Batten Down The Hatches

My day began at 4:00 am when the big storm blew into Auburn. I ran outside in the howling darkness in my pj's trying to secure anything that wasn't already on the ground.

The winds came in at up to 60 mph leaving quite a bit of debris in my yard.

But not as much debris as it left in the unoccupied house's yard across the street. It's quite sad to see such an old, beautiful oak taken out. Especially when it was the view out of my front picture window.

This fallen oak may have been the cause of, or at least contributed to, the nine hour power outage we experienced. Much of the Northern California region experienced loss of electricity as well.

Then came the torrential rains. (When running back to my house after taking this photo, I slipped on my front walk way and careened on my back all the way up to the front door. I felt like a penguin. Luckily it was more funny than painful and my daughter, her friend Ali, and I were in hysterics to the point of not being able to speak for at least five full minutes).

No where in Auburn escaped the hit of this storm. It was quite unsettling actually. Brace yourself Nelly, apparently there are two more storms to follow! Sob.