The Methow River at Twisp

 

A dramatic bump in the USGS water flow graph yesterday!

 

 

To put it in perspective, yearly graph shows the flow was even higher than last spring's runoff. Not flood stage, but just remarkable in that it reached that level in a matter of hours instead of over several weeks. Never underestimate the power of a river.

 

And today, receding back almost as fast as it went up.

 

Unlike the Columbia River, which has numerous dams for flood control and hydropower, the Methow River does not have major flood control dams. Historically, levees were constructed to protect farmland and towns, but these confine the river to a channel and block fish. 

 

 

 

Methow Salmon Recovery is working with landowners (which can be a tough sell) to remove or modify these old levees. This allows the river to access its natural floodplain during high flows, which slows the water and reduces flood damage downstream, while benefiting salmon habitat. Makes sense, but only time will tell. 

 

Anyway, long story short we dodged a bullet. If the warm atmospheric river came in the spring on heavy mountain snow pack, it would be a different situation along the Methow and other eastern Washington rivers.

 

The weekend is here after a week of unrelenting rain and bad news. The Northwest is drying out for a few days and people can start to assess the damage. 

 

Have a good one-- Christmas is closing in fast.  

 

 

 

Thank you, Indonesia

 

The Snoqualmie River

They estimate nearly 5 trillion gallons of water have fallen in the Northwest this week, leading to historic river flooding, especially along the Snoqualmie and Skagit. 

That long fire hose of water traces to other side of the world, where a tropical cyclone in Indonesia supercharged these stubborn atmospheric rivers that have drenched us for days. Small world, indeed.

I went to the gym early yesterday morning and spent the rest of the day at home-- both of us happy we didn't have to go anywhere. 

That said, a long dark rainy day inside can put you in a pretty dreary mood:

"I sat there with Sally. We sat there, we two. And I said, 'How I wish we had something to do!' Too wet to go out and too cold to play ball. So we sat in the house. We did nothing at all."

The Cat and the Hat, Dr. Seuss 

 

And as that saying goes, and Cat in the Hat shows, "idle hands are the devil's playthings." 

With a little help from YouTube videos, I got busy and framed my embroideries that were just stored in a shoe box. 

 

Turned out pretty! Now I need to find a bit of empty wall to hang them. Somewhere. 

 

In food news, pizza night, and this vegetarian beauty made with balls of fresh mozzarella instead of cheese out of the plastic package. With enough wine, that brightened up the evening. 

It's still raining this morning, but supposed to finally taper off by the end of the day. 

 

That is not a water fountain-- it is rain blowing sideways through the athletic track field lights.

The birds are happy

 

 

The human weather misery index is high but the birds are sure happy in this warm and wet weather. The yard seems filled with more than usual, which I attribute the messy garden beds and of course the seed feeder is up for the winter.

The juncos, wrens and white crowned sparrows like foraging through the rotting vegetation. I used to get carried away in the fall, cutting everything back to the ground, but have learned that leaving most clean up til spring is huge for the wintering birds and insects. All the new houses in West Seattle have industrial type landscaping (if any) and these old established gardens are slowly disappearing. 

 And under all the slime, the day lilies already thinking of spring. 

You have probably heard about the river flooding and might wonder about our little house perched along the Methow River. If this type of atmospheric river hit in the spring and stalled on a heavy mountain snow pack, that would be bad news for the rivers on the eastern side of the state.

It's the western Washington rivers that are raging now. Snoqualmie Falls puts on quite a show and becomes a big tourist attraction. 

 

  

More than just heating

 

 An original, old school Russian stove with a cooking oven and sleeping loft on top.

And a fancy "oven beds" as they are sometimes called. 

 

According to AI, masonry heat has a gentle but penetrating warmth that feels like the sun on your skin or a warm rock. Unlike furnaces and wood stoves that heat the air, Russian stoves give a cozy, deep warmth without big temperature swings.

Sold yet?

 

That's not a Russian peasant and his faithful dog Ha! It's our own dear, hardworking Tom, soaking up warmth on the home hearth. 

