Lots of snow in NE Portland !!!!!

Lots of snow and that is , what I had today morning for a water in my birds water dish............!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fabulous picture, birdscrazy!!! I've been hearing on the news about your weather - it's finally back to normal around here (I'm northwest of Seattle on Whidbey Island). It was great for photos, but makes it a bit difficult to get around!

Be careful!

Birds, you guys got hit hard down there. I've been watching the careening car video much of the day- where the car hits just about all 4 corners/objects in an intersection and then slides downhill to hit some more. Treacherous stuff. Best to stay home and enjoy the clean, white solitude.

Murmur, you're getting off easy! We still have at least 6 inches of snow all over, and anything that tried to be slush today will be frozen solid tomorrow a.m. I am really ready for a nice foot of rain LOL.

Poochella, I can't believe that is YOU saying that - lol!!! Yes, we did indeed get off easy here on the island - it is basically all gone tonight.

Murmur, come on down to Langley, we still got lots in our yard.
Birds, your photo is so pretty. My son goes to Pacific in Forest Grove and they had classes canceled for today and also tomorrow.

Gwen

I was just out playing with my dogs - it's 4 - 6" of slurpeeland out there. I really don't mind the snow except for the driving part. The video of that car was riveting.
I'm looking forward to rain, also. Or dry & 65°!

Your birdbath looks just like mine. :-)
I couldn't believe it when I got up this morning.
We've probably got 4 inches or more. We've never had so much snow in the 7 years we've lived here.
It is beautiful but I worry about my DH driving in it to get to his job in Vancouver in the morning.

Joy

Here's a photo of one of my containers in the yard.

This message was edited Jan 16, 2007 11:39 PM

Gwen, it amazes me the difference in just a few miles!!!! I think you are only about eight miles south of me!

Yes, Katye . . . dry & 65 - sigh . . . I can't wait!!!!!!!

Joy, we posted at the same time - great photo!! The weather all over the place is soooooooo weird!!!!

LOL Murmur.

Yes it is. I'm ready for spring and winter has barely started.

Hubby called the moment he got to work to let me know he arrived safely. The highways are reported to be comparatively clear, but the side roads used to get onto the highway remain treacherous. That's a long drive your husband has, Joy. How long is his commute in ideal conditions?

Here's North of Portland :)

Gorgeous photo estreya.
Glad to hear the highways are clear. DH only has to travel those.
It only takes him about 25 minites in ideal conditions to get to work. He starts at 5am, so the roads are usually pretty clear in the morning.

Joy

Snow and freezing temp. I don't remember such winter in Seattle where I live for 15 years.
At least we are moving to the warmer state right now.

Bare roads are such things of beauty! My car has "no-wheel-drive", so it has been quite a challenge to get to & from work. Company policy is safety first - so we have been able to come in later in the morning. Thank goodness - I would not have bothered to go in otherwise.
One week ago this evening, I was in the process of a 5 hour commute - for 14 miles! I had to park my car on the side of the road & walk the last 4 miles - it's uphill, and the store had given me the wrong size chains.
I'm glad for the rain now - but we're not even half-way through winter. Looks like the greater Portland metro area got slammed - hills & ice just don't mix...

Brier, are the racoons driving you out of WA, or where are you moving to?

I think snow is so soothing and insulating, unless it's icy too and you're stuck on a freeway with hundreds of others who don't know how to drive, don't have suitable vehicles and tires etc. Sometimes even knowing how to drive won't save you when gravity comes into play.

We are slowly melting here; about 29 degrees but still 4-5 inches of snow all over.

Oh Katye- I was in that mess too! I am slowly getting over it: the most terrifying commute of my life, for sure. Once I cleared the East Mercer Bridge mess that held things up for an hour, it was a free-for-all through laneless, snowy freeway through Issaquah where one car was gunning his engine perpendicular to the freeway trying to back out INTO what little traffic was there, and the guy who passed by my right hand mirror a foot away- slip sliding all the way.

I left behind the many cars left on the Highlands drive exit and prayed all the further miles toward home. Talk about PTSD. I made it home but it was a hair raising experience. I swear I was driving at a 20 degree angle uphill eastbound I 90 for long stretches at a time. Here's my new mantra: no job is worth it!

