Sunday, January 6, 2008

Stormy West Coast

It's been miserable all up & down the west coast the last few days.  I feel so bad for the people in the little town of Fernley, Nevada which is 30 miles east of Reno.  A ruptured levee sent a frigid wall of water from a rain-swollen canal into the high desert town early Saturday, flooding hundreds of home and forcing the rescue of people by helicopter and boat.  The newspaper said as many as 3,500 people were temporarily stranded and an estimated 1,500 ended up being displaced from their homes. Flooding is the same all over, it can take lives of people and animals, it damages homes and businesses and wrecks havoc on the day to day business of life.

We had wind and rain here again last night and I guess some areas nearby had snowfall this morning. None here at my house however.  And right this minute...it's really cold out there but there's no wind & no rain.

My brother and sister-in-law took me to dinner for my birthday at the Olive Garden this afternoon.  I had this yummy chicken with an apricot sauce, served with broccoli & asparagus and of course their famous salad and garlic bread sticks (yes Lisa, I did have one for you!).  We had a nice visit, my brother and family only live about 10 miles from me but they have such busy lives, I talk to them on the phone from time to time but don't see them that often.

Since it wasn't raining when they dropped me off, I quickly changed clothes and headed outside to put the yard waste can out for pick up tomorrow.  Also got some things out of the freezer in my one storage shed and decided to put the Christmas tree away for another year.  I was afraid that task was going to be difficult because since I took it out of the smaller storage shed the end of November, I've obtained a very large, heavy item. 

 My neighbor down the street that moved to Arkansas, had an old wringer wash machine that she got from some friends several years ago.  Her intent was to plant flowers in it and put it in her yard.  When she was moving, I spied it, asked about it and she said if you want it, you can have it. So we proceeded to load it (on it's side) onto my red wagon and brought down to my place.  We backed the wagon into my smaller shed and shut the door.  Well, that had to come out before I could put the Christmas tree away, so today, I pulled the thing out (it's still on it's side in my wagon) and put the tree away, covering it completely with a light weight plastic and then just pulled the wagon backwards into the shed.  It was all easier than I thought.  The big job will be when I take it off the wagon, to set it upright and start filling it with dirt.  I'm sure it weighs at least 100 pounds or maybe more.  Anyway, that's not for a couple months yet. I'm thinking sweet peas might be pretty growing in it, coming up and winding around the wringer part.  If  I do plant sweet peas, they should be planted the end of  February or first of March.

I heard a rumor the the Seattle Seahawks won their football game Saturday, beating the Washington Redskins 35-14.  (The loosing team cames all the way from Washington D.C. to get beat.) Now the Seahawks have to go to play the Greenbay Packers (Wisconsin).  I'm not a fan of professional sports but I guess everyone here in Washington state is happy for the Seahawks.

I hope everyone, has had a good weekend.  I hope you've gotten at least one task done (for me it was putting away the Christmas tree) and had some good times, too.  Until next time........Linda

P.S. I had to add; I used a wringer washing machine in my younger years.  In 1962, (my daughter Julie was born in Dec 1961) we moved into a house with a wringer washing machine in the garage.  There were two laundry tubs out there and that's where I washed diapers, baby clothes and all the other laundry.  I had clothes lines in the garage for the rainy days and clothes lines in the back yard for drying on sunny days.  During the coldest part of winter, we did drain the machine so it wouldn't freeze up and I had to go to the Laundromat to do laundry.  But I won't be doing any laundry in this latest one...I am very thankful to have a washer and dryer right here inside my house that I can use anytime of the night or day~ spring, summner, fall or winter. 

 

 

 

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Linda; that chicken dish from Olive Garden sounds yummy! You had a busy productive day! I can't wait to see what grows from your washing machine. Growing up, my mom had a wringer wash machine like you mentioned; brings back memories watching her wash clothes (we have it a lot easier these days, thankfully)!!

that was sad about that levee, I read about it in the paper

Yep, rainy here too in Southern California and people are happy; the Chargers advanced to the next round of the playoffs down here :)

stay bundled up warm,

betty

Anonymous said...

Something there is about returning the Christmas decor back to the morgue of the basement, knowing another year has to pass before you see it all again.  It being the Epiphany, I took mine down too.  Loved reading about your youth, isnt it great to have our memories?  Weather on this coast warming up while you guys are all wet & cold.  Irony is, it should be snowing here and its in the 50s.  CATHY

Anonymous said...

Today when we walked the dogs it started to snow.  You know that heavy wet snow.  Burrrrrrr!  I was glad to get back into the house.  I was really worried as we had an engagement shoot this afternoon and I was thinking they still want to do it in THIS weather!  By the time we went for that it was clear and nice out.  Whew.

So, are you going to plant anything in the washer?  I think that should look really nice with some colorful flowers.  It sounds like you had a good productive weekend.

Monica

Anonymous said...

We've had some nasty weather this weekend as well, and it is blowing and raining out here as I write this.  I always feel a bit sad when the Christmas Decorations come down.  The place always seems a bit empty at first.  Your idea of what to do with the washer sounds lovely.  Sweet Peas are my favourite flowers!  My mother used to wash with a wringer washer.  I can remember being terrified of it.  A child at school was missing some fingers and I can remember being told it was because they had gotten squished in the wringer.  NO need to tell me anything twice!  I stayed well away!
Marie
http://journals.aol.co.uk/mariealicejoan/MariesMuses/

Anonymous said...

What a lovely idea to plant the washer with sweet peas ,Itoo used one of those ,oh they were the days lol ,so sorry for the people who were flooded ,dont we have such extreme weather conditions ,You Birthday lunch sounded delicious ,never tried Chicken and apricot bet it worked well ,..love Jan xx

Anonymous said...

yes the Seahawks did win and they do come and play the Packers here in WI.  I'm a huge Packer fan so I will be watching that game lol  You should share a pic of that planter ;)  Sounds interesting.

Anonymous said...

I feel so sorry for those poor people.  Glad you enjoyed your meal.

http://journals.aol.co.uk/jeanno43/JeannettesJottings/

Anonymous said...

What a find!!!  I would love to have one of them but the prices for them are sky high at the auction houses & flea markets around here - well done on getting that.  Sweet peas would be wonderful in there.  I saw the flooding on the news, my goodness those poor folks didn't know what hit them ~ who would think they would need flood insurance.  I feel bad for them.  Yay on the breadstick!!!
Lisa

Anonymous said...

Glad you had a good Birthday lunch, the sweet peas when they bloom will be lovely i love their fragrance, terrible about the flooding, hope they can get back to their homes soon.
Take care

Yasmin
x

Anonymous said...

What a yummy bday lunch and nope I don't think I have got one thing done, oh wait, I mailed the thank you cards, ok yep one thing done, lol...
Linda :)