Santa Ana Winds

This morning I was awakened about half an hour to an hour before I like to wake up. The Santa Ana winds were blowing. They are expected to blow throughout today. Many regions of the world have characteristic winds in periods of the year. I notice that they are unsettling to people and often make people anxious and jumpy.

Here, I think we have reason to be nervous since the winds suck moisture out of already drying plants and small sparks can start fires that are driven miles from the source rapidly. Although we live in a suburban area that is between a hospital and a high school, and thus likely to get plenty of attention if a fire approaches, I still worry. In addition, we are leaving our dogs at a kennel that has hills above it this weekend.

I did read on Wikipedia, my new source of quick information on such phenomenon, that there are some benefits to the Santa Ana winds. One is stirring up water in the ocean, bringing deep water to the surface. I forget why this is beneficial. Apparently it is, though. Also, the air is clear. Don mentioned that he had never seen the air so clear here this morning. Yes, but. There is often a "Yes, but." There is all sorts of stuff being blown to my home that will come in in the form of dust. I will likely have some allergic rhinitis as a consequence. Also, the yard gets full of debris that needs sweeping or blowing to remove, just when we are going away. The pool fills up with leaves. We'll scoop as many as we can before we leave. Hopefully, the winds will have died down by noon tomorrow.

I am trying to carry on as usual to get all the preparations done to leave tomorrow. I do feel jumpy, and wish I could just climb back into the warm bed and draw up the covers.