I thought we were done with the snow. But apparently not. It’s snowing right now.
I tried to get a picture of the falling snow, but the camera couldn’t pick it up. Jaspenelle says if we were in medieval times, her and Damian would have been declared a witch. Snow in June, I can’t believe it.
On Saturday Michael and I went to a few parks along the Spokane River, which is quite near flood stage. I am use to the water level on most of the dams being higher on one side then the other but most are pretty much just letting all the water through at this point.
This picture is taken across the river from Boulder Beach, a summer swimming hole. Not that you can see the swimming hole at the moment as it is currently covered in quite a bit of water. (This is what the same area looked like in March a couple years ago, that is Michael up on one of the boulders.) I believe the trail to the beach is also covered, though we didn’t cross to that side of the river. People forget how dangerous the water is when it is this high, it flows very fast and is very cold, a few people had to be rescued from the river this weekend.
Since Michael and I live up on Spokane’s South Hill, we are in no danger of being affected by the flooding but I hope all my friends over in North Idaho (where the worst flooding has been so far) will be okay. It is suppose to cool way down tomorrow but they are forecasting a lot of rain so I am not sure how much of a difference it will make as far as the flooding goes.
Someone held a door open for me today and reminded me it was Random Acts of Kindness Week today. Which was very funny and cute.
This past weekend was fun, lots of kindness! We went to a discussion group at Shannon’s on Friday night and had a vegetarian potluck. I have never had miso soup before, or tofu that I considered edible for that matter… I love this group because we just talk with no set topic, which is really nice sometimes.
On Saturday night we went over to Andrea’s for a “Medieval” movie night. We watched “Robin Hood - Men in Tights” and “The Reduced Shakespeare Company” (which was a really great comedy theater piece of three men reducing all 37 of Shakespeare’s works into one hour.)
Sunday… we didn’t do much. It was very windy, parts of Spokane declared a state of emergency because of blowing snow drifts. I feel for anyone who lives in the West Plains… We are on the South Hill though and other then the wind, the roads are (finally) clear. We went grocery shopping. The overabundance of bad weather lately was evident at Safeway though. You know the weather has been bad for way to long when the grocery store starts running out of food…. It makes you appreciate local food so much more too. Safeway’s produce department (and quite a bit of the rest of the store) is filled with signs that says “Out of Stock Due to Weather”. I think all the mountain passes are open again today though, so we are no longer cut off from the world.
They did have strawberries though, ya! They were reasonably cheap too for Winter, because of Valentines day.
I know a lot of people don’t do Valentines day because of “rampant consumerism” or whatnot, but I am looking forward to it. I got Michael a little something and I am really looking forward to his reaction to it. I ordered it today though so it might not be here by Thursday though…
I think it is important to be in touch with your relationship and the needs of your spouse all year around, but I still like Valentines because it is a little reminder of that in the middle of the most depressing month ever, of the importance of love. (Okay, before someone says it, I know, technically January has more suicides then February worldwide but the people who found that out have obviously never been delayed in the subway in Paris in February because another person jumped in the tracks…) February 14th is also Singles Awareness Day isn’t it? So even a holiday for the party poopers pessimists…
Michael and I start my Bradley classes tonight, thank goodness it is not snowing yet. I like the snow, but enough is enough! It is no longer white and fluffy, but ice. The city is running out of places to put the snow so they are piling it in a ridge in the middle of the streets downtown, this “ice ridge” was up to my waist today. For the past few days it has been warming up to just above freezing, enough to melt the ice ridge enough to coat the streets in water which then turns into a 1/4-inch thick layer of ice at night. This thin ice is unbelievably slick (or I am unbelievably uncoordinated…) and clear like glass. Some of the water is pooling by the cross walks and there is 1/2-inch of seemingly solid ice (thankfully not completely clear.) When you step on this ice though you go right though and are halfway up your calves in icy water. Urban flooding meet freezing nights!
Wonderful!
Today a construction grader when by my work 3 times, slowly whittling away at the ice ridge, followed by two plows with their blades not all the way down. They were spreading the slush over the road, I suppose in the hopes it would melt. Where is that melted water suppose to go anyways? All the drains downtown are blocked by, you guessed it, more ice and snow piles. doesn’t matter either way, it wasn’t warm enough to melt so now we have an inch of compact ice on the downtown streets.
Lovely!
Then the parking lot I work in… The ice ruts are so bad that the smaller cars are getting high centered. Even the 4-wheel drive vehicles were getting stuck today. Of course this is my fault, since I cannot magically make the ice melt. We don’t even have anymore salt (the offices fault, not mine) and our plastic snow shovel isn’t going to beat ice, it just isn’t. Trust me people, if I could get ride of the ice, I would, I am out a lot more skating (I mean walking) in the lot then you. I do not enjoy it. It was so icy this morning that the doors on the pay boxes were totally frozen shut.
Fantastic!
I am more then ready for winter to be over. I know this snow is great for our aquifer, we had so little rain this past Spring/Summer/Autumn. Still if it warms up too fast we are going to have flooding like we I hear we did in 1996, which caused region wide damage of about $800 million. (I am so optimistic aren’t I?) I can’t wait for that two to five inches of snow expected tonight and tomorrow. Climate change, ain’t it fun? It is never going to end…
Still, in a half-assed attempt at optimism, I’ll take the ice over the tornadoes back East.
So I haven’t posted a real update in a little over a week. I’ve been busy pulling out holiday decorations and working. Best advice I can give for long term Christmas decor? Buy led light strings. They last way way waaay longer and look cooler (in my opinion.) They also cost about the same as normal light strings.
I have had Deep Blue Something’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” stuck in my head for most of the day… Was that based a movie? Was it any good?
Christmas is the busiest season for us candlemakers you know? We are working hard to save up money for the baby. All those baby items add up! Meh, damn car seats why can’t I just go Britney and sit ‘em on my lap. (Joking! I am joking!) I don’t like asking for stuff, but when in need… I am just starting to put together a baby registry on Amazon (which can be found here.)It is mostly neuter stuff since we probably won’t be announcing the baby’s sex, I may not even find out. There are so few real surprises left in the world. Christmas gifts are lovely and I adore them so much but please, if you want to get Michael and I something this year, choose an item off the registry. I would also adore any gently used baby item, I am so cool with used.
We had a first snow last night they said we would have accumulation but it hardly stuck, grrr! Still, snow! I loved snow. We are expecting 1 to 3 inches tonight, hopefully that will be accurate. It just doesn’t feel like the holiday season without some white stuff, ya know?
Ack! I am already talking holidays, we aren’t even to Thanksgiving here yet. No more of such talk till Friday then. No Saturday, I will be dead Friday. More on that later. We are spending Thanksgiving at Michael’s parents, I am bringing basil tomato polenta (so they will either love or hate me for that?) I love spending Thanksgiving up there, awesome company and awesome food. Pregnancy, the only time I can eat 2600 calories a day and not feel as guilty as everyone else, hehe!
But then comes Friday and I can do the overdose of caffeen anymore. Friday is Black Friday here in the USA, the busiest shopping day of the year when all the stores open super early with super sales. It is madness and I am working it. I have to be in the parking lot an hour earlier then usual opening managing parking in the downtown shopping district. Noooo! The extra money will be good though.
So maybe don’t expect too much Christmas cheer on Friday.
And maybe expect a Feline Friday on Saturday?
I’ll survive, I’m sure.
I think…
I just tried to use the tv remote to turn up YouTube on my laptop…
My uterus is absorbing my brain!
