Hurricane Hillary

California just can't be like anyone else. If we'e going to do something, it's always a hold my beer kind of effort. Not only did we have a hurricane, but nature threw in a medium earthquake for good measure.

Of course, by the time Hillary got to us, it was just a tropical storm. But in all in fashion, that storm broke more records than anyone can count. First, there has never before been a drop of rain in Bakersfield on August 20th. By the time Hillary petered out and drifted away, we had 2 5/8" of rain on the east side of town. Our annual rainfall, if we're lucky, is only about 6". 

My rain gauge

Before Hillary arrived on Sunday, we had some pretty strong winds on Saturday afternoon. I sat outside for quite awhile admiring nature's power.

Backyard view of Hillary's approach.

Given how windy it was on Saturday afternoon, we were lucky to not have more damage. Our house is surrounded by queen palms which handle windy weather quite well, so we had no fallen limbs or trees. Despite being covered by a forest of sycamores and cottonwoods, there were only two or three limbs that came down at the ranch. One was in Izzy's paddock, but it didn't damage anything, and by yesterday afternoon, Reggie had it cut up and moved to the compost heap.

Izzy's fallen limb.

The rain started around noon on Sunday and continued falling heavily for the next twelve hours. Many of you live in wet places, so two or three inches of rain is nothing. If you live in the desert, or in a place where there is very little rainfall - cough, cough, Bakersfield, twelve solid hours of rain is shocking.

By the timeI went to bed, the pool was filled to the very top.

Despite record shattering rainfall, nearly all of the puddles were gone by Monday afternoon. The air was heavy with moisture, and the August sun was beating down. It was HOT. I got to the ranch after work confident that it would be dry enough to ride, hot as it was, and I was right. There was standing water in one corner of the arena, and the ground was a little squishy, but it was plenty dry enough for a ride.

No mud!

I have a lesson this afternoon - my first since early June. That's why it rained of course. The universe has been messing with me all summer. Want to ride? No soup for you! (That's a Seinfeld reference by the way.) If I have to carry Izzy, we're doing that lesson, hurricane or no.

Get it together, California, I have some riding to do!