Weird Weather of '09 #14 Baby it's Cold Outside....

My Quaker used to say, "It's okay" when I clipped my parakeets wings and feet because I would say it to him when I clipped his wings and feet. He/she also used to lift his wings up and say, "Preeeetty biiiiiiird."

I looked at a Double Yellowhead when we lived CA (more than I could afford).... he would hunch down on his perch and say " I'm a Baaad Bird"...or he would climb down from his cage, go over to the patio door and call "Here kitty kitty.." the cat would run up to the door and then he would attack the screen!

LOL! My green-cheeked Amazon used to call "here, kitty kitty" too.

One of my favorite pictures of my sis

Trisha I'm so sad for you. We love our animals and it's hard to lose them.

I love that sister photo!

Melissa and Trish, so very sorry for your loss of pets. I know how horrible it is and what a hole it leaves in your life. Sure wish their longevity was more comparable to ours.

Our freezing rain has arrived and it warmed up to 35 deg before it started going back down. It's frozen enough to make noise but can't really call it hail and it crunches when you walk on it.

Looks like Portland is going to get it worse than we will. Storm watch in effect til 8 p.m. tomorrow. Watch out Judi.

We got all our errands run this morning so we can hunker down for a few days. We saw a police car and paramedics on a run when we were coming home, hope it wasn't too bad.

Stay warm and safe everyone.

Just got a notice on the TV. Slick conditions, many wrecks and the college has closed. Public school activities are being canceled.

Sorry you guys for your losses. I have a person who works at the clinic in Bellevue that has an African Grey and every time they shut the door to the bathroom it makes "Farting" sounds. I cannot repeat the rest of what they have taught it. You could never invite any human over or they would be too embarased to stay.

I am so bored. Without water I can't cook, clean up cat messes, wash dishes or do laundry. I haul a few buckets up from the river every day, but you'd be surprised how quickly it gets disappears.

yuk summerkid. Sorry you still don't have water.

Sofer that is too funny!!!! I had a parakeet once that I got from someone and it cussed up a blue streak, my parents weren't amused.

My sister's African Grey sings up a storm, just ask her if she's a pretty girl and she'll tell ya!

The news just gave an update. "Don't go to Portland if you can avoid it. Very dangerous roads." They showed 5 different wrecks here and it only started the freezing rain a couple of hours ago. Now they're saying we're going back into the teens again tonight, that's going to make an awful mess. I think you have to stay off the roads so you can avoid all the people who don't know how to drive.

Summerkid, I used a hair dryer to thaw out pipes that froze when I was on vacation one year. Then I had to deal with a crack in one of the pipes. I had to put a bucket under the drip until it could be repaired. This occurred where the pipe comes out of the ground in the crawl space under the house. It is just a short stretch of pipe, but essential to the plumbing. We now have heat tape wrapped around that section of pipe and have not had a problem since.

You may want to have some help available when your pipes do thaw in case there is a problem. Do you know where to turn off your water in case of a more significant leak?

Well, the pipes under the house are some sort of flexible plumbing that won't crack, so that's good. The water company owners were just by to check on me & are coming back tomorrow to take a look in daylight -- they did warn that I should turn off the water heaters so they don't burn out. Hope it's not too late. They said one of our reservoirs froze up completely.

It was in the 40s today so I'd bet that, if it weren't for my northern exposure, the problem would be solved. Let's just hope that nothing cracks between my house & the street.

Maury, I will get under there with a hairdryer tomorrow if I can find the inlet.

I did all my errands today and went to the market and had firewood delivered so all is well here. No snow yet but it's about 29 degrees. SNow tonight and freezing rain tomorrow. I'm supposed to drive out to the country near Mt Hood on Sunday for a party and I'm bringing the dessert. So if the roads are too bad I will eat the chocolate fondue with my neighbors.

One of my old co-workers was in town for a project at the state mental hospital in Salem so he cancelled his late afternoon meetings that were scheduled for today and zoomed up here to the airport so he could get an earlier flight back to San Francisco. He said it's too cold for humans here!

Summer I feel so bad for you - having no water is very difficult. you might consider having your pipes replaced with PEX piping so they don't burst.

I have never had a bird.

Summer we cross posted - sounds like you already have those expandable pipes. That's a good thing. Do you drink the river water?

Yeah, it's a very clean creek that starts not too far above me -- in fact, our little water company pipes out of it a bit further down.

I love my hillside & meadow, but it is a VERY steep climb with a trashcan full of water. It really helps identify where your glutes are located.

Judi.....your co-worker might have done the smartest thing. Most of the flights out of here were canceled. The news loves the show stranded people, whether on the road or in the airport.

Our local volunteer fire department came through a little bit ago. Yearly tradition, horns honking, lights flashing, music blaring and passing out candy canes. They also pick up food donations. They always stop by our house, my DH is one of their favorite success stories. Unfortunately between DH and mom I know those guys all too well. They are a great bunch!!

There's been over a dozen wrecks here since this afternoon, just enough wet to make it nice a slippery now that the temps are dropping. Wish Shelly was here, I miss her.

It is eerily quiet here - everyone tucked inside their homes. the calm before the storm. I so wanted to go to Pioneer Square to the "200 Tubas" concert. 200 tubas, and anyone who has a tuba and can play a few notes is invited to join, all playing holiday music. Can you imagine?

Sally I hope things are not too bad where you are.

The news was crazy this morning. Portland is a mess and it's messier farther down I-5 - multiple car pileups and closed highways in Corvallis. And it sounds like it's just a taste of what we'll be seeing tomorrow.

