What weird weather we're having #6

Mauryhill, your location sounds pretty ideal. Out of the way, but not forgotten. That's a good place I think! Even if you won't have heat when the power is out, it sounds as if you're well prepared for whatever may come.

You need a box of Hot Hands. I can't believe how those things can keep you warm all over. Mom used them when her heat pump died. I gave her a couple of small space heaters, but the Hot Hands kept her toasty.

Mauryhill, sounds like you're in location like we are, high up on the list. I'll have to check our manual for the battery option. I don't remember seeing it, but maybe I didn't read the whole thing. Would make it easier, we could use the generator for other things.

Yes rc... I would rather look at snow than be in it. Raynaud's disease does not like cold!

MauryHill, I think that this link will work. I sort of forgot I might have access to these two pics from here.

odd pic that I took at one of the lookouts that I was at this summer. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qTNTPetYYRQvlvbNgeiAXw

and here's another one. I was the full time lookout in this tower about 14 years ago. (took the pic this summer)

ok, now the picture.

Portland1.. This is a picture of my Pond from summer 07.
Shokami2. I keep Koi in my pond (20+) and it runs 24/7. They are all resting in the "koi castle" now. A Japanese maple would be nice, but I have had some horrible drainage issues for the past two years coming from the lot behind me. The owner finally put in a drain this past summer so I am hoping this will resolve my soggy soil and flooding. Do not want to invest in a maple and have it drown! Will revisit the subject in the spring. The visiting frogs are
my favorite part of having a pond.

Found a Spring pic of the pond taken in May of this year.

This message was edited Dec 14, 2008 7:28 AM

Sally, it's great to 'look' at the snow, but not be 'in' it.

Shelly, I bet you felt like you were on top o' the world. We have climbed up fire towers in the Adirondacks. Just gorgeous views.

Beahive, just LOVE the pond. Yes, hopefully the drain issue has been solved so you can get a JM.

A nephew has a pellet stove and loves it.

Well the snow started to fall around 6:30 AM. So pretty already.
Need to bundle up and go exploring later. This shot is a bit blurry as I rushed so I would not miss this "hawk?"resting on the neighbors fence.

This message was edited Dec 14, 2008 8:22 AM

This was taken from my front porch only 90 mins into the snowing.

rc - I can't get used to calling any of you by your real names - the photos of the hydrangea in snow are so beautiful. You really have a talent for photography. Have you taken classes or had instruction? Have you considered a book, or submitting work to a nature publication company? I have no idea how all that is done but your photos are stunning. I also like the watch tower - my dream man is a forest ranger who writes poetry and cleans his fingernails. Do you think there is such a thing?
Bea the pond looks lovely in the spring & summer! What a nice addition to your yard.
It is snowing quite a bit here and the temps are expected to remain significantly below freezing for 4-5 days. The snow is expected to remain on the ground for the duration. I went out for a walk/run this morning with Koka and had a great time. She loves to run ahead of my and then double back, over & over again. Snow is my favorite thing so what a great day! I hope all of you stay warm and don't have any difficulties. Sally, keep those fingers & toes warm. Keep those stoves going. I should really have stocked more firewood. Oh well...

Nice photos Bea! I will take some later today. I am not very good at it so they will be pretty amateurish.

Hi all,

I have been absent for awhile from this thread (and what a thread it is!)

I LOVED waking up to snow today. Wish we got more weather like this around here.

morning all... jsut a quick note before i got o church today. we got a bunch of hail...they said maybe some snow today to... we'll see. took some pics will put them on later when i find the camera cord. its all white and so pretty.

beahive you spring pond is beautiful! what a relaxing place to be.

have a good one all! stay warm and dry

Beahive....love your pond. Everyone who tries it here gives up because the critters eat the fish. I have the natural one out back, so I don't even try. Would be nice to have koi though. Nice pictures, bet that hawk was fun to see.

rc...that lookout looks like a chalet. Are they nice inside? I like your frozen flowers too. I think we all feel you should do something with your pictures.

Portland..glad you're enjoying Koka. I have gloves and hot hands in the pocket of every jacket I own.^_^

We're still snowless, the sun was just out for a few minutes. The birds are ever so busy at the feeders. Right now there are Quail, Finches,Towhees,Chickadees and Sparrows. Of course if I walk out the door...there's none.

shokami2..will be nice to see pics from Coos Bay

Stay warm and safe everyone.

Red, those lookout tower pictures are amazing, the interior with the panorama and the reflection of the windows behind, and the look up at the tower from below. That's a pretty fancy double-decker one! My sister was stationed out of the Silver Lake Ranger Station. I seem to remember her lookouts were somewhere south of there.

Thanks zhinu, I just ordered a large print. It is so beautful.
Redc love that hydranga. You should sell prints also. Or do you?
Beahive your yard is great.
Portland, Congratulations on Koka. She is beautiful.

Thanks all! I'm still trying to find out how to actually get things done from digital on a scale larger than 24 developed at a time, all in 5 x 7 :-p I'm slow at it. But, I think once I get that figured out, I'll have a better idea what I can decide to do from there - if anything other than take up space on the computer. :-p

Portland, I can find several forest rangers (out of about 200) who clean their nails, but I haven't found the one yet that also writes poetry :-( But, maybe if he were to meet the right one, he would be inspired to write some. It's worth a thought. I think that being the architec type, lookouts would might be interesting - even though they're very simple.

