For the past four days, Northern California has been hit by one winter storm after another. In the mountains it’s been snowing like crazy, and here in the Sacramento Valley it’s been raining cats and dogs.
Yesterday the rain was accompanied by winds up to 50mph—a bad combination when the ground is already completely saturated. There have been many downed trees and power outages in the Sacramento area, but here in Davis things have been reasonably calm. I took a walk along the green belt near our house this morning, and while I did see a lot of broken branches and one uprooted butterfly bush, I didn’t spot any major damage to trees or structures.
What I did find were random glimpses of beauty created by the wind and rain.
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Emerald bamboo (Bambusa textilis ‘Mutabilis) in our front yard,
knocked over by the wind |
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| Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii), uprooted by the wind |
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| Western redbud (Cercis occidentalis) amid a sea of blossoms |
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| Redbud blossoms in puddle |
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| Redbud blossoms up close |
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| Blooming redbud and English walnut (Juglans regia) |
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| Extensive mistletoe infestation on walnut trees |
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| Downed mistletoe clump… |
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| …and bits and pieces strewn all over the bike path |
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| Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia) berries knocked off by the wind |
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| Doesn’t this look like hieroglyphics? |
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| Lots of puddles along the green belt |
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| California buckeye (Aesculus californica), loving the wet weather |
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| Tree reflection |
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At the edge of town, open fields that are so saturated,
they’re turning into lakes |
So what's your rainfall total for the year now? How much above normal is it (if it is)?
ReplyDeleteNice photos. I especially like the "stuff on the ground" images.
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It's not work, it's gardening!
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Alan, rainfall right now is about 120% of normal. Today and tomorrow are supposed to be dry, then more rain. Just read in the paper that a big tree fell on a day spa in downtown Davis. The ground is so soft, it's unreal.
ReplyDeleteYou captured such beautiful shots of nature. The green belt looks like a great pathway for a walk/ride.
ReplyDeleteAny chance you could add Name/URL to your profile selection? It's a lot easier to add a comment that way without having to open Wordpress every time. Just curious..
anne
Lilafee, thank you very much for your kind words! The green belt is awesome and we feel lucky to live so close to nature. Although I must admit that Davis is so small that anybody can be out in the fields in less than 15 minutes :-).
ReplyDeleteAs for leaving comments, you should be able to do that right from your browser. This blog is hosted by Google/Blogger, so I don't really know what Wordpress is like. However, there should be no reason for you to have to go there first.
They really are lovely photos Gerhard, some are downright ethereal even. My favourite are the redbud photos. They may have been products of a storm but there's beauty in them :-)
ReplyDelete