This isn't what any place in my garden looks like right now (I took this photo in June of '07), and I'd be ashamed to show you what my poor garden does look like right now! But...the weather has been so strangely (horribly) nice that while I was outside puttering around today I found myself thinking, "Hmmm...maybe later today I should check the garden center and see what they have in stock." Then I caught myself and realized they would have nothing in stock in January!
We've had a couple of little earthquakes in the past week, the nearest centered about 30 miles away. There is a fire burning to the west of us in the Glendora foothills. It poses no threat to these mountains at all. However, a fire that's burned over 1,900 acres and destroyed several homes is unheard of in Southern California in January. In a normal January in California, there might be flooding in some areas...never wild fires.
I was watering the trees that my hoses will reach today because the Governor has declared a State of Emergency due to our on-going drought (several years now), rapidly shrinking reservoirs, and only two feet of snow pack in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which is where Southern California gets most of its water. Normally at this time of year the snow pack is twenty-five feet deep, in a good rain/snow year it's not unusual for it to be fifty feet deep. So I was watering the trees while I can, because I'm pretty sure the next step the Governor takes will be to implement mandatory water rationing.
What keeps going through my mind is that old expression/curse: May you live in interesting times.
