SWWE Day 3: Slush

SWWE= Significant Winter Weather Event, according to the weather bureau. It is supposed to get more significant tomorrow with wind and maybe lots of snow. But who knows. Today we had rain on top of snow. Cold rain so it didn't melt much of the snow, but enough so I could get out the driveway (in the pickup with snow tires) through deep slush and to town for the eye drops I ran out of last night. (Eye drops for my beginning glaucoma, which the doc is trying to hold at bay, bless him.)

The temperature warmed enough to make the snow sheets on our metal roofs begin to slide off. My horses do not like thick sheets of snow suddenly plummeting to the ground. They refused to go past those falling sheets into the barn to eat, except for old Polly, who has more sense than the rest of them.




Driving northeastward out of the coast range, I ran into far less snow than we have, but more graveled roads. Many lowlanders don't know how to drive in snow so there were lots of wrecks yesterday, I understand. Our road has never been plowed that I can remember no matter how much snow we get. But most everyone around here has 4 wheel drive (we don't) and keep the road more or less passable just by driving on it.

I naturally had to look for the Rough-legged Hawk we found on my last raptor run. His (her?) winter hunting grounds are more or less between here and town. The bird cooperated by posing in light rain on top of a fir tree right next to the road. I took this photo through the windshield.



While in town, I bought a few more sacks of horse feed to add to the major load of feed for all the animals that we picked up last Saturday, just before the snow began. Also last week, while the weather was still sunny, we had a load of alfalfa hay for the goats delivered. Let it snow. We're ready.