California Wimps
Posted by Moose on January 4th, 2008. Filed under: Daily, San Francisco.The entire central coast of California is getting pummeled right now. Sirens have been wailing all morning, and every so often I hear glass shattering down the street. I’m not used to actual weather, so wind shrieking between the houses makes me shiver like a dog confronted with a dust buster.
I woke up this morning to rain pounding on the roof and a house filled with gloomy gray light. The lights flickered on and off as I made breakfast, and the traitorous pup – she who whimpers piteously at the sight of the vacuum – slept right through it all. Even the deck chairs crashing over and barbeque utensils flying off their hooks. Watching the palm tree in the backyard do a valiant impression of hurricane videos on CNN makes me very happy I work at home. Getting on the bus would be miserable in this weather and getting on the freeway would be downright terrifying. Especially when one owns a car that could best be described as an oversize tin can.
I hope all of you who live in this area have been able to stay out of the storm today. Preferably taunting it from inside your house until a branch flies off a tree and you yelp and run into another room. One without any windows.
If the gusts of rain die down a bit, we’re planning to take advantage of the work from home thing and drive out to the Beach Chalet for lunch, to watch the storm blow over the Pacific. Assuming the restaurant isn’t picked up by the wind and flung into the sea.
January 4th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Our bedroom window fell out over the summer and we put it back in place but it has never felt snug. Around 5am I woke up to it’s banging with every strong gust. I made sure the dog was on the opposite side of the room and then tried to go back to sleep, in vain, as rain came through the blinds and the window continued to sound like it was going to burst out of it’s frame.
Stay dry and warm!
January 4th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Having left the trash can and recycling bin out for pickup, I just looked out to see that they had fallen over, spewing their contents all over the neighborhood. I’ve just spent the last several minutes getting drenched in the downpour and reclaiming my discards, soggy and disgusting as they were. Don’t ever accuse ME of not being a good neighbor…. The bins are now back in hiding, and I hope I don’t miss the rumbling of the trucks to tell me to run them back out to the curb again. It’s wild here!
January 4th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I love the Beach Chalet! For the view. I remember the food as being acceptable. But the view!
Put on your slicker and your Wellies. Wait, do you even have a slicker or Wellies, living in SF? Otherwise, you could cut a hole in a Hefty and secure empty bread bags to each foot using rubber bands around the ankles. But in that case, you might just opt for getting soaked.
January 4th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Yikes!
I grew up on the coast of BC, so I have experienced storms like this.
Stay safe!
January 4th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Beach Chalet? Is it tasty?
It’s raining sideways down here, and the cats and the rabbit are all cowering, Fred in his cage, the gray cat under the bed, and the white one wedged between my back and the couch. Good thing I decided to stay home and work here today instead of leaving him to his own devices!
If this were Iowa, we’d have over a foot of snow by now.
Stay warm and dry and safe!
January 4th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Don’t blow away! Then who would make San Francisco all its delicious cookies and other baked goods?
January 4th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Ooh. Storms from the comfort of home. That sounds lovely.
January 4th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
We’re just waiting for the onslaught down here. The skies are definitely starting to look ominous. Stay warm and dry up there!
January 4th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Having lost electricity at 9:00 this am along with the side yard fence and tree branches. On the other side of the fence is our neighbor and their dreaded and vicious german sheppard, Saber. Saber now thinks our backyard is his new toilet. When I yelled at him to go home, he jumped up on our patio furniture and had the nerve to viciously bark at me. The neighbors are nowhere to be found.
Jim and I are happily installed at the Hilton downtown. We have heat, electricity, free HBO, warmth and internet access. I would have made a terrible pioneer woman. PG&E says our power will be back on late tomorrow afternoon but just in case, I’ve booked for a second night. Almaden had over 5″ of rain today.
January 5th, 2008 at 9:34 am
Have a care! I like a good storm – so long as it doesn’t get a little too personal. Say, knocking my windows out. We have our own sides of the glass and we should stick to them. Hopefully your dinner was uninturrupted by an impromptu boating expedition!
January 5th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Last night, hystrionic newscasters alerted us to heavy winds that were to sweep up the Strait of Juan de Fuca and rattle the cages of all Port Angeles, WA residents. It never happened. We apparently passed this particular blow job on down to California. If I could, I’d loan you a generator to go with it. Good luck.
January 5th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
Why did you title this California Wimps? This weather is legit. Being from/in California does not mean flooding, white-out conditions and winds of up to 163mph (in Lake Tahoe) are nothing to be concerned about.
January 5th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Thanks everyone! We got lucky. By the time I posted this entry, the worst of the storm had passed. We never lost electricity for more than a few seconds and, aside from a few leaks (you never know how renovations are going to hold until the first big rainstorm), no house damage. Though I suspect that if I wandered outside (which I’m not doing until, say, May), I’d find a number of fallen tree limbs. Hopefully not too many broken windows.
Denise: Hope you enjoy the Hilton’s maid service! (And that you get to go home as soon as maid service gets old. Which might be never, I suppose.)
Nicole: This entry would have been more accurately titled “San Francisco Wimps”. Referring specifically to the wimps in my house who jump at the first sign of wind.
January 6th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Gray glop from the sky
Freezing milk-shake parking lot
“Jack Ass, slow down!” Splash.
– yea, it was a miserable week-end here too. Uninspired or inspired by the storm?
I made an incredible homemade French onion soup and wrote you a haiku. ….hmmmm?