esrosedotblog

I have been reluctant to say what the weather is doing here.

It has seemed much wetter than we are used to in the long term drought.

I am happy to read this morning in the LATimes that I am right. We have had more rain.

After six years of drought, this is the winter weather we're 'supposed to be getting,' meteorologists say

One of the biggest signs here is that the snow is now accumulating on the mountains. For the last few years they have become barren and bleak.

I have not had to water my small patio garden for a while. Natural watering has been enough.

Good for us.

Labels: Palm Springs, snow, weather

Pray for rain they said.

A lot of people did and it must have worked because we are being stormed on for the last day and no end in sight until Christmas Day.

We are not in any danger of flooding. The condo is up from the ground but some people do have trouble and use bumpers to keep the water from the door.

In the desert, when it rains. it truly pours and the ground is hard so a lot of it runs off. There are considerable flood channels built to take the extra water but not every developer was careful to provide the right drainage.

Walking and pee-pee for the dog is a bit of a challenge. Marcus doesn't like to get wet. But we put a big towel on the floor when he comes in and make a big game of rubbing him down. That he likes.

It is going to slow and stop a bit today, then come back heavy later on.

It is also cold for us. In the 50s for the day temperatures. Brrrr.

This may not be enough to end the long drought but it will be a good start.

Labels: rain, weather

I have been on an inadvertent vacation.

Just no desire to write.

Perhaps the post election depression finally set in.

The daily trump march has had me down but not out.

On the other hand, I have not been stopped completely. I am doing all my reading of the same blogs I always have. Just nothing to "write home" about.

It is the interim. All talk before Obama leaves and they come onto the stage.

We are in a quiet time at home. John has put up the decor. It looks great. We await his birthday, two days before Santa. Santa takes a back seat.

We have finally begun a Palm Springs winter. It is drizzling today. Has been since last night. It is needed. Very much. Some optimism about the drought beginning to lift.

It has that bright shiny smell outside.

Marcus perked up when we went out. Stopped to smell the air as he does when there is something to examine through all those receptors.

But things are looking up. I went for a manicure and pedicure yesterday. Being pampered is always a good thing.

And back to Ralph's today with the bi-weekly grocery list.

Oh yes. One other thing. The computer is acting up. Going dark inadvertently. Putting itself to sleep. I am in the denial phase about that. There is always the iPad.

A list of trivial "sorrows" today. Gotta break out of it. No whining. Well, a little, Then on with it.

Being back at the blog will help. The trip to the store will work me out. The computer might have to go in to Apple for work. Or should I get a new one? This one is five years old now.

What to do? What to do?

The answers always come though. All I have to do is get out of the way and let them roll in.

Labels: blogging, palms springs, weather

We have rain today.

Holy jumping jeezuz.

Thunder and lightning. Actually more of that than real rain.

Well, they said thundershowers and that is exactly what they are.

Showers. Punctuated by rumbles from the sky.

I remember our first thunder here. It is different. It doesn't just BOOM. It reverberates in the mountains. Boom, boom, etc.

In the old days, our dog would be cowering. Not our Marcus. He is not partial to the showers but the thunder is of no consequence whatsoever.

The air has that newly wet smell. Ozone.

So rare in the desert. So refreshing to have.

The trees and bushes like it. Where irrigation does not reach.

Boom boom boom.

Labels: weather

We got what we wanted.

Rain, rain, rain and more rain. And still rain now at 1530 hours. A couple of days now.

It came in this morning and is staying.

We irrigate everything here but there is no substitute for rain. You can't go out and walk around in irrigation. Well, you can but it is not very pleasant. Irrigation does not really wash the tops of plantings down. Desert dust is going going gone today.

So we are happy. As long as it doesn't overstay its welcome. Maybe another day or two. But that won't happen. the little sun signs are popped up on my weather app on the iPhone.

Yes. My iPhone. How do I like it? It is OK. It has caché which is very important.

It is a bit hefty but I am beginning to use other apps than phone. I tried messaging but still do not have anyone else who does text.

I have browsed the web with it. I prefer my iPad but I can see the charm of the phone for a quick fix.

