Rain, and melting snow

Well, it has been warm since early January, and the past two days it has rained here in the valley at lake level. Up on the upper reaches of the mountain, they have received some snow, albeit wet and heavy.

The good news: the ice which had been sitting around outside the door, waiting to make me slip has now finally melted!

The bad news: well, there isn't any, really. The wet weather made me realise how luck I am to be here in California for the winter, rather than suffering another cold, wet winter after a cold, wet summer in the UK.

And there is heavy snow coming in the next few days... so topping up the snow we have lost. Up on the mountain, we may not have fluffy white powder as we had over Christmas, but what there is has now compacted nicely so any new snow will actually stick and last the rest of the season, rather than blow away in the winds which inevitably accompany these storms, and also will allow the rest of the mountain to open with a reasonable, packed base to prevent loss of p-tex from the bottom of skis and snowboards due to rogue rocks and stumps.

Mother Nature rules everything around here, and she always knows best.

Besides, we had a pair of Mallard ducks come up and visit this morning in the rain.... they seemed to be enjoying themselves!