Snow in Springville

When I got out of bed this morning at 5:30 a.m. and went to the back door for wood for the fire, it was snowing steadily.  Not hard, but steadily.

But the air temperature was 40 on the porch, and the driveway never did allow snow to accumulate. But, as it does once in a while around here, it dusted the hillsides nicely.

In the early morning light, the iPhone camera takes a pretty grainy picture, but you can see the accumulation on the pasture, and the top of the entry light.

A few minutes later, the light was better, but you can see even that fast, some of the snow was melting off the pasture.

 The view the other way down toward the barn reveals even more of the lower ground is melting off quickly, and the driveway is not accumulating any snow at all.  But if you look carefully, the top of each post is holding a little dab of snow.

It is precisely this condition, when followed by a warm "Pineapple Express" storm coming right up out of Hawaii which rains up to 10,000 feet altitude, washing off a good snow pack, that causes major flooding in the Tule River.  And the river bottom ground is definitely ripe for flooding.  With all the little brush, and a solid 20 years of big tree growth, the pieces are all in place.  Whether it happens or not depends entirely on the weather.

Rain, Horses, Trip, and Diesel. This and that.

With the rain yesterday, my gauge shows about 0.60 inches, so a good bit more than the Recorder is reporting fell in Porterville.  But then, that is the way the foothill rains work.  As the clouds and associated moisture approach the barrier of the foothills, and ultimately the entire Sierra Nevada range to the east, they "hang up" on the hills.  And while they are "hanging along the hills" they give up moisture.  The further you go up the canyons in the area, the more you observe the additional moisture.  A friend of mine who lives several miles up Balch Park Drive will often find 25-50% more in his gauge than in mime.

This morning, I had to chuckle at my big gelding, Dandy.  First thing in the morning I feed his mother, Shiplay, a bit of Senior Mix for horses, aiding in both her digestion, and nutrition.  Shiplay came up to the pen when Sharon was leaving for work, and the big drafter Strawberry was there too.  But no Dandy.

Then I realized, he was making all sorts of racket from down at the barn.  When I looked, the barn door had blown shut during the storm, leaving Dandy inside, and Shiplay and Strawberry outside.  And let me tell you, Dandy was NOT a happy camper.

Of course, he's a big baby anyway.  If Shiplay is out of his sight for even a minute, he's upset.  And he doesn't ever suffer in silence.  With great whinnying cries, he lets everyone within a country mile know that Dandy is upset about something.

When I went to the barn to feed hay to the cattle and the horses, I opened the door and let him escape his storm-imposed imprisonment.  You'd think the Governor had issued him a stay of execution.  Out the door he dashed, as if he was heading for a fire.  Then he discovered Shiplay and Strawberry standing passively in front of the barn.  He set up, sliding to a stop, then tried to act as if he knew that all the time.

I throw two flakes of hay for Dandy and Shiplay, who almost always eat their hay together.  I put that in one corner, then put another flake of hay down for Strawberry about thirty feet away near the other side of the barn.  If I don't keep the two locations separated, Dandy will try to control both spots, keeping the hay for himself.  Shiplay on the other hand goes to her corner, head down, and quietly has her breakfast.

Dandy will first go to his two-flake spot, and start eating.  Strawberry peeks in the door, then makes a trotting dash behind Shiplay and Dandy, to get down to her one-flake location.  Some mornings, Dandy will decide it's not worth the effort, and let her eat in peace.

But sometimes, like today, Dandy wants to run between both feeding spots, keeping Strawberry away from either one.  But she's gotten smart.  When he goes to the one-flake location, she strolls to the two-flake spot, and grabs a bite.  When he dashes toward her, she simply circles around and goes to the spot he abandoned to chase her away.

This seems to last for about three or four minutes, and then they all get bored with the game, and peace settles into the barn.

With a crystal-blue sky, not a cloud to be seen anywhere at this hour, it's going to be a beautiful day at least for a little while.  Sounds like things will cloud up and rain again by evening, and that tomorrow is going to be a solidly wet one.  Bring it on!

My monthly dash to Sacramento, attend an Area meeting on Saturday from 10-4, and then dash home again, comes up this weekend.  Sharon and the dogs will keep the hilltop warm, while I slosh up the Valley and back.  I'll leave Springville about 5:00 a.m. and get home around 9:00 p.m. after a dinner stop in Fresno.  But it does make for a long day.

Holy COW!  I came past Eagles Nest yesterday and gaped at the price of diesel!  $3.719 a gallon.  Man, that is just ridiculous.

With the price of Crude Oil futures in the mid-$80 range, where it's been for many weeks, I cannot fathom why distillate prices are so doggone high.  And I don't buy into the concept that all the upset in Egypt has brought this on, either.  If so, why aren't Crude futures shooting up?  That's where the refineries would turn to hedge their purchases.  It has always caused me to shake my head when I hear from friends who live in the eastern half of the US, and they tell me their gas prices are $0.25 to $0.35 per gallon cheaper than right here on top of the pool of oil.  And it's not like the refineries are that far away either.

With fuel costs this high, I have begun to really think about bundling all my "town chores" into one trip, then staying home if at all possible on other days.  That said, today I think I may be forced to get ready and go to town at least two hours before my job starts at 1:30 p.m. so I can run some errands, and pick up groceries, get some copies made and prevent having to go back to town tomorrow.

Spring in the Foothills

This is without a doubt, my favorite time of year.  The hills are green, the weather is bright and sunny, and the temperature is mild, often cool in the morning and shirt-sleeve weather by midday.

Coming up out of the river bottom a week ago I noticed the willows that have stubbornly insisted on growing around the telephone terminal box along Globe Drive, have put out the bright green/yellow blooms.  The long narrow leaves will follow soon, but for now, the stark thin sticks are accented along the tops by the bloom.

The spring season is also a time when ranchers build fences.  The ground is wet and will dig much more easily than any other time of the year.  The weather is not overly hot, so being out in the sun all day is not such a huge job.  And, well, that's just when we've always built fence.

My neighbor and I have a pair of bulls that tend to want to butt heads, and this means fences between us often need repair.  Finally, this winter, we decided one particular stretch needed to come down entirely and be replaced.  So ... that's what happened.

Because we both have other obligations, the project has run out over several weeks to get finished.  But this Saturday is finally "Finish Day" and should wrap it up.

Not a huge length, and the braces at the top of the hill, and also at the bottom , are all in, and the steel posts in between are all driven.  All that is needed now is to pull the six strands of barbed wire tight, then clip them to the steels.  

Fortunately, I have a hillside that the cattle are grazing on now, as my field is to the left of this line, his to the right.

Bottom set of braces, with my transportation parked out of the way.  You can see how pretty it is out here now.