Rain?

Well, the rain seems to have a little texture to it this morning. I keep getting fooled by the weather guys who obviously missed the forecast again today. One thing for sure about the weather, you have to take what you get. I do have to go out today but I choose to walk instead of drive. That is a big plus for living in downtown Susanville. At the end of the week I'll be leaving this winter wonderland to go play in the desert and walk on some less slippery ground. I'm taking a different route to Vegas this time, opting to drive down Highway 95 instead of 395. Since I have never been down that road it will be new scenery for me. After looking out the window this morning, I can't wait!

Rain coming?

After watching the weather this morning and seeing that rain is predicted for tomorrow, and then looking out my window, it seems like there might be a little problem developing. I have been living in this country for 30 years and as I recall, some of the worst flooding we have ever had has come when it rained on a fresh snow pack. It will be interesting to see what happens here, but if I was a betting man I'd put money on flooding.

I'm still planning on heading south on Friday assuming the roads don't get washed out.

Locked in...

Man...

I'm locked in as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, I could go out. If I had a reason to, that is. Am I? Nope!

What I am thinking about more though, is getting ready to get out of here for a couple of weeks. I'm planning on heading south on Friday. The Death Valley area got a bunch of precipitation from the storm that left yesterday and is now down there. I just hope the roads I want to drive on while I'm down there don't get washed out. Water in Death Valley is the driving force behind the beauty of the place. Sometimes it's feast or famine down there. They either don't get enough, or it comes all at once. When it comes all at once, and this storm might qualify for that distinction, it has a way of changing the landscape. Time will tell, I will be seeing it soon, but for now, I'm locked in and as long as the power stays on, I'll be loving it...

2008!

Wow... January 1, 2008. Years fly by, or so it seems. I was just thinking yesterday about 1988 when I went to Yellowstone on the fires they had there. This year makes it 20 years ago. It seems like yesterday to me. Time is a funny thing. Does it flow like a river or is it just our imagination that makes it seem so? Who knows? I sure don't, I seem to know that much!

Well, today I believed the weather man this morning and expected it to warm up into the 40's. So I took my bike out to the valley and went for a bike ride. Big mistake. Wind chill has an added meaning when you are riding on an exposed bicycle in high 20's, low 30's temperatures. I only went for a few miles but they were anything but comfortable. In fact, I am still trying to warm up after that little excursion several hours ago. I now have a bone to pick with the Channel 4 weather guy. The highest my thermometer got today was 33°. That'll teach me.

I'm planning on a trip to the desert in a couple of weeks and I'm really looking forward to being able to ride my bike without getting frostbite. In fact, this trip down there is going to be more of a bike riding trip than any other I have taken down to Death Valley yet. My whole plan is to ride out some of the roads I haven't been on, and riding my bike on them seems like the best of both worlds. Ya gotta have a plan, that's my motto. (But you don't always have to stick to it, which is a new motto for me.)

Eating out

OK, you can't tell from these pictures but it warmed up considerably today. I took a walk up in the Susanville Ranch Park canyon trail. It was a little nippy in the deep shadows and the snow there was pretty dry and powdery but most of the time it was pleasant enough for a walk. I ate my lunch on a rock up near the top of the trail. I was walking along thinking that some people go out for lunch but they are talking about eating in a restaurant. For me eating out usually has a rocky component to it and a spot in the sun instead of a waitress and a booth by the window.

Still, it's better to be out even if it's a little cold and snowy.

Winter

First day of Winter... but it's felt like winter for some time now. The winter solstice, today, means it's the shortest daylight time of the year, and the longest night. Now the daylight hours get longer.

But today wasn't too bad so I went for a walk up the Bizz. The storm a couple of days ago dropped the snow but it wasn't deep enough to hinder walking. By looking at the close up snow picture you can see that the snow was not melting much today. I think it got into the mid 30's in the heat of the day. I saw a guy up there on cross country skis, which reminded me that I was going to try to get into that sport. The lack of snow so far this year hasn't been much of a reminder.

Not that I'm complaining, mind you. At least now the weather is more "seasonable" since today is the first day of winter.

Now I have a plan to head back to the desert next month. I think I'm going to go down to Vegas and see my old friend Paul and hopefully get to visit Michelle too. Paul is the closest thing I have to a geek friend. He took me to Fry's when I visited him in 2005 and we were kind of like 2 kids in a candy store. This time I actually need a few things and even though I could easily buy them online, I want to see what they have, how much it costs, be able to pick it up and look at it... you know. Anyway, after that I want to spend a few touristy days in Death Valley and also my favorite... Saline. Oh yeah!

Ice flowers

This is the time of year that we get to see some interesting formations. As of yet this year we haven't had too much hoar frost. The local Indian name for that is pogonip. Now I might not have spelled it correctly but at least that's the way it's pronounced. Needless to say there's still enough moisture in the air at night to grow some interesting ice crystals. This morning when I got in my truck the windshield had an interesting coating of ice. So interesting in fact, that I felt it was picture worthy.

Had a long walk up the Bizz today and found some more interesting ice formations on one of the bridge railings. Winter is still one week away but I'd say it started early this year. As much as I love seeing the flowers in the spring, this time of year the only flowers that can be found around here are ice flowers. Ya Gotta love that!