Weather Whiplash

That cold front didn’t bring us as much wind and rain as predicted—thank goodness—but it picked up steam after it went through here and Spokane got hammered. By late afternoon, 50,000 people in Spokane were without power, I-90 was closed through the middle of the state due to dust storms, and there were several large wildfires burning, some very close to the city. The town of Malden, WA, south of Spokane with a population of 300, was 80% destroyed.

[The weather forecasters are predicting a La Nina winter for the Pacific Northwest, noting that the two of the three largest snowfall events in Spokane came during La Nina winters. I am hoping we have a snowy winter, too, although there have been years where Spokane got inundated but the storms dove south toward Missoula instead of hitting us. So who knows? I’ll be able to tell you next spring what kind of winter we had.]

I am pretty sure the tops of the mountains will be frosted this morning. It was snowing up there yesterday:

The husband and I waited until late afternoon—when the sun was shining again—to cover the tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupes, and grapes. It was 32 degrees when I woke up this morning and I expect the temperature to drop a bit more before the sun comes up. Hopefully the tomatoes are nice and toasty under their concrete blankets.

The high next Monday is forecast to be 87 degrees.

*******************************************************

The husband worked hard on Saturday and got all the siding up on the front of the new shop:

He’ll finish the back side next weekend. We went with the lighter siding to match the other garage. I think it looks really nice. This is why we have an Architectural Review Committee.

*******************************************************

My secret sewing project didn’t take as long as I thought it would. I probably will finish it today. I also cut out the apron pattern and fused the appliqué to the front in preparation for blanket stitching it down on the machine, but I need to practice with some stitch patterns and threads, first. I am not sure if I want to use 40wt or 50wt thread for the stitching.

I’m kicking around the idea of making new insulated curtains, at least for the living room. (Nothing like 32 degrees outside to make you start thinking about the heating bill.) The curtains we have are serviceable, but ugly—I made them from panels I bought at Wal-Mart about 20 years ago, back when it was still possible to buy 48” wide panels, which is the width of our windows. All I had to do was hem them and put in a casing at the top. Now the only available panels are 54” wide. I am going to have to cut and sew no matter which way I go, so I think it would be better to start from scratch with Warm Window fabric from Joanns and make them exactly the size I need.

And I need to bang out a batch of masks for future son-in-law. I took a prototype with me to Seattle and he tried it out when we were at the zoo. He liked the design but asked if I could use a heavier gauge nose wire. That’s an easy modification.

Susan’s younger daughter is here visiting from Bozeman for a few days. She brought a friend with her who wants to invest in an industrial sewing machine for making bags and backpacks. The three of them came over yesterday so this young man could look at my machines and get more information. He knows what he needs; it’s just a matter of finding the right machine for him. I told him I’d keep an eye out.