Violent Calif. storm photos (+ a to-do list!)
I haven't posted and crossed off a to-do list in a LONG time, so here is one for today. (Not in any particular order). I'm actually quite proud with how it turned out. *blush* After the list is a "photo essay" documenting the very SAD damages incurred here in my townhouse complex, following the massive amounts of rain and wind much of Northern California had the last two days!!
Take rats back to vet for injection #2 of 2 of Ivermectin mite treatment (postponed due to bad weather: cold wind and rain; will try for Monday).
Change bed linens.
Go thru Christmas cards -- toss some, keep some.
Organize coupon collection & toss at least half, due to being expired. *sigh*.
Document storm damage in townhouse complex (see PIX below!).
Vacuum the house.
Clean all bathrooms.
Dry and wet Swiffer kitchen, family room and landing.
Finish packing up soojaebi's belated Christmas package, fill out huge customs form and mail at Post Office (My postal clerk friend Cindy had been saving a Where's George dollar for me and I didn't even know it!! *cheer* I just re-entered it; it was first entered in Los Angeles almost a year ago!)
Remove incandescent bulb from desk lamp, replace with fluorescent, angle so as to provide the rats with better lighting.
Read cool Oprah article on job success mom was nice enough to clip for me, but which I've been forgetting to read for a few days now..
A view of the "common green" landscaped area, seen from my front door. Most of the fallen branches are from two mature camphor trees (Cinnamomum camphora).
Another view of our common green, from the front door.
A view of the common green with my front door behind and to the right of the big camphor tree (the same tree I used to take pictures of the squirrels hanging out on and around. heh)
A view of the common green closer to the street. The tall tree that dropped a lot of branches/limbs here is a silk oak, which is not even related to oaks! It's a type of grevillea, in fact, as indicated by its horticultural name, Grevillea robusta.
A limb that ripped right off the poor silk oak. You can see a lot of the tree's foliage littered on the grass.
A squirrel in a bare tree in someone's yard. I hope this squirrel didn't lose his or her nest in the storm!
What a huge mess! :( What happened here is that an equally huge limb from a red ironbark eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sideroxylon, or E. tricarpa), and likely some smaller limbs, were flung into a nearby camphor tree, which then had many of its own limbs broken. (Many types of eucalypti are notorious for dropping limbs easily.)
A close-up of the huge mess of eucalyptus and camphor -- ironically, two types of trees that both have a pungent and aromatic smell! When I was taking these pix, a man and women were pulling into their driveway and the man asked me: "Do you think those trees were old or diseased?" (in reference to all the dropped limbs). I'm glad I kept my composure and didn't laugh at his question. Instead, I said something like: "No, the storm last night just blew some branches down, that's all. It's Nature's way of pruning trees!" (I said the last part with a chuckle, although I don't think it's amusing, because these trees should have been THINNED and/or PRUNED months ago, but our lame homeowners association and/or management service didn't arrange it! Then maybe this big mess wouldn't have happened! *grumble*)
A view of the mess from the other side. I actually had to walk in the street for this, because the sidewalk was completely BLOCKED by the mess. Good thing no one had parked their CAR here last night! :O (You can see the pretty bark of the euc in this photo).
There's always something good in something bad. :) Even though I felt very sad for the injured trees, I was happy to be able to get a very close-up photo of the BEAUTIFUL red ironbark eucalyptus flowers on one of the fallen limbs. They're usually too high to photograph well.
A driveway that got littered with lots of fallen branches (thankfully rather small) from one or more coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens). You probably can't see her, but there was a lady with a video camera behind the trees, also recording the storm damage!
When I walked by the clubhouse area and Junior Olympic size pool, I was agog to see how FULL the pool was! You might not be able to tell in this photo, but the water level looks like it's dangerously close to flooding!
This is (or should I say WAS, sadly) an Australian willow. Despite it common name, it's not a willow. Its horticultural name is Geijera parviflora.
I also felt very sad when I saw this pretty evergreen pear (Pyrus kawakamii) had been felled by the rain-saturated soil, the wind, or BOTH.
A branch fell on my neighbours' cute MG convertible. I think the car was okay.
This poor white alder (Alnus rhombifolia) lost a large portion of itself during the storm. Now it looks terribly lanky and off-balance. I'll explain the fallen tree trunk and pile of branches and wood in a moment.
Another view of the white alder tragedy. It looks like this huge limb was literally peeled off! The pile of cut branches is probably a combination of this tree's lost limb, and the complete loss of the tree in the next photo.
