El Nino

Before winter, the meteorologists said we were in for an
El Nino winter.

For us it means that we will have a warmer and wetter year.
Well, El Nino finally showed up last week.

Last week's storms took out all our communications
for a few days...
No TV, phones or Internet...

...which left plenty of time to think in quiet.

At first I felt cut off.
Then I got to thinking...
When we were first married,
we lived out of town by 3o miles or so...

We only had one TV channel,
no Internet,
and we even had a party line on our phone.
Anyone remember those days?

So, what to do with all the techno-free time?

Watch the storms roll in off the sea
Read
Sew
Clean
Dream up plans for Valentines Day

~It was actually quite nice~

The storms gave us a break over the weekend, so we took stock of the damages. The whole neighborhood was doing the same. Our neighbors were burning fallen branches and debris, and as the fire burned everyone stood around for a neighborhood chat. What fun!

Sadly, we realized that one of our avocado trees had been damaged at the roots by the high winds and rain. It was lifting up on one side and leaning toward the back corner of the house.We had no choice... It had to come down. I really hated cutting that tree down. It was healthy and producing (even though we couldn't reach the fruit), and trees are such special things. This one was meant to be pollination for its partner... ):

Later, toward evening...
after the fire died down a bit,
the kids brought out the hot dogs and marshmellows for roasting.

~Its great to have good neighbors around us~

When the tree came down,
all the avocados came with it.
I now have two large baskets full,
and have been giving them away to neighbors and friends.

Soon, when they have all ripened,
it will be guacamole time!


Other damage was done to part of our back fence...
smashed by falling limbs.

It may look like just an old mossy fence,
but under that moss was lovely redwood.

We've already had about 12 inches of rain over the past week
and the soil is saturated, but more is due to come in this evening and tomorrow.
We're always thankful for rain,
and if the communications go out again,
I've got another book to read~