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.