Rain Rain don’t go away

Disclaimer:  I did not take any of these pictures, credit can be found by putting mouse over each picture/image.

Two snows and rains within eight days of each other offers hope to Northern Californians who have been suffering through a number of years of drought.

    

Of course, to make a real impact on the drought, they will need somewhere around 30 feet of snow up in the Sierras.  Here are some of the historic figures for the Sierras along highway 50 and I-80:

• 1 day snowfall: 67 inches (5.6 ft.) at Echo Summit, Jan 4, 1982 (2nd in US)
• Single storm snowfall: 186.6 inches (15.6 ft.) at Donner Summit, 1982 (2nd in US)
• 1 month snowfall: 390 inches (32.5 ft.) at Tamarack, Jan. 1991 (US record)
• Total winter snowfall: 884 inches (73.7 ft.) Tamarack, 1906-07
• Greatest snow depth: 451 inches (37.6 ft.) at Tamarack, Mar. 11, 1911 (US record)
• Highest average March snow depth: 108 inches (9 ft.) at Echo Summit

So “historic” snowfall would do much to relieve the drought…but what is really needed is a few years of near historic, along with finishing the maintenance work on Folsom Dam which is preventing it from being filled to capacity “if” there was enough rain to do so.

Not only did we have rain and wind today down in the valley, but south of Sacramento there was even a Tornado Warning, although no report of a tornado hitting the ground or any damage.

Seeing pictures like the one above reminds me of the many years spent in Arkansas!

    

Above are recent pictures of Folsom Lake (left) and Lake Oroville (right), both at or near record lows.  Water should be covering most of the dirt areas behind the dam on the left, and in the entire picture on the right. Oroville feeds the Sacramento River (as does Shasta Lake much further north), and Folsom feeds the American River which merges with the Sacramento River in Sacramento.  River levels are not as low because they need to be at levels compatible for the Salmon, Shad, Striper and Sturgeon runs (although technically I don’t think the Sturgeon don’t have runs).

Above is a picture of Folsom Dam with all gates open, and the lake at flood stage. 

Above is a picture of the Tower Bridge, which spans the Sacramento River between Sacramento and West Sacramento…you can see it in the the TV show “The Mentalist” in many episodes.

Most of Sacramento is in a flood zone…much like New Orleans. The American and Sacramento rivers meet in Sacramento near downtown. Earthen Levees surround the city along these rivers.  Sacramento has the second-highest flood risk of any major U.S. urban area. If a levee breaks, some residents could have as little as 20 minutes to flee.  During times of drought, and frankly during most years, this is not a thought to most of the people who live here…until there “one of those winters”…a winter in which the dams are near capacity or are being kept low to handle the high snow pack in the mountains. 

When I lived in Sacramento for 31 years, I saw the river levees just feet from overflowing.  Two of these times I lived just a city block or two away from the levee.  At times like that, you also worry about levee breaks, something that has not happened in Sacramento for many many years now…but it has happened further up north in places like Yuba City, or further down the river in the Delta. So far Sacramento has been saved due in part to the Yolo Bypass (above) which floods the west side of the river as the river reaches certain heights.

So we know that the lakes will once again fill, the rivers will continue to flow, and one of these days they will be talking about flooding again.  That is the way of life in Sacramento. Thank goodness that while Sacramento is at a mere 13 feet in elevation, Citrus Heights is at 167 feet…so mom and dad and sisters are all safe…but other family live in the lower ground, so we always worry when the water starts reaching the top of the levees.  But for now…”rain rain don’t go away, we need the water for future days.”

Did this Bird Dress up for Trick or Treat?

Lots of different birds come and go at the feeders in my sister’s backyard.  But lately we have had a special little one visiting, one with a quaint, special chirp as it sits in the surrounding trees.

We are not sure where the Yellow Budgie/Parakeet came from…and it was not alone.  A green Parakeet, or perhaps Cockatiel, was seen with it the first day it showed up about a month ago, but we only saw it for two or three days, and from a distance.  I have been waiting for the moment to capture this little one on camera…it does not show its face very often, although we hear its distinct chirp on most days.  It seems to hang with the many Finches, and flies between three or four backyards in the neighborhood.

Then there is the ongoing drama of Skruffy and Bubba versus the Squirrels.  When we last left this drama, Skruffy had touched the Squirrel we have named Jackie.  Jackie is the proud mother of three young squirrels, born earlier this year, and now are getting close to their mothers size.  In relation to humans, we would say they are in their “teens”.  We “think” this is their daddy in the tree to the left, and below.

As teenagers do, these three little squirrels have have been playing games with Skruffy and Bubba.  While daddy eats, they play…chasing each other…teasing the dogs.

The drill goes like this….and I will say right up front that getting a “sharp” picture of these guys running around is not easy to do with my camera.   One of the young squirrels will come down the right side of the tree, while Skruffy is sitting on the left side of the tree.

They will wander down onto the ground…she takes off…they cut back to the tree running around the other side and up the trunk…

...with Skruffy in wild pursuit.  I think they learned this from their mother Jackie…but they have two good eyes, and much more speed than Jackie, and poor little Skruffy is …

…left empty handed…err….empty pawed.  Until a couple of days ago when Bubba got in on the action too. Don’t have pictures of this, but Arny and I both saw it.  Bubba was sneaking up on the squirrel who was down on the ground while Skruffy's view was blocked by the tree on the other side.  It kept an eye on Bubba, who was slowly crawling up on it when out of the blue, Skruffy attacked around the tree.  That little squirrel, who had been up and down numerous times playing with Skruffy for the past half hour got slapped on its butt by her paw before it scrambled up the tree, up the limb, out a limb to another tree and over to the safety of the other side of the fence.  But all is fine, and it was back the next day with the other two teenage squirrels to “play again another day.”

If you look closely at the base of the tree (above) you can see the shells and even some nuts which have fallen out of the squirrel house which up in the tree.  Bubba has a bad habit…he LOVES to sniff and lick up the seeds and shells.  Arny told me that very next day after Skruffy touched the young squirrel, Bubba was over at the base of the tree, nose down to the ground, sniffing and licking.  One of the young squirrels, perhaps even he one Skruffy embarrassed the day before, came down the tree trunk, took its front leg and hit Bubba right on the head.  Bubba looks up real quick, the squirrel is long gone up into the tree, and Arny said that he had not laughed so hard in a long long time.  Bubba never did know what hit him.  Dogs 2, Squirrels 1.   Oh, if I had only been there to get a picture of that one!!!!!

Note:  We have seen Jackie a few times since Skruffy hit her butt a few weeks ago, but she visits the "feeder" less often, and generally in the early morning when the dogs are not out.  Perhaps she is weaning herself away from her young ones...or perhaps she is afraid of the dogs.  Of all the squirrels, she was the one which was less afraid of Arny and Sandy before the dogs arrived...we hope after we leave she will again strike up that relationship.  As for Skruffy, she will continue the chase, and we doubt she will ever get any closer than she has already gotten.  Bubba, well...he might be a little embarrassed about all the teasing we have given him for letting a squirrel hit him upside the head.  Today he ran away...first time in well over a year that he had taken off.  Luckily, Arny's friend Steve was headed down the street and saw him, and when he called Bubba over to his truck, Bubba ran over and hopped in.  Steve had Bubba back home before anyone knew he was gone.  Bubba, who has a history of doing this type of thing, will be more closely watched, and we all have our fingers (and paws) crossed hoping it is the last of his adventures.