snow

We were supposed to head over to Seattle this weekend (for a nice little getaway!), but our record snow on the passes had different plans for us. :-( Yes, I did cry a bit.

The passes have been dumping and dumping, and there have been lots of avalanches and closures. Cars backed up, cars covered in avalanches, etc. Lots of great fun for for all the poor people going back and forth between the west and east sides of the state.

So this weekend, all 3 passes were closed. I guess that's not happened for 11 years, and of course it happened when we were wanting to head over. The closures lasted for almost 2 days. I guess I can't complain, we could have been buried or be waiting in lines! Here's an article discussing it: Linky

Of course, this also translated to a great winter snow cover here this year. It's the best, consistant snow level and intermittant snowing that I've seen in maybe 12 years. I enjoyed it! Maybe because I spend most of my time inside, so I could look at it and be content. I hate when it's freezing outside, but there's no snow on the ground. If it's going to be winter and cold, we might as well have pretty, comforting snow as well. And it's better for the plants!!!

I think that this weekend, ironically, marks the change in the wind (literally), leading towards spring. Last night, we were at a friend's house who live up at the base of Burch Mt. (higher up the more exposed slopes above N. Wenatchee), and almost all their snow was gone. I was commenting to them that we still had snow. We figured it was the sun exposure, and the recent winds.

Today, though, I've been surprised to see that our snow is very patchy, for the first time since late November. The winds lately have been rattling our house and windows. One night, it was reminiscent of our big windstorm January of '07. A bit scary, that sound of a train going by outside our bedroom. Fortunately, the train wasn't as fast and close as that January. But it still gave me the chills.

These are the chinook winds, that bring a change of weather. I'm starting to think about spring for the first time in months. I've enjoyed the season.



The picture above, is outside of the Valley View Seventh-day Adventist Church this evening (Kboy was at Pathfinder Bible Bowl). It was very dark, and I took this panorama quickly, I'm surprised I got anything out of it. Open it up to see it better. It shows the last snow on the mountains before spring sets in.

cool afternoon

Water Lily, cuddling Jack Jack.

Razz!

The view today:




This is my favorite spot to photograph from the deck. I love the lone pine on the left, the color of the earth, how clouds gather behind the tree.






The two above pictures: one of our neighbours houses peeking over the hill. This house was built a couple years ago, the first time I saw it I was surprised.




Our other neighbour's house, the one that pearches over us. They're to the (our) left of the other neighbour.

This is my second favorite spot to photograph. I love how the ponderosas collect along the folds of the hill. This spot changes so much throughout the year.





All the pictures below are panoramas, stitched together from 2 or more pictures:

Made from two pictures. I love this spot, and how natural the cottonwoods look. There is recent evidence of two different neighbours building in the area. You can see a pole for some utility or other, and a trailer. We always dreamt of being able to buy all the land around us over time when it eventually goes on sale. But when the time comes, it's not been possible. We still have one section next to us that we could possibly buy some day if we're able to at the time. It's the most important spot I suppose, because the building is right next to ours and we share a driveway. But it still sucks to have our views ruined by development, and having people looking over us.




A two picture pan of the lone ponderosas.




A panorama of the wash, which I didn't line up well enough to crop succesfully. But I like the picture so much that I'm posting it anyway. You can see both houses in this picture.




A pan of part of the ridge above us. You can see the lone pines there towards the left.




Same view as above, just further out and wider. All three of these last pans look best viewed large for detail, just click on them!




A full panorama of the view from our back deck. I love it during the winter (I guess you can tell by the picture I chose for this blog's header), the bright blue against the white snow. (you can see our house roof in the upper right hand corner)

new sightings!

Since living on this property, there are two animals that I have never seen here: Deer/Elk and Coyote.

I've seen Deer tracks in the yard every winter, as they have social trails parallel to the creek. They also ate a lot of the arborvitae in our driveway before we moved in. The bushes have filled in a bit since then, I'm not sure what's different, but they don't seem to go through our driveway since we came.