Sally and MauryHill, That "double decker" one is a very fancy one - as lookouts go. I call it the condo on stilts! It has a gas powered mini fridge, tiny stove, a few sockets if you want a micro or to power cell phones or something (solar powered), sink (you have to bring water though), a few small lights. Keep in mind though, if you're living in there, most folks don't want to use any of those very much because the power and gas runs down and out very quickly. They put a larger investment into that one because it was one of the few remaining in the area and it has to withstand a ton of snow and wind. Most of the other lookouts, including the one in the other picture, are the same as they were 50 years ago. A few improvements to accomodate the amount of communications and data info that they want the person staying there to collect, but other than that..... it's a time warp. strangely enough, I like the older ones better. MauryHill, Wow- those silver lake lookouts are really, really, remote! But, if you don't mind not seeing people for a really long time, that's good.

I just talked to the people that I'm house sitting for, they are in Portland. they called to ask if I could stay another night because Portland is getting aweful weather now. Hopefully our Portland1 will check in a let us know how its going. Anyhow, they are staying at a hotel, by I205, she said that they were getting nearly blizzard like conditions and that most folks at their hotel were not able to get out of the parking lot at their hotel. So, lets keep our fingers crossed that it lets up there pretty soon. I checked the road cams in portland and 4 out of the 6 that I tried were out of comission and the other two showed desolate hiways. Yikes.

Pictures from my front porch this AM. THis is the gate into my courtyard

portland road web cam http://www.koinlocal6.com/content/weather/livecameras/camera.aspx?id=koinsw

The courtyard with Amber in her PJ's

The twelveth green at Alderbrook from my bedroom window

The Magnolia

Scene from the garage to the left.

And to the other left. I am dyslexic sorry. The second to the last was to the right.

Sounds like everyone did okay with this first batch of weather. We just got TV/Computer back.... 4-5 inches of snow here and we've been out playing most of last evening and today. None of our dogs has seen snow so they've been fun to watch. The roads are fair here in the valley but the hills will be icy tonight with the drop in temps. Not cold, just below freezing.

The hydrangea looks great, wish I was better at photos. The tower looks amazing too.

It is indeed a blizzard here. Earlier today it was not so bad and Koka and I went for several walks. Window screens are blowing off the houses, cars are sliding around, and the wind is fierce. The bridges are slick and dangerous. I am so glad that I went to the store to stock up so now I can just hibernate. I am afraid there will be many downed utility wires. During one particular blast of wind I looked out the window and a woman with a small child was clinging to one of my crabapple trees. Before I had a chance to ask her if they needed to come in & warm up her husband came along in the car to rescue them.
Koka LOVES the snow and doesn't care how cold or windy it is! She rolls around and buries her nose in it and is so happy.
I hope everyone is ok - I need to go outside and put more rocks on the tarp covering some plants and find the screen that blew off one of the the upstairs windows. No use trying to clean off the porch or steps since the snow is coming down fast. There are several screens in my neighbor's yard as well. It will be a miracle if we don't lose power.
rc - if the ranger doesn't write poetry I could accept that he would need to be smart and fun. I love the lookouts - truly form follows function. Do you guys sleep there? Do they have bathrooms? :|
Stay safe everyone, and keep checking in!

another

Great street scene. I am glad Koka enjoys the snow. They can have so much fun in it.

We have been getting light snow all afternoon finally letting up now.....the news earlier was saying that chains were mandatory in Portland.....we haven't gotten that much!

Doesn't snow make beautiful pictures? Great job everyone.

Looks like you are getting all the snow so far. We actually had sun for an hour or so. No warmth to it though. Hope everyone gets to enjoy it and it causes no problem. Koka certainly likes it!

Portland....how about a forest ranger who reads poetry? LOL

Sally at this point I would settle for one that could just read...

ROTFL!!!

ROTFL......I agree. That's great! I'm glad that Koka is enjoying it, and the really - so far so good as can be expected anyways.

One of the people that I do some landscaping for asked if I could come over and cover some stuff up in their yard after I get off work tonight. Brrrr.... But, i don't mind doing it at all since they are really not all that capable of doing that sort of stuff. I'm hoping that I'll be able to see what I'm doing.

You do landscaping too? I know you'll bundle up good for that. It's cold out there.

Checked out the Portland cameras, looks like a ghost town. How do you find these web sites? I put that one if favorites, for future use.

sally.. go to: http://tripcheck.com/Pages/RCmap.asp?curRegion=0&mainNav=RoadConditions

this will take you where ever and give you all the cameras you want and road conditions. its a great little piece of technology to use.

Koka looks like he's having a ball! what fun for him (even though you freeze a bit!)

well LOTS more rain here almost all day... were having a good dumping right now. still cant find the cable to my camera to get the pics.

as for my landscaping tom. i dont think that is going to happen, its suppossed to rain for quite a bit. i was probably going to take the day off anyway and do my xmas shopping (dreading it... )

Love the pics, you all are get photo takers.
Sally, in the first pic Koka looks like she is on a real mission.

But I need help, does anyone know about in line smoke alarms, mine keep going of with one beep every 10 seconds, like they do when the power goes off, but the power is on. They have no batteries. Its weird.

Laurie d-mailed me this morn. she had rain for 46 hours, she is on a incline so it does not bother them. She is safe and reading a great book.

This is what I woke up to, and on my way out to go to work I took a few shots.
My drive out dosen't look to bad, its under all the trees, and the tracks are my bros. he works graves. the time was 9 am

This is Buddies place. and my tracks to the car

Purple Haze

why does everyhting look prettier in the snow? :-)