Woman in the Middle

A couple of days ago, January 28th to be exact, there were 45 visits to this very blog. That is the most visits in a single day I have had in a long time, by almost double. What the heck happened? Was it my scintillating  eyewitness account of beautiful, if dry, southern California weather caused by the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge of high pressure parked over the Pacific ocean? Was it just one single person discovering my blog and deciding they just had to read the past 30 posts? I really wish I knew because I would like that to happen every day! No, really, it is OK if only six of you visit me on any given day. But face it, we all want to be loved and if 45 people show me blog love by visiting instead of, say, four, I am going to notice.

Speaking of one person reading 30 blog posts, have you ever done that? Look at a new blog, get sucked in to reading lots of posts, and then, before you know it, you feel like that blogger is either 1) your new best friend, or 2) crazy as a loon? I have only done that once or twice. How about you?

Is it possible that the so-called winter of 2013-2014 will be known as the “Year without winter”? We are beginning to think so around here. I know you folks in other parts of the country are reading this in disbelief, but the same weather phenomenon that is causing you to be buried in  snow and ice is denying us a winter.

Called the “Triple R” by weather men, the Ridiculously Resilient Ridge of high pressure has parked itself over the Pacific ocean since October, driving the weather patterns that usually bring California rain and snow at this time of year north and east. That precipitation has to go somewhere, it doesn’t just disappear.

So far, we have had about two weeks of winter weather around here, way back at the beginning of December. Otherwise, it has been dry as a bone and spring like, which is nice, do not get me wrong. Weekend before last a friend’s daughter had an outdoor wedding. When I had heard that plan a year ago, I was a little worried. After all, in January it can rain, it can be windy, and/or it can be cold. But the wedding went off without a hitch weather wise and it was like a beautiful April day. Given that the bride’s name is April it was fitting.

We have very warm summers in Inland So Cal. So winter and summer balance out. You get enough cold in the winter to wish it would warm up. In the summer it gets hot enough you look forward to the cold. I am beginning to wonder if I am going to get enough cold this year to be ready for summer….

But the biggest problem is that we have not gotten much rain. The governor has declared a drought and I do not look forward to trying to keep the plants in the yard alive (not the grass, who cares about the grass) if they start limiting the water that we use. The good news is that we were planning on replacing the toilets soon anyway so the new ones should save on water. I need to start mastering the five minute shower. If we don’t get some rain soon that just may be mandatory!

UPDATE: The weather man says there is a possibility of rain by the end of the week. Oh let it be so!