Manito Park, Spokane, WA

Michael and I went on a date yesterday. He took me to Clinkerdaggers, which is in the Flour Mill in downtown Spokane. The Flour Mill was built in 1890 and is one of our historic buildings, it was renovated for the 1974 World’s Fair, to provide downtown space for eateries and retailers. Clinkerdaggers is a beautiful restaurant that overlooks the Spokane River. Michael and I both had the baby iceberg salad and filet mignon and we shared a cobbler for dessert. Yum! We walked around Riverfront Park after and enjoyed the Autumn foliage (which is being knocked down by the heavy rains and high winds today) and talked and talked and talked…

Damian seemed to have fun while we were out too, our friend Andrea babysat him (thank you!) and he was sad when she left. Granted, he refused to nap while she was here but once she was gone for a few minutes he lapsed into such a deep sleep he was drooling, only to wake up an hour later and be up till 22:30 (way past my bedtime lol.) It was worth it though. While children are always a joy, it is really nice to get away sometimes and have one on one time with your spouse as well as a real adult conversation.

Spotted knapweed is the most recognized noxious weed in this area, so much so that it is actually illegal for you to have an outbreak of it on your property. Knapweed seeds remains viable in the soil for at least five years and with each plant producing over 1000 of them infestations are a rapidly expanding problem. Not only that but the plant releases a toxin into the soil that reduces the growth of native forage species. Ick, yuck, poo.

If you live in Spokane, you can report clusters of it to the city so that they can come deal with it. I only know this because we filed a report last night. The foreclosed home next door is positively infested with the stuff and the gardener in me dies a little each time I think about it infesting my beds.

I must admit though, that as abhorrent as I find the plant, that I do find the flowers rather beautiful. They also attract a huge amount of bumblebees, one of my very favorite insects. So while I most certainly want the city to eradicate this outbreak, I am appreciating the surge in my fuzzy favorite pollinators for the time being.

(Speaking of which, I received my new camera today so that photo is my own! I’ll blog about the camera more later though. For now it will have to be sufficient to say, it is awesome.)

Last night I had a dream that Raveness (I read her blog over on livejournal) was giving me a tattoo in Greg’s (my father-in-law) office, he has a CPA business. For some reason Greg’s landlord had rented out half of the building to a tattoo parlor. There was a glass wall down the middle. Though Raveness was present through most of the dream, I don’t think we talk about anything substantial. We were talking though.

The tattoo was bizarre to say the least. The central design of the tattoo was encircled by one of my sun designs but it seemed to be shifting around, as if the rays were real. Raveness was just finishing the centeral design when I came into the dream. It was a snake in the form of a waxing crescent moon. It’s tail was the top point of the crescent, the body coiled back and forth to make up the main middle section and the head was the bottom point. It was holding a lantern in its mouth. The tattoo was on my back, behind my manipura chakra (solar plexus.) I mention this chakra because I remember thinking specifically about that in the dream. The snake was a part of that chakra, that thought made more sense in the dream.

At one point I got distracted and when I looked back at the mirror the “moon” was full. The snake was coiled in a circle, head in the middle, it’s eyes made of stars. The eyes were more more then eyes though, they seemed to be holes in me and the stars were inside me, shining through. At the same time, the eyes seemed to be looking at me too. Not sure where the lantern was at this point, maybe outside the sun disk…

Though the dream was black and white, the tattoo seemed to shine like tarnished silver, but it hinted at gold tones too, the same hues as Mexican gold. The whole tattoo seemed to have a life of its own, but it was definitely drawn on my skin.

Michael came by to pick me up. We were living with my mother, or she was living with us, I think the latter. I was trying to figure out how to hide it from her because I was concerned the moving tattoo would freak her out. I also didn’t think she would approve and didn’t want to make any waves. Then in the middle of those thoughts, the roof suddenly collapsed, snow came pouring in (we have had over 60 roof collapsed from snow load around Spokane in the past week, so this isn’t as random as it seems, as it has been on my mind recently.) My brother was standing at the edge of the hole in the roof for some reason and saw my tattoo.

