I can’t let the weekend go without recognizing the passing of Mark Felt, a.k.a. “Deep Throat,” the former FBI associate director who exposed Richard Nixon’s hijinks and in so doing drove Nixon from office. What an incredibly brave step that was, though his true motives might never be known.
December 21, 2008
Happy winter solstice!
Today is the winter solstice, the official start of winter and the darkest day of the year. From now until mid-summer the day will get longer.
No lack of rain this year
What a difference a year makes. Today our back yard is saturated – the steady rains we’ve had recently have dumped so much water on us that it has nowhere to go. We had a small stream in our backyard after last night’s rain.
Contrast this with how things looked last year, when we were in the midst of a serious drought and Falls Lake stood ten feet below normal. It was Christmas 2007 when Falls Lake fell to its lowest point ever.
The big difference was the month of September [PDF], when we got almost five inches more of rain than normal! That actually turned our rain deficit from Jan 2007 into a surplus of almost 2 inches! November and December should push the totals up even more.
There are still other parts of the state still suffering from drought, particularly the mountain areas. I hope they get some good snow in the coming winter months.