SIGNYM

Monday, January 23, 2017 7:59 PM (P)

Yes, I gather from sis that the last two winters the polar air mass slipped over the Midwest and Northeast, and that (thanks to "lake effect" snow) they were both brutal.

I guess it's our turn! We don't get sub-zero temps, and even so, we're not such polar bears! Yeah, we have the heater on, even tho the temps don't dip below 50.

There's one good thing for extra-cold temperatures: They kill bugs. I was told that the various tree-beetle invasions are slowed down when the weather gets ultra-cold. I'm personally hoping that the Persea (avocado) mites - which came in on a batch of contaminated much - get whacked this year!

-----------

"Pity would be no more,
If we did not MAKE men poor"- William Blake

According to you GSTRING, if I discuss something I'm over-reacting. If I DON'T discuss something, I'm hiding.

You see? You're a troll. YOU don't want to discuss the subject, all you want to do is look for an excuse for personal attacks. So the reason why I'm NOT discussing this with you further is because (1) You've been demonstrated to be wrong about five ti

6IXSTRINGJACK

Monday, January 23, 2017 9:34 PM (P)

Yeah.... our mosquitos are tiny and unless you're in a real cesspool you'll never see any cockroaches or anything. Spiders don't bother me, but the idea of 2 inch mosquitos and 3 inch cockroaches is terrifying to me. I could never live in the SouthEast where it's always wet and it never freezes.

I'm kind of the exception the the rule with my temps. My family thinks I'm crazy. I can't exactly justify living cozy warm and paying 200 bucks a month on heat for it. My gas bill last month was 80 bucks ;)

Do Right, Be Right. :)

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