Laura

...though I surely don't post like it. October was lovely and I got a lot of things done around the house and taking care of family health. The numbers are working out for me to just stay home, not go job searching. This doesn't preclude my jumping all over a job if someone points it out and it sounds fun/fascinating/interesting/whatever, but the bar is definitely high there, for now. The work itself would have to be worth the time given up to it, not just acceptable in return for money.

Handy, since our youngest has been home sick from school since Halloween with a nasty cough and fever. Negative for flu, negative for covid, negative for patience. Two doctor's appointments this week (the first was 'probably viral, he should get over it, come back if it is not gone by Friday'; the second was Friday). He's on high-powered antibiotics for it now so we will see how that does.

So far either none of the rest of us have caught whatever it is, or we recovered from it easily. (I *think* I may have actually caught it last weekend? But if so, it didn't last a day for me. Maybe I was just having a bad day; who knows?)

I need to find my cute reusable advent calendars and prep them (I need to start finding them now because I am not sure where I last put them away!) - the boys expect one, and I've been buying pre-made ones the past several years, but that costs more and is less personalized, and this year I have time. So that'll be fun.

Maria (tuxedo cat) managed to get some kind of bacterial or fungal infection on her right front paw, so the vet removed all the fur between her paw-pad and toes on the underside and she's been getting an anti-almost-everything cream 2-3 times a day. About half the times I put it on it's uncomfortable for her, and she growls very seriously - the warning rumble of a cat who is about to shred you if you don't stop. For the entire time I'm putting it on. Without following through on the threat. She really is a fairly well behaved cat.

However, it may or may not do the trick - the ointment - because she's SUPPOSED to be in a cone to keep her from licking it off. It took her two hours to figure out how to remove the cone the first time. Second time she did it in under fifteen minutes and it took us until the next day to find it. So I bought one of those orange-shaped donut cone substitutes. Very cute, off in less than half an hour. So I gave up and I cuddle and pet her for a while after most doses (sometimes she leaves too rapidly) to distract her and hopefully keep it on long enough. Statistically I can get her to be petted for longer than the cone or cone-substitute would stay on.

If I call the vet and they want to see her again to check it, I'm gonna say "I told you so" to the cat. And then I may just order this, because it has me giggling a LOT and I don't think she could take it off:

https://www.amazon.com/EMUST-Recovery-Breathable-Adjustable-Alternative/dp/B0CQX832HN/

Sadly the one with the green body suit, which is more accurate and cuter IMO, does not come in a size other than large, and Maria is not large for a cat.

It's finally rainy. I know the state of the world isn't what I want it to be, including climate and weather systems, but it finally feels like a proper fall here all the same.

(Crossposted with Facebook, yes.)

Good flamin' gravy.

Ian's entire preschool was indoors all day...reasonably...because first thing this morning a tree came down between the two buildings, missing both of them and also any people, but clearly setting the tone for the day.

Andrew got to do recess in his classroom today, for similar reasoning, minus the object demonstration by mother nature.

Trees along my work parking lot had dropped branches as big around as my wrist or bigger, and ten+ feet long. Our neighbor's (fortunately smallish) street tree is...rather more literal about the 'street' part than is normally the case.

And traffic is a mess.

But no significant property damage, unless you count the trees, anywhere I've been so far. And no injuries I'm aware of. Fingers crossed!

So, we were under a wind advisory as of last night. (Which I largely ignored, but with everything frozen it may not be good for trees/power lines; at the same time, most wind issues here are not a big deal for us personally.)

And starting Tuesday evening through Thursday, we're under a flood watch. (Because after dumping 8+ inches of snow on us, the temp is going to go rapidly up, the snow level rise to 7000 feet or more, and it's going to pour rain down, thus melting most or all of what we got.)

And then, some time last night or early this morning, they posted a winter storm watch for tomorrow, 4 am to 6 pm, because the rain is going to arrive before the freezing leaves.

Yes, we get one last bout of freezing freaking rain. If it materializes. Now, the warning time is for the whole region - where I am, it should rise above freezing at 6 am.

So we'll have water over ice if all this happens. GOODY.

Bets on school starting on time Tuesday? Because I'm thinking we'll be lucky if it's a two hour delay.

Today also brought a late-afternoon unexpected hailstorm that blanketed the roads, sidewalks, etc., in a carpet of snow-like white. Except when you got close it was little tiny hailstones. (About 4-5 needed to achieve a pea-size.) And then, apparently, it laid a thin layer of snow down on it while I wasn't paying attention.

I cleared the front walk, the driveway where Scott would need to access his car and get it out (the man is still on crutches; his purple cast is awesome, but he should not have to slip-slide to his car, and it's possible we won't go above freezing until Friday per some forecasts - but not others, at the moment), the sidewalk from where we set our trash cans to the community mailbox bank. I started with the mailbox bank once Scott could get to his car, actually, no one needs to get hurt getting their mail. But there's a whole stretch in front of the yard I haven't done yet. I was tired, and it was dusk when I started and flatly dark when I finished. (Well, as far as sun in the sky status. There's a perfectly fine street light just across the street, so I could see what I was doing.)

Since the temp was still above freezing then, it had a chance to melt somewhat. But no worries, it should be refreezing now....

Tomorrow is a holiday for our workplaces and the kids' schools, so hopefully given a day things will straighten themselves out a bit and we can resume work on Tuesday without too much winter-weather-drama.

We are supposed to get a big storm, possibly worse than the Columbus Day storm, Thursday-Saturday (actually it's apparently two or three weather systems hitting back to back).

I'm hoping they're wrong about how grim it'll be. But I DO hope we get Friday's thunderstorms...that sounds lovely....

