cstephenmurray Friends and family

Christmas 2008 Friday, December 26
Back to friends and family here.		December 26 (Fri) - Snow, snow, snow December 27 (Sat) -Christmas at the Murray's December 28 (Sun) - Church; Big melt (no pictures) December 29 (Mon) - ...or not. (Another storm, melt, etc.) December 30 (Tues) - Lunch with Mom and Dad; Time with the Holmans December 31 (Wed) - Trip to Seattle and Sunriver Jan 1 (Thurs) - Family day at the condo Jan 2 (Fri) - Skiing!!!! at Mt. Bachelor Jan 3 (Sat) - Trip back to Seattle Jan 4 (Sun) - Back to DFW.
Wow! It's so cold! Last night it got down to 12 degrees Fahrenheit (-11 Celsius). I'm wearing 4 layers on top and 2 on bottom and I'm still cold!!! The northwest got dumped on this year! Mom and Dad estimate 3 feet of snow so far. Snow fell fast and never had time to melt, which lead to the problem of putting it somewhere. The city of Spokane normally uses snow plows to clear the streets. Snow plows just push the snow to the side. This year they pushed so much snow that they ran out of room for it, so they had to import snow blowing trucks from SW Washington, which has a lot of open range and snow drifts.
Snow plows in Spokane. (Stolen from the City of Spokane's Road Maintenance Department [I did cite, though].)

Taken from the back porch looking southwest toward Mica Peak.
(Click picture for larger picture.)

Just in front of the shed is a mound of snow, under which is rose bushes. No, really!

Another shot of the backyard.
(Click picture for larger picture.)

The small path you see was carved out by the various ground birds that live in this
3 acres.

Here's Dad snow blowing a path for the dog and for them to be able to take seed out to the birds.

The paths are very useful for Chester (the dog).
(Click picture for larger picture.)

Here's Coleman (my older sister's husband) in the north side lawn near the mountain ash.
(Click picture for larger picture.)

Two things to notice: 1) Coleman is over 6 feet (1.8 m) tall.
2) You may be able to notice the clumps of berries hanging down from the branches of the tree. The birds will eat these thoughout the winter.

This part of the Spokane river is only 1/2 mile from my parent's house. Notice the steam coming up from the water, showing that the water is much warmer than the air.

Downtown Spokane had so much snow that they had to pile it in the center lane. This means obvious things like slower traffic. Yet it also means greater difficulties: you can only change lanes at intersections. It makes driving much more "wild west" than most of us are used to.

You'd think that after seeing "Dumb and Dumberer" that I wouldn't try to lick the giant icicle at REI. Oh well...

The snow is also very dangerous for pedestrians. All of the sidewalks are covered with 4 or 5 feet (1-1.5 meters) of snow. Which means people have to walk IN THE STREET. Meaning you have to pay attention to the slick roads AND possible people in the road.

And the snow even makes shopping hard. How? When, since there's no place for snow, they have to store it in the middle of the parking lot. For large retailers and grocery stores, this is not such a problem because they have very large lots (like this Target). For smaller stores (like REI), it is a disaster. Very busy stores have very little parking.

Next page - December 27