JAN 22 WE MADE IT THROUGH THE RAIN...I THINK

Sheepishly I return to the blog. I do have some guilt as I wanted to write in this daily. The truth is I'm not always motivated to do so. I'm a pretty private person. Not anti social mind you , I can talk for hours on many mindless subjects to just about anyone. My daughter told me once I would talk to a pole if it would listen. I talk to my animals regularly. They are great listeners and don't talk back.


Shooting words into cyber-space is something different. I'm use to true human interaction. Connecting with others is truly better when you can see their eyes. I worry about this generation. When you were bored with your parents you went out and socialized. Now they sit on the computer at home typing in code. They are slaying the English language.


Well we made it through the rain . I think. The worst of the storms is over. Or so they say. The media has become a Drama Queen. You know that person. Life is always a train wreck. Someone has always wronged them and this year has been the WORST year ever. Ever growing networks facing competition must draw you back into their lair of overblown information. They promise you destruction .Its happened before don't you know. Don't get me wrong. I do believe they serve a great purpose and save many lives when we are faced with possible disastrous situations but all this drama? Is it really necessary? It does keep me watching though so I guess it works.


Anyway, my hood has changed drastically. At some point in these last few days I realized that except for Jose down the street ,I don't really know his name as he speaks only Spanish and we needed something to call him , we have lived here the longest. Twenty years ago a young single career woman wanting property for her horse moved to the stix. Well not really the stix but back then we were surrounded by orange groves and had to drive 20 minutes for anything but groceries. Now we have 3 grocery stores, a Kohl's, a Kmart , approximately 3 Starbucks and more Americana style franchises than you could count on both hands and feet. The Orange Groves have been replaced by rows and rows of cookie cutter McMansions.


We have always been a "starter" neighborhood. Actually the hood had began as a retirement neighborhood. People wanting a nice quiet rural place to build a little house on a bit of land to tool around on. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the building in this area. Streets and lots being loosely formed by orange grove land owners haphazardly selling off chunks of their land. Need a new harvester? Well I guess I will sell off 20 acres to that construction speculator. Bingo!


Boulder Avenue has been born!!!


As housing became impossibly expensive in Orange County droves of middle class families moved to The Inland Empire for the American Dream. Many found the gentleman farmer dream appealing. A small house on 1/2 an acre was the perfect place to raise their growing family. My neighborhood began to grow. My daughter who grew up with dogs and goats as playmates finally had other children . Houses popped up yearly. We did not become the desperate housewives Wisteria Lane with block parties and drama but more a semi rural socialness. Waves and smalltalk over the fence. The occasional barbeque. Kids playing on the dirt road. A middle class slice of country life.


I don't remember the first time I saw it but in the 20 years I have been here Ive seen some doozys. I'm referring to the river that flows through my property a few days each year. In true California tradition these houses were built with no consideration to water flow. You see our problem is not the weather. It is the lack of planning for it. I have never seen rain like I have seen it in Arizona or Texas. That is true drop buckets from the sky rain. This is truly just regular rain storms with no where to go.


Over the years families have just learned to live with it. Putting channels in their yards,and drainage pipes under driveways .Neighbors with tractors fix the deep water cuts in the road. Yes Ron if your reading this you are missed. Not only for your friendship but the bobcat too. Small streams cut through most peoples yards. I have the distinction of having the arroyo. Yes an arroyo. When it rains water rushes through and just as quickly dissipates. With my trusty chain link fence rake I kill the small dams built from the debris that finds its way into the fast moving waters. Its my job . Its an important job. The street depends on me to keep the flow going. Without me the street will have 3 feet of water in it and no one will get home.


I hate to admit it but I love it. Yes at times It has been stressful .More than once I have had to move horses to a neighbors property and the looming fear this may be the year my house floods never really goes away. Watching the ducks and geese play and bathe in this new found wonderland is beyond describable. Mother nature and the force of water is enlightening. If I ever move I want water around me.


It became a neighborhood event. We would all plan the best way to guide the water across the road. Making small berms and filling ruts with horse manure and dirt. The kids would don bathing suits after the rain and slosh around in the water. Finally culminating in a messy gooey mud fight. Our own special "snow fight" Boulder avenue style.


Like everything that has now changed. The housing boom created an indescribable bubble in the hood. Watching housing prices rise hundreds of thousands of dollars my middle class neighbors were enticed with the lure of easy equity money. Most of the retired neighbors sold their overinflated priced houses for a new future somewhere not as crowded. New middle class neighbors enticed by greedy lenders bought these houses for prices way beyond there means.


One year later my neighborhood died. Me and Jose the only living survivors of the Apocalypse. Oh and Darey a newbie who is still trying to sell his house for over $500,00. Good luck with that one . Empty houses outnumbered the full ones 5 to1 .Walking down the street was eerie. Pretty green lawn replaced by brown shrubby death. Sad empty lonely homes.


As with any apocalyptic tale life eventually regains its footing. New neighbors have started moving in. Grass is starting to come back to life. An occasional child is spotted on their bike.A lonely five year old boy steps off the school bus everyday and walks down the street. Reminds me of Erin at that age. The "starter" families are returning to the hood. With my daughter away at college I have become much like the retired folks. I doubt we will have or be invited to many more neighborhood barbeques as we have nothing in common. A new type of life has started for me .


This coming storm was bittersweet. All alone I set out on my quest to save the road. Still excited for the upcoming events but without some of the fanfare. Kind of like Christmas without the houselights. Still Christmas but missing something. I'm thankful my daughter was home from college.It was nice to have a bit of company. Yesterday when the ken doll weather man warned us of the impending doom coming our way we went to sit on the porch .Keeping an eye on my arroyo is an important task.


Something miraculous happened. I found a new way to celebrate the filling of the arroyo. As we sat on the porch watching small bits of wood and trash weave there way through my chain link fence. Reminiscing the days of the old hood. The Boulder avenue mud fights. The time the water rose to 3 feet. We watched new neighbor's drive by. Staring wide eyed at my ever growing arroyo. These people had never seen a sight like this. It was all the drama you see on the news but here on their street. Christmas lights began to shine.