Oops

I had considered joining this gym to use their pool. It is conveniently located across the street from my son's school. Now I am glad I found other pools to use. That might have been me in there.

Has it stopped snowing yet?

What a white Christmas looks like. Those ruts are deeper than the bottom of my car is tall. Driving over them is as exciting as navigating a shallow harbor at low tide. The pile by the mailbox is higher in this picture than it was last January after the big snow. It is even taller now. The street has been plowed again, and at least 8 inches have fallen since that. Our next door neighbor came home with a snowblower yesterday and cleaned up all of what fell in front of our house as well as in front of his.

My car at 10:15 yesterday morning.The same at 2:00 yesterday afternoon. Note that it is impossible to see under the car.Before I shoveled out the new ski instructor's car yesterday afternoon around 2:00. There was no snow piled next to the car when she parked. After. Notice I made her a path through the berm from the plow behind the car. Then the plow came by and made another one.

Following the plow on the way home yesterday. At least the road was clear. This plow is not the one that I was following behind my daughter's car, but it looks just the same. We also followed a pair of deer down the road for about a half mile before they decided to jump back over the bank. They were in front of the lead car, so no pictures, but it was funny.Why we want to come home after skiing.

Two children who want to play with each other now.
Twilight time.

What I meant to say was . . .

Twas the night before Christmas and everyone was blogging. This video would not upload, so it comes to you in time for the post Christmas shopping rush. I have only received four email messages from folks in a hurry for me to go out in the snow and spend money today. Well, two of them wanted me to shop online, but the idea is the same. I do not remember being bombarded with ads in the email last year.

I started my Christmas Eve on skis with my son. We took the trail through the forest, and it was not until we reached the city streets on the other side that he remembered the hill we needed to climb on the way home. It is not the steepness that is an issue, as much as the traffic. We managed to ski home safely.In the evening, we attended a service at church. They have some impressive icicles.Child in picture for scale.

At home again, we found more snow falling and a dog with more white to her fur than usual.

My sister

Kangamoo is now available here.

Today is merely partly cloudy

I sense a bit of frustration on the part of the local weather folk. This is our short term forecast for today:

LITTLE SNOW ACCUMULATION...ON THE ORDER OF ONE HALF INCH OR LESS IS EXPECTED BY THE END OF THE DAY AS VERY LIGHT SNOW UNASSOCIATED WITH ANY MAJOR STORM SYSTEM FALLS OVER LOCATIONS SUCH MOSES LAKE ... SPOKANE ...COEUR D`ALENE ...PULLMAN ...TO AS FAR SOUTH AS LEWISTON. THIS SNOW HAS BEEN STUBBORN TO END AND MAY LINGER AROUND FOR A GOOD PORTION OF TODAY BEFORE ENDING SOMETIME TONIGHT.

Yesterday, they kept suggesting that the snow would stop at a particular hour. 8 inches later, it stopped falling sometime in the afternoon. Today we are having "chance flurries" I am still looking for the spinning candy parts amid the ice cream out there. I am sure the writer's English teacher would show great trauma over the personification of the snow. What is wrong with snow that refuses to associate with a storm system? This is individualistic snow.

Whatever the weather, one must keep an eye on the squirrels. The steam is the exhaust from our furnace, which is doing a fine job of keeping us warm.

This is what fell this morning.

It is difficult for the camera to focus on something that light, so here is the sleeve of my jacket.

More on the mailbox.

I skied around the neighborhood again this morning with Shadow. She loves to get out, and I am enjoying sliding around on purpose, instead of by accident.

