Winter At Hand

We had a big fierce windstorm on Monday. It threw an empty wheelbarrow towards the parked vehicles—luckily landing between two of them instead of in a windshield. It plucked all the recycling out of the tub next to the wall, and chased the flattened cans and plastic jugs into the bushes. It dropped trees on electric wires.

City Light got the power back in our neighborhood in about 10 hours, and the DSL came back three hours later. But out to the west? Whoo-eee. 98 mile-per-hour gusts reported at Clallam Bay, roads closed by fallen trees all over the Park. Clallam County Public Utility District—with its vast geographical area to cover and, as is apparently usual, experiencing the worst weather—didn't get the power back on at the Lower Elwha Tribal Center, and in Joyce to the west of the river, for more than two days. The tribe put families and oldsters up in motels.

It has made for a very short work week at the new job. And it's raining again. And oh my word, it gets dark so early now.