Snowpocalypse! Scrapbook 2: The Sequel
Carla Axtman
As we round up what for me is day 9 of the snow hostage crisis, there's an abbreviated thaw in my part of Washington County. The places in the driveway and the sidewalk that have been shoveled by the neighborhood snow patrol are actually slushy to wet pavement. Unfortunately, the weather peeps in the metro area aren't sufficiently afraid of my wrath to give us a decent forecast.
More is apparently on the way.
Gresham and Vernonia have even managed to get their very own state of emergency declarations. Unfortunately, Vernonia is still recovering from the last time they had one of these.
If you're able to get out and about, local shops and restaurants could definitely use your business. ARCTIC BLAST 2008 isn't exactly helping the local economy.
Take heart, fellow Oregonians. At least we have the Snowpocalypse! Scrapbook. Click through the jump and view the photos!
These came in yesterday:
Here is Chuck Currie's trusty canine, Hazel. This one is from Grant Park in NE Portland:
The view from Kevin Kamberg's neighborhood in Forest Grove:
These came from Will Neuhauser of Yamhill County:
Carlton resident Randy Stapilus looks snowed in as well:
Monica Campbell-Hoppe snapped this photo of a bus that was stuck on Woodstock, next to Reed College. She says it was there all day. Ugh.
Finally, these rolled in from Professor Paul Gronke, Portland resident:
The following were taken by me yesterday out in Washington County. One thing I noticed immediately, virtually nothing in that area was plowed (these shots were taken late morning/early afternoon). Even the main arterials didn't appear to be plowed or sanded.
This is Highway 26 eastbound at Exit 64 (185th), taken about 3:00 in the afternoon:
185th and Cornell. Nothing plowed here that I could tell. And the manhole covers have huge icy moguls around them, causing cars to either encounter a massive (sometimes unnoticed until the last minute) speed bump or other cars trying to dodge.
And the raised beds in my backyard:
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Dec 24, '08
I love the scrap books!
I noticed that the highway in front of our place - we're right on HWY 213 in Mulino, was slushy to clear yesterday afternoon. I grabbed Harold and declared that we needed to hoof it over to the store while we had the chance. I had stocked up on some essentials like cat litter, canned cat food for the ancient one who no longer eats dry food, potatos, and beer, but the larder was running low.
We hit the Safeway in Molalla and I think everyone else in the Mulino/Molalla area had the same idea.With only two grocery stores in the area (unless you want to go to Canby), I'm sure the other one, a Thriftway, was packed too.) We had a 10 minute wait in line and all the checkstands were busy and moving people through as fast as they could. Everyone was in a good mood and laughing and joking about finally being able to get out.
Dec 24, '08
One interesting thing we saw on the way home from the store - a snowmobile stopped at the intersection of HWY 213 and Macksburg Road, waiting for traffic to clear so they could cross, and an ATV rolling down the highway in front of our house. The ATV was keeping up with the traffic in front of it, which gives you an idea how slow people were moving....
Dec 24, '08
Here's an interesting "image" from Tri-Met today.
Basically, they assume North Gresham and adjoining Portland will all be using motor vehicles. Am I biased or is Halsey a rather conspicuous and non-sensical gap in this coverage?
That's alright, I'll just have guests use the standard guest transportation . I've always warned out-of-towners not to rely on Tri-Met on the holidays. Shouldn't be disappointed I guess.
Joanne's comment is going to have those that know me doing a double-take when they read it...
Dec 24, '08
That is not the only gap. Where I live there have been no buses for miles. And it's a hill famous for hilliness even if it ain't Council Crest.
Last night, in my home office, I heard a rumbling, thundery sound and felt the vibration. Different from the arsehole boomers that dragster past on a regular basis. More than twenty minutes later, still that shuddering vibration and deep bass boom, continuous.
I came to my window overlooking the street and discovered a massive, quivering, groaning beached whale, er, bus, ensconced sideways and spasmodically working to right itself. Pitiful.
For days we have no bus SERVICE, and this guy headed for Merlo Garage Not-In-Service brazens this hill?
Two hours later still stuck. I felt bad for 'em.
9:49 a.m.
Dec 24, '08
Zarathustra:
Yea, it sucks when you have so few bus routes normally, as when situations like this come up you have evener fewer.
We had four routes through Gresham (4, 9, 12, 20) and MAX (I see they finally have all the stations open... yesterday you couldn't even see the tracks, as they were completely covered in snow).
Getting around using TriMet out here is even more difficult than normal with the few few N-S routes we have almost entirely closed. All we have is from the four routes heading for the Gresham Transit Center, otherwise we wouldn't have any routes on a N-S street.
I really wish our complex would start clearing sidewalks. We've had snow for more than a week now, and the only sidewalk I've seen them clear is right in front of the office. It's made it dangerous to get around, that's for sure. Most of us have taken to walking in the driveways instead since at least they're packed down.
Dec 24, '08
I'm thinkin' that if we're going to start having more extreme weather for winter, it might be time to start thinkin' about makin' apple jack during the freezing weather.... Perhaps a bit late for this year, but next?
Dec 24, '08
I was fortunate enough to take delivery of 70 pounds of malt extract the day before the first snow fall, two weeks ago this Saturday (had the hops, etc). I may be having Trader Yusuf's cranberry chutney with Dal Makhani and Egg Biryani for xmas, but I've got 50 bottles of pale ale, 60 of Oktoberfest, and 70 of Bavarian Dunkel done, so I won't be suffering.
Kitty gets turkey and giblets. I think an after dinner kiss from missy is the only whiff I'll get, though I won't care much.
Now if I'd included cross country skis with that malt...
