What weird weather we're having #6

The side yard, without 2 cars (junk)
Was a fun drive to the ferry, but it got better on the other side. The roads where so icy that I did not think I would make it up it. I did not have to worry much, a car had stalled at the top. So I took a side street ( Had no clue where it went) ended up in a alley and poped out on a side street that but me where I wanted to be, and no hill to climb. I was Happy.
One thing I have just learned, They take better care of the roads on my side than they do one the city side. No sand where it is needed, It was the same when I left work. and it was cold 29*

Cause it hides all the messes. LOL

Thank you, shokami2...that's a great one. I was going to look for one from ODOT, but you did it for me.

tills...sorry you have to go out in all that. Be careful.

Here's how Pookie deals with cold weather.

I Love that kitty, To cool. nice and warm and snugged in.
Mine are waiting for me to go to bed, all on the bed.

Nite all, hope you are all fine and warm.

Sally, Poki is awesome. I only do landscaping for a couple of folks who asked and I said 'sorry, but no.' several times before I finally caved and agreed to. All very nice people who agreed to deal with my crazy schedule.

Portland, I hope that all is still going all right. You should be happy to know.... most forest rangers have degrees nowadays! And the lookouts all have outhouses, on the ground below, in one form or another. Some of the Outhouses are as "rustic" and simple as they come, others are good ole' outhouses. Most of the time a person will stay up there for at least 5 days at a time, sometimes 14. It really depends on how far removed the lookout is. When I was one regularly I floated around between lookouts to cover other peoples' days off. So, depending on schedules I would be two or three days at each lookout and they usually left it up to me if I wanted to stay up there or not.

All the snow pictures are lovely! So far it looks like a manageable amount and not anything too crazy. But, I know that looks can be deceiving.

Tilly, how old is your smoke alarm? even the ones without batteries, usually, have a battery built in that lasts generally 7 -10years. when it dies, the alarm has to be replaced. However, I have seen some that have lifetime batteries. Also, I have ran across one or two alarms, that don't run off batteries, that have to be reset for some reason after the electricity has been off. I'm sure that you have tried this already, but see if you can find the "reset" button and try resetting it. Sometimes it's under the cover of the alarm or on the side, of course where it's hard to reach.

rc...somewhere Tilly said the smoke alarm is too high. Like 20 ft. and she only has a 12 ft ladder. I suggested talking to the fire department tomorrow. Goshen comes out to check ours yearly and anytime you ask. Can't believe the builders put it where you can't get to it. I thought maybe it would be a back up battery too. She's been listening to it since yesterday, I'd have killed by now....one way or another.lol

It's snowing and the news people are sooooo happy. "See we told you it was coming" Hope it isn't too bad, I need to go to town tomorrow. Too warm here for it to stick yet. Have a little dusting so far, but I think if it keeps up we'll have some buildup in the morning.

How'd the cover up go?

The covering went really well. thanks for asking. They were sweet. They offered me a hat, gloves and hot chocolate or coffee. I managed to stay pretty warm though. They live on a slope, it doesn't take too much of going up and down that hill to get warm. :-p

I agree with you. That alarm would be history by now. I can't believe that Tilly's alarm is that high up. That's just stupid. There might be better ways of putting it, but that's what it boils down to. I think that alarm is lucky that it doesn't have a bullet in it by now.

I forgot to mention earlier... Welcome back Essentialplanet! I hope that you still have power to get this. I think that wilsonville was getting snow much of the day wasn't it?

Ladybug, glad that you checked in as well.

Shokami... good luck on the not getting rained out tomorrow. It sounds like a good day to be off to me.

Sally, this is a link to a picture that I took while standing on "the edge" of the couples garden that I was covering stuff in. the picture was taken with a fun saver camera a little over a year ago.

ok, now the link. http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TxYj5htQKI6v1_7iI65S9Q

This message was edited Dec 15, 2008 12:21 AM

I can see why you got warm! That's a good hill. What a view!

I agree. I love the views there. It doesn't matter what time of day, it's always pretty, but the sunsets are phenomenal.

PORTLAND1 SUCH A NICE DOG, HERE IS a lighter picture of her. Merry Christmas

Koka just has the most intese look in her eyes! Any snow there yet Marcia?

