Forever

Today is the day; we’re celebrating (family) Christmas and all will be here on the Planet Orland for the festivities. Bill and the twins made it through the snow and arrived last night. Today, the rest of the family will be taking less hazardous routes to the planet. We’re all (Except the cat) looking forward to today’s event. Cookies have been made and the presents are wrapped and under the tree. (Where the cat hides) The dinner will be ham and the usual side dishes.

According to the weather forecast, it won’t be too bad of a day after all. Now that I’ve switched to Weather Underground, I think I am getting a better picture of the weather. They have everything to satisfy a weather nut like myself. The hottest and coldest places in California. Earthquakes. And a whole army of Personal Weather Stations that upload reports to the website. There are no weather stations on the Planet Orland, but there is one in Corning, about 15 miles north and I use that one for reference.

And this morning I saw that China Lake was the coldest spot in California, with a temperature of only 19°. That name brought back some memories. When I was growing up, we often made the long trip up highway 395 to places like Bridgeport and Topaz. Even Tahoe. To get there, we would take highway 14 from Newhall and through Mojave before joining up with 395 at China Lake. And I was always fascinated by the beauty of the desert. Stark and seemingly endless. If we stopped along the road and stepped out, there was no noise, except for the wind through the brush and the tick, tick, tick of the cooling engine. Even today, I would love to live in the middle of a vast playa, where I could see forever.