Egads, it's snowing again!
The forecast is for more snow tonight and tomorrow and then rain starting Friday. At this point I am hoping for rain and above freezing temperatures. I am sooooooo bored and ready to go back to work. Yesterday I scraped the snow off my truck so I
might at least be able to go buy another book to
read. I am really out of things to do. I have
cleaned my house, split wood for the woodstove,

made chicken noodle soup, steam ironed all the cl0thes Karen gave me and on and on. This is not my style for sure. Now, at 11:00pm on Tuesday evening it's snowing again.

As some of you know, I am going back to college to get my degree inPsychology and Counseling.

I received my tuition bill for Winter Quarter this week. Mind you, I am only taking one class for Winter Quarter and the bill is for $837.00. Even given that $250.00 is for matriculation fees, that is still pretty steep for one class at a State University. And that does not include my text books. I sure hope the new administration will put more value on education than the last few. Education should not be an elitist thing. We are falling behind in this country with our lack of emphasis on and access to higher education.

So anyway, back to the weather (a safer subject). I sure hope the rain comes as predicted and melts the snow, at least in the valleys and lower hills. I really want to spend New Years with Mike and friends at the coast. And I'd love to get back to my regular schedule.

Have a Merry holiday, whatever you celebrate. Tomorrow is Christmeas Eve and the second day of Hannukah. So, Merry and Happy to y'all.

More Snow & Still Coming

It has snowed again almost all day. I can't imagine when this will end. Everytime I look at http://www.wunderground.com/ it shows snow on every day. I feel like I'm living in the Dakotas or something.

My next-door neighbors invited me to go into town with them this noon and I did. I wanted to buy another book to read. I wish I had my textbook.........I could have read it all by now.

I measured the snow in my backyard and it's over 1 foot almost everywhere. And it's still coming down. I wish I could capture a picture of the cute little birds that inhabit my front porch and hop around for seeds. They're so little and pretty. I wonder where they go at night.

I wonder if I'll be able to get to work tomorrow. The weather in Portland is so different from here. Oh, Rachel just called me. She's not going in. Apparently even Portland is a mess. Jeff told her he didn't know if the clinic would even be open tomorrow. Wow! That would be a first.

Stay warm and dry, if you can.

Snow #2

Here are some more of the photos that I took on my trip through town today. I suppose if I didn't take such high quality pictures I could get a dozen on my BLOG. But I like good photos and I never know when I will grab one that I can print in large format and possibly sell or display. So, enjoy and stay warm and dry.

SNOW in St. Helens #1

As far as I can figure, it's been snowing non-stop for >24 hours. It has snowed all week, but this session began as I arrived home from work yesterday and has not so much as paused since then. I have over 12" on my patio right now and it's still coming down.
After driving over 14 hours on the icy I-5 corridor to get home from Karen's in Rocklin, California on Tuesday I was ready for a nice hot shower, a woodstove fire and a relaxing cat on my lap or a book to read. I got the fire, the cat and the book. As for the shower, my pipes between the house and my shop had frozen. I had no hot water to the house (plenty of VERY COLD water though) and no water at all to the shop (read washing machine). On Wednesday AM I was referred to RLJ Plumbing (great folks!) and my pipes were thawed and I finally got my hot shower. However, my washer was spurting water ( over 15 gallons of it) all over my shop. Bart & I vacuumed it up, replaced the hoses and tried again. Smaller spurt this time, but apparently I burst a water valve inside the washer that needs to be replaced. (Also, my shop will need to be heated in the future when it freezes) The replacement was scheduled for Friday but Steve from the appliance repair could not get up the 4th street hill, so, no washer until next week.

After reading 3 books and cleaning my home office, I was finally able to get into the clinic for a while on Friday. Yes!!! But, today brought more snow and NO CHANCE of getting down my hill. Idleness not being my bag, I donned my warmest ski clothes and snow boots, put my camers in a plastic bag and tromped around my little town for a couple of hours taking photos. I have included some here and will post a second BLOG for more.

Snow is so quiet and squeaky. I just love the sights and sounds. I had hoped to get some photos of the marina and possibly the ships in the channel, but it was snowing so hard that I couldn't even see Sand Island, much less the channel. I could hear the ships from Columbia Park and listen to their horns sounding, but could not see them. Very eerie! I walked twice through the woods at the end of my street. The first time was from 3rd Street around to 4th. I went in the house to stoke the fire and doubled back to the woods again. My footprints were already hidden by the snow in the 5 minutes I spent inside. Good thing I know my way and was not trying to follow my steps or bread crumbs!

Go to the nest BLOG for more photos.

Happy Birthday Patrick Capper

This is for Patrick...............Happy Birthday!

This is a mish-mosh of what has transpired since the Hood to Coast in August. There is a photo of my team at the finish. For the very first year we all met at the finish line and even stayed to drink beer in the beer garden. It was another great race and we all planned how we would run in 2009. Except that we didn't get in this year!!! It was bound to happen sometime and it did. No one can quite believe it, but it's true. Maybe next year or maybe we'll try to run the Rainier to Pacific up in Washington.

After the H2C we went to a concert at the zoo. Rain, rain, rain!!! Patrick and Anna met us there but we all sort of huddled under something. However, Hettie, Cathy and Eric were dying to see Shawn Mullins. We not only heard him sing, saw him but had photos taken (by me) with him at the end of the concert. What a nice guy! We were hoping for a photo op and Mike stood in line behind a guy with a rain jacket on. They chatted and Mike said "Gosh, I wonder if he's going to come out to sign CDs?" The fellow replied, "Well, I want to but I don't know where to go." It was Shawn! So, I asked to take a picture and the result is posted here.

The next week Mike & I made our annual pilgrimage to Kahneeta for some sun. It was beautiful and we spent 4 days soaking up the very warm sunshine. A photo of Archaeologist Michael Capper is included here giving a talk about the "petroglyphs" on the rock.

Fall arrived with a greater than usual display of colors. On one of my trips thru Vernonia to the coast I snapped a typical Oregon road photo of the trees. I still marvel at the beauty of my state. I hope I never grow accustomed to the sights that I see and the views of nature that appear to me as I drive to work, to the coast and even to the store. I simply cannot imagine living anywhere else. I'm not quite sure how I managed to land here but I surely am glad that I did.

Of course, with Fall. Winter cannot be far behind. So we have begun to split wood for both of our woodstoves. Some is huge and must be split several times and then given over to the hydrolic splitter. Of course, that's another story for another BLOG day. But we have wielded our splitting mauls a few times this year.

The final photo is of one of those really pretty, warm sunny days that sneaks into the middle of stormy and rainy times. The Sunday before Thanksgiving we were able to walk most of the afternoon on the beaches. We were really looking for the pelicans that appear to be wintering in Cannon Beach, but we found waterfalls and other very pretty sights as well. We finally found the pelicans up on the North End on Bird Rocks but they were a little too far away for really good photos. Perhaps another time.

So, Patrick, Happy Birthday and I hope you enjoy this scattered array of photos.