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December 1, 2006

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

I guess the main topic this week has been the weather. If it hasn't poured rain all month, we've had gusting windstorms and now we get snow and ice on top of that and it isn't even officially winter yet! We had a record rainfall in November...more than twice the average! In fact, the month recorded a flood (major problems north and south of us) three windstorms with hurricane force winds (although we don't get as much wind in our sheltered bayside location) and a highly unusual snowfall clear down to the beach. I think we're all glad to see December get here! Still, it hasn't been too terrible for us here in Wheeler, other than we just haven't been able to get outside very much. The weather has made for some exciting drives, though!

We had an early basketball game on Sunday night and we were able to leave the equipment set up for the next game, so we decided to head on home. The forecast called for some snow in the upper elevations, but we figured we had a chance to make it home. By the time we had reached the summit of the coast range, we were in a blizzard! The snowplows and sanding trucks were out in full force though, and we just put the Jeep in 4-wheel drive and made it home with no problems. Because no one else was crazy enough to be out there, we had the road to ourselves (except for the snowplows) and it really didn' take us much longer to get home than usual.

The next morning we woke up to a little scuff of snow on the deck, which is VERY unusual for the coast. I know this is not a real big deal for a lot of you, but anytime is snows at the coast, it's a big deal here! I was real proud of myself though, because I made it to water aerobics classes all week! The icy roads didn't stop me and once I got up the hill to where the pool is located, I did more slipping and sliding to reach the front door of the place than anywhere else. On most of the days the class was down to just 4 to 5 people because of the weather. A lot of the women are in their 70's and they don't venture out of the house if they even see a snowflake coming down.

Dave had to go in for a game during the week (I didn't have to work) and it was a little dicey getting back home at 1:30 in the morning, but he made it okay. He took the Jeep and kept it in 4-wheel drive. There was over a foot of snow up on the summit with packed snow and ice on the road, but other than just about hitting a big buck deer, he had no problems. He said a couple of trucks had stopped in the right lane to put on chains. They didn't even bother to pull off the highway. I always worry about him when he is out there driving by himself and relieved when he finally gets home and crawls into bed.

I've been trying to get into the Christmas spirit. We pulled all the decorations down from the attic and we got our Christmas letter written and printed out. I got a few of them addressed (mostly the international ones) and will spend most of next week finishing that up. I put a few of the decorations out (there seems to be less and less decorating each year). We still have the outdoor lights to do and the Christmas tree to set up.

Today, we head back into town as we have a couple of games to engineer, one tonight and one on Sunday night. My sister, Jeanne from Phoenix is coming in on Saturday night and is spending a week visiting with the family and friends. I told her to dress warm, as she won't be used to this colder weather after coming from sunny Phoenix. We will stay in town until Monday so we can spend a little time with her while she is here.