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.