So. Here it is. Here I am. Progress. More expensive as always. And it does tell me that it is raining outside.

Labels: weather

We are having rain and dark clouds.

It is the talk of the town.

Of course, the rain is needed. We are in the desert. And all of California is in drought.

But the delight of a change from the normal is fun. The few people I saw today at the store were almost giddy at the prospect. Me too.

And here it is. Dark clouds, wet pavements. Very slippery since there hasn't been a wash off in quite a while.

I thought perhaps we might need the furnace on too. But it seems that won't be the case. It is still pretty warm.

For me it means that I will not have to water my garden or fill up the fountain today. Yes. I do that. Sorry. But Jerry Brown's mandate has lifted so it is OK now.

It is a blessing to have such wonderful weather year round but perversely we all kind of want it to get nasty the way it used to do back East. Boston weather came up in conversation more than a few times today.

Tomorrow we go back to the boring nice weather, full sun, warm temperatures. Over and over again. No change until the next showery day. Some relief from the tedium of beautiful clear and sunny skies.

Labels: weather

All of a sudden, autumn.

Time for a jacket in the convertible. 63 F in the air and gods know what in the wind chill factor.

We have been waiting for this. And the week will not disappoint.

A turning point has been reached and it will stick with us.

We watch the weather carefully. Inside, outside, in the sun, out of the sun?

The house is open and will likely stay that way for most if not all of the day.

I know that for a lot of people this is trivial nonsense. It is just weather.

But the engagement with heat for four months is tiring and sometimes unbearable for long periods.

Whining.

Many of our Northeast friends would give their left nut, if they had one, for our weather.

I know, a sexist turn of phrase but colorful enough to make the point.

We will do our best to keep the ball rolling.

Also, to make it real, the AC vendor came yesterday to tune up the heating system for winter. We have a service contract which makes this automatic.

This morning I thought I might turn the heat on but realized I had opened all the windows and so went to shut them.

Labels: desert, weather

But no one does anything about it.

An old saying but one that has its own built in truth. The weather is the weather and that is it. Deal with it.

We moved to a climate which is pretty much unmoving.

In the summer, especially, there is nothing that changes. The days and nights are hot, hot, and hot.

So we talk about the minutiae. The sunrises. The breeze (if any) the dryness. The fact of "a dry heat". which is true but only means a comfort index drop of a few points.

This article in the NYTimes discusses the dilemma of being a weather person in this part of the country.

Well, Phoenix. Which is almost the same thing.

The Curse of a Phoenix Weatherman: Finding New Ways to Say ‘It’s Hot’

I was first interested to see that this guy reports from the end of the runway at Phoenix airport. The same thing here. The weather station is at the airport. Dual function. Makes sense.

But it also makes for a higher reading. Flat, concrete. Higher temps.

Nevertheless hot is hot and so we just go with it.

As for talking about it? Not much. When I leave my air conditioned meeting or my house and "the oven" hits me I might say something. A curse word. Or a joke of some kind to a friend. An old stale joke, not hot and happy. Just resigned. Irony plays a big role here.

But I am not complaining and neither are my friends. Unlike Florida where the heat rise is accompanied by horribly humid air, we do not have that extra burden. And in the winter? Glorious. We are in t-shirts and shorts while the rest o' yas' freeze you balls off. Well, the half of ya's that have them.

And here is another thing.

When there is weather. Rain! Frost! It is a conversational bonanza. So that is the thing. It is difference, change, the abnormal that gets us talking about the weather.

It just doesn't happen often.

Labels: desert, heat, weather

No sun today.

The first very cloudy day in s long run of solidly blue skies and very hot weather.

While it is a bit on the humid side it is still just below the comfortable dew point line of 60%.

And the temperature is below 100 at 3 PM. We have not seen this for a long time.

And the prognosis for the next block of time is similar although the clouds will part.

We are not nearly as obsessed about the weather here as family in Florida.

But we are pretty close to it.

It is weird to me that people who live in a lot of different weather conditions through the year are less consumed with the subject than we are where weather changes very little and is seldom bad.

