Need I say more? Brian and I were enjoying a weekend at the coast when suddenly “a chance of snow” became a “winter storm warning.” It was Superbowl Sunday and we were blissfully out of range of most technology, so naturally such weather updates as well. No one was on the beach! We had the whole place to ourselves and it was gorgeous, take a look.
You can see the snowflakes start to fall. I love going to Washington state beaches even more in the winter than I do in the summer, most of the time. They have such a mythic appeal to them and on a winter day it is even more apparent.
So we started our 4 hour drive back around 4 pm and the snowfall went from light to heavy in a matter of an hour. By that time our phones were updating us on the situation and what was going to be a leisurely ride back with dinner became quite the nail biting situation. Cars were sliding off the road everywhere and I had to channel my Idaho, snowbird upbringing to drive us home safe.
When we got back the greenhouse was weighed down with snow and leaning to one side. Our first task was to brush it off carefully. Thankfully it regained its composure, the ribs straightened back up, and it has been fine since. The storm lasted all night though so we had to keep going out to sweep off the snow. Some clever friends suggested lighting candles inside of it but Brian, practical as he is, said there was too much airspace to warm for it to be effective.
I was pretty beat the next day, having really only gotten three hours of sleep. But our greenhouse stands and in a few weeks she is about to deliver us another batch of salad greens I planted way back in December. In my experience, and in unheated conditions, at a certain point later plantings will take advantage of the longer days and catch up with those deep winter plantings. But the winter had been mild until that point…famous last words. Anyhow, salad is on the way, the greenhouse and other structures survived the windstorm that wrapped up the week, and I have a ton of debris I should get around to picking up at some point.