SOCIAL: 'deep quoted in Chron!

Sun Apr 2 12:35:13 PDT 2006

they didn't mention DPMN which might not happen for April if the rains 
continue.  that said, they also didn't talk to any kayakers who are 
*thrilled* at all the rain and the future spring snow melt....

E. Grace Gellerman wrote:

> Quote from our favorite gregarious software engineer highlighted below.
>
>
> <http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/02/RAIN.TMP>
>
>
> *BAY AREA**
> ** The rain's a pain, from roofing jobs to softball fields** 
> * - Peter Fimrite, Chronicle Staff Writer
> Sunday, April 2, 2006
>
>
> Cancel the volleyball game and stow away the beach towels that aren't 
> being used to sop up water. The Bay Area is under the weather this 
> spring and there is no relief in sight.
>
> There were more rainy days in March than ever before in San Francisco, 
> Oakland, San Rafael and Santa Rosa, and the monotonous pounding is 
> likely to continue for at least two more weeks, according to forecasters.
>
> The daily soakings have ruined or forced the cancellations of 
> countless activities, including picnics, softball games, playground 
> outings and bicycle rides. It has even put a damper on the 
> time-honored spring activity of gardening.
>
> In fact, the only outdoor activity that the rain has not spoiled this 
> spring is puddle-stomping, a practice that many outdoor enthusiasts 
> and people whose livelihoods depend on good weather are taking up in 
> frustration.
>
> "This has been the worst spring that I can remember, and I've been 
> umpiring for almost 25 years," said John Sherman, 57, after another 
> weekend of rained-out softball games in San Francisco. "The biggest 
> payday I've gotten was a day I went out to fields that were clearly 
> unplayable, and they just didn't call the game on time."
>
> The winter softball league in San Francisco postponed 350 out of 412 
> games because of rain, said Jack Wolf, who has run sports leagues in 
> San Francisco for 52 years. Little League, soccer and school sports 
> programs around the Bay Area are all suffering from canceled practices 
> and a backlog of rainouts.
>
> "I've never seen anything like this," Wolf said. "I am very mad at the 
> rain devil."
>
> With 25 days of precipitation, downtown San Francisco set the March 
> record for number of rainy days. The previous record was in 1904, when 
> it rained 23 days. As of Friday afternoon, 8.74 inches of rain had 
> fallen on the city, making it the second-wettest March since records 
> began in 1850. The previous high was set in 1983, when 9.04 inches of 
> rain soaked San Francisco, according to the National Weather Service.
>
> Oakland, with 22 days of rain, San Rafael, with 24, and Santa Rosa, 
> with 25, also broke their rainy-day records for March. Oakland 
> International Airport had 7.22 inches of rain during the month, 
> breaking the previous mark of 5.69 inches set in 1958.
>
> The -- let's face it -- lousy weather is being caused by a westerly 
> wind pattern that is blowing storms over the Pacific Ocean toward 
> Northern California. The wind trough has been stable for a month, 
> essentially funneling rain directly over Hawaii and then through the 
> Bay Area approximately every 48 hours, said Brooke Bingaman, a 
> meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
>
> That global pattern isn't showing signs of budging for the next two 
> weeks, said Jan Null, adjunct professor of meteorology at San 
> Francisco State University.
>
> "There is not a lot of relief in sight," Null said. "April is going to 
> continue to be wet. There are going to be a lot of vacations over 
> spring break where people will not be coming back with suntans."
>
> The wet weather has left a great many Bay Area residents stir crazy.
>
> San Francisco's Amandeep Jawa, 37, normally invites all his friends to 
> barbecues in front of his Valencia Street home in March. The 
> gregarious software engineer also organizes outdoor dance parties, but 
> hasn't gotten his groove on since the balmy days of winter.
> *"We had the first one in Dolores Park, and we've been trying to do 
> the second one for, oh, three months now," Jawa said. "It's insane. We 
> need rain sometimes, but enough is enough. If I wanted to live in 
> Seattle, I'd live in Seattle. I didn't sign up for this."*
>
> Parents and day care providers are equally frustrated, if not more so.
>
> "I have two boys, so it's crazy for us,'' said Lisa Polakis, a Mill 
> Valley mother whose children are 5 and 2. "They're going crazy. They 
> need to be outside. I really feel like boys need to get energy out, 
> and that's not easy to do when it's raining all month."
>
