It’s a little alarming, actually, that this winter is as warm as it is. The snow seems to come down in fine granular bits, or in goose feathers. There is not much in between. I woke up at 5:00 this morning and went downstairs where Missus informed me that not long before, there were larger than goose feather snow. The temperature just before I came down was at 33F on the family weather station. As warm as it has been and the way the current storm was tracking at us, I half expected it to be raining this morning, but thankfully it wasn’t. When we walked the dogs last night before bed, we observed water drizzling from the roofline of the house.
The last time I remember it being this wet was February and March of 2017. Those were tough months with heavy snow, and a lot of it! We ended up with maybe two feet on the ground! Thereabouts. It was not devastating or anything like that, but sure was not fun to move by hand and shovel. I am positive I could not get at it now, especially with my age constantly moving upwards. But at least this year I have a tractor for it. So let it fall.
While I sit here and marvel at our strange winter weather, the origin of the snow is in my home stomping grounds of California. The storms have been blowing ashore from the Pacific and dropping massive amounts of rain one after another. The ground has not been ready for it, and there has been flooding. I got word only an hour ago that the Ventura River has come up over the 101 Freeway north of highway 33. There is a trailer park there that floods over every time. There have been homeless encampments under the bridge that have been wiped out in the past. Hopefully Ventura does a better job of keeping those clear these days. During one flood in the 1990’s it seemed from a public point of view that the authorities were not clearing them on purpose in order to allow the flooding to do it. At least one person was killed. It must be so difficult for the homeless who were just looking for a place under the bridge where they could have shelter from the rain and the hot sun in a space where nobody would bother them. I became concerned about them down there after a fuel tanker came off the bridge in ’94 (I think) and blew up in the river bottom below. But who wants to run them out? They are in a tough spot. More needs to be done to help them find someplace safe to be.
Anyway, as I started off before, California is being hit hard. The upper 2/3 of the coastline at least has been receiving damaging rains. The state needs the rain, but not all in one fell swoop! Hopefully it will at least repay them with full reservoirs. That would benefit much of the rest of the Colorado River Basin before even accounting for snowpack up above it. Maybe Lake Meade and Lake Powell will get a good boost too. The economy of the Nation is tied to the economy of that State. So much food is produced there, and this could result in a bit of a break in prices as perhaps farmers will take hope and replant fields they have been reluctant on since the drought settled in, easing demand.
As for our house, the warmer weather has allowed us to burn wood a bit lighter than we have expected to. That has eased our demand from the firewood bunk. Every summer I get the wood piled up and start making calculations in my head about how much is in there, and how much we will need. I start making mental compromises and adding a dash of hope to it in order to justify a stop to the hard work. I hope this year I can change up the routine with the addition of a good log splitter and a tractor to do the lifting and pile up enough wood that we have unquestionably got more than enough to serve the coming winter, and maybe even two. That may be a bit of optimism, but I need to see how the work goes with the new equipment. I may have to lower the sides of the trailer by one rail in order to lift over them easily, but that should not much damage the amount I carry as a full rail to the top is too heavy for the trailer anyhow. I will likely use the loading help option down at the dump and get more wood home and unloaded and split in the single day. Or I could do a couple of days of hauling, then do the splitting for a bit. Get all the good wood I can find for a week, then spend the month splitting it up. That would probably make a year’s worth of firewood right there.
The woodworker’s bench is meant to come soon. I will finally have a good holding tool for the shop! I am excited about this. I have some access to wood, and I am nearing the ability to mill it myself. I will certainly like it the day I can either do that, or even buy some wood, and produce a piece of furniture on that bench. I have got some ideas for what things I want to make and needing a good holding tool has been a hang-up. Well, hang-up no more.
It’s almost time to get out of bed and start the day. The police radio is reporting between officers that the roads are rough. There’s that wet snow. Let’s home we get something that sticks.