We’re going to get our first snow today, somewhere around 1-3 inches. My discovery of that bit of information while making a quick check on the weather app on my phone changed our plans yesterday.
I had to hold off on removing our window air conditioners until Don got back – too much heavy lifting and carrying down the stairs for one person and besides, Don got mad at me when I put them in all by myself last summer. We held off another week because I was sick. But news of snow coming propelled us into what I call Winter Shift mode. That’s when, in addition to removing the A/C, we shift things around in the shed. This involves storing all my gardening pots in the shed, putting the A/C units into their individual bins, moving the lawn mower to a less accessible position and moving the snow blower into prime position. Oh, and stowing rakes, brooms, etc., and replacing them with snow shovels and containers of salt. We also had to do a bit of refiguring.
Anyway, after that, I was tired. So that was my ‘drive.’ We’ll do it another day.
It felt good to accomplish something, even if it wasn’t very exciting.
Come spring, we’re going to rent a dumpster and toss much of what is in the shed. We put things in storage there when we first moved in 12 years ago and most of them have been attacked by mice (before we knew any better) and many of them have been hit with damp (also before we knew any better). We want all of it out and gone, so we can refigure the shed and make it a much more usable space – a place for the lawn mower and snow blower and garden tools and maybe a little potting bench and that’s it.
I always look forward to the first snow. It’s a lovely change. And we have more coming on Monday. It’s when Christmas is past and the long winter lies ahead that I become less than thrilled with snow shovels and salt and dirty snow.
Our friend Vicki has checked in from California. I urge you to go over the comments in the last few posts to read her harrowing accounts of what they are going through right now. It’s simply unimaginable. She, and everyone in the path of the wildfires, needs our prayers and support. It’s not over yet, not by a long shot. But so far, they are safe and so is their home and we are so grateful for that news.
Happy Saturday.
Keeping Vicki and California in my thoughts today—hoping for the best. Wish I could do more.
Me too. One feels so powerless.
Claudia, thank you for such heartfelt, ongoing support here on the blog. It touches my heart and soul like you can’t imagine.
We love you, Vicki. You are part of this wonderful online family.
I’m so touched that you left a comment for me. Thank you, shanna.
I’ve read vicki’s harrowing account of the fire…too horrifyingly close. Sending positive thoughts for her continued safety.
Enjoy the first snows, Claudia, before the weather is no longer a novelty!
Thank you, Wendy!
Wendy, your words mean a lot to me. Thank you.
why couldn’t the snow elsewhere be rain and fall on California!
I watch as much as I can but it’s one of the most painful happenings I’ve ever seen.
it almost feels as if I need to watch. just to somehow share the pain of it for them.
we are here for her and all of them. if only in spirit.
I’m glad you are all winterized now and ready to be cozy in your beautiful little cottage.
we are as dry as a bone here and our own news and weather warns against fire dangers.
and like California… our ever present wind always makes it even worse if it does happen.
the days go from bitterly cold to almost spring~like then back again. totally weird!
I keep thinking that this snow would be so welcome in California. It’s a wet snow and would surely help douse some of the flames.
I just spent the most wonderful time here in the archives. I spent hours in them.
Scout was waiting to open her presents. she made me laugh right out loud.
and the little white tree … oh … it was/IS all so charming.
and then when I realized that beloved Scout is in doggy heaven tears came to my eyes.
I don’t mean to write a book here. but I just had to tell you. . .
in this “horrible horrible horrible ” world that Bertrand Russell says we have to realize if we’re to be happy . . . I am glad I discovered your little corner of this world.
I too am passionate about animal rights and not hunting/eating them.
and I hope someday you can have your green house to rescue all your plants in winter!
and I rejoiced in the snow that you and Don walked and played in with Scout on her leash while you trudged over to the neighbors to feed the dogs. I could FEEL it all!
the white blue silence and the laughter and the frosty noses and Scout with all senses in overdrive! LOL! I just had to tell you how much I enjoyed your Decembers.
thank you Claudia. for posting here every day to give us such joy. both in good times and bad. you make it better.
now I had better close this or we will have to be searching for a title and an agent! LOLOL!
xo
This is such a lovely thing to say, Tammy. Thank you so much. You made my heart lighter.
tammy j, wherever you are, I pray for your safety; thank you for thinking of me.
I have been thinking about Vicki. So glad that things are ok so far for her, and for her neighbors. Fire scares me so much. It seems to come out of nowhere and then is totally unpredictable. We continue sending positive thoughts and prayers that way for sure.
