Everytime the Santa Ana Winds blow, I have to clean up the front and backyards, which includes cleaning out my swimming pool.

Yesterday morning, I walked out to the pool to assess the situation, and I've never seen it so filthy. The winds blew more dust this time than I've ever witnessed before.

I suppose we can chalk it up to the unusually dry season. 2006 was the driest year on record in Riverside County, going back to 1883. No water means no plants to hold in the soil. I'm sure the construction work going on across the IE didn't help either.

I spent a few hours yesterday scrubbing the pool, cleaning out the skimmer basket and the pump basket. I brought out the net to scoop out the leaves and trash, only to find the webbing on the net was brittle and ripped under the weight of the debris. Now I have to buy a new net.

This morning, I walked out to the pool again, and it looked better. I mean, at least I can see the bottom of the pool now. But it's still dirty. I repeated the same steps all over again.

Our neighbor across the street came by yesterday asking for the name and phone number of the pool cleaning service that we use. Our neighbor maintains his own pool, but it was so gunky, that he needed to call in a hired hand. Our pool service comes in every Wednesday. But I'm not paying them to clean our pool, only to maintain it. At times like these, I have to do the dirty work.

The front yard looked worse, with about a 1/8 inch thick layer of dust on the porch. My driveway kinda resembles the beach, with patterns of sand descending down to the street. My rose bushes and flower beds are all coated with this dark-gray powder.

And of course, I'm getting snotted up from all of this and am on allergy meds. My beagle isn't fairing any better, she's pretty sensitive to allergens also. In fact, she kept coughing all day yesterday, so much so, that I took her into the vet, and now she's on meds too.

In fact, the vet's office is apparently up to their eyeballs in animals right now, because of people in the Rainbow and

What we need now is a few days of steady rain to wash this all away, and help put out those fires.

Labels: Santa-Ana-Winds