Wacky weather - snow

It has been snowing since last evening. Granted it is very wet, but we do have a one inch blanket making everything white. Strange weather. The frogs went silent about 36 hours before the snow started. Its pretty! Of course, I got the spring garden fever a little early and cleaned out a major flower bed a week ago. Probably all those perennial and bulb starts I uncovered are frozen lumps of green mush now.

Snow is finally here!

We have been told every day we would get pummeled with tons of snow... but until this morning we had nothing.  It has been snowing since the wee hours and is lovely!  I will post pics as soon as I bundle up to go out and take some, however I got a kick out of this video (sans the Tijuana brass band soundtrack).  Here in the NW we kinda have a reputation of sucky snow driving.  (For full disclosure, this is on a hill).   Where most drivers fail is they drive the same in snow, as they do in rain or sun.  That means quick starts, quick stops, and if something worries them (snow on hill!) they go a slow and uneven speed, or sometimes stop. On a hill. With ice. With traffic, In the lane of traffic.  Which basically means they can't get up a hill.  It is all unimportant however... because we are going sledding!!!!!!

I can't blog without my camera.

Image: The birthday boy during his nerf war party, in May.
I cannot find my camera. That means I don't blog. I can't show you pics of my half-torn out bathroom nor my new tile nor the new chicks being batty nor the cauliflower, rabe, basil growing (since we are finally having 3 days of sunshine and above 70 weather). I think I "put it away" when cleaning. Not really sure where that "put away" spot would be. I hear short term memory is the first thing to go.

Ilness floating around in the hail

Not sure where our spring is. I have not even started the garden. And it is end of April. Is is warm where you are? It hailed today, Wilder was sick the beginning of the week, Rose is sick now, and I am really trying to stay healthy. One of the horses is sick, the vet is coming tomorrow. When I write all this down it seems like everyone has come down with something.

For the record: the dog and cat are fine.

This is our generator. If not the first thing I bought after buying the house, it was in the first 4 months. My house power grid controls the shared well, so it seemed considerate to keep the neighbors in water. After sitting idle for two years, a big power outage this winter brought it out from the corner of the garage. The ladder next to it is my creative weather protection. Generators are not supposed to be exposed to the weather, and I didn't have anything that wouldn't catch fire other than this. So it is my rather sketchy and haphazard attempt at weather protection. Notice all the melted snow? There were some metal parts that would glow red when it was running. Dang hot.
I had issues starting it up. As in, the battery was not hooked up. And I had no idea until my neighbor pointed it out. Well, when I parked it in the garage after its reliable service when the power went out, I didn't turn off something and after six weeks gas was leaking over the garage.
Arggh. Called my mechanical neighbor, who told me how to check if I had gas in my piston. I do. Told me we need to suck it all out. DANGitall. I get tired of walking around this new life where I am completely inept at a whole scad of things. I am not a good inept person. Maybe for one of two things, but geez. I realize in a couple of years I have acquired many new skills, but enough already. Maybe I can learn one new skill a year? This year is already my tiling/bathroom remodeling/horsefencing/house siding year. I don't think small engine repair fits in all that.

Thursday Weather

It was a foggy day today. The mountain view is what I get to see on my way home. The clouds are hanging low over Hood Canal (toward the bottom of the pic), part of Puget Sound. I would not want to be a boater in that heavy goo. I could hear the fog horns. Nuclear subs go through those waters, too.

Snow Pics - to remind us of crazy driving

Top to bottom: This is the type of snow that cripples our area. In our defense, there is a bit-o-ice under there....
Okay here is the story.
1. We are all driving along a whopping 3-11 miles an hour, if that fast. More like a fast walking pace. The car in front of me, in the middle pic is a rear wheel drive lexus(?) acura(?) type thing. The rear wheel drive was killing this car, it went up this little hill somewhat sideways, with very little traction. Had it had to stop, it would have been stuck. And me and the 30 cars behind me would have been stuck, too.
Note in middle picture the truck that is in the same lane as us. You know what that dweebie toyota truck was doing? Passing. Passing to nowhere. It is not like there was one slow car holding everyone up. There was hundreds of cars, all being slow. So this guy pulled into the downhill lane that the poor acura was barely making it up... to pass the car in front. He did not have enough room, so when he gunned it and turned his steering wheel to go back into his own lane, his car continued on it's slow and straight motion trajectory of impact with the acura. Since we were all on ice.... his 4WD vehicle cannot drive on ice any better than the rest of us. It was all so slow, that I could just sit and take pics, almost comedic driving. At the last minute, his tires must have gripped the center line where the snow was not smooshed into ice, and his truck swerved back into his own lane. the bottom pic is the acura putting on her/his brakes and cursing him out. The funny thing was, that the toyota driver was going to get all up in the acura's face... but he couldn't stop.

