Winter seems to have settled into Central Oregon bringing frosty mornings and snow covered walks. We’ve not lived in any kind of real winter since leaving Montana 30 years ago. It’s become a welcome change.
Near the start of 2013 and in the middle of an OR winter there was a post on this blog praising Pacific NW winter rains. The quote was “…This NW Winter wears green on even the most lifeless hillsides.” What a difference five years makes. Attitudes didn’t just flip overnight but were a gradual erosion like the drip of water off Doug Fir boughs. The winter of ’17 was brutally gray and wet without so much as a hint of sunshine for what seamed like months. Slogging through five months of that dismal damp contributed to why we took the opportunity of retirement to make a climate change as well.
The seasonal changes in Oregon’s high desert feel more like western Montana. Though some days don’t warm above freezing, they are more often filled with sunshine than the NW corner of the Treasure state we grew up in. This infusion of Vitamin D makes all the difference. I think there is way more blue sky winter days than Montana ever offered. And we don’t miss the westside’s rain forest look at all.