Wind event

Sorry for the spam to come. I gotta catch up so I can refer back to this.

So, we're at the end of some rather brisk Santa Ana winds. Some places were hammered with 100 mph winds, but it was just at the border of worrisome here. We had no damage to our trees but the yard is thick with eucalyptus leaves, twigs and boughs. For a while last night, it sounded like hail on the roof as it just kept raining tree debris on us. I did here a tree fall somewhere. It sounded big. And the power went off twice.

Now, to back track, on Oct 13 and 27 we had The Arborist come back. He, and his crew of six or seven, removed three trees, trimmed three others and cut up and hauled away that half of eucalyptus that fell a couple of years ago up in the north forty. And ground out two stumps, removed some St. Augustine grass and tidied up the front yard. It was a big hunk of money but it kept them very busy for two full days and a huge amount of plant matter went to the dump.

And I am so glad we did that before this wind storm hit. I'm sure two of the trimmed trees would have had damaged, if not fallen over.

Brindle's emergency trip to the vets

Back on November 9th, Brindle (details hidden for the squimish) ( Read more... )

Yosemite. Again.

I went up to visit a friend whose husband is currently in Kabul for a year. We went to give support and companionship during Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, she has even more than an absent husband to deal with. I know we were one more ball to juggle, but we did have a good time and it was really good to see her again. And her cats were great fun.

While we were there, we bugged out for a three day stay at the awesomely beautiful Yosemite. I love this time of year up there. It had snowed in the high country the day before and the drive up there was, well the trees were heavy with thick snow. They looked like they belonged on a Christmas card.

The valley floor is a lower elevation so it was clear of snow. Everything was covered with frost in the morning yet was warm enough in the sunshine later on. We didn't see much wildlife, ravens mostly. The waterfalls had just a tickle of water. Some of the oaks still had yellow leaves but most of the other trees had lost their color already.

It was a short visit but that place always renews me, reminds me of the grandeur of the Earth, wakes me up for a while. *g*