Here Comes the Rain Again. Barely.

Here comes the rain again. Barely.

The ultimate sign that the winter rainy season is coming in California is when it actually starts to rain. We arrived home from our weekend in Los Angeles Sunday night to discover that while it hadn't rained in sunny Southern California, it had rained here. But only a little. The ground was just barely wet.

It rained again late Sunday night. We awoke Monday morning to a fresh cover of dampness on the ground. But again only barely. It was the kind of light rain that doesn't even clean things off but actually makes them dirtier. All the dirt, dust, and grime in the air and on the walls, etc. gets washed down to flat surfaces but not washed a way. When I got up in the morning I saw our bedroom balcony looked gross, like it needed a thorough scrubbing.

"Barely" continues to describe rain this week. In this area we barely had rain Tuesday afternoon. It wasn't even a sprinkle so much as for about 15 minutes the air sweated. Chances of trace amounts of rain continue. The weather forecast says there's a bigger storm on tap to arrive over the weekend. Hopefully that will bring real rain... the first small step to abating the awful drought we're in!

Update: I asked for it, I got it. Not just an atmospheric river but a Bomb Cyclone!

Inflation

One item in the news over the past week has been inflation. Well, inflation has been in the news periodically over the past several months. It popped up again last week when the Social Security Administration announced a 5.9% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for benefits in 2022. Example coverage: "Social Security checks getting big boost as inflation rises", AP News, 13 Oct 2020. The same day the Department of Labor announced that inflation in September 2021 was 5.4% over September 2020. Example coverage: "From cars to gasoline, surging prices match a 13-year high", AP News, 13 Oct 2020.

Numbers like these haven't been seen in quite some time. The DOL monthly-vs-year-ago inflation rate is the highest reported in 13 years. The Social Security COLA is the highest boost in nearly 40 years. The last time the SSA COLA was higher was in 1983, when it rose 7.4%. Inflation was fierce back then. There were a few years between the late 1970s and early 1980s it ran over 10% in the US. Example source: "U.S. Inflation Rate 1960-2021", MacroTrends, retrieved 20 Oct 2021.

Awful inflation back then made it hard for people trying to preserve the value of a dollar. Oh, banks seemed to offer great rates on savings plans. I remember earning 8% interest on a passbook savings account I had as a kid! But savings interest never keeps up with inflation. Your money still shrinks every year in real terms. And employers are loathe to raise salaries in step with inflation. Employers will tell you 2.5% is merit raise even in years when the market increases 3% or more. That's part of what's driving the "Great Resignation" right now. People are leaving jobs to take new ones to get paid what their skills are worth. Sadly that's what working stiffs have to do in Corporate America.

So far this period of inflation isn't bothering me much. I figure that's due to two things. First, I'm not trying to buy a lot of goods or services right now. I buy groceries, gas, and utilities. I'm not looking to furnish my house, renovate my kitchen, or anything like that. My biggest ticket expenses are my home mortgage and a car loan, both at fixed rates. Second, I'm fortunate that my variable costs— groceries, gas, and utilities— are a small part of my budget. If they go up 10% it doesn't change my life.