We’re finally getting some rain. The first storm of the season arrived overnight. Not a super-soaker by any means, but it’s a start. It’s been drier than a popcorn fart all summer long. Extreme fire danger & red flag warnings are something we’ve been dealing with daily since late spring. We did have one little shower a month or so ago, but that was only enough to keep the dust down. This is the first measurable rainfall since late February. Feels like a good day to fire up the wood-stove, but it’s not really that cold out. Not sure if I’m ready to get started with the 24/7 regime that’s required to keep the house warm just yet anyway. We’ve got about 5 cords of wood ready for this winter. About half is hardwood(oak and madrone), the other half being softwood. I hate burning so much softwood since it seems like I’m sweeping the stovepipe almost every week. But hey, it was FREE! The softwood selection this year is a mix of Ponderosa pine, Incense Cedar, Juniper and Sugar pine. The Sugar pine was growing on our property and was the only tree of that type we had. Pine beetles killed it and it had been standing dead for 2 years. It was kind of close to the house, so we dropped it last year. Bobby came by and bucked it for us. Then Gary brought his gas-powered splitter by and helped me split up the big rounds that I couldn’t do by hand. Well, it sounds like the wind is kicking up right now. It’s starting to rain again too. Hopefully we will have at least a normal rainfall season this year. The last 2 years we’ve been at or below 50 percent of normal. Hopefully, La Nina won’t mess with us again this year.
- First rain makes the bark on this manzanita tree shine. The manzanita is framed by incense cedars.
Tags: mountain life, rain, sierras, weather
