Snow's Gone...For Now

While much of the rest of the nation has been shivering and shoveling we have seen nearly all of the snow that was dumped on us in November melt away in a mild and rainy stretch of weather.  On Sunday I was out putting Christmas lights on the house in 50 degree temperatures (yes!!!) and on Monday night into Tuesday morning we were in the midst of a tropical rain.  Actually, it was subtropical moisture that had made its way into the Inland Northwest compliments of the "Pineapple Express", a conveyor belt of warm moist air that originates south of the Hawaiian Islands.  The result of all of this is that the snow that has been covering the ground has made a rather quick exit, and I have to admit that after November I thought it would be at least late February before we would see the ground emerge again.  All that is left are the big snow berms that were plowed up last month and deposited in our front yard.  But alas, all good things must come to an end, and colder weather is slowly settling in.  Things are looking pretty quiet through Friday, but then the snow will be coming back.  It appears as if we will be seeing the ground get covered up again on Saturday, and add to it on Sunday.  Right now it only looks like a few inches, but stay tuned for further refinement on that forecast.  For the week leading up to Christmas it will probably remain rather chilly with a little snow from time to time, so winter will likely be rearing its ugly head again.

Yesterday I had the good fortune of experiencing a journey to the middle of nowhere.  The early part of the week turned out to be quite busy, as I had two out of town trips to officiate basketball games.  Monday I drove, along with a partner, to Chewelah, about an hour north of Spokane on US Highway 395.  Yesterday I was sent to a place called Wellpinit.  If you haven't heard of Wellpinit you can be numbered with the vast majority of folks.  To get there you head west from Spokane, either by way of US 2 through Reardan, or taking the scenic route along the Spokane River.  After leaving civilization behind and winding around through the hills and forests for about an hour or so you will come upon a tiny outpost in southern Stevens County...and that's it...you are in Wellpinit!  Fortunately the thick fog that we experienced on Monday heading to and from Chewelah was not a problem on Tuesday or we might have missed it.

Tomorrow night our "Sweet Babboo", Beth, will be coming home from college for a one month holiday break.  She is looking forward to it, and so are we, but the novelty will probably wear off in a few days, so we will see where that all goes.  Christmas is just a little over a week away, and one of these days I might start thinking about shopping.  That is so against my nature and better judgment though!