Crazy Spring Weather

We headed to bed Thursday night after our normal routine including the dog walk.  The walk was a good walk -- the weather was dry, and you could see the moon in between the clouds.  It was a bit chillier than normal, but nothing out of the ordinary.  But, when we woke up on Friday morning, we had quite the surprise -- SNOW!  And not just a dusting of snow, we had at least 2" on the ground and it was still snowing.  REALLY?  Isn't it supposed to be March, and didn't Spring officially arrive earlier in the week.  This didn't look like Spring to us.  What does it look like to you?

 Here's a shot from the front door...

And here are a couple of shots from the 2nd floor guest bedroom, looking down in our backyard.  You can see the "stream bed" that Jared just removed all of the moss from the previous weekend.

 

More backyard pictures, but this time, from the kitchen viewpoint.

When we headed out to work, it was still snowing.  Jared was driving the Titan because he had rented a lawn de-thatcher for the upcoming weekend (to get rid of the moss in the yard) and because it had snowed, Kristina decided not to drive the 350Z, but to take the Juke (she has a really steep hill to climb for work -- and who know if the rode was plowed).  By the time Kristina arrived at work, she was seeing some blue skies, and by noon, all of the snow had melted.  If we have to get lowland snow, that's the kind of snow we like -- here and GONE!

Seattle Sounders

We had an opportunity to attend a Seattle Sounders Game today.  It was against the Portland Timbers.   For those of you reading this post, the Seattle Sounders are the professional soccer team in town.  Soccer is a bid deal in the Pacific NW, and we had been meaning to go to a game.  Well last week at SonoSite, Kristina was given two tickets to SonoSite's Club Suite at Century Link Field for this Sounder's game.  We jumped at the opportunity to check it out.

Since it was a Club Suite (#28 to be exact), we had food provided and we didn't need to eat prior to going to the game.  So we drove over to the Westlake Area of Seattle and parked, and then hopped on the light rail to the Stadium.  It was a great way to go, and it kept us for having to fight the traffic around the stadium.  For a shot of our view.  Make sure you select Club Level Suites in the middle top of the page.

It was a fun game, but it ended in a tie 1-1.  Next time we'll have to check out a Seahawks game!

One Down, Two More to Go

In our quest to get rid of the 80's oak look in our house, our latest project has been closet doors. All three of our guest bedrooms (actually the craft room and the two guest bedrooms) have very ugly closet doors.  They were the Louvre type doors and not very attractive whatsoever.  Our 2nd guest bedroom didn't even have any closet doors because they were broken when we moved in and that was one of the first things we got rid of, but we hadn't had time to replace until now.  Here's the finished product.

This is the up close detail of the doors.  We weren't exactly looking for a traditional look, but when we went to Frank's Lumber Store, they had these beautiful, unfinished cherry doors for a steal of a deal -- and they had enough for our three rooms.  We jumped at the chance of such a great deal, and Jared did a marvelous job of staining them and finishing them up with two coats of poly.  The wood grain really comes out.

The closet doors were trimmed out with a white trim to offset the traditional look and to go with the new baseboards that will eventually be installed upstairs as well.  However, the baseboards probably won't be done until later this fall.  Yard work is next on our agenda!

Tolt River

Today was one of those beautiful Washington days.  It was sunny, clear, dry, and in the mid 50's.  As long as you were in the sun, it seemed perfect.  We took the opportunity to go to our favorite spot in Carnation, the Tolt River.  We started off letting Indy take a dip in the river (and of course, she fetched several sticks).  However, after we did this, we turned back and went away from where it merges with the Snoqualmie River.  It was a very nice path and there was hardly no one walking on it.  Indy ran to her hearts content and took many more dips in the river.  As Jared would say, "She is a SWIMMER!".  That dog loves jumping into the river to soak.  She jumps in gets all wet and then hops out.  We walk a ways down the trail and she has to jump in again, get all wet, and do it all over again.  Lucky for us, the river is very clear!  What a day to be a doggie!

Another Coyote Sighting

Last weekend Kristina made her way through the thicket in the back of the backyard and placed the wildlife camera on a tree.  The camera was parallel to the Tolt Pipeline Trail and looking towards our path out to the trail.  We have known for quite some time that this is a "coyote route" through the yard.  Well here is our best coyote video yet.  He/She is standing right in front of the video camera.

He/She looks pretty young since he/she doesn't appear to be very large even when it is so close to the camera.

A Squirrel Hiding a Peanut

Last month we wrote a post telling you all about the new squirrel feeder that we bought.  The squirrels love to come up and grab peanuts out of it.  Well here is some video of the squirrel after it has snagged a peanut from the new feeder...

February Rain

Well, it is March already!  This past February was the driest February that we had experienced since we moved to Washington.  Our rain total for the month was 2.86" (as measured by our rain gauge on the deck). Weather.com reports that our average for February in Woodinville is more than 4", so we were definitely a little shy.  However, we have no shortage of moss in our yard.  The mountains have been getting snow regularly and the rivers in the area seem to be pretty full too.  It will be interesting to see what March will bring.  The good news is that is "seems" like spring will be here soon -- even the daffodils think so.

The hydrangea is even starting to "green" up!  We love this time of year.  It seems like every time we turn around something is starting to come alive.