We all got outside safely and he came down from the roof and teasing me that he was going to tell mom. At that point I didn’t really care anymore though. Marko (my boyfriend before I was with Michael) was in the crowd outside, which I noticed only fleetingly then, but seems to be hanging on my mind now that I am awake. My thoughts were drifting at this point between being really pleased with my tattoo and being worried about Greg’s work. Everything felt so surreal.

At some point during these thoughts I woke up.

In the past three weeks we have had nearly 60 inches of snow, that makes this the snowiest December on record for Spokane. Up until now it had all been dry snow but yesterday we had over five inches of heavy wet snow, we might have 5 more tonight. Three roofs around town collapsed today. Our roof was creaking on and off too, a little disconcerting, but I think it was just the wind since it has not made some much as a peep today. I called management about it though, not that they are going to do anything, I have been calling them daily about my busted dishwasher and still nothing. In February we are probably going to start to look for a house since our lease is up at the end of March I think. Hopefully all this snow will have given way to Spring by then.

I just realized that it is only 10 more days till my 23rd birthday (January 9th.) I don’t usually think about my birthday that much but for some reason it seems particularly exciting this year. Not that I have anything special planned. Maybe I will make myself a cake.

I have been under the weather for a few days, hopefully that will go away before my day. My back pain went away as mysteriously as it showed up, leaving behind general aches, pains and a scratchy throat. Can’t wait to feel better so I can get back to learning to bellydance. I still have to get out to the store to buy knitting needles so I can start working through my dvd about that. Learning to bellydance and knit are on my dreamboard for projects to accomplish this year.

Damian has been doing well, he decided he wanted solid food instead of one of his nursings today. My little guy is growing up! I have had two or three people ask me when I am going to wean him lately, or suggesting that I do so, which I don’t really get. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends breastfeeding for at least one year and as long as mutually desired by mother and child beyond that and the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for at least two years. I think they have more weight in my decision then someone’s uninformed opinion. So no, I am not going to be weaning Damian any time some.

I bought Michael a songbook called Songs for Earthlings and it arrived yesterday. I am really pleased with it. It is 390 pages of Pagan songs and chants for all occasions, including sheet music. There is a section on music theory in it so I am trying to learn to read music with it. I got Michael a keyboard a couple years ago so now he has some stuff to actually play with it. If you are into Pagan music, I really recommend it, it is the only one like it out there I think.

Anyhow I’m going to go sit with Michael while he plays Deep and Fallow.

We are listening to the news on the radio right now. The power is out downtown, apparently an underground vault blew up, they are talking about huge plumes of smoke and fire. Avista (the power company) says it is probably not because of the snow, but definitely bad timing. People are not stopping at the lights (which are out) and that is causing even more problems. No numbers on how many are without power, Avista’s office lost power too (ain’t that ironic?)

My prayers go to the people now without heat on this Christmas Eve.

Mayor Verner declared a state of emergency for Spokane today. Snow is still falling, still breaking records, over 40 inches here since last Tuesday, which is unbelievable for this area. Still more expected tomorrow, maybe 10 inches, and it is wet snow now, so much heavier. A local businesses roof collapsed yesterday and I have been seeing people shoveling roofs off since. Spokane Valley also declared a state of emergency. Sounds like the governor just declared one for the whole state too.

Suddenly my UPS packages being two days late doesn’t seem so bad.

Merry Christmas?

I ran across this video on Anibunny’s blog.

It is exactly what I needed to boost my spirits this evening!

…but the baseboard heater is delightful!

I am looking for any excuse to turn on any heat generating appliance today. The oven, the stove, a hot sink of dishes, my laptop. Windigo is of the same mind and sleeping on top of Michael’s old monitor, which nearly puts the baseboard heaters to shame. I don’t like using extra power (or rather I don’t like paying for it) but today it is excusable to turn up the heat a little. It is a balmy 65F inside.

And 6F outside! With wind, so make that -10F.

We are to expect it to be at or below zero by Tuesday with windchills of -25F. When it is that cold does it matter if we are taking Fahrenheit or Celsius? I think Damian and I will be skipping our morning walk for a few days. When I took the trash out yesterday the wind was so cold it made my chest hurt.

