It never rains in California!

Everybody knows that it doesn't rain in California. I mean, come on...we've all watched the Rose Parade and we all know that while the rest of the country is up to it's eyes in bad weather, California is nothing but blue skies.

'Least that's what the state board of Tourism would have you believe. As a once and future native, I know better. Growing up I was annually reminded of this little-known truth while I drowned like a rat running from class to class across one of California's hundreds of open, outdoor high school campus'.

So when I wrote this the other night, I was hoping against hope. It hit overnight and greeted us yesterday morning, though by late afternoon she was done for the day. This morning however, it picked up and has not let up at all.

As of this writing, we're well into what should be a two-day soaker, replete with flood watches and warnings of various sorts:

SOUTH WINDS WILL GRADUALLY INCREASE TO 35 TO 45 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH OVERNIGHT. THE STRONGEST WIND WILL OCCUR EARLY MONDAY MORNING AND DIMINISH AND BECOME SOUTHWEST 15 TO 25 MPH DURING THE AFTERNOON. THE COMBINATION OF DAMAGING WINDS AND VERY HEAVY RAIN WILL MAKE TRAVEL POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS DUE TO DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES TONIGHT THROUGH MONDAY.

Local weather reports have called for anywhere between 2" to 4" of rain today into tomorrow(I am appreciating the irony of it all the more today after having caught Roman Polanski's dark masterpiece, Chinatown this afternoon. A dark and messy tale of human depravity surrounding one man's desire for control over depression-era Los Angeles' supply of, you guessed it, water).

When I got home the other night, I noticed that our neighbor had moved their RV out of the driveway. "Wonderful," I thought, until I noticed this morning that he'd replaced it with what looked a lot like the keel for an awfully large boat.