Snow is falling and on Christmas Eve we receive even more. Enough more snow to obliterate any evidence of yesterdays shoveling efforts; let alone efforts from my earlier endeavors to clear the walks. There is enough new snow at dawn to hide the previous accumulations from my shovel and snow continues to fall all day.
It is too much, and we are forced to change our Christmas plans. We must now travel south to Meghan’s instead of her to us and leave for Tahoe as soon as the
presents are open instead of the day after Christmas.
Thonnie and I load the truck with all of our presents, clothes, and ski gear arriving at Meghan and David’s late in the day. Melissa is already there waiting on us, having caught a ride with a four- wheel driving friend! We all settled in for the evening, worrying over travel plans and highway conditions. Up early in the morning we have a great Christmas and leave early in the afternoon after all the packages are open. We reach Salem, Oregon after dark and check in to a comfortable motel room for the night. Meghan has been watching the movie Christmas Story and wants Chinese dinner. Oriental Cuisine is apparently rare on this holiday night in Salem, so we settled for a burger at Denny’s! Ugh!
Late Friday we reach Reno and spend the evening with Jim and Carol Grieve – Lana's parents. They are very gracious and their company is always enjoyable.
Checking into our Tahoe cabin Saturday afternoon we settled into the business at hand – family and skiing / snowboarding. Sunday was a rough start for all, as conditions were icy; however, the following days were super with clear skies and great snow conditions.
We had a blast. Four-year-old Josh stole the show by getting on a snowboard for the first time and mastering the chair lift on day two. Nine year old Trevor is a pro who says “the steeper the better”.
One week later with weary bodies and sad hearts we checked out of the cabin early Saturday morning and headed for home. Blessed with clear roads and good weather we pulled into Meghan’s driveway about One AM January 4th, eighteen hours and couple dozen stops after setting out. Following a good nights sleep, Thonnie and I finish our drive home where we discover fresh snow on top of the accumulations mentioned above. With the truck in four wheel drive we barely get to the house. I shovel the walks clean, and unload the truck while Thonnie gets busy in the house unpacking. After a very comfortable night in our own bed we wake up to another inch and a half of snow on top of my cleaned walks. Unbelievable; more snow than we have had (at home) in three decades!
We spend Monday cleaning up the house, relaxing and wondering if we were going to get a break from the snow………Tuesday morning we do and it isn’t good. Torrential rain falling, a foot of old snow on the ground and I mean torrential rain falling!
We four wheel out of the driveway through deep slush, go to town in order to run some errands and pick up groceries. Shoppers, in the parking lots, have their hoods up and heads down as they race for the nearest cover. The rain is coming with a ferociousness that stirs a foreboding in ones sole. We complete or errands and drive home watching in amazement as the rain continues unabated. At home, we no longer require the trucks full capacity to approach the house until we reach the point where our driveway is now washed out. The damage is minimal but the amount of water in our field is astounding. We watch TV before going to bed and fall asleep listening to the rain fall. Wednesday morning we awake to the same sounds.
Outside there is still snow in the yard, despite heavy rain all night. At 10 o’clock I leave for an appointment in town and catch the radio news. The economy, the president elect and the world’s wars are all forgotten this morning as every station covers the consequences of the weather. First there are 13 flooding rivers, moments later it is more than a dozen and almost in the same breath dozens of rivers are overflowing their banks!
The residences of Orting are ordered to evacuate. A couple of police officers are stranded after rescuing a motorist. Streets are flooded. There is three feet of water over the road in Bellingham at the mall. All mountain passes are closed. Interstate 5 is flooded and closed. I want to drive around and take pictures but after shooting a couple frames of Swans in a flooded field, my battery is dead.
At home I change camera and shoot a few mere frames.
The rain is supposed to taper off tonight and the freezing levels come back down from today’s 7000 foot mark.
Bert
January 7, 2009
Hey YOU Look-Out!!!!
Too Late!
Looks like more trouble ahead
Jason disembarking or.......?
Hey YOU Look-Out!!!! 
Too Late!
Looks like more trouble ahead
Jason disembarking or.......?
Uncle Jonathan closing the gap
