Monday, August 10, 2009

Who's In Charge Here?

The boy...or the girl???

I'm talkin' about the Pacific Ocean, and more specifically, our monsoon (or lack thereof).

When we lived on the coast of California, the news that El Niño, the boy, was warming up the Pacific, we knew that we were going to get some wet weather! Did we ever! Ever hear about the Storm of '82? Or '83? We're talking floods, mudslides, etc. A whole mountain came down, burying houses in its path in the middle of the night. That was a couple of really extreme years, but I used it as an example of what "the boy" means. WET.

In June of this year, we started our monsoon off early; had some very good storms for about 2 weeks. El Niño was moving in to the Pacific. Remembering what that meant in CA, I thought, cool, another great monsoon this year. The kind that turns the dry desert into a lush land, full of running creeks and rivers.

Wrong! I don't really understand it all, but since our monsoons generally come from the southeast, and El Niño brings storms out of the north, we're not going to get it this year. :(

The upside is that we'll get more rain than normal this winter as long as "the boy" stays in the Pacific. Of course, that also means more rain for CA as well.

I bring it up because I've been talking all last winter about taking pictures of how beautiful this area is during the summer rains. I noticed the birds in the front yard taking dust baths in the dirt this morning. Now that's sad!

I just happened to think of a positive about the lack of rain! I haven't seen any of the *#!%*! tumbleweed growing that is so ubiquitous during monsoon! Glad game, GB!! This is a big one!

6 comments:

septembermom said...

Glad that your tumbleweed free! I bet those birds are sick of dust baths.

Sandy said...

I hear ya, I am ready for some rain down here in the Valley also.

Anonymous said...

Boy do I ever hope you're right. We need rain out here. Although I can't stand winter rain we really need it.

NanU said...

The desert just wouldn't be the desert with too much rain. Though a little bit would be nice!

Graham Edwards said...

It's summer in Scotland so this morning sitting in my study looking at the sea and the green valley in 15 deg IN THE RAIN with poor weather for the last weeks and a forecast for poor weather for the next weeks I would just love some of your warmth and dryth (Hmmm. New word). We are never satisfied are we?

Hey, guess what, no tumbleweed here either! Actually I've only ever seen it on films!

Dan Felstead said...

Shabbygirl...like GB...I haven't seen any tumbleweeds either! Not that I ever would in Southern Indiana! I am always interested in your narratives about the Southwest...so different than here.

Also, I just wanted to let you know that I have been extremely busy over the last few weeks with "Summer" duties and that is why I have not commented as much on the blogs I am following. Hopefully, things will slow down a bit and I can get back into the swing of things. Still visiting...just not commenting as much. With Summer's end, things will change.

Dan

Flora & Fauna

Books I have known & loved

  • Life of Pi
  • A Hundred Years of Solitude
  • Kite Runner
  • The Way the Crow Flies
  • Fall on Your Knees
  • Poisonwood Bible
  • East of Eden
  • Shantaram
  • I Know This Much is True

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