27 seconds

By my calculations 27 seconds is very nearly exactly 1% of my commute every morning.

This morning that 27 seconds was a make-it-or-break-it 1%. Well maybe it isn’t as black and white as all that but I was certainly lucky that it wasn’t a break-it 1%.

The roads were bare (mostly) last night. The snow fell to the tune of 2 inches early in the morning. I thought I knew my limits. I thought I could control my car.

I thought wrong.As I approached the steepest part of the incline, leading to the main artery outside of Talbot’s neighborhood, I lost traction.

I pumped the breaks
__no good.
I caught traction
__overall confidence in my abilities soared, reaching all time highs.
I lost it again, this time for good
__overall confidence in my abilities crashed and burned, big time.

As the seconds expanded exponentially into minutes* I slid interminably through the stop sign, I thought about releasing the brakes and just turning with the road. Not sure if I ever did. If I did it didn’t work.

Whew, no cars coming in the near lane. (still sliding, approaching minute 18)
__ Whoa, that is a mighty large vehicle approaching in the far lane
__ OK, that mighty large vehicle is slightly smaller than a train
__ and is in fact a bus.

Minute 24. I come to a rest broadside against the lane of previously observed onrushing bus.
Minute 25. I consider just waiting it out, quickly reconsider and…
Minute 26. I throw it into reverse and amazingly, having much tractiones on the flat, well traveled artery, back “around the corner” facing the wrong way in the near lane.
Minute 27. The bus and his blue Volvo wingman pass my previously held position. All in a days work.

I am happy because
__ bus drivers tend not to over-drive conditions and
__ I was not 1% longer taking out the garbage this morning
__ I didn’t get to add PT (or any other more personal bits) to my ‘things I have broken’ category.

* This expansion of time during moments like these is utterly explainable. It is the balancing, conservation-of-energy-like, effect in direct opposition to ‘time flies when you are having fun‘. This was definitely not fun and therefore 27 seconds takes much much longer.

Uncommon

You know, this is just a little more than weird. I think it snowed on Wednesday when I trudged home in 6 inches whilst others spun their wheels coming up the hill.
Today, Saturday, it hasn’t melted much, Ariel still stands, it snowed again briefly and it is so cold that it isn’t going to melt any time soon. The latest forecast has freezing temperatures all the way through next Tue. That is a full week of freezing weather.
I love snow but I have to wonder…are we in Kansas Toto?

This isn’t Seattle, this is Spokane; this isn’t Washington, this is Washington DC; and I heard recently that they hit 70F° in New York City; Bizarre.
Add this deep-freeze to the hurricane force winds in December, the all time record rainfall in November, and I just don’t know about you all but I am starting to pinch myself in wonderment.

The next thing we will see is the driest April on record, a tornado in May, and a week of 105F° with 100% humidity in June. When that happens, we won’t have to worry about the Californians anymore.

We will have to start fighting off the North Dakotans. So much for our empty streets.

Snow, Snow, and More Snow

Well we are headed into day three of massive snow. There hasn’t been any new snow since day one but it has been so cold that only the direct sun is melting any. Yesterday’s low recorded temp here at Talbot was -7C°.
You can see just how sticky the snow was, it stuck to my chimnea all the way down the sides and actually created a pretty substantial obtuse, top-hat effect on the top.

Pot Belly top hat

Indeed there was enough snow for a proper Ariel. Bop-Op and I were glad to oblige but we had an reluctant enemy in the loose, cold, dry snow.
Some of the details are hard to see and some of them here are far too obvious but we did it and Abby was extremely happy.
So happy in fact that she decided whilst we were half-way through, that we were doing a good enough job that she would go in early and enjoy some cocoa.

You guys are doing a great job. I will come back and check it out when you are done.

This is what she got.

Ariel the SnoMaid

Before we got that far however, Abby and I laid siege behind the mound of snow that was to become Ariel. When Bop-Op arrived we were ready.

Snowball makers are cool

Finally, I was entranced with the way the snow was held in the Magnolia tree in the front yard. Here is one of the better shots I got of that. Observing the way snow lays on objects has always interested me but I have yet to capture the essence of what fascinates me.
Blue Skys falling on me

Leavenworth

So, since I missed blogging about Christmas, New Years and all that fun stuff please allow me to just get it all out right now and say
Merry, Happy, and should old acquaintance be forgot etc etc.