Still, I think I'll be prepared for if we get rather more. Whee!

Links about the weather on its way to us (but NB that we are inland in the Willamette Valley in Oregon - the worst of this will hit the coastal areas in Oregon and Washington, so we're already not in the worst of it):

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/weather/from-the-archives-columbus-day-storm-of-1962/

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/10/warming-major-storms-threaten-pacific.html

The wildfire situation in Oregon and Washington is terrible. I've known this, I've watched it, I've been horrified by it.

But I'm also fairly insulated, in the very damp Willamette Valley, where we rarely get lightning strikes, in a suburban area, and basically, no fires here. Mine is a sadness and horror for the people in the middle of it, but largely unaffected.

Until today. Now we have a freaking east wind and, while I'd rather have the smoke than the fire, we have it. The entire atmosphere outside is semi-permanently set to "downwind of the campfire" - the air quality index cleared 200 sometime around 1 pm (clearing 200 puts it in the "very unhealthy" range, exceeded only by "hazardous" if it clears 300 - at 200+ it's not safe for kids or a number of other categories, at 300+ it's not safe for ANYONE) - and as of 8 pm hasn't been under 200 that I've seen yet. It _did_ recently shift downward from a high of 213 (that I saw), to its current 205.

Or in other words, hi, I'm having a mini-pity-party because this bites. The boys, instead of being run around a local park as they needed, got extra screen time from me - I got Despicable Me from the library and gave them some popcorn and let them watch, and they've been playing video games. (They were out at a water park for a birthday party from 10:30-12:30, before the air got quite so bad...the index was only at 95 or so around 11 am.)

http://www.katu.com/news/local/why-is-it-smoky-in-portland-oregon-beaverton-hillsboro-vancouver.html has the smoke news and a little map showing the fires. In theory, we get to live with this through tomorrow and then the wind may shift and come from the west Monday, if we're lucky.

Bleh. Still, so grateful that we DO in fact have smoke without fire, here. I wish the fires were not destroying so much elsewhere, but I'm grateful that only their annoying byproducts are in our lives.

I'm also grateful for a tightly-closed house with good filters and HVAC. Because it's nasty out there.

Went to Easter dinner at Uncle John & Aunt Julia's. I'm on call for work, as a back-up, but they have good wifi and aren't too far away, so I figured no big deal. I was right - especially since I didn't get called at all. Yay for not being needed right then! :)

It was a lovely meal, and the fruit and dip I brought got positive comments. (Mostly the dip: it was basic, but I served it in hollowed-out pineapples. I found that on the internet, which is why I had to bring fruit and dip, because seriously that's awesome.) There was a bunny race (of little pull-back-and-they-run bunny cars) and the boys got to run around and play (MOSTLY in approved ways, Ian had a couple moments where he was a bit too wild and got picked up by a parent to calm down).

The food was lovely, the company was more-so, and the weather was glorious - cloudy but bright, dry, and cool but not cold. After we finished dinner and the games and were about to clean up, the clouds grew more ominous, so the deck was cleared first. 15 minutes later it was raining and shortly after it was storming, with pouring rain.

So, a lovely Easter; the forecast weather held off until it was a welcome glory to watch, rather than something to be overcome.

Today we had thunderstorms, complete with lightning. Way too daylight for any dramatic pictures to even be attempted, but I got to see the flashes and hear the thunder, and share my joy with the boys.

And remember how much my mother loved a good summer thunderstorm. Ours aren't as impressive as the ones she grew up with in Ohio, one of the things I know she missed. But they're not half bad, and I enjoy them, and I think of her.

Nearly daily (I try for daily), I post something I am grateful for to my Twitter and Facebook. I used to collect those here, but honestly, I'm not sure the medium really suited them and it became a chore. But today I feel like a longer post than Twitter/Facebook allows, because there is so much I'm grateful for:

I'm grateful for the snow outside, which is gloriously beautiful. I'm grateful for first snowballs, and first attempts at snowman, and kids "sledding" in cardboard boxes, and laughter and dashing inside to shed snow and snowy clothes all over the carpet, before burrowing into blankets.

I'm grateful for my house - it's messy, yes, because it's full of joy and family. It's also warm, secure against the elements, and we haven't lost power this whole storm. I'm REALLY grateful that the furnace died and was replaced in November, so that we have faced this snowy little storm with a brand new high-efficiency furnace.

I'm grateful for our health - horrible colds aside, we've been well, and we're sturdy enough to get through those. I'm grateful that Ian is healing well after being smacked in the nose with a wooden train tunnel - quite the dramatic cut. Noses like to bleed. But it appears to be mending fine.

I'm grateful for our two cats, for cuddles and purring - and for Ray's tolerance of small hands attempting to pet him, and perhaps doing so less than gracefully or comfortably at times.

I'm grateful for friends, family, and coworkers - I am lucky enough to have some of the best ever, of all three.

I'm grateful for a job that allows me to work from home, which is very handy when the forecast suggests that might be the only way I'm getting home at the end of the day - and even more handy when day care calls out closed early.

I'm grateful for an amazing day care that is so wonderful for the boys, teaching and guiding them as well as taking care of them.

I'm grateful for so much more, but I fear this is becoming self-indulgent. Feeling so lucky after this weekend.

He rode along the sidewalk all the way around the cul de sac today, so I'd say he's willing to try turns again. And circling a cul de sac is a nice beginner "turn" rather than the u-turn he tried Saturday!



Also, go to my Flickr for yesterday for bonus pics of the Saturday morning snow. Apparently Beaverton - in the low elevations - didn't get any. Wilsonville felt like being an overachiever I guess?