Well, the weather outside is frightful...

It truly has been frightful lately. Once the arctic snap ended, we got our classic Portland winter rain and standard low 40's temperatures. Pretty manageable. But then the rain stopped, the thermometer eased its way down a bit, and the winds picked up. Just so you know, we get some wicked winds here in December and January. Gusts can reach the 50 mph mark easily. So, the thermometer might say it's 32, but the wind chill brings it down into the 20's. And it sounds like a banshee is wailing outside the house. That's what we've had going on here for the past week or so. It's funny, but even after living here for 10+ years, I still can't get used to seeing fir tree detritus in the yard and gutters after a wind storm. I grew up with leaves, so it still takes me aback a little.



Today, I got up and noted that the wind had stopped, and the weather seemed to be changing. I think my observations jinxed us. The girls and I left the house to get our H1N1 vaccinations and to run errands. Famished after waiting two hours for our shots, we decided to get some lunch. In the middle of our meal, Emily suddenly said, "Oh, my gosh, it's snowing!" And was it ever. Not forecasted, it caught us completely off guard. It was coming down hard and fast, and that meant we needed to forego our errands and make our way home quickly. If you've ever visited us, you know that you have to climb a rather impressive hill to get to our neighborhood. And, when it snows and the streets get covered, we can get snowed in - or need to chain up the tires to go anywhere. The fear is that we'll get caught downhill and won't be able to make it up to our house (nearly happened to Larry once...).

We made it home just in time because we ended up getting nearly 4 inches within 3 hours. We built a fire in the fireplace and sat next to it playing games in the light of the Christmas tree with snow gently falling just outside the living room window. Very peaceful and cozy.

Darkness has come upon us quickly and the opportunity for pictures is rather limited...



Emily is out playing in it now - because it's supposed to warm up and rain tonight. Her masterpiece is a Dr. Who-inspired Weeping Angel snow sculpture. No mere snowman for her!



By morning, it may be washed away completely. I hope so, since I have two doctor's appointments, the girls are both due at the dentist for a cleaning, and I have a party to attend tomorrow night - our busiest winter break day yet!

In the meantime, Larry has to go in to work tonight, so he's putting chains on his tires in an effort to get there in one piece. Poor baby...



We'll see how it looks in the morning, and whether we can make it to any of our appointments! In the meantime, it is pretty...

Christmas Tree Saga

We have a holiday tradition at our house. We go out to a tree farm and cut down a Christmas tree - usually the first weekend in December, so we'll have plenty of time to enjoy it. We bring it home, and leave it on top of the car for a few hours, because, what's the rush? We take it off, usually after dark when it's extra challenging, and place it in a bucket of water where it sits for several days until we have time to bring it in the house and place it in the tree stand.

This year, it was extra fun. We were a bit bummed that it wasn't raining when we headed out to find the tree. (There's nothing quite like trudging through a forest of trees in the cold, damp rain for an hour or more, then kneeling down in the mud with a saw...) No, it wasn't raining this year, but it was cold. In fact, it was 27 or so degrees when we found the perfect tree. Lots to choose from this year; we went to a different farm, and the selection was GREAT! We found a beautiful Noble Fir - our favorite - in record time, and got it home, where we promptly left it on the car for the requisite length of time per our habit. That night, we placed it in the standard bucket of water and leaned it up against the house - just like always.

Did I mention it was 27 degrees? And did I mention that the forecast showed that to be the high all week? No rain or other forms of precipitation were expected, but the thermometer plummeted. Did we think of that when we plunged the tree into a bucket of water? Apparently not. By morning, we realized our folly, and by then, of course, the bucket of water had become a bucket of ice. What to do?



We moved the tree into the garage where it surely would thaw in a day or two... But no. Temperatures continued to drop, until one morning I headed to my morning pool workout, and saw a thermometer that read 9 degrees! (News flash: when it's that cold, an uninsulated garage isn't much warmer than outside.) Larry left all the lights in the garage on for a day or two, but that didn't do a bit of good.

I thought we were destined to bring the tree into the house in its bucket of ice, but decided on one more approach. Remember the space heater and heat lamp we used to attempt to dry out under the sink after the dishwasher leak? I took them out to the garage and placed them, along with a drop light, artfully around the bucket in an attempt to finally thaw the damn thing out.



After 12 hours or so, we had slush. Larry and the kids finished the job by pouring warm water into the bucket, and - finally - we were able to extricate the tree from its imprisonment.

It's in the house now, and, eventually, we'll get the lights on and decorate it, but, what's the rush? There are still 10 more days before Christmas! The big question: will it suffer any ill effects from the ice? It may be raining needles as we try to hang ornaments!



Maybe next year we should rethink our Christmas tree tradition...