March 5, 2014 Rain!

Ten minutes after JB cleaned the panels
on Monday. . .

Miss Kitty, anxious to climb
up to Rose Camp.

Monday 3/3.  By 7:10 am JB had cleaned the snow off the panels and shoveled most of the paths!  I, on the other hand, had gotten up twice during the night to feed the fire, so I slept in til 8:30 am.  My, that felt good.

I screwed up in writing about the newest issue of Countryside Magazine.  It is actually BackHome Magazine that has the article in the back, "Twenty rules of Country Fashion".  But they are both great issues.  Too many magazines at one time.  The homesteading magazines are all published every other month, but on the same months.  Seems like some of them should alternate. . .

By 10:30 am, when JB took the dogs for a walk up to clear off the panels, the temperature had warmed up to 14 and the snowflakes were getting larger.  The sun peeked out about 11:00 am and snow bombs began falling off the branches.  But the clouds continued to squeeze every last snowflake out before giving in to the blue sky.  At least that's what I thought was going on until I looked out a little later and all the blue has disappeared.  The sun fought on for the rest of the afternoon, but it was a losing battle.

When JB left at 1:15 pm to drive down to Larry's, the day had warmed up to 19 and really big flakes were falling.  Just an hour later the temperature had risen to 26, the wind had picked up, and snow and ice were very noisily sliding off the roof, turning Dinga into a velcro dog.  By the time JB came back home at 3:00 pm, the temperature had continued to climb.  It was 27 and pouring a snow/rain mix.  This warming trend caused major problems on Snoqualamie Pass, which is where highway 90 crosses the Cascades, and the pass was closed for most of the day.

During the past several weeks I have become more and more frustrated with my hair getting in my eyes when I am outside.  Hats, headbands, nothing seemed to keep it back.  So as soon as JB drove off for Larry's, I headed to the bathroom to cut it all off.  Well, maybe not all of it, but I was very tempted to use JB's razor and shave it all off.  It looks and feels so much better!

By 5:00 pm, all the nasty cells seemed to have passed by.  The wind was quiet.  The temperature was 28, which was our high for the day.  And the sky was blue.  The wind had picked back up when we were ready for bed, but it sounded like it was just in the tree tops.  Not very noisy.

Tuesday 3/4.  It was still 28 out with partly cloudy skies and a little breeze.  We got started right after breakfast to drive MAX down to Miss Kitty to get her battery out, but MAX's battery had to be charged.  So while JB did that, the dogs and I hiked down to Miss Kitty to dig her out.  But when we got there, it was obvious that she needed no help.  During the night all the snow on the mountain deflated about 6" and she was sitting on top of the road.  We hiked back up and JB had MAX running.  So back down we all went and took the battery out of Miss Kitty.  Larry had warned us about this job and it was a pisser.  But we got the battery out and took it back up to charge it, since the new one wasn't ready yet.  

After lunch we took the charged battery back down and, after several tries, got it re-installed.  Suffice it to say that we had had enough experience now to get it right the first time, when we install the new battery.  Miss Kitty fired up.  JB drove MAX up the road.  I got in Miss Kitty and drove her right up to our driveway - and no further.  Neither JB nor I could get her up the steep part at the beginning of our driveway.  So that's where she sits for tonight.  Tomorrow we will try to pull her with MAX.  We think that will work, as she just needs a little nudge to get through the deep snow.

It remained sunny all day with small, light clouds racing across the blue sky.  Our high for the day was 36, and the snow is getting quite mushy.  Will probably be ice by tomorrow morning.  Oh, joy. . .

Wednesday 3/5. Sometime during the wee hours of the morning rain began falling, often pouring.  It finally stopped at 8:30 am and the sun broke through.  Now we have blue sky, and valley fog trying to invade us, with 31 degrees.  With more than 50" of snow in the past 32 days, this situation could prove to be nasty. The forecast is for more "warm" precipitation through tomorrow.  On the positive side, I didn't get the deck cleaned off, but if I wait another day, I may not have to. . .

Thought for the day: To have a good neighbor is to find something precious. Chinese proverb