And I hear Coyote very near our property quite a few evenings. This winter has been especially strong, I hear them yipping and yapping almost every night it seems. I always stop what I'm doing (turn of the tv if I'm watching), so I can listen to them. I love to hear them, it sounds like a choir of high-pitched clear voices. I've also seen Coyote scat in the driveway, so I know they come on our property. I'm sure that we've lost outdoor kitties to them!

On January 2, All41 noticed two deer stuck inside our neighbour's deer fenced property. He said they'd been there for a while, don't know how they got in. It was a male and female. I'm still amazed that these are the first ones I've seen since moving here. He got a couple shots for me. The camera is zoomed all the way (15x).






Today, All41 called me into the dining room, saying he saw a coyote across the creek. I grabbed the camera asap and took a couple shots before he jumped through the fence and into our neighbours. I apologize for the quality, it was zoomed all the way in (15x again) and the settings were a bit off because I didn't have time. So I lightened them in photoshop. Isn't he so cool, though? Very plush, almost like a fox.

(click on the pic to see a bigger size)

It's been slowly getting more like fall lately. For maybe the past week or two it's been damp, because every couple nights it will rain. Only at night! Sometimes I can hear it, and sometimes it's so light I don't hear it.

There has been some low snow levels in the past month or so. Mission Ridge is supposed to open on Thanksgiving.

It's been raining all day today, and this evening the snow came down all the way to our yard, although it really didn't stick for long.

These pics are the hill behind our house. It's kinda dark, because the light was almost gone.

It's still raining!

watermelon

This afternoon, while I was taking a nap, All41 gently woke me to ask if I wanted some watermelon. I never really did wake up, but I heard him say something about how funny it was to be able to go out in our own garden in the middle of November and pick a watermelon to eat.

I think I went back to sleep, and then I felt something very cold, hard, sweet and watery put in my mouth, which was so wonderful, as I've been feeling thirsty and parched lately. Yummy.

autumn morning

I woke up this morning and it was just right outside. It's the best of fall: moist, earthy, and misty.





I went into the living room because sometime in the early morning, Kboy had wandered in and layed down on the couch, wrapped himself in the couch blanket and fell back asleep. He's done that a few times lately. It's cute.





This picture below is on the N.E. facing window, looking through the walnut branches and then the cottonwood branches by the creek. Beyond them, you can see the mist settled above the Wenatchee Valley.





The rest (except for the last) are pictures of our wild cherry tree outside the E. facing living room window.









You can see the green of the willow trees as a backdrop here - they really haven't turned nor fallen yet.







A picture from my deck, of some branches from our big maple tree (with the weeping cherry tree in the background). The buds are already so big, all snuggled in for the winter, waiting for the first warm days of spring:

fall

It's been an interesting fall. It's already November 10, and we have been having mild weather all the way through. I don't even think we've dipped below freezing, although we've almost just. It's been averaging around 50 during the day. And it hasn't been raining. We had that one or two weeks of off and on again rain about a month and a half ago, and then that's been it.

But it has been nice that way. We've been able to get more done (especially on our garage remodel), and it's been so wonderfully crisp and pleasant. I think that it's helped the fall colors to extend. I keep my windows open in my room a lot, to enjoy it all.

Today, I kept hearing noises outside my window, and I thought someone was walking around out there. Then I realized that it was the sound of the walnut leaves falling on the ground and the car. It was so loud, I could hear it through the closed window. I opened my window up to be able to enjoy "fall" better. The instant I opened the window, the wonderful smell of nature, outside, and fall wafted in. Heavenly.

Right now, both my windows are open, because it's raining very nicely. I can't get enough of rain, the sound of it, the feel of it, the smell of it. And of course I live in Wenatchee, with 9 inches of rain a year! :-p

At this moment, it's 56 degrees in my room, and 45 outside.

I'm nice and snuggly warm, with my new fuzzy blanky sent to me from my friend Mandolynn - I can't help but show a picture, it's what this time of year is all about!!!






Ha! I just published this log, and then saw that the apples on the blanky match the apples on my border to the right.....perfect! Lol.