I did, indeed, finish the first Staccato Beanie last night as well as Season 12 of “Midsomer Murders.” So as not to waste any of this bulky yarn, I added a skein of dark grey and started a burgundy and grey Staccato Beanie. I also started a bulky lace hat with some variegated yarn Barbara gave me awhile back. I finished reading “1105 Yakima Street” and made a start on “1225 Christmas Tree Lane.” This is the final book in the Cedar Cove series by Debbie Macomber so she promised to wrap up everyone’s stories.
I was just ready to head off to the shower at eleven when I saw a “distress” note on the bride’s Facebook page. Apparently Dana had Ryan’s car (the groom) and it wouldn’t start so she was waiting on him and her Dad to arrive, pick her up and get the car started. They succeeded as she was at church by time I arrived at noon. Vonnie arrived soon after and we ran over the “Canon in D” one last time. Then we had to just hang out until time for the wedding to start at one. When we left last night, there was going to be half an hour of taped music played and Dana was to let me know what the last song was so we’d know it was time to start when it was over. She wrote me later to say it would be “It Was a Very Good Year.” I thought that was an odd choice for wedding music but what do I know. By today it was decided that was the only taped music that would play before Vonnie and I did our duet to bring the bridal party in.
We understood that the guys would go along the outside of the building and come in the door by the front of the sanctuary. It was a little after one before the song began to play. Vonnie and I watched but there was no sign of the guys. Then we realized they were standing at the back of the sanctuary. We waited for them to move but apparently they were waiting for us to move. We knew the song went seven minutes and as it neared the end, Vonnie and I moved into position. The guys followed suit. My fingers hovered over the keys as Larry gave Vonnie the nod and she nodded to me to start playing. It was “make it or break it” time! Facing as I was, I couldn’t see if the wedding party was coming down the aisle or not. But everything worked out fine and Vonnie and I both breathed a sigh of relief as the last notes of the song rang through the sanctuary. Once Larry handed Dana over to Ryan, Vonnie and I returned to our seats.
There was more taped music to see the wedded couple back down the aisle. I made it through the reception line and then found place to sit for the catered dinner. However, Vonnie came over and asked me to join their group which included her husband Larry, Darald (sound man) and his wife Wendy who helped with all the setting up, and Sel. Sel’s wife Wava, who is on our music team, was off at a quilting retreat. Darald told me we had him worried when we kept sitting there through the pre-service song. He was about ready to run down the aisle and tell us to get going. 
The dinner menu included potato salad, green salad, pork ribs and chicken, macaroni and cheese and Spanish rice. The meat would have been great if there had been some BBQ sauce but the chicken, especially, was on the dry side. The mac and cheese was yummy! The plastic plates looked like that Corelle ware stuff at first glance and the plastic ware looked like silverware. I was taking great care not to break the knife and fork as I cut the meat. I soon realized most people were using their fingers. Ok… The wedding party finally came back in following the picture taking session. Once they got some food, the cake appeared. There was a three layer wedding cake but that wasn’t what we ate from. There were three sheet cakes in the kitchen – white, chocolate and carrot cake. I chose the carrot which was delicious.
I called Bill a little before three to let him know I was getting about ready to head out. He called Massimo’s for takeout. I gave them time to get the order pretty much done, bid farewell to everyone and drove out. I arrived at Massimo’s about 3:20 and was told “a few minutes.” In a few minutes Raphael came out with the bill and I took care of that thinking the food was close behind. I stood there and stood there. I was still standing there 25 minutes after I had arrived. I finally asked Raphael if they even started fixing my order until I arrived and he confessed they did not. I pointed out that was the whole point in Bill calling ahead so it would be close to ready when I got there. I told him I really had better things to do than stand there and hold up their wall. He apologized. So I was there 30 minutes waiting for the food. It was about 55 minutes after Bill had called to place the order. By time I got home, he was wondering what had become of me.
And now I have some time ahead of me to relax before calling it a night. Barbara and I are supposed to leave her house at 10:45 in the morning for our knitting outing. I decided on Roasted Tomatoes for my potluck contribution. Barbara opted for tea sandwiches. The tomatoes take about 10 minutes to cook once the oven reaches 400º and with that in my mind, I’m ready to move on. I have two more “Dalziel and Pascoe” episodes to watch.
