More rain in the forecast means more floodwaters

We are drying out a bit today but more rain is forecast for late tonight and into Monday here in central California. The weather forecasters are saying that will be the end of the rain for awhile as there are no more atmospheric rivers coming our way. It would be nice. We really do need to dry out. Especially some of the towns to the north of us. The ground is soaked, more rains come, the rivers are cresting and overflowing, homes of hardworking people are being flooded.

It breaks my heart to see the stories of these folk. Their homes are inhabitable. There is no where for them to go. They are unable to get to their jobs to make the money they so desperately need. These are homes without flood insurance because it would cost about $3000 a year for such insurance, it they can find a company to write a policy. Right now, not even private insurance agencies are taking on new policies, and FEMA is not offering any for at least 30 days.

I am hopeful that a state like California will have the resources to help people caught in this crisis. But, we have been unable to solve the unhoused problem so what makes me think this tragedy will be cleared up and taken care of. So many who lost their homes to forest fires are still waiting for a place to live.

Every day I give thanks for our home and all of the advantages we have. I try to never take it for granted, because like these storms that have pounded us, anything can happen. We have no guarantees. Terry and I have talked about what we would do it we were told to prepare to evacuate as so many in California have been required to do. Where to go? What about our animals? What do we take?

I feel fortunate that we do sit on higher ground here, and our tiny plot of land slopes towards the street, and run-off has been going well, so far. After years of drought, it’s good to see the rain, but just how much can we take?

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The second week of the new year…

…went super fast. Flew by because of all the activity. Our three weeks of winter break were quiet and uneventful, and then the first week without a holiday came, and a lot happened in a few days.

On Sunday I did the children’s sermon during church. We have only a few children among our elderly congregation, actually grandchildren and great nieces and nephews, and this Sunday we had a good turnout of kids. That always makes me so happy to see them. The members love the children, and actually I think the older part of the congregation likes the children’s sermon even more than the kids do. I taught about the three wise men (although it was probably a very large contingent of astrologers who made their way from the Far East to find this new king.

I had stars for each child to hold up in front of this amazing fiber art installation of the wise men at the front of the church for epiphany. We talked about how God gives us directions in ways we can understand. He told the shepherds about the baby Jesus with a host of angels singing in the fields because they probably couldn’t read. He told the astrologers about the King Jesus with a new star that they found in their studies of the skies because that’s what they were educated to do. He gives us direction through our parents, the Bible, prayer, and stories at church. The grownups liked the lesson as well as the children.

Monday was an eye doctor appointment (my eyes are very healthy) and a preschool board meeting, attended in a pouring rain.

Wednesday and Thursday I was back at Columbia with stories for first and second graders, thankful for no rain on those days as it makes the kids squirrely. More squirrely than usual.

This Sunday I am doing coffee fellowship after church so I was out early, before the rain begins again, shopping for the ingredients. I’ll spend tomorrow putting it all together. Rain is in the forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

The forecast calls for another week of rain

Lots of rain will fall this week, starting on Sunday night. It rained all night, still raining Monday morning with a southeast wind blowing the rain onto the porch and living room window.

I’m up, having breakfast and getting ready to go out in the deluge. I have an appointment with the eye doctor. Later I have a preschool board meeting. My boots and rain coat at the ready. Terry drove my car one day during a rainstorm, and decided it needed new wiper blades, so the Subaru is ready to take on whatever the skies send. The driver, hopefully, will be likewise.

Yes, we’ve had some rain

Is the drought over with all the rain we’ve received this season? NO. We would need a few years of rain fall like this to get out of the drought. Our groundwater needs to be recouped as the farmers have pumped out so much that the water tables have drastically fallen and wells are failing and there is no way to find more water for a new well. I know a former teacher who has a vineyard they have given up on because their well failed and they now have water trucked in to a large holding tank for their household needs. It is that dire.

The coastal areas are flooding due to rising tides AND the rain falling AND the water being released from reservoirs so as not to cause flooding inland. And yet, I open the San Francisco Chronicle and see pictures of flooded vineyards in the Sonoma region. For a state desperate for water right now, we aren’t real good at managing the water when it comes in huge amounts.

Fresno has had just under seven inches of rain this season, a bit over half of normal rainfall for the whole season. Will there be more in the coming months? Who knows. In years past there was lots of rain in December and early January (just like this year), and then the rains stopped. Six to seven inches was the total. Remember yesterday’s post about wildest dreams? Well, there’s another one–enough water to raise water tables and irrigate our fields, but not so much to flood our communities.

What are your wildest ideas & dreams

The fifth question to ponder and propel into the new year has to do with what one might do if there are no limits of any kind. This is NOT my kind of exercise. I am always the one looking for the things that can go wrong and how to mitigate those possibilities. My brain doesn’t wrap around the wildest and craziest of anything.

I would like for Russia to give up its attack on Ukraine. I would like for Putin and that former US president to disappear from the face of the earth. I would like for unhoused people to find a place where they can be comfortable and safe and live their best life. I would like for all children to have a warm, caring family and a good education. I wish for gun violence to end in this country.

