11-23-2010 Heck of an early winter here

 

Although for the last few days I haven’t been spending much time reading.  Every morning I have shoveled 2 to 4 inches of snow from the driveway, enjoying it actually, until today when we had more than a foot dumped on us overnight.  It seemed like a little bit too much, I had nowhere to throw it and it’s only November.  Mo tried to start up the snow blower to finish the job, but it wouldn’t go, so I shoveled and she plowed and after about 3 hours we had the driveway and road passable. This big storm has rampaged across the northwest, leaving snow in Victoria, ice in Bellingham, and wreaking general havoc on roads and highways all over the place.  We knew it was coming, but the predicted temperatures tomorrow are below zero, and that’s Fahrenheit, not Celsius! The wind blew hard all night and covered the wide front and back porches with hard, icy snow that I couldn’t scrape off no matter how hard I tried. I think I am ready for a break already. Yeah, I know it’s only November. 

I’ll be off to visit a friend in Florida for a week in early December while Mo keeps the home fires burning and the road plowed.  The day I return, we are jumping in the Tracker and going to pick up the MoHo in Redding and find some sunshine in Desert Hot Springs for Christmas week.  Whew!  I am having Thanksgiving this year, so there will be some good family time there, and told my Klamath daughter and grandkids that I would celebrate a late Christmas with them when we return.

 

Yesterday Mo and I decided to make a Costco run.  For us, that is a 45 mile drive to Medford, over the pass on Highway 140, past Lake of the Woods and down the Crater Lake Highway.  It’s usually a beautiful drive and we can be at the Costco parking lot in less than an hour.  Not so yesterday.  After our morning snow exercises, we left around ten and the storm was already coming on fairly strong. 

By the time we left Medford and headed back east, it was in full force, with many sliders and slow vehicles trying to get over the pass.  I was especially surprised by the big Class A motorhome stranded on the pass trying to get out the the Basin.  I have no clue why someone would attempt to drive a big rig like that over a stormy, snowy pass, with chains required signs everywhere, but with no chains. 

Today we had to go the opposite direction, again after morning snow exercises and on another snowy, icy road.  I ordered a free range organic fresh turkey from Howard’s Meats in Klamath Falls and of course needed to do the rest of the Thanksgiving shopping there as well.  On the way home, we saw that Klamath Lake is beginning to freeze already, and there are still hundreds of ducks in the bay, and even some Canada geese.

Tonight that little bit of open water is going to close in even more.  I worry about the birds.  Our lake and basin is on the major Pacific flyway and these little ones are on a clock that didn’t include subzero temperatures in November.  Heck, we rarely get sub zero temperatures in the deepest of winter!

The MoHo is in Redding, where tomorrow morning the temperatures are predicted in the low 20’s.  Pooh. We drained the tanks, but didn’t put antifreeze in the drains.  The whole reason for that expensive storage place is that Redding rarely drops below 30 degrees and we wouldn’t have to winterize.  Sigh again.  Mo thought about driving down there today while I did the Klamath shopping, but 3 hours each way in a winter storm isn’t particularly fun.  After talking to some folks we decided that the rig would probably be fine.  The temperatures will go low, but it is inside, and the sun will be out and the temps in the 40’s by 10 am.  Tomorrow is the coldest day, so we are watching the weather map on weatherunderground and hoping it won’t be as bad as predicted.

Tomorrow is the big cooking day, so as long as the power grid holds up I should be busy.  Mo also got the snow blower running this evening so my shoveling time might be a bit less.  Who knows.  I love winter, and I love being able to leave it as well!  It’s the best of all worlds.