Last night we had a neighborhood party

The much awaited plowing of our streets happened last night around 11:00. It was immediately followed by a gathering of neighbors armed with shovels and snow blowers partying all night long attempting to remove the large mounds of snow which the plows deposited in front of our driveways. Nobody was complaining. Everyone was happy to know that they would be able to drive their cars soon. Well, maybe the owners of these two cars, featured earlier might not be driving until they remove the local version of the "Denver Boot" from their cars. These are the same two cars featured below. Nobody will be stealing them anytime soon. The near one is the Chevy copy of my car.Yesterday also marked the first day of skiing for the ski team. One of my skiers is on the team, and the other one is training to be an instructor. I did not find her for pictures, especially after she borrowed my jacket. We were working with negative integers for temperatures, so I stayed inside all day. My boy is very happy to be on the slopes again.

I took a little ski trip myself, through the local forest. As you can see, I am the first one through after the snow fell.

This is what it looks like after I attempted to ski through two feet of powder. Another six inches have fallen, and I have not had a chance to improve my trail. Maybe tomorrow, I will be out there again. Today, the neighborhood streets were perfect for my skis, since all the ruts from the SUVs were gone and we had a couple of inches of fresh stuff to play on.

I do not have stability control or 4 wheel drive or more than 6 inches of ground clearance, but I have made it up this mountain twice in the last two days. Fortunately, the best plowed road in the county leads to the ski hill. They know how to do snow there, unlike my neighborhood with the 2 foot berms down the middle of the street where no F150 dares to tread. We are all so happy the berms are gone, even the truck drivers.

I did see a F150 in the ditch on the way up, and again on the way back from the ski hill. As my sister says, maybe he did not have four wheel stop. I just take it slowly.

Stealth vehicles

Some people will go to great difficulty to disguise the fact that they park on the street. If these two are not careful, they will soon be protected by the seasonal theft protection device the county provides after plowing the streets. Today's total accumulation was in the neighborhood of 24 inches, and schools have wisely decided to take another day off and hope the plows find their way around some time in the next two weeks. Last year we received this much snow over a week in January. I can hardly wait to see what comes next. SF Gate featured us very far down in the article about Las Vegas and how 3.6 inches of snow closes schools there. We feel important sandwiched there between Vegas and Seattle for weather.

A beautiful day in my neighborhood. . .

This is what a real snow day looks like. I shoveled last night, finishing around 11:00 and it was still snowing. There was no snow on the trash can, and it is under a tree, so less snow falls there than in other places.

School was cancelled today on account of too much white stuff on the ground. The kids only have one more day before vacation, and I doubt the busses will be able to run tomorrow either. It looks like we will have a couple of days to make up in June. I hope the plows make it out by January 5 when the kids are supposed to return to school.

The real sadness was the cancellation of the elementary Christmas concert which was planned for tonight.The car received the full effects of the snow.

Shoveling wears out a little boy. He has fallen down and he can't get up.

When the trees let go, it is hard to see.In actuality, he is just on the back deck.

I hope we do not have any fires in the neighborhood. This was once a full size hydrant.

Everyone has a special hat, even the berries on the ash trees.

I think it is time for some real snowmen, not those inflatable kind that keep sinking deeper. The recycle bin is for forming snow blocks to make a fort. I knew we kept those around for something.

My niece thinks they have a lot of snow. This ruler is measuring 5.5 inches. They are not shoveling today like we are.

Even Santa seems to be knee deep in the white stuff.

Local Weather for the week

According to NOAA, this is what we are expecting over the next few days. I can hardly wait for Friday when it warms up to 18. That would be Fahrenheit, which is colder in this range of numbers than Centigrade. At the moment, it is about 20.

This Afternoon: Snow and widespread blowing snow. Temperature falling to around 16 by 5pm. Wind chill values as low as zero. Blustery, with a northeast wind around 22 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

Tonight: Widespread blowing snow and a chance of snow showers. Cloudy, with a low around 3. Wind chill values as low as -18. Blustery, with a northeast wind between 21 and 24 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Sunday: A 30 percent chance of snow showers, mainly before 10am. Cloudy and cold, with a temperature rising to near 9 by 11am, then falling to around 1 during the remainder of the day. Wind chill values as low as -20. East wind between 16 and 18 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

Sunday Night: A 20 percent chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around -7. Wind chill values as low as -31. Northeast wind around 20 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph.

