It’s Only November and The Creek is Rising

At the far end of the Acre we have a small valley that slopes westward towards a creek that empties into the San Luis Rey River a couple of miles away.

Normally, the valley is dry, lined with coastal live oaks and a favorite hangout for the chickens. During the rainy season in winter the valley can turn into a small creek — though this happens infrequently, and usually toward the end of the winter in El Niño years.

But, Mother Nature isn’t one for sticking with habits, so a series of Pacific storms came through this past week and dropped several inches of rain — almost 4-inches, which the most we’ve had in November in almost 50 years. So now we have a muddy creek flowing.

Mostly I feel bad for my neighbors upstream. They have a small cut flower operation and they had just tilled and planted for winter. Most of that is now in my yard and my neighbor’s downstream.

Upside, maybe the valley will be full of flower come spring.