Tonight the strongest Santa Ana Winds that we have ever experienced are howling outside our home. Before moving here, we had never even heard of these powerful winds that arrive from the Great Basin area. If we were on the southeast coast, we would attribute these unrelenting winds to a tropical storm or hurricane. The electric company was right in their decision to turn off the electricity to prevent wildfires today. It's a pain to be without electricity and to have to relocate food from the refrigerator into ice-filled coolers but it certainly is worth the effort on a night like this. Our home is on a ridge so we feel every bit of the wind. Our home is shaking and even the water in the toilets is moving. Whoa! I've never seen that before. When the storm is over and the power returns, I plan on writing about some incredible birds that I saw this week but for now, the story is the wind! Here's to hoping the windows and trees hold strong through the night! We don't want to experience a blow out like we did at the lookout tower! Whew!
