Batten Down the Hatches

We are in the midst of one of the biggest storms to hit California in more than 3 years. The sierra is preparing for about 8 - 10 feet of snow, 100 mph winds, and are calling for EXTREME avalanche warnings. Southern California is expecting upwards of 15 inches in rain on some slopes effect by wild fires and are predicting mud slides. At least 1 bay area bridge is closed with tractor trailers blown over that they won't upright until the wind calms... much later. And we are all snugly at home.

We were dressing to get ready to go this morning when the power went out. I still managed to put on my make up at a window to get the light, but quickly realized that our cars are in the driveway behind the electrical gate... Electrical gate... No power... Hmmm.

So we both called in a work from home day and decided to venture out into the wild for some coffee to get the morning going. After donning my new oil cloth cowboy hat (works perfectly by the way) we set out into the torrent to get soaked. And soaked we got. But Starbucks wasn't open, it seems they were out of power as well. So we went to our local breakfast place down the block that did have some power. It lost power after we had gotten our food, but it came back on eventually. As we ate, the wind picked up more as well as the rain. So we pulled up our bootstraps (tied our sneakers) and walked home... quickly. By the time we got here - (6 minutes?) we were totally soaked through again and our power was still out. After a warm shower and dry clothes, the power came back on and we are working again.

As we sit here listening to the amount of water hitting the house and to the huge gusts of wind passing us by, its hard not to be grateful to be warm, dry, inside, and in a great shelter. The storm is supposed to last throughout the weekend. Provided we can maintain power at least some amount of time, it promises to be a cozy, quiet weekend.