Sunday, January 11, 2009

"Life is just what happens

to you while you're busy making other plans." (John Lennon)
I am sure you all know by now that it has been snowing for weeks in parts of the USA where it doesn't normally snow. The Northwest snow storms affected DTY's train trip home from school in Portland. As in, she was delayed fifteen getting home. (Way better than some of her schoolmates who were delayed via the airport for a week.) A friend of hers was coming to visit and was supposed to be in last Tuesday on the train and she was delayed due to snow by twenty four hours. On Friday morning we drove up to the Twin Cities to put the friend on the train for Chicago for the next leg of her visits. The plan had been to do stuff around the TC and then put DTY on her train west in the afternoon/evening. Upon checking up on the train times at the station in the morning, we discovered that DTY's train was cancelled due to "snowstorms and avalanches." She really had wanted to be back at school by Monday morning for some training and job assignments at her work study/reactor job;Friday's train "should" have gotten her there on Sunday. They had no idea if it would be running on Saturday or not, which "should" put her in on Monday. (It wasn't according to what she was told on the phone by the Amtrak Lady.) Fortunately, we were able to find her a one-way plane ticket for Monday at a price we were very happy with. (Actually about the same price as the unused half of the train ticket!) So, we are driving to the TC again tomorrow to put her on the plane. Of course, the snowstorm that stopped her train has traveled our direction....

Monday: Snow and areas of blowing snow, mainly after 9am. High near 20. Wind chill values as low as -8. South wind 7 to 10 mph becoming north between 21 and 24 mph. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible.

Monday Night: Areas of blowing snow and a chance of snow before midnight. Cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing, with a low around -11. Wind chill values as low as -32. Blustery, with a north wind 25 to 28 mph decreasing to between 16 and 19 mph. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

and:
Winter Weather Advisory

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LA CROSSE WI
909 PM CST SUN JAN 11 2009

...BLIZZARD CONDITIONS POSSIBLE MONDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING...
All of this is according to NOAA.

Of course, that whole getting the congested head/dizzy thing was part of life and not part of the plan either. I do seem to be much better, thanks for all the well wishes and I hope to have more life info soon.

2 comments:

SissySees said...

It's not fair. You have all that snow - too much snow? - and I just want one, "real" snowfall for the fur-girls to play in...

Glad it all worked out for DTY's return to school. Stay warm!

Jayhawk said...

Sorry about your tribulations. I have been feeling sorry for myself because the temp did not reach its predicted high of 85 yesterday. It only got up to 83 and I was digging through drawers looking for a sweater. There also was a cloud the proverbial "size of a man's hand" on the western horizon which marred the perfection of our otherwise blue skies.

I mean, it just really sucked.