A Soggy Solstice

We've received 17 inches of rain in these mountains in the past three days. The biggest of the three storms is supposed to arrive late tonight, with up to 2 inches of rain an hour falling. That's a LOT OF RAIN. Along with all that rain and snow there will be wind gusts of 65 miles per hour.




Roads are closed all over the mountains, with several closures on Hwy 18, the main road to access most of the mountain communities. The pictures below were not taken by me because I'm just not going out in this mess. (I deal much better with snow than rain). I got them from the Internet, from the sites http://www.rimoftheworld.net/ and http://www.abc7.com/

The photo above is Hwy 18 (Michael P. Neufeld, photographer). This is really dangerous since there is roughly a 1,000 foot drop beyond the guardrail.

This is the only road in to, and out of, Forest Falls. The people who live there aren't going anywhere for a while...

I have a feeling a lot of us won't be going anywhere for a while!

Mid-December Magic

There are frost flowers blooming tonight, the waxing gibbous moon adding her magic to the ephemeral magic of the Frost Faeries.

Making Merry in Mouseford Falls

Well, of course they're making merry! They're all ready for Christmas. Trees decorated, presents wrapped and placed under said trees, houses decorated, baking done, perfect snowfall, children happily skating and sledding, carolers singing in beautiful harmony, and Santa poised to make his big entry.


But...that's not quite the way it is in my world. The ground is mostly bare, it's really foggy, no snow in the forecast (unless one happens to live above 8,000 feet, which I do not), none of my presents are wrapped, my baking is only about one-quarter done, and MY Santa (also known as my husband) fell off the roof yesterday!! Thankfully he was only up on the porch roof, and not the third story roof, so he got off with only scrapes, bruises, and a wife who had a near-miss with cardiac arrest.


Oh, and my tree? Well, it's only partially decorated, thanks to this little person:

Darling Miss Rita Mae MoonSparkle. However, I've recently found out her real name is Rita Mae the Tree Terminator. In the photo above, she is actually chewing on the tree branch and every time I put an ornament on the tree she takes it off and HIDES IT UNDER THE COUCH!!!

And not a caroler in sight. Only the editor of the local newspaper, who showed up dressed as Santa. Don't ask.

I See You

This Red Tailed Hawk is letting me know that he (or she...who can tell?) sees me.

I think it might actually be posing! "OK, left profile."

"Now, right profile. Am I not a gorgeous bird?"

Well yes you are, but I think you might also be the reason I haven't seen very many birds at my feeders lately.

Sculpting and Sniffling

Today the high temp is 50 F! The snow is almost all gone, although a little more is predicted for Sunday and Monday. But down by the creek, on the north side which is shaded even in summer and just plain dark for most of the day at this time of year, the trees are still wearing their ice jewels. If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can see how the wind has sculpted the ice on each individual needle into an interesting shape. Some of the wind's sculptures are round, some are knife blade thin, some are wavy. I wonder if the wind has as much fun sculpting as I do when I'm making a painting?

I'm also wondering if the crazy up and down temperatures are responsible for this darn head cold I've been battling for 22 DAYS now. It's the worst head cold I've had in years, and it just won't go away! Grrrrr...

Wordless Wednesday - Walking on Water