Darwin Awards, Pinball, and other Trivia

Kitty Accessible, originally uploaded by apkoski.

Every evening our little happy furry family crams & wedges ourselves onto the bed for a nice cozy sleep. This morning we awoke to a light dusting, the result of a regular Portland mist combined with abnormal sub-zero temps. Paul caught the 5:53 to Downtown as usual, and I did my normal AM routine consisting of kitchen duty, coffee, and e-mail correspondence. Then I e-mailed my mom to tell her about the impending "snow storm," remembering last week's buildup to a 'Winter Storm,' that left a teeny layer of the white fluffy stuff, and ensuing over-freak-outedness (mostly on the media's part). I scoff.

THEN pandemonium did occur. It snowed buckets (which translates to about 4 inches) between 8-ish and 10-ish. All the major roads were jammed - trucks jackknifed, cars abandoned, people playing bumper cars (*see video), buses getting stuck. Chains/studs were required for driving, since there's no (nearly) plows and salt trucks. THEN it got worse. Local news channels held "Continuous Extended Coverage" for hours into the day, people drove the streets towing their kids on sleds, four-wheeling fools tore up the parks, and hardly anybody shoveled their walks!

It wasn't all pandemonium though. Our tween neighbors and other neighborhood youngsters & dogs got outside and played in the snow throughout the afternoon. Folks reportedly broke out the kayaks & sleds on Mt. Tabor. I got outside and played in the snow! We all got at least part of the day off! And, because there aren't enough trucks to get rid of the snow, we get another (at least) half day off tomorrow. Yahoo!
-A