Christmas Eve Icicles

Had to run over to church on Christmas Eve in the morning and this is what greeted me:

Paranoid squirrel . . .

I was walking along this morning on my walk down to the river and saw this squirrel just sitting there eating.
I grabbed my camera from my pocket and got off the first shot.
Then, it scrambled up the tree and hid pretty good between the branches but I found it anyway.
Finally, it moved again and I got another shot!

Flooding in WA state. . .

We had 12 days of snow lately and across the Columbia River in Portland, Oregon, they had 15 days of snow. Then the rain came and we have had 4 days of rain. There's no place for all that melted snow/rain to go -- so it floods over the banks as the Columbia River rises.
I showed you this photo last Sunday when I titled the post "The Columbia is rising" -- I put it back on this entry to compare my photos from today. The little spot I took the photos has a small beach but big enough to walk on for a few yards and take a wonderful photo of Mt. Hood in the east across the river but not now.

The log on the small beach is now in the river submerged -- only the V shaped limbs are seen above the water.
Well, the Columbia is overflowing its banks but we do not have floods like Chehalis or Centralia and for that I am thankful. It is 51 degrees outside today. I am hoping that we get some more snow but it doesn't look like that will happen any too soon. . . definitely not in time for my birthday. . .

Snow walk continued. . .

The snow is getting deep on the ground and even in the trees!
View from the 9th floor of my apartment building.
Thought this was neat how the snow covered the bushes and made a curvy line against the wall background.
I couldn't see the trail by the replica of Fort Vancouver at the end of the Land Bridge and mistakenly walked the trail east to the fence around the Fort. It was quite deep in places up to my knees!
Now if the snow on this bench were soft and warm, it would make a soft cushion. . . unfortunately, it is only soft to look at and comfortable to one's eyes.
Snow covered slabs of stone that are used as benches during warmer weather.
The fishing pier from the sidewalk and a stone bench along the walkway.
Although this looks like a bench along the pedestrian bridge over Hiway 14, it is really just a cement curbing to keep people out of the flower beds. The unique looking iron fence is to prevent people from jumping over it onto the hiway which runs under it or railroad tracks which run parallel
to the river beyond.

Bridges Between - January 2009

RuneE is sponsoring this monthly challenge on the first Monday of every month. Bridges Between is subject to open interpretation.

We have a long trail that goes from one side of the city to the other, following Burnt Bridge Creek. At one time this little bridge was the end of the trail.
It's a great place to watch the ducks in the spring and summer but even they know when to head for warmer shelter when the snows blanket the earth.

People here in this city of Vancouver, WA appreciate the outdoors and have made a lot of walking trails. Eventually, funds were available to extend this trail beyond this little bridge where it ended 20 years ago. It had only 4 miles built along this creek until then. THUS, this little bridge represents the "between" part of the old trail and the newer addition. It is truly a bridge between the old and the new trail.

I walked over this snowy bridge during our 2nd snowfall of this winter about two weeks ago.

Blog Your Blessings Sunday

If you care to join us acknowledging our blessings go here: Blue Panther

If you didn't know it before, I LOVE SNOW! Last week I had a few snow photos to post but for some reason, I could not get even one to upload. I tried and tried. I still can't upload those particular photos so I am trying with some others. . . (possibly my files are too large with this new camera because I can now load two photos and it takes awhile but they finally appear. . . )

I managed to get one photo to upload earlier today. . . and my blessing is 11 days of snow, two rather large snowfalls -- one of them just before Christmas and one on Christmas Day. AND the best part is that winter isn't over yet! Maybe it will snow for my birthday on the 12th????? ANYWAY . . .
I was walking to a friend's home a couple miles off the bus route to visit her like I do often and every Christmas Day. . . you see, my friend had a stroke 4 years ago and doesn't get out much anymore. I thought this scene with the horses and it snowing was very interesting. . . PLEASE click on it to enlarge and see it snowing!!!!!
These poor weeds seem to be drowning in snow and I like the simplicity of the photo.
As you can see, the snow went right down to the Columbia River's edge and meets the broken ice.
This bush has flowers that have curled into "pom poms" shape and almost look like cherries hanging from a tree. You can really see the snow drifts here.
Another shot of the same bush.
This is the scene in front of our apartment building one snowy morning.
Another snowy car down the street. . .
This is the street in front of the historical Fort vancouver replica. I had walked over to the LAND BRIDGE, over it, into the Fort Vancouver's field and around the barracks and finally up this street which looked so beautiful and peaceful that I had to take a photo.
See that chunk of ice in the snowbank? I was shoveling the sidewalks at our apartment building because maintenance doesn't work weekends and I love to shovel snow. . . BUT FIRST, I had to break through the ice chunks that had formed overnight. It was still fun to do the job and many appreciated it.
Look at all that snow! This house is boarded up because the property was bought for a new library, business high rise and condos.

So this has been my blessing for the past two weeks. . . lots of snow!

I have missed visiting everyone and will be around this week again.

The Columbia is rising!!!!

I heard about rivers flooding around Washington so I walked down to the Columbia River yesterday. We had two days of rain that melted our 9 days of snow. This is what I found at one spot near downtown. See that old fallen tree trunk? It is usually on the small beach and not in the water. I can usually step out close to the water and photograph Mt. Hood in Oregon. Since it was a blue sky day, I tried to find the mountain but couldn't because of the flood waters and clouds with jsut a speck of blue in that direction. Most of the snow that was clear to the river's edge is also gone.

Now that I finally got one photo uploaded, I will try to catch up on my reading of blogs that I usually visit and hopefully participate in Blog Your Blessings Sunday and Bridges Between Monday also.