Things Start to Dry Out

Other than a quick-passing little downpour early last week, it has not rained significantly in the Santa Monica Mountains since February. It looks like the rainy season is winding down. Rainfall totals vary by location, but most areas will end up with somewhat below average precipitation. Some parts of the Santa Monicas may be as low as 50% of average, while other isolated areas, such as the Liebre Mountain area east of the Grapevine, may actually end up above average. As a whole, the rains, which mostly came in February, were sufficient to allow a lot of wildflowers to bloom, but were not abundant enough to fuel a large growth of weeds. So, the native herbaceous wildflowers have benefitted from this year's rainfall pattern, even though our water supply did not benefit.

I was up in Mammoth last weekend snowboarding with friends. There is actually quite a bit of snow there, though again, the snowpack is somewhat below average. I also went cross-country skiing, something I plan to do more of when I get to Vermont.

Next weekend shouldn't be too eventful, but I've been busy lately so that is not a bad thing. I hope to pick up a netbook computer, and hopefully after that I can start uploading pictures to this blog again.

Going to Vermont

So it's official! I was accepted to UVM and I'm going to be spending the next two years in Burlington, Vermont (starting this summer). Hopefully, once I get a more consistent internet connection, I'll be upgrading this blog and posting more about the rest of my time in California, my trip across the country, and my experiences in Vermont.

Meanwhile, things in Malibu are good, despite the dry conditions (or perhaps because of them - they are quite drought tolerant) there are a lot of nice wildflowers this year and the mountains are still green and beautiful. By the time I leave, the hills will be brown again and the rain will be gone from southern California until next fall. On the other side of the continent, it rauns during the summer, and things will be very green.

The canyons are beautiful right now...

I'm sorry I haven't been able to upload any pictures lately. I don't have internet access at home, and don't want to download my personal photos at work. In any event, the canyons are beautiful right now with plants starting to bloom and the hills green with non-native invasive grasses. Things are going great at SAMO, and the new place I live is neat, although I am still a little bit sad about leaving my 'past life' (me and Sara are not currently dating, as we go seperate ways in the world, and are being pulled in different directions).

Anyway, things are definitely getting better over the long run, and it feels so good to be back in the canyons and chaparral vegetation I truly love. After a day in the chaparral, I can still 'feel' and smell the sage and ceanothus flowers after I get home...

It looks like the rains may be over. The next rain I see may be in a different state. I won't hear if I am going to Vermont or not until April, probably.

Going to Malibu

Hello all,

Tomorrow I'm moving back to Malibu to work for the Park Service for the next four months. I'll be living in park service housing again (but not Solstice Canyon since the dorm there burned down in a wildfire a year ago). It will be a fun spring since I'll be spending time with friends and looking at plants, and it could be an interesting wildflower year, especially if it rains more in March.

I'm not sure if the new park housing has internet yet, and if it doesn't, I might not be making very many posts for a while. Hopefully they have it all set up.

I'll be closer to LA so I hope to see friends and family in LA more often this spring... especially since I may be moving to Vermont this summer.