You can start HERE to see the eight pictures I took today. I couldn’t get one of Boden in the cute little outfit Gramma Wendy made him until he went to sleep. Tova finally slowed down long enough for me to get one of her as she sat in her dad’s lap eating a roll. Once I took the picture she promptly knocked over a glass of fruit punch, spilling it on her dad. Oops!
✿•*¨`*•✿♥♥♥ Congratulations and Best Wishes to Dana and Ryan ♥♥♥✿•*¨`*•✿
My desire to get to bed by midnight didn’t materialize, as usual. I finally headed down the hall at 12:45. I was shocked to find it was only 27º out when I got up at 7:30 today. Apparently it was the price we had to pay to have blue skies and sunshine for the day. Bring it on! I arrived at Ellie’s just after ten. We were joined by a new gal named Marilou. She was crocheting a baby hat today. Jackie was also crocheting a baby hat. I continued on the Staccato Beanie I started last night using the new bulky yarn. Everyone loved the yarn and wanted some. Ellie was working on the lace baby sweater we started in class a few months ago. Ann was knitting one of the Multnomah Shawls like I did for Ellen for Christmas. Liz was knitting an A4A vest and needed some help with it.
It was 1:30 by time I left there and drove into Key Center. I went to the post office and then the grocery store. Among other things, I had to get cherry tomatoes for my roasted tomato dish for the “do” on Sunday. When I got home I had to wrap up the gifts for Dana and Ryan. By time I finished wrapping, returned a phone call, checked email and ate a few bites of salad it was time to head for church. I was to meet Vonnie at five so we could rehearse the wedding music. Pretty much everyone else was there since they were setting up the foyer for the reception. They brought in pizza and we ate before the rehearsal. The only time I got any attention from Tova was when she showed me the petals in her flower girl basket. Apart from that, she wanted nothing to do with me! This was my first time to see little Boden who is now about six weeks old. He was more than happy to cuddle with Auntie Carol. Good boy!
It took three tries to get the wedding party down to the front of the church in sync with the music. The first time they were all down there before we finished page 2 of 4 pages. The next time they were not down there when we finished the last page. The third time was a charm.
I was home a little after eight. It was brrrrrrrr cold outside! Now I can unwind before bedtime. I was knitting on the Staccato Beanie at church but realized that the crown decrease wasn’t right so I had to quit until I got home and checked the pattern. Now I can finish it tonight. I’ll make the next one a size smaller.
Don’t stand out in life’s storms alone. Seek God’s shelter. Ask Him to protect you. Make sure you have received His forgiveness. Get close to the Rock of Ages. It’s life’s safest spot. —Dave Branon
The slipped stitch hat just didn’t please me so I ripped that out and settled for a 2x2 ribbed hat with two strands of yarn. That should knit up quickly. I chatted with Wanda on Messenger for a bit after watching a “Midsomer Murders” episode. By 11:30 it was pouring rain outside. Happily the snow was finally gone when I got up this morning – at nine thirty. Talk about lazy bones!
Despite that, I got in a good day’s work on stuff for Madrona. I made up four sheets of address labels to send to Julianne. That means we have 120 (and counting) door prizes for this year. We give thank you cards to the door prize recipients and hope they write a thank you to the donor and mail the card. Julianne will put the labels on the envelopes and be sure they are in alphabetical order. Eventually, we’ll put the cards with the door prizes. My next project will be to print labels that tell what the gift certificates are. They go on the outside of the gift certificate envelopes. The envelopes are placed in a box and door prize winners select from the gift certificates or items like books, DVDs, kits, etc. The attendees LOVE the door prizes. I have a random number generator located for drawing the names. Love it…
Now I’m ready to relax for the rest of the evening. I have hats # 12, 13 and 14 on the needles. I tried the new bulky Knit Picks yarn Barbara gave me yesterday and I really like it.