Let me fast forward a little bit and talk about last weekend.
The whole family packed up into the car for a four day weekend trip to Leavenworth. The forecast for Friday night called for 18 inches of snow in Leavenworth alone so we left early, arrived before the storm and prepared to hunker down for a good old fashioned 1854 North Dakota blizzard.
Nine over-tired kids, nine over-worried parents, and a healthy dose of midnight rain later we had about 3-4 inches of new snow on top of the ice, good enough for some sledding.
Two hours and approximately 100 strained thirtysomething ligaments and muscles we were tuckered out. We went back to the cabin for some R&R thinking the next day would bring more of the same.
20 hours, 3 inches of rain, one improbable Seahawks victory, and 40 degrees later we had one big slushie. The only things missing were the cherry flavor and that cool little spoon straw.
We couldn’t even go outside without duck waders.
The next morning brought freezing temperatures and the hard requirement for ice skates. The cars made it off the side street of ice okay with chains and some all wheel drive and some warmer temps.
We got home Monday night and I think I just woke up, it’s Wednesday.

Despite all of my melodrama regarding the weather we had an absolute blast. The kids were so great together, they played all weekend long with nary an issue. They were just too busy playing to get into any trouble. Here are some of the best pictures we took this weekend.

This one is Abby getting ready with Mommy wearing my trusty hat. Remind you of anyone?

Abby in the hat

Here we find Lexi, Bella, and Abby having a good bubble bath together.

They even take baths together

Abby and I did get out in the snow one day.

Abby in the snow

“Here’s a story…”
let me tellyou...about a man named Brady

All that and after such a slushy weekend Abby was disappointed to not be able to make the Ariel snowman we had planned. Who would have thunk it would rain for a whole day in the mountains in January.

Then, after hearing of the pending snow tonight Abby said that we could just make an Ariel tomorrow. I doubted her…until now.
We just got 5+ inches of snow in a little over 3 hours.

It fell very fast, and there is enough for an Ariel in the morning I think.
More later…

Let’s play a game

Let’s play guess the phrase shall we?

These are all things that Abby has said in the past 6 months or so. We are lucky to have kept up with them a little bit.

Some of them have been put in a context that makes them relevant to the game we are playing, but by and large this is how we discovered the meaning of these words and phrases.

Let me first take a small diversion with ‘by and large’. This one, if you think about it is much stranger than much of the following. It turns out, as I found on this site, that ‘by and large’ is originally a nautical term meaning to sail “to the wind and off it”, which meant that if you were sailing ‘by and large’ you were able to sail just as well either way, and so is very non-specific. We have scalawags to thank for many of the most confusing expressions in the English language, I think.

BUT I digress.

So Abby, what is…

…the instrument?
Can you use it in a sentence?
I want to decorate the Christmas tree with ALL the instruments.

…chest?
The game!
How do you play chest?
You move the horseys and the ponds and the towers on the chest board.

…that you are smelling?
The pages.
The pages of the book?
Yeah, I like the smell of books.
So you are just sticking your nose in the book and smelling it huh?
Yeah, like Trusty from Lady and the Tramp.
(And that is no kidding. She looked like a cold, overnight, street bum waking up beneath the warm breeze of a bakery window.)

…a munce ago?
How long ago is ‘a munce ago’?
I don’t know…a munce ago!
(Turns out, it is ‘a [few] minutes ago’)

…the hound?
What do you mean ‘at the hound’?
[holding her puppy up to see] You know, we bought the cute puppy at the hound!

…bornd?
And she’s bornd?
No! [with much diction now] WHEN EMMA WAS FIRST BORNED!

…this finger?
This is the pinky, this is the ring finger, this is the middle finger, this is the…Momma!
Yes?
What do you call this finger?
[looking over] Which one honey?
[Showing Momma by pointing and then quickly] The earwax finger!?

Hey it all works, and in many cases more sensible than a scalawag.

Feng Shui on the new continent

Last night I changed the sheets and changed the cover on the down comforter. When I was nearly done buttoning the cover I oberved that the comforter was inserted upside down (The comforter has special baffles meant for the head of the bed versus the foot of the bed, and this part is important: It is relatively easy to tell by looking at the thing, but I am still proud that I was even able to notice this fact. We were tired from a long day.)
I was tired enough that I didn’t care to start over. The differences aren’t that profound.
BUT, I thought, I bet Ang will be able to tell, somehow she can always tell when things aren’t right. I am simply not that tuned in to my surroundings. Hell, half the time she knows when I have a headache before I do.
I said to myself.

I wonder how long before she notices?

Imagining fancifully that perhaps after one night she would wonder what was wrong, or maybe after making the bed again notice the shape of the baffles under the comforter, as it lays. I might hear about it in a day or two, probably when the cover is changed again, if it comes up.
As we laid down that night, maybe 1/2 hour later, kids asleep, house quiet and cold. She pulled the comforter to her shoulder, laid there for a second, craned her head up, wiggled her toes, patted the comforter at her shoulder and stated unequivocally

The comforter is upside down.

It wasn’t a question, it wasn’t even a halting statement. Put it in the category with “I am hungry.”
It wasn’t possible!? I started laughing. How does she DO that? I had completely forgotten but she needed less than two minutes for full recognition. Frankly, I still can’t believe it.
So, if you ever need someone to re-balance your feng shui, I am married to my nominee.