That snow you are to get also seemingly came out of nowhere, didn’t it? What a mess it created in Atlanta with so many cancelled flights. Crazy weather, for sure. We received about 1/2 of an inch overnight. Most of it has blown off the grass and the streets as it is quite windy and it was a light and fluffy snow.
Hope you are feeling better, and nice to know those transitional chores for the changing of the season are behind you. Have a great Saturday!!
Fire is terrifying.
I knew the snow was coming – it was on the weather forecast yesterday but since I hadn’t checked the weather for a few days before that, I don’t know if it was predicted earlier. We’ve got about 2 1/2 to 3 inches on the ground. Wet snow. I tried to go out and help shovel, but I find I don’t have the energy for that yet.
Fire can make the most level-headed person go into a complete panic. I haven’t spoken of the one death – one; how can there only be one, but one is too much – we’ve had in the Thomas Fire in Ventura County. You have to understand that I’m a ‘local’ and I hear a lot of different versions of a story; rumor about a lot of things is rampant right now. For instance, in the city of Ventura, the emergency sites online say that if your home is burned, you can’t even be escorted to it yet – they’re only escorting homeowner by homeowner, one at a time, to houses where a few things can be salvaged; they give you 15 mins. I think this must be partially-damaged homes or intact homes surrounded by burned-out ones. But then you see video where people are standing in the ashes, so you have to wonder where they are and how they got through. Even my friend in Ventura whose home didn’t burn, is still in a mandatory evac zone, so how is it that she’s even home? I have a million questions. And I forgot to ask her.
Anyway, there’s a place between the towns of Ventura and Santa Paula called Wheeler Canyon. I guess I should explain the terrain. We have high mountains and wilderness. Canyons spill out of the mountains to the foothills which I guess (the canyons) are natural ‘openings’ out of the mountains carved eons ago by landslides, flow of water or whatever. The foothills spill down into flatter areas on the valley floor. A creek comes down out of the mountains north to south and spills into a river running east to west. The river spills to the sea. So you go from the valley floor to the coastal plain. But, back to the canyons; there are many canyons in this area of the fire, where it started – it jumped from Santa Paula Canyon to Adams Canyon and Fagan Canyon, then Wheeler Canyon, Aliso Canyon and so on and so on, as it blew like a blow torch to Ventura. Wheeler Canyon is where the lady motorist died.
Wheeler Canyon goes back into the mountains for several miles. It takes awhile to get back in there but postal trucks and UPS are out there back and forth every day. The canyon, to my knowledge, just has the one entrance. You go in the way you come out. The road dead-ends at one point and all you can do is turn around and go back in the way you came. So, it has a remoteness to it and it’s always been a fire-danger area but people like the privacy; there are farms and ranches. Generations of families who’ve held the land a long, long time in some cases. The area attracts artists, too. If we’ve had rain, it’s so pretty in the canyon in Spring.
There are a few places with large herds of farm animals like goats, sheep. Cattle. The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation is located in this canyon (“non-profit, non-governmental organization” whose “mission is to strengthen disaster response in America by rescuing and recruiting dogs and partnering them with firefighters and other first responders to find people buried alive in the wreckage of disasters”). By the way, all the dogs out there are safe; they were evac’d with no losses.
When I was a younger woman, I took riding lessons in this canyon at a training center/boarding facility; lots of horses and I think it’s still there but in a different configuration/ownership than all those years ago. I’d ride trail with Western saddle for fun there, but I was learning to ride English (arena setting) as a more serious endeavor and was out there every weekend in the canyon. It gets really hot and dry back in there and, in the earlier part of the 20th century, the bigger crops were walnuts and apricots. Apricots here like a warmer temp to ripen. Where I am living now, on the valley floor, we get the cooler ocean breezes and I’ve never been able to grow an apricot tree for anything. But, back to the horses, I guess the last time I was in Wheeler was maybe 8 or 9 months ago and, yes, it’s horse country. I hope they got all the horses out.
Anyway, what I’ve heard is that there was an understandable stampede of people racing to get out of that canyon with this incredibly fast-moving fire; dark, smoky, hot and so deadly, so scary and I guess barely any warning, maybe none. You can imagine how they were frantically and hurriedly trying to move large animals, themselves, etc. – on a sometimes-narrow and curving 2-lane road. Again, this is mostly hearsay – first I heard that there was a car accident near the entrance in the canyon but then, no, that it was two miles in – also, I heard it was involving more than one car, but then, no, it was a solo accident. But a fireman was speaking on local TV about it when nothing had been published yet, that an accident had occurred, a dog was dead, the debris on the road took some time to clear, which prevented emergency personnel from doing their work, so he was pleading earnestly with people to, in general, slow down when evacuating (don’t speed is what I think he said) – but, oh boy, that’s easier said than done when fire is lapping at your heels. Fire heading toward you is…well, what can be more frightening, a tsunami? I don’t know.
