Snowstorm of the Century

Starting on Sunday, December 14, a series of winter storms began coming ashore into Oregon. We live on the floor of the Willamette River valley at about 150 ft above sea level, and often snow and ice are limited to elevations of 700-1,000 and above. This time snow storms and intermittent bands of ice and/or freezing rain came all the way to the valley floor (as the weathercasters say).
















In fact it came in numerous times - sometimes in the same day. We had snow/ice/sleet or some combination with freezing rain 6 out of 7 days during the week of the 14th. Then, another round started up on Saturday, December 20 and continued through the following Monday evening. Conservatively, our house in Keizer probably received about 18-20 inches of snow in total and innumerable amounts of freezing rain on top of that. Portland Airport (PDX) was closed for several days, stranding holiday travelers at the worst time. At the end, forecasters began comparing it to the worst storm in recent history - in 1937!


















Pictures of our backyard as well as the field and grove store behind our house.




Every day of Ethan's last week of school before the Christmas break was cancelled due to weather. Corban College closed office all but one day the first week and one day the second week. So, it turned out to be a good chance to shovel snow and play in the record-setting winter weather. Here is a "snow mountain" that Ethan created in our backyard.





They don't get enough snow here to warrant the kind of snowplows and sand trucks to keep up with this kind of storm. So, except for the interstate highways, all other roads were basically left up to cars to beat off the snow/ice. That turned out to be a really bad deal as snow pack turned to ice covered to rutted ice pack to slushy mess in a matter of days at the end of the storm. In the Midwest, the roads would have been cleared by about the third day and would continue to be cleared every time a new storm would roll through. Without proper equipment, it has just become a mess!

Saturday at the Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, October 18, we visited Martha's Pumpkin Patch near our home. Ethan had great fun in the bounce house. They really know how to woo the kids!

He also got a few nice pumpkins to be carved at home.

In good "John McCain" form, Ethan flashes the thumbs-up. Yikes, do we have a future politician on our hands?!

Afterwards, we headed out to the hillside at Corban College. Earlier in the summer, these fields across from Schimmel Hall (college administration building) were solid green plants or vines that got watered every few days in rotation. Looking to the west, almost everything you can see for most of a mile across the fields is solid PUMPKINS.



These are the largest, most expansive pumpkin patches we've ever seen. Apparently, it's the first time in many years that the tenant has grown pumpkins, but did they ever this year! Some people say the crop is for seed production. Others say they are for canning at one of the local canneries that have been doing a steady business of green beans, corn, etc. all summer long. Though lots of people have opinions, no one seems to know how they will be harvested.