The snow we had was fun. It didn't create much of a problem for me though. I left for work early each of the three days that I worked, and I made it there just fine--Early each time. Monday was crazy though. Apparently, the snow crippled the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett area so badly that some people spent over 13 hours getting home, arriving finally after 2 in the morning. Many of those didn't even make it with their vehicles. There were vehicles abandoned everywhere--Freeways, highways, city streets, and rural roads. I guess there are lessons in there somewhere, but I doubt if anyone learned anything. Next time it snows they'll probably do it all over again the same way. The best thing any of those folks could have done that day/night was to just grab a nice, convenient motel and camp. The next day (Tuesday) the roads were so devoid of traffic it was downright pleasurable for the rest of us. It was a good day of $$$ for tow trucks, body shops, tire stores, and any other business that was related to vehicular misfortune.
As I said, Tuesday was so much better because traffic was nil. The weather was so nice I was sorry to be at work. Sue texted me and said I was the only one of "our people" here in the neighborhood that went to work. I believe it. Even at work only two thirds of the people showed up. It was bright, sunny day and most people stayed home and made the best of it--Playing with their kids and being kids themselves. Sue got lots of great pictures of the various family members having fun. I wished I was one of them! Oh well--I already had to deal with a forced 3-day work week because of Thanksgiving. Our shop is closed on Friday, but it's unpaid. I didn't want to shorten my paycheck even more by playing hooky when I only work one town away.
Wednesday was cold. Way cold. Suzie and I enjoyed a crisp, cold soak in the hot tub on Tuesday night, and as a precursor to Wednesday it was already somewhere around 8 or 10 degrees. That made for a great night of hot tub stargazing though because the sky was so clear. Stepping out onto snow from that nice, hot water was quite a shock, but we had the woodstove blazing so we were able to go quickly from one comfort zone to another.
During these snow days I had fun on the newly-acquired Honda 3-wheeler. I was out riding each evening of the 3 snow days we had, and had a great time zooming around the neighborhood. Wednesday, I stopped on the way home from work and picked Sarah up. She enjoyed a good time on the 3-wheeler herself. Actually, I think we crammed a pretty good evening in on her schedule. She got 3-wheeler riding (solo and as passenger both), cold-night hot-tubbing, enjoyed homemade soup, and relaxed by the blazing woodstove. It was a good visit all the way around.
Thanksgiving at my parents' house was predictable, which means it went well. Nothing unusual happened there. One little tidbit of health news from mom & dad: Dad is going in for a prostate biopsy. That's usually not so good, but in this case might be fine--It is early they think. Sarah had to work until about 4:30 so she showed up after that. There was still food and stuff for her though.
Sarah and her mom, and their friend Noelle were planning their big shoppers feeding frenzy, a.k.a. Black Friday. This year was crazy--Almost all of the real competitive stores were open at midnight. Some never closed. It was a new "flavor" of retail chaos. Sarah and them never did go to sleep, instead going from store to store in their planned order of attack (I think they actually do have a battle plan when they do it). Reports trickled in from Sarah via cell phone messages at various times of the wee hours: "(at 2:20am) Don't come to Walmart--Nuts. (at 5:33am) This sucks--There's a million people out here." She said they didn't even try to get into Kohl's because it was such a mob scene. No thanks man--I'll shop Black Friday online. I believe this may be the end of the traditional "Black Friday" as we know it. When all the ads are posted in advance, stores don't close or are open at midnight, and shopping deals are available online--What's the point? It's ridiculous.
What would Thanksgiving be without a power failure? This year was no exception. Halfway through a lot of people's cooking time (around noon I think it was) the power went out. Apparently someone hit a pole somewhere in an outlying area. When I got home from my folks' house at about 7, the power was still out, but our house was toasty. Some folks in Sues congregation that live right around the corner were here, bathing in the warmth of our woodstove. Actually, it was downright hot in the house! The power stayed off until about 10 or 10:30 I think. The 5 of us (Keith was here too) played games at the kitchen table all evening. It was fun.
Most of the snow is gone. Suzie and I took a drive out a ways yesterday but it was more of the same--Very little snow left. Hopefully it will all be gone by the time the next wave of weather rolls in, Then we can do it all over again!
0 comments:
Post a Comment