Prepare for October

You have heard the term "batten down the hatches". It has a nautical origin and 'battening down' was done on ships when bad weather was expected. Well right here in Rancho Cucamonga the first of October should be the official batten down the hatches day. Any day now the big, bad, naughty wind is going to arrive. It will undoubtedly arrive in the middle of the night (typically at around 1:00am). It will blow for a couple of days at a time and will make a mess of this lovely place. So I decided that I had better get busy. I made sure that all the trash cans were tucked away in their little corner where the wind won't catch them and send trash all over my backyard as well as all my neighbors backyards. Next I checked for anything that could go flying in a 50 mph gust.



All umbrellas and pool toys were stored away in the garage and all patio chairs that were around the pool were moved to the patio. I did leave the patio furniture, usually it will stay put unless the wind is really fierce. I am thinking of putting the furniture covers over the table and chairs then wrapping bungee chords all the way around to hold it on.

The final task the trees. Now best case would be to actually strip every leaf off of every bush and tree in the yard. That is not possible. I did decide to go after my apple tree and my peach tree. They were both totally overgrown and a mess. I have no idea if this is a good time to trim them. I don't care if it was a good time to trim them. I am certain that trimming them on a morning when it's already 90 degrees outside is not good. Nope -- don't care about that either. In fact I will say that if that peach tree never had another peach on it I wouldn't care, but I digress. So here are before and after pictures of my work.

Apple Tree with peach tree in the background before :


The apple tree after surgery



The peach tree after surgery




Even with all the preparations I can still expect to find all kinds of junk in my yard when that first wind kicks up. A few things from the past: empty soup cans, kiddie pool, boxes, beach balls, newspaper, a dirty diaper, anything that you might find in a persons trash cans. We have scooped out a few unfortunate critters from the pool who were walking to close to the edge when a big gust came. Sorry Mr. Gopher, Miss bunny rabbit, baby mouse.

Now, lest you think that where I live is the pits let me say that there is something wonderful about that wind. It makes for the most beautiful clear blue skies you could imagine. The rest of the year is also great here. Warm, warm, and sunny. No snow, no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no non-stop rain. Hey! how did these pics get in here?





In fact it is such a great place to live I think some of you should come and visit. Even if it is during the windy season. Any takers?

So there it is. What kind of crazy weather do you live with and what do you do to get ready for it?