STORMS--UPDATED

POST UPDATE

    Highway 1, the fabled Pacific Coast Highway in beloved Big Sur has suffered mightily. The photos are by Heath Johnson of Cal Trans. The road had been closed as a precaution as the storm closed in on the coast.

    This damage is at Rat Creek near the John Little Nature Preserve and a few miles below the Esalen Institute. 

    Flood damage in homes is extensive. Many of us in Cambria are hearing from friends who experienced standing water in their homes and garages.

    At our home, on a ridge in what is called Top of the World, we recorded 13.3 inches from Tuesday to Friday morning.

    Our power outages were intermittent with the longest being a 5 hour stretch. We are lucky, some in the village have been without for days. 

    A few additional photos are posted below

    

 A storm turns a tranquil creek entry to the Pacific into a roiling torrent. The California central coast is recovering from an 

   historic storm that belies a pacific calm, a peaceful nature.             Consider it metaphor for the betrayal of the beauty of a constitutional principle or a Capitol roiled by a storm of insurrection.

            This post is primarily about the atmospheric river that has inundated the central coast with record setting rain. It is something to see, and to live through. At this UPDATE we've had 13.3 inches in THREE days. We share a few scenes here.

        But the old reporter's fire horse instinct can not be stilled. There is something rotten wafting from Washington and it very dangerous. 

        It is political gospel Republicans were warned by the House impeachment that if Donald Trump was not stopped by a Senate conviction, he would be emboldened and would do more to damage to American credibility and a civil society. If they had listened he would not have been able to perpetuate the big lie, savage the electoral process, embarrass the nation and rile his brainwashed minions to attack the government, the citadel of a our democratic republic and to seek to kill government leaders.

        It appears they are about to be cowards and accomplices again. Not to put a stake through Trump's narcissistic heart will bring more havoc on this nation. Killing Trump power will not end the travail, but his preternatural would-be successors do not command the loyalty of the suckers who were swindled by the worse liar in American history. 

        America is under attack from domestic terrorists. They are Trump jihadists, self righteous idiots, brainwashed by Fox News and rightwing spew. They reject all proof that Trump and his shameful failure were rejected by the largest vote in American History. They want to end the Republic and impose a would-be dictator. These are dark and evil currents and there is increasing evidence members of the House and Senate were in on the Capitol attack. They should be rooted out and dealt with. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz are insurrectionists and prison time is the least they deserve. Ditto for the complicit members of the House. That Kevin McCarthy goes on bended knee to see the disgraced Trump is enough to make Lady Justice hurl. The crazy woman from Georgia takes a weapon onto the House Floor and says Nancy Pelosi must be taken out. Matt Gaetz, a Bozo of a stoner goes to Wyoming to challenge a House Republican leader Cheney. Maybe her papa, the dark lord of Republican grift will take Gaetz hunting with a shotgun.  

        It is time for the Republicans to stop this descent to violence and chaos. And it is it is time for federal investigative agencies and the Depart of Justice to send a few to prison and to continue to root out the militias, supremacists, faux patriots, fantasy warriors, racists and the intellectually destitute who believe anything that comes from a Trump's mouth.

        Enough of the profane. Let's look at the profundity of nature making history. Our little village and environs has been at ground zero of an atmospheric river acting like an open hose.

Along Main Street, East Village

Where a popular Taco vendor had a spot

The lawn bowls court 

Waterfalls in abundance, most in places where they never existed

The Before-

San Simeon Creek-usually a gentle stream

Not now-

After the rain...

additional photos

      All of the water, in an area where rain comes only in one season, reminded me of Scotland. Power outages, landslides, road closures, flooded homes and garages, downed trees, high winds and constant rain informs us this, unlike Scotland, is not natural. 

    But...we were in for a drought year, having received only two inches, deep into the rain season. That has changed in two days. 

    We'll recover, have something to talk about, and be grateful for the green hills and mountains, wild flower blooms, recharged lakes, reservoirs, wells and streams. 

    The storm of violence and hateful lie fueled terror is another matter. On that, it is time to act.

    See you down the trail.

    

WELCOME BACK TO THE 21st CENTURY

PARDON THE INTERRUPTION

    About 3:30 AM Monday Lana said it sounded like something fell over in the garage. I mumbled groggily about the cats and went back to sleep.  A few hours later I spotted this. What she heard falling was the power pole with PG&E, Charter and AT&T lines. 

      We were back in the old west and stranded. We were unable to leave our driveway, even on foot. The road was closed as well. 

    Some 12 hours later a PG&E crew that had been following the storm damage down the coast showed up and began the first step of liberation, cutting the lines across the drive and removing the downed pole. 

    The drama heightened. 

    Fortunately our gas fireplace and gas range permitted us some heat and the opportunity to prepare warm food as the power remained off into the night. We read by lantern. I dug out my shortwave radio that had been my steady companion on assignments when I was off the grid and in the wilderness or in areas of conflict.

    The already tired PG&E crew was surprised to learn a pole was down. Their assignment said lines in trees. None the less they labored on until 4:00 AM Tuesday and after about 24 hours we had a new pole and power again.

   But as one day lead to another and to another and to another we were without those essentials of life-the internet, cable tv and phones.  But the high drama continued

   The shot below is of one of my new heroes. Evan was the cable tech who put us back into modernity. He and a delightful local Charter employee Harmony are stars on this street. Neighbors compared notes as we chatted around our drive ways. Trying to speak to a human, let alone a local person over the course of 3 days gave us plenty to talk about. The tech calls were frequently frustrating, useless and it seems we never got a straight answer. When? That is all we wanted to know. Just give us an idea, a guesstimate, tell us something!  Instead we sometimes heard, "we have no report of an outage in your area," a not particularly soothing response, or "turn on your television and tell me what you see." What did they not understand about "my cable is in a mud puddle!?" To be sure there were a few helpful and sympathetic types, but it was not until I was able to speak with Harmony that we finally got straight and knowledgable answers.

   This adventure leaves me with a couple of new wonderments.

       As one of the Charter guys said of an AT&T man who was in the area-he's not a happy guy. Nor were the Charter guys who there a couple of days ago.  Cut lines like these are still

     stringing through the area. When the PG&E crews arrived a lot of lines got cut and tossed. So I wonder why there isn't some courtesy or first response protocol that would enable these utilities to watch out for each others back. Shouldn't/couldn't there be a kind of combined mutual protection? There's a lot of useless hardware, cable, lines and etc. Ever the Scot, I see this and calculate loss that translates as increased costs.

    Another wonderment is why can't businesses and utilities  respond with greater facility when it comes to keeping customers informed. PG&E has an exemplary service of texting or calling with frequent updates so even though you may be in the dark, you are not in the dark about where the recovery is. 

   So with lots of reading caught up on we can now rejoin the 21st Century just in time for the beginning of March Madness!

    See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER :) SWAN LAKE AND KITTENS

TIME FOR PLEASANT

Thanks to all of you who have posted comments,

sent e-mails or called to see how we are doing.

We are just fine and it was gorgeous day today.  I spent a lot of time with a broom and power blower and as I worked

I heard others joining the chorus along with chain saws.

We were lucky. All I had to do was go after pine needles and small twigs.  We've heard of a few cars and homes

that were damaged by the falling Monterey Pines.

Hats off to the PG&E, Charter Cable, and CCSD road crews for their great work during and in the aftermath 

of the historic winds. 

In keeping with our WEEKENDER :) attitude

here is a nice departure and something

spectacular.

DAY BOOK

KITTEN BREAK
They seemed "nervous" during the wind storm
finding places to hide, even inside. They
appreciate the sunshine.

See you down the trail.