Fingers crossed for all of you (and your gardens). Are there any other Californians on the forum who haven't checked in we should be concerned about?

The creek at the end of the road is now flooded. Fortunately we went to the store yesterday after my physical therapy.

DaisyDo said: Tell him to wear his rubber gardening Wellies.

I have a pair (which I bought for working down in the creek, which I no longer do), but DH doesn't. Yet he somehow managed to go out to the market.

He says that our driveway drains aren't draining. I'm guessing they are probably full of debris and clogged, which someone (not me) is going to have to address.

I'm not sure if our garden helper was here this morning, or not. It was raining buckets at 8 am-ish, which is when he would normally show up. I went back to bed (sleep deprived), and slept through the alarm and didn't get up until 11 (after his normal departure time).

I did find an Amazon Prime delivery box at one of our BACK doors, so . Was he here, got it from a driver, and put it at the back door? Did the driver show up, get blocked from the front door by the puddle, but found a dry/drier way to the back?


The puddle doesn't seem to be getting deeper , so probably the drains are slow draining. Eventually we will get a break in the rain, and then DH (and/or our garden helper) can go find the problem and fix it.

By the way, Evelyn, I hope that your generator is chained or bolted down.

Today I read a post on NextDoor by someone living in the local/coastal mountains, who had their generator stolen. (It wasn't secured in any way.) Very fortunately for them, lots of people read their post, and someone had a friend who was moving out, and had offered their generator to them, for free. So the person who got theirs stolen, was offered this generator, and got it.

I think it's absolutely despicable of someone to steal something that is needful in an emergency. But then, crime in our greater neighborhood area seems up overall - home invasions/burglaries, car break-ins and thefts, catalytic converter thefts, mail stolen, and porch piracies.

So a message to everyone - be aware, be prepared, deter/foil any would-be thieves.

AND mark your property somehow, so that if it DOES get stolen, you can undeniably (to the police/authorities) prove that the property was yours (if it gets recovered).

Marilyn ~ Thank you for your concern. It is installed in a cement bed. Whoever tries to remove it would have a very difficult time.

Next time the service technicians come out to service it, I will inquire if they can or have already put a tracking device on it.

thank you, lyn for checking on us. we too, have had an inordinate amount of rain, in continuously raging storms one after another. but, the storms that have been hitting san diego county haven't been as severe as the ones hitting northern california.

in my freestanding ceramic containers, about 30" in diameter, there's approximately 5 - 6" of standing water. it's not a rain gauge by any shot of the imagination, but it's how i gauge how much has fallen. i can say this much: it's more than i have seen in a while.

i am not saying that it has not affected others in this county. this was today's news:

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/ne...

we live on a hill with a huge barranca in our backyard, so we're not in any danger of flooding.

DH & i have been cozied under our lap blankets with cups of hot tea or coffee to stave off the chill that has come with the howling winds, as we don't usually heat the house unless temps fall below 65 deg./18 c. somehow the damp makes it feel a bit colder than usual.

(edited to correct spelling.)

Hey, guess what? It's snowing now, really coming down fast!

I'm on California's central coast. I only had a small amount of damage from the high winds. So many folks here had it much worse than I did.

Interestingly, I think my gardening habit saved me from flooding. I have every square inch of soil in my yard planted. The rain never stopped soaking into the ground even after we had many inches, because of the plants' healthy root systems. My neighbors who had converted their yards to hardscape (because of drought) or who had just bare soil, had significant flooding and erosion. A lot of them also had trees fall down due to weakened root systems from the drought.

We've had 2 days of sunshine, and here is what is left.

I think I'd be enjoying the cool crisp air. It's been decades, literally, since I've (deliberately) been in the Sierra when there was snow.

Marilyn ~ I will be enjoying the cool crisp air tomorrow, as I have a doctor's appointment. Before that, we'll do some grocery shopping. At least the creek at the end of the road isn't flooded now! ( And the road has been plowed!)😁

We're down in a lower spot in Mendocino County - in a wonderful spot. the rains filled the creek but didn't overflow. Winds were predicted to be very high, but we didn't feel it. Cold mornings, but sunny afternoons. So far, so good.

It's sprinkling here with intermittent winds.

Here's some photos from last week. Our little bridge is o.k.
The woody debris in our creek was put there deliberately to slow the flow and to create pools where fish could gather during salmon spawning season. We work with Trout Unlimited , the Nature Conservancy and others toward keeping the creek healthy.





The rain is such a blessing.

Californians: I am so glad you all have weathered the storms. But I do have to say, when I look at some of the photos of where you live (like yours Ev and yours Jan), I see why you put up with it all. The areas you live in are breathtaking. And great photography too, by the way.

Elsa ~ Thank you.

Daphne ~ Please let us know how you are doing once the storm hits your area. Of all the people in our "iris group", it appears that you could be affected the most.

Basically, nothing has happened in our little corner of Mendocino, Ca

Nothing at all - except for temps in the 80s, instead of 100's.

Elsa, thanks for the affirmation! (in Feb.!!)