Because our climate is Mediterranean, the snowfall is usually light and the temperatures only on rare occasions reach into the single digits on the Fahrenheit scale.
This particular December when Christmas was yet a couple of weeks distant we felt the excitement of the first snowfall and the child in each of us thrilled to the eighteen inches that covered everything in white.
The week before Christmas Sandy and I took off for a trip south to Arizona to celebrate Christmas with my daughter Teri and her family. Our plane was to leave Seattle late Saturday afternoon, but on the way there we had an early mini-Christmas in Bellingham with my youngest daughter Mandy and her family.
The light snowfall that began sometime Thursday became a wild blizzard that screamed all night and by Friday morning when we got up to leave had literally surrounded our car in snowdrifts. After digging the car out and clearing the engine compartment of packed snow we took off for Bill and Jadie’s.
On the way to their home in Briar, where we were to spend Saturday, just north of Seattle, the roads were packed solid with six inches of icy snow. As we were coming down a small hill to an intersection the light turned red. I barely touched the breaks and the front wheels locked up solid on the frozen snow and instead of turning we came sliding in for a crash. I barely had time to take my foot off the breaks, and steer around the crash. But now we were flying through the intersection against the light. We were extremely lucky that no cars were in the intersection and we cleared the intersection unscathed. Whew what an adrenalin rush, many more like that and I would have a heat attack for sure. I think Sandy was pretty faint as well and just as shaken as I was.
It was nice to relax over Sabbath with Bill and Jadie as the snow of the previous few days had closed most of the roads and we stayed put until Jadie drove us to Sea-Tac for our late afternoon departure.
What a shambles when we arrived at the airport. People had literally been waiting for hours because of the winter weather. While waiting for our flight to leave Sandy asked a lady who looked somewhat distraught, how long she had been waiting for her flight. She said because of the weather her flight had left the day before without her and now she was not sure when she could catch another one as all the seats were taken.
As it was between storms our flight left on time and just ahead of another huge weather front that was roaring in. It felt good to be leaving all of the turmoil that the winter weather was causing on the ground and spend two lovely weeks with my daughter Teri and her family over the Christmas season in sunny Arizona.
In the meantime Mandy had gone over to Sidney to fill in for Sandy’s baby-sitting business, but as it turned out there were no babies to sit as the snow had ground everything to a halt. So instead of baby-sitting, Mandy spent the next several days just shoveling snow.
The Pineapple Express that came roaring in after the arctic front dumped enough rain on the already snow laden roofs to cause a major disaster. With the three feet or more of snow covering everything, the added weight of the several inches of rain from the Pineapple express was more then many of the roofs could stand. Many arenas, curling rinks, and school gymnasiums caved in under the added weight.
I was greatly relieved, as I knew Tom, a good friend who rented my basement suite, and Mandy, were able to shovel my sun decks off before the rain came. It is on rare occasions that a heavy snowfall with a Pineapple Express roaring in from the Pacific causes such a disaster, but it is more then heartwarming to know there are those you can trust and rely on.
Ten days later when Sandy and I landed back in town all that was left of the ravages of our short winter were a few not quite melted snowdrifts. I said to Sandy I feel kind of gypped that we missed the biggest snowfall of the last one hundred years with all its excitement.
Maybe if I can hang on another 86 years I’ll be around for the next big one.
Maybe if I can hang on another 86 years I’ll be around for the next big one.
No comments:
Post a Comment