In Case You Live in a Drought Area, We Got Water...

We've really been stuck inside for what feels like forever. The week before Christmas it rained, like, a lot. Then it got really cold and snowed. then it stayed cold and the snow didn't leave. So, it snowed again. And finally it warmed up and started to rain because reasons.

So, once again, the sun has finally come out. For the first time weeks, I've been able to go for my morning run without being in a downpour or up to my ankles in snow/slush. This seems like a good time to find some hydrophobic leaves in the weak sunshine we have near the winter solstice.

Yet, the low sun angles have their advantages for the photographer. First, one need not rise so painfully early to get that good morning light. It isn't really light here now until about 8:00. 

Even then, it is crap shoot. On this day, the sun did not come out from behind a cloud until after 10:00. In the winter I get to use the good light by keeping bankers hours.

One of the fun items on the radio lately has been the talk about the snow in the mountain passes. There are, as best I can count, 6 passes connecting the Pacific Northwest to the rest of the world. The northernmost is state road 20. It closes every winter and is really not a route to take for anything but pleasure. This leaves 5 possibilities. The next one moving south is Stevens Pass. It is closed now due to insane amounts of snow and avalanche concerns. Then comes Snoqualmie pass where I-5 crosses the mountains. It has also been closed, off and on, for excessive snow and avalanche threat. Chinook pass, near Mt. Rainier is also snowed in. There were days when the only ways in or out of this corner of paradise we live in were North to Canada, South to Oregon, or along the north shore of the Columbia River on US hwy 12.

When this situation was described on the radio I though, "My goodness, the US is cut-off!". I wonder how the rest of the country survives without a reliable connection to the PNW? No wonder there are hurricanes, wildfires, cats and dogs living together, and snowstorms paralysing the rest of the lower 48.

The unspoken fear here is that with all the exits plugged, there is no way for all this water to drain out and we'll just float away. Imagine the terror in the bulk of the US upon learning that where the passes reopen, that we have floated out to sea!

It really is the end times.