It's still cold here. The sun is out and I've been trying to do errands so I won't have to go out tomorrow.

Don't know about Monday . . .

The streets in my neighborhood are absolutely empty, and so far they are not bad. Everyone seems to have planned to stay home.

On a brighter note, I am taking chocolate fondue to a party tomorrow and there will be little kids. One of the things we will dip is rice krispie treats, but my daughter gave me an amazing recipe for them - and they are wonderful. Just browning the butter makes a world of difference. This recipe is my hunker-down-by-the-fire contribution.

Melt one stick of butter in a large saucepan over low-medium heat, stirring and WATCHING CAREFULLY so it doesn't burn, but get it brown, and scrape the bits from the bottom. When it is brown (don't let it burn!) turn off heat and stir in 10 oz bag of marshmallows. When that is all melted & mixed, stir in 6 cups rice krispies and a heaping 1/4 tsp coarse sea salt. The browned butter and the coarse sea salt makes a big difference.

Ooooh. I see a bright future for your daughter as the honorable DG PNW forum recipe-provider. I might have to try this tonight.

Be careful tomorrow - I hope the streets are safe enough for you to go.

My daughter got it from the SmitenKitchen website - it's great.

This is very good - I made the same but added some peanut butter in with the melted butter. YUM.

An old friend of mine used to add caramel and chocolate to her rice crispy treats. They were to die for.

I'm not generally much of a RC treat person, but adding the chocolate peanut butter or caramel puts me over the edge. Yum!! I've sent this along to my family and friends.

Katie, I am also not a RC treat fan, but the browned butter version is so different. Not as sweet, and a great flavor. The trick is to get the butter brown enough without burning it. SO good.

That's good to know. I have the ingredients on my list for the next time I get groceries. I gotta try it.

Of course, I've been craving fondue since you first mentioned it. I haven't done that in 15 years or so

That's funny because a few days ago I was sitting in the laundry room waiting for the washer to finish and I looked over to the big shelving unit where I store extra kitchen stuff and there sat a fondue set that I was given about 7 years ago and have never used. That's when I got the idea - I have not made fondue for eons!

Oh my gosh. Have you guys checked out the Smitten Kitchen site? How about those artichoke olive crostini? Or mushroom strudel? Or 44-clove garlic soup? Or . . .

http://smittenkitchen.com/recipes/

I made the hazelnut brown butter cake, substituting a mix of gluten free flours for the small amount of flour in the recipe, and it is delicious. It is pictured with chocolate icing but I didn't do that, but served it with the vanilla roasted pears. Easy but amazing. I am making the braised short ribs.

Oh - is this thread about the weather? It is a balmy 33 degrees here and drizzling. Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer. The streets in Portland are not bad at all. The folks on the news reports make it sound like a disaster area! It will probably freeze overnight but by late morning should be wet but ok. It's this weather that has my brain focused on food!

Yeah - the news was bad today.

Then I talked to a gal in the grocery store today whose son lives in Lake Oswego. He told her this morning that it wasn't bad at all. I think it may have been worse a little farther south. I think Corvallis was pretty bad. Wonder how Bea and Sally and Shelly and our other Oregon friends are doing today.

Snow here tonight, they say! But it looks like "they" have already treated the roads.

44 clove garlic soup!! Now that I have to try.

Regarding weather: They keep predicting dire freezing rain and snow that has yet to materialize here. Sounds like folks to the south have not been as lucky. Truthfully, I would not mind a snow day (just one mind you, not a whole week of them, and definitely not the 2 hour late variety where only half the kids come and you can't get anything accomplished after sliding around in the slush to get there). Besides, my son is sick and has already missed 3 days of school. It would be nice if he could stay home Monday and get over the lingering cough without missing any more class time.

Boy am I hungry!!! LOL Copied the recipe and variations to my DG recipe file and bookmarked smittenkitchen. I don't do chocolate unless it's really dark, but the peanut butter or just the browned butter sounds wonderful. Thank you all.

Started out nasty here this morning, then the roads cleared up. We went into town and the streets were o.k. by noon but the sidewalks were awful. You mostly slid across to the door. Looks like 2 more nights at 30 then up to 40 for the lows after that. So we'll be back to normal soon. There were some awful wrecks last night and a few this morning. Shelly will have gotten it worse because she's higher up, but then she's used to it and prepared for it. Thanks for thinking of us down here. Hope all goes well up north.

They keep putting it off. The latest is snow tomorrow night and/or Monday or Tuesday with low temps to continue during the week. It did feel a little warmer to me today, but then I don't see the daylight during the week except briefly at lunch so maybe that was just an illusion.

All OK in our area. The snow and freezing rain never happened. We did warm up yesterday to about 35 which helped melt the ice in the pond. Some rain & fog but nothing like the terror they were saying on the news. Girls want to make Christmas cookies today. Will see if they get out of bed before noon.

Beahive, same here as there. However, everything is covered with ice this morning, including the streets. But that should all be ok by maybe noon as it warms up. I'd rather have a few inches of snow than ice. I think it will be a beautiful day!

36 and really foggy here this morning. Forecast is cloudy with chance of rain. My stray cat that lives in the garage got off her heat pad and is out roaming around. That's a better forecast than the weatherman does. LOL

How funny! I am glad the cat has the heating pad to come back to...funny, because Bill and I were just commenting that it must be warmer because the dog spent a whole five minutes out in the back yard this morning before wanting back in!! At nine fifteen I think we were up to around 24*

At 10:00 A.M. it was snowing very teeny-tiny flakes. The roof was dusted like light powded sugar. That might be it.

That is what we got here a bit ago, just a few flakes, not enough to even show.