It's an El Niño winter here in the Northwest. We love 'em, albeit a bit guiltily, since this means most of our bad winter weather is pushed south into California! So far we've had only one wind storm of any consequence & our electricity was only out a few hours. Just about any wind storm around here means downed trees & loss of electricity. Our power has been out as long as 3 days over the years, which means life goes on in a nearby motel since we can't flush toilets or have running water.
We've even seen the sun on numerous days, which is unusual in this part of the country. The 100 yd. walk to our mailbox up on the one lane community road, which is fortified every summer with new wood chips on a path, seems hardly damp. Most winters we have to don garden boots to slog through the low spots which get boggy from the incessant rain.
Soon we'll be seeing whales as their spring migration to Alaska begins a bit early & yesterday I sent for a new, larger hummingbird feeder to replace a smaller one that is less popular with our little friends & also easier to clean. I go through about 6 lbs. of sugar, from the middle of March to the end of June, when they go farther north, but this year they'll probably appear sooner too.
Photo: In an ordinary winter our wood-chipped path to the mailbox is only navigable in boots.
