So we had some very dramatic weather two days this week. The thunder was so loud the first night, it vibrated through my floor that I could feel it. I think I was in the middle of it then and I was glad to be home. My cats became very still and anxious, but since I was there, they just stayed close to me. We had flash floods and mudslides in our county the second day. Many people were trapped but no one was hurt badly. When they did get these people, they were put up in churches and schools until it was safe to leave. Some people were stuck in their cars for twenty hours. I would say this was very scary for these people. In Bakersfield, we had very heavy rains for a very short time, with flooding and some traffic accidents. My friend Janet and I met at Mexicali the second night. It was raining heavily and I could hear the rumble of thunder outside. Right outside the window we saw an accident where a truck (a pickup) hit an elderly man in a car. The ambulance and fire truck were there helping this man. I think he was more shook up than hurt, though his car was really damaged.
Highways 58 and 5 were closed which are the connections to Southern California, Los Angeles. When this happens, trips south of us are canceled. This ground cannot handle so much water at one time. It must be spread out and come down less fiercely for us to get the benefit of water. We are in a drought, but the extreme the other way does more damage than help us. On Saturday, yesterday, they were still warning about flash floods and telling people up in the mountains to head for high ground immediately but I heard no further update, so compared to what they had, it must have been less.
Here is a video of some of the mudslide on 5 filmed by ABC 23 News and pictures taken by news stations and people who were in it.
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| This is Highway 99 Coming into the Central Valley |
I was in a situation like this soon after I moved to Bakersfield 37 years ago. I had stopped to get a large iced tea at a fast food restaurant less than an hour before I was in this spot on Interstate 5 just before the Grapevine. Ugh! It was one huge parking lot at night time with people wandering around. I had to pee so bad! I didn't think I could make it. I emptied the tea and used that container covering myself with a coat that I had. I was up there for about three hours. Your don't usually think of preparing for situations like this. After that, I found a urinal for women pilots that I kept in the car. I have it somewhere. I think I'd better find it and put it back in the car!
This is Highway 58. Hundreds of cars were buried along with a lot of trucks! Amazing that no one was hurt!
https://www.facebook.com/bakersfieldnow/posts/10153669457364935 This video is very scary. Women in a car are screaming and swearing fearful for their lives. It was possible also to be pushed off the highway which could have meant a very long fall.
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| Mud Rose So High that Cars Topped Trucks! |
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| Many Cars and Trucks Were Buried in the Mud |
My daughter Shelley took a picture of the sunset that evening. You wouldn't have known we had had such dramatic weather that afternoon. It took until the following afternoon to clear the 99 freeway so traffic could get through! Highway 58 is still closed!
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| Sunset from My Daughter Shelley's Home Picture by Shelley |
My daughter Ronda in Illinois is involved in a project making Teddy Bears for children at a local hospital. I am impressed. Here is the first one she finished. She is disabled, so I am impressed she is actively doing this.
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| Ronda's First Teddy Bear She Made for Children at a Local Hospital Near Her |
I got some pictures of my two great grandsons, Conner and Kason. Conner is a good big brother and they are very close.
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| My Grandson Billy, his Wife Megan and Their Two Sons, Conner and Kason |
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| Conner is at the Top and Kason Just Below Him |
My granddaughter Crystal invited me to watch a 3D ultrasound of her daughter Nylah, my first great granddaughter to be, who is due in December. It was interesting. Nylah really didn't want to move, but there were a few pictures taken. About two or three weeks before she is due, Crystal will do this again.
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| 3D Ultrasound of Nylah Marie Garcia at 29 Weeks Gestation |
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| This is my Granddaughter Crystal and Lorence |
So at my art class with Carol Bradshaw, she showed me what to do to make my friend Barbara's dog Patti have a sense of roundness with shadows and highlights. I showed her what I had done with my friend Janet's dog Poopy and she felt I was coming along. She showed me how to do the hair on the edge of the body without outlining the body. I also showed her the picture I took of my cat Pepper that I want to do. The assignment is just the contour drawing of her.
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| I added shading to Patti to give her form. Patti was a mix of Pug with Miniature Bull Dog |
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| I included a picture of Pepper so you could see her bow above her lip. |
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| My first attempt to draw Pepper whole. I have drawn her face in the past. This is just a contour. Much more needs to be done. |
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| This is Poopy using curved lines to show hair. She was a Bichon Frise |
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| I shaded in the body and then used an eraser to make the hair on Poopy in this version. |
Last Sunday my friends Barbara and Janet an I saw The Martian. That was a great movie. The science was as accurate as it could be with our current knowledge. It was also a feel good movie with China helping the United States to save this man and the whole world anxious for all to turn out well. Great movie! And, we finished it off by going to Casa Loma a good Mexican restaurant close to my home.
It was a very exciting week with the weather we had. It is supposed to be an El Niño year, which means lots of rain. It is good, but we do much better stretching it out rather than having it come so fast and hard in such a short period of time. Actually, what we need is snow in the higher areas. When it melts, it will come to us. Our ground can't seem to handle much direct rain. Then we have flash floods and mudslides. Highway 99 opened the following afternoon and 58 remains closed, but should open soon.
That is it for an unplanned exciting week. I hope yours was less exciting than this. I will see you next Sunday. Rachel
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