Not many storms made it to our part of the coast this winter, but the rain that did arrive came hard and fast. That wasn't good news for Casa de LOUD!, which dates back to the early 1950s. It's a classic little beach bungalow that sits on land carved from the bluff. Not a lot of safety ordinances back then.

The building site certainly wouldn't pass plan check as it is today. So while the first few days of rain are pretty much OK, anything more than that soaks the hillside and, just like in the news, landslide. Or rather, mudslide, literally tons of it, right into the back courtyard.

Here's the courtyard before the slide:

And here it is after:

We heard it happen in the night, a series of wet thumps that shook the house a little bit. It took a crew of six burly guys with shovels, a bobcat, and two huge dumps trucks to dig out and cart the mud -- and the buried plants -- away. The good news is that the Christmas tree survived. So did a few of the larger potted plants that got pushed rather than buried. In recovery mode now, building up a new collection of potted plants. Photos, as usual, to come.