Friday, March 17, 2023

Between storms

This rainy season has been an extraordinary surprise.  We were given a poor chance of rain again this year but storms nonetheless started piling up in January and kept on coming.  There was another strong "atmospheric river" late last week, which was followed by yet another one this week.

This is the view from my back garden last Sunday morning looking out at Angel's Gate, the entrance to the Los Angeles harbor.  The clouds were sitting atop the ocean and the harbor was invisible.

This photo was taken from the back garden looking northeast.  There was a little blue sky visible from this viewpoint but it quickly disappeared.  In the background on the left you can see the refineries spitting out their pollutants.


After years of severe drought, bemoaning the cold, damp conditions seems almost sacrilegious but I admit I rejoiced when we finally got a bit of sun and blue sky yesterday afternoon.  The soil is saturated, my rain collection tanks are full, and we've tallied more rain this season than we've had in several years.

I've recorded 18.65 inches of rain since our 2023 "water year" began October 1, 2022.  That's well above average for our rainy season in my location.  Other areas got considerably more.  Our rainy season generally comes to an end in early April.


With the last storm, my area is no longer considered in a drought status.

Before the last storm, we were still in the "abnormally dry" category but the western portion of Los Angeles County is now drought-free

 

Unlike me, the local critters had no trouble whatsoever with the damp conditions and cloudy sky.

I refilled the bird feeders and activity in the garden picked up dramatically

Three house finches monitoring the action at the feeder from the nearby Arbutus 'Marina'

Two finches, a mated pair perhaps, later moved to the feeder pole

The white crowned sparrows were also active at the feeder.  This one was surveying things from the Ceanothus below the feeder.

Of course, once the feeders were refilled a squirrel showed up.  I took this photo from inside my home office but I swear he knew I was looking at him.

He's quite the gymnast.  These feeders are set up to close the seed portals when anything heavier than a small bird attempts to eat from them.

He eventually gave up but managed to jump from the one feeder to the main pole, where he climbed atop the cage surrounding the central feeder

He clearly found something to eat but I couldn't make out what it was

 

I had an unexpected visitor come up our back slope by way of the canyon below as well.

This is Luna, a champion escape artist.  She and her family moved into a nearby home off a spur road months ago.  She periodically gets out their gate and into the canyon and from there seems to end up on my back slope and ultimately in my back garden.  I now have her family's number in my cell phone.


In addition, I've had near daily (or I should say nightly) visits by what I suspect is an entire family of possums.  They're less destructive than raccoons but nearly as annoying.  Although the invisible owls have reduced the local rabbit population, those voracious creatures are still paying periodic visits.

There's a ninety percent chance of yet an atmospheric river moving through from Monday into Wednesday. For the first time I can remember in the last ten years, I don't think I'm going to save the "extra" rainwater that flows down my rain chain.  I've nowhere else to store or dump it given how saturated my soil already is.  However, our current drought status shouldn't stop the state and local municipalities from furthering their efforts to capture and store rainwater.  The present abundance won't prevent future droughts - and one year of heavy rains isn't sufficient to restore our aquifers either.

Best wishes for a pleasant weekend.  I'm hoping for more sun!


All material © 2012-2023 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party



17 comments:

  1. Feast or famine as the saying goes. Must feel nice going into the hot part of the year with plentiful soil moisture though. We have quite a lot of snow on the ground right now and though I'd really like to get out into the garden it will go a long way to saturating our previous year's dry soil. Rats with tails but they are quite entertaining.

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    1. It feels odd not to worry about our water use in the garden, at least for awhile, Elaine. Hopefully, you'll get a slow, gentle melt. The authorities here are already worried that a good part of California is going to experience flooding once the snow in the Sierras begins to melt. There's always something...

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  2. A lovely and entertaining wild life observations. Your resident squirrel is quite rotund. No doubt it's been feeding well somewhere...
    When I saw Luna's photo I thought: too gorgeous to be a coyote, could it be a wolf??? Alas, no, it's the neighbor's dog, doing what canines do... roam their territory. Technically, your territory, but Luna doesn't know that :-D.
    Chavli

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    1. I noticed that about the squirrel too - maybe he is a she and pregnant?! Luna thinks she owns the entire canyon area I think. The first time she showed up in my garden she snuck up behind me and her "woof" (signifying indignation that I was blocking her path) caused me to jump.

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  3. Yes husky dogs like to get out and explore. I have some experience with that. A previous Sammy of ours I think we were owner #3 or #4, because he was a master at getting out. Luckily we got him back safely after his adventures. The most memorable was his escape from my Mom's house over a 6' block wall. Found him three blocks away at the elementary school at the center of a mob of children feeding him their sandwiches.

    Same here on the collection of rainwater--need to distribute what I have in preparation for Tuesday--but very dry spots in the garden are not so dry anymore. Enjoying it, though. What a glorious winter!

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    1. Luna's appearances are now more amusing than alarming, although I do worry about her running into the street and getting hit - even on our neighborhood's private road, people drive too fast sometimes. As to the soil, I'm not sure I even have any areas that can be considered dry anymore. I know it won't last but it's wonderful!

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  4. The changes in the map are noteworthy. Your Bloom Day post is as beautifully floriferous as I expected. Gorgeous.

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    1. The changes to the drought map are extraordinary - I should have compared it to our starting point last October! Unfortunately, too many people already consider that permission to waste water again, assuming the Mother Nature or science they can't even begin to understand will save our bacon the next time drought conditions prevail.

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  5. The way the squirrel has his hands folded together over his tum, hahaha. Your garden is lovely, we are drenched here in the East Bay as well. Treasuring each and every sunny day in between these atmospheric rivers.

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    1. I'm beginning to wonder if that squirrel is pregnant ;)

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  6. That view is incredible, no matter what the weather. I'm so glad you've received plentiful rain recently. Great wildlife photos!

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    1. The wildlife photos get a little repetitive but somehow they always manage to be amuse.

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  7. I love your weather station. I need a more advanced system than what I have now: a manual rain gage which I forget to empty half the time :-)

    I'm beyond excited that we won't have to worry about drought for the rest of the year, but it's just been too much rain too fast. I'll be replacing so many plants that rotted, partially or entirely.

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    1. Thus far, I seem to have avoided any soggy succulents, Gerhard. That probably has a lot to do with my sandy soil and the fact that our rainfall, though far heavier than its been in recent years, doesn't match the totals many other areas in California have experienced.

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  8. Good news that you are drought-free, what a relief that must be for you going into the dry season. Eliza

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    1. It's a weird experience, Eliza, and wholly unexpected given where things stood last September.

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