Amanda says the hearth is soothing to lay on (obviously) and the stove is certainly the center of the home this time of year-- shorts in December. 

From "A Countryman's Autumn Notebook" by Adrian Bell

“And yet, what are the true joys of life? By what does a man in all sincerity measure his standard of living? For myself, I would say that the good life is a small house, a cottage, and in that cottage a hearth that will burn wood, and a lamp or two and a shelf of books.” 

 

Sad tree, happy tree

 

 

The photo isn't sideways. A windstorm on Friday night knocked over the tree on the front porch. 

Weather has been stormy and unsettled as the massive atmospheric river approaches the Northwest. I'll bet some of those blow-up Santas and reindeer in the neighborhood also went flying. 

Sigh. I got the dirt mess cleaned up and put a Methow River rock on top of the pot to weigh it down until spring. 

 

That's a prettier sight.  

Quite a project when those tubs come down from the attic. A Scroogey thing to admit that I don't enjoy the decorating part very much, but the house looks so pretty when it's done. 

 

 

And hello to the funny old treasures, carefully stored through the decades. 

This plaster nativity set is about 80 years old. It probably came from Woolworths in Quakertown when we were kids. 

The camels, donkey and Wise Men are long gone, and the group winnowed down to the essential trio plus the angel, which is a miracle when you think of all the little hands that have touched it. One of the sheep has a broken leg but he's hanging in there.

And we're hanging in there too, waiting to see what four days of heavy rain will bring.  

The weekend

 

Just a little holiday display to brighten the kitchen window box. We haven't had a hard freeze yet, so the geraniums there were still blooming away. Occasionally they make it through the winter, but they're sad looking puppies by spring so I start over with new ones from Costco. What else blooms for seven months straight?

We have a seven foot Douglas Fir to wrestle inside today-- also haul the tubs and boxes down from the attic crawl space. A wet weekend and good time to make a start on cookies and cards. 

Instead of a Christmas letter, I decided to write personal notes to the few people we're in touch with only once a year. To be honest, most of the family keeps up with us on the blog anyway. We're in good health so no complaints! I just don't have the energy to put a happy spin on 2025. Hopefully next year is better, especially in the vacation department. 

We dug out the Christmas CD collection and the old albums are still the best-- young Doris Day has a voice like an angel, and Mel Torme's snappy version of Good King Wenceslas is my favorite carol, along with with Holly and the Ivy. On the other hand, once a year is enough to suffer through A Little Drummer Boy and The Twelve Days of Christmas. Especially at the grocery store. 

Ukulele players are partial to the most goofy, jokey Christmas songs ever written and we started in on that catalog yesterday.  I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas is more fun than struggling though five gory stanzas of We Three Kings. But our leader likes the complicated carol arrangements done by classic bands like The Eagles and Beach Boys. Just my opinion, but Little Saint Nick on ukulele is right up there with Drummer Boy. Ha Ha. 

 Have a good weekend. Take care. 

Weird products

 

Sometimes I buy this little box of dehydrated potato pancakes and it's actually pretty good. Mix with eggs and water, then fry blobs a small amount of vegetable oil (not olive.) 

They soak up all the oil like a sponge, so go light. I guess in the evil ultra-processed food category, but real latkes are messy work-- the potatoes finely grated, wrung dry in dish towels, etc. etc.

Karen gave us a jar of her homemade applesauce and it was a delicious topping.

I skipped the sour cream for a change, not being that hungry last night. Why?

Lunch: Orange Chicken, the Panda Express signature dish. Good grief. We were out buying a Christmas tree and running other errands.

Also in the wild and weird category, an impulse bottle of cranberry wine, of all things. What a beautiful jewel red holiday color!  Hopefully it tastes half as good as it looks-- maybe with the Christmas ham.
 

Chili for chilly nights

 

We made a giant pot of chili with ground beef and a bag of heirloom Jacobs Cattle Beans, mail ordered from Rancho Gordo. Why go to all the trouble, when you can just open cans of kidney beans?

