Mo' Sno', Mo' Belly

The winter solstice has arrived indeed in the Seattle area. It's 9 pm and its still snowing after a full week of true sub-freezing, no rain winter. The forecase is for snow until tomorrow morning, then letting up for about a day and a half before the next storm hits on Christmas Eve. I don't think I'll be riding to work. We have 9 inches in the front yard, measured, not guestimated like the rest of the dumbasses around here claiming a foot-and-a-half at their house (heard at the grocery store an hour ago). The whole area is nearly incapacitated since there just isn't the infrastructure to move the snow. Fortunately, the wind storm predicted for last night didn't turn out as bad as predicted and we didn't loose power.

First order of the day was to get some more pictures of Trina and her ever growing beautiful belly. At 30 weeks, I'd say she's full blown pregnant. :) She's finding the simple little things hard to do, like tie her shoes, pick up a pencil, get out of the chair, and is even getting the waddle. I'm starting to get pretty excited, and we've been discussing names pretty regularly.

The baby's room is pretty much ready. We now just need to compile all the every-day goods such as diapers, bottles, wipes, and that is just for me!


After shoveling the walk and drive way, today we ventured out to the town of Snoqualmie to pick up a crib that Trina found on Craigslist. The roads were quite snowy, even the main freeways. I was surprised that there aren't even enough plows to clear the 3-lane I-405 (pictured below). In the 45-mile, each way drive to Snoqualmie we did not see a single snow plow. It's obvious that most people aren't leaving the house, but enough have been to make for some pretty entertaining attemts - like the guy across the street with the rear-wheel drive Lexus and fancy street tires. I think we've been lucky that it has stayed below freezing, rather than the usual freeze-thaw cycles that turn everything to ice. That will be later this week.



While we were out in Snoqualmie picking up the crib, we stopped by the 270-foot Snoqualmie Falls. The wind storm had hit Snoqualmie, and although it had largely subsided, it was still quite breezy and snow drifts abound. The Falls were spectacular to say the least. The broken icefield in the tail end of the plunge pool was larger than a football field, and the ice around the whole basin formed by the mist was beautiful. Perhaps an iceclimber's paradise, if you could get to it. We didn't linger long since it was about 26 degrees with wind gusts hard enough to blow my hat off my head, and the hat was already turned backwards. The rag wool sweater just wasn't blocking the wind.

The 5th Day of Winter

It actually feels like winter here in the Seattle area. This is my eighth winter here, and I spend each year feeling as if winter never actually happens since it never actually gets cold and snowy. The same happens in summer – never get those couple weeks of 90+ degree heat to let you know you it really is summer. Temperatures dropped to sub-freezing last Saturday and have remained there since. It snowed about two inches Saturday night and in the morning the roads were quite icy. Nobody was out on the roads, so rather than using this as a clue to what not to do, Trina and I chose to drive to the University Village to finish Christmas shopping. It worked out great. The roads were slick, but nothing I didn't experience in the first month of having my driver's license, and that was with a '72 Land Cruiser rather than an all-wheel drive Saturn with anti-lock brakes and all those bells and whistles. The trip to U-Village was a success. It was empty, which is unimaginable for a pre-Christmas Sunday, all the stores were open, and we were home by 11:30 when all locals finally were getting the courage to give it a go. The last bit of the drive home was rather entertaining, as people were performing some very strange driving tactics.

On Monday, we woke to a low temperature of 18 degrees. That is very cold for the west side of the Cascades, and people were vocal about it. It was calm, clear, and crisp. I thought it was great. Tuesday was a continuation of the cool temperatures. No big deal.

Yesterday (Wednesday), the forecast was for more snow, so I worked from home. Somehow, the central Puget Sound (Seattle area +/- some to the north and south) was spared due to the rain-shadow effect and it didn't start snowing until 4 pm, and we only got an inch more. It appeared that we were in the clear. Not so much. Today, we woke to the complete opposite weather pattern with the Seattle area getting a couple of inches of snow in about an hour. I was scheduled to make the 70 mile drive down to our Electron hydroelectric project to transport juvenile fish, but upon seeing the new snow, I called down to the project at 5:50 and canceled. Had I turned on the TV before making the call I would have known that all the highways around me were at a complete standstill and I couldn't have gotten there if I had wanted. When I turned on the TV, the traffic report popped up, and the newscaster said "STAY HOME!!!" and showed all the roads with bumper to bumper, zero mph traffic. So, working from home it is again today. I am starting to feel like a hermit. Perhaps Trina and I will take a break and walk the dogs to Starbucks, but there is no guarantee that they are open…

Ya'll may scoff at all this fuss over a couple of inches of snow. However, consider that the City of Seattle has a total of 11 snow plows and a couple of sand trucks. Throw that in with the fact that many of the roads weren't designed with snow and ice in mind, such as the 12 percent grade hill to the house, people that have neither the tires nor the skills to drive in snow, and it is a beautiful mess.

More pictures of Trina's belly to come soon.

Thanksgiving Day Deer Hunting

On "The Mountain" on Thanksgiving. No snow, no deer, no fear, we got beer!