I just found the old thread...it was Beahive with the high ceiling not Tilly....How bizarre that two people on this thread would be having alarm issues!!

I'd blame it on the weird weather!! :-p

How much snow do you have now Sally?

It's building up a little, but mostly because it's being blown off the roofs. Fairly steady, but small flakes and then every once in a while I see this big whoosh as it blows everything off the garage. The motion light keeps getting triggered so I can see what's going on.

My cat (Gretchen this time) just figured out something is going on outside. She's going from window to window. It's got to be the stuff blowing off that got her attention, she doesn't usually watch snow.

You should take a picture! that would be cute.

She won't sit still long enough or I would. Snow's getting heavier, we should have a bunch in the morning if it keeps up like this. She just came up beside me meowing, somethings got her spooked. It's so strange to watch all that blowing around out there and since the new siding we can't hear anything. I can hardly hear my wind chimes, I don't have them all up, but I have one that really gongs (deeply) and I can only barely hear it unless the windows are open.

that's too bad. she'll get over it soon.

Gardner..... this is Luke and Oliver, the two that I have been taking care of the last few days. They remind me of your two.

If anyone hasn't really heard to much of the northeasts' devastating ice storm, here's some links to check out.
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/photos/2008/12/017816.html

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/New-England-Ice-Storm-northeastern-United-States-Derry2C-New-Hampshire/ss/events/sc/121208icestormneweng/im:/081215/photos_wl_afp/0cfa598643434d47d26351a679a36c02/;_ylt=Amr_K5g_BSZovPAsXGwWdyUZO7gF#photoViewer=/081212/480/3ff2bc55ce1c42d98ae348d009a3c04f

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/932180/

This message was edited Dec 15, 2008 4:59 AM

ok, now the picture of luke and oliver.

sweet boys redchic!

rc you are such a good citizen to do all that covering on a hillside in the cold! The photo from the top of the hill is great. Beautiful area. I have met plenty of people with degrees that don't seem so smart, including some fellow architects! I'm not sure I could handle climbing down all those stairs for the outhouse at 6 am. The way down would be ok but the climb up?
When I was living in high rise apartment while my house was being renovated a bee flew in the open window and couldn't find his way out and crawled inside the smoke alarm. That caused the alarm to beep constantly and it was one of the system ones so I couldn't make it stop. I ended up tearing it off the ceiling. Those things are very sensitive, which I guess is good if smoke is around but a pain in other circumstances.
The sun is out here but it is about 20 degrees and the streets are sheets of ice. Still windy. I took Koka out at 7:30 this morning and wore ski pants & thermals, hat, ski gloves, and my warmest ski parka. I was considering goggles but thought I might scare little children. In the street scene photo I posted earlier you can see Koka in the distance - when we get close to home I tell her to "run ahead home" and she learned very quickly where she lives. I would really like to get some Christmas shopping done and get a Christmas tree but the roads are too slick. All the schools are closed today as well as some businesses. A few inches of snow and Portland grinds to a halt! More snow is expected on Wednesday.
Love the photo of Pookie - so cute!
MarciaS thanks for the lighter photo - I'm not too good in the photography area!

I found this web site that can explain why the smoke alarm keeps beeping. It hardly went off yesterday until bedtime and beeped throughout the night. Quiet this morning until now.
My units are hard wired and I can not find where there is a backup battery. (looked at one that is at a reasonable height) .
http://ask.metafilter.com/70031/False-alarms-in-hardwired-smoke-alarms
Could be something as a simple as a spider crawling around in there. Very annoying! Will call for help when we thaw out. Roads are icy and people should stay home if possible.

Thanks Shokami and Portland. Yes, Luke and Oliver and very sweet. I like looking after them. Strangely enough, even though I'm just the pet sitter, they still try to look after me as well.

Portland, I agree completely about bunches of book smart folks seriously lacking in the common sense department. I have lots of funny stories of some folks who were very lost (and had to be searched for) because they couldn't figure correlate their map with north. But, hey... they had been through school.... for something. Lots of stories! The folks that live on that hill are very nice people who I know would do it if they could, I'm not sure that I would have done that otherwise! I'll have to post some more recent pictures from there. Although, again, I'm not at my home computer. I changed locations and am house sitting where it is really freaking cold. Shadow is a sweet dog though. Oh, did you find all of your screens?

