Winter Has Arrived in "Sno"kane!!!

And so it came....the snow started Wednesday, December 17, in the early afternoon. In a 24 hour period, it set a record of over 19 inches of snow. My dad even said we were on the NBC news for all the snow. It has been chilly, but a lot of people were snow bound. Their vehicles were stuck in driveways, stuck in streets, buses were not running. Traffic was almost all gone . Mike says he has not seen snow like this since the winter of 1968-69. Grandma and grandpa confirmed that. I asked Mike, how could he remember that, he was only 2. It seems weird to see snow, since I come from the Banana Belt of Montana. I remember a lot of snow when I was little in Northeastern Montana and thinking the Ice Age was coming back!!!

At work, we had multiple call ins due to unable to get to work. Boy, if I can get to work, so can you...I went out and was picking up staff around Spokane and taking them home. I put in 3-16 hour days due to the weather and making sure the staff got to work. Even my boss couldn't come to work for 2 days. She leaves way out of town towards Lewiston, ID, and they closed the road out her way.

I love this snow. It is more like Montana snow to me, light and fluffy. Wanted to share some pictures of the area. We are starting to get more snow now. I know that we got over 2 feet of snow in the first storm, but the second storm started late this afternoon and we are expected to receive "4-6 inches" of snow, which I know we already received 4 inches. Boy, I do not know how my cousin, Vanessa handles living in Alaska!! I would go nuts with all the snow and cold weather. At least our temperature has been pretty much above freezing, wind chill at night has been below zero.

This picture is at work, Wednesday night, after it started to snow.

The snow is right below Mike's knee's in this picture
Our neighbors car is completely buried.
Snow up to the Jeep door, you can even see where the door scrapped the snow.
Apartment complex near us, the cars are completely covered.
Had to put this picture in, snow up to the billboard!!
OK, there are 2 pictures here, check out where the snow is to the handicap sign
This is 4 hours later.
The fan went out in the Jeep for our heater, so we were going out to Spaldings in Spokane Valley, which is a wrecking yard on Saturday. The sun was out a little bit this day, so I tried to take some pictures on the way out there. Here are some of the snow berms in the middle of Monroe Street Downtown Spokane

Snow plowed up along Monroe Bridge

The wall along the exit going to I-90. I love the blue peaking out at us.

This is Bigilow Gulch Road. The picture can say nothing about how beautiful it looks at this time.

Sun trying to set on the outskirts of Spokane
Outskirts of Spokane
I love this picture, I think I got a good one!!

Today, Sunday, went to Grandma and Grandpa Pattons to help dig them out. Every Christmas Eve they have a big home-made spaghetti dinner and family come over. Grandpa was worried about parking, so Mike and I went over to help with snow removal...Mind you, Mike is the one who got to run the snow blower-he just loves machines!!

Here is Grandpa Bob and Mike

Mike took over the reigns of the snow blower
Check out the smile while blowing the snow!

Mike is wearing his Carharts that he got for Christmas a couple of years ago. He was sweating up a storm all bundled up. He could not believe how warm he was with them on.

Man hard a work

After we left grandma and grandpa's we went for a little ride to see if could find any "cool" pictures. There are a lot of houses that have some major icicles all over. Here is a "little" icicle.
Snow back up in the hills, towards Jim and Janice's

This is on Waikiki, the back road to Jim and Janice's house

You can hardly see the road or even tracks on the road. Very pretty scenery! Mike kept saying, "Walker would love this"

"Dead of Winter"Mike was getting an "itchy thumb" wanting to go snowmobiling....

A flat area near Little Spokane River

"Charlie Brown Christmas Tree" poor thing!

Rock wall, covered with snow on Waikiki.

Wouldn't this be fun on a snowmobile???

We drove out to Nine Mile Dam and took a few pictures also.

A "Walker" picture---I think it is pretty!
Check out all the geese on the Spokane River. There were some that kept flying in and landing on the river. They look so COLD!! All huddled down! Spokane River

These silly dogs were getting their "run" in with their owners, stopped and turned around and looked at us, the owner had to stop their car and yell at them to come to them.

Spokane River Couldn't tell with the snow if this is an old wagon or an old car, I think it is a wagon. I thought it looked really neat.

Nine Mile Dam--Check out the water coming out of the spout-it was a lot of water! And oh, so blue! BRRRRR

I thought this barn looked really neat with the snow all around it. You can even see the snow coming down in our picture!
Well, people got dug out over the weekend. We are expecting more snow tonight, just hope we can get out. We are also suppose to get snow on Christmas Eve, but I don't know how much yet.

Mike and I are really enjoying the snow, even though we complain about the other drivers and pedestrians (who walk on the roads). I am just glad that we are not getting the ice storms like my little brother is getting in Oregon.

Hope everyone is staying warm!!!! And has a wonderful Christmas!!