(Illustration: A bit after first-light off my back patio, eastward from Mckinleyville — by current appearances, real nice).
Deceptive skies this early Friday on California’s north coast as we encounter a gentle respite in these ‘conveyor-style’ rain storms the last month or so — especially the last batch carrying a shitload of moisture.
And supposedly, we’re just hours away from another drenching with forecasts calling for possible 3-to-5-inches of rain for the area starting late tomorrow and Sunday, maybe up to 7-inches in some places.
Flooding expected, of course, along any stream, river, and most-notably, low-lying roadways.
Helpful advice via the NWS: ‘If you encounter a flooded road, turn around, do not drown.’
Real nice…
Despite the good-natured feel to the air right here, the news this morning a little on the now-normal crazy side, and there’s a belly-full, and a hint.
I didn’t watch any of the GOP debate last night, followed a while the Guardian‘s live-blog, and from all accounts today already, I didn’t miss anything, other than a chance to witness a gnarly grouping of lying idiots — example, this ludicrous idiocy from Dr. Ben Carson and his vast-understanding of ISIS: ‘“Why should we be letting people smoke their cigars in their comfortable chairs in Raqqa?”‘
Yes, really…
And more crazy is the way-under-reported business in the oil business — just in the two weeks of 2016, oil has lost a fifth of its value, and this morning another milestone (via WSJ):
Light, sweet crude recently fell $1.70, or 5.5 percent, to $29.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent, the global benchmark, fell $1.37, or 4.4 percent, to $29.51 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe.
Both set fresh intraday lows dating back 12 years.
Which, in turn (Time): ‘The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline dipped to $1.937 on Thursday, according to AAA. Average prices are down 6¢ over the past seven days, as drivers in every state in the country have benefited from increasingly cheaper prices.’
Good news/bad news as the low pump numbers caused a slight decline in retail sales last month, according to figures released today by the US Commerce Department.
One pat deserves another…
Along with a slap of reality like what to do in winning the lottery — Joan DiFuria, a cofounder of Money, Meaning, and Choices Institute: ‘“I would change my phone number in a heartbeat.”‘
Crazy side of the street…bright sunshine here now, no matter what happens later.