Sunday, January 24, 2010

It’s Been A Long Time

It’s been so long since I posted an entry, I almost forgot how.  Thank heaven for Windows Live Writer!

Other than my birthday at the beginning of the month I’ve always dreaded January.  It seems like it goes on forever. Usually January in Washington state includes; short dark days with low temperatures, rain, wind, sleet, hail, snow and more of the same.  But for a couple weeks this month we were blessed with temperatures in the mid to high 50’s and glorious sunshine.   While rain was pounding southern California, Nevada & Arizona we were basking in rays.

jan 15 sunset2

But this morning I woke up to our normal winter weather…rain, gloom and 43* has been the highest temperature.  At least keeps me indoors being productive.

January brought the start of some winter TV shows. American Idol, The Bachelor and other’s are back for their 6-8 week run.  Also this month we’ve witnessed the big deal on NBC between Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. Even David Letterman got in on the controversy.  Personally I’ve always like them both~but prefer Jay Leno.  And I was so happy when they moved his show to 10pm. Since I’m not into the 10pm high drama shows, I loved to end my day with a few 10pm giggles from Jay’s show.  I’ll miss him when they move him back to the 11:35pm time slot. I stayed up last Friday night and watched Conan’s final show.  He left with remarkable grace and dignity. I wish him well and I’m sure he’ll find his prime time niche by fall.  Meanwhile he’s got the 43 million dollars that NBC gave him as a severance package.

The morning of January 18th I heard helicopters and the wailing of sirens very close by.  It seems that a group of 3 businesses were on fire, about 4 blocks due west of me on the main street thru the area.   The one at the end of the row was a tire shop and the fire departments from Lakewood and surrounding areas fought valiantly but were unable to contain the fire before it reached that end.  There’s a floor covering store that’s been there for about 40 years just past the tire shop, they were spared because of a firewall in between their store and the tire shop.

The fire started in this second hand shop & quickly spread to the two adjoining businesses.

fire january 18 20102

fire january 18 20103

The smoke, especially as it was spreading was incredible.

fire january 18 20106

In the picture below, you can see that the tire shop is starting to be involved. The white pick-up was being loaded with tires and wheels but shortly after I took this picture, the flames spread and they had to move it.

  

fire january 18 20109The sun looked so eerie thru the cloud of smoke.

fire january 18 201013

This picture was taken from my driveway~once the tire shop caught fire, the acrid smoke drifted in our direction. I shut the front door, of course but it still seemed to get into the house.  I opened my slider on the far side of the house and turned on a fan for awhile & that seemed to work. 

fire january 18 201017

Later in the day the entire complex collapsed into a burned out pile of rubble.  Fire personnel remained on the scene that night until the next day.  They thought it may have been started by an electrical malfunction in the Second Hand shop but I haven’t seen any final determination in the paper.  Several days later I went by and the area was fenced off and guys in suits were walking around.

Bob left for southern California, the morning of January 19th.  He went down to help his Pasadena daughter & son in law move.  I decided to stay home this time~mainly because the weather here is so unpredictable this time of the year. I felt I couldn’t risk having my plumbing freeze up if the temperature dropped or the carport cave in if we got a heavy snowfall.  He encountered a little difficulty this trip due to winter weather in northern California.  He ended up holed up in Yreka for two nights because Interstate 5 south of there was closed due to snow and fog.  We kept hearing that the Grapevine just north of Los Angeles was also closed due snow too but once he got to that point of his excursion, the highway was wet and bare.  Once he crossed that pass he was happy to see that the Los Angeles area had not floated away….as they’d been having record breaking rainfall for days.  The house deal isn’t quite completed yet so meanwhile he’s helping with the cleaning and painting at the house where they’ll be moving.   Hopefully by weeks end they’ll be able to move and get settled in their new home.   Bob took his skies and is planning on coming home thru Carson City, Nevada where he’s hoping to ski with his cousins.  He hasn’t been able to ski here in Washington yet because of being busy and then the weather hasn’t been very co-operative.  At his age, he likes the snow and weather conditions to be just right before he spends a lot of money on a lift ticket plus he doesn’t want to risk a broken leg or hip in mushy snow.

