Happy Chanukah!

Happy Chanukah!  I'm not quite late with this, but I'm cutting it close.  The Mizz has really enjoyed the celebration this year.  He still doesn't really get it, but he's very into candles and presents, so he's having fun.  It's been a little confusing for him this year with it spanning across Christmas, but a menorah burning with a lit Christmas tree in the background pretty much defines our family.  Maybe next year the Mizz will understand a little better, but until then Happy Chanukah to everyone.

(Incidentally, I always used to spell it "Hanukkah", but I'll allow that Franny should be the resident expert in the house, so now it's "Chanukah".)

Merry Christmas 2008!

Merry Christmas, everybody! I wish I could be with the rest of my family today, but I'm still very thankful for what I've got right here with me...

Due to inclement weather, Portland will be closed until further notice.

In Portland, we like to complain that we never see any snow.  Now we like to complain that the freakin' snow won't stop.  We have about a foot so far and it's still coming down pretty strong.  Everything is pretty much shut down.  Unless you're an EMT or a snowplow driver or a television reporter, there's no need to be anywhere, and no good way to get there.  After everybody on the street put our trash cans out last night, they decided that they won't be coming to pick them up until further notice.  Although Tri-met was official driving buses on most routes, I watched a guy at the stop outside my house for at least an hour.  I don't know if he ever got his ride.

I'm actually enjoying all this.  It's easily the most snow I've seen since we moved here, and since everybody is inconvenienced the same, I don't feel too bad about missing work.  It's been pretty cold (~20 degrees), so we don't spend much time outside, but it's beautiful, especially since it's mostly been snow and not so much ice lately.  Mizz loves playing outside and would stay until he froze to death if we let him.  D is not as impressed with the cold, but he loves staring out the window and watching snow fall with me.  Our main downfall to being outside is that we don't own much cold weather gear.  I dug out old ski pants and gloves for Franny and me, but the Mizz is playing outside in two layers of pants and fleece mittens.  We had to borrow a snow suit for D.  The Mizz has a pair of snow boots that we picked up somewhere, but Franny and I only have hiking boots and heavy socks.  But we're so enthralled with big snow that we go out and freeze anyway.

I noticed not long after we got here that weather reports on the west coast contain much more guess work the back east.  In Virginia, we got to watch the weather coming for days before it got to us.  Here, we have a dockworker 60 miles west squinting at the horizon, saying, "Weather's comin'."  Last weekend, they got it right on Sunday and the snow matched pretty well with what was predicted.  For the rest of the week, however, they predicted snow and ice everyday, and pretty much we just got wet roads that steadily improved all week.  Most area kids got the week off school, and lots of businesses were closed or limited.  Then Friday night, it was snowing, and for the most part, it hasn't stopped since.  Now I just heard that we might expect 5 more inches for some new records.  The National Weather Service updates/advisories/warnings have been changing every few hours and quite often don't match the last one very well.  Now, what was supposed to be rain by tomorrow afternoon has been changed to rain/snow and then more snow.  We'll see what actually happens, but for the moment, we're not going anywhere.

The best part though is that we're going to see the first white Christmas I've had in a long time.  Christmas lights look so much better in the snow.

Arctic Blast '08!!!

"This just in from our 24/7 Storm Tracker Team Coverage of Arctic Blast '08. We take you live to the corner of 36th and Yada Yada, where, for some reason, Susie the Weather Chick is reporting live from a gas station at 4:30 in the morning."

"As you can see behind me, the station is pretty much empty now, but is was busy last night as people prepared to hunker down for this winter storm. We talked to the clerk inside and he said it was slightly busier than normal last night and that people were buying Doritos to stock up. I want you to see something. Can we pan out and show the truck. [Pan out to see open delivery truck, probably delivering Doritos.] Well he's not there right now, but the driver was wearing shorts! Isn't that crazy? [Pan back to overexcited reporter.] Anyway, we thought we saw a few flakes earlier and we got pretty excited, but as you can see, it's just rain right now. The roads appear to be getting a little slick though. [Pan to show car driving by with no trouble whatsoever.]  It's looking like it going to get pretty interesting out here today.  Live from a gas station, this is Susie the Weather Chick.  Back to you."

"Thank you Susie.  Our [big breath] 24/7 Storm Tracker Team Coverage Arctic Blast '08 Storm Coverage Weather Center is just showing rain right now as well, but the National Weather Service forecasts that if the temperature drops below freezing, the rain could turn into sleet or snow and the roads would likely freeze over.  In other news, one source reports that if a frog had wings, it wouldn't bump it's ass when it hopped."

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Seriously, Arctic Blast '08 is what one station is calling our weather.  We did have a bit of snow and some ice, but it's hardly as newsworthy as everybody's pretending.  It's been raining only for most of the last 20 hours or so and does not look like it's going to be below freezing until this evening, but we're still under a winter weather advisory.  For the record, the preceding report was not near as fictional as it should have been.  Most of that is only slightly edited versions of what was actually reported.

On the fun side, the few flakes that were dropping yesterday morning were huge (1/8 inch) perfect snowflake shapes.  I'd never actually seen snowflakes that looked like snowflakes are supposed to look before.  I felt like a little kid for a moment.