Dingbat.

Snow "storm" pictures

Pics courtesy Blue Shoe Farm: ~ Miss Amanda blending in with the white stuff. Good thing she has a brown nose and eyes.
~The chickens were unfazed by the snow.
~The horses looking around and asking me: Hey lady, where are our blankets??

If you don't know this already, us folks up here in the northwest are considered snow wimps. Can't drive in it -- all of western WA slips to a standstill, buses are sideways, people abandoning their cars on the side or IN the middle of the freeways when they get stuck, countless fender benders. When we get 2" of snow.

To our defense... we do have hills, and don't use salt due to our salmon habitat and whatever other reason. Oh yeah, it only snows 2" every third or fourth year here. This was the Monday before Thanksgiving.

Thanksgivin' and readin'

Totally unrelated topic titles:
Thanksgiving was great. We were glad to have power back in the house in time to cook the bird. We have been without for three days. It is one of the hazards of living in an evergreen tree'ed community. When the wind whips it up a bit, they fall on the power lines. And houses, across roads, basically where they want to. Note to newbies who move to the NW. This is not open license to chop them all down. Go live in the desert if you feel that need for open spaces and not having things taller than you. It does not mean you cannot chop trees down, but don't be rash. I digress.
It was a great opportunity to find out that our monster generator does run well, does power the house, does keep our furnace running.
Gave me time to read a book I picked up at the library. "Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer" written by Novella Carpenter. I pick up books nowadays on fixing houses, farming, raising kids, house framing, roofing, rural politics... I am a reader. If I don't know something, I get a book.
Loved her name. The book was interesting. She is a bit 'hard-core' to me, but those are always the people that get things done, that start things going in new directions. She gardened on a vacant lot. Raised rabbits, chickens, ducks. She raised pigs in the city. Big, sloppy, aromatic pigs. That is quite a story. And how to slaughter. Which is still daunting to me. I remember that so much as a child... seeing the skinning rabbits, killing pigs, chopping off chicken heads. Someday, maybe I will feel the need to control another creatures life and death within our food chain. But not now. I don't need to do it to feed the family, and I don't honestly have the time. Have you ever seen how long it takes to prep a turkey? Even a chicken?

Spring?

When I was driving back from Oregon it was 80. When I got to Seattle , it was 70'. Today it was 50's. When it was 70', I thought i was going to DIE. As if it was 101 in the shade. I couldn't think, couldn't work, just wanted to layabout with a cold ice cubed drink. How is that for being a true Washington mossback? That is why when it is sunny here in the northwest, even if it is 50's, we break out the shorts. (I am not that far gone, however, to wear shorts when it is below 65. You can all worry when I do. Hopefully I will be in a "home" of some sort at that time and you can just visit during the appropriate hours and remind me of your name)

Springtime and the driving is fine

The weather fella says 70 degrees today. Exactly one week ago it snowed. What is up over here?
I am kicking into high overdrive with a zest to work outside (brush the horses! build the raised beds! move compost! brush horses! mow the grass! clean out the garage! move hay! tune up the mower! ) But I must pace myself so I don't end up sleeping in the sun spot on the living room carpet with the cat.

Photo courtesy www.thoughts.com, posted by djk1968

Snow piles and some venting action

Pics: Snow on Wetlands, Horse Lookin' Bored, Creepy house shot at night.
















Not a usual thing for us here in the Pacific NW, snow has descended like a herd of loud white bats outta hell. We only have about 8 inches but it has paralyzed our area. Just to clarify for those smug east/mid-west/anyplace but here new residents who are used to having snow:
1. We do not have acres and acres of snow equipment sitting around worth 214 million (not including maintenance and staff) for three days of snow annually. The reason you like living here is we actually have other things to budget funds on.
2. Where you come from does not have MOUNTAINS people. Or even hills with the grades we do.
3. Ask the drivers who end in the ditches or spinning out, where they are from. It will not be from here. Before you all arrived, driving was actually an easy thing to do.
4. Welcome to the NW. I mean that sincerely. But don't bother griping about how much better "you do it in New York or (insert city name here)" You rippin' moved here so buck up and deal. At least the natives are NICE to you whilst you b(*&tch. We still love you. Until you tear down a 99 year old house to put up one ugly zero lot line behemoth of a house that looks like a cheerios box. Don't make your neighbors (whole neighborhood) hate you. Be aware of your surroundings and community and blend, baby, blend. Unless you live in Bellevue or Kirkland. Then you can do what ya want, because you Earned it, you Deserve it. You are so worth it, and it IS all about you. Community be damned.
Gawd. I feel so much better, I am off for another cup of coffee.