Dear WeatherCat rain dancers,
It has only been 16 days since our last significant rainfall, but it felt more like a month. Oddly this is a storm spinning off of southern California that has brought us rain. Normally we get storms traveling from north to south. We have gotten 0.54" (13.7mm). It isn't a lot but is double what was forecast and we might pick up a little more before the storm ends. It is enough to wet the ground and allow me to stop watering once more.
With the rain came good news and bad. The good news came in the form of blooming wild-flowers:
This California poppy is in some rocky soil that prevents the grass from growing so it is doing very well at the moment. On the other hand this grass does appear to be disturbed:
If you look carefully, this region of falling grass starts and ends abruptly before the bottom of the hill is reached. While it might be caused by an animal (or juvenile delinquent,) there are no tracks or other signs indicating something traveled to the fallen grass. There were a number of such regions some as far as 20 feet away from the road and once more no breaks in the grasses leading to regions.
On the other hand, gophers have been very active in the region because this is a electrical utility right of way that remains wild as a result. Those burrows would of course provide a perfect "drain" for rainwater. It appears to me like this is the beginning of significant slide activity on this hill. Since at the base of this hill is a road, residents might soon be inconvenienced by having this road at least partially blocked.
The
"joys" of living in a place were either it is a drought or a flood . . . .
Cheers, Edouard