Look at this:


You see the condensation? Well it is a sheet of ice INSIDE the window. All the windows and the patio door are frozen shut. Even the front door took some pulling to open. A windchill warning is in effect until Wednesday. Better keep Damian away from the patio door (also caked with ice) he will probably stick his tongue out and freeze to it!

Can you tell I am not use to this? Don’t get me wrong, it gets cold here but only this cold every 4 or 5 years (last time was the Winter before I moved here.) Maybe I should just put the chest freezer outside for a few days, save on power! When it is this cold the falling snow looks like white sand.

I know, whine, moan, complain… I am not really that upset. My pantry is getting a little sparse and weather like this seems to nudge me into wanting to stock up the pantry. (We are going to Costco this afternoon.) I do love the look of snow and ice outside (snow drift advisory in effect too) just not on the inside of my windows.

Mother Nature is such a powerful force. It has been 12 years since ice storm, maybe this winter will bring another. Hopefully not. Either way I am glad I don’t work as a parking attendant anymore. Can you say BRRRR!

Anyhow, speaking of the Costco, I need to finish my list.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…

On Saturday I went to my very first hockey game, Daddy got tickets from work. We saw the Spokane Chiefs at the Spokane Arena, they played the Tri-Cities Americans (boooo). It was fun! I liked Boomer the Bear (the team mascot.)

I loooove the color red so it was so cool watching the Chiefs since they have bright red jerseys. Mommy even bought me a Chiefs onesie, it is size 12M and fits! I am not even 4 months old yet! They had baby sized jerseys (which were all red) too but Mommy thought $40 was an insane price.

This was the home opener. Last season we won the Memorial Cup (sorry Kitchener, bwahahaha!) so they showed that off, lowering it from the roof with cables, it was sooooo shiny. The arena was sold out and it got really really loud. It was a little overstimulating after awhile so I fell asleep in the wrap with Mommy.

We won the game! 4 to 0! People went really crazy when the Chiefs scored with horns and cow bells and screaming. Some people are really passionate about their sports.

Mommy and Daddy say they are going to raise me with the Chiefs so I expect to go to many more games. Sounds fun but I hope it is a little quieter next time.

I ran across this postcard on PostSecret:

Does it look like the Valley View Fire to you?

Michael and I have been fixated on channel 2, I hope everyone got out of the homes safely and that the firefighters stay safe too.

Hello fire season (and the arson psychopaths that come with it…)

SPOKANE VALLEY — Fire crews are battling a fire that is spreading east on the outskirts of the Dishman Hills area. (read more…)

We had our handfasting in the Dishman Hills Conservation Area if that puts it into perspective for anyone. Guesstimating using google maps it is about 3 miles from our place but it is burning in the opposite direction. They have evacuated 15 blocks west of Dishman-Mica so far and that area keeps growing. The fire is spreading really fast, it is 500+acres at the moment (edit: now its 1000 acres.)

There is also a three alarm fire at the Ugly Duck too, which is in Spokane. It is a furniture liquidator, that one was arson (…again, this would be the seventh arson there in the past 4 years.)

We have a red flag warning today so this is really the worst time possible for these fires (and the others burning in the Inland Northwest.) The winds are starting to die down enough that they can get a tanker plane up to help get the Dishman fire under control though. It is amazing seeing the pine trees go up like match sticks, and homes too (we just watched one burn down in under 10 minutes.) It is so important for people to make defensible space around there homes, if you don’t the firefighters will have a tough time protecting your home if they can at all.

This is some of the video Michael and I recently took along the Spokane River. The first clip is from Bowl and Pitcher in Riverside State Park and the remaining ones are from various parts of Riverfront Park in downtown Spokane. The river has crested though it is expected to stay at or near flood stage for awhile, especially with the hot weather and rain still in the forecast.

(My super sexy husband! I took this photo of him yesterday when we went up to make sure the trail we are probably cleaning up next weekend wasn’t under water.)

I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday ans she asked me to get an ultrasound as soon as possible so that we can figure out the baby’s position. Normally Linda can tell how he is positioned by feeling around my belly but the baby is being very mobile and uncooperative lately (wow, didn’t expect him to manifest some of my more “endearing” personality traits so early… hehe!) She thinks he is breach again.

