Between the Waves

Last night I gripped the steering wheel tightly as I drove the last ten miles of my commute, down the country road from the freeway to our lane.  The windshield wipers slashed the water in front of my eyes, while the wind made waves of water across the road.  The center line of the road was buried and I couldn't see the edge.  I held my breath every time the headlights of an oncoming car met me, not sure if I would be able to correctly guess where the pavement ended and a water filled ditch started.  Once in the house, the wind howled around the house while the rain blew against the windows.  The horses were in the barn, the chickens snug in their hen house, the goats burrowed into the straw in their shelter, and the donkeys huddled in their run-in shed.  Kersey, Brett and I burrowed into blankets in the house and prayed the power wouldn't go out.  The storm was even worse further up in the Sierras.  Donner Pass was closed to traffic and trees were snapping in the hundred mile winds.

This morning, the sun came out while we were doing chores.

It was beyond beautiful.

The streams were all singing, the toads were croaking, the geese were honking, and the horses all rolled in the welcoming mud when we turned them out in their pastures.

The rain gauge measured 2.4 inches of rain for the first storm in this three storm system moving through Northern California.

We met a large group of our neighbors for the monthly pancake breakfast at the grange.  When we emerged a few hours later, the sun was gone.

This afternoon the rain started back up.  Wave two is supposed to be less intense.  Wave three will come through Sunday afternoon and should be a doozy;  More high winds, hail, lightening and a lot of rain.

We don't get our annual rainfall in a steady, well behaved manner through regular rain.  No, we get our rainfall through storm systems.  Six or more in a good year.  We had a couple good systems in December, none in January, and this is another good one.  The power is on, the phone is working, the wood stove is burning steady and warm -- life is good.