Wondrous Weather

We had plans to have lunch with OilMan's niece, her husband and their three year old today. The power company had plans to turn off our power from 9-3 today to 'work on overhead power lines'. Neither thing happened. Lindsay and Adisa live in Oakland so OilMan had chosen a restaurant in Napa that is about half way between us. When I called and suggested that we wait for better weather and then get together here Lindsay sounded relieved. I don't think she was relishing the idea of a restaurant with a three year old...

We were happy the power company didn't turn off our power....probably because the ground is so saturated that trees are uprooting themselves all over and bringing down power lines with them. 

It has been raining on and off for days. We're told that the tropical river has moved on but that cold air moving down from Alaska is wringing all the tropical moisture out of the atmosphere and the weather will be 'unstable' through the weekend. I don't need a meteorologist to tell me that it's cold outside. And a meteorologist is no use when it comes to flooded roads, of which there are many right now. I was able to photograph the afternoon downpour because it turned out to be hail. I took the standard picture out the kitchen window, but it was anything but standard. I liked the somewhat painterly look of it....

With nothing to do after canceling our lunch date, I sat on the couch knitting and watching the birds for a long time. High drama out there today. There were hundreds of little birds out there sitting in the trees, on the bushes and lining the arms of the bird feeders. They seem to be in a catch 22 situation of sorts, poor things. They need the food to stay warm, but expend all the energy they gain getting more food.

It is always a conundrum whether to feed them and today's drama didn't help.. A flash of white shot by at ground level and every single bird vanished. Even though I didn't really see it, I knew it was a hawk. I found it on it in a tree and spied on it for quite awhile but didn't see any bright little bird in its beak...

It's a tough job being a bird, whether you're a goldfinch or a Coopers hawk*

*extras