I’m a little concerned, I know Linda would not ask me to get an ultrasound unless she found it absolutely necessary. I am glad she is erring on the side of caution though. If he is breach there are still things we can do to get him back into the head down position, it will just get more difficult to do it as time passes (he is almost out of room in there!) She will deliver breach babies, but naturally there are more risks associated with that kind of delivery which we will have to be carefully considered. She has been very upfront about all that. So anyhow, I am shooting for being able to get an ultrasound early next week, before my next appointment.

I have the most horrendous heartburn today but otherwise I feel okay, still a little moody, but okay. I received a nursing bra via my Amazon Baby Registry today. It didn’t say from who but it is comfortable and really cute too, I love it. Thank you!

After my midwife appointment yesterday, Michael and I drove around to look at the local flooding, the Spokane River is above flood stage right now.

This is the Spokane River downtown near the falls. The river bed normally completely dries up in some places come summer time. No one has seen it this high since 1997 though (which is the last time we had widespread flooding.) The are saying the river will crest sometime this weekend.

I took some footage of the river yesterday as well since photos don’t even begin to capture how fast the river is moving (here are some of the still photos though.) Michael needs to teach me how to get the video from the video camera, to the computer, to the blog, so no video today, hopefully I have one up tomorrow.

Spokane’s normal high for us this time of year between 65F and 70F but for the past few days we have been in the high 80s. Most of our water comes from snow melt and this winter we had the second highest snowfall on record, which to a certain extent is a good thing since we have had a few years of low snowfalls. However the 80F weather is making the snow melt very fast and we have seen some pretty wide spread flooding.

On Saturday Michael and I went to a few parks along the Spokane River, which is quite near flood stage. I am use to the water level on most of the dams being higher on one side then the other but most are pretty much just letting all the water through at this point.

This picture is taken across the river from Boulder Beach, a summer swimming hole. Not that you can see the swimming hole at the moment as it is currently covered in quite a bit of water. (This is what the same area looked like in March a couple years ago, that is Michael up on one of the boulders.) I believe the trail to the beach is also covered, though we didn’t cross to that side of the river. People forget how dangerous the water is when it is this high, it flows very fast and is very cold, a few people had to be rescued from the river this weekend.

Since Michael and I live up on Spokane’s South Hill, we are in no danger of being affected by the flooding but I hope all my friends over in North Idaho (where the worst flooding has been so far) will be okay. It is suppose to cool way down tomorrow but they are forecasting a lot of rain so I am not sure how much of a difference it will make as far as the flooding goes.

Street view is now available for Spokane, WA. I love this Google Maps feature, you can basically “drive” around the city and see it as you would looking at the window of a car. This of course does raise some privacy issues but it doesn’t really bother me, though I did see a topless guy in my friend’s yard…

Next time I talk about places in Spokane, I’ll be able to show you where they are.

Here is some stuff in Spokane (and a couple other places):

• Part of our townhouse complex
• Michael’s Work
• Spokane Midwives Birthing Center – this is where I plan on giving birth
• Beechwood Dr, Raleigh, NC – I think I lived here was I was very young
• 57 S 100 E, Bountiful, UT – Michael lived here a few years ago

As far as I know it is only available for the USA right now, though they want to do it for the whole world. I think it is so cool!

(Sunrise in dowtown Spokane.)

The Lupercalia is an ancient, possibly pre-Roman pastoral festival, observed from February 13 to February 15 to avert evil spirits and purify the city, and increase good health and fertility. Perhaps this is where some aspects of Valentines came from, though the history of big holidays is certainly a muddled one. Either way I hope everyone has a wonderful day, I think my Aunt Ruth described Valentines Day best:

Valentine’s Day is not about chocolates and jewelry and special dinners and cards, but a day to think about true love and commitment no matter what our circumstances are.