I had all these grandiose plans for de-cluttering while he was away.  The weather hasn’t cooperated.  It’s really hard to stay in and tend to business when the sun is shining and it’s 58* out there.  But I must get busy…the mouse can not continue to play because eventually the cat will be back.   I did start on my project the other day and found a bunch of stuff in a box that I thought contained empty boxes.  I spent parts of two days listing those items on eBay.  My plan is to really dig in and be able to call St Vincent de Paul or some other organization to come in about 2 weeks and pick it up. 

Meanwhile plans for my son’s March 12th wedding continue & I haven’t lost an ounce of weight.  That’s discouraging but I realize (or at least I hope) no one will be looking at me.  They’ll all be focused on the bride and groom.  About the time of the wedding, the questionnaires that are being sent out in my 50th class reunion packet will be coming back.  I’m doing the Memory Book for our reunion  so once they come back, I’ll be busy, busy pounding away on this keyboard.  We’re sending out over 200 packets so I hope they come in a few at a time and not all at the last minute.   I’ve already done the preliminary work with the print shop and told the gal that I hope I can bring her a handful each week, rather than a big stack of them all at once. She, after all has other business to attend to.  

So that’s what’s been going on here.  I do get around to your Blogs every few days and try to leave comments as I can.  I know some of you are having trials and health issues and please know that I’ve been praying for you. I’m especially happy that our dear friend Ally in the U.K. is back home after a hospital stay. I also want to say “thank you” again to Bill at (Just Plain Bill)  for the squished penny he sent me. It brightened my day and is a great addition to my collection.   I’m really looking forward to the start of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games from Vancouver and Whistler, BC.  It was just a year ago in February that we spent a few days at a resort in Whistler and Bob was able to ski the same slopes that the Olympians from all over the world will ski this February.  With all the tensions and terrorist scares in our world~I pray the games will be safe and a happy time for all who come here.

Take care and I’ll be back again before too long….until next time~Linda

20 comments:

Marlene said...

Woo Hoo, I am the first to comment. Hi Linda, I just read down a little bit and see that a birthday just went by. Hope it was a happy one and a good year ahead.

Jimmy's Journal said...

Good to see you post anew. Those were great pics of the fire. You should have sent then to CNN or the local tv station. Sometimes they pay for the shots.

Jimmy

salemslot9 said...

my John and I
(and his Mom)
are looking forward to
"Kitchen Nightmares"
with Chef Gordon Ramsay
starting again on
Friday, January 29th

Sugar said...

hb belated, i did wish you a hb on fb on ur day. ;)
so nice to see a post from you here, i'm sad that sooo many of our blogger friends have deserted their blogs, i so much enjoyed reading them. but there's some of us left. ;)
i posted today too.
huggies...

sober white women said...

It may be a good thing that you did not come down here because the weather has been bad.
I have dropped a few pounds but not enough to talk about. I so want to drop a few more before summer hits.
Kelli

DB said...

Well Linda, you had a lot to talk about. That must have been some awful fire. The perfume of burning rubber tires is one of the worst odors possible. I hope you got it all out of your house.

D

Heli gunner Tom said...

Hi Linda,
Good to hear from you again.
you sound busy.

Regards,
Tom S

betty said...

your poor town has had lots of things going on this past few months; sorry about the fire, nothing worse than the smell of burning rubber

sounds like you are busy and productive Linda! won't be long before it is March and the wedding!! You will look smashing because you will be joyful in gaining a daughter and knowing how happy your son and her will be :)

I am looking forward to the Olympics too; I heard on the news the other day they might have to bring in snow since its too warm to make snow and they didn't get lots of snow (yet) this year

like Kelli said, lots of wind and rain here; you chose wisely to stay home this trip

betty

Pamela said...

