Karla's Kronicles #7

Greetings Kronicle Readers!

So here it is; mid-February and there are signs of Spring in Marblemount. It certainly has been an interesting experience to spend the Winter here! The pictures in this Kronicles will journalize some of the weather conditions we have experienced!

The Karla Kronicles - February 2007
Greetings Kronicle Readers! So here it is; mid-February and there are signs of Spring in Marblemount. It certainly has been an interesting experience to spend the Winter here! The pictures in this Kronicles will journalize some of the weather conditions we have experienced!
In November 2006, the rains began; and the rains continued until the month of November passed the record rainfall for any month! (Right) The Wild and Scenic Cascade River at our property line; the river eventually crested over the riprap and flooded a small area, washed away all the Beaver's wood chips and we've seen no Beaver activity since. The course of the River has changed significantly since this flood. This all occurred while I was attempting to fly out to Walla Walla and visit my Mom for a couple of weeks.. Larry drove me to the Bellingham Airport on 11/6; only to discover that SeaTac was in such turmoil, that my flight had been canceled. If I left Bellingham, I would be spending the night at SeaTac Airport. We were making the decision of whether to stay in Bellingham for the night or return to Marblemount and drive back the following morning, when the decision was made for us. Hwy 20 at Milepost 106 was flooded and closed; M/P 106 is right in "downtown Marblemount" right where we cross the bridge to get home. So we had an unplanned night out. The next morning, my flights were back on schedule and Larry headed for "home".
	Larry took this photo when he got back to Marblemount. This is Cascade River Road; just as you cross the Bridge over the Skagit River on the way to our property (our property is about 7/10 mile from here). The parking area for rafters and small water craft access (on the left side of the photo) was under water as well as the pasture to the right. Again, our property stayed high and dry except for the small stretch along Cascade River. Of course, the saturated lands combined with some heavy winds were toppling trees into the power lines. We have had several power outages during Fall and Winter. The longest outage was 54 hours and the most difficult to endure.
After the rains came the snow; turning our property into a winter wonderland. Here's Grand Stump and the Hazel Tree all flocked out in their Winter Splendor.
	(Left) The front circle and gazebo taken from the Mobile Home. (Below Left) The Entrance Sign and Pine Tree (Below Right) Another Grand Cedar Stump and the Douglas Firs in front of the Pole Building.

Another viewpoint of Grand Stump and Gazebo
	That's our Driveway. Fortunately, we weren't planning to go anywhere anyway!
	Southern-looking view from the back acreage towards the Mobile and Mountains. We were really living in a winter wonderland!
(Right) Looking North towards the back acreage. (Below left); the Pole Building with Lookout Mountain in the background. (Below right); zoomed in on Lookout.

And this is how we survived all the power outages and winter storms. This little wood stove will cook you right out of the mobile; we usually end up opening windows it gets so warm inside. We also have a generator, but for the short outages we were used to experiencing, we only had it wired to run the water pump at first. Then Larry rewired the power distribution after the first lengthly outage to supply power into the Mobile in addition to the water pump. Now when the power goes out, we can still run our frig, microwave, one burner on the stove, computers, and the TV! Makes it much easier to endure those outages. We've had 5 outages since 1/1/07. "Power's Out Again" was at least a weekly comment.
On December 15th, we left Marblemount during another power outage and headed "down river" to Snohomish for the Winter Solstice Party at Fred's. We weren't sure what we were going to find; we couldn't confirm if Fred's in Snohomish even had power, but we had planned to leave and spend the night with my Cousins in Seattle and continue to Spokane for a wedding on 12/16 and then into Walla Walla on 12/17 to Celebrate Mom's 81st Birthday. So we locked up and headed out. The Solstice was great; a smaller crowd this time due largely in part to the weather. My Cousins in Seattle also were without power, but it came on about 10 that night. We left early Saturday morning with every intent on attending a wedding in Spokane, but we could not find a Gas Station with both power and Diesel fuel; it took us 2-1/2 hours and about 80 miles of extra driving to finally locate a Station down south in Renton. We had to wait in line with many other cars, but finally we had enough fuel to safely cross the pass. Needless to say, we missed the wedding and continued directly to Walla Walla.

	December 17, 2006; we gathered at the Modern Restaurant in Walla Walla for some visiting, dinner and, of course, Birthday Cake! Happy Birthday Mom!!! (Left) Mom, Riley (Mom's great-great niece), and Uncle Hugh. We were so glad Uncle Hugh joined us for this family event. On January 5, 2007, he unexpectedly passed away. He will be so missed.
Back in Marblemount and it's January. The Eagles are here in the Skagit River Valley in great abundance. On January 5, Cousins Buck and Ellen came to spend the weekend in Marblemount, celebrate their 56th Anniversary in a unique way and see the Eagles! Of course, we had another power outage that night right after we finished dinner! Coincidently, these are the same cousins we stayed with in Seattle during the December Power Outage. We cranked up the generator until bedtime. The next morning, still no power, but it came on right about the time we were heating water for instant oatmeal. So we had our breakfast and headed out to find the Eagles. Boy, was it cold outside...brrrrrrrr

These photos are taken along the Skagit River, between Marblemount and Rockport Washington. This year, the Eagle count between Mt. Vernon to Newhalem exceeded 850 Eagles! The count is conducted in 3 areas: Mt. Vernon to Rockport, Rockport to Marblemount, Marblemount to Newhalem. When the numbers exceeded expectations, the conservationist, Ranger Jim Alt, was skeptical that perhaps the counts were not being done correctly. He is responsible for counting Rockport to Marblemount and manning the Bald Eagle Interpretive Center. He called Libby Mills, the conservationist who has done these counts in past years. Libby came up and conducted another count with Jim and confirmed his findings.
The Winter storms and rains changed the Cascade River flow in many ways. The flow of water on the left side of this rock spit was very shallow this past summer. We were able to step on small stones and walk over to the spit;our own little "beach area!" The heavier flow of the river had always been to the right of this rock spit. After the November rains, there is now as much water flow on left as the right; and flowing very swiftly. There is a large pile of lumber debris washed up on the rock spit and this fir tree lies in the middle of the river flow. The river was so cold that it formed icicles on the limbs of the fir tree. We are fairly sure the Beavers have decided not to return to build their dam. Their original plans in the shallow, calm water made sense; now we're fairly certain they've abandoned their building plans.


So I will bring these Kronicles to an end. Spring time is upon us; the vine maples are showing signs of buds. The Owners had planted some bulbs around Grand Stump last fall and many of those are starting to sprout. We've already BBQ'd a few dinners out on the front porch this month! We will be pulling our RV out of the Pole Building in April and start repacking for full-timing! Can hardly wait to begin our 2007 Travels. We have reversed the order of our Websites Travel Itinerary, so our most current reservations and whereabouts now show at the top of the listing. Come June 2007 it's "Alaska or Bust!" We want to hear from you too! Let us know what you've been up to. More later...Karla and Larry