Probably no one will ever know what happened with this lady but it’s a recent loss so there could be details provided later on. It seems she was age 70, alone in the car, fleeing – I’m thinking she could have been blinded with thick smoke in that black-night canyon; it’s not like there’s street lights out there. Is just so very sad. When you drive out of the canyons you can also just naturally pick up speed when driving, because you’re descending. But I haven’t read anywhere that there’s any proof she was speeding. It’s so many things – she could have hit wildlife like a deer dazed by the fire and maybe the deer wasn’t at the scene. In the Day Fire which happened here like maybe 11 years ago I think, I was actually not far from the entrance to Wheeler Canyon when two deer sprung out of a barranca and directly into the path of my car; it was a mama and baby and I missed them by mere inches; they were crazed by I assume smoke and loss of habitat, would never have ordinarily been out in daytime, and had gone down into the barranca (where there’s a copse of trees) in search of water. I was so shaken, pulled to the side of the road – I can’t even remember now why on earth I was out there in the first place – and the guy driving behind me stopped and said, “Are you okay?” He said, “That was close.” Indeed.
Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts, Chris K.
I read Vicki’s comment…it was hard to read about it…I can’t imagine living through it. We are here for you Vicki! Sending positive thoughts for your and your town’s safety.
Winter shift is a good name for what we all do. A couple weeks ago…we did just that. And I enjoy the process, because it’s an opportunity to clean things out that we no longer need. We got a whopping 1/2 inch of snow last night…so now, it begins. It was pretty this morning. My kitty had forgotten what that white stuff was…he doesn’t like it! ;)
We’re almost up to 3 inches and it’s still coming down, though it’s much lighter. I forgot how much I hate having to shed boots and wet clothing and then trying to find a place to put it in this tiny cottage!
Donnamae, thank you so much. I always enjoy reading your comments here on Claudia’s blog and it’s so nice of you to say such kind words for me.
We had to winterize quickly as well…the porch and deck. That was yesterday when it was bitter cold, and early morning the snow began to fall today. It’s so lovely!
I will go and read Vicki’s wildfire account. I’m sure it’s devastating for many Californians right now. I feel so badly for them.
It is horrific. So many people have lost everything.
I’m hoping I haven’t upset anyone when writing about something so awful as this fire. I hope I haven’t alienated anyone here. I started nervously spilling and I think I got carried away with my, as usual, overly-long comments.
Spill away, Vicki. We’re with you whether or not we comment.
to vicki (and everyone dealing with fires and other scary things) ,…
i pray for your safety and peace of mind and stuff and rain. lots of peace. lots of rain.
and claudia …
glad you are enjoying some pretty snow now that the hard winterizing work is done. hope you have a nice weekend.
xo kathy in iowa
Thank you, Kathy.
Thank you for your compassion, kathy. You seem like the nicest person.
Just reading blogs as I wait for Tiger and Scout to come stay the night. I have a good dinner planned, hungry hungry hippo’s game, more play time and new books before bed. I’m already tired but can’t wait for a special night with my babies. I hope you got some rest after your busy day. My home looks full of Christmas Joy! Tree lights shining and music playing. The calm before the storm! Praying for so many in Calif and those fires. I’ll try to go back and read Vicki’s posts. I have friends I haven’t heard from if their home survived so I’m not hopeful. Hugs!
Haven’t put up our tree yet. Today was about snow and shoveling (Don) and baking cookies (me.) Have fun with Tiger and Scout!
It’s a lot of devastation out here, Linda. I hope the homes of your friends survived.
It is snowing here in Queens,too. So far not much on the ground.
Marilyn
We have about 3 inches on the ground, Marilyn. But we’re north of you.
My beat breaks for Vicki and the others in California…she is going through such stress!…she was still safe when she wrote to me last night and I hope that she remains that way today!…Hang in there Vicki!…Sorry you didn’t get to go on your car ride yesterday Claudia…getting ready for the show storm was more important I know…enjoy being snuggled together while the Winter weather is outside!
My heart breaks for Vicki and the others in California…I also wish this tablet would stop changing my words!!
xo
Yes. It was a lovely snow fall! Even lovelier this morning!
Nancy, we are okay. Thank you for thinking of me. I didn’t mean to overload on the drama. I’ve just been so…petrified with fear. It’s such a shock; so much loss. But a testament to you and Claudia and the rest of her readers that I must feel safe here, that I could talk about my fears and not be censured. I’m so appreciative, truly I am, and I hope I haven’t burdened anyone.