(Almost) Snow Day.

I grew up in Texas. On average it snowed every seven years. That means before I went off to college I had seen snow 2 times in my life. Once, when I was about 2 it snowed and we made a snowman. I only know this from pictures. When I was in Junior High it snowed and school was even canceled. It only took a couple inches to shut everything down. In high school we had a big ice storm, but not really any snow, per se. I went to college in Santa Fe for a couple years, where snow was a regular thing. You would get a few inches and it would stick around for a week and then melt off. But it happened pretty regularly through the winter; we were in the mountains after all, so the city was prepared with salted roads and snowploughs.

Portland is just about as bad as Texas when it comes to snow. I think it snows once a year here. That seems to be my experience, but the city just isn't equipped to deal with it. A couple inches and everything shuts down. A few years ago there was upwards of a foot and a half on the ground for a week and a half. I missed most of it, as I was in Texas for Christmas.




The forecast last night was for 2-4" and the city was preparing for a shut down. I had my fingers crossed for a snow day from work. I work pretty far out, and there is no way to get there without crossing a range of hills up to 1000'. I was hoping for a day of leisurely drinking my coffee with Mike. Taking the dog for a long walk in a carpet of white and then maybe a walk up to get pizza and a beer in the afternoon. Definitely no driving, and definitely no driving the giant van.




It looked promising when I woke up, but it was not to be. Work was on. Though the giant van slid a bit in slush and ice getting out of my neighborhood, once I was on major roads it was fine. It sure is pretty out there though.




With a lifetime of limited snow I still get really excited about it. I've never lived anywhere where the snow really piled up. A couple inches is magic to me.

I snapped a few shots on my way out the door this morning. Our winter snow for the year. Next week, back to rain.

A little manual labor.

The forecast this week is calling for three days of snow. To that I say, "?!?!?!?!?". Not even in the depths of winter do we get a call for snow for three days in a row; and we are in the end of February! It's supposed to be warming up a bit and seeds are supposed to be going in the ground. Well, I think I'm going to wait a few more days until the freak snow passes before I start planting outside. I am getting anxious though; that's two weeks behind schedule! Stupid Nature. Doesn't it know we've got things to do around here?

This weekend we did get the new raised beds in order, so as soon as the weather is ready, we are ready. Saturday Mike assembled the beds and staked them into the yard. Then on Monday I went and got a truckload full of dirt and shoveled it all myself. Yee-gads, that was a lot of work. My shoulders, arms and abs are crazy sore today.

Mike had to work on Monday, but I had the day off. I rented a truck through Zipcar, which is a pretty cool thing to have around when you don't have a car. Even if I did have a car of my own; I still wouldn't have had any way to get a load of dirt so this worked out great. It took me about an hour and a half of non-stop shoveling and dumping to get the truck bed empty and the garden beds filled. We tore up the grass along the side fence to make a more proper pea bed for this year too, with a lot more space for additional varieties.

The new beds out front are lined up with the living room window so we'll have a nice view of garden veg this summer. Up on the list of things to do this Spring/Summer is to put in a fence around the front yard. I'm pretty eager to do this because then we can start planting along the fence line and grow some taller flowers, veggies (pole beans, corn, etc) and shrubbery, hopefully obscuring the view of the street and our neighbor's cars just a little.



(in the windowsill: flat with onion, leek, cabbage and broccoli sprouts and a small rose we hope comes back)