In the past 24 hours it has rained more than 5 inches in Venado, the Sonoma County outpost about 10 miles west of Healdsburg notorious for its extreme rainfall. And Bob Alpern, 88, took his dog Honey Bear for a walk this afternoon, right in the thick of it.

The last time his wife Carolyn checked the town’s seasonal rainfall total, just before Alpern headed out on his half-mile trek, the gauge measured 110 inches of rain. By the time Alpern got back about 30 minutes later, the rainfall total on the gauge (which does not update in real time) had incorporated the morning’s deluge and registered 114 inches.

That’s almost 10 feet of rain, about the same height as the ceilings inside the hand-hewn log cabin the Alperns have lived in for about 20 years and which they’ve lovingly named “Peace treehouse where the moon sleeps.”

The amount is 67.5 inches more rain than Santa Rosa’s comparatively meager 46.5 inches, and it’s already far surpassed last year’s rainfall total of 80 inches.

But that kind of rainfall is old hat for the Alperns, whose three-story home, fronted by a sign that reads “War is Not the Answer” and shrouded in towering redwoods that whip back and forth on days like this one, is about 1.2 miles from the weather service’s official rain gauge.

Their nearest neighbors live about 250 yards down the road, and from the Alperns’ home, they can’t see any other structures.

“We get used to (the rain),” Alpern said. “We dress appropriately. We keep our fire stoves stoked up warm.”

He doesn’t usually wear rain boots when he takes Honey Bear out, but this morning he did. His wife suggested he put the Australian shepherd’s waterproof coat on for the walk, too.

“These small streams never have anything in them, but now are rushing and gushing and filling the side of the road and even coming over the road,” he said. “And I just noticed today there’s a huge crack that runs at a right angle to the road that’s opening up, so I’m going to have to call up (Sonoma County Supervisor) James Gore and tell him to get someone from the road division up here.

“But it’s an experience that you have. ... Most of the year it’s gorgeous. There’s no traffic, no pollution, and we’re amid the redwoods.”

You can reach Staff Writer Christi Warren at 521-5205 or christi.warren@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @SeaWarren.

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