> Faced with the prospect of yet another visit to the Exploratorium, 
> library or Discovery Museum, some mothers are putting on the galoshes 
> and venturing out with their kids.
>
> "My son gets a kick out of looking for pill bugs and worms that have 
> come out in the rain," said Lisa Barnes, 37, of Sausalito, whose son, 
> Jonas, is 2. "He loves to go out in the rain, stomp in the puddles, 
> and sail leaves and pebbles down the rainwater."
>
> Soldiering out into the elements has its risks, though, as Melanie 
> Grubman found out. The puddle that Grubman decided to ride her bicycle 
> through the other day turned out to be 2 feet deep and full of sewage.
>
> "I went down and I was, like, swimming in it," said the 27-year-old 
> education coordinator for Marin County's Safe Routes to Schools 
> program. "Right after that, I had to teach a class on bike and 
> pedestrian safety. The kids thought it was funny."
>
> At least Grubman's humbling pratfall into a stinking puddle didn't 
> cost her any money. Roofers, construction workers, tree cutters and 
> other tradespeople have not been so lucky.
>
> Marty Hernandez, owner of Guaranteed Roofing in San Jose, said that in 
> a normal year, he would have completed six or more roofing projects by 
> now.
>
> "We can't work." Hernandez said. "We haven't worked any good jobs for 
> over a month. I just have to sit and wait until the rains are over. 
> It's a burden for all the trades that work outside. If you haven't got 
> any money saved up, you go broke."
>
> Tourism is also taking a hit. The Golden Gate Bridge reported a 4 
> percent drop in sales at the toll plaza gift center and a 22 percent 
> drop in sales at the cafe compared with March of last year.
>
> "People aren't sitting outside and enjoying a hot dog," complained 
> Mary Currie, bridge spokeswoman.
>
> Attendance is also down at the Japanese Tea Garden, Stow Lake and the 
> San Francisco Zoo, according to the San Francisco Recreation and Park 
> Department.
>
> The fact that it has been raining cats and dogs might be influencing 
> people's behavior in more mysterious ways. Dog adoptions decreased and 
> cat adoptions increased in March at the San Francisco SPCA, for 
> reasons nobody can quite explain.
>
> Gloomy weather has long been associated with depression and suicide, 
> which might be why people are flocking to local tanning salons.
>
> Julia Louis, 20, an employee at Sun Company Tanning in San Rafael, 
> said March was the busiest month of the year.
>
> "Most of the people come in here and say, 'Oh my gosh, it's so dreary 
> outside. I just need to get some sun,' " said Louis. "Probably half 
> the people who come in here, the rain is their reason."
>
> Cindy Bonilla, a nursery buyer for the Sloat Garden Center in San 
> Francisco, said the extra water has been good for Bay Area weeds and 
> bad for many vegetables and ornamental plants.
>
> "The ground is so saturated that people are having a hard time putting 
> stuff in," Bonilla said. "The tomatoes that everyone wants to plant 
> for the summer have either been ravaged by snails or soaked and 
> shredded by hail and rain."
>
> The daily downpours might also have something to do with a big 
> increase in hungry rats that she said are responsible for devouring 
> the bark off lemon trees.
>
> The stormy weather has turned park trails around the Bay Area into 
> quagmires. Raging creeks, mudslides and flooding have forced the East 
> Bay Regional Park District to close off some of its 1,100 miles of 
> trails in 65 parks.
>
> "It's been terrible," said Shelly Lewis, spokeswoman for the parks, 
> which cover 97,000 acres in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. "It's 
> the most rain damage we've had in our park in at least two decades and 
> probably in history. A lot of the trails have been washed out. The 
> creeks are raging, and mud is an issue everywhere."
>
> The park district had to postpone Saturday's grand opening of a new 
> park in Martinez until June. Last week, an Afghan new year's 
> celebration with 4,000 people at Del Valle Regional Park in Livermore 
> was rained out.
>
> Golden Gate Park isn't faring much better, unless you're a fish, said 
> Rose Dennis, spokeswoman for San Francisco's Recreation and Park 
> Department.
>
> "If this doesn't let up, I'm going to build my own ark and collect two 
> of everything," she joked. "We're reliving the Old Testament."
>  This week's question:
> What's your favorite pastime on a rainy day?
> URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/04/02/RAIN.TMP
> ©2006 San Francisco Chronicle 
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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