January Rain

January started out wet; we received 4.4 inches of rain by January 10th.  Then things dried up for two weeks and got pretty cold.  It started raining again on the 24th and since then we have received an additional 1.4 inches of rain, and it is still raining.  No complaints here, we are just glad the cold weather (i.e., scraping the car windows in the morning) has gone and we are back to rain.  It seems like it will be no problem for us to receive our average rainfall of 5 inches of rain for the month of January.  What do you think?

Note:  we finished January with 7.1" of rain.

Squirrel Video from the Yard Camera

The yard camera wasn't too successful catching very good photos, so Jared decided to switch it to video mode.  Here's our latest yard action...

A Little Lowland Snow

Well, it finally happened, we received a little lowland snow -- basically just a dusting.  It was here and gone before you know it and people tell us that is how it is supposed to be in Western Washington.  However, this is the third winter that we have been here and it is the first time we have only gotten a dusting of snow.  We'll have to see if this continues, or if we do get some snow down here before winter is gone.  We would be just fine without any substantial lowland snow.

The River in January

It was a decent day for January today.  Decent being defined as no rain.  However with no rain comes colder temperatures (right around the mid 30's), but the sun was shining and it was a Saturday, so we decided to take a trip to the Tolt River in Carnation and see what the river looked like in January.

We haven't really gotten any snow in the lowlands this year (good), but the mountains have been getting lots of snow.  However, since it is still chilly the snow should be still in the mountains and not flowing in the rivers yet.  Here are a couple shots of the river...

You can definitely tell it is winter time (no leaves in the trees), but any time you see the sun, it is a good day.

Jared is walking along the shore checking things out and Indy is helping him.  If you look closely, you can tell that Indy has already been in the river (her undercarriage is damp), but she didn't submerge like she usually does, just running in and checking it out.

Indy looking towards the brush.  There were some people over their taking pictures, but she was hoping there was a dog that she could go meet.  No such luck this time.

Kristina and Indy posing near the shoreline. 

And finally, here's proof that Indy was in the river...video of her fetching a stick in the cold, slightly icy, river water.

Happy New Year's Day 2013

2012 was the 7th wettest year on record for the Seattle area.  We can tell you that we received about 8" of rain in November and 8" of rain in December, so we don't find it hard to believe that it was the 7th wettest year on record.  However, considering the marvelous August, September, and October we had -- we are definitely not going to complain one bit.  We both agree if we had another weather year like 2012 for 2013, we would be ecstatic.  That being said though, we started off 2013 dry and sunny -- albeit fairly chilly.  Again, we both agree, we can take colder weather if it is dry and sunny.

So, let's start off with the back yard.  We have the typical gray squirrels around our house, but we also have Douglas Squirrels -- the we affectionately call "Doug".  We don't know if it is the same squirrel, or a few different squirrels, but he/she/they is/are always entertaining.  Doug is smaller in size and much darker than the typical gray squirrel.  In addition, he is pretty sneaky.  Jared has found him several times in our shed out back -- if we buy bird seed or corn cobs and we don't put them in our metal bins, he breaks into the packaging and helps himself.  Here is he partaking in the corn cob and enjoying a little dry time.  

Jared was able to get a fairly close picture here, and Doug doesn't seem to be too worried about us taking his photo. 

Now for some more birdhouse photos -- everything just looks better in the sun.  Here's the smaller bird house, you can also see the yard camera on the tree next to it. 

And here is the larger bird house... 

After getting some stuff done in the yard, we decided to take a walk up the hill.  As you can see, we weren't the only ones out enjoying the dry, sunny weather.  We don't think we have EVER seen this MANY people and dogs at the top of the hill!

A nice shot of the Cascades from the top of the hill...see all of that snow -- exactly where it belongs...IN THE MOUNTAINS! 

Here's a nice shot of the Olympics.  Once you are at the top of the hill, if you look East, you can see the Cascades; if you look West, you see the Olympics -- not a bad view in any direction. 

And of course, Indy had to say hello to one of the dogs on the trail.  Actually she thinks she has to say hi to ALL of the dogs on the trail...let's just say it was a LONG walk.  :)