Enough with the weather already!!

We thought November was bad weather wise. But this takes the cake!! I don't suppose that the international news has picked it up and probably was just a tiny blurb on the national news, but we were hit very hard Thursday night with the wind storm of the decade. No, the wind storm of the century would be more like it. We had winds of 70 miles per hour for several hours. Trees and limbs are down everywhere in Western Washington, and here are pictures of a couple of them very close to my house. Our kids heard the crack and crash of the tree in the top picture, and were quite freaked out by the noise...this was only 1 block away. It thankfully missed the house where a large family lives, but it took down all the power lines for the neighborhood. We were without power for over 24 hours, and thankfully it has been restored now, but the news reports say there are still over a million people without power just in Washington alone, not counting Oregon. Of course, the fact that this happened a week before Christmas has put a huge damper on celebrations. Stores are closed all over town, traffic lights are on only here and there, causing major traffic jams as people venture out trying to find a place to get warm and eat some hot food. We have had two Christmas parties cancelled. Shopping for presents will not happen this weekend as I had planned. We are still alive with no damage to our house and cars, so we are blessed!!! Suddenly shopping doesn't seem very important anymore! I didn't have to go to work Friday, as the whole town where my job is at is in the dark, and it is still uncertain if the power will be restored before Monday. I am thankful for a warm house now and a full tank of gas in the car, and plenty of food to eat. Life is good, and not to be taken for granted!!!

I managed to finish Snow Faces by Just Nan this week before the storm hit, and I am pleased with the way it turned out. I need to work on my granddaughter's Christmas stocking, since I only managed to get her name on it last year, and nothing else...and I will hopefully find some time to work on the newest Shepherd's Bush ornament from 2006 JCS.