It's good to hear from you! What a shame about the big fire. You got some good pics, though. Sounds like you are happy and well.
Keep in touch,
Pam

Pat said...

Hi Linda,
Glad to see you've posted another entry, thank you for letting me know! That fire was awful, I can imagine the smell that must have been all around the area, it was a good idea of yours to put the fan on. I sympathise with the diet, I am back on WW and have lost 4lbs in two weeks, not much but going in the right direction! ~~~Love, Pat

Marie Rayner said...

So good to see a post from you Linda! My goodness but you have been very busy! I am sure that you miss Bob when he is away but I can understand completely why you would want to stay home. Sometimes it's nice to be home alone, or at least I think it is. YOu get to cocoon and just please yourself for a few days. Hope everything happens according to your plans for the 50th reunion packs! XXOO

LYN said...

HATE THE FIRE BUT GREAT PICS1
GOOD TO SEE A POST FROM YOU!!

ADB said...

That was some fire indeed, Linda. It's good to see you posting, and hope you'll enjoy the Winter Olympics next month

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

It is good to hear from you and you've been busy at your house for sure. Hope you get what you want done while you have the quiet time there. A wedding sounds like a wonderful thing to be looking forward to. All of mine are married now except for one and he's been divorced and is engaged again. So we'll see what happens there. Happy late birthday to you! January is a popular month for them it seems at my house as we've had 4 already and one more coming at the end of the week. Hope to hear from you again soon!

Jan said...

Lovely newsy entry Happy belated Birthday greetings you are as old as me now ...till next month good luck with the tiduying up for the thrift shop ,those fires look awful especially for the bussiness's ..love Jan xx

Big Mark 243 said...

Well you seemed to really caught up with this entry. The stay in Whistler is interesting... sounds like a trip I'd like to make one day!

You were right about the eerie look of the sun through the smoke... would have REALLY been eerie if it was the moon peeking through at night.

Don't worry about your weight... first of all you earned it and the second and most important reason is, you are right. All eyes will be on the bride and groom!

I have never really worried about having roads shut down due to weather, but I have never really had to put up with mountains. But as that goes, I never recall hearing that there were closures of any of the highways that run through the Appalachians...

Linda :) said...

I'm thinking you are keeping plenty busy and having just a bit of excitement your way... glad Bob got through safely and hope he got a bit of skiing in... the sun has managed to peek out this afternoon, making my vacation at home a bit more cheery... Have a great rest of the week!! :)

Lisa said...

Nice to see a post from you again Linda. Geesh, that fire was something else - what a shame for the complex. I can't believe your sons wedding is SO close...seems like it was just yesterday it was months away. Time is flying by!
I hope Bob has a safe trip.

Lisa said...

Nice to see a post from you again Linda. Geesh, that fire was something else - what a shame for the complex. I can't believe your sons wedding is SO close...seems like it was just yesterday it was months away. Time is flying by!
I hope Bob has a safe trip.

Barb said...

The fire was really bad. You DID get some awesome photos.
It brought back the sadness & devastation that my hometown of Anthony, KS saw when an entire city block burned out. I haven't been up there but saw photos. Some of those buildings were originally built in the late 1800s. Sadly, in a town of about 2500 I just wonder if they will every rebuild. I almost regret going back. I don't know if I ever will. I only have a brother & and an aunt there. I haven't been there in 6 yrs. I see my brother or trips to Vegas. LOL
I'm with you. I'm ready to spring out the spring flowers. My crocus are already sprouting. It's a little early I thought.
Hope Bob gets his skiing in. I've never skied. I wish I had tried it when I was young. And still coordinated. And things wouldn't nec. break if I fell. LOL
Glad you've had some nice weather. We had that bad cold snap last week, but I think we're supposed to warm up.
Take good care.
Luv n Hugs, Barb