The Ides of March

I remember having to explain the Ides of March to an old supervisor years ago. He had heard of it but didn't know it was the 15th of March. There is some historical significance to this date concerning a Roman emperor, in fact that's where the phrase comes from, but the personal significance of it for me is that we are approaching the Vernal Equinox. The equinox, March 20 this year, is the first day of spring. Yesterday we had a storm blow through here and it snowed an inch or so but we are supposed to warm up again next week. Wild weather swings are expected this time of year and the temps here in Susanville can change 30° or more between the night time and daytime.
Last year I was down in Saline Valley camping at the hot springs on the equinox with my friend Chris who is the star of this video. This year I'm heading down to Death Valley on the 21st to meet Chris for some more camping and I hope to end up in Saline at the end of that trip.

Warning!!

If you happen to be looking at my blog and see comments you want to view, be aware that there is a spam thing going on here. If the comment has links to another site, don't click on them. I don't know if it's malware or just spam, but in either case, comments should show up on the first try and if they don't, then I would advise against clicking on any links.

Lookin' for spring

The last 3 days I have been out looking at stuff, riding my bike around and I had a nice long walk up the Bizz a few days ago. All that time I was busy looking at the trees and shrubs to see any sign of life. I actually found that there are many things starting to grow now. Trees in several places were starting to sprout as well as the rose bush in my back yard.

So on one of my bike rides I went out Wingfield Road to where it meets the Bass Hill Road and then came down Highway 395 to Johnstonville. At the juntion of Wingfield and Bass Hill Rd's I got that picture of Thompson Peak. Sure was a pretty day that day.

Today I took a trip down memory lane and went up by the "L" and then out to the old dump. Back in the 70's there was a dump up above the college. The road still goes out there but it's closed and gated. I went out there and tried to remember what it used to look like. They have covered the site with construction debris so it didn't look the same. There is a lot of ground back in those hills where there are roads I can ride in the summer when it's dry. There were way too many muddy areas today so doubtless I'll be back.

This second picture is one I took at the end of a street up near the "L" looking back toward the big town of Susanville. Still lots of snow around. Got another storm coming this weekend that is supposed to drop the temps 20° so winter is not done yet.