I Love Fall

The rainy season has begun. This morning I woke up to raindrops bouncing off the metal roof. For the next eight months, this sound will be our alarm. That, and Lola. I don't mind it, to be honest. Not yet, anyway. The vibrant colors outside are beautiful, with or without sunshine. There are pumpkins everywhere I look. It's warm and cozy in the barn. We have three wonderful holidays to look forward to.

It's lovely to be inside again and curl up in front of the fireplace. To read a book. To bake pies and make soups. And I truly love listening to the patter of raindrops on the roof!

Heat Advisory

It is supposed to be a scorcher today. Temperatures nearing triple digits, high risk of forest fires, and heat advisories in effect for various regions in the North West. They talked about nothing else, yesterday on the news.

I woke up this morning and it was raining. It is dreary and gray, and it is cold. Heat advisory, my foot!

Bad Hair

Whilst enjoying some lovely Washington weather (read: it has been pouring rain here for days) I was reminded of an earlier post about the lack of umbrellas in Olympia. I blamed it on the beanie hat wearing hippies that make up a large part of the local population.

Turns out I was right. Olympia is the second worst hair city in the US. Only the citizens of Corpus Cristi TX have grubbier hair. There are twenty five listed hairstylists for a city of approximately 45.000. No wonder everyone covers up their hair.

Spring In Olympia

Wetlands

No sunshine for Washingtonians this Easter. Just rain and lots of it! So much rain in fact, that when Ryan opened the front door this morning, two ducks took off. They had mistaken our lawn for a pond.

Rainy Monday Musings

I noticed this morning, as I was driving to work through downtown Olympia in the pouring rain, not a single person was using an umbrella. This is in stark contrast to Bilbao where positively everyone whips out an umbrella at the first drop falling from the sky. It must be a hair thing. Olympia is a hippie town, meaning beanie hats galore, year round. Basques are better groomed. They must not like hat hair. Or wet hair.

While pondering this phenomenon, I also realized I have a tendency to move to rainy parts of the world. I wonder why that is. I just really like the color green?

Groundhogs & Other Reliable Forecasters

I guess the Punxsutawney Groundhog, the most famous of groundhogs (no idea why), was right after all. Six more weeks of winter lie ahead of us. It was supposed to be a LITTLE snow mixed in with the rain today. At least, that is what the weather guy told us yesterday. And it was repeated on the radio this morning, on my way to work. You probably don't believe me anymore when I insist snow is rare in Western Washington, do you?


To add insult to injury, now I am sick. Because the continuous sneezing was wearing me out, I decided to make it a short workday today. That was probably a wise decision, considering the amount of snow that was coming down. Slipping and sliding I slowly made my way home. I had to make a little d-tour half way there because my car would not oblige when I wanted to make a right turn onto South Bay Road. Too much snow. Had to make a left turn instead. Or end up in a ditch.

The snow forced me to ignore every single STOP sign on the way. The downhill ones because I simply couldn't stop, the uphill ones because I needed to keep my momentum going. I am getting better at driving in the snow, though. I no longer move like a little old lady. I just keep telling myself to drive at a steady pace, not too fast, not too slow. Just pretend you're riding a bicycle through the sand. Let the car find its own way. And that works. I made it home safely.

And now I am going to bed. With a great big box of tissues to keep me company.

Company Benefits

The advantages of working in an online store are plentiful. Flexible hours, flexible office, and every day is Casual Friday. And, if you happen to own one, you can bring your dog to work. Ryan and I are cat people, and our cat doesn't care for dogs. He therefore never accompanies me to work.

However, Bello Modo has a Company Dog, Chewy. On days like today, when I am at the store all by myself because Pam and Shelly are in Arizona for two bead shows, he checks in on me on a regular basis. He is a very gentle dog, a bit needy even. A typical case of a 'my bark is worse than my bite' dog.

Until he gets a ball. Or a stick. Once he has it, he does not let go. He totally loses himself in play. You are in great danger of losing a body part, I have been told. So earlier today, when he wanted to play outside, and I wanted to be outside too on account of the glorious weather we're having (the Groundhog got it wrong, it almost feels like Spring!), I was very careful not to put my hands anywhere near his mouth. Fortunately, all you really have to do is pretend to make a move for the ball. He'll take off and run like he's being chased by the Devil. And since he's a little out of shape, he wears himself out in no-time without too much effort on my part. Which is good because I am a little out of shape too.

Afterward, Chewy passed out in his bed in the back of the store where he snored up a storm. And occasionally farted. He's such a charmer.

How Is The Weather?

Talking (read: complaining) about the weather is the #1 pastime for Olympians - something they have in common with the Dutch. The beautiful winter wonderland pictures I have posted so far do not provide an accurate impression of Olympia weather. This is the 24th wettest city in the United States! Winters in Olympia are wet, not white.

It has been raining hard the last couple of days and almost all of the snow is gone. We are back to dreary, gray (I have finally figured it out! Gray is US English, grey is UK English) skies. The snowfall we had earlier was exceptional and the response by city officials accordingly. I believe there are at best three snowplows for all of Thurston County and road salt is considered not environmentally friendly and therefore not used. No exceptions. After all, people grow faster than trees, so why preserve them? It took the city ten days to get to our street. And then they dumped it all in our driveway. I came home to a 4' mountain of slush. It took us a while to shovel our way out, now I had to shovel my way back in...

The falling rain and melting snow are causing rivers to overflow. Western Washington is a mess! The interstate to Portland is closed. Even our basement is flooded. And for the fourth week in a row, my Wednesday yoga class was canceled. I was taught that temperate climates were moderate climates but the Pacific North West seems to go from one extreme to the next. They need to update the brochure!