Actually, I was thinking an interesting topic might be, considering all the improvised plans, "what are you having to eat this holiday season"? Not too political, but when you try to dissect the politics of the 19th and 18th century, personal letters and such are always used to read the political mood. I've no doubt in the coming centuries, these virtual pages will be a valuable resource. As such, it's not too far off (anymore than how many on the snow?)
Dec 24, '08
We normally would go to my younger brother's for Christmas eve dinner, but with the weather and roads they way they are that got postponed untill some future date.
We have a chicken in the freezer that I could thaw and roast, but then I have a couple of roosters I need to butcher too. Hmm, thawing or real work? I think the roosters will live to see another day, like when it's not below freezing out....
I'll probably do a roast chicken, home made cranberry sauce, roast vegitables, and some fresh bread, and perhaps yams (red sweet potato).
Dec 24, '08
Pics of the farm in snow here.
Dec 24, '08
Well, now, talk about low-impact Manger Action.
No journey to cuzzies at the ocean. Stumped down the hill in the slush and lugged back a spiral ham, nog, veggies, banana pie and almond roca (dead brother's most favorite xmas candy). Baked green apple and pear pie.
Son sprawls in the gloom with birds all over him, watching a spluttering, scratched-up DVD of Lord of the Rings. Can you believe it, the freaking thing judders to a halt-burp-halt just as the river is thundering down to take out the Evil Nazguls? Hell. Throw it away before I cut my wrists in frustration!
Cut out black buffalo hide to finish off Skunk Pelt Pipe-bag (go ahead, ask, though I write to myself alone, really, eh?). Largish Child downloads Cool Hand Luke. Rooiboos tea, the movie, puppy piles on the pillows as cockatiel poops on son's head (sits there looking like an eagle feather moving in the breeze on his head), parrot shreds part of my xmas eve shirt collar, dammit.
Candles strobe gently in the crepuscular light of my bedroom, the living room, we move to a place under the huge rubber plant bedecked with red bows only. Easy on, easy off. Ordinary day, we play Jeapardy together, a ritual that has developed during this, our very last year of sharing a home and our lives together.
Low-key, anticlimactic, peaceful. The leaves of our lives talking, as a book of common prayer. Might as well utter the words: Merry Xmas.
8:29 p.m.
Dec 24, '08
Yea, so much for TriMet and their buses supposed to be running every 15 minutes or so. I waited at a stop for an hour and it never showed up. I did see one go the other way, but it never came mine. With the snow on the sidewalks more than waist deep in many places - and the cars flying down Kane/257 at faster than the legal speed limit on a good day - it was pretty dangerous to try to walk.
I finally ended up walking, much of it in the bike lane, which was filled with a very wet and slushy mix.
I did see a National Guard vehicle while I was out waiting for the bus. It was one of their medical Humvees.
11:34 p.m.
Dec 24, '08
I feel for TriMet but the drivers did some pretty stupid things. There were four buses--count 'em four--stranded within a few blocks of my house along Woodstock and 28th. None of them had chains visible.
I got most of my Xmas karma by giving strangers rides in my Subaru with chains on all four tires.
Dec 24, '08
The temp started rising here and at midnight it's passed 34 F.
12:07 a.m.
Dec 26, '08
At the rate it's going, it will take forever for all this snow to go away.
I just wish people would go and clear the sidewalks like they're supposed to. Some of us have to walk, and it's impossible to get through on the sidewalks. And for those of us along major roads, it's very dangerous to walk on the side of the road.
The next time I'm at the store and see a snow shovel, I'm grabbing one. Apparently the only way sidewalks are going to be cleared in the complex is if we do them ourselves. I used to walk on the driveways, but they became a sheet of ice. So your choice was - do I walk across a sheet of ice, or in snow/slush/ice up to my knee?
Dec 26, '08
I grew up in Minnesota, so I know what I'm talking about here.
The snow plow drivers here in Portland are idiots. Seriously, you guys are lazy idiots. When you plow a main thoroughfare, try NOT pushing all the snow off to the side and blocking off side streets until well after the snow melts. You back up when you reach a cross street, you turn to your right a bit, and you push that snow up into a big pile on the corner. That's how you do it so that people, like everyone on my street including the restaurant across the street from my place, aren't completely shut down for an entire week. Thankfully we've had no emergencies as far as I know...but we did miss garbage collection and getting food has been a serious pain for all of us.
I know we don't allocate a lot of tax dollars to our emergency snow crews, but you guys need to spend some time driving plows in Minnesota or Colorado and learn how to do it correctly.
Dec 26, '08
When I was in Chicago for the winter of '76-'77, there was a hill we used to go over between NWestern and the park for about three months. When the thaw started in April, we discovered we had been walking across a car. The old stone quarry where the city trucks dumped the snow didn't fully melt until August, a man-made glacier.
They might be artistes in MN. Everywhere I've lived with snow they've had these same irritating habits. I don't have a clue how the ones here get any practice.
Dec 29, '08
Is Fox giving Carla a send-up (did you make the word up)?!?
(In case they move it)
Tell FOX 12 The series of snow and ice storms that blanketed the Portland metro area have come to an end. While FOX 12 Oregon titled the storms "Arctic Blast," many blogs, Twitter users and FOX 12 viewers came up with their own names for the wintry weather. What's your favorite? Snowmageddon Snowpocalypse Polar Paralysis snOMG Arctic Blast Snownami Results | Disclaimer | E-Mail
<h2>Considering that it was the day after xmas two years ago that hundreds of thousands lost their lives in the tsunami, the last one is more than the usual Fox tasteless entry.</h2>