Seattle's first snow of the year

Seattle had its first snow of the year and really its first snow of the winter. It really didn't start sticking until late afternoon. I went to put Dylan down for a nap and would up sleeping myself for a bit. But what a nice way to spend part of a snowy Sunday: snuggled up with a warm toddler. When I put him down, the front yard had just a dusting. A half hour later, we had a couple inches of accumulation.

So we bundled up and got the kids out for some snow person-making and snowball tossing.

Jason did the heavy rolling and lifting of building the snow base.

Then he led off the snow ball tossing. Don't mess with Dad: he's got an arm like a cannon!

First snow person done (with baby carrots for a nose) and first family shot of 2012. Time for cocoa and soup.

Crazy Seattle snowstorm nearly wrecks Christmas

After seven full days of being housebound by the never-before-seen amounts of snow that hit Seattle over the past week, we made it out of the house on Christmas Day. 

Fortunately, I've been able to telecommute. And while it might seem romantic or cozy to be inside, it's actually been incredibly tiring and very non-festive. I've been up with co-workers at 4am to coordinate messaging for our fellow employees trying to find out whether to report to work or not and at what time, and getting updated information to the media about services for the public in the treacherous conditions.

On Christmas day, after one week and two slippery trips to the grocery store on foot pushing a jog stroller laden with groceries, we finally drove away from our house. 

We slowly mae it down the still-treacherous side streets around our house, nearly sliding into parked cars several times as the car lurched to one side or other, seemingly with a mind of its own. White knuckle doesn't begin to cover the strength of my grip on the door handle and arm rest as J. gingerly maneuvered us forward.

The main arterials were better but still dicey in patches as we made our way to Ava's Granma and Papa's house for Christmas breakfast-turned-brunch due to everyone's difficulty in making the trip.

The noshing and abbreviated gift openings could be summed up like this: 

"Hey, you made it!"
"Have some food."

"Here Ava, open this."

"Uh, it's snowing harder. We have to go. Nice seeing everyone!" 

In fact, within an hour of arriving, several of us turned right around to head back home because it started snowing again! It was the shortest, least festive Christmas of my life. It was just hard to get into the Christmas mood when everyone had one eye on the windows watching the weather conditions. Thankfully, warmer days and melting rain ahead mean things should get back to normal soon.

In a bit of revisionist history though, when my daughter grows up, she will remember Christmas '08 not as a sleep-deprived, runny nose-laden, frozen wasteland, but as the color-coordinated, Christmas card-worthy depiction shown below, taken a week before the snow came.

If nothing else, the snowstorm has accomplished something more than 30 years of Seattle winters had not: cured me of my inclination to complain about the rain. Compared to being trapped by snow, rain's not so bad at all anymore. See? This is the season of miracles.

The Iceman continue to cometh... and I've had about enough

And once more, with feeling. Just when we thought things would return to some semblance of normality following last week's snow, another storm system dropped 1"-3" of snow in and around Seattle. Here's a shot of the hill where we've been parking.


Note the jack-knifed articulated bus. It was sanded and down to bare pavement late last night. But by this morning, ice had reformed just under the snow, making the commute a slow go. That sounds like a radio/TV traffic report, doesn't it? Old habits resurfacing, I guess. :-) The side streets to our house are still covered in ice, so this shot was taken right next to where I left my car on the main drag. After moving to a house with a carport, it's been a while since we've had to scrape our windshields. But like riding a bike, the muscle memory (and shoulder strain) came right back. :-) It helped that J., ever the romantic, bought matching "gifts" last night: a couple cans of de-icer with built-in scrapers for the two of us. :-)

So heading into a second week of snow and ice, (take note, because you will not likely hear this heat/sun lover say/type this again): I can't wait for the rain to return. Pains me even to type it, but it's true. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go heat up a beverage, put on some more fleece and turn the heat up a skosh: I like it warm enough to grow orchids under my bed when the dog and I curl up with a good book.

Snow pix

We hiked out to retrieve our abandoned cars today and got some pictures of the area around our house and the side streets, which are awful.

We managed to reverse our walks home last night without eating it on the ice. Thanks to sunny skies today and sanded main streets, we were able to get both cars moved within a couple blocks of the house for easy access tomorrow for work.

You may be thinking (Or not. But play along.), "Why not just take the bus?" Well, we live in a relatively hilly area with an "express" route bus that runs up and down the hill a couple blocks from our house every 20-30 minutes and takes 40-45 minutes to get to downtown on a good day. Downtown is 10 miles away. The snow route calls for that bus to run on another, flatter main roadway about a 15-20 minute walk from our house. Supposedly there are chained shuttles plying the rest of the route, but I didn't hear or see a one today.

So could I bundle up and hoof it down there and hope I time it right so that I don't have to wait in the frigid air for very long, while becoming cold and clammy from the sweat I worked up getting there? Oh sure. But I think I'll try my luck driving on the quickly clearing main roads. But one near-face plant on the ice on the way to my car may change my mind. :-)

Looking at the shot of our patio carpeted in snow, I so long for the warmth of summer, or heck, even fall, which is when Isis and I hung out on the patio for the picture below. Just five and a half months until summer. Tick tock...