Our prayer will be most like the prayer of Christ if we do not ask God to show us what is going to be, or to make any particular thing happen, but only pray that we may be faithful in whatever happens. - Father Andrew
Long about 9:30 last night I could hear the wind howling outside. I got my flashlight handy “in case.” Later on I saw this on the Peninsula Light FB page: “Wind Advisory for Tuesday, Jan 24 from 2 pm until midnight, winds 20 to 30 MPH, gusts up to 50 MPH.” It was 12:36 when I read this and the wind was still blowing as it did off and on all night. I also saw that there were power outages down the road in Lake Holiday and from Key Center South. As I typed, the lights flickered so I headed for bed after turning off both of the computers. When I looked outside this morning I couldn’t believe there were still patches of snow down at the bottom of the driveway. We’ve had plenty of rain so I don’t know why it hasn’t long since melted. That’s when Barbara told me how the pile of snow on top of her van slid down onto the windshield Monday afternoon. Thankfully she wasn’t on the highway at the time. That reminded me of the time my sister’s windshield wiper flew off her car as she drove along the highway in the rain. She made it safely home despite that.
Once I got through my usual morning routine, it was time to pack up the lace sweaters to ship to Storey Publishing and email them the pattern. I don’t know why I find this such a nerve wracking experience but I do. I was emailing the submission forms and pattern and I hit the Send button at 10:43 a.m. I got the sweaters packed up with a postage paid return envelope and got ready to go. We saw what looked like a tree branch lying across the driveway. When I stopped to move the “branch” out of the way, I discovered it was the top half of an old dead tree. It took a bit for me to get it out of the way and I had to pick up oodles of branches that broke off when it hit the ground.
I had just pulled into the post office parking lot when it occurred to me that I sealed up the package before putting postage on the return envelope. Duh… This was turning into less than a stellar day. I got the package opened and Sherry, the postal clerk, put on the postage. I taped the package back up and then showed her the card that was returned and asked why. She could find no reason for the return. She confirmed the address and said she would re-mail it for me. The envelope looks like it wallowed in the dirt. I hope the post office does a better job of delivering the sweater package.
I went to Barbara’s and gave her 10 more hats for the Madrona bin. She gave me some more yarn to use for hats. It is a bulky weight so it should work up faster. As I drove to church I heard a sound like I was dragging something underneath the car. Oh goodie… I pulled off the road and looked around the wheels but I couldn’t see anything. I drove on to church and when I arrived, the youth pastor was there. I asked him to look and he couldn’t find anything. He popped the hood but didn’t spy any problem there so he drove around the block and still nothing.
Vonnie arrived and we went over the song several times. We timed the piece and it took us about four minutes. Then we timed her walking down the aisle and that took 55 seconds. There is only the maid of honor, flower girl and bride in the wedding party. Of course, everything will hinge and what the flower girl does. She is only 2 1/2 years old so anything could happen. And what she does at the Friday night rehearsal may not have anything to do with what she does at the Saturday wedding!
I didn’t hear the mysterious noise anymore once I left the church. That was good. I was amazed at the number of places I passed where the whole yard was covered in snow! I went into Cost Less and got some wrapping paper for the wedding gifts. Then I went into the grocery store next door for a few things. Back at home, I had to do some computer stuff and then I took time to start another hat. This is a slipped stitch hat done in two colors. So I have hats # 12 and 13 on the needles. I don’t know yet if these are hats I can work on when I’m in a group or not so I need to be sure I have something to knit on that doesn’t get messed up when I get distracted. Who me?
Time to play.
Failure is often God's own tool for carving some of the finest outlines in the character of His children; and even in this life, bitter and crushing failures have often in them the germs of new and quite unimagined happiness. - Thomas Hodgkin
I had 5 1/2 inches knit on the hat when I headed off to bed a little before one this morning. I woke to rain this morning. It rained off and on and yet we still had snow on the ground when I checked at 4:30. This snow is like the Energizer bunny – it keeps staying and staying and staying! One of my Facebook friends surfaced today. She lives down south of us and reported: “It is possible to live without power, TV, the internet, phone service, cell phone service, hot water, mail and the newspaper for 6 days. I have firsthand knowledge of this! For an added bonus try 19 inches of snow, freezing rain, falling trees, blocked roads and a frozen lake. We are safe and sound.....well, safe anyway!”
