Snow foolin’

Welcome to this week’s Reno News & Review.

That was it? That’s all you got? Jeez! Friday it was like everyone in the office was holding his or her breath waiting to see what Mother Nature was going to throw at us. The rain kept coming, the snow—up here where I live—began at 3:45 p.m. Accuweather’s Stormwatch said it could be the worst storm in 50 years. I did have a bit of rain damage, a couple gallons of rain came in through my front window and soaked the carpet. I looked … I can’t figure out where it came from. My best guess is the high winds stressed and broke the caulking around the window, and then the rain pouring down the window came into the house.

It’ll probably end up costing me more than a thousand—my deductible. Like I’ve got it to spend. And I’ve got it easy compared to those Fernley people. Some 800 homes got flooded when a Truckee River levee broke early Saturday morning. Thankfully, there were no deaths, but I can’t imagine that hell won’t have to be paid if, as reported, the levee broke because a gopher dug a hole. How is this possible? No way to look for fractures or density issues in a soil levee? Could this really be an act of God? I think before it’s all over, we’re going to find out it was caused by bureaucratic incompetence—as in “no annual visual examination of levee.”

Off-duty, Hunter and I spent part of Sunday sledding down the hill off Cashill. I first tried to create a traverse sled path down the side of the hill. I figured a traverse path would be longer, slower and safer. Gravity had other plans for us, and, as boys will do, we ended up going straight down the hill and slamming into the snow that was mounded over the junipers that separate the hill from the street. We managed to avoid injury and any ill effects from the high-G flying. And now, Monday, there’s a two-hour delay before I can drop Hunter off at school. Works for me.