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