After the Wind Storm

Wow! is all I can say. Been here in So Cal for 65 years and have never experienced anything like this storm.
As I’ve noted before, we live in the foothills of the mountains because we get to be surrounded by lots of nature, few homes, peace and quiet and often we get more dramatic weather than the flatlands.

I had noticed that they had predicted strong winds but I think what actually happened surprised even the wisest weathermen.

It was said that 80-100 miles per hour occured. From where we sat, I’m thinking “that’s all??” because it sounded alternately like either a freight train was about to come thru the house or the loudest Banshee from Ireland was visiting California.

The next day, after a rather sleepless night, we discovered that we had no damage to our house, which is a wonderful thing, especially considering all the enourmous windows here. Of course, the power went out almost immediately the night before. I hate that. I’m such a spoiled person but we’re lucky that we have tons of sunshine during the day that warms up the house again.

We found one of our beautiful large eucalyptus trees, that had our lighted address on it, at the top of our driveway had fallen across the driveway, preventing us from leaving. We’ve become very friendly with our gardener/landscaper and he came right away with chainsaws and help. Most of the tree is still in the other bushes but we were then able to leave, if needed. One old oak has a split in it, so it’s fate is still unknown. Many other trees have problems but it’ll be awhile before they are diagnosed. Living very near the National Forest area means a great deal of our property ( 1 acre)is full of trees.
Pretty soon the phones went dead also. And it’s cold, at least for this California native, getting down to low ’40’s to high ’30’s at night. Without heat, we’re pretty bundled up with layers of clothes.
Pasadena and the neighboring town, where my daughter and her family lives has been considered the epicenter and worst hit. I’ve also heard that every single street in Pasadena had a fallen tree. And after driving around a little, I believe they were wrong. Every street has at least 4 trees down! It’s really a mess with all the debris everywhere. We couldn’t even see our pool because it just looked like a pile of leaves and branches.

So my daughter, her husband and beloved grandchild, Max, came over here to stay for awhile, since Terry had the generator up and running. We only use it a little at a time, not wanting to burn out the motor or damage it in any way while we’re in this predictament. We keep most of everything turned off. I’m at the computer tonight to first, catch up with all the email inquiries about how we’re doing, etc and secondly, it’s my favorite thing to do as a past time. So that’s why I’m online. Terry’s asleep and this computer is the only thing requiring power.

My daughter’s family’s power came back today so I don’t need to worry about them. Wish ours would. But living up in the boonies means being a little neglected.

We’ve spent part of the time, decorating for Christmas, even getting a tree so early, which is extremely unlike us. But we’re all really feeling Christmas-y this year. My daughter thinks it’s because of Max, which I’m not convinced is the reason since he won’t have a clue what it’s all about this year. Guess it doesn’t matter. It feels good and I’m enjoying it.

One of my favorite things to do while surfing the net is to browse on Ebay. I’m a pretty good Ebay-er and have found some very interesting things there. Right now, I’m into jewelry with Cubic Zirconias. I have diamond jewelry and in this economy, am not interested in getting more. But CZ are fabulous! So far, I’ve purchased a couple of pairs of dangling CZ earrings (for dressy dinners on the cruise in January), costing from 99 cents to $15. And they look darn good. I’m not trying to “fool” anyone but I love the sparkle and razzle dazzle.
I also located and bought more of my favorite Christmas ornament. I had only one that I’ve loved since I was a child and worry about something happening to it. Well, there they were on EBay. They’re odd little things, look like a little plastic birdcage with a spinner inside. When place near a heat source (lights on the tree) the heat will cause the spinner to turn. They’re from the ’50’s and make me happy, even though the lights on trees do not put out that much heat anymore. But I can still remember those big fat pear shaped bulbs. I got quite a few, probably more than I needed but sometimes with Ebay you have to out in a bid on more than one to be assured you can buy one. So now I have a lot. I don’t care. I love them.