What weird weather we're having #6

Ok, so is everyone out playing in their snow or where? Where I'm staying at is close to Eugene, and 1100 feet lower than my place, and there is at least 3" of the white stuff on the deck. So, I can only imagine that there would be at least 6", probably closer to 8", at my place. Hopefully everyone has power. I'm sort of surprised that I do.

Portland, your Koka is a lovely dog. I'm so glad you found just the right furry friend and got home safely. She has such loving eyes.

Kathy, what a wild ride over the bridge! It is a good thing you were on the bus, and I'm glad you're home safe too with all your buddies.

Sally, I love the Polar bears. Very fun decorations.

Shokami, that sounds like a tough job to do, especially in the rain, and on top of that that they wanted it all done so fast. I've heard of cleaning the house for a party, but never re-doing the whole yard. I hope you get lots of contacts from it.

Stay warm and safe everybody. We just had a bit of wind and slushy rain here last night, but it is calm and mostly cloudy just now, with even a spot of blue over the top of the pine tree next door. Makes it hard to imagine we might get a storm and cold this afternoon.

I was just reading that there has been heavy rain and flooding in Southern Britain, even people needing to be rescued out of their cars. I tried to look up where Laurie lives in my world atlas, but couldn't find it. I hope she is doing O.K. and if stuck somewhere its at home not at work or on the road. Anyway, sending you good thoughts Laurie.

Ok, where are the Oregonians here? I about ready to try the radio to see what I here. I don't usually rely on it too much because it doesn't come in well here. But, the Tv isn't saying a thing and the tv news' station websites haven't updated either.

Glad to hear from you MauryHill. I bet if you were to type Lauries location into a search engine on the net, a map would come up.

im an oregonian redchic!! well at least for the last 3 years lol. moved up here from central cali. love the coast. grew up on the cali coast around monterey and santa cruz.

i was told we had some snow this am.. i didnt see it. i heard and saw alot of hail everywhere.... that was fun. i love a good storm! thunder and lightening are awesome!! woo hoo (but we didnt have any this time :-(

as for plants that went in i have more to come but have to wait for spring time... some of them i did put in are: germander (has a sliver leaf with purple flowers) blue shore juniper (soft and hangs niceley over wall, which im trying to cover up, its gross) pink and white heather, a bunch of dwarf rhodies called checkmate, dwarf grasses (part of the carex family called fire power) euonimus (not sure of spelling). have on order 10 lithodoras (the deep blue variety) and a ton of bulbs (tulips, daffs, anemonies and some more but cant remember, will plant those next week) and put in a few cheap solor lights for pretties. turned out pretty good! will send pics next week when i get a chance to take them. will give you before and after shots. :-)

ahhhh.... those should all look great together. I really like Rhody "checkmate" this time of year with the dark burgundy foliage and all of that good stuff. The lithodoroa (probably grace ward?) will make a good contrast and bloom later than some of the others, which will be good. Glad to hear that you're here though. I'm surprised that others have got online yet to show some of there snow pictures. There is plenty around here. I don't have to ability to post any pictures until I'm back at my own place.

This message was edited Dec 13, 2008 3:00 PM

Shokami - it sounds like you did enough work for 10 people last week. What a great opportunity to showcase your work and get some new business, even though it must have been back-breaking work.

It just snowed lightly here, but didn't stick. There is no snow on the ground. I'm thinking we got off okay up here.

Holly, thanks for the infor about England - all I know is that Laurie is near Burwash Wealt in Sussex. Were they hit by the flooding?

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/778572/

Stay warm, Sally and Redchic.

I'm here, just having computer problems again. I think I need to go see the geeks. We had snow last night, not a lot, and it's gone now. I was able to get out and make sure everything is covered up for tonight.

rc...went to check mom's vents and two of the covers disappeared....I had some styrofoam in the garage, got out the hack saw (made a big mess) and voila!! I still want to check out the sizes at HD, those were really thick. Of course if I get some thick styrofoam in a package..hmmmm.

Still have a winter storm alert in effect until tomorrow night. So that hasn't changed.

Waiting for the snow. We had a small bit on the ridges but waiting for the heavier snow for pictures. Hopefully tomorrow or monday they are saying. Our elevation is about 250 ft so we will be one of the last to see it. It is cold and we did have some rain this afternoon. Perfect combination when the temp drops another 6 deg or so...
Going crazy being inside. I have tall vaulted ceiling in my living room
about 20ft tall at the highest point. The builder put the smoke detector at the very top . Well, the stupid thing is beeping for a battery change.. I have a 12 ft ladder and I am 5'4".....2+ feet short of getting to the darn thing!(hate heights) Beep..beep..beep.. since around 10pm last night. Sure hope the battery dies soon!
My pond last year.

