First Night for New Year's

This is where grandma took us for New Year's Eve. Ethan made a costume, then we all marched in the parade and saw fireworks and enjoyed some art activities.

Trainland

We finished the rest of the platform. Looks like plenty of room to set up an HO village and tracks!

Up on the housetop...

This is me earning a sewing machine! Since our homeowner deductible is $500, I figure I saved us at least $200.

Ooh-la-la

The boy wants a Paris 9th birthday party, which sounds like tons of fun to me, and which my friend Teri thinks is roughly as girly as a Fairy Princess party. Anyway, would love your ideas for games, etc. And just for fun, take the Ethan Birthday Poll from now until Jan. 19.

Day after the storm

We headed into Walla Walla for some of Rosita's yummy Mexican food and to survey the damage. Lots of roads blocked off, small branches scattered everywhere. Everyone has been busy today--many houses had huge piles of firewood instead of downed trees in the yard. (Click any photo to see it larger.)

Day after the storm, Pioneer park

Pioneer Park had quite a bit of damage, but it will be beautiful again once it's cleaned up. The huge ancient trees around the gazebo did well (whew--4th of July would be unbearable without them). I found it a little unnerving that there was a downed power line running through the playground.

Should have worn my striped socks and ruby slippers...

...in case a house fell on me today.

The winds were gusting up to 78 in the Walla Walla/College Place area. Power went out at work at 9:30, and after sitting around for about an hour trying to find little nontech projects to do and debating whether a game of Truth or Dare would be office-appropriate, we were sent home. At home (the three-minute drive required at least one detour, and the traffic lights were out) I discovered bits of neighbors' roofs landing all over the street and yard. We were lucky--our shingles were only starting to peel up in one spot.

Other than dirt in my eyes (ouch) and hair, can't complain: The worst part was finding that our power was off--bad news for our dinner. (One minute you feel so safe and secure, and then your crock pot lets you down!)

Shortly after I arrived home, so did the boys because their schools were let out early. We delivered the crock pot and some cornbread batter to a friend with power (reached after a couple of detours around huge downed trees). By the time we returned home, more serious patches were starting to peel off our roof. We considered trying to climb up there, but weren't exactly sure what we'd do about it (or if we'd blow off the ladder)...when a roofing truck came down the street. I walked out to the truck to ask advice and whether I should worry about rain, and this wonderful man (R&Z Roofing, call 509-525-2088 if you need a roof!) hopped out of the truck and almost before I knew it, he was climbing up there and tacking down the loose shingles so they wouldn't tear off more. Needless to say, I WON'T be taking his recommendation to call around for three estimates if I need repairs next week. Unless, of course, he's too busy with bigger, more lucrative jobs and can't fit me in! Thanks to him, our roof isn't too bad. Tomorrow I'll have to get some more interesting pictures of huge uprooted trees.

In the meantime, we're just saying our prayers that no one was hurt badly today and that the worst damage will be quickly repaired (not to mention covered by insurance).

If you want to read more about all this, Teri's blog (see Jan. 4 entries and later) has more details and is way funnier than mine.


PHOTOS: This neighbor got the worst of it--about a third to half of her shingles are missing on the back of the house.
Second house is across the street. Looks pretty bad too.
Next is our roof, before it began peeling off in earnest. (Yes, our lights are still up; don't hassle me. It isn't even epiphany yet.) Ethan's favorite part of the day was running around the street and everyone's yard picking up shingles to dump in our utility trailer. Made him feel like part of a big crisis.