henny penny

I'm Henny Penny, and the sky is falling!
Yes, it is supposed to, it's rain, and wind.
But the storm, oh my, the worst in five years.
Five years? Really? Worse than the five inches of rain in ONE HOUR we got last week?
Ummm, maybe.
Gee Henny Penny, what should we do?
Run for the hills! Worry, be scared!
Is this a horrible blizzard?
No.
Earthquake?
No.
A tsunami?
No. You're not playing along!
How about I make sure the horses are ok, that the property will drain, and stay away from localized street and stream flooding?
Um, ok, but that sounds…reasonable.
Yes, I know.

I am SO tired of the weathermen and news this week. I rarely watch the news, but did turn it on to see when the main rain would hit. There was a national live broadcast from a storm-whipped hilltop in San Francisco, with the poor reporter getting pelted with the rain. Yes, it's raining. Drive carefully, have flashlights and whatever you need. We need the rain, though this will not come even close to saving us from the drought (you need a few YEARS of average rainfall to do that). I think we've forgotten that we live in Northern California. It rains. ok, rant over.

We did manage to fit in a ride last weekend, out to the slowly-rising lake. Quite a few of the sandy trails are pretty rutted, and we stayed off the dirt trails to not mess them up. Usually we give it 24 hours after rain, as everything here drains pretty nicely (decomposed granite is great footing). 
 

yes, the lake is higher, though there's a long way to go.

In between storms and darkness there hasn't been much time to ride, so Major gets visited every day and we go walking about if it's not too wet. I like it, and so does he (green grass everywhere!).

He works on tormenting the other horses over the fence, perfecting his grass-snatching skills, and of course, being muddy.

Hi Bandit, what cha' doin?

OK OK! you're crabby, I've leave you alone!

There is still 10 days till the Solstice. But break out the muck boots, stiff curry brushes and welcome to winter.