SNOW! SNOW!!

*gleeful* It is SNOWING. It STUCK. There's like an INCH of the snow on the ground and on the trees and bushes. It's everywhere. It's beautiful. Driving is not: people are in ditches on I-5 at the exit where I normally get on.

I'm not going anywhere. I'm on call, and need a quick response time. Being stuck in snow is not conducive to a quick response. Besides, being on call means I have my laptop and can work from home just fine.

It's gorgeous. I've been taking photos. :) (And apparently we have bands of snow moving through, and one of the current ones is what slathered Wilsonville with snow.

SNOW! *gleeful* I got my snow after all! In MARCH no less!

But a Saturday morning would have reduced the number of people badly impacted. Oh, well, I don't control the weather. I just enjoy it as best I can.

Yes, I'm gonna upload photos, but tonight not now.

Snow! It snowedededed!

First, for those who do not want to read the snow blather (and those who do, if they want to see the pics too), my photos of it are up on Flickr.

A bit after 8:30, when I was no longer on call, I drove into the office since things had cleared up. It took 40 minutes (instead of 15-20), but it was clear, safe, and easy. The drive, that is. Not the getting my car ready.

Apparently I missed something really cool. Scott made a snowman on the hood of my car, he tells me - I never saw it. It may have slid off or I may just have not noticed it before it got destroyed given what happened. :( Anyway, I opened the door of the car, popped the trunk, and wanted to get the car started so the heat would go 'cause of the snow and such. So I leaned across the seat, stuck the key in, turned the car on, and pulled back.

As I pulled back, I caught the wiper control with my sleeve. The wipers came on for one swipe...and WERE strong enough to move the snow. Let's review this: I LEANED IN FROM THE DOOR to do this. This means, yes, the door was open. The driver's-side door. Toward which the wipers swept...along with an inch-deep layer of soggy snow from the windshield.

It went over onto the ground. It went down the inside of the door. It fell on the driver's seat and the floor in front of it. It flopped against my pants leg and got in my shoe. There are moments when you really just have to laugh, and this was one of 'em. (But I hope - I really hope - that I didn't miss the snowman only because of that and not looking at the hood when I was focussed on the door. I don't always pay attention to what's around me, so that could be what happened.)

Cleared the rest of the car's coating, drove in, had a day, came home early (that whole "up at 5 and working most of the time since then" thing). Had to stop for groceries (well, suppose I didn't have to, but am rather fond of having lunch I can take to work and all). Did so in Tualatin, at Fred Meyer's. It was reasonably clear when I went in.

When I came out, it was slushing. I can't call it snow: that would give it too much dignity. I can't call it rain: that was very definitely not rain. And it wasn't freezing rain because it wasn't freezing, and it was coming down without much force (lots of it, but not much force/speed), so "sleet" didn't really fit. It was SLUSHING on us! Hmf.

As I drove south on the freeway it decided to snow instead. Then it decided to rain. Then it wobbled between slush and rain. By the time I got home, it had given up in despair and stopped trying to drop any form of water, frozen or otherwise, on us. There have been a couple intermittent bouts since then, but nothing as intense as earlier.