One more day, at least
We're still snowed in, more or less, here in Portlandia. It's 23 degrees and still pretty windy as daylight advances. Yesterday it stayed below freezing all day, but the sun came out and melted some of the snow from Wednesday. Then the sun went down and the melt all turned to ice, a classic northwest Oregon cycle.
Old Sol will be back out this afternoon, we're told, and he will actually be thawing things out for several hours, with air temperaures in the mid-30s. But then we're back to the ice stage overnight for any surface that hasn't been completely cleared.
Every report I've seen has been discouraging people from taking their cars out in this. Portland drivers are notoriously inept at driving in snow or ice, and so even if you yourself take it easy, you may get hit, or stuck for hours on a freeway with nowhere to turn off.
Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, and tomorrow night, they're saying, it will rain. Uh oh. When these unusual cold snaps end with rain, the frigid air on the ground can be slow to move out, and that's when you get the worst Portland winter phenomenon of them all, freezing rain. On top of the car wrecks, trees come down and power goes out. Let's hope we get none of that.
Supplies are running a little low here at Blog Central, and so we may venture out on foot through the slush this afternoon. There used to be three grocery stores within easy walking distance. Now we're down to one, but at least it's still there.
Times like these can be refreshing, if you let them. All the light reflecting off the snow made for a really bright day yesterday. In a town where winters can be so dark for so long, it was nice.
UPDATE, 11:08 a.m.: At 32.1 degrees, the dripping has begun.
I’m old enough to remember when grocery stores were plentiful, small and mostly carried fresh foods. It’s probably a coincidence that the health of my younger neighbors changed when fresh foods became a minor part of “supermarkets”
ReplyDeleteThe big corporations ate up the little guys. Is there any industry where that *hasn't* happened? A real shame.
DeleteI miss those small grocery stores. We had one on 15th & Brazee that was a Thriftway., but we all called it “George’s” after the owner.
DeleteThe kind of place where they knew all of their customers and service was top notch. I still have dreams about that place, even though they have been closed going on 40 years now.
I remember that one. There was also Alameda Foods and Nature's across the street from each other at 24th & Fremont, and Kienow's on 33rd, all gone now. But I was just in Beaumont Market (42nd & Fremont) the other night on an emergency run for a couple of items. They're still doing it old school. Go spend a few bucks there, they're the last ones left around here that I know of.
DeleteI loved that Nature’s on Fremont. You could actually get a hot meal there without breaking the bank. Before that there was a pharmacy in that space, as well as an old-school candy store next door where I spent most of my hard earned money at as a kid.
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