Category Archives: Weather

Too much adrenaline the past few days. Starting with some dental issues that just put a constant buzz of advanced discomfort on every breath, along with a dentist who keeps telling me there’s nothing wrong at all. We’ll try again tomorrow on that front. Something to look forward to. (NOT!!)

Celebrity deaths over the weekend. Sometimes it’s just a footnote or a minor point of interest. Sometimes it’s more, like with Bill Russell or Nichelle Nichols.

Then tonight we hear about Vin Scully.

LA sports fans are lucky. For decades we got to hear Hall of Fame announcers almost every night. Chick Hearn doing the Lakers games, Bob Miller on the Kings’ broadcasts, and Vin Scully as the voice of the Dodgers for sixty-seven years.

Even growing up in KC as an A’s fan, then being a Cubs fan when the A’s moved away and I did to, finally being an Angels fan since the mid 1970’s when I moved to Southern California, I always knew who Vin Scully was. The man was a poet, a storyteller, far more than a mere baseball announcer.

Tonight we also went and donated blood again at the new Red Cross center, which happens to be right across the street from our “new” ALS Golden West offices. That’s a task we choose to participate in every eight weeks (-ish) and while it’s something I’ve done hundreds of times and I’m used to, there’s still some stress involved.

Then of course, politics, life, the Universe, and everything.

So I noticed that there were clouds, some subtropical moisture kicking into the area from a tropical storm off of Baja. Not enough for any rain here, although some mountain areas got a few showers, but enough to look pretty if you pay attention.

I paid attention.

Some days you don’t even have five minutes to take a break and go looking for birds or lizards or flowers or anything interesting.

That doesn’t mean that the interesting or unusual or beautiful things aren’t there. It just means that you have to take advantage of the opportunities you have.

Maybe, for example, before your busy, busy, busy work-from-home day starts and you’ve just scraped your sleepy butt out of bed you remember it’s Thursday. Which in turn means that before you jump in the shower you have to slip on sweats (so as not to upset the neighbors) and go out to unlock the back gate so the gardeners can come in. Sixty seconds, tops. In a hurry, on the run. But wait…

Look at those clouds!

…2…3…4…and okay, NOW hustle back in to that shower and breakfast and emails and Excel files and reconciliations and Zoom meetings and computer repairs and phone calls.

It’s a little bit better because you stopped for five seconds and looked at the clouds.

The “June monsoon” is here!

Yesterday afternoon I was watching posts from friends in New Mexico showing their clouds and rain, and last night it was friends in Arizona. Our weather forecast had about a 15% chance of thunderstorms, with scattered heavy showers as a wave of monsoonal moisture swept up from Mexico and Baja.

The local news reports had stories this morning of thunder, lightning, and some downpours in downtown LA, Hollywood, the Pasadena and Glendale areas, all about thirty miles to our east.

There were also flash flood warnings and a couple of small brush fires in Ventura County, about thirty miles to our west. We were in the middle and had — clouds. No rain. No thunder. No lightning. Just, clouds.

Very nice clouds, mind you! Oh, and enough humidity to choke an elephant, very unusual for SoCal.

So throughout the day I periodically went and took a zillion pictures of clouds. The neighbors were pointing and whispering. They no doubt think I’m certifiable, a solid 5150 candidate, standing out in the middle of the street taking pictures of…clouds.

Finally, while I thought we hadn’t gotten a drop, the dirt on the Volvo says otherwise. Due to the severe water restrictions (notice how brown our yard is starting to look in the photos above?) I haven’t washed it in a while. The spots and patterns in the dust tell of some big drops falling, but very, very few of them. It must have rained for about thirty seconds, tops.

Bad drought. Every little bit helps.

Cliched, but “Thank God It’s Friday!”

Today was a successful day, a couple of big things moved forward significantly at work.

There’s a lot to be said for busting your butt, maximum effort, pedal to the metal, and having it pay off. That feels good.

There’s also a lot to be said for getting some sleep. And not waking up at 02:00 and 04:00 every night thinking about that project.

And now it’s necessary to keep the brain from starting to obsess over the other tasks and deadlines that were put on the back burner and which will now require a maximum effort come Monday.

Let’s spend the weekend breathing. Maybe just laying in the yard and watching clouds. Like these!

Wouldn’t it be amazing to soar up there like the hawks or ravens, spinning on the thermals, weaving in and out of the whispy white strands, diving down at maximum speed just because you can?

Monday morning will still be there in fifty-seven hours, two hours, and forty-nine seconds.

Make the world a better place. Relax.