Beahive and Tilly.... good luck with those bloody alarms. I would've found something to hit it with by now.

The things you learn on DG. Spiders in smoke alarms, guess you wouldn't know until it happened to you.

rc....we're in for a cold one tonight. Where are you at now? And what about your cat? I've never seen it this bad on the roads.

I am south of Oakridge now up at high praire. Getting to and from here is going to be very interesting. I'm thinking that I'm probably going to have to deal with chains since my vehicle isn't 4 wheel dr. and I don't have the money now for studded tires. chains are really more appropriate for this scenario anyhow. So, we shall see. I only live about 15 minutes (in good weather) from here. So my intentions are to spend time at both my place and be up here in the evenings. And, there happens to be others at the house who are watching my cats when I'm not there. Worst case scenario if I can't get in and out of here, Shadow will be coming over to my place and the cats will be in a really bad mood. Driving today wasn't so bad until I actually got near Oakridge, from there it was really Icy. Thanks for thinking of my cats, they would love you for it!

Here's a couple of Pictures that I took in Saginaw today at about 1:30 in the afternoon!

another

One more. I wish that I had been able to get the focus a little clearer on this, but I was leaning over upside down since the top of the hydrangea was covered in snow.

this one is about 2 mi. down the rd from where I'm at now.

this one is actually taken where I am at now, a little before 5 pm.

You definetly got more snow than we did. Our streets were almost dry by noon. Crunchy, but dry. We went to town today, got stuck on I5 for an hour (2 cars, 2 jack-knifed semis), did our business and went home. DH wanted to stay out and 'play' awhile, got mad when I said no...home. He got over it, but I spoiled his fun. I'd had enough of driving on that highway.

My outdoor kitty won't come out of the garage, poor thing. She has a heat pad in there, so she won't freeze, but I usually feed her some canned food on the deck in the evening. Tonight I went to the garage and she attacked my feet, which is her way of saying FEED ME, but wouldn't come past the door. So I gave in and took it to her in the garage. She has dry food and water all the time, but it got to be a habit to give them all a little canned as a treat.

Awesome - esp of that butterfly/moth. Are you going to post that to the insect forum?

Sally - I don't blame her. Maybe she's worried that she'll get stuck out in this weather . . . Mine want me to open the door, then won't go out. Then they walk to another door and want me to open that and don't like that, either. I'd say, "Goofy cats," but I'm the one who keeps opening the door as though to help explain it to them. Argh.

LOL But if you don't open the door, you're in trouble. I'd let the outdoor one in but she's just too wild. I'd never be able to go barefoot and I'd worry about my indoor kitties. She seems to do O.K. out there, we put in a kitty door so she can come and go without having to leave a door open (plus it keeps other critters out). So it's her place to hide and get out of the weather. She goes up in the rafters over the insulated storage room at the back of our garage, probably has a nest up there.

rc....forgot to say how awesome those pics are. I'm still fighting my cold, so I can't stay out very long (makes me cough) so I haven't been exploring much. I'm amazed you even found that incredible moth.

wow... look at those icicles! wht ghreat photos rc! beautiful....no snow here but it sure dang is cold enough!! holy cow... left coos about 11:30 to go work about 25 min away doing some landscaping stuff and about 15 min into the drive i hit a huge for bank that never stopped. when i got there it was still frosty and icy. the sun never came out and i was frozen for the rest of the day. raking leaves wasnt to bad but then i had to plant about 100 or so bulbs at the site i finished up last week and my hands were wet and couldnt feel my fingers for about 2 hours. bites big time... but got to have some xmas money for presents so off to the cold i go!!! i am not working tom. will be runnnign errands and doing shopping.

never heard of spiders screwing up detectors... learnt som'pin' new !

shokami2...haven't you heard my lecture on Hot Hands? LOL I know they're a little pricey, that's why I get mine by the box at Costco and they're worth every penny. But believe, no more numb fingers!! So even if you can only afford a few right now it would certainly make the work go easier.