Just putting those out into the universe makes me feel silly because I know I am asking for so much. What is that expression?…if wishes were horses, we’d all be riding…

Resources, skills, and practices for the new year

The fourth question to consider for the new year asks what resources, skills, and practices can you rely on in the coming year?

We received a Christmas letter from my nephew’s wife telling us of their plan for the new year–they have bought a mobile home only yards from the Pacific Ocean and will sell their home of 40 years here in Fresno and move there in the next few months. The couple is retired and they no longer have obligations here. This is my sister’s son and his wife, and my sister has been gone for four years. My niece-in-law lost her parents a few decades ago. Their daughters are on their own and there are no grandchildren.

I’m cheering for them, but this is not something I want to do. I enjoyed our year-plus living in San Francisco but the main concern I had with that was never building a community. Nor figuring out medical care. Feeling like an outsider. We have a wonderful, warm, cozy, comfortable home that meets all of our needs. We have a community of friends and are plugged into numerous organizations which adds so much to our life. Our medical resources are excellent and they know us.

Living close to the ocean, what with climate crisis, does not appeal to me, but my niece-in-law has always loved the central coast and spent most vacations in various RV parks along the coast. I hope they have the resources to make it work. I don’t.

I want to remain in our home as long as possible. It is comfortable, convenient, and meets our needs. Our friends and community connections provide us with care and a sense of purpose. These are resources to carry forward.

What causes you anxiety?

The third question in the list of considering how to handle the new year has to do with anxieties. Oh, boy. I’m an expert in those!

There is a box to check on medical questionnaires about anxiety. I almost always check it and every time I do, the doctor ponders it, asks me questions, and ends up saying “you do not have anxiety, you just care about the future.” Or something along that line. It has to do with the fact that my anxiety is brought about in thinking of solutions to problems I see, how I can solve problems, how I can get people to go along with my ideas.

This year’s anxiety, though, I cannot see a solution. I’m anxious about the climate crisis. True, it may be cyclical, but how many cycles do I have left in my life? Can I hold on long enough for us to solve the climate crisis? It’s getting hotter (at least here in California) in the summers. There is less and less water due to decreased rain and snowfall in the winters. This winter, however, we are seeing deluges. There is flooding in areas that haven’t flooded in a 100 years. Will this become “normal?”

The weather causes me concerns because of all the unhoused I see on our streets, something else I cannot solve. But, I am also concerned for my own comfort and safety, which I have realized, have become very important to my psyche. Our December power bill came in just over $400. It used to be $180. The summer air conditioning is causing major spikes in those bills too, but unlike winter, when I insist on being warm and having lots of hot water. And this after a $20,000 HVAC makeover which added weather-stripping, insulation, and all new venting.

And because I don’t have solutions, I’m going to quit thinking about anxieties for now.

What did the past year leave you yearning for?

Instead of resolutions, I received a list of questions to ponder and work into the new year.

This past year left me yearning to see our grandkids more than we did. They are busy, their parents are busy, we are unable to get away to see them like we did when they were tiny and we had an apartment in San Francisco.

We knew there would come a day when Grampa and Gramma would not be as much fun as when the kids were little. Their tastes would change, they would have varied interests, we would become boring. They still love to come to our house and hang out. They still like to go shopping for books and art supplies, and makeup and LEGO. Maybe shoes, but not like they did a few years ago.

I’ve asked our neighbor’s sister, who has worked with rescue animals, and seems to be quite the “cat whisperer,” if she would consider housesitting for us later in the year so we could travel to see the kids. Maybe even do a trip to the beach and get a house rental like we did years ago. I’m also going to ask the kids for suggestions for things they would like to do since they are developing their own ideas of what is fun.

Remembering Ronni Bennett

Those of you who have been with me for awhile, or those who found me through Ronni Bennett’s blog roll, will remember that Ronni took her own life in late 2020 under Oregon’s death with dignity law. I have just discovered another writer who is doing the same thing, even the mushroom “trip” that Ronni did.

Again, residing in Oregon. Again up against a disease with no cure. Cai Emmons has decided that it’s time to go. I found her blog only today while reading that of another fairly newly discovered blog from this past year. Ms. Emmons has ALS, and though she has managed to accomplish a lot during the years since the diagnosis, it has become too difficult so she is wrapping up her life and posting her thoughts in her final blog posts.

Probably not as sassy as Ronni, but every bit as interesting and intentional, you can read her blog here.

What in the last year are you most proud?

An Instagram friend posted some questions to ponder, rather than making resolutions or setting goals right off the bat. Stop and consider the past year and then propel those answers into the new year. I’m starting here with the first question:

What in the last year are you most proud? For me it’s the fact that I was able to go each week to Columbia and share books with first and second graders. I am propelling that activity into 2023 with hopes I can continue, in good health and disposition.

I was able to remain healthy throughout the year and finished in December with the delivery of 90 bears to the first graders. However, the following week, having been so busy finishing the year, my system gave up and I did get sick with Influenza A. Talk about a shock. After 50 years of flu vaccinations and never having the flu in all those years of teaching, I get this virus. It was a fairly light case and both Terry and I were well by New Years with medicine from the doctor.

I will continue to take precautions, and my vitamins, and get any more vaccinations that come along, with the hope that it was just a fluke and my health will remain in good shape for 2023.