Stellar Jay

Today was an exact repeat of yesterday...pouring rain, cold wind, hail and even snow  with fewer and shorter intervals of sun. Life is beginning to feel a lot like Groundhog Day. 

While the local reservoir/lakes are now full after years of pictures of landlocked boat ramps and cracked mud, Lake Shasta, one of the largest reservoirs in the state is only 60% full. In the midst of all this pouring rain, we're still being informed that the end of the drought hasn't been declared and we should make water conservation a way of life. However, the snowpack in the Sierra is at its deepest in decades and is a main  source of water  for Los Angeles. 

Many roads are closed in the Sierra now which reminds me of the frustrations of skiing. When the snow is great, it is because it is snowing and either the traffic jams are epic, or the roads are closed altogether. Being snowed in is not nearly as romantic as it sounds....  

We always felt that we never got any better as skiers because we didn't get there often enough to improve.  I could carve a nice telemark turn in one direction, but never mastered joining it up with a turn in the other direction....

It's been so cold that aa lot of spring blooming plants have stalled. The ones that bloomed before all this rain and cold are taking something of a beating. See extra.