Big snow in Bellingham 11-27-06

We now have several official measures of snow ranging from 10 " to 2 feet, and we estimate that our yard has about 12-14 inches, with the snow drifted up on the back yard fence about three feet. Our duck Wanda refused to run out to her pools (about 40 feet from the house) when we let her out today: snow was too deep for her to plow through. It snowed all day yesterday after a start of between 1-2 inches the day before, and about 4 p.m. with about 8 or so inches on the ground, our power and phone went out. We got power back a little after 10 p.m. last night, so the cats and I had a chilly 6 hours in the house with candles, camp lights, and flashlights in one room. It was pretty thrilling when the power came back. Heat and light are nice. By the time Vonnie got home from work about midnight, we had a foot or more all around here, and I had heard over our crank radio that all schools and most government offices would be closed today. So today, we enjoyed the scenery, out the window from the warmth of the house. For those of you who have been here, the ladybug sand box is completely covered, a flat white surface; the gazebo has 4-6 inches of snow cresting the branches and structure; Wanda's pools are surrounded by a foot+ ring of snow on top of the foot+ depth everywhere with just a little bity space of slush and ice in the middle (no wonder she didn't want to plow and tunnel out there!); and the trees are spectacular with snow covering all branches. It's a beautiful sight, just like all the songs say. But the roads are terrible: people were at a standstill on north I-5 between Burlington and here for 2-4 hours last night, many finally abandoning their cars, and there are cars in ditches and sides of roads everywhere. In the north county, up near Blaine and Hovander, there are 4-6 foot drifts over the roads. That'll bring a stop to traffic. Vonnie and I are home with a vacation day today. She is making gingerbread and we will both fix a house to take to the Ferry Terminal in Fairhaven for the contest this year. Merry winter to all. Love, Llew P.S.: Eventually we had more snow and will be getting more this afternoon and night, and Seattle is like a bumper car/ice rink disaster with unblievable numbers of cars on the roads. But the good news is that we have an extra day to work on our gingerbread houses because the streets are not good and authorities are urging everyone to stay in due to the cold. Without wind chill, we were at 7 degrees last night, so that 19 today sounds warm. We've been warming up Wanda's nest/cage area every few hours, and keeping her water liquid. Can hardly wait for the return to rain tomorrow. The national map shows that this weather is now with Kristen and Linda and all of Oklahoma. Stay warm. Llew

Thanksgiving Airport 5

Four more of Lewis' architecture with dominoes. The end. Love, linsue


 

Thanksgiving Airport 4

James and Anna took some time to get on the Kubota tractor and Lewis admires his dominoe sculptures. Love, linsue


 

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Here are a few more pictures of us at Thanksgiving: Nancy, Chuck, Elizabeth, Lewis, me Saturday morning before getting dressed, and Teri watching TV on the sofa. (I think Lewis sneaked that picture in.) Love, linsue


 

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Here are four more pictures from Thanksigivng that Teri took of James, Brandi, Anna, and Granddad. Hopefully I'll get a digital camera soon and get back to importing my pics also. Love, linsue


 

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We had a wonderful time having four of our children and some or all of their children visit this Thanksgiving.

First to arrive was Nancy from Durant Wednesday late afternoon. She was a surprise because we were not sure of her work schedule.
Next were Chuck and Teri about midnight Wednesday night coming from Park City, north of Wichita, KS. They stayed until Sunday morning.

Elizabeth, Lewis, and Colton came about noon on Thursday and James, Brandi, and Anna came in after that.

We are thankful that this many children and grandchildren were able to come visit us. We will go and visit with as many of them as we can at Christmas.


We began with Thanksgiving dinner in the early afternoon. Elizabeth brought corn pudding and pumpkin goop cake and Brandi brought bread pudding with a special caramel sauce. Everyone pitched in and helped me get the food ready and cleaned up afterwards.

Friday we went to the Western Center where our US bills (notes) are produced and then on to Cabela's. Friday evening Elizabeth's and James' families went home. Lewis got to stay with us through Sunday when Chuck and Teri took him home to Ardmore on their way home.

Hope you also had a wonderful Thanksgiving and safe traveling everywhere. I will send more pictures on the next blog. Sending 12 at a time did not work from Picasa posting directly to the blog.

Love, linsue 

Dunn Fall Pics

I haven't posted in a while and wanted to show some pics of what we've been up to in our spare time... haha... We went to a Fall Fest at a friend's house and Matt had a blast jumping in the leaves, and Steve & Matt joined in the pumpkin painting contest. Matt was Dale, Jr. for Halloween and had a really good time asking for candy. He still has most of it left since he only really likes M&M's. Matt sang in the Cherub Choir for the first time at church 2 Sundays ago, and as you can see by the pic, he really only used it as an opportunity to try and make the audience laugh... no singing was involved... haha...
With my work at the elementary and school in the evenings, I feel very overwhelmed on most days, but I realized the other day that by the time I finish school, Matt will be almost 6. I decided that even though I feel so worn out most days, I need to make sure to pay attention to the little things and make sure that I have a good time with my kiddo so I don't miss it. I heard about the pontoon boat trip on Lake Murray, and I'm glad everyone had a good time. Only 48 days til Christmas break!!! Yeehaw!!!