Snowy days 2012

Don't you love snow days? In the Pacific Northwest, land of mild rainy winters, snow is a rarity, and snow that accumulates rather than melting when it hits the ground is usually a once a winter event, if it happens at all. So when it snows this much, no one goes anywhere.  The schools, the county, everything just shuts down.  I, for one, love it. Those of you from the snowier realms may scoff at us as we hunker down and cancel school for the amount of snow you see above.  In Wisconsin, this would be an average snowfall and life would continue as usual.  But this isn't Wisconsin, and trust me, all it takes is one winter in the Pacific Northwest to change your tune.  There are three factors at work, the way I see it:

 1. Snow happens so rarely, there aren't enough plows to handle clearing all of the roads.  The bulk of the snowfall happened early this morning, and our road still hasn't been plowed, despite the fact that we live a block away from an elementary school (the school driveway hasn't been touched either). For the most part, we all just wait for the snow to melt.  Some roads do get plowed, and some do get sanded/salted, but back roads, most neighborhoods? Forget about it.

2. We have hills. Lots and lots of hills. I took my main route home from work last winter up Lincoln hill on a snowy day, and I thought I was going to die. There were cars spun out into ditches all around me.  I remember lots of ice in Wisconsin, and sliding on said ice, but I didn't have to face elevation gains and dips anywhere near the magnitude we have here.  It makes winter driving about 10 times as dangerous (and then imagine those icy hilly roads without salt or snow plows).

3. Drivers are snow-challenged.  When you live someplace with the chance of snow 8 months out of the year, you learn how to drive in it.  When you live someplace with snow maybe once a year, eh, not so much.  I'm even afraid I've lost my winter driving edge, having now lived here for 8 + years.

 So there you have it.  We were all home today, and it looks like there won't be work or school for us tomorrow either. You will get no complaints from me.  Silas is happy.  We took him sledding today and he was scared and thrilled simultaneously.

Something even rarer than snow, icicles:

It's going to be a long winter

They said this winter would be harsh, and so far, that's shaping up to be true. Our first snow storm (so rare to have ANY snow in November), canceled school for two days and brought western Washington to a standstill. It has been nice to have an extra long holiday week. And of course, Silas was thrilled about the snow.
I'm glad I finished his cabled jacket in time. It seemed to keep him toasty through the storm. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for our house. As is so common here, we lost power. Walking around town yesterday, listening to the hum of generators and smelling wood smoke, it was pretty apparent: No one had power. Most of the county seemed to be out, and it is nearly miraculous that we got ours back after only 24 hours.
Thanks to our friends, we spent the day in their toasty house, basking in the heat from their wood stove. Sobin, who has yet to show any fondness for our new kitty, has been hanging out in the garage a lot.
Yesterday, we let them in the house together, unattended, for the first time, because I didn't want him out in the bitter cold. Since we were gone most of the day, they had no choice but to work it out without our interference (or Silas doing his Sobin imitation, growling like a tiger and further provoking the already provoked big kitty). While Sobin still does little more than growl, hiss, and mope, he doesn't seem to want to physically confront her. Since he is three times her size, this is a good thing, I think.

I meant to post more about Olive, and I will soon. The snow storm, power outage, and preparing to host Thanksgiving are keeping us pretty busy. More later...

And have a Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Safe travels.

So Long, and Hello

Despite Snowman's desperate pleas for help, which we captured on film above, we were not able to save him from his fate. Alas, the only things which remains of him now are his carrot nose and a few bean buttons which have yet to be eaten by birds. Snowmen are not forever. We said "goodbye" to him, along with 2008.

Today is a new day, and a new year, and Silas is looking forward to it.
We hope you are too, and that 2009 is filled with much happiness for you all.

Best of the Blizzard, December '08

Just a few more pictures from Last week's snow storm... All of these pictures were taken by Drew, and all are of our yard.

That's our house, peaking out from behind the Douglas Fir.
And that's our boy!
Shannon's dog Sparky, sitting in the rut created by her SUV when she exited the driveway. As is his custom, he stared up the driveway waiting for her to return for what seemed like an endless period of time. For some reason, this loyalty seemed all the more poignant, given the stark whiteness of the snow surrounding him.
Another of yard. The art studio is in the background, and the greenhouse, barely discernible, is in front of it.
Winter berries.
And one more from Snowman day!
Drew has a few more posted on his Flickr photostream, in case you're interested.

Adventures in Sledding

I took this video on the 20th, and it accompanies the pictures in this post. This was filmed the day before our big snow storm, and there is just a thin layer on the ground (but it's still a lot for Western Washington!). What fun Silas had that day despite the little tumble he took!

Sunday is for Snowmen

Snowman

Snow family

Silas was not certain about the snow. Too much of a good thing.

A little help...please?

Patrick was unaffected by the cold.

I'm ready to go inside now.

Despite the snow, a bird's still gotta eat. After Shannon thawed out the sugar water, we saw many a hummingbird.

Yesterday, about an hour after I emailed my parents to tell them we hadn't lost power, we lost power. We thought we were in the clear as we didn't loose power during the storm itself. Apparently, the weight of the snow eventually became too much for a tree, and it fell over a power line. Electricity was finally restored about 40 minutes ago, so we were out only about 27 hours. It could have been worse. And we still had heat, at least, and could cook. It is a drag not to have running water though. One gets used to such luxuries. Silas, in his short lifetime, has already been conditioned to assume things such as light and music should appear and occur with the flip of a switch or a push of a button. He was not too thrilled with the outage and walked around shaking his head "no" saying "power, power." At least he learned a new word.

