Maggie's Farm

Dig it. It's always gratifying to be something before it's cool, or to choose "x" when everybody else chooses "y" instead of "x".

The chilluns recently moved out, and I chucked all my other daily traditional office work wear. Now I go to work in black boot-fit Wrangler's, with snappy-looking Western-cut shirts, bolo ties, fancy engineer-style boots, and Western hats. On Thursday and Friday I might switch to blue Wrangler's. Always dry cleaned, pressed. No faded raggedy crap for me. I get nothing but compliments for my distinctive dressing. The chicks on the other hand don't dare show up in our offices wearing yoga pants. Eww. I figure I'm doing my part to uphold the standards. When you look good, you feel good, and when you feel good, you do good work.

Califrikkinfornia is whistling past the graveyard and counting its chickens when it ain't got any hens. Another dry winter and the d***fools that run Cali and the bigger d***fools that vote for them are going to be showed up for the d***fools they are.

There's no one alive, and no weather model powerful and complex and valid enough, to predict the rain/snow that California will get this winter and spring. There was a weak El Nino last year, a distinctly warmer than average north eastern Pacific sea surface temperature, and a persistent north-eastern Pacific high-pressure ridge, all that diverted all the storms to Boston. This year, the warmer than average noreastPac SST is even more extensive, the noreastPac atmos pressure remains high and persistent, and the El Nino is stronger. The last time Cali had El Nino rain/snow was in 2010, and it didn't come till March/April, too late. This year's El Nino looks stronger, but so do the countervailing forces.

Nobody knows anything until February. Until then it's place your bets ladies and gents, and pray that God doesn't roll another pair of California snake eyes.