Thanks to all who’ve helped identify the above. After perusing Google photos of Milkweed Bugs and Box Elders, I am still unable to find an exact match. The closest is the Small or Common Milkweed Bug. None of the Google photos show the three little dots down the center of the back on about half of these bugs. They were still at the rain gauge yesterday, 1.65″, plenty to start the grass.
Thank you Sue St. Martin (Facebook) for the following link, a perfect match:
Scantius aegyptius (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae)
Invasive species from Southern California, we can color in Tulare County on their map.
drycrikjournal 
Those are nymphs. Immature Large Milkweed Bugs
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/page/3/?s=Milkweed+Bugs Pages 2,3 and 4
LikeLiked by 1 person
Glad the rain reached you. I see we even got snow in higher elevations.
BTW, milkweed bugs are found on milkweeds across the U.S. and southern Canada, and they are most common in the Southeast.
This one show the dots well;
https://www4.uwm.edu/fieldstation/naturalhistory/bugoftheweek/milkweed-bug.cfm
LikeLiked by 1 person