Other then blogging, Michael and I have been pretty busy lately. Every Wednesday we have our Bradley classes and we are also working on reorganizing our apartment. Mostly I am focusing on tidying up and this weekend we are going to work on moving some furniture around (before anyone says it, yes I will be careful.) I am really grateful for how well Michael and I work together as a team, I know a lot of relationships do not have that good of communication.

Cleaning and rearranging aside, I have spent quite a bit of time in meditation and prayer recently. I know a lot of Pagans who do not pray, or rather, do not use the word “pray”. Perhaps it is too strong of a word implying that we are merely pawns, rather then players in our own fate. for me prayer is a way of connecting with an external divine source (rather then the internal one I access though meditation) to become empowered.

But yes, I have been praying for two people, and my cat too (who is starting to do better, thank you for all the advice!) I am praying for my friend’s daughters has developed PTSD and she is having an incredibly hard time cooping with the events that caused it. She is now back home but it will be a long road to balance for her. I am also praying for my Uncle Stephen who has been diagnosed with something called Horton’s Disease, which sounds infinitely more painful then my simple migraines. Part of me sees events in life such as these as a test of faith, however that does not make it any easier to see those you love in pain.

I should probably get back to cleaning now. I need to reorganized the storage space under the stairs. Who knows that lurks under there…

Someone held a door open for me today and reminded me it was Random Acts of Kindness Week today. Which was very funny and cute.

This past weekend was fun, lots of kindness! We went to a discussion group at Shannon’s on Friday night and had a vegetarian potluck. I have never had miso soup before, or tofu that I considered edible for that matter… I love this group because we just talk with no set topic, which is really nice sometimes.

On Saturday night we went over to Andrea’s for a “Medieval” movie night. We watched “Robin Hood – Men in Tights” and “The Reduced Shakespeare Company” (which was a really great comedy theater piece of three men reducing all 37 of Shakespeare’s works into one hour.)

Sunday… we didn’t do much. It was very windy, parts of Spokane declared a state of emergency because of blowing snow drifts. I feel for anyone who lives in the West Plains… We are on the South Hill though and other then the wind, the roads are (finally) clear. We went grocery shopping. The overabundance of bad weather lately was evident at Safeway though. You know the weather has been bad for way to long when the grocery store starts running out of food…. It makes you appreciate local food so much more too. Safeway’s produce department (and quite a bit of the rest of the store) is filled with signs that says “Out of Stock Due to Weather”. I think all the mountain passes are open again today though, so we are no longer cut off from the world.

They did have strawberries though, ya! They were reasonably cheap too for Winter, because of Valentines day.

I know a lot of people don’t do Valentines day because of “rampant consumerism” or whatnot, but I am looking forward to it. I got Michael a little something and I am really looking forward to his reaction to it. I ordered it today though so it might not be here by Thursday though…

I think it is important to be in touch with your relationship and the needs of your spouse all year around, but I still like Valentines because it is a little reminder of that in the middle of the most depressing month ever, of the importance of love. (Okay, before someone says it, I know, technically January has more suicides then February worldwide but the people who found that out have obviously never been delayed in the subway in Paris in February because another person jumped in the tracks…) February 14th is also Singles Awareness Day isn’t it? So even a holiday for the party poopers pessimists…

Aos got in the litter pail somehow today and got it all over the floor… Erg.

Michael and I braved the snow last night and went to our first Bradley class at the Spokane Midwives Center. In case I have not talked about it before, the Bradley Method is a partner-coached type of natural childbirth, my mother-in-law recommended it to me. I really enjoyed the class. Our instructor, Jennifer, is really warm and friendly and I like the seven other couples there.

Weirdness in class though, we were watching a video about natural birth, mainly focused on home birth, and my breasts started hurting… Not exactly hurt as in pain, but a very strong tingle. Later when we were doing relaxation exercises later and my breasts began to leak, it really surprised me! I am only at 21 weeks right now! I was a little self-conscious but somehow relieved that I could lactate. It happened again today too, but just very briefly. I can’t wait to be a mother, just the yearning of that alone is enough to make my breasts ache! Hehe.

Pregnancy is bringing lots of changes to my body, not all comfortable but I am still really loving it. It feels so natural and wonderful. I feel like this is where I am suppose to be at this stage in my life.