Popping in from northern New England to say good luck and stay safe this week!
We’ve had snow/slush/melting/freezing this season and I’ve been living in these https://www.rei.com/product/890608/kahtoola-microspikes-traction-system
Be careful with snow loads. Your house may not be designed to have significant snow on the roof for extended periods of time. Also be mindful of ice damming.
Uh-oh… big clouds are rolling in!
D1 is doing her post dissertation internship at a hospital in Seattle. Although she is not considered “essential personnel” (she works M-F 8-5), she told me she is expected to be there on Monday or take vacation time. She is getting married next month in Dallas, so she will be using all of her vacation time for that. So to work she will go. She lives 10 minutes by car from work and has “only” one hill to traverse. Crossing fingers that there won’t be a lot of ice.
Cliff Mass is updating forecast at 10:30. Apparently second round is getting harder to predict. Temps are warming a bit.
I live in a large house split into apartments. Landlord is specifically responsible for outside/yard maintenance. The guy who does that did not respond to my text yesterday, so I emailed the landlord today. No one in our house even owns a shovel.
I drove to the grocery store today. My Subaru went down and up the snowy driveway just fine. Only thing not on the shelf was mozzarella cheese, so I’m heading out to walk to Whole Foods for that one item in a minute. But…the door over my gas cap was frozen shut and wouldn’t open! I have 2/3 tank, so not too stressed. After the grocery store it did open, but then the gas station had out of order signs on their pumps! I think they are out of gas and can’t get a delivery. I saw someone cross country skiing on an unshoveled sidewalk, too.
Cliff Mass isn’t sure what the M/T storm will bring. This could be a very interesting week.
@Nrdsb4 - she should be ok. Just make sure she at least doubles her typical commute time. Just in case.
Ah, I see. But I would guess that it’s likely that they don’t consider shoveling snow on your steps and walkway as part of their obligation, as they may not consider it maintenance, and if the people in the house want the snow shoveled, someone is going to have to purchase a shovel. I have a number of condos, in which the HOA is 100% responsible for the exterior, no flexibility on that. I think they are keeping the parking lots clear as much as they can, but they are not shoveling snow from people’s porches and stairs.
Subaru’s are great. My husband has been able to get out and about without incident. On one hand, this sounds kind of fun, and I’d like to go home and go out cross country skiing in the neighborhood. On the other hand, it could be just an ugly mess trying to get home, so maybe I should stay out for another week.
The apartment buildings in the neighborhood he competes with have all shoveled their walks (just got back from walking past them). I’m keeping the pressure on him. ?
The Fred Meyer parking lot was mostly Subarus this morning.
And… maintenance guy is out there cheerfully shoveling now. 
He said it is the first time he’s had to do it in 5 years, but seems to have no thought that he shouldn’t be doing it.
Think Iam doing my Monday conference call from home. I have 2 meetings mid-day in Bellevue, unsure about those!
Hope everyone is doing well! I just took a walk outside today, no driving.
Since he seems so happy to do it, maybe you can send him out my way? Then again, perhaps he’s happy because he’s getting paid overtime…I guess bugging the landlord did the job?
Yeah, they don’t do much maintenance unless I ask them. The porch was filthy & had green mold this summer, and outside windows needed washing, They took care of it after I asked. And leaf pickup this fall - our sidewalk was unsafe, and a neighbor complained. But I had to ask. I just ask nicely, but persistently, and go to the landlord if the (generally very nice) young maintenance guy ignores my requests. It seems to work.
Okay, can anyone help me out, here? I am scheduled to land tomorrow in Seattle at 4pm. But I can delay it until Tuesday. Or I can delay it until Sunday. Or I can even delay it until the week after, Thursday. The later I stay out, the more money I make. I’m just trying to stay away from the misery, wondering if I can even drive home from the airport anyways. The forecast keeps changing, and I can’t make up my mind. The main thing, is I don’t want to get stuck at the airport, not getting paid. At least if I stay out, I get paid for working.
UW Seattle, Bothell, and Tacoma campuses closed tomorrow. I’ve never seen this many closures at UW, in 30 years of working there.
@busdriver11 Where do you need to go from the airport? Will light rail get you reasonably close? or the bus? Metro is doing a decent job with its snow routes. Today, most arterials seemed to be fine. No idea what tomorrow afternoon will bring.
Really bad accident on our street! But no humans seemed to be hurt. Phew.
@KnearSeattle, I need to go to northeast of Seattle…if light rail is not a problem, at least I could get part of the way to the University of Washington with that. Good idea. I don’t want my husband to drive down to the airport in bad weather, but maybe driving to the UW might not be so bad.
I’d stay out all week and take the money if I were you. This isnt a great week to be in Seattle.