Been Awhile

Thought I'd better make an entry before I forgot how to do it. The weather is so boring here. 75 for a high, 45 for a low, every stinking day. LOL... Supposed to get some rain this weekend and all the weathermen talk about is about how the cold is coming. 60 for a high, 45 for a low. I think Wanda and I can handle it.
We are having one of our fellow hosts over tonight for barbequed pork ribs. Wanda has been in the kitchen all day working on potato salad and a peach cobbler.Yum. I can't wait.
We have 3 months to go and are looking forward to getting home, as long as all the snow is melted, that is.

Pismo Beach Butterflies

Traveled down the coast to Pismo Beach today, about 12 miles, to see the Monarch butterfly grove. Thousands of them migrate from as far north as Canada to this same grove every year. It is really fascinating. There are about 15 to 20 thousand of them hanging in clusters off of the limbs and leaves of the eucalyptus trees.

The picture I attached doesn't do them credit. Make sure you click on the picture to enlarge it. They look like big, bushy clusters of leaves.

Friends In Cold Places

Thank god for good friends. Our home in Spokane is slowly becoming buried in snow. Got a call yesterday from our housesitter who was finally able to get back to our house. When he called, 2 of our other friends Craig and Rick were at the house. using a snow rake to reach about 10' up the roof scraping snow off. They were also knocking off giant ice dams from the rain gutters. They said they were drinking Coors beer and throwing the empties in the snow on the front yard so we would have something to remember them by.
I have a feeling we will be calling our insurance company when we get home. There is bound to be some damage as the snow melts.

Let It Snow!

Spokane is buried in snow. Our housesitter lives in Orofino, Idaho and works for Bonneville Power in Spokane 3 days a week. For over a week now, he has not been able to get to our house because of road closures. He finally got in yesterday and called another friend of ours who came over with his tractor and cleared 3' of snow out of the driveway! They just called me a few minutes ago and were outside raking 5' of snow off of the lower portions of the roof.

We are so glad to be gone!. It was 2 years ago today that I retired from the control center. They had to evacuate it today because the roof began collapsing from the snowload!

I attached a picture of our house taken by the neighbors this afternoon.

We look forward to getting home in May, just hope that all the snow has melted by then.

Oh, that's the tip of our mailbox in the front of the picture.

New Years In Porterville

We went to Porterville new years eve day and spent the night with Wanda's daughter Kristy and those 2 little stinkers Jacob and Cody.

We had dinner with Kristy and the kids and Wanda's oldest daughter Paula and her husband Donny. Had a ball.

Jacob is always cracking up at something. He has a great sense of humor. I attached a picture of he and his nana laughing about something.

It was a little foggy and cold while we were there. 44 degrees. Coming back, we broke out of the fog into nice warm sunshine and 60 degrees.

Stormy Day

Took a couple of pictures last night at sunset when Wanda and I took a walk. Very stormy day with rain (lots), hail and wind.

It was beautiful after it passed though. Kinda cool for here and but not cold like the northwest.

Glad We Are Here

Wow. Saw the weather forecast for Spokane for the next week. 11" of snow, below zero temps. Brrr!
It's supposed to get cold here to, like 58". The locals are bundling up. Yesterday we sat at Avila beach in shorts and played scrabble for a couple of hours. Life is tough.
The park is pretty quiet right now and will be until after Christmas.
Anyway, I bet even Portland/Vancouver will cold and may even get snow. Good luck.