BikeBoy's ball-buster of a commute...

It took him 6 hours! Yes, SIX hours to go about 8 miles last night. It had snowed about 4 inches max but the roads were icy, snowy, gridlocked. When he got to the bottom of our hill (we live on a plateau and the hill is the last mile before our development; it's probably between 10 and 14% grade, I'm guessing) they closed the road. People were ditching cars everywhere along the way home and walking but he only had his dress shoes on so he couldn't ditch and walk! They reopened the road to 4WD vehicles (he has a 4WD Jeep Wrangler) and he was able to make it up.

This morning on his way back to work he passed between 30 and 50 cars abandoned on that same hill...some were intact but just pulled to the side of the road, others were face down in the ditch or crashed into other vehicles. The road was one lane wide in some spots due to all the deserted vehicles. YIKES.

School was closed today so Munchkin had no pre-school and I had to call in "off" to work myself. We'll go out soon and play in the snow (a rare event here in the PNW). Of course, Munchkin's snow saucer is in the garage loft about 3 feet higher than I can reach when I stand atop our highest stepladder...how in heck did BikeBoy get it there in the first place???? Guess we'll be sliding on our butts or on cardboard today!

The big wind storm...

Back about 3 weeks ago we had a HUGE windstorm here in the PNW. Hurricane force winds. Pelting rain. Sheets, actually. The power went off on a Thursday night 12.16 and then at 1:15 am Friday, as BikeBoy, Munchkin and I were tucked in our big bed, we heard a "crack" then a "creak" and BikeBoy and I looked out the window in time to see foliage headed our way! I screamed a blood-curdling scream just as the tree hit our house with a "thud" just above our bedroom window then proceeded to continue its fall, landing with a louder "thump" between our house and the neighbors' house. I snatched Munchkin up and the three of us ran downstairs as fast as we could and huddled in the internal hallway with blankets and pillows the rest of the night.

Munchkin didn't wake up until we were settling in then she says, sleepily, "What're we doing down here?" BikeBoy and I didn't get any rest the entire night...just lying there listening to branches and trees near and far falling all over the place.

Our house only suffered external damage (broken gutter, torn off window screen, etc.). The neighbors' house suffered the same plus a broken roof support beam. We were lucky. We dodged a bullet, BikeBoy says! The tree was about 80 feet tall, a type of cedar tree, I think. It must've been old...I haven't counted its rings yet but, at its base it was approx. 10 feet in circumference.

The neighborhood looked like a war zone as did most of our town and surrounding towns. Driving around the first few days we had to be prepared for alternate routes because power lines and trees were down everywhere. Our power remained out for 2.5 days but some people were without power for 9-10 days! We were scrambling to find firewood and fire logs. It was cold, about high 30s during the time this happened. I was sooooo glad when the power came back on!!!

That's just the quick synopsis before I forget some of the details!