Miss K Thought that This JibJab is Cute Too!

Giving equal time for a diverse blog... :)

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A Little Christmas Fun...

Here's a little fun from JibJab...hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it!

Merry Christmas! M&G

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Good Grief!

The view of I-5 at the Centralia exit....When the water recedes, there's likely going to be a lot of damage to the roadway - which is the major North-South interstate between Seattle and Portland. So even when it's "dry" it may not be passable for most folks...

You can see WalMart is covered in water to the upper right there (uppermost white roofed building)...this photo was published today in the Seattle times website...taken some time this morning. There's a Home Depot there somewhere too...and that white "strip" toward the upper center is a small mall...wow.

Today we found out that some of our family are stuck in the mess that is now Centralia, Washington.

We are all very concerned about them, as no one can actually get to where they are to bring them out of the flooded mess that their house has become. But they are in contact with Sister K, and are doing as well as they can at the moment. It's just that there is a tremendous need at times like these to actually "see" the folks that are effected...we'll have to wait for a bit longer though.

Hopefully, the roads will clear enough to get in to their place by Friday...if not, Sister will likely rent a blimp and fly in to get them :) Right now, there isn't a passable road that will get us within miles of them. That whole part of Lewis county is pretty much an island that can't be approached other than by boat. The national guard is keeping folks from launching their own boats to go in a fetch people (that was magic's bright idea, but - NO!)

The water started coming into their place around 4:30am early Tuesday morning. They were fast asleep in their bed, when an early rising neighbor called and told them that their house was taking on water. It got to be about 4 feet deep I hear, before it started receding. Luckily, their bedroom and master bath are elevated a bit above the grade of the rest of the house, so they are able to stay out of the water there with the help of a generator. They were able to move their cars to higher ground before the water got too deep, but that was about it. No one has been able to get in and deliver supplies yet, though, so we are all a bit concerned.

These pics show the "after" at around 2:30 pm yesterday afternoon - water is about 2 feet deep. It's still pretty wet there. They don't expect the Chehalis River to crest in the Centralia area until this evening.

Once they open the roads, we'll be down there in a flash helping get what stuff can be salvaged (mostly irreplaceable stuff, I suppose) out of the house. Hopefully, they'll stay with Sis while the details of cleaning up are figured out. Most of the furniture will have to be replaced...ugh...what a mess!



A view of the water line in relation to the outside of the house as of 2:30PM Dec 4, 2007. Something is floating by in the yard there...can't really tell what...but the roof sure looks nice and clean. :) Might as well smile as cry...



A view of the backyard, same time...

We'll keep you posted on progress...but in the meantime, send happy thoughts to all the folks effected by the flooding here in Washington...it's going to be a long haul getting things put back together.

Hope you all are happy, warm and dry!

M&G

Here Comes the Rain Again...

WOW!

We've had about as much rain as I've ever seen in Seattle over the last day or so.

Up here on the hill, we were pretty dry (although the drain field is saturated - forcing me (really forcing) to forego doing laundry as it adds lots of water to the septic system - not a good idea at the moment :)

Down the hill a bit, though, it's a totally different world!

The bottom of 228th (the big street that comes up the hill) was flooded under the overpass of I405. We were able to drive through that area late yesterday afternoon, and the water line on the cement pilings under the overpass was up around the 10 foot mark. Seriously, two+ magicians high water mark!

The second rainiest day in Seattle history. We had 3.77 inches of H2O fall over the 24 hours starting Monday at midnight. That's pretty impressive.

I'm more impressed by that than the flooding, really. I think that the flooding is to be expected - especially with all the development around here these days. It used to be that when it rained, the ground absorbed a lot of it...now we've paved over the ground...so it's logical that it has nowhere to go but downhill, right? Anyway...here's some pics!

This shows the area to leading to the overpass at the bottom of the hill (228th)...



...basically, Little Bear Creek over-ran it's banks...sadly, there is a house on this creek (just up and across the road to the right from here) and the "river" runs through it now.


Here's a shot of a flooded car stuck in the water at the business park at the bottom of the hill (along 228th). What a bummer...just trying to get to work, and bam! Flooded car. I wonder if that's covered by car insurance?





This is a car at the Residence Inn at the bottom of the hill near Beardsley (off of I405 near Woodinville).





The overpass in Woodinville near 195th (off of 405, near highway 9 at the back side of our hill).



Notice the car underwater? What were they thinking? Probably weren't thinking at all....

Probably drove around the barricades (I lost count of how many people I saw doing that kind of stuff as I tried to get down the hill myself - I sat in lines and slowly moved down the hills that were passable, just like everyone else that wasn't "special").


And last, but not least...the new water feature in Woodinville. This is at the corner near the park (on the way to Molbak's Nursery).



This morning, much of the water has receded, but it's been raining off and on a lot too. Sometimes really hard. I hope it stops soon and this last of three big storms passes through quickly. We need a respite from the floods...

A link to KOMO 4 News video of the flooding in Woodinville (just down/over the hill from our cozy hilltop cabin). It should give a little more perspective of what Woodinville (and others in the state) is going through. We are still waiting for several rivers to crest and begin receding.

http://www.komotv.com/home/video/12098521.html?video=pop&t=a

Hope that you are all staying warm and dry!

Aloha!

M&G

Let It Snow!

Well, Saturday brought the promised snow to Seattle! The weather forecast was right for once...amazing, huh?

Goofy did the dance of snow, which was muy entertaining (well, at least for the first hour or so).

After all is said and done, we got about 6 or 7 inches of snow up here on the hill.

It snowed hard like this for hours...it was beautiful to see.



This is the snow on a tree in the backyard...Goofy thought it looked particularly lovely :)



Sadly, most of the snow was gone the next morning. We had snow showers throughout the day, that eventually turned into the torrential downpour we experienced all day Monday. Guess we are expecting three big storms to move through...so far, the second (and supposedly biggest) is working it's way past...more on that later.

Hope you are all safe and warm, wherever you are!

M&G

Waiting for Weekend Weather

Meanwhile...back in Seattle...

Wow!

It's been a crazy, hectic week since we got back from Maui last week (was it just a little over one week ago when that we were enjoying the warm tropical clime of island paradise? :)).

Seattle has been warming to highs of a chilly 45 degrees or so since we've been home...dropping to the low to mid 30's overnights.

We are currently awaiting a forecasted snow. Goofy is - of course - beside herself with the joy of snowy goodness. I suspect that the dance of snow cannot be far away.

Today is going to a day of lights...the house lights are up along the eaves, it's the trees and such that are feeling somewhat unadorned. Maybe we'll even get the tree up too!

Excitement abounds!

Have a great Saturday!

M&G