Slippery When Wet

Man, it’s been a long time since I wrote a blog post. My lack of words can be attributed to one thing.

RAIN!!!

I can count on one hand the days I’ve had without the wet stuff.

Seriously.

I bounced around California in January and February, getting evacuated from several campgrounds due to imminent flooding. I was in the foothills above Oroville when they ordered almost 80,000 folks out of their home due to the lake overflowing. 

Seems like half of them ended up where I was camped. People were sleeping in their cars and several brought the farm with them. Horses, goats, chickens, Freddy was going nuts.

California received over 20 inches of rain those two months compared to just a tad over 2 inches the whole previous year.

It was all my fault, of course. 

The Moisture Man.

The last time I was in the state during those months  was 2010. That was when Laguna Beach flooded.

Here are a few pictures I took of that fiasco.

I wrote a little song about the rain.

Sing along to the tune of “Your Song” by Elton John.

It’s a little bit funny

The rain pouring outside

I’m one of the few that can

Create a landslide.

It might seem like too much

But it’s the thing that I do

I am the Moisture Man Cali and

This floods for you.

You sit on your rooftop

Watching cars wash away

Rain keeps on falling and

Skies remain gray.

Storms burst upon you like a

Teenager’s zit

You got what you wished for Cali and

Now just deal with it.

Obviously the rain was driving me crazy…

Quite a few of the following photos were done with my phone, it being waterproof and my Nikon not so much. They have round corners.

When the campsites flooded, Freddy always wound up inside.

Sometimes somehow wrapping himself up in a blanket.

I would tough it out under the awning, cooking warm food.

Sometimes changing it up a little bit.

In March we decided to head north to Oregon. They are used to rain so the flooding would not be as bad. I was sorta right. The flooding wouldn’t happen until the frigging snow melted.

There are 4 Thousand Trails campgrounds along the Oregon coast between Florence and Seaside. We traveled back and forth between them. Always looking for a chance to hit the beach during a dry spell.

Freddy kept an eye on the weather.

Last week the sun came out for a whole day. Yippee!

We went down to the beach at Pacific City. Freddy paused to show me a sign.

“What does this mean?” he asked.

I wasn’t quite sure. I guess Oregon has different pedestrian laws than the rest of the country. We would have to be careful.

We made it safely to the beach.

Oregon beaches are wonderful and the pup had a blast doing puppy things.

He eventually tired and asked me a question.

“I am going to be 2 years old 18 sleeps from now. Will I still be a puppy? Or just a dog?”

“Age is a state of mind” I told him. “You are as young as you think you are.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “I am still a kid inside.”

“Then I will always be a puppy” he said.

And stuck his tongue out at me.

One quick story before I wrap this post up.

Back in January we were camped at the spot where I saw a bobcat several years ago.

There is a big “Y” in an oak tree where the trunk splits next to the campsite that forms a cradle of sorts. Birds would hang out there and watch me cook, hoping I might drop something. I was using an old silver spoon I had found on a beach somewhere to put salsa on a batch of tacos.

I guess this one particular bird had a thing for shiny objects because when I wasn’t paying attention he swooped in and grabbed it. Took it back to the tree. I was pondering this development when the very same bobcat scampered by and climbed up the tree after the bird. The bird made it safely away.

Now the bobcat’s in the cradle with the silver spoon…

Regards,

Greg and Freddy