The birds

Mom to the ER
I drove down to the SF Bay Area for the holidays as usual. I was planning to just stay until right after Christmas, but my mom had a health scare so I stayed until Dee and family got back from the Philippines. My dad and his wife were in the Philippines, too, so there was nobody there to stay with my mom. She's fine now, but we have to keep an eye on her health. In fact, I was sicker than she was after she got out of the hospital on Christmas Day.

I went to Dee's house a couple of times during those three weeks to get online, but I was offline from Jan 2nd until I got home to WA.

Mom's 70th
Mom's 70th birthday party on the 7th was a blast. I tell ya, senior citizens could party like teenagers. One of my mom's neighbors Lourdes is 68 years old and she kept dragging me to the dance floor. That lady has more stamina than I do! She kept dancing long after I gave up. Needless to say, I was achy the next day. Methinks I need to take ballroom dancing classes again. I had forgotten the steps already!

Homeward bound
There was a string of storms that hit the west coast that week. Luckily, the 7th was a nice day. But the 8th was stormy again. The winds were not as strong, but the rains came anyway. They forecasted that the 9th would be partly cloudy before another storm hits on the 10th. So, I decided to drive home on the 9th.

I left Alameda at 5:30 am. There were cars but not much traffic. I was going above the speed limit until I got out of the Bay Area. I stopped at an IHOP near Vacaville. I figured I had time because I wanted to get to Portland after the rush hour was over. I took a few naps along the way since I only had four hours of sleep.

Thousands
Well, after Hwy 505 merged with I-5, I started seeing flocks of birds. They would cross the highway and almost get run over. I was trying to see if they were heading south, but they were crisscrossing the highway like they didn't know where they were going. Some were going southeast, some directly east, some southwest, some directly west. Then the few flocks became hundreds of birds. And the hundreds became thousands. Not only geese either. I saw a lot of black birds and even seagulls. And I-5 is not *that* close to the sea!

There was even a stretch of a couple of miles or so where the sky was covered with birds. Literally. A swarm of birds. A cloud of birds. At different altitudes. There was still a pattern in the swarm though. You could still see the interweaving V-shaped flocks. It was amazing! And, well, kinda frightening too. It's one of those omens that something bad is about to happen, you know. And you start thinking, "Ummm, I wonder if I'm going the wrong way...." I was half expecting Godzilla to come stomping down the freeway.

After that, there were fewer and fewer flocks until I didn't see any birds anymore. I figured it was just a bird convention.

Storm #5
Well, halfway up Oregon, the rain started to come down. Just drizzles at first. But by the time I got to Salem, it was pouring. Ah, well, at least I don't have to wash Wapple.

However, driving in the rain is one thing, but driving near a truck on wet pavement is another thing. Those trucks are road hazards! And they have the nerve to drive faster than the traffic! They were overtaking cars all over the place and splashing water on everybody!

By the time I got to Portland, there were puddles in indented strips on the road. Big puddles made the car swerve so I had to be very alert. By the time I got to the Seattle area, there were big snowflakes mixed in with the rain, but they melted as soon as they hit the windshield.

Since it was already late, I stayed on I-5 instead of taking Hwy 405. There were still a lot of cars but the traffic was going smoothly. And, most importantly, there were only a few trucks.

By 11:30pm, I was home. Whew!