February Storm

There are still large patches of snow around my house as of today, but thankfully all of the ice that resulted from the freezing rain is gone. It started last Friday and was a brutal week. Snow, freezing rain, bitter cold and wind and it came in three rounds. Lots of tree damage in the county including where I live. In the midst of the snow last Sunday where these huge Robins.

The Long, Hot Summer

The summer of 2015 was very hot and dry here in the Pacific Northwest. And although I enjoyed the sunshine immensely, we really needed the rain. Starting on Friday, August 28th, it rained every day for 8 straight days. With the prediction of this rain, I figured the lawn would come back and be nice and green and be back to normal. So I decided to do a little project of taking a picture every other day of the same spot to gradually see this happen; boy was I wrong with my prediction.

The drought conditions were so bad that it has just barely had an affect. My last post of last weekend's storm and the damage that happened are another illustration of how bad things got here.

8-28

8-30

9-1

9-3

9-5

August Storm

Sumac Tree behind the house

Yesterday we had a storm come through that is very typical for fall, high winds and rain. It did a lot of damage though, because most trees are under distress because of the hot, dry summer we had, and they still had all their leaves.

I was in the yard late yesterday morning taking care of some branches that had broken on the Snowball Bush out front, and was dragging them to the alley, and was shocked when I got back there and half of the Sumac Tree broke off and was across the alley. I spent several hours in the yard yesterday cleaning up fallen fruit and small branches, now I get to deal with cutting this down to manageable size branches for the rest of the week.

When I went out to get my groceries this morning, I saw leaves and branches down everywhere. The picture below is of the pond at Barkley Village and there were some branches in the pond, but small ones and leaves were littered all around it too.

The pond at Barkley Village

What a blustery day Pooh! I went out and picked up apples and Italian Plums that had fallen overnight before the winds really kicked in to high gear. What a waste of time that was. The backyard is now littered with 3 times as much, and a lot of leaves and small branches to boot. Looking at the chickens next door I can't help but think of The Wizard of Oz.....

A video posted by Momma Maria (@ourladyofsubduedexcitement) on Aug 29, 2015 at 12:50pm PDT

Wheels

Last weekend I rented a car for the first time in a year. Last Sunday was the Around the Corner annual picnic, and for the first time in 3 years I didn't want to have to bum a ride from anyone. But I also just was looking forward to driving. Period.

June was 3 years since my car died and I've been riding the bus ever since. For a long time it was a daily reminder of feeling like a failure. I felt like such a loser,  that at my age I couldn't afford to get a new car. At times I still feel that,  but I just have to deal with it.

But very recently I've realized that not having my own car has had other affects on me too. I feel like I'm very boring. I haven't been able to go to so many of the places I really love, and that feed my soul. It's almost like I've been hibernating or put my life on hold.

I love to go down to the waterfront and did just that last Saturday. I got a sandwich from the deli at Haggen and drove down there and just sat and ate, and enjoyed the view. I used to do stuff like that all the time.

Doing almost all of my travels by bus to run errands is so time consuming I don't have time to go somewhere just to have fun. Some places are also just difficult to get to on the bus. The truth is I'm just tired of living this way, because I feel like I'm not really living at all.

Fog

Foggy, foggy night. Okay, this is not Don McLean. But it is foggy. Again.

It has been nice that it has been mild and dry for the last almost two weeks, but the trade off is that each night the fog seems to be rolling in earlier and earlier. The sun was completely blocked out by the fog by about 5:45 p.m.

Not that I'm saying I want it to start raining.....

Sunshine in Bellingham

We are experiencing some beautiful weather here in Bellingham this weekend. It started mid week with some glorious sunshine and warm temperatures during the day, but still some cool nights.
I was online last night catching regional news, and saw this article in the Seattle P.I. about a school here in Bellingham that closed for sunshine yesterday.

I thought it was pretty comical and shows how much we love a sunny day in the spring. But I also liked how in touch the principal is with his inner child and wanted to give his students a day off to enjoy it. Here is the Bellingham Bay webcam.

This 'n That

Sweet Peas

Sweet Peas

I am so ready to plant my sweet peas, I just have to get some more potting soil. Our typical spring weather is so back and forth between cold/wet and sunny/warm; this weekend, wet of course.
I'm ready for it to be nice and work outside.







I have gotten a lot of my spring cleaning done and was doing more inside today. In between I took a power nap and Boo And Woody joined me. They were so sweet together, curled up and cozy ☺

Woody and Boo

Spring

Mt. Baker from the Cordata Bus Station

Another sunny day today after a beautiful weekend! I'm still a bit sore from working out in the yard all afternoon Saturday. I got the first lawn mowing of the season under my belt, as well as some tree trimming.

Sweet Peas 2013 - Day Two

I also started my sweet peas inside from seeds from last year, mixed in with some seeds from my coworker Peggy's plant. Her sweet peas were very colorful and mine were very fragrant. I'm hoping that they blend....

Woody

This 'n That

Just a quick post of this cool GIF I found on Cheezburger.
Nothing too exciting going on with me. I spent all last Sunday evening watching the last two episodes of Downton Abbey. I knew about the spoiler alert that Matthew was going to be killed off, I just didn't know how. It was still sad. I've really enjoyed this series, but I honestly think that probably the next season should be it's last.
The water department installed the new water meter for the house yesterday. They tore up the grass in the front strip in the process - really ticked me off. We had a downpour yesterday and the big truck they must have used left two big ruts. Their muddy track prints were all up on the sidewalk. That's going to be loads of fun to mow from now on. I felt like taking pictures and writing a letter to the city, but I know they wouldn't do anything about it.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. I have one more day left to a 4-day weekend, and have to admit I didn't get as much done as I wanted. This is the first year that I didn't make my pie the night before. I slept in and did not get my pie completely done until 3:30 on Thursday. I ate late, but it was all good.

I didn't go anywhere yesterday, but did go downtown this afternoon for shop small day. I'm glad I waited a day because yesterday was wet and windy and today was mild and sunny. For once my procrastination paid off. But I can't believe Christmas is a month away - I need to get organized!

Mike Luckovich - November 22, 2012

The Flying McCoys, 11/22/2012

SPARK - (Museum of Radio and Electricity)

I want to do this sometime at the (formerly) Museum of Radio and Electricity here in Bellingham; I think it's $5 to do this. That would totally be worth it!