Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Rain, Wind & Readers Group

The snow has turned to rain~here in the lowlands and also in the mountain passes. Our temperature has risen to right around 50* and my area has had just under 3 inches of rain in the last 30 hours. Low lying communities are being evacuated, basements are flooding, at noon today all of our mountain passes were closed due to avalanche danger, and many roads around western Washington are closed due to flooding. Also yesterday afternoon and during the night the wind was really blowing. Those of us with Douglas Fir trees in our yards always worry about the winds tipping them over when the ground is as soggy as it is now.

There is a possibility that Interstate 5 south of here will be covered, if the Chehalis River floods as expected. Bob & his California daughter are planning on leaving here early Saturday morning so we're hoping this flooding doesn't occur. I just saw a lady on TV from that area, say that they've lived in their house for over 30 years and this is the first time the water has come up over the steps to their front porch. At this time there are about 20 rivers in western Washington that are flooding or very close to flooding.

Today was my monthly Reader's Group at the local Round Table Pizza. Our guest author today was Ann Roth who lives north of Seattle. She's a delightful lady and as always it was interesting to hear how she got started writing. Her latest book, "My Sisters", was released this last November. She gave one copy of that book away in a drawing but I didn't win it. So I'll look for it around town. However, I have so many unread books on hand I could open a bookstore. I need to really stop gathering books. Right now I'm reading another Jan Karon book~part of her Mitford series. This series is so delightful and I'm so thankful to my friend Trees up in Canada for the Mitford book she gave me on her visit here last summer.

I hope everyone is having a good week. Until next time.....Linda

11 comments:

garnett109 said...

We got flooded like that back in 96, we had 3 feet of snow then it hit 55 degrees and rain.

BlueRidge Boomer said...

Be safe......We are dealing with wind, ice and snow in the Blue Ridge also....thank goodness, no flooding yet!

Julie said...

I have been hearing about the flooding and wondering how you were fairing. Hope it slows down for you all. I have 4 books I need to finish and another one at the library waiting for me to pick it up. Time to get busy.

sober white women said...

We have had nice weather the last few weeks. Hold on let me find some wood so I can go knock on it. But I know that we could use some more rain!
Kelli

Jimmy's Journal said...

You've had some pretty bad weather up there, sweets. Every time I watch the national weather, the first state that seems to come up is yours. Brrr...stay warm!

Jimmy

Linda said...

Wow that's alot of rain!! Maybe you and I should get together and really open a book store cuz I have sooooo many it is scary. And then i joined a book club and got a bunch more. I think my hubby is gunna strangle me! Linda

betty said...

you guys are getting hammered up there Linda between rain/snow; hoping it doesn't interfere too much with Bob's travel plans.

I see Jan Karon's books around all the time, just haven't taken the time to get one to read; I hear they are good though; enjoy :)

betty

Marie Rayner said...

Sorry to hear about the terrible weather you have been having. It's been very cold here, but I think it's going to get milder for the weekend. I love the Mitford series of books. Wonderful reading there!

Linda :) said...

I have not heard of Ann Roth, will have to check out her books....
It so amazes me how other states are flooding and yet even with the rain we have gotten so far this year we are still at negative inches for our needs for the month....
Keep dry! :)

Lisa said...

It sounds just horrible out there ~ these weather patterns are so crazy lately. We had an ice storm yesterday and our power was off for about 5 hours and we had one of our big trees fall down, the root came right out of the ground. Of course none of this even compares to what your area is going through. My thoughts are with your state, did I hear 30,000 people were evacuated?

Joyce said...

I've been watching the news about your flooding and it looks really bad. Stay safe Linda. I know what you mean about the books. I keep ordering them (I guess I'm afraid they won't still be there later..lol) and have several to read now (and two on order). Oh well, if that's our only vise...
Hugs, Joyce