October 17, 2015
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Mid October 2015
Shortly after returning from the fumigation escapade, I noticed a strange object under the tree in front of my home.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that it was a mushroom.
Our seasons have been strange this year, but I thought that mushrooms grew at the end of the rainy season, rather than the beginning! I think the landscapers must have put down some mulch recently that contained spores which were activated by a light rain followed by high humidity.
You may have read recently of our mudslides. Although it's been overcast in this part of the world, there hasn't been much rain. However, on Thursday evening, about dusk, when a lot of northbound traffic was on the one major freeway about 100 miles north there was a huge downpour, with about 4-6 inches of rain falling in an hour. That much rain, in an area where two years ago there were severe brushfires, causes major mudslides. People who were there said that it started with the freeway turning into a river, then to a river of mud as a hillside collapsed. Well over 100 vehicles were trapped in the mud in about 15 minutes, and similar slides occurred in other areas, making it impossible to travel north from LA except through Santa Barbara. They said the traffic back-up on that highway was as long as 50 miles! I'm glad it wasn't a weekend for which I might have driven to Santa Barbara!
While that was all happening, the weather here was overcast, quite warm, and very humid.
I drove to Dana Point to see what weather might be coming from the coast, and saw these boats arriving.
The sky was gray, but the water was calm, and the weather not threatening. We have now had several days like this, and expect to have several more before the sun returns. I have been glad to be at home, where I am relatively safe and comfortable when this type of weather happens!
As a side note, any rain that falls in such deluges doesn't do much to break our drought. What little might fall into a reservoir will help bring a mouthful or two of drinking water to the area, but the rest flows away to the ocean. If we have a winter of rains like that, enough might fall into lakes to 'ease' the drought, but it will take several rainy years to break the 5-year drought we have had.
Comments (18)
As usual, your pictures are delightful. I always get a lift when you put them up. Sure hope you don't get lots of those mushrooms. I had a whole double circle of them this summer. They are a nuisance to get rid of. Still wishing some of our rain on you. At least it's a bit cooler the last few days and not quite as humid.
Thanks, Char -- I'm glad you enjoy my photos! The HOA takes care of the mushrooms -- but I've seen them in several places this summer -- looks like a bad batch of mulch! A couple of years ago I saw a complete ring -- I've never seen a double ring! We've had a lot of humidity where I live in South Orange County (CA), but farther north they had devastating rain a couple of days ago. I think I'd rather have the humidity than rains that heavy!
Too bad that the rain caused such trouble.. I kind of like the mushrooms - fungi is interesting in a prehistoric way!
Thanks Val -- I didn't know that about fungi -- I've always been interested in them, but will look at them with different eyes now! I'm sure these will disappear shortly as the landscapers will remove them, but I thought they were different than what I've seen before (mostly more like button mushrooms), and pretty interesting! Most of the roads are open now, but one will take several more days to clean up!
It would be extremely naive of anyone to expect much more than a dent in the dust, from just one El Nino year.
I will be glad to see the lakes gain 20% of their capacity, from the highly likely downpours that are forecast.
There is a tendency here to say "oh, good, an el nino year might fill the lake, and then we won't have to worry about the drought!" An extreme el nino might fill the lake (or at least some of the lakes), but the aquifers are all depleted, and the snow pack is really more important than the lake water at this point! Hopefully Santa Barbara won't decide to terminate the desal project just because of a good el nino, as they did in the 80's!
Lukcy you and lucky us. You get mushrooms and we get your great photos.
My wife was affected by the mudslied and she was on 101!!!!
Some friends visiting Santa Barbara for the weekend decided Friday to go to Ventura on a shopping trip with her elderly mother. They called her sister and asked what was wrong with the freeway that it was super-congested in both directions! We may be in for a winter of such disruptions!
I find mushrooms and fungi so interesting. Serious draught is devastating and takes a long time to reverse.
I had no idea mushrooms have such prehistoric roots! I'm hoping that we'll have slow but steady rains throughout the winter -- so far we haven't had much here, although they had 4-6 inches an hour just 100 miles from here!
@slmret: I hope there are enough people still around, who remember 30 years ago, and wish to retain the desalination project.
They are using the skeleton of the old plant to construct a new one. I think that should give somebody a clue that it's important to finish this one and keep it operational! They've actually budgeted for continued operation, so hopefully it will be done right this time!
That mudslide must have been horrifying!
I'm so glad I live 100 miles away from where the mudslide was. They have just now cleared all the vehicles (cars and trucks), and are opening the roads as they get the mud cleared away!
I did watch the horrible after effects of that rain... the mud slides and the vehicles that were stuck in the mud. What a lot of problem for all the people concerned.
Sometimes I watch a reality show called Housewives of Orange County, and Million dollar Listing in LA. In one of the shows I saw a huge sign on an over-pass and it read DANA POINT. I sat upright and said, that's not too far from where Janet lives. Mohamed was impressed.
I watched a little of the mudslides too. Scary. I love the mountains but they are not safe sometimes, but then what is? Life isn't safe, so we live with that knowledge and make the most of everyday. I hope.
Wonder if the mushroom was edible?
On some of your photos we see the ancient plage has been cut and taken off by a change of the currents of the ocean.
Personnally I love yhe sea side when it wendy and a little cold: You are not in the crowd and are able to taste the beauty and the huge voice of the sea.
Love
Michel
https://fauquetmichel.wordpress.com/
What a wonderful place to go and sit. Looks like a lot of erosion in some spots and I see you made a friend in the gull.
Hugs
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