It has been incredibly cold in Oregon the past four days. The temperature basically hasn't risen above freezing anywhere in the entire state. Central Oregon has been hit especially hard, with temperatures into the single digits and feet of snow. No snow here in the Willamette Valley - just icy-cold air and wind.
Wouldn't we normally be in Palm Springs by now?
Yes, but with the long Duck football schedule this year, we haven't been able to point the Magna Peregrinus south.
Yet.
Soon, soon. Very soon. Don't you worry. There is a little thing called The Rose Bowl in our future.
But in the meantime we are dealing with the cold and the clever Flickers. The woodpeckers are so smart. They know if they hammer/peck on the flashing around our chimney, we will remember they are out there - freezing - and will fill their birdbath will non-frozen water. Animals adapt!
The deer have been coming around, and I have no idea what they are doing for water, but they look healthy.
We have been coping by heating only part of the house, layering-on sweaters and keeping a huge pot of water boiling on the stove. Without this added moisture, we would shock ourselves constantly from static electricity.
Portlanders are used to damp cold, not this dry crystal-clear cold. Oregonians in the Willamette Valley are not accustomed to keeping a tube of lip balm in our pockets 24/7. We are accustomed to fighting mold.
Our poor daughter, The Lovely Lisa, visiting from California and acclimated to the mild climes of Los Angeles, is fairly sure she took the wrong plane and disembarked in the frozen tundra of Alaska. She cannot get warm.
Yes, we should be somewhere warm, but the temperatures in Palm Springs are only in the high 50's. Low 60's in Phoenix. You need to be in Key West if you are looking for temperatures in the 80's. Is my good friend, George, the only smart RVer? George is in Mexico. Wearing short pants.
There is one fabulous thing about being in the Portland, Oregon vicinity when the sky is crisp and clear and the mountains have received new snow - Mt. Hood looks like she is ten feet outside of town. I can't tell you how heart-stoppingly gorgeous Mt. Hood is on any normal day - but on a day like today, I can forgive the temperatures just for one glimpse of her beauty.
Until my next update, I remain, your chilly correspondent.