Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan...

This is one of those moments when I sincerely hope there is an afterlife of some kind.  And that Hasan is suffering for this act, endlessly.

Everything else about this event seems to still be uncertain.  First Hasan was dead, then he was alive.  First he was a convert to Islam, then he was raised as a Muslim.  First there were three shooters, now there is one.  First all the gunshots were fired by the terrorists, then comes reports that some of the casualties may have been from friendly fire.  I have no idea what the truth is.  Hopefully the truth will emerge, and political correctness will not obscure it.

Meanwhile, President Obama (acting like a President, for once) said it well:

It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It's horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

Indeed.  Those brave Americans are much in my thoughts this morning...

Rain!

Ok, time for all you non-Jamulians to start laughing.

We've had our first measurable rain of the season, breaking our usual months-long dry spell.  Last night we had 0.08" (about 2mm) of rain.  That's about equal to a flock of pigeons flying over and spitting when they see my weather station. 

But it's enough to wet the ground, and (most importantly) raise the moisture content of the enormous amount of formerly tinder-dry fuel in the dead brush, twigs, and branches of the chaparral.  For us out here amongst the spotted towhees and California quail, that's a big deal – for it drops our risk of wildfire significantly.  I can't quite call it the end of the fire season yet, because it's possible for a few weeks of dry weather to get that fuel moisture back down.  But there's a good chance that we've dodged any major fires this year...

Now that the rainy season is officially declared “open” (by me, the self-proclaimed weatherman of Lawson Valley), I've added the rainfall widges to the sidebar at right...