December 16, 2005

The iceman cometh

The weather geeks are united in chorus- an ice storm is a near certainty tomorrow night and all day Monday.

"Do not drive" they say, "unless you have to".

The Newspaper comes out everyday and has to be delivered. "Has to be". Hmmm. Well, otherwise people would not be able to, say, go to their corner convenience store and buy an Oregonian. Someone somewhere’s life might be irretreivably altered for the worst. Collective karma may be impaired….

It never occured to me to wonder who brought the papers to those stores before I started doing just that. But I wonder how far "unless you have to" goes. 70% of my fear of driving on icy roads is the other drivers, who may or may not be idiots, but that other 30% worry is for myself- I’ve done the car wreck thing already.

I’ll be delivering lots of Sunday Final Editions tonight/Sunday morning and it looks like we’ll be ok tonight…

Sub-freezing air is flowing into the valleys from the east through the Columbia Gorge, a major gap in the Cascade ranges, which stretch from California to Canada. This is making the ground temperatures below freezing, and the rainstorm aimed at us is packing lots of cold water which will freeze as it falls and morph imeadiately into ice as it hits the surfaces of everything around.

tomorrow morning when it’s light out I will get my chains out of the van and put them on and make SURE that they fit my tires. And if it looks like it, I will just leave the van chained up.

ya know, because I think I have to drive.

Witch

December 17, 2005

Hope the roads don’t give you too much grief! 🙂

take care on those roads, cat.

LilyCat

Oh man, I remember those ice storms–the east side with the winds coming out of the Gorge always gets it the worst! Well, I am sure you will be as careful as you can, yet I find it interestingly unfair that you must risk life and limb just so folks can read Doonesbury over their Sunday morning cuppa! 😛

Fingers crossed for you! I’m sending waves of warm thoughts – may all other drivers stay in their beds … may you be safe.

~ms breathless~

December 18, 2005

I hate ice! It scares the hell out of me. Be very very careful Cat. I got your card today 🙂 Thanks for it and for the sweet note ((hugs))

woman in the moon

I’m proud of you for having tire chains. I hope they fit. Do they sand/salt the streets in Oregon? Or just wait for the ice to melt? That makes a big difference too. I find the weather is hardly ever as bad as predicted. Weather pros over-dramatize to make themselves important. Still good luck and be careful.

battle-axe

take care because we know that drunks think their drinks are most important. even more important than their lives and others lives. so be careful. lj

“unless you have to” does pose interesting limits doesn’t it? Right now, we have snow again butI’ve got front-wheel drive and a little common sense! Be real careful out there Cat…don’t go losing any of those 9 lives…I want you to come back to write another day…smiling…~the feline~ 😉

oh yes, I guess I am one of those weather geeks…I watch the weather channel every day like religion-it has always fascinated me…bigger smile…~the feline~

Be careful and hopefully there won’t be too many others out there.

TheWoodsprite

People and their sense of priorities! Yea, I can imagine a lot of people really feelin like their day was ruined if they couldn’t get a paper…. but I don’t think it’s worth the newspaper deliverers having to risk their safety on the roads. Darn, I oughta be allowed to make the rules! :o) I hope all goes well for ya! hugs, Weesprite

*big hugs* Be safe!Blessings and Love,

LightButHearty

Freezing rain sucks hugely…good plan to put on the chains…better safe than sorry. We still have no snow here so driving conditions are good. Do the size of the papers diminish directly after Boxing Day?

ooh! Please be careful! That’s always my fear when I drive on hazardous rodes, the other drivers. You drive down the road, seeing cars parked in ditches, and there goes another driver passing you by because you’re going too slow! I guess that’s one of the things about life is that hardly no one learns from other people’s mistakes even when it’s right in front of them! Take care, and be safe!

Speiser

I dont think that I could stand living in a place that has ice storms. Nice pictures of your area though.

Pool of Light

Take care of yourself, Cat.

I hope all goes well and you are safe.

Be careful out there. My stepson is from Oregon City and his roommate called him today to tell him about the coming ice storm.