Walking in the forest

I got back about 1/2 an hour ago from walking in the forest near the ocean where I live. Here on the northern Coast of California there are pine trees and redwood tress and oak trees and bracken ferns that grow wild in the forests here. Redwoods tend to start growing somewhat around Morro Bay along the coast and run up the coast from there towards Big sur. As you move northwards more you might see redwoods a little further inland on the coastal range as long as they can get enough water from fog year around and rain so you usually see them where brooks run at least part of the year. In most of California only a few rivers like the Sacramento River and a few others run year around. Other brooks and streams are mostly seasonal when there is enough rain. But, it's important to realize that almost 1/2 of California might be considered Desert or Semi-arid in nature. So, this transitional state between desert and places with a little more rainfall is present in many parts of the state whereas most of Arizona and Nevada and New Mexico and parts of Texas I believe would be considered to be deserts. But, wherever the mountains are high enough even in these states it causes rain to fall when clouds hit them and have to rise so often you will see trees growing on these mountains where the clouds are forced higher by the mountains and so they drop their rain.

But, along the coast of California from about Morro Bay north you might see some pine and redwood trees growing along the coast whereas oaks are almost everywhere because they are a lower water tree than pines and redwoods are. In other words they need less water than many other trees.

So, today I noticed that though there is still some water in the creeks mostly they likely will be dry within a month unless we get a lot more rain. The whole state mostly is between 40 to 50 percent of normal rainfall this year so far. So, every drop we get between now and June will be necessary for humans and the rest of the wildlife in the state to survive better including all the plants and trees.

We usually get no rain at all usually between June and September or October and this year the rains really didn't start until December or January and not that much even then. But, there has been enough so some ski lifts are likely still open in the Sierras there like a lake Tahoe.

Mt. Shasta ski park still has 31 of 32 ski trails still open by the way.

But, after 300 people dying after they opened up a ski lift in Austria I'm not anxious to get back up on the slopes after learning this.

The problem is being around that many people and riding on chair lifts with other people. So, strategically figuring out how to stay well for someone over 70 is more than I want to deal with this year regarding skiing downhill there. I suppose if you were in excellent health and under 50 years of age you might make a different choice.

Also, I haven't been vaccinated yet because California has so many people that getting vaccinated is a problem if you live in a populated county even if you are over 70 like me. In my county they are prioritizing Farm workers and caregivers from 65 to 74 right now over regular retired people like myself which also makes sense because these people take care of children and the elderly and pick the veggies and fruits nuts that people need to eat worldwide from California. 

California is one of the few states that has 4 growing seasons which is unusual in most places on earth.