I hope everyone is staying warm & dry - the storm stories you all are telling! Crazy rides over bridges, no power, wind, etc. So far it is ok here in Portland but rainy & cold. I have taken the new dog out for several walks because I don't know her potty schedule yet. She is a descendent from dogs from the Chinook tribe and what ever dogs came through Alaska over the strait so she loves the cold & wet. She is so happy outdoors but I am happier by the fireplace! She is so obedient that I can walk her without a leash. I just carry the leash in my hand and she follows it. I do use the leash if we are around a lot of people, cars & noise since she is not accustomed to that but she seems very relaxed in the house. Slept all night on her soft bed next to my bed. She's a sweetie.
Sally your friend Helen sounds like a riot!

Portland...sounds like Koka is saying "Home Sweet Home". And yes Helen is a riot.LOL

Beahive...our local fire department (volunteer) come out to install and check our detectors, wonder if yours has a tall inside ladder.

Sally - what vents on the house do you cover & why? I am clueless! LOL

Sally..thanks for the tip. I will try contacting the FD Monday if it is still chirping!! . That would be great! If I had a gun..I would shoot it now! So annoying!
What was the builder thinking! Geeze!

Portland....some houses (especially manufactured homes) have vents around the bottom of the house (outside) you open them in the summer and close them in the winter to keep the cold air out.

Beahive...you're welcome, hope it works out for you. I agree about the builder, doesn't make much sense unless they're hard wired, but even those have battery backup, so that would eventually die too. I have high ceilings, but not that high. LOL You have room for one very tall Christmas tree!

BeaHive maybe you could make a sling shot. Then climb the ladder and shoot the thing.

Thanks Sally - I feel clueless about living in cold weather. In San Francisco it gets cold but certainly not like Oregon! Mt Hood is getting a big dump of snow so that is good for us skiers!

I was thinking that this afternoon. Snow in the mountains, lodges open in no time!

Hi, A weather report from Union, Wa It is beginning to snow. There is a light dusting so far but it is not very cold. Only around 36. Went to Poulsbo today to shop with my daughter. Took her to lunch for her b day and my two sisters joined us. Had a great day. It was windy and cold in town. Left about 3:30 and it was just lightly dusting down there and in Bremerton. Nothing along Hood Canal. Our weather report say snow tomorrow and Monday and then again Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday, so we shall see. We are all tucked in and we did get the snow tires on. I love a good storm. Of course I remember the blizzard in 1950. That was a good one.

The article about flooding in the UK said torrential rain and gale force winds across parts of England, Wales and Scotland, so it must be pretty widespread. The worst of it, where people were in need of rescue from rising water was in the Southwest counties (Somerset and Devon). According to the map in your link, Kathy, Laurie's home in Sussex is located in the Southeast. However, there is apparently more to come and possibly rivers flooding, including some in the Southeast according to another article I read just now. Sounds like a bad time all in all.

Sending more good thoughts to Laurie that she comes through O.K. Has anyone heard from her?

I sent her a d-mail. Don't know if I'll hear back soon though, since I think she spends some time each week away from home for work.

I am feeling lucky to live here in the PNW even if we do get some wind and snow. I just heard on the radio that there is a blizzard heading for the north central states, where we have relatives, with wind chill expected to reach 45 degrees below 0.

We happily just got a pellet stove installed. We bought it used off craig's list, turned out it didn't work properly, but DH (master of tinkering with small machinery) bought replacement parts, cleaned and painted it, and put it all back together last month. The heat is very nice and even. We have yet to figure out if it is possible to hook it up to a battery in case of power outage. It would be so nice to be warm at least if we end up without lights or water at some point this Winter.

Just starting to snow here, light but sticking.....

Don't worry about Laurie, she is fine I got a mail from her this morning, just raining.
Now back to read the posts, back soon.

Thanks tilly.

Mauryhill...we hooked ours up to our generator the last time we had a power outage. Could deal with all the rest with heat for the house. Hope you enjoy your stove as much as we do ours. DH warms his back side a lot!!LOL

Still calm an not raining here. The alert said midnight, so time will tell.

We have snow falling now, but I don't really think it will stick. Then again it would not hurt my feelings one bit to see 2' in the morning then I can call out from work. cause not one of these cars can get out of this drive with that much snow. I wanted Sunday off anyway. But I know that won't happen LOL
I'm setting here watching it, tiny little flaks.
I hope all of you are safe and warm.

Laurie is on Christmas break and is at home. Holly, you will not hear from her till early AM. I talk to Laurie all the time. Her Time zone is Diff. than ours.
Take care all
Hugs
Had to edit forgot.
Portland, Love you new friend, cool pup,.

