Winter can bring exciting weather conditions anywhere

Last Sunday's heavy snowfall was certainly exciting - as long as you didn't have to drive in it. On the television news we saw pictures of people in California who were trapped in their cars while the rushing water moved all around them. They were captured in the fast-moving rivers.

We used to live in an area that had occasional floods like that. In 1969 we were living in Cucamonga, which is in sunny Southern California, but it was not so sunny that winter. Our house was on Red Hill, very close to beautiful Mt. Baldy. When the first winter rain started, it seemed to never stop.

There was a serious flood event that winter and it sucked up trees and houses alike while rushing down the Cucamonga Wash. A very tall Italian cypress tree got so waterlogged that it tipped over and came crashing down in our back yard. Then much of the roof blew off the house. Ferocious wind and torrential rain continued to hit us for several days, but Cucamonga wasn't the only area devastated.

It seems like every place you live there are problems with the weather, at least once in awhile. For two years we lived on the little tropical island of Guam far out in the Marianas Islands. It looked like such a wonderful and exciting place to live, kind of like the beautiful Hawaiian Islands. Well, it certainly was beautiful but the excitement was a bit much as monster typhoons hit the island several times while we lived there. And did I mention the scary shrews that crawled around at night?

After living in such a warm, tropical place where we stayed suntanned year-round, it was quite a shock to move to San Jose where it seemed so damp and cold all the time. I needed to stand by a heater every day to thaw out and be comfortable. I shouldn't have complained though as once again my husband was transferred to a Naval Air Station in Lemoore, California. The weather there was even worse than San Jose as it was so hot and sweaty in the summer and cold and foggy in the winter. But at least it was pretty rural and there was not so much traffic on the highways.

The weather in Kingsville, Texas, was very humid in summer with cold blue northers in the winter. Every way you look is very flat and the tallest things are the telephone poles. At night, insects are all over the place, especially the giant-sized cockroaches.

Wonderful Coronado Island - how can I complain about living there? Every day I took a walk to the beach to bask in the sun and swim in the warm ocean water. But that was many, many years ago and you can imagine how crowded that little island is now. I no longer yearn to return as I'm completely happy living here for the rest of my life. We'll just keep the fire going in the wood stove when it's cold, and take time to appreciate the love and beauty all around us.

n Linda Monohan may be reached at 782-5802.