And then I read a story about a guy who is truly fortunate to still be alive! He set out walking for work last Thursday in the height of the ice storm. Hours later he opened his eyes in a hospital bed, in incredible pain. "Everything was sore and disoriented," he said. "Couldn't move. Hard to breathe." He had no idea how he got there. "He's got skull fractures, face fractures, spine fractures, rib fractures, and even his scapula - both scapulas - are fractured, which is an unusual injury," said Jurkovich, chief of trauma at Harborview Medical Center. "So basically every bone from his head to his lower back has been injured." Someone took him to the area hospital and said he'd found the man on the ground, pinned beneath a frozen tree branch. The man was later transferred to Harborview's trauma center in Seattle where he appears to be making an impressive recovery.
Reading that fellow’s story along with what my friend when through, I guess I shouldn’t whine too loudly about a little snow left on the ground here. I tried to call one of our Madrona vendors today and the phone did not even appear to ring through. He lives in that same neck of the woods. I finally emailed and he, too, suspected it was the aftermath of the storm. I spent a good part of the day trying to finish contacting everyone about door prizes. I’ve emailed or talked to all but one now.
Now I’m ready to relax for the evening. I have a “Castle” to watch. I’m almost done with the third mock cable hat. I cast on for hat #11. It is a new pattern with smocking. Barbara has passed me by and is on hat #15 for the year. As I move on, I leave you with a picture of baby Jael wearing the sweater I knit for her baby shower. Isn’t she a cutie? I missed out seeing another baby at church wearing her “Junebug Jewel.” And her mom can’t figure out how to get the picture from the phone to the computer. Phooey! I think the baby picture here fits in with tonight’s saying.
Just take one step at a time. That’s really all you can do.
I finished this third mock cable hat and picked up the other one to work on. Again, you probably can’t see the pattern but I thought the colors were interesting. As far as I can determine, the yarn is Universal’s Tapestry which is 75% acrylic and 25% wool.
Midnight was fast approaching as I finished the last “Midsomer Murders” in Season 11. I have seven episodes from Season 12 left to watch and that is all that is available on Netflix. That appears to be the equivalent of Set 18 on the DVD’s one can purchase. When I was checking all this out, I discovered that John Nettles who plays DCI Tom Barnaby retired at the end of Season 13. That, of course, also took the gals who played his wife Joyce and daughter Culley out of the show. Phooey! The show has continued on into a second season after Nettles left so I guess people accepted the change. At least they didn’t try to replace the Tom Barnaby character with another actor. They did that in another series I watched and I didn’t like that. In this case they created a younger cousin who was also a DCI to come in to replace him. The guy playing the current Barnaby’s sergeant continues in his role.
A quick check of the news made me thankful I didn’t have to go anywhere this morning. The day got off to a bad start for a number of folks. Apparently the roads were pretty much sheets of ice early this morning. Five vehicles and a motorcycle were involved in crashes on Hwy 16 caused when cars started to slide on the ice. A woman was struck by a car and killed while she was out of her vehicle trying to assist at this accident scene. In addition, one of the troopers was hit by a sliding vehicle while investigating the initial collision between two cars at the scene. Five people were taken to area hospitals for various injuries from that one accident scene. Somewhere else a car slid off the road and the driver was struck and killed after he got out of the vehicle. People in Washington seem to have no sense when it comes to bad weather like this. Granted, we don’t get a lot of it but they drive too fast and too close for the conditions. I read the other day about a car passing cars when the roads were all snowy. Our fire department reported four crashes since midnight out here on the Key Peninsula - two rollovers early this morning and two separate vehicles in the ditch calls since 8:00. It’s crazy!
I finally turned on the heat in the back so I could do the second kitchen towel for the wedding gift. It was already 10:30 so the day was getting away from me. Time for food while the room warmed up. Before I forget, Bill saw deer tracks in the snow when he took the garbage down. Yes, we STILL have snow. And it appeared that garbage collection was running late due to the accidents out on the highway. It was going on noon as I finally made my way back to do the towel. I worked back there until 4:30, finishing the second towel in the set for the wedding gift. I used Jacobean floral appliqué for the designs.