This message was edited Dec 13, 2008 9:05 PM

well evening all! been raining with scattered cloud bursts off and on all night here. a few hefty gusts of wind as a chaser now and then. getting rather coooollll. brrrrr!

beahive - what a great little pond. the first thing i thought of wouldnt it look great with a small weeping jap. maple alongside it drooping over the edge. pretty pretty. and maybe some rush? do you have fish in it too? koi would do just fine as long as the top doesnt freeze solid.

we have a wood burning stove.. no pellets. we had looked into one but the electricity thing changed out minds. so when it went out and others were cold we were nice and toasty! my mom lives with us and she has gotten it so hot in her a few times that she set off the smoke detectors... i walked into the house and it was an oven!! opened up windows and doors... goodness

glad to hear that laurie is ok. keep us posted!

Sorry I think that is funny, my DH does that with the woodstove. He gets it so hot I have to find a place elsewhere, No a pellet stove is not the ticket. unless you have a big generator.

Bea, I forgot to say what a lovely little pond that is in the snow! Love the blue heron.

We decided on a pellet stove since both DH and I have had back injuries and wood chopping could become difficult, since teenage son won't live with us forever. Also, we have a manufactured home and it is easier to put in the pellet stove, as no wall/heat barrier was necessary to install. Pretty happy with it so far, though the slight noise of the motor and fan can be annoying if you are sitting near to it.

Snow sticking a little here, about an inch. I hope I made the right decisions about what plants to cover with the burlap bags I had on hand and what to leave to fend for itself. I try to stick with things that are hardy to my zone, but I admit to experimenting with a couple things (pineapple guava for example).

Also forgot to say, Gardener105, that's quite the tractor you have for plowing the driveway. I bet you get a lot more snow on the East side of the mountains than we do here, but we get inordinately excited about it when we do get some.

Holly, Wondering how does the pellet stove work when the power is out? Do you have a Generator? I know where you live and its not to much differant than me except I have more woody areas, but I have them all the time even in summer.

We have a pellet stove because it came with the house. We did replace it a couple of years ago, the other one was so old we couldn't get parts for it and it wasn't very efficient. The new one is really nice, easy start, easy clean. I would like the idea of having a wood stove when the power is out, but I don't think I could handle the wood either. Plus you can always burn pellets, wood burning is frowned on unless it's your only heat method because of air quality. He have a heat pump and it was say cheaper to use the stove, now the price of pellets is up, so it's a toss up. Except that DH has the stove in his favorite room and I can stay cool in mine.^_^

Beahive...love your pond, we should have ours soon. We only get it when it rains enough, it's fed from the storm drains, no fish, just lots of frogs. Lots and lots of frogs, then the Heron come in and sometimes geese and ducks stop by.

Bea - would you post a photo of your pond in the spring? Would love to see it then. :)

Willow, I do have that picture in several forms on Café Press http://www.cafepress.com/ohoyo if you are interested in other pictures of mine d-mail me.

Still snowing cars are getting covered and sticking in the grass, and coming down harder. Maybe I will get my wish LOL
Night all
Hope you all fare fine, keep warm.
Hugs

maury... i too live in a manufactured home. its about 3 years old. we just told them where we wanted it and it was installed. its very effecient.. but i can understand the back thing...totally!

Well, I'm glad that most folks are here without any problems so far.

Great pond pic BeaHive!


Here's a few with snow that I took in Saginaw today.

poor hydrangea was all flopped over and lying on the ground.

.....

Nice pictures, you got more snow that we did. And ours didn't stay long.

Mt. Pisgah kept more.

haha.... I'm just so surprised, but I'm not sure why because we were just talking about the fact that Saginaw seems to always be a little colder. The snow never did unthaw here today. I was told that there was about 5 inches of snow at my place, but I won't be there until Sun. night at the earliest. Mt. Pisgah sure looks nice though. I like it the way you had it today. No snow, but if you really want to be in it, you can go up to it and not it coming to you!

Tilly, the pellet stove's big drawback is that it doesn't function when the power is out, although some, according to brochures for newer ones, can be rigged up with a battery to operate the auger and the fan. Ours is an older model and we haven't yet looked into the possibility of the backup battery as we've had things happen in the middle of this project (Harley's dad passing away) and just managed to get it operational this week.

We have no generator, so we'll be in the dark and cold if the power goes, but I have set aside 10 gallons of drinking water in case of need. Although I'm on Vashon, and somewhat isolated from big town amenities because of that, our place happens to be on a main electricity line and we are often restored much faster than any other location we've lived (a little more than a day 2 years ago when others nearby were out for a week or more).