It is storming in California and that’s something to write about.

Storms in California don’t come close to being as intense as those in Alabama nor the snow storms of Colorado.  Somehow because of its terrain it is unaccustomed to such an onslaught of wind and moisture resulting in a fair amount of damage.

I have a young lady visiting me from France and she’s telling me they are not unlike those storms in the basque country. It seems to me if that were true, she wouldn’t be so enthralled, standing at the back door watching the wind heave palm trees back and forth.

But then she has many child like qualities, so it could be she has not lost a child’s fascination for storms.  At least they don’t frighten her like they did my step mom.

In Alabama, my dad had this one room without windows for that very reason. It was Rita’s “safe” place.

Rita had been through the war in Italy where her family had spent a good deal of time hiding.  Especially the girls.  Families would hide their girls when the German troops came through to prevent them from being taken and violated.

When Katrina blew through, Rita had already passed on, but Russ and I were living there and yes it did feel much safer.

I remember hearing the sirens going off and you could hear the wind blowing furiously overhead. Fortunately, Dad’s place in general was pretty secure. His house was situated on the northwest side of a small valley and when tornadoes blew through, you could almost imagine them skimming over the top but never dipping down as the winds howled and screamed. With Katrina being the exception, which tore up Daddy’s greenhouse and its clear fiberglass siding, we were pretty much “snug as bug ” there. What was interesting is how just before it hit, everything would get ominously quiet. Spooooky.

This year in California and today, we’ve had it all. Rain, Wind, Lightning, Thunder and hail. The water coming down the street was gushing over the curbs. Wind wailing and dark skies made you think it would last forever. Now it’s clear.

In Colorado, the ground was so porous and the weather so dry, that moments after a storm such as that, it would look as though nothing had ever happened.  The only give away being that things did look greener, softer and clean.

We lived in the high desert part of Colorado on the Utah border, so when I say Colorado, people usually envision lots of trees and mountains. That’s not where we were. It was desert.

Alabama on the other hand was extremely green.  Even when they complained of drought, it rained at least once a week.  There the soil was accustomed to getting lots of water, so droughts affected them completely different.  You’ve heard of sink holes? Well when the south doesn’t get enough rain, you get sink holes.

I have nightmares about sink holes.

After that guy got swallowed up, bed and all in Florida, I couldn’t sleep.  We were in a drought then. There were already signs of sink holes in the streets, where pockets were showing up. I didn’t know this about the south. Needless to say I worried about sink holes.

I don’t think California has to worry about that.  They have mudslides, earthquakes and flash floods, but no sink holes that I know of.

Spring came early as Punxsutawney Phil said it would and we’ve enjoyed mostly warm and springy days so far. So we can’t complain.

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It is currently March and already we’ve had two major storms in the past two months.

Isn’t it supposed to be “April showers bring May flowers?”

I wonder what April will look like then?

I can hardly wait.