It rained lightly overnight and an easterly gale blew in in the morning. So rather than painting again, I took to the vineyard to try to save some grapes from the avian airforce. I started bagging thinking I'd have enough to at least do the oldest ten vines. I used up all the bags without even getting close to protecting a good portion of the crop. Amazon to the rescue. We'll have lots more bags on Monday.
We have a lot of grapes this year. All are looking healthy except for one cluster of Solaris that I cleaned a few not-so-healthy grapes from. I hope that's not the beginning of something bigger. A cheeky little bird flew out from the center of the vineyard as I was working. I figure their dose will be the quantity of grapes we should have removed to direct vigor to the more limited crop.
We are to get a good bit of rain overnight tonight and there are four tropical disturbances NOAA is watching in the Atlantic. It's been quiet until now, but I think mother nature is going to make up for it. I hope they don't come this way just as we near harvest.
Meanwhile, Hurricane Hillary in the eastern Pacific has become a Cat 4 storm and it's heading up the Baja California coast and right up into the SW US, with potential landfall in LA. Hillary has intensified by 65 knots in 24 hours. Since 1900, only two still-tropical storms have hit California, one by direct landfall from offshore and another after making landfall in Mexico. No tropical cyclone has ever made landfall in California at hurricane intensity in recorded history.
They are expecting massive rain and flooding which may wreak havoc with the harvests in California. They expect flooding in the desert regions including potentially as far east as Nevada. Could Las Vegas be flooded? Sure, anything is possible these days.