Marcus and I are just in from a walk and we had at least nine drops of rain fall on us. Discernible drips on the sidewalk.

I hope it does do the forecasted thunder showers. I decided not to water today and am expecting a heavenly gift instead.

We will see.

Labels: weather

We have the heat today.

Not a lot but just enough to let us know summer is on its way.

One nice thing about summer in the desert is that it builds up slowly. Winter not so much.

We will have warmer days, then warmer and then warmer still.

When the cold hits, usually later than any place else, it comes with a deep chill.

But not today.

The air got turned on at noon and the dog walk was good until the last five minutes when we would have run for the air but it was too hot so we slogged home. Us.

Labels: desert, weather

No blogging does not mean "no life".

I have had a lot of correspondence to do and I haven't had anything to report.

In fact there is nothing to report now except that it is raining in Palm Springs, a rare enough occasion. We do need it.

I have watched some films but they have been Teen Wolf episodes. Not bad but nothing anyone else wants to hear. Believe me I have heard that enough to know.

It is their 6th season as far as I am concerned and like Big Bang Theory (the most popular series running) I am way behind the current run.

I suppose that I will catch up some day but in the meantime I wait for the DVD. We do not have a television. So I have to wait.

I also think it takes us longer to recover from a visit. Not the visitor, please note.

But the geriatric life is a routine one. And once the routine is disrupted there is a ripple effect that lasts for awhile.

And, nothing is back to normal. I have not resumed the daily gym visits and in fact will not.

I will be going Monday, Wednesday, Friday. A change not a wipe out.

As for today, I poked myself in the eye last night somehow and have a mildly scratched cornea which is already better than it was.

See? You did not want to know all this.

Labels: drought, life, weather

There is a kind of pleasure, as I recall, in just surrendering to a blizzard.

Easy for me to say, but now, away from all that, I remember blizzards fondly.

It is essential, in a blizzard, to just surrender. To let go. Stay in bed. Don't even shovel. Let it play out. The wind is going to fill the shoveled places anyhow.

In Case of Blizzard Do Nothing

A cardinal rule, actually, for one's life and safety.

One year, though, we bucked the odds and faced into the wind.

We had planned a Caribbean vacation and goddam it we were going to go on it.

When the snow hit we saw what was happening soon enough to book a flight from Newark to Miami. The problem was how to get to Newark.

We found out that the trains had started running and so we trekked from our apartment at Charles River Park through Beacon Hill and on to South Station. No cabs of course.

Hoots and hollers as we went along. Snowed in people wondering "what the fuck?". The photo shows some folks who found other possibilities with snow on Beacon Hill those days.

As it happened, the train did leave and unlike today's blizzard, the areas south of Boston got cleaner and cleaner as we went along.

We made the plane in Newark and arrived at our resort late the next morning I think. People there were still stranded in Florida because the flights were still not going back north and the planes had gotten all jiggered around. But there was a room for us. And we stayed warm. By the time we had to go back to Boston, the snow was cleared away and beginning to melt.

That was the blizzard of 1979 I believe. John and I had been together just a short time and it was a major adventure for us.

Labels: weather

A lot of exclamation points in the blog today.

Rain! A lot of it. Pouring down very seriously. A lot of it is going off to drains but there is so much it has to have some effect on the long protracted drought.

The naysayers will moan that we need a lot more, which is true. But right now, there is enough out there to truncate the dog walk and send both of us back into the house soaked to skin.

Marcus likes it, sort of. At least he is a good soldier about it.

I am glad it is here.

This is the wettest month usually and that is a good start. Februarys are also prone to rain.

It is El Nino. A huge one. And if you do not know about it, hey, look it up.

Labels: desert, weather

Marcus and I went out this morning and the grass crunched.

He got off almost immediately.

I sort of enjoyed it. A reminder of what we thought we had left behind.

Frost.

He eventually went back on it and did his assigned task then hopped back to the pavement and we went inside.

They reported temps in the low forties. But it is a dry cold and is measured off the ground.