At least the first alder is still standing. Look at THIS alder! The whole tree fell into the street, and an emergency tree crew cut it up. If I was into smoking my own fish, I'd probably take some of this wood to make alder-smoked salmon. At least then SOMETHING useful would come out of the poor tree's death.
And finally, another example of "something good in something bad". :) In the midst of all this destruction, I noticed that the callas (Zantedeschia aethiopica) the end of my driveway were starting to bloom! It's a bit early for them to do that, but that's OK with me! They actually have a very long blooming period and seem very happy in that spot, where they've been slowly expanding for years.
A view of the "common green" landscaped area, seen from my front door. Most of the fallen branches are from two mature camphor trees (Cinnamomum camphora).
Another view of our common green, from the front door.
A view of the common green with my front door behind and to the right of the big camphor tree (the same tree I used to take pictures of the squirrels hanging out on and around. heh)
A view of the common green closer to the street. The tall tree that dropped a lot of branches/limbs here is a silk oak, which is not even related to oaks! It's a type of grevillea, in fact, as indicated by its horticultural name, Grevillea robusta.
A limb that ripped right off the poor silk oak. You can see a lot of the tree's foliage littered on the grass.
A squirrel in a bare tree in someone's yard. I hope this squirrel didn't lose his or her nest in the storm!
What a huge mess! :( What happened here is that an equally huge limb from a red ironbark eucalyptus (Eucalyptus sideroxylon, or E. tricarpa), and likely some smaller limbs, were flung into a nearby camphor tree, which then had many of its own limbs broken. (Many types of eucalypti are notorious for dropping limbs easily.)
A close-up of the huge mess of eucalyptus and camphor -- ironically, two types of trees that both have a pungent and aromatic smell! When I was taking these pix, a man and women were pulling into their driveway and the man asked me: "Do you think those trees were old or diseased?" (in reference to all the dropped limbs). I'm glad I kept my composure and didn't laugh at his question. Instead, I said something like: "No, the storm last night just blew some branches down, that's all. It's Nature's way of pruning trees!" (I said the last part with a chuckle, although I don't think it's amusing, because these trees should have been THINNED and/or PRUNED months ago, but our lame homeowners association and/or management service didn't arrange it! Then maybe this big mess wouldn't have happened! *grumble*)
A view of the mess from the other side. I actually had to walk in the street for this, because the sidewalk was completely BLOCKED by the mess. Good thing no one had parked their CAR here last night! :O (You can see the pretty bark of the euc in this photo).
There's always something good in something bad. :) Even though I felt very sad for the injured trees, I was happy to be able to get a very close-up photo of the BEAUTIFUL red ironbark eucalyptus flowers on one of the fallen limbs. They're usually too high to photograph well.
A driveway that got littered with lots of fallen branches (thankfully rather small) from one or more coast redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens). You probably can't see her, but there was a lady with a video camera behind the trees, also recording the storm damage!
When I walked by the clubhouse area and Junior Olympic size pool, I was agog to see how FULL the pool was! You might not be able to tell in this photo, but the water level looks like it's dangerously close to flooding!
This is (or should I say WAS, sadly) an Australian willow. Despite it common name, it's not a willow. Its horticultural name is Geijera parviflora.
I also felt very sad when I saw this pretty evergreen pear (Pyrus kawakamii) had been felled by the rain-saturated soil, the wind, or BOTH.
A branch fell on my neighbours' cute MG convertible. I think the car was okay.
This poor white alder (Alnus rhombifolia) lost a large portion of itself during the storm. Now it looks terribly lanky and off-balance. I'll explain the fallen tree trunk and pile of branches and wood in a moment.
Another view of the white alder tragedy. It looks like this huge limb was literally peeled off! The pile of cut branches is probably a combination of this tree's lost limb, and the complete loss of the tree in the next photo.
At least the first alder is still standing. Look at THIS alder! The whole tree fell into the street, and an emergency tree crew cut it up. If I was into smoking my own fish, I'd probably take some of this wood to make alder-smoked salmon. At least then SOMETHING useful would come out of the poor tree's death.
And finally, another example of "something good in something bad". :) In the midst of all this destruction, I noticed that the callas (Zantedeschia aethiopica) the end of my driveway were starting to bloom! It's a bit early for them to do that, but that's OK with me! They actually have a very long blooming period and seem very happy in that spot, where they've been slowly expanding for years.