A wet winter isn’t new to us. Seems like it happens every spring/winter during our travels. We are always pushing the seasons, especially in the fall, winter and spring to catch the fall colors, wildflowers or the first tree blossoms. We spent part of our winter in San Diego this year.
Wet San Diego
The last couple of years annual rainfall has exceeded the average, which makes everyone happy. Never the less, it is usually warm and sunny here and the beaches are amazing to visit all winter, especially since there aren’t many tourists.
We live near Lake Hodges. The dam is in the background. We didn’t get another dog, just walking our neighbors beagle, Whisky, on a fire road. The dam was completed about 106 years ago. It is rare to see it full, but with all the rainfall the last couple of years, it should have been. California is known for not having enough water. They don’t have enough dams either. The state also has severe budget issues, spending billions on less important programs instead of water and energy. So, when the Lake Hodges dam needed repair, one would think, the state would have been all over it. Nope, they just keep releasing millions of gallons of water into the ocean instead of spending money on fixing it. They speculate 2034 as a completion date, maybe.
Lake Henshaw is an earthen dam near Julian. It’s water is primarily used for agriculture. The water level is also severely reduced because the State of California had earthquake concerns, but no reinforcement had ever been done. Yet, the local governments keep handing out massive housing permits despite severe water restrictions. We weren’t even allowed to use our garden fountain because the state believed it was a waste of water.
Birds, Coyotes & Wet Winter
Sandy enjoys watching and feeding them. It seems like there are more this year, possibly because it has been so wet and cold. Finches, sparrows, doves, red wing black birds and scaly-breasted munia are at her feeders daily.
Rufous-sided towhee also enjoy the feeders and nearby, there are a few lakes were there are water birds.
This sharp-shinned hawk just finished dining on a dove who was at one of the feeders.
Looking out onto our back hillside we frequently see coyotes. These are 3 different ones. Occasionally we see deer and bobcat.
We get a variety of hummingbirds in the winter. Mostly Rufous, Anna’s, Costas and Black-chinned hummingbirds. Even with 3 feeders there sometimes are up to seven hummers at one of the them.
The hummingbirds have plenty of natural food sources even during a wet winter in San Diego. There are so many flowering plants that they love. Birds of paradise really put out the nectar. Agave bloom this time of the year. Oddly, bananas were also in bloom.
Temecula, Wine Country
We went on a rainy day to Wiens and Wilson Creek wineries. Wiens had a classical guitar player. At Wilson Creek we had a wonderful lunch then listened to live Frank Sinatra music.
Palomar Observatory
We rarely come up here, but the views are amazing. At an altitude of 5,617 feet, the observatory was built in 1928 and has a 200 inch telescope. We walked the grounds and went inside to see the telescopes.
We had a couple of full moons. Jupiter and it’s moons were also photogenic when the skies were clear.
