It's Raining...

On Friday - after getting off work a few hours early, YAY! - Pickle and I headed to Ikea. Between the two of us, we didn't do too much damage - although I did find a cabinet that I've added to my wish list of furniture for the house...

We loaded up our findings...
For me:
Storage boxes
Picture frame
Under cabinet wine glass racks

For Pickle:
Really big mirror
Pillow
Random Bowl
Spatula/Flipper thing
Multiple picture frames

And headed for the door, only to discover that it was raining...

As the driver of the Ikea approved vehicle, I walked briskly through the rain in my flip flops and short sleeved shirt to find that the idiot parked next to me on the driver's side was WAY too close, so in a hurry I climbed through the passenger side.

Then I made the relatively short drive to the pick up area and was almost involved in 3 separate car accidents because people in CA are worse drivers that usual when it's raining, especially if it's raining hard enough to require windshield wipers to be constantly on. None of the near accidents were my fault, I swear!

Alas, there are not photos of my frolic in the rain because I don't believe that Mr. Pearl is waterproof.

At least the rainy day ended on a good note - Pickle and I had a tasty dinner at Claim Jumper...yes, I had my bread bowl! :)

Holy Tornado!

Toto, we're not in Kansas...in fact, we're in Moreno Valley, California. This picture was taken by someone who lives in the same neighborhood as our first house (now rental).

When I heard the news report on the radio driving home and heard the proximity of where it touched down, I knew it was right at the freeway exit to our old house. I took out Mr. Pearl and went to ABC7 and freaked when I recognized the neighborhood in the picture.

How happy am I that we moved?

After the Storm

Things you don't often see in So Cal:
1) The absence of smog
2) Snow on the mountains this heavily saturated and low
3) Greenery in JANUARY


I'm rather proud of the skill involved in taking this shot while driving 80 mph on the freeway:
LOOK! The flowers are BLOOMING!!!
Wait until summertime and I'll show you what these hills look like pretty much year round:


No that's not snow, it's clouds surrounding the mountains...
And this is earth worm suicide (it's not my fault, they were trying to crawl into my garage and got stuck along the weather stripping):

Girl Scout Motto: Be Prepared!

Apparently, I'm a crappy Girl Scout (probably because Jane wasn't my leader).

It rained Monday/Tuesday morning. Somehow I missed the memo that it was supposed to rain AGAIN Wednesday. And we're talking buckets. It was raining so hard around 2 PM that I heard the rain in my office. I have no windows, and have 2 layers of ceiling above me. For me to hear the rain, it's got to be POURING.

Panic sets in - I had class to attend after work and that involves a long walk from the parking lot to the building. I don't have an umbrella. What to do? I went to Rachel and see if she's prepared - negative. Then I remember that Pickle is prepared for anything because she has a nice collection of useful things in her car. :)

SCORE! She had TWO umbrellas in her car. The only problem? They were in her car. :) She needed to borrow an umbrella to go get her two umbrellas, but I borrowed an umbrella and was not drenched on the way to/from class. THANK YOU PICKLE!!!

Utter Grossness!

There is dirt and ash everywhere from the wind and fire this week. My mom, aunt, and I are having a house cleaning party tomorrow. Some before photos:

Wind Update

This tree is across the street at the park...no that's not rain or snow, it's dirt!!! It's raining/misting DIRT!!!








This is the poor little tree at our neighbor's house. He's not home.









This is our front porch. Please keep in mind that it is sheltered from the wind.


Our little tree that the hubby saved is still holding on!

WINDY!!!

For those of you who don't live in So Cal, it's crazy Santa Ana Winds Season aka Fire Season and half of the state is on fire. The news of course is only showing coverage of the fire in Malibu (which is on fire pretty much every October, but that's where all the rich people live).

This morning when I was opening the blinds, I noticed a poor little tree flapping in the wind. The top safety harness (as I call it) broke off of the support pole, and the poor tree was bending almost 90 degrees. I sent the hubby out to fight the 40 mph wind gusts and reattach the safety harness. Yes I took the picture through the screen safely inside. :)

So far so good, the little tree is hanging on!