I've posted several times over the past few months about how quickly the last year has disappeared. Sitting the the comfort of my home office, even though it is a bit cluttered, it is hard to imagine a full year has passed.

One year ago we were in the midst of unpacking. When we left Colorado it seemed we had gotten rid of a lot of unneeded things before the trip. When we started unpacking it became clear quickly that more pruning was necessary. We've done quite a bit over the past year and still have more to do. On the home front, things are looking much better than they did.

A couple of dozen more trees are getting their foothold and starting to really take off. The back yard has lawn in it and most of the property is covered by drip irrigation. The garden is doing quite well and the new round-pen sits in place of the junk pile that was once. Plenty of projects remain but it is nice to look back every once in a while and see just how far we've come.

Dawn was nearly clear. A few puffy clouds spotted the edges of the valley. By mid-morning the cloud cover had become pretty solid. Hours later, the density of the cloud cover convinced the dusk-dawn timer on the outside lights that dusk arrived at 2:00 pm.

When the rain comes it often is in waves. A few minutes of light sprinkle proceeds sheets coming in succession. As quickly as it began calm is once again restored until the next sprinkle begins the cycle again.

It's been a busy year. Exactly 366 days ago (leap-year and all) I took an early morning flight back to Colorado. I wrote "I've been out of the loop a bit this week." That was really code for I've been out of state interviewing and found the job I really want. Now, a year later I sit watching the sun set on the beautiful western skies. A handful of leaves hang on from last season, but the trees are about to replace them with this year's crop. In a few weeks the arena fence will no longer be visible from the office window - replaced by a sea of spring time green.

Chris Pirillo seems to think that laser levels are designed to be used as tools to do productive work. After a day of rain and a night of more rain to follow, it seems there is an alternate use for them (maybe the primary use, who knows). Simply point it at the floor and move in circles. Within moments the cat will be neurotically chasing the red spot around on the floor. It is better than the old "chase your tail" game that was en vogue last week.

As alluded to above the rain is still coming. We just closed out a year of nearly twice the annual rainfall. We're very near the average monthly rainfall for January and there is plenty of this storm to go, not to mention a few more weeks of January. In the desert you never wish for less rain, at the same time it is rare you think that it has been a long time since things were dry.

Not that we really want the rain to be stopped. Tonight brought another round of rain on top a November that is already in the list of the wettest on record. More rain for the Mohave!