We still have snow in the yard. Some people still do not have power. Puget Sound Energy had 300,000 out at one point and they still have 39,000 out. The original 140 out-of-town repair crews called in to help has grown to 280. Some came from as far away as Missouri. Since the outages began popping up, PSE crews have repaired 53 high voltage transmission lines and 70 sub stations. They've also strung 70 miles of new wire, replaced 250 downed or damaged poles and made 28,000 wire splices. That doesn’t count other power companies. Hard to imagine! There are still about 400 homes in Tacoma Power that are out. I guess everyone in our Peninsula Light area must have power now.
It’s almost seven so I’m going in search of dinner and then I’ll knit on the fourth mock cable hat. I have almost three inches knit on it. Yes, one of the two rulers resurfaced.
God isn’t an option, He is a necessity.
Barbara and I did a bit more proofing on my sweater pattern last night. I think she is having fun helping me proof and edit the pattern and I really appreciate the help. You can read through your own pattern over and over and not catch everything that is wrong with it. That done, I finally started another Mock Cable hat in a yarn that I can’t identify. I wound it into a ball sometime ago and failed to keep the label with it. Bad girl… I put on the Netflix video “Dalziel and Pascoe.” Dalziel (a Scottish name pronounced dee-el) has to be one of the most unlikeable characters you’ll ever see. The TV series ran from 1996 to 2007 but Netflix only has five of the twelve seasons. I had almost three inches knit on the hat by time I finished the two episodes on this first disc. It was heading on towards midnight so I needed to get to bed since the 6:30 alarm would sound all too soon.
I had to move right along this morning. With no rehearsal Thursday night, our pre-service rehearsal today would be it. This would be my first day out since last Sunday! It was messy out but at least it was above freezing, if just barely. Driving out of here, there were a few spots where I didn’t want to stop lest I couldn’t get going again. It was slushy driving until I hit the paved road. I made it to church safe and sound, church went well and I stopped at Barbara’s on the way home. I wanted to show her the finished lace sweaters before I ship them off this week. I was slipping and sliding getting back onto the highway from her road. I borrowed her new “Knit ‘n Style” magazine and perused that after lunch. The only thing that caught my eye was a slip stitch hat and Barbara thought of me when she saw it.
Just as I headed over to Netflix to watch the next “Midsomer Murders,” my sister came on Messenger. We chatted for a bit and she told me that she is eating less often at Chili’s and more at home. That was good to hear. When we were done I got on with the movie and the hat which is #10 for the year. Then Wanda and I chatted on Messenger. She was having some nasty weather over on her side of the mountain. I think we are ready for spring!
I have two six or seven inch rulers and I’ve managed to lose track of both of them. One has been missing for several days. I used the other one earlier today. Time to get on with the rest of my night. I’m close to finishing this hat. Barbara sent me home with a colorful skein of Berroco Comfort yarn. I think she really wants me to knit hats, hats and more hats for Madrona!
A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty. - Winston Churchill
The vest was done by time I was ready to hit the sack last night. If I hurried, I’d have myself in bed by one o’clock. Off and running… Sometime during the night when I woke I could hear the wind blowing but not too hard. Some areas really got hammered by high winds and more are expected tomorrow but not here. I looked out this morning and still found the white stuff as far as I could see. It was 40º at nine o’clock and the sun peeked out periodically so I was hopeful Bill could make it out of here sometime today. I checked in with Barbara who was also hoping to escape before serious cabin fever set in.
I decided I better finish the “Lace One Skein Wonders” project today and get that ready to mail off next week. Barbara helped out by proofing the pattern along with my submission form and bio. That is a big help as it is hard to find boo boos in your own work. I wet blocked the sweaters and put them on the drying screen in front of a heater. It was a relief to have that done.
Bill was able to get out of here and into Key Center today. I had asked for a quart of milk and all they had was whole milk. I usually get the 1% or 2% kind. They had really been busy and Bill was told this was the slowest day out of the last several days. Barbara also got out and was enjoying a nice fresh salad when I called to say that Bill was on his way out of here. My cousin Ken from Tennessee called this afternoon to make sure we were ok. That was nice of him. We caught up on the family news and we were just wrapping up our conversation when Bill reappeared.
