It's not unusual to get a bout of cold weather in Southern California in April, but in the 5 years we've lived in La Cresta, last night's dusting of snow was a first. Initially, I thought we had some accumulation of hail and/or heavy frost, but on closer examination of all the fluffy white powder on the plants, the grounds, etc., I had to conclude we got snowed on. At least I hope so. Frost happens up here, but it tends to look more icy than "powdery" and it's usually only on the ground (this stuff was on the plants, the fence posts, landscape lighting, etc.). So bwahahahahaaaaa!!!....was all I could emote as Gil & I reverted to kindergarten mode in our giddy exhilaration over this meteorological anomaly. By the time I took these pictures around 8:00am this morning, a lot of the snow had begun to melt off already...too bad we weren't up to see it coming down late last night.
4/9/11 Fence posts.
Veggie bed.
Back patio.
Deck on back patio.
Hummingbird Sage (Salvia spathacea).
Logs next to the pond.
My poor tomatoes! Just transplanted them last weekend.
Garden Sage (Salvia officinalis).
Scallions & cilantro, basking in the frost.
California Sycamore (Platanus racemosa).
St. Francis with a patch of snow on his head. Hope that frock is keeping him warm...
Herb garden.
Frozen pot of Stone Crop (Sedum sempervirens).
Frozen pot of 'Sunset Strain' Bitter Root (Lewisia cotyledon).
Now for a comical interlude. As I was surveying the whitish landscape this morning, I noticed a little drama unfolding with some California Quail and a wannabe cholo bunny. So here's the wabbit staring down a couple of reposing quail.
Wabbit tries the "I'm in your face mo fo" kind of thing, but to no avail.
Then, for effect, he lunges at the meditative girl quail.
Alas, disgusted with the quail's blase response, Wabbit bounds off, a sore loser in this one-sided piss-off match.
All in all, a fun day.
O_O Wow! This is indeed a surprise. It snowed a bit here in the Lafayette Hills (in SF Bay Area) and that is very rare... but SoCal?? WOW! :-)
ReplyDeleteIsn't this year's weather wacky? It briefly snowed on us Friday afternoon during a hike. I love your cholo bunny story.
ReplyDeleteWait...you mean you didn't set your alarm for 3AM so you could go out in the snow? Maybe we are crazy LOL. ;) I'm really surprised you had snow though, especially this late in the season! Love the last shots...silly wabbit!
ReplyDeleteWow, I've missed you! My fault, I guess you disappeared off my Google reader, somehow. I'm glad you got a first snow, pretty exciting, even if it made for frosty tomatoes. I hope all your other veggies make it through OK.
ReplyDeleteLove the bunny and quail!
St. Francis will do fine. My version often survives two feet of snow. The tomatoes? Not so good. :(
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, snow is indeed very rare around here (at least in the lower elevations). Love, love, love it, even if a few of my plants don't!
ReplyDeleteKatie, weather has been extremely wacky. Last week was freezing and today it was 87F. Wonder what's in store for the upcoming season...
Claire, I was seriously thinking about staying up all night, just in case it did snow. But, the last couple times I did that when our trusty "meteorologists" predicted snow levels at record low elevations, I was bummed when the white stuff didn't materialize. Kinda like Murphy's law at work, no? :)
Sue, I disappeared off your Google reader? Say it ain't so! The dusting of snow we got here was pretty exciting, and that's why I enjoy seeing photos of your beautiful winterscapes in the Sierra foothills.
troutbirder, so glad to know that St. Francis remains implacable even under a pile of snow! He must have blessed the tomatoes, too, because they came through that frosty weather relatively unscathed.
This is La Cresta California and not La Cresta Idaho? I'm glad you documented it because I'd have a hard time believing it otherwise. The 2010-2011 is for sure going to go down in the record books for it total strangeness! Cross your fingers that we don't get any of the tornadoes hitting the Southeast.
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