A soggy hillside in Sonoma

It's been said that in California we don't have seasons. That simply is not true. We do have seasons - fire, drought, mudslides and earthquakes.

For the past three years it has been drought season. Last summer driving through the countryside, one could see trees gasping for water - many big trees with many leaves withered up and fallen off in mid summer. There were huge fires everywhere. We rationed water and watched as yard plants withered. Each year we hoped for rain, but little came.

The storm door opened a week or two ago and we've had several huge storms. Normally I really hate the rainy, cloudy, cold winter in Northern California. Not so now. So, yesterday during a short break in the rain we went out to check things out. We didn't see much, as it's still winter and pretty cold, damp and miserable. But we did spy this soggy hillside. The grass is growing tall and thick. It will get up to three or four feet high. A very welcome sight indeed. Even our dog, Goopi, was excited and wanted to charge off into the grass.

Now that things have gone from dry to wet there is the danger of flooding and mudslides and the possibility we'll wind up in mudslide/flood season. Hopefully there will be a break in the rain, and the ground, which was parched for so long and has soaked up all the rain we've had so far, will accept a little more and things will go well.

Soggy is good.