A Trip to Portland and A Big Snow

I flew to Portland OR on the 18th of this month to spend some time with my 2 sons and my daughter-in-law-to-be.  I took photos, but only on my phone, which fell out of my pocket in the shuttle from my hotel to the airport on Saturday morning and has not yet made it to Ohio.  At least it was recovered and my son has picked it up and will send it to me.

But we had such a nice visit.  It was rainy the first couple days I was there, but then on Thursday which was when we went to the wedding venue, Silver Falls State Park, it was just overcast and around 50 degrees.  We got in a short hike and a picnic and got to go to the actual site where the wedding will be held and Michelle made notes and looked for just the right place to hold the ceremony and we discussed the rehearsal dinner and other details.  June is still over 4 months away, but it will be here before we know it.  

Friday was actually bright and sunny and about 60 degrees in Portland, while here in eastern Ohio, we were getting walloped with snow.  I was concerned about my return flight into Pittsburgh via Chicago, but I did not need to be.  Chicago had almost no snow and Pittsburgh had only about 3 to 4".  By the time I arrived at around 4 pm on Saturday, the roads were clear and there were no delays or other issues for my trip.  However, there was 14" of snow on the ground at home!  The farther south I drove from the airport toward home, the more snow there was. 

There was a full moon when I arrived home, so of course Sam and the dogs and I bundled up and went for a walk down the road.   The snow was too deep to venture off the road, but it was still spectacularly beautiful.  Sunday morning I had to go up and dig the fronts of the bee hives out of the snow so they could go out if they needed to.  I have some old hay bales stacked behind the hives to block some of the wind from the west but the hive entrances are at the bottom and they were thoroughly covered up.  The bees seem to be doing okay so far.  I have been feeding them on a regular basis and I just hope to get them through the winter so they can build up in the spring and maybe I can get a honey harvest this year.

 This is not the biggest snowfall we have had.  We had 22" over President's Day weekend in 2003 (I think that was the year).  Sam gets the tractor out and plows pathways between the buildings to make it easier to walk from place to place.  Here is the path from the chicken coop over to the alpaca barn.  

 And from the mud room door over to the footbridge.

Yesterday, Tuesday, it got well above freezing all day so much of the snow has already melted.  
 

But it was pretty while it lasted.

 
Since I got home from my trip, I have gotten back to work on the sweater I started in December.  I did not take it with me because it was too big to easily carry along (I took a pair of mittens instead) and work on on the plane.  I have now finished the cabled part of the body of the sweater and have moved on the ribbed lower edge.




This is the back.  That's a lot of cables!  I do like this type of knitting that keeps my mind engaged, though there is a time and place for knitting one does not have to think about as well (like on a plane).  



 
I also sewed the bindings on one of the rugs I took off the loom before my trip.  Hopefully I will get the other one done in the next few days. 




This one is white alpaca yarn for the weft and I think there are 5 different colors in the warp.  The other rug is the same except using grey alpaca rug yarn.  So my big loom is empty right now and I am not sure what will be on it next.  By March, I plan to have a big project on it, something I can hopefully enter in the Monroe Artists' Art Show in April.  That gives me a month to plan and weave another rug or two.