Monday: Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near 3. North wind around 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around -12.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near 3.

Tuesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around -11.

Wednesday: Mostly cloudy and cold, with a high near 8.

Wednesday Night: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 4.

Thursday: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 15.

Thursday Night: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 8.

Friday: A chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 18.

First flakes of winter

I came home from swimming this afternoon today to find this on the ground. Who wears shoes to the pool? Not me. My barefoot child.

Welcome to our neighborhood, and Merry Christmas too.

Primroses do not do well in snow.

What a nice warm house.

Oh, and don't forget the forecast for the next two days:

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

A POWERFUL WINTER STORM WILL BRING THE POTENTIAL FOR STRONGWINDS ...SIGNIFICANT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS... DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS... AND BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW THIS WEEKEND. SNOW WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON... MAINLY ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 90...AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE NIGHT. THIS STORM SYSTEMWILL ALSO BRING THE THREAT OF WIND GUSTS OF 35 TO 40 MPH TO PORTIONS OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN THROUGH THE PALOUSE THIS EVENING..

DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

SIGNIFICANT SNOW WILL PERSIST INTO SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT AS A STRONG ARCTIC FRONT MOVES FROM NORTH TO SOUTH OVER THE REGION. BEHIND THE ARCTIC FRONT... BLUSTERY NORTHEAST WINDS WILL CONTRIBUTE TO BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW. THE GUSTY WINDS WILL PERSIST INTO SUNDAY... CAUSING DANGEROUSLY COLD WIND CHILLS.

Warm activities for a cold day

When the weather outside is frightful, it is a good idea to wrap up in a blanket. When the house needs a blanket, we go to the local do it yourself emporium to look for house blankets. What you see in the back of a Fit is about 240 square feet of R30 house blanket which is intended to separate the cold air in the crawl space from the warm air in the living room and kitchen. Out of the car it looks like this.

Out of the package, some of it looks like this. There are 11 of these lovelies in each of the plastic bubbles, and no, the pink cat did not come and help with the installation. We will be warmer now.

Emptying that camera phone again

When I am out shopping, sometimes I see something that I need to share with my girl, like this lovely cake, which she may or may not want for her next birthday. Then there are the things we do not wayt to buy, but we want to take them home in some way.

It goes with different hats on different boys.

I saved a few of these guys with my phone too.

They can even swim in the phone. For the record, this guy took a wrong turn after a long swim upstream, and he is going back downstream to join his friends in the pool that is deep enough to submerge his gills.

One way or another, I have a picutre of my boy and the man in the red suit. He had four ladies helping take pictures that evening, and we were the only ones there.

Swimming upstream

In addition to an excess of food, fun and shopping during our sojourn to western Washington, we took a side trip to Rusty Cock Ridge last Saturday afternoon. As soon as we arrived, Jerome let us know that the salmon were active in the creek on their property, so we hiked down the hill to see them. I have never observed this phenomenon personally, so it was quite a sight. It was an interesting olfactory experience as well.

Thanksgiving joy

Some things never change. It is still fun to gather with family for a holiday feast. Some family members are farther away, so once upon a time we called them on a phone, the old fashioned kind with a cord. Now phone live in pockets and only have cords when they need a charge, and the once mysterious picture phone call that was a treat one year for my grandfather's birthday is a regular occurrance. I wonder what my children will think is old fashioned from their childhood 30 years from now.Will they look back on the primitive laptop computers.Giggling with a toddler long distance is more fun than ever.Some technology never changes.Today we still use the same tools to carve the bird as in the good old days.

Managing food and pictures is an old art, which will never change as long as children are allowed forks at the table.

Eating with one's fingers works the same charms.

Sometimes I manage to catch them with smiles.

Finally the cook finds time to eat.
Glowing coasters are very entertaining.