Well, these beautiful beans are pretty special. While they look like any other bean after they cook, they hold their shape and have a meaty texture that makes them especially good for chili. 

(Legend has it that Jacobs Cattle beans were a gift from the Passamaquoddy Native Americans to the first non-native child born in Lubec, Maine. Aw. Nice story.)

 

John won't touch sour cream, but I like a fattening dab to mellow out spicy food. 

Speaking of chilly, while the eastern half of the country freezes, we've been warm so far this winter. That's typical of our contrarian weather in the Pacific Northwest. They're starting to fret about the lack of mountain snow pack, but plenty of time to make that up. It will probably dump on the passes around Christmas, when people want to travel. 

Speaking of, we're off to get a tree today at Mclendon's Hardware in White Center. Maybe that will put me in a Christmas mood. Or not. 
 

Praising Manners

 

A poem posted on the blog in December 2015. Still true. 

 

"Praising Manners"
by Robert Bly

We should ask God
To help us toward manners. Inner gifts
Do not find their way
To creatures without just respect.
If a man or woman flails about, he not only
Smashes his house,
He burns the whole world down.
Your depression is connected to your insolence
And your refusal to praise. If a man or woman is
On the path, and refuses to praise — that man or woman
Steals from others every day — in fact is a shoplifter!
The sun became full of light when it got hold of itself.
Angels began shining when they achieved discipline.
The sun goes out whenever the cloud of not-praising comes near.
The moment that foolish angel felt insolent,
He heard the door close. 

And look at these little girls, ten years ago! We knew they would grow up, but just didn't realize it would happen so fast. 

 

December arrives

 

A pretty view of Twisp Works during "Mistletoe Madness" last Friday night. This an annual outdoor holiday event, but different from our typical street fairs in Seattle, where the same vendors sell the same (mostly) imported stuff. 

In Twisp, the shops, galleries, and art studios all host open houses, and the arts and crafts are local. You would be amazed at the artistic talent in the Methow Valley. 

Our family drove in from the pear farm and we walked up to downtown Twisp together, which was jammed with people. It was fun but a challenge finding dinner. There are only two restaurants, and one was closed on such a busy night, go figure. Everything worked out and we had some good barbecue. 

In the morning, I cleaned the river house and we closed up, probably now for the winter.

For luck, I always take a parting shot before shutting the door. See you in February. Maybe. 

 

We hit the road early on Saturday morning, fueled by gourmet donuts from Orchard House and Lone Pine Coffee. We lucked out on the weather and traffic, having an easy drive both directions.

 

 

We had a full load because I talked John into bringing a chair back to Seattle. There was a big, uncomfortable recliner crammed in this little room, and now I have a bright corner to read and sew this winter.

We hauled that old lug out to the sidewalk with a free sign and it was gone in an hour.

A rare, perfect winter day for getting rid of furniture! Sunny from start to finish, topped off by a beautiful sunset from the front porch. 

 

The freshly cut tree is already up at the farmhouse. Guess I need to put it into holiday gear around here.

Sweet times

 

 

Wonderful Thanksgiving spread in the farmhouse dining room...

Family walk afterwards in the orchard...

The Russian stove hard at work...

The poor lonely pear...

And other farm excitement, a new rooster (gifted from a neighbor) joins Amanda's flock of 12 hens. All is well. 

 

 

Over the river, etc.

 

We left Seattle before dawn yesterday and had a surprisingly easy drive with light traffic. The snow was following right behind us, but we were tucked in at Twisp when the storm moved over the mountain passes in the afternoon.

This morning, the first pretty snowfall along the river. Winter arrives! Friends Karen and Bruce came over for dinner last night (I love how things are so impromptu here) and we had a nice visit over soup and wine.

Making a pumpkin cheesecake this morning with Maya, and we'll gather at the orchard farmhouse tomorrow for a country feast. 

Have a peaceful holiday, and let's give thanks for all the unknown blessings already on their way.