The above pictures are from our local channels 23 ABC and 17 NBC. I looked on in amazement as they showed streets, parking lots, and fronts of entire houses in Bakersfield covered in the Prickly Russian Thistle weed after the windstorm we had on Sunday. Home and business owners are responsible for cleaning them up, but will hopefully get some help from the city and county.
This is a group of the largest Russian thistles we have here and the huge storm was not able to dislodge them.
Two years ago, the large field next to the road here was covered in lovely yellow mustard weeds, which eventually turned into their own variety of tumble weeds. Last year, the storms were not strong enough to dislodge the majority of them, but now they are coming off with a vengeance.
Samson Says: Get out of the way, you big old prickly thing!
I wanted to post a picture of the largest one I've seen here, but it blew into the drainpipe that goes under the road. The gully is full of them this year and this pipe looks to be pretty clogged up.
The fences are completely covered with weeds.
A dark and not very springlike morning. It rained yesterday, which was great. Sunday that huge wind storm hit us too, around 45 mph sustained winds and gusts up to, who knows what. It was howling. My brother-in-law once said: "The wind speaks to you here." And it does.
But we were lucky because on Saturday we had new carpets installed in our living room and hall. Some of you may remember our disaster when Samson was on steroids and drank gallons of water, which he then proceeded to let out on our carpets. They became impossible to clean, so when we saw a carpet sale announced on TV, we went for it.
This meant I had to empty drawers, cabinets, and my two bookcases. Now I have to put things back, dust all my books, determine which ones will stay and which ones will be donated. We also did something in our dining room and we are now faced with all that work in reverse. Putting stuff back.
Hubby is going to wash down the walls first, but he injured his hands when he installed slate tile in our entrance ways. They are really swollen and hurt badly. Anyway, I'm waiting for him to feel better and for the weather to get a bit nicer so I can sit outside and work on my books.
It's cold and dreary here right now, but I don't mind. Summer heat will arrive soon enough and then you will hear me complain. And isn't the difference in nature between here and the other side of town that I posted yesterday, only about 15 - 25 miles away, sort of amazing?
I have a new email address: iewiltz@hotmail.com. It's also in Pages on top of my blog under Contact Me. I just changed it in Google/Blogger, but haven't had time to let everyone know personally. I will though. AOL is good for now too.
If you don't see my comments on your posts, it's due to all these books and all the rest I have to clean up around here. I will do my best to find time for both.
I have a new email address: iewiltz@hotmail.com. It's also in Pages on top of my blog under Contact Me. I just changed it in Google/Blogger, but haven't had time to let everyone know personally. I will though. AOL is good for now too.
If you don't see my comments on your posts, it's due to all these books and all the rest I have to clean up around here. I will do my best to find time for both.
