Los Angeles County is currently under a Winter Storm Warning.

It is Snowing at my house.

No I am not kidding, yes this is real. This is not some, “Hollywood People can’t stand temperatures below 65/” There is an honest to Betsy Winter Storm Warning in effect.

From the National Weather Service: “Heavy snow expected. Total snow accumulations 4 to 8 inches above 4500 and 2 to 4 inches between 3000 and 4500 feet. Wind gusts up to 65 mph.”

To be fair, I am at around 1100 feet elevation, so I am officially outside the warning area, but the warning area is just a mile up the hill from me.

That being said, just before I started writing this post, Auggie and I were watching some crocodile sized tears falling out of the sky. After a bit, I noticed they were getting chunky. By the time I got my phone out to take pictures, white balls that clearly weren’t hail splattered on the hood of my car. They melted in an instant, but this Northerner knows snow when he sees it.

Its a cold day for Southern California. Low of 34, high of 49, and most the overcast day has been in the low forties. All weekend it had been cooler, but this has been a lowpoint.

The rain was different as well. It’s rained each day for the last four – coming and going like today, and full-on toad choker on Saturday. It’s the first time we had any real rain since last March. This does become the wet season for us, and that’s supported by rain most days this whole week. For half my house, the wet is welcoming because it calms the allergies I tend to get. However, getting a puppy’s feets wet is the worst kind of torture there can be. So every time a pup has to do his business, he must cry in pain.

Auggie’s always been like that. I remember when he was just six months old, and we were still figuring out the potty training game. A cold wet rain was falling when I got home from work and took him outside. He sat next to the door wanting to go back in for fifteen minutes; and I waited him out. Finally after getting the job done, we ran inside for some well deserved wet doggie belly scratches. It just was hell up until that point.

So, don’t mind me as I get out my snow blower, driveway salt, and ice scraper. We’ll get through this like all those other catastrophes like earthquakes, sharknados, and the invention of avocado toast. Us Californians are tough like that.

Four Months. It’s been four months since my last blog post. Pretty pathetic don’t you think?

Well, we are in a pandemic. We knew things would be different. It’s just a question how we can get back to what we want to get back to. So I am trying to get back to blogging.

Part of the challenge with blogging for is venue related. Before this pandemic began, I had a weekend routine. I would head to Starbucks every Saturday and Sunday morning, and spend a couple hours banging out meaningless words. Stay at home orders, and there is no Starbucks to sit at. I would also write stuff while on travel in hotels. No Travel, No Hotels. If you think that staying at home would give me the means to keep up the blog – well, there isn’t a lot around the house that is blog worth, and it is my man cave not my write cave.

What have I been doing during this whole thing? Well, not much and still a lot. My work situation is really good. Under out government contract, any time we can’t do our job because of a stay at home order we can charge to administrative leave. While I am not out at suppliers or running around, I stayed busy regardless, and find myself getting behind. I work from home, and haven’t physically seen my coworkers in ten months. I’ve streamed a lot of shows – like remember when the best thing about the pandemic was when we could binge Tiger King? I have played loads of video games. I’ve avoided cleaning, had nearly everything delivered, and watch tons of sports.

Don’t get me wrong, this has been a difficult time. Here in Los Angeles County, we are in a hot zone. During the summer, we worried over the time when we reached 1000 new cases a day; then in a few weeks there was the spike to 3000 new cases a day. Currently we average 12,000 new cases a day. Due to a falling out with my doctor (that was justified), my health deteriorated until I had to be hospitalized in July for a few days. Now with a new doctor and the help of 13 pills a day, I am getting by. I had an issue with the city regarding my lawn. I had my license temporarily suspended due to a paperwork mix-up. I got a dreaded IRS letter. Depression wrecks me. Anxiety wrecks me.

It amazes me how long I’ve gone without normal things. I changed the oil in my car in January, and still haven’t reached the 3000 miles needed for the next. I haven’t cut my hair since July. I can go weeks without leaving my property – and if it wasn’t for my washer and dryer in the garage, wouldn’t have a need to leave the house.

Like I said, I do want to get back to a regular blog. The goal is to publish a new one weekly. God knows what I am going to write about. I will probably bore you with rants about avocados, video game reviews, or random memories. I guess it doesn’t matter, what matters is looking for the light at the end of the tunnel – and this is how I plan on heading there.