So, for those of you in the Midwest, the snow shown in these pictures is simply typical winter weather. But for the Northwest folks, this storm was and still is a huge deal. This will come as a shock to non-Northwesterners, but we don't even own a snow shovel. Most people don't. We usually only get a few inches of snow and that usually melts away before the day is done. Not this time. This time, we've got over a foot. Drew and Patrick spent a good chunk of time using garden shovels to remove snow from the driveway. Still, my little car wasn't going anywhere today, and it's doubtful I'll make it into work tomorrow either. Only major roads get plowed (if that) and hardly anything gets sanded/salted, which means getting out of our neighborhood may be trecherous. We'll see what the morning brings. Right now, I'm just grateful for electricity. Fingers crossed, it won't go out again!

We took more pictures today as there was even more snow than seen in the pictures above. We'll post them at some point.

Saturday is for Sledding

Shannon dug up her old sled for us to use, and use it we did! We pulled Silas around the yard and then up on the trail for quite a ways. He was a very happy boy. I'll post a video from today soon.

Note, the lack-of-mittens problem we had last weekend has been remedied, thanks to a wonderfully quick pattern that I found and some leftover alpaca yarn.

Weather alert: I already missed 2 days of work this week due to ice and snow. Some time tonight, we're supposed to get more snow and a wind storm. It's the wind storm part that really has us worried. The whole island is bracing for a power outage. We've prepared the best that we can. The tub is full of water, our lantern has batteries, extra bread is baked. There's not much more we can do but wait and see... If you don't hear from me for a while, you'll know why. Two years ago, when I was 6 months pregnant, we were without power for a week. Let's hope it's not that bad and we'll have light and running water for Christmas!

The week and a half in review

Let's play catch-up, starting with today's events and working our way back a bit...
First of all, obviously, it snowed. These pictures were all taken this morning. It's our first snow of the season and since this is western WA state, it may very well be the last. So, we made the most of it.
Oooh, what is this?
Um, seriously. What. is. this. Any why haven't you made mittens for me?
And is this really necessary?
Okay. The other big thing going on today is Drew's and Patrick's art reception. Yea! Silas is resting up now from his time playing in the snow so that he'll be bright-eyed for the event.

Silas has the sniffles, but that's life. We've been running a humidifier in our bedroom, which seems to help.

And now, working our way back...We've received two Christmas presents in the mail so far. Thank you Grandparents! We are using the little table and chairs already. He has a very nice "work" area now for slicing his wooden vegetables, drawing, reading, typing on his keyboard, etc. I will have pictures at some point. The other gift will have to wait till Christmas morning...

Tuesday the 9th: Drew's birthday! A fine day indeed. I didn't get any stellar pictures of the two boys together that day, so I'm not posting any. But Silas did help his dad open his gifts, and Silas very much liked the boxes (and Drew very much liked what came in them).

Last weekend (the 6th and 7th): Drew and Patrick hung their show, which took quite a bit of time. So, Silas and I hung out together a lot, and went to several Christmas in the Country places. This is a weekend long event which takes place at various houses and farms around the island. People sell handmade goods, food, etc. There are activities like live music, pony rides, and Santa. I did point Santa out to him, but he was more interested in the water feature set up next to Santa's chair. Since we really don't care about getting a picture of him screaming his head off as we force him to sit on a strange man's lap, we took a pass on that and enjoyed the music guild's chamber ensemble. Silas LOVED that!

And finally, last Friday...Silas went to the doctor. He wailed the ENTIRE time, even though no shots were given. But other than the trauma he experienced simply by being there, the biggest issue he's facing is some eczema on his face. The doctor doesn't think it's food related, so we are just keeping it moisturized as best we can. Other than a minor cold, he is healthy and happy (when not at the doctor).

That pretty much catches us up. I'm hoping to post more frequently this week, but I make no promises :)

WI train trip windup

I think this may finally be the last post about our trip to WI last month. Our train left over an hour late, so the first 3 pictures show Grandma and Papa hanging out at the station, entertaining Silas, who was delighted to spend the extra time with them. Next up, the long awaited picture of Alden and Silas, together at last, in case you didn't head over to Alden's Story for the pictures that Jessi posted there. What a cutie that Alden is! Finally, for all of you non-Wisconsinites, here's a typical winter scene, taken from Grandma and Papa's front porch. We were very excited to have a good snowfall while we were visiting.

That about covers our trip--family, friends, and snow. We miss everyone in Wisconsin and hope to see you all soon! Come out and see us if you can. We're already looking forward to Grandma and Papa's next trip to Washington, which is scheduled for the beginning of May. Silas will be so happy to see them!

First Snow

Snow is a rare treat here in the Puget Sound Region. Usually, we only get a tiny bit, perhaps a few times a winter, if that. Silas got to experience it for the first time yesterday afternoon. How beautiful it was, and Si had so much fun! We've posted a video as well (below). Like the other videos of Silas that we've posted, this one is an "old school" home movie as our little camera has no sound capabilities. So, do not attempt to adjust the volume on your computer when you play it. Just enjoy!

Let It Snow