Friday, January 18, 2008

Aaaarrrgggghhhhh!


After last month's storm... we are a bit upset with the phone companies- land lines and cell providers. But considering it was a national emergency storm... the fact that we had no telephone(land line) or cell phone service for 3+ days... well, it was a catastrophic event... so we understood.

Today for ALL DAY- more than 8 hours so far...possibly over 12 hours... we have NO COMMUNICATION out of the area and into the area using land lines. But, EVEN the cell phones are affected! I can't call the office across the street, the home or anything but out of area- via my cell phone.

They say a fiber was cut- and qwest is repairing.. except CenturyTel and AT&T have told me that they are not getting responses back from QWEST about this. The 911 service is out... and over in Astoria, Oregon- their communication has the same problem. What gives?!

Internet is functioning- which is on long distance fibers..... so huh?
The fiber cut happened over in Kelso they say- but not confirmed is vandalism reports.
In a word- we need REDUNDANCY! Good grief! We pay $$$$ for these services vital to our public health, business economics, safety and communication. (We can't go back to letters- heaven knows how bad the local USPS is around here!) Redundancy is the word. I am seriously considering HAM radio now. Or a boat with a marine radio band. I could go high tech and buy a satellite phone!

I guess we should all take a chill pill- and go clam dig. There is a clam tide this weekend.
Nothing will soothe the savage breast like some razor clams.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Winter storms

Big wind gusts, huge surf surges and pounding rain. Our big relief is that it is dark and dreary- so you can't see much. The puddles have become lakes and you sink into the ground- as if being out on the sandy ocean edge.

Cozy fires, light bulbs and good books are important- the cable tv, internet and cell phones are intermittent.
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Saturday, January 05, 2008

Paris heads back to college.

Aura drove little sister, Paris, to Portland and PDX. They spent the night at the Grandparents after seeing a movie and some final shopping. In the early morning, Paris flies back to the UP.

Christmas break at NMU is over soon and she has a research project to put a ton of hours into. She will be greated with snow and have to dig her car out of the driveway.











Indoor track season will start and a little snow won't slow her down from 6am workouts in the Dome.

It will be quiet around here after a busy Holiday season.

Paris will return in May for a few weeks before Aura heads off to Quantico -the first of June.


Here is a little 'pasty' with some Toivo and Eino's sauce. Yummm... we need some Verners to wash it down!

Friday, January 04, 2008

More high wind, rain and flooding.

High Wind warning in effect until 10am PST Saturday...
High Surf advisory in effect from 11am PST this morning until 6pm PST this afternoon...High Surf warning in effect from 6pm PST this evening to 2pm PST Saturday....

Will it ever end? This is only Jan 4!


Today we have had 70 mph wind. Tomorrow we expect over 80 mph gusts. Last night was so loud we could not sleep.

(the doggie photo is so cute, but I forgot where I found it, I think over on the Daily Astorian site... or I would have credited it)

Wednesday, January 02, 2008

A final look at Christmas

The Santas are bidding you farewell until next year!

How we spent the end of 2007

Pacific County set up a landfill dump site for the debris from fallen trees due to the storm. The rain, ice and hail finally cleared enough for us to spend a few days clearing out lot, driveway and the immediate neighbor properties from our fallen trees. It was cold and very tiring... Brett's old '59 Ford was filled to the brim (and the load roped down) for 11 trips to the landfill. Brett took charge of the chain saw and the girls and I went back and forth with the truck.