After a dry February we saw El Niño roar into March with a few good storms, with an especially strong system that landed Saturday night. Before hand, I had converted one of our wine barrels into a rain catcher and it didn't take long for it to fill up to the overflow tube. Saturday was the exciting day: a tree fell down across the main road into town, and a strong cold-front dropped an amazing amount of water all at once. We lost a bunch of smaller limbs on our oaks, the front drains became plugged, and a lake started creeping towards our front door before we could unplug the drains. Gina's brother Dave was there to help with flashlights and a steady hand on the ladder. The kids were oblivious, of course, venturing outside long enough to look around the backyard and fully-running river. More rain is in the forecast for next week; I'm just glad we fixed the roof before El Niño raised its wet head.
