First let’s bring you up to date about VIADOOM discussed in our
last BLOG entry. Viadoom turned out to
be a viadud. The major gridlog expected to
occur when 90,000 vehicles per day were forced onto city streets with the
highway 99 viaduct being torn down along Seattle’s waterfront never
materialized. Apparently people figured out ways to change their commute schedule, or work from home. The real test will be when the replacement
tunnel is no longer free, & the tolls for the tunnel kick in?
The big thing for us, & almost the entire western half of
the state, was SNOW! This February
turned out to be the third coldest on record, & the largest recorded amount
of snow ever. In chronological order here
is what we experienced:
- Sunday, 03FEB, it starts to snow – weather people forecast
that Seattle might get about one inch of snow?
Monday morning we awake to what would become known as - snow-pocalypse or snow-mageddon, with nine inches of snow on our property. Thank goodness for four wheel drive, because
no way we would shovel drivewayJ
- Tuesday & Wednesday below freezing weather arrives,
meaning snow will be here for awhile.
First step in digging out was Dan clearing pathways on decks &
patio. One benefit of snow was an
excellent day of skiing Wednesday for Dan with two of his Academy classmates,
Rich Formisano & Steve Harvey.
- Friday AM, 08FEB, we head to the Edmonds ferry for grandkid
babysitting in east Bremerton. The
weather is still freezing & more snow flurries already started. Saturday we wake up in Bremerton to eight
inches of snow on ground, dig our truck out, before hitting road back to our
house. We decide to drive around on
major highways that should be plowed, rather than the two lane road back to
ferry terminal, two hour drive takes three.
Our property has 6 inches of new snow – we unpack & clear the decks
again.
Thursday (valentines day) wake up to gusty winds; head to the
Highway 2 Fusion Diner for valentines brunch.
With the word Fusion in the restaurant name not sure what to expect in
Monroe? Pretty good we will be back. Friday Dan clears decks for third time.
Weather guessers predict major snow for 20FEB, doesn’t
happen. The rest of February’s weather
had temps barely above freezing, w/the occasional light rain. But the night temps quickly fell below
freezing. End result is frozen &
crusty snow that is not really melting; in fact, where we have driven our
walked, ice has formed! Making the trip
down our long, long, driveway a challenge.
Having this much snow & ice around definitely impacted our
life. All the things we had planned to
work on during the month (preparing garden & flower beds for spring;
finishing expanding the garden shed; finish our new fence; etc) did not get
done. No garbage pickup for three
weeks. Because we compost, recycle,
& minimize waste, garbage was not an issue for us. No mail delivery for two weeks; but because
we were not trapped in our house (like some), we could drive to post office
& pickup mail there.
During all this Rebecca, Raymond & grandkids found time to
stop bye at the end of the month for an early dinner, cribbage & bingo,
before heading back to their home.