It is not unusual to have frost here. Sometimes it is actually very heavy. What moisture there is in the air drops right out and the opposite of the dry heat results. The dry cold.

Labels: weather

We do not get snow very often but we do get sand.

I gave up going to the gym this morning as we had 40-50 mile and hour wind gusts and blowing sand and debris. Branches, other shit.

A front was moving through and nothing was going to stop it from raising hell.

Marcus and I went out in it and he had a combination freak and peak experience. The freak part was the harshness and non-direction of the wind hitting him. The peak was the excitement. He ran in fits and starts testing it all out. And clearly enjoying himself.

By the time I had to go out for a meeting it had settled down. A lot.

Now it is just a breezy beautiful day.

A fringe benefit of it all is that we have snow in the mountains even though we got no rain here. Still a drought.

We are in a rain shadow, hence the desert. All our rain, what little there is for California now, is up there. But it is very pretty.

I don't think it will last very long but for now it is great to look at.

Labels: mountains, Palm Springs, snow, weather

We are having an extended period of wet and not very nice weather.

Everyone here is bracing for a larger than normal el Nino but this is too early for that.

It is not cold. Just cooler. And cloudy and about to rain and every once in a while some big drops fall.

Not much to complain about but not true desert weather either.

Of course, that is the thing. Desert weather is not normal either in general or within various time periods.

It is nice to have some interruption in the norm.

Labels: weather

Quietly now!

It is actually quite cool today. Overcast. And the first day in a very long time where we are leaving the house open all day long with no AC.

Shhh.

Labels: weather

A heat wave here for the next 6 days.

It is 96 right now, at 4 AM. And will hit 115 sometime during the day. Afternoon.

We just hunker down.

Yes, it is a dry heat. It is bone dry. Everything dries up outside. The fountain gets filled once a day. The flowers the same.

But we are all desert plants now and adaptable.

Look.

I will happily trade this for one day of sleety snow or icy rain.

I will be happy to refill the fountain twice as often or more rather than be back in the winter stuff.

We used to go back and forth. North, south.It is pretty quiet in the complex right now. Most are away. Not us. A few die hards too. We have become desert rats.

Now, an occasional break is good. The four days in San Diego for me, a ride on the ship next week for John.

It is a little hard on the dog but no more than us. He gets some extra consideration for not being able to run out so often into the small yard. But he is OK. Shorter walks and out of bed a little earlier. Easy.

I get to relax some. Nothing is going on outside that does not absolutely have to. I water. I get the mail. I go do my chores out in the town.

And in a week, it will be in the 90s again, dry and comfy and then clear sailing until next July or August.

Labels: heat, weather

Disruption today as the house cleaners came and did their thing.

Fortunately there were three of them and they went to work quickly and were out in less than the allotted two hours.

John escapes from the house and Marcus and I move from one room to another to accommodate the workers.

Everyone is attuned to the ballet required to keep us out of the way and the cleaners to do their job.

So, I am not even behind in my "work". Such as it is.

Most of the year Marcus and I go outside while the work is going on but that is not going to be possible for the summer months.

Right now, we are still monsoonal. Humid and hot. Stay in weather.

It is our winter.

Labels: life, weather

After the sand storm, the haboob, came rain. A monsoon.

And the rain washed the sand away. Although there wasn't a whole lot of sand in this particular storm. All dust really.

It has been a long time between showers here and I doubt there is more than a dent in the drought deficit but we are grateful.

And pleasantly pleased at the change. We do not get much weather here as it is mostly sun and moon all the time. Clear skies. A few clouds on some days.

So any change is welcome but rain is particularly good to see. And feel.

Even Marcus enjoyed getting wet and heavily toweled after a run through it. Getting toweled is really a game to him. Do it more Dad.

The humidity is gone today, at least much lower. And we will be on to the summer soon.

I was not sure that this is Palm Springs in the photo but it is. We are standing up on the Lykken Trail along the mountain side. And that is what it looks like going out east from here, the long Coachella Valley. To the near far right is the Bob Hope hilltop and beyond that Murray's Peak.

That is enough for me.

Labels: weather