Snowfall

February 9, 2025February 9, 2025

Snow Days

Once again weather dictates plans. A winter storm watch that didn’t materialize last week, showed up this week and brought along a foot of new snow.

Central Oregon winters are a mix of clear cold, then broken when a front shoves storm clouds across the Cascade range. Last week started almost spring-like and then came this week and a return to shoveling snow.

It’s not impossible to travel in these conditions, just easier to wait for the inevitable string of clear days.

Tomatillos in the Cuisinart for Verde Salsa

In that waiting we managed to accomplish a few home based projects. Starting with the pantry.

Cold winter days are a perfect time to start up a canning operation and restock soups, sauces, stews and chili.

We’re also trying to put up some late season vegetables, like broccoli and carrots. Found a good price on sliced mushrooms, so they got piled into half pint jars and loaded into the canner as well.

Little offsets cabin fever better than a warm meal, good book and comfortable chair. We enjoy that while we wait for the skies . . . and roads . . . to clear.

January 14, 2024March 15, 2024

New Year, New Blog Post

This week it snowed.

And it wasn’t the skiff and gone variety we experienced all December.

In fact, it was a blizzard-closing passes and white-out conditions on the roads kind of snow..

In the midst of this, we made a trip to the dentist, necessary, though the drive was nearly as painful as the appointment.

Before the recent snows, right up to New Year’s Day, we enjoyed mild, if a bit rainy weather.

There was a trip to the Crooked River and our traditional New Year’s toast.

The past few weeks have been busy with a smattering of projects. We made thumbprint cookies with our homemade jam.

Tried a new ramen soup recipe . . . it was easy and very tasty.

We broke in a new fondue pot with a cheese fondue. Then enjoyed an oil fondue. We’ve yet to try the chocolate version.

Exhibit features images and video of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone ecosystem and on Ellesmere Island in the high Canadian Arctic.

We also took in a National Geographic Photo exhibit at the High Desert Museum.

Documenting current as well as historic views on Yellowstone National Park and Yukon wolf packs.

NatGeo Images by R. Donovan. This was a favorite.

Excellent images and fascinating information.

We get passes from our library and try to get over to the museum a couple of time a year . . . this was one of the best exhibits in a while.

First the sidewalk needs clearing . . . then you can go for a walk

The snows continue throughout the second week in January and we’ve accumulated about 3 feet on the ground (2 feet within the last 24 hours) and more is on the way.

We actually enjoy having four seasons. This snow is less than years past and I don’t mind the daily task of clearing snow.

It’s better than constant rain.

We’re back with weekly updates to our adventures, though not sure what is planned for the coming days.

A lot depends on the weather.

There will be good pictures, that I can assure you . . . so come back every Sunday for a new installment.

April 2, 2023April 1, 2023

Enough is Enough

Not what you want to see on a spring morning.

Last week we speculated that spring

. . . was about to s p r o u t.

Well, we were wrong . . .

because it just kept S N O W I N G.

Knowing the snowpack will help ease Central Oregon’s drought conditions doesn’t make these recurring snowstorms any easier to endure.

It’s the beginning of April and just the other day I had to shovel four inches of snow off our driveway. Enough is enough.

Two different winter weather watch alerts limited our road trips this week. Being stuck at home did encourage us to complete some overdue projects.

Typical sight on our morning walks. Did you know it takes a snowflake approximately 45 minutes to fall from cloud to earth.? Yeah, we didn’t.

Once again the forecast is looking more spring-like so there are plans for some road trips coming up.

Now we just need to endure this weekends’ winter weather warning.

January 9, 2022January 9, 2022

A Snowy Holiday

It’s been snowing for weeks. Thirty eight inches of snow accumulated outside our door, starting just before Christmas. This made for a lot of shoveling, but also created a beautiful landscape.

We were planning a quick trip to the coast to visit family on Christmas day, but Mother Nature stepped in. A storm front moved onshore Christmas Eve and for the next three days just kept dumping moisture. Central Oregon and the eastside of the Cascades were under travel advisories. Not a great thing over the holidays.

The weather backed off a bit the last few days of 2021. This allowed time to dig out before the next front moved in, dropping an additional 18 inches of snow. All this snow is good news for the depleted reservoirs; however, it made travel a bit treacherous between snow plowings. The passes were shut down and supplies, especially fuel, were limited.

It’s the 8th of January, in a new year. The worst of the local roads have been plowed, rutted road ways cleared. A warm front moved in and created a different kind of mess. For the most part we are staying close to home, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t making plans for exploration and at the very least a fishing trip or two.

Welcome to 2022! We’re looking forward to a great year, hope you are too.

February 14, 2019January 5, 2020

Shoveling

Winter in Central Oregon requires you to shovel. The average snowfall in our area is two feet. Although, we got a fraction of that in 2017, the year before saw a roof-bowing four feet of the white stuff.

The previous owners of our house left us a snow shovel, which was nice of them, as it has come in handy.

So far this year, we’ve had a half dozen winter storms. One dropped nearly six inches in one day. Currently, there is about four inches on the ground, and this morning we had a couple of new inches added. The forecast fluctuates between rain/snow mix up to a foot of accumulation. It’s been a strange week for weather forecasters in Oregon.

Predictions for this week’s weather… looks like I’ll be using the snow shovel. It’s not as bad as I remember from the Montana winters of my youth.

That said, it is the most shoveling I’ve done in many years. All in all, we are enjoying the snowy winter weather of Central Oregon.