Pooch - I was on 520 & thought about trying to head south through E. Bellevue to I 90. That notion was quickly dispelled as I listened to the traffic reports on komo, about I 90.
The worst part about the commute was my bladder! LOL!
We were moving constantly on 520: about 2 - 5 mph, which I did not mind, because I was moving. What caused problems (well - besides the weather/temps) was the impatience of some. 520 was in ultra slow motion; the bus I had thought about catching spun out; the bus that came to rescue it jack-knifed. The bus riders had to travel on foot on the side of the freeway. To where and to catch what? No busses were making it through!
I am so glad that I was prepared & was determined to travel as far as I could. I had to laugh when i finally pulled over on E. Lake Sammamish Road, aka the "Plateau Parking Lot". It looked like Seattle with 4 events happening all at once - cars lined both sides! When I arrived at the base of the road I normally drive up - I decided to park & chain up. All I could do was laugh when I realized the clerk at Les Schwab had given me the wrong chains: she had transposed the last 2 digits of the model #. It really was funny... I put on my sorels and started hoofing it. I knew my feet would get me home, & I wouldn't crash or end up in a ditch.
I am from here but have never seen conditions like this before, and IMO, I think the government entities dropped the ball. I am not sure why - the main drags are typically de-iced on the Sammamish Plateau, but not this winter. Oh well - perhaps they will figure this out!
Silver lining: I am happy to report that I have acquired a new skill - shoveling my long driveway & clearing the ice.
I wonder if i can apply this skill-set somewhere in my resume? :0)

Katye, now that's making lemonade out of lemons!!!!

Estreya, beautiful photo.

Brier, great pic - and this is indeed an unusual winter!!! I was talking with my dad today about the time I was in kindergarten and he had to come rescue me because we had a blizzard!! That would have been early 1950 - He had me inside his jacket to keep me warm and he backed all the way home (walking). It's a wonderful memory for me - I remember feeling so safe! For him, it's a memory of trudging backwards through the snow holding his five year old daughter, trying to keep her warm and safe! (This took place in Seattle, btw.)

Poochela, I am not moving anywhere. I wanted to say that weather is changing to warmer ( :}) though snow in winter in Seattle always scary me. Poochela and Katye, i am glad that you managed to do that drive.

All my childhood memory (early 1950's) and young adult life is connected with very snowy winters (I was born in Russia), but at that time we liked winter, it was not scary because we did not live on hills, were using public transportation (with chains), city was cleaning roads and we were prepared that winter can be cold and snowy.
We always laugh recalling our daughter's memory of that time. She was playing outside at daycare when she saw the frosty metal post, she decided to lick it and her tongue got stick to frosty metal. She managed to pull it off by herself and clean blood with scarf but still joking that piece of her tongue was left on that post.

My neighbour told me that he got rid (I did not ask how) of three big raccoons recently that he found in his garden, so for now i don't see them in my garden. I was told to collect urine and poor along the fence and on fence. Will see what helps.

Such beautiful photos! Isn't if fun?

Murmur, the reason we still have so much snow is that we get zero winter sun and so the snow just stays and stays. Unless we get a good rain, it'll be here for quite a while.

Gwen

I do remember all your wonderful trees, Gwen!

Brier, as soon as I hit the 'send' buttonI realized you probably were referring to the weather moving on, and not yourself! Glad to hear you'll be hanging around. Even more glad to hear that your neighbor ridded his yard of 3 racoons ( don't ask, don't tell.) I hope they end up in a happy hunting ground and all goes well for them and you!

Your winter memories remind me of growing up in icy Minnesota. We had an elderly neighbor guy who, on the most bitter cold sub zero days, would come out and hold up army blankets around the 5 or 6 kids gathered at the barren frozen corner waiting for the school bus. Today, that nice man would be sued or suspect of bad intent. Pity that.

I myself have also left a few layers of tongue cells on metal posts back there! LOL! Nasty lesson to learn and one you don't repeat!

Kayte, glad you and your bladder got home alright LOL! That sounds like one long harrowing drive. I would not take flowers to the place that sold you the wrong size chains!!!!!! I know where you can apply your new skill set of driveway clearing: right here! UPS walked up our driveway today , a couple hundred yards, because even his big brown truck wouldn't tackle our uphill slope and slush over iced asphalt. The rain today helped melt things along, but still a good 3-4 inches all over. Perfect for sculpting and snow balls.

To all: the snow photos are pretty! Here's what our 11 inches of light, fluffy snow from last Wednesday did over the next couple days. Not really melted, it was only from 8-20 degrees, no where near melting. It just kind of folded over itself into a lovely ribbon of white on the deck rail.

Poochella - !sn't that an amazement! It looks like the cotton insides of a great poofey quilt!

That's incredible - it looks so soft and flowing!!

LOL Annie!
For someone who is 1/2 blind, you sure do take good picture of things! LOL
Love that picture of the snow above the rain guage.