Sunset

Here is a picture of sunset from our room at the Embacadero in Newport.  

Looking forward to a fun day with sunny skies!

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family! We have had a very blessed Christmas... and will continue to do so through the weekend as Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa York has been rescheduled because of the snow and ice. (We actually made it into our cul-de-sac sideways this afternoon!!) The roads are still dicey (..and to that we're sorry that the King family Christmas couldn't be rescheduled but we can hardly make it around the Portland-Metro area, let alone out to Yamhill county!!)
Here are some of our Christmas pictures.

Leo being Leo

Here are some pictures of Leo being Leo. He likes playing in the snow and is also ready to get out of the house as well. Enjoy!

Digging Out

Here are pictures from this morning. I spent 2 hours digging out our driveway. After driving around the block, it is still a slick mess of packed snow and ice on our streets. Foster was a slushy mess, but it also had deep ice and snow piled up in the center turn lane. I watched the mail van again spin and spin with chains while navigating our cul-de-sac, even briefly getting stuck before rocking back in forth to get motoring again. Without chains, we will not be venturing out over Christmas. I do not want to be 'That Guy' who gets stuck in his SUV!

Blog Anniversary

Lost in all the snow yesterday was the one year anniversary of our Kings East blog. You can thank my mother that I remember things like this.
Looking forward to more snow tomorrow and hopefully making it out of the house soon!

A Very Snowy Snowshoe

Here are the pictures from my snowshoe adventure to the store this morning.  Enjoy!

This is me snowshoeing out for a newspaper.

Our house this morning.

Foster Road looking East at 131st Avenue.  

Yes, I am standing in the middle of the street for both of these picture.

Foster Road looking West at 131st Avenue.

Intersection of 126th and Foster.

Buried cars, bushes, and recycling on 131st Avenue.  

The orange thing on the right is a fire hydrant that is half buried in the snow.

Deep snow on a manhole cover.  

More Snow Pictures

I will not comment on each photo in this post as most are from our yard showing again just how deep it is getting.  Waking up again this morning to find it still snowing and piling up, I am out of words.  A friend said on Facebook, "Enjoy it, this amount of snow happens only twice in your lifetime."  I truly believe that as I will actually be able to tell future generations about the Big Snow of 2008.  Once again, enjoy the pictures!

Mail, Garbage, and Newspaper

This morning we finally did not receive a news paper.  So I ventured out with the snowshoes to a local convenience store to get a paper.  The mail was delivered, although I thought the truck might get stuck as the mail woman was turning around.  And for a second Monday in a row, no garbage service.  Enjoy the pictures!  

This is me all suited up with snowshoes headed out to find a newspaper.  You will notice that even with snowshoes, I am sinking 4-6 inches into the powder.  It was an enjoyable walk; calm, quiet, and snowy.  It felt like I was up in the Cascades snowshoeing with my friends with all the deep powdery snow.

Mail truck turning around with chained wheels spinning.

Mail woman fording the snow.

More Snow and Leo

Here are some pictures of Leo this morning in the snow, with over 14 inches it is up to his chest in places!  Thankfully there is still a layer of ice from yesterday so he doesn't sink all the way to the ground.

Leo and the Deep Snow

This week has been our first experience with Leo in the snow.  The first few snows he did okay as he was able to plow through the powder with his doggie four wheel drive.  We sanded the steps for him with kitty litter like the faithful road crews.  

Once the big snow started yesterday everything changed.  He did okay in the morning, but by last night the snow was up to his knees and he had to hop/jump to walk in it when going outside.  

We realized that maybe he needed his booties to keep the snow out of his paws.  This morning I booted him up and he took one look at the snow and reluctantly went down the steps which was a big mistake as he could barely navigate them in the deep snow now covered with an inch of crusty ice from the freezing rain.   Once down the stairs he could barely stand up on the ice in his booties, then awkwardly stumbles as he crashes through it into the powder.  I went out, retrieved the booties, and broke up a path for him to a space under a tree where the snow is not as deep.  He still is reluctant to go outside when he needs the bathroom.   Kelli wonders how people manage in the Midwest and east coast where deep snow is a regular occurrence.  

Leo bravely standing on the crust of ice sans booties.

Here is Leo sniffing the snow this morning.  Here he is still on top of the inch thick crust of ice.

Leo's water bucket outside long since frozen over, covered and almost buried in the deep snow.

  

Frozen Landscape

This is a picture looking from  our backyard towards a neighbors yard, every tree, bush, and shrub is frosted in snow and ice this morning.  Here are the latest pictures I have taken this morning of our yard.  We also had frosted front windows from the freezing rain which has since melted once our house warmed up.

This is our wreath on the front porch now flocked with snow and ice.

Looking from our front porch towards the street, a dogwood covered in ice.  Also, notice next to the parked cars that you cannot tell where the curb and sidewalk begin or end due to the deep snow.

Looking at our front yard from the porch, most  of the landscape rocks are covered in the deep snow.

This is the tree next to our front porch covered in ice.

A closer view of the maple tree in the backyard.  The wind blowing through this tree makes a crackling sound as the icy limbs knock against each other.

Here is a picture of the garden completely covered and the fence around it almost covered.

This is the hot tub with the first step covered in snow.

This is a picture of our maple tree in our backyard.  The patio steps and smaller landscape rocks are buried in snow.