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December, 2006
Merry Christmas from our home to yours.
Two items come to mind, this first week of the month. The electric company has been upgrading the service lines to meet the increased demands of an expanding community. Partial success has been realized. The overload outages seem to appear on days when everyone is home and the heating first kicks in early in the morning. The stream behind our home which has been choked with aquatic vegetation has now been cleared and is running freely. Much work remains to be done in that area beyond the lawn to create a natural area that will have character.
With a stroke of luck or good management, a tree crew moved throughout the neighborhood and removed a number of dead trees and conducted a general trimming. This was done to prevent damage to property from possible coming winter storms. The timing was perfect. Later in the week on Thursday, the 14th, the skies darkened and the wind and rain turned the night into chaos. Clocked as the highest winds ever in western Washington, trees toppled and electric power was lost around midnight. The stream rose, but stayed within its banks. As the temperature in the house dropped, preparations were made for a long wait till repairs could be made. Of note, in the darkened community the next night, the stars shown brightly in the sky as Orion and Ursa Major were easily identified by looking out the front window. No room was available in any inns in the area, so we layered up the clothing and listened to the battery powered radio in the room illuminated solely by flashlight. As the interior temperature dropped below 50 degrees on Saturday evening the power came back on and we invited our daughter and her family to stay with us, as the power in their area may take a week to recover. Telephone service was back the next day and cable followed on Monday. Life has slowly returned to some sort of normalcy. Mount St. Helen (not directly viewable from this area) has begun to show steam again in the winter air. No damage to property was reported in Golden Valley.
The community Christmas Party, rescheduled for the 30th of the month because of the power outage, was a huge success due to the dedicated community volunteers that spent months in its planning. It was held at the Buckley Eagles Hall for the first time to accommodate the increased population. The meal was very tasty (pot luck) and gifts were exchanged in a rollicking game fashion. The opportunity to meet the neighbors in such a setting was priceless. Now we all know a little better those who we have been waving to as our paths cross. This was an excellent way to wrap up 2006 in Golden Valley.
November 2006
January 2007
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