Thursday, December 18, 2008

Scenes from a snowy south Seattle

Forgive the alliteration in the title, but it's after 8:00 PM and my brain shuts down around 7:30. It snowed all day here, and it was great. Usually the snow turns to rain part way through the day here, but today it stayed snow all day long. I worked at home and enjoyed watching the snow out the window throughout the day, and each time a new round would start it was really exciting. The weather forecast called for 1 to 3 inches, and by 4:00 this afternoon there was easily 6 to 8 inches in our neighborhood. I got out a couple of times with the dog and he loved romping in the snow. I have to say that I enjoyed it too and took several pictures on both outings.

It's odd snow...odd in that the temperature isn't really that cold (around 30). Water in our pots our front isn't even frozen; it's all just slushy. But, the snow is very dry and powdery, which would seem like it was colder outside. Underneath the snow is a layer of slush that's easily compacted into ice. Anthony and I made a run to the grocery store in my truck and even in 4x4 "low" there wasn't great traction. The 4x4 did help get moving but I used the engine to slow down about 95% of the time. It was OK to drive, except trying to put into the alley behind our house. I lost traction on the turn and almost got stuck halfway in the street. Due to my deft maneuvering and superior vehicular control abilities, I got the truck out and went around the block to get into the alley. I won't be taking either vehicle out of its parking space until the roads are melted.

All the slush under the snow will become solid ice overnight, and that's not going to pretty tomorrow. I'm already planning to work from home again since I'm not about to get out and play bumper cars just to get to work. I am hoping the snow hangs around for at least a couple of days. It's nice to look at, nice to be out in, and also a nice change of scenery around here.

One other interesting thing today was the hummingbird that came to visit. We have a plant called a Mahonia planted in front of our stairwell window. It blooms in the winter with a spray of tiny bright yellow flowers. We were told by the nursery that the flowers attract a species of hummingbirds native to Washington. As I was walking down the stairs mid-morning I looked out and there was a hummingbird having a feast on the flowers. He was much more rotund than other species I've seen but was still bright green with a vivid red spot on his chest. He was dining for several minutes and even took a break and sat down on the leaves a couple of times. Sadly he was gone before I could get the camera but it was a real treat to see something like that in the middle of winter.

And for your viewing pleasure, pictures from the day.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Love the pictures! "A" doesn't look happy about the snow. Or at least the cold anyway.

Thanks for sharing! :)

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos buddy. Were just going to have a wet Christmas apparently :-( We haven't had snow here for years at Christmas ;-(