More Wicked Weather in Seattle
A vicious storm rolled through Mongo’s home town again this past weekend leaving one fatality. One person was killed when their car was struck by a falling tree. On Sunday (3/13) ,the National Weather Service tweeted, “Storm looks like a hurricane! The central pressure is deeper than expected, 978 mb.” The tweet included a picture of the swirling storm offshore from Olympic National Park. Back in West Seattle, 70 MPH + gusts were toppling trees all over town.
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- West Seattle Junction
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- West Seattle Junction
Mongo refused to go outside alone. Dad stood at the back door with him and the watched the tall firs on the side of the house swaying dangerously in his direction. As they stood there transfixed at the back door, they hear a loud thump in the front of the house. Surprised by the sound, Mongo let loose one of his low rumble barks. Dad and Mongo walked out to the front yard and saw a large limb had bounced off their roof. There didn’t seem to be any damage, but they didn’t spend much time outside looking at it. A branch like that could cause some serous damage if it caught the boys outside.
West Seattle
They went back inside where it was safe (relatively) and warm. Mongo curled up by the fireplace.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day
Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Mongo.
Dad, Mongo, Drew
Happy Pi(e) Day
Happy Pi(e) day from Mongo!
PIE!
Pipe Creek Skiing
Dad was fail once again. Not that “fail” is all that foreign a concept to Dad. Dad is definitely not afraid to “fail”. Dad’s theory on “fail” is similar to Thomas Edison’s thoughts on life, if you try enough times, the successes will outweigh the failures. So Dad soldiers on, knowing that good things will come in the end.
This time Dad’s “fail” had been showing up a few seconds too late to buy his Snow Pass. To use the Snow Parks in Washington state, one has to buy a Snow Pass. Dad had decided to take Mongo cross country skiing on Saturday at the last minute. Now he had waited just a smidgen too long to get in line for the snow pass, and there was a tourist had jumped in front of him, asking how to go hiking in the snow. On a weekend morning, every second counts on the way to the mountains, because multitudes of other outdoors people are heading there also.
The ranger was trying to answer the man’s question of hiking in the snow. but apparently the tourist’s English was a bit limited in the realm of the winter sports vocabulary, and the very idea of snow shoes was completely foreign to him. This was causing the ranger to have a difficult time conveying the concept across the cultural divide.
There was nothing else to do but wait. Dad had just seen the new Star Wars movie the night before at Cinerama, so he engaged in some Jedi calming routines while he waited. But despite his best efforts with the force, his right foot was still tapping.
The ranger’s descriptions of snow shoes grew to include big sweeping elliptical arm movements. Their conversations was starting to look like a very awkward ballet, that might go on forever.
Eventually, the winter tourist departed in the general direction of REI’s rental counter, but by this time, Dad figured his chances of getting to a nearby snow park and back before dark were shot. He approached the counter.
“I’d like a Snow Pass”, he droned to the ranger.
“For today”, asked the ranger. “You know, they’re only good for one day, and it’s kinda late to get started for today.”, he added cautiously.
“No. Tomorrow will be fine”, moaned Dad.
“Okey dokey. We’ll fix you right up”, chirped the ranger.
Dad took his snow pass and headed home.
However…
Post-Bath Trauma
Mongo and Dad had just finished their respective bath and shower. It had been an exciting, and muddy day at the dog park (Click HERE to read about the Wild Weather at the dog park.) Mongo was exhausted. Dad was trundling down the stairs to the washing machine with an arm load of wet towels, when he glimpsed something from the corner of his eye. He stopped for a better look and then bellowed up to Mongo.
“I spent two hours washing those walls!”
Formerly-Clean Wall
Wild Seattle Weather
Seattle is not known for wild extremes of weather. In Oklahoma, Dad had seen the weather change from sunny and 80°F at 2:00 pm, only to become a blizzard by 9:00 pm. In Oklahoma, they say, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute”, and it is true. In Seattle, it is more like, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute… and it will still be drizzling.”
This last weekend was an exception. A line of squalls had been forecast to roll through Seattle, and with them came the hope for some meteorological excitement. And on Sunday, the promise was fulfilled.
Dad and Mongo, however, had left the house blissfully unaware of the weather forecast. All Dad had noticed was that the sun was for a few minutes, and it seemed like to a good time to take Mongo out for a romp. Mongo was up for anything. Dad was happily clueless.
Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge
Dad had been traveling quite a bit after the start of the New Year. He was gone so much that Mongo and Drewbie started to notice the absence of his jovial presence in their everyday routine. However, Dad did manage to zip home for a quick weekend in Seattle, and Mongo made no bones about his expectations. Read More…
Mongo’s gallery
Mongolope 
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