What a Week!

Yep, it was one in a million.

It all started with a snowfall on Monday that crippled Seattle, as usual. It would seem that people would get used to driving in it but when it happens only every other year, maybe not. Besides, it rains 9 months out of the year and the people around here can't drive in that either.

It was only about 6 inches but the ice always comes along with it. Tony works the furthest from home and took him 4 1/2 hours to make it home. That was good time though, some people took 7 hours and some didn't get home til 1 AM. I guess it depended on when you got off work, if it was after dark (sunset is 4:15 right now) it took longer. Just keep your cool and take it slow and easy.

Tuesday nearly everyone in the family stayed home from work, Rick was the only one who went. He works only 15 miles from home and has the added bonus of being experienced in driving in all conditions. So while he was at work the rest of the family enjoyed a sunny and COLD day playing in the snow. We all went up to the school and the kids sledded. It was a good test for Iceland. It was 20's in the shade, 30's in the sun. My camera battery lasted only 1 hour at best in those temps! Good thing we're getting 2 more batteries each! That night when we went in the hot tub it was 12º and the overnight low was 7.5º!

Wednesday the snow was still around and nearly everyone stayed home again. I finally decided to take my toaster out on my first drive in the snow and it did very well. A friend was one of the hundreds of people who had to abandon her vehicle on Monday and couldn't find a ride to go back to pick it up so I decided to help her out. She lives out in the sticks about 13 miles from here. I drove cautiously and had very little difficulty, very little slipping. I also did some errands in Covington. I noticed an older guy following me all the way into the Fred Meyer parking lot. He followed me to tell me that my tabs were expired! How nice! I guess he had nothing better to do... Rick kidnapped his daughter on the way home and she joined us for dinner, a ride with Rick on his 3-wheeler and a soak in the hot tub.

Thursday was Turkey day and Rach was cooking up the big dinner at her place. It was the first of Rick's 4 days off. About noon-thirty the power flickered off and on - then off. Apparently it was a downed tree, should only be a 3 or 4 hour outage. Rach's turkey had another 1.5 hours to go. She came over and I gave her some ideas and offered to loan some stuff. Tony and Kevin both have a BBQ with a burner on the side so they just set them up and finished all the cooking that way. The food was all hot and ready at the same time. It all worked out great, everyone seemed to know exactly what had to be done and they just did it. Rick went to his family's dinner and in the evening my friends from around the corner, the Haydens, came over to stay warm. The power came back on at 9:30 but they stayed and played games til almost 11. So the 3 - 4 hour outage became 9 hours. Oh well, it was all good.

Friday - Black Friday. No, we didn't go. Shirley did, Sarah did. We slept. Then we went for a drive to find some more snow to get pictures of - just about all gone, even in Enumclaw. We did stop at the new Winco in Sumner and had one of the nicest grocery shopping experiences. The new store was clean, neat and EMPTY! I guess everyone was still black Friday shopping! We had already obligated ourselves to dinner with the Haydens so we were at their house this time, had a great dinner and more game playing.

Saturday was just plain lazy. We found a coupon for Ace hardware - 50% off any item $30 or less, so Rick and I picked up Sarah and went. We all got stuff we were happy about. Then we dropped Sarah off (she had to go to work) and went back to town to snap a few shots for our picture of the day. Then back home for a relaxing evening and leftover soup. And the hot tub.

Finally today, Sunday, was nothing spectacular. Rick went down and checked out what Sarah's brakes were doing, then some yard work, then some housework, meeting on the telephone and our usual burgers for dinner.

Not a bad week, a lot of fun actually! I think the whole family agrees. Maybe we should have a week like this every year. Next time, though, Heather and Denny have to be there!