Raining--Again/Still

It's another one of those days.

Terry and I were awakened by the sound of heavy rains sheeting against the south and west windows in the bedroom--at 5 AM. The weather gurus had predicted we would get heavy rains along with rising temperatures overnight and they were right--mostly. The rains they did fall and the winds they did howl. Rising temperatures? A little. It got all the way up to 38 at 7 AM. (It was 32 when I went to bed at 9:30 PM.)

Gary and I were supposed to do the weekly bird walk at Hills Creek SP this morning. I called to tell him I wasn't coming. Since he lives only a mile or so from the park headquarters he said he would drive over just to see what idiots--if any--did show up. It was blowing and raining hard there, too.

I took advantage of a brief lull in the rain to hang the bird feeders out and the Juncos, Goldfinches, Chickadees, Nuthatches, Titmice, Purple Finches, and White-throated Sparrows were there immediately.

The Downy Woodpeckers didn't show up and I imagined them in their tree-hollow homes erecting miniature awnings over the opening to keep the rain out. Or they would be asking why they didn't build on the other side of tree.

The temperatures have risen into the 40s now (noon) and the rain has slackened off even if the wind hasn't. Looking at the weather.com radar, there's no rain in the area at all and just one kidney-bean shaped splotch of green--right over Armenia Mountain and the Aerie. That might explain why, when I look out the window, I can't really see anything. We are IN the clouds. Only the fact that we are on the lee side of the hill (the winds are out of the southwest and we are on the northwest side of the ridge) has caused the cloud to lift enough that there's a smidge of clear air immediately around the Aerie. Even the tops of the trees around the clearing are swathed in cloud cotton.

Good day for a nap.

Latter.