Weather's coming!!

By mid-week the TV stations were bombarding us with warnings about a series of BIG winter storms coming in from the Pacific. We understood that the Sacramento Valley to the west would have heavy rain, and east of us, up Highway 50 and into the higher elevations of the Sierra, Lake Tahoe South area, there would be many feet of snow. Our altitude is about 1400 ft, so we were not at risk for snow. Power outages were a risk, with the biggest problem being the loss of water since we are on a well. The house has a few large containers of water and wwe filled another jug just in case.

On Thursday, the day before the storm, we topped up the wine supply and got a few more groceries. We also visited our first winery, Boeger, to buy tickets for the Out of the Cellar event taking place the last weekend of the month. They were very hospitable and they even knew where Newfoundland is located ('the place where people took care of airline passengers during 9/11'). The wines were not remarkably higher in quality than the $3 stuff we've been drinking. There are 17 more El Dorado wineries to go.

We turned on the Sacramento TV station early Friday morning to enjoy the hysterical reporting of the storm ravages. What we were getting was heavy rain and strong (30-40 mph) winds. At home we'd complain about the miserable day and just get on with in. The systems here seem to be more fragile. We've been trying to work out why this is. Clogged freeways we can understand -- greater population density means more vehicles to pile up in delays. Flooding may relate to loss of natural areas that help to absorb rainfall. Downed power lines in some cases could be affected by poor design or installation, or lack of maintenence. Who knows?

By 1:00 we lost power. We stayed cool, conserved water, lit the many candles available here (maybe this was not the first time they were needed for the purpose) and watched the storm through the big window over the kicthen table. I was forced to spend the evening playing Eights with Jim. It's the only card game we have in common, and I hate playing as Jim always beats the socks off me. The dogs stayed close and kept coming over to nudge against our knees.