Winter No More?

"In a cruel irony, the first day of spring in Southern California brought a winter storm with snow in the mountains and cold rain inundating many areas." -LA Times
Well, I think it's safe to say we had a bit of rain over the weekend. Reports said that it was the third largest rainfall on record over the Los Angeles Regional Airport (LAX). On Sunday alone, Van Nuys received 40% of it's annual adverage rainfall. There is nothing more charming than a light Sunday shower. But what we got was a heavy Sunday down-pour! And now our freshly-graded dirt road is a collection of ruts and pot-holes again. Very charming.
Over 90,000 homes and businesses lost power during the storm. Luckily for us we generate most of our own electricity with our windmills and solar panels, so while everyone else was navigating around their houses with flashlights and candles we had on every light in the house. Well, not EVERY light.
The rain did mess up something though, because our "power-being-generated-meter" was acting up. So my Dad went out to the control-house to check it out and he turned our power out himself! Without warning to any of us. So I flashlighted up for a bit so that I could continue reading my book ("The Peacegiver"). Then we pretended to be zombies for a while.
LA Times also said that most of the power outages "were caused by wind and rain, including downed wires and tree branches getting tangled in wires". When I woke up Monday morning our entire yard was littered with broken branches from our own trees. It made me sad to see that, since our trees are already not doing so well anymore.
I do love a good storm though, even with all the chaos. Especially ones filled with thunder and lightning! But what I love even more than the storm itself is the after effects. The crispness of the air, the dampness of the earth, and the new life and energy it gives everything. The the clouds. As the Winter rolls away and the Spring sinks in and the heavy clouds pass through the sky. That is the best part of a storm.