I have everything ready to roll for the morning. Oops! I didn’t fix the coffee to come on in the morning so I’ll take care of that and then some of the “Dalziel and Pascoe” show that arrived from Netflix. I’ll see how I like in comparison to the other BBC detective shows I’ve been watching.
The crucifixion happened before the resurrection. Sometimes we must first experience extreme pain before freedom and joy! - Mark Brown
Just past 11:30 last night the lights flickered and then I heard a bang. My power continued to stay on so whatever it was didn’t affect us, thank goodness. Now that the temperatures are starting to warm up – if you can call 31º “warming up” – the next problem for many areas will be flooding. Thankfully, we live on a hill and that isn’t really an issue. True, the ground around the house may not absorb the water but it shouldn’t be a major issue as it will be for some folks. Since I was still putzing on the computer after midnight I had a chance to chat with my English “pen pal” Bev who sent us the lovely English calendar for Christmas. I finally headed for bed at 1:30.
Bill’s bedside clock shows the time and temperature on the ceiling so when I woke this morning, I glanced up to see the time. It said 2:57 but I could see daylight so I knew that wasn’t right. I rolled over and looked at my bedside clock and saw it was 8:45. Obviously the power went out sometime during the night although I didn’t hear the power packs beeping. Bill assured me they did and he was about to wake me up to take care of it. Kendra, who lives down the road a few miles, lost her power at 12:30 this morning and didn't get it back until four this afternoon. Once I was up, I looked out the front door and there was still snow, snow and more snow although I could see signs of melting. There was a large puddle in the middle of the snow as seen here!
Then came a report from Key Peninsula Fire Dept: “Many roads were blocked by trees and at least two responses were for trees that crashed onto homes. In the middle of the night an impatient little one decided it was time to see the world. Crews had to cut through several trees that blocked the dead end road to get to the home. Be prepared for wind this afternoon which is expected to cause wide spread power outages and likely difficult traveling conditions.” Oh goodie… Barbara called to say they had closed the Narrows Bridge. The news soon reported that cars were getting hit by large ice chunks falling on the bridge decks. A photographer from the newspaper said “Every couple of minutes, you can hear a large crash onto the bridge deck.” Someone reported that an ice chunk about eight feet long had come down. One certainly wouldn’t want an ice chunk to come crashing through their windshield.
Afternoon arrived awfully fast – or so it seemed. It finally started to rain about 1:30 but it was still only 33º out and the rain was minimal. Things did appear to be thawing out a bit. I took this picture of the icicles on the front of the house and they were dripping. Yay! The afternoon passed but the temperature never got over 34º so there wasn’t a whole lot of melting going on. But neither did we get wind although a friend on the other side of Tacoma saw 20-30 mph winds at his house and 45º temps when he came off his hill.
I finally watched some more “Midsomer Murders” and knit on the A4A vest. I’m into Season 11. I also have a “Bones” to watch. Debi sent me a text today and asked how we were getting on. I told her we were still snowed in, etc., and she replied, “I bet you are knitting up a storm.” Funny girl…. By eight I heard rain hitting the kitchen stove vent. We can only hope that Bill can make it out of here tomorrow. Now I’m off to see how close I can come to finishing the vest tonight. Oh yes, they finally reopend the center lanes on the Narrows Bridge. Someone showed a picture of the ice that was falling and they were solid chunks of ice - no ice and snow mix. They would have caused some major hurt if they hit a car. And now here is a picture of the second Yak Hat.
With patience in His love I’ll rest,
And whisper that He knoweth best,
Then, clinging to that guiding hand,
A weakling, in His strength I’ll stand. —Pentecost
We can endure anything if we depend on God for everything.
By time I knocked off knitting at 12:30, I had some serious knots in the muscles below my shoulders. A massage would have been wonderful about then! I really liked the way the pink and green hat looked. I can see some more of these in my future. It was 28º out so no snow melt on the immediate horizon. When I got up at nine this morning, I could not see that it had snowed anymore but I could no longer see the outline of the garage slab like I could last night. When I got onto Facebook, I read: “UPDATE from governor’s office: She has declared a state of emergency amid adverse weather conditions to help dairies get milk to market. She has authorized the use of the National Guard if needed.” I’m not sure what good that does if people can’t get to the grocery store.
