Friday, January 22, 2016

And so it begins

A cardinal and nuthatch at the beginning of the snow.
For the past week, our area has been preoccupied with the predicted blizzard for this weekend. The news has been full of ever changing weather forecasts predicting 2-3 feet of snow and high winds. Warnings have been issued to expect power outages. The store shelves are empty and gas stations are out of gas. Schools and business closed early today in anticipation of the impending snow.

Ward and I have done the necessary preparations. We have the mandatory toilet paper and milk, and I baked bread today because the store was out when I went on Wednesday. We have water set aside to drink and flush the toilet in case we lose electricity. (When we lose power, our well pump no longer works and we have no water.) The flash lights have batteries and we have gas for the generator. We have a few good books and puzzles.

And as predicted, this afternoon, the snow began. It is supposed to last until Sunday morning with the winds picking up tonight. Now we are in the fun part of the storm--the beginning where we are watching the quiet white flakes cover up the grays and browns of winter with no urgency to go anywhere or do anything. I hope it continues this way. But if I believe the predictions, we may not be so lucky. Stay tuned.


10 comments:

  1. Here's hoping it's one of those "fun storms" - you know, the kind where you get to hunker down, snuggle & stay toasty warm inside drinking cocoa and watching the snow pile up... as opposed to the "other kind" of storm that wreaks havoc on your actual life. :-)

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    1. So far so good. We have about 15" so far and it's snowing heavily right now. The biggest problem is that the cats are confused because their usual window to the world is covered with snow.

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  2. 15 inches, that's quite a lot, by Seattle standards! I hope all continues to go well for you (no power outages,etc).

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    1. Theo has no power at his apartment, but is doing well. He keeps it so cold in there to save money, I'm not sure he'll notice. However, we are doing well and still have all of the things we need. The snow continues to fall. Haven't gone outside to measure, but it looks about two feet deep now--higher in the drifts.

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  3. It sounds a bit scary, but sounds like you're well prepared too! Fingers crossed that you don't lose power.

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  4. Are you digging out periodically so you won't have quite so much to do when it's over? I hope you have a roof rake--been hearing stories on the news about roof problems from the heavy snow. You must be in the "heavy snowfall" zone.

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    1. We usually try to keep up with the shoveling, but there has been so much wind and drifting, we decided to wait. Theo said he shoveled out his car this morning, but it had disappeared under snow just a couple of hours later. It looks like we have 2-2.5 feet right now and the snow is diminishing. Should be done in a few hours. We are in the bulls eye of the storm.

      We don't have a roof rake because large snow falls are usually not a problem around here. However, I hear my sister, who lives in Maine, talk about using them at her house. We don't have a flat roof, so hopefully we will be okay.

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  5. I love the feeder photo, red against snow.

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    1. The feeders were busy all day long and the birds were a lot of fun to watch.

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    2. It so charming and peaceful and clean looking, the snow. I hope you have more photos. They are wonderful.

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What do you think?