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.

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.

The smoke, especially as it was spreading was incredible.

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.

  

The sun looked so eerie thru the cloud of smoke.

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. 

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