Ellen emailed to see if we were okay. She heard on the news that some 30,000 folks were without electricity. Nadine’s son-in-law posted on FB about blinking lights and numerous folks on Key Peninsula being out of power. Thankfully we weren’t one of them so far. Then I read: “The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning until noon today. 2 to 4 tenths of an inch of ice might accumulate this morning. Travel will be severely impacted and power outages are likely. Travel is strongly discouraged.” The weather guy I follow on FB wrote: “I am among the thousands and thousands stranded around Sea-Tac today so updates are going to be sporadic. I must say this is by far and away the greatest ice storm I've ever seen in Seattle and I've been here since 1990. This is way more widespread than 1996.”
Kendra, who lives about halfway between me and Nadine reported 1/4 inch of freezing rain on top of their snow. I hadn’t been outside to inspect but I didn’t see any freezing rain coming down so I don’t know if we got any or not. I checked in with Barbara at 10:30 and she said the freezing rain was coming down as we spoke and the advisory had been extended until two this afternoon. I looked outside and when I looked at the bark of the tree across the drive, I could see the teensy freezing raindrops coming down. One would never see them against the white background but would feel them if you were out in it. She also said that power outages were up over 100,000. She has a police scanner and a report came in that power lines were down on a road out here. Sadly, there had been a storm related fatality. A man backing his ATV out of a shed was killed when a tree fell on him.
Peg (in Colorado) and I chatted on Messenger this morning. While we are going through our snow and ice storm, she was awake most of the night as 45 MPH sustained winds with 70 MPH gusts blew through her area. They were coming from the west and their bedroom is on the third floor, facing west. I got a big chuckle when Peg said, “If there is still a lot of snow and ice, somebody should get it off any trees that still have leaves or you could lose branches.” I explained that we have trees that are 100 feet tall. “Exactly how do you propose to get the ice and snow off those?” I inquired. She replied, “That could be a problem.”
Offsetting the earlier fatality story was the story about the baby born in the hospital elevator when it stuck between floors. You can read it HERE if you care to. And I finally got an explanation about dairies getting their milk to market. The governor said a brief waiver of the restrictions on dairy truck drivers’ work hours is needed now to avoid shipment delays that could mean the loss of nearly $1 million a day for the state’s dairy industry. So they were talking about getting the milk to the processors, not the grocery stores. That makes more sense!
One o’clock arrived. According to the Weather Channel, we were supposed to have snow from noon until three when it would switch to rain/snow showers. We were still getting teensy freezing rain and as two o’clock approached, whatever was falling was big enough to actually see. Snow or a rain and snow mix? At 2:30 I finally concluded that if I was going to get any knitting done I’d have to watch a “Midsomer” episode and get OFF the computer patrol. That kept me occupied until 4:30. When I checked FB, one of the church gals who lives in Port Orchard said it was “still” snowing there. The updated report for our area showed cloudy with the temperature going up through midnight when some rain/snow showers would occur. Temps are supposed to continue rising through the night but it doesn’t look like any serious rain will fall until noon on Friday. By then the temperature should be in the mid-40’s so that snow would melt with or without rain.
I was ready to start another “Midsomer” by 4:45. I had five rows left to knit on the Yak Hat before beginning the crown decreases. I was knitting the crown decreases when that episode wrapped up. When I checked FB again at 6:30 I saw that 350 homes in Lake Holiday were out of power. That isn’t all that far from us but, thankfully, they are on a different power grid. We had some flickering lights so as 7:00 rolled around I thought I better get dinner in case we lost power. After dinner, I cooked a bag of “in case” or otherwise popcorn.
I have a flashlight handy, my Kobo reader, and the LED reading light and extra batteries within reach. I guess I’ve rambled on long enough today so I’ll post and move on. Hopefully tomorrow brings an end to the snow in the yard.
When life knocks us off our feet, we don’t have to be frustrated. With God’s strength lifting us up and God’s armor protecting us, we can still stand strong. —Bill Crowder
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