Ummm....we live in Portland, where it rains and isn't supposed to snow - maybe a few inches a year, and this morning we woke up to about 10 inches of snow on our front steps! Even crazier, the snow was frozen on top - from freezing rain - who knew! I'm not sure I really know the difference between freezing rain, snow, hail, and sleet. What I do know is it is all very cold and should not be happening in this quantity or frequency here! I did not sign up for this! (This is the biggest storm in at least 10 years - per local news reports).
Well, we are trying to make lemons with our lemonade and trying to enjoy the snow with the kids - it's hard with Sarah, she doesn't really like it, as she can barely walk well on flat ground, not really going to happen in 10 inches of snow. I did pull her on the sled with Jakob but the freezing rain in the face, wasn't helping her out at all!
So, here is the story of our good deed attempted. Last night I saw on the news that the homeless warming shelters are in dire need of coats, hats etc. as this kind of storm doesn't usually hit this area. So, I told Mark that we had to go down to the donation center today - as we have a couple very nice snow coats that we don't need any longer. Well, we didn't think we would be waking up to literally 10 inches of snow. Mark so kindly went out and shoveled the steps from our porch, the driveway and cleaned the snow and ice off of the car, put the chains on the car (they are required now anywhere in the city), which all took at least an hour of serious hard work. We loaded the car with the coats and got both kids loaded in the car, drove about 5 miles and got to the donation center, and it was closed! Closed due to weather - c'mon! I couldn't just leave the coats because I didn't bring a bag to put them in, plus there wasn't a covered area to leave them in. The sign said they would be open tomorrow, so I guess we'll try again tomorrow! What I failed to mention here is that it took a lot of explaining and bargaining to get Jakob in the car, he said he "wouldn't feel comfortable going", I couldn't believe that he said that - very mature, obviously he wouldn't feel comfortable, but I really wanted him to understand the importance of thinking of someone else (apparently hard to do when you are 4 years old). So, I really talked with him about how many people don't have anything and that we should be thankful for what we have - even though our budget is SUPER tight right now, we should still be thankful. He did seem to understand, and with a lot of encouragement we got him in the car for the ride and then it didn't even happen! He should be ready tomorrow. We also have 2 gifts, one for a girl and one for a boy, that Jakob picked out with our saved change ($26 - much in part to Nana and Papa and some little "jobs" that Jakob did). We were thinking of giving these to the children's abuse shelter but these just might get dropped off at the homeless shelter tomorrow too - I don't think we are going to be driving any farther any time soon! I'll keep you posted on the outcome of our good deeds being attempted!
Here are some pics of the snow today:
The road in front of the Sellwood park - can't tell the road from the sidewalk - on all streets.
Sledding in the yard!
Taking a taste of the frozen snow.
Carrying and stomping the frozen snow.
Jakob immediately running to shovel the snow!
Here is Jakob, laying on top of the frozen snow - you really had to push your feet in to get it to smash down - it was so amazing.
1 comment:
Wow! It's so sweet that you went through all that trouble. I find it strange that the day the homeless need it the most the shelter is closed. Where are they going instead?
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