Thursday, March 27, 2014

Consumed by the news

These days I spend my days waiting for news conferences (every day at 9 and 6) since the landslide that happened up in Oso.  I first received notice of the slide via my phone, as it warned me of a flood watch for that area due to a slide.  I couldnt comprehend how a little bit of dirt could clog the entire river.. surely the river was strong enough to quickly wash it away.

It wasnt until we got home and turned on the news that we discovered it was a mile-long clog of the river, in an area where 30+ buildings and homes existed.  There are no more homes, no more structures.  This slide was amazing.  I am intrigued by mother nature and the power and destruction it can cause.  I certainly feel pain and sadness for ALL the lives that have been lost and the family and friends and community surrounding this tragedy.  I feel compelled to watch any updates I can, to learn more, see more, hear more...  If I could go up and help and volunteers were needed, I honestly think I would strongly consider it.  But they have plenty of help.  I think it will take months to recover the bodies, 6 days later and I feel it is pretty hopeless that any survivors will be found, although miracles can happen.  There are 16 reported deaths confirmed, 25 bodies recovered (waiting to officially identify those 9 before reporting) and potentially 125 cases of people missing!  This landslide has the potential to be the deadliest natural disaster in WA State history (worst was in 1910 when the town of Wellington WA was caught up in a major avalanche killing 96 people.  There had been a terrible snow storm for days, 2 trains were held up in this town waiting for it to pass, when this avalanche happened just below the current Stevens Pass Resort).  And this landslide also is working its way to becoming one of the deadliest in the United States.

Before and After..  although the yellow line on the far right I believe is incorrect as the slide appears to have take away a lot more of that hillside than indicated in the drawing.  And whats hard to comprehend too is that this is a mile long blockage.. pictures make it seem much smaller than reality.


Should be an interesting time over the next few months as bodies are recovered.  My only hope is that they can find/recover them all.  In a weird kind of way, I look forward to going up to this area when this is all settled and time has moved on, to see first hand the devastation so close to home.  This is in reality only about 45 minutes from our home.  No where near danger and I am thankful to live on a flat piece of property..  Derek has family up in that area, about 2 miles or so down river from this, but not in any real danger.

When I lay down at night, or sit and watch tv, I try to think about and appreciate all that I have and how quickly it could go away.  I've tried to imagine the feeling of that moment when the mountain came down upon those helpless people..  I choke up a lot when watching the reports, more so as the days go on and you can see the strain this is taking on all those involved in getting a handle on the situation.  As their voices crack on the tv, my eyes shed small tears.  The fire chief of Arlington is a friend.. not a current friend, but someone I met when I was about 18, someone Derek grew up, I spent weekends chatting and hanging out with him (back in my cruising Marysville days) and even spent an evening with Derek & him at his family cabin out of Granite Falls.  Its inspiring to see someone so young as the chief who appears to be handling this situation very well, but it is sad too as I have a personal connection to him and seem to feel more sadness when I watch him dealing with this.

Not sure when/if the novelty of the situation will wear off on me..  I just feel compelled to take it all in.  When 911 happened, Derek & I lived in Marysville and did not have TV.  It was a luxury we thought we didnt need and yeah, 90% of the time we probably dont need it.  But after that tragedy happened, it took a week to get TV hooked up and I told myself I would do what I could to never go w/o again..  because of situations like this.  That need to stay involved by getting educated by the news and reports.  In times like this, I am glad to be able to afford the tv to stay informed and then have the senseless shows to take me out of reality and just spend some time laughing and letting go for even just an hour.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

I'm feeling free..

Finally feeling the weight of responsibilities rolling off...  over this past weekend our dog club had our annual meeting so I was finally set free from my secretary responsibilities for that club and our new horse club treasurer seems to have a good grasp on the job, so other than a little consulting here/there for the treasurer and helping out in other areas with the dog club, I now am no longer holding any club positions!!  Yeah!!  Feels pretty darn good too...  Its been a very long time.

I did finally start swimming in the mornings at the new pool... and never went back for afternoons!  Felt bad for ditching my friend who had got me started, but the pool is just WAY too crowded in the afternoons and I'm not able to get in a good workout/swim trying to dodge 200 teenagers.  So I swim M/W/F mornings for almost an hour, am able to get in laps and walking the river, and I LOVE LOVE it!!  I dont mind getting up in the mornings an hour early to do so, I just do it.. I've been going in the mornings for almost a month now, my body is still getting used to it but I can feel my sore muscles throughout the day..  I'm pushing myself and not just lazily swimming along.  Dont get me wrong, I do take breaks as I can only do about 2-3 laps at a time and then I rest for about 30 seconds then do a different type of stroke..  But before I could only barely do 2 before my arms were too tired to finish that lap.

I've also now started walking on the days I dont swim.  I've gotten Derek motivated to get out with me, so we walk T/Th evenings.  Even walked in the rain this past Sunday morning and yesterday we went for a 90 minute hike at Lords Hill with a friend.  Really enjoying it and for the first time ever, really wanting to get out and do this and not allowing my lazy brain to take over.  If I eat poorly, I want to walk it off and feel bad when I dont have the opportunity to do so.  I was on a 3 week loosing streak at WW and finally got back down to the weight I was back in Nov....  But then last week I gained a little..  frustrating, but I'm fairly certain I will loose this week.. I've been active 9 of the last 10 days, pushing myself, eating pretty good (not perfect), but I feel it in my waist, so although I may not be pounds down from November, I've definately lost another inch or more in my waistline..

So I'm staying positive and continuing to work hard.  I'm relieved a little that I'm leasing Hula out right now and not focused on riding as it is allowing me the time I need to focus on myself.  I really need a guilt free mindset to work hard at this, so not feeling responsible for riding and grooming her is kinda nice.  Poor girl though, I had to tell Suzi to start coming over daily and brushing her because she is shedding really badly so she's been itching on anything she can get her big butt on!  Unfortunately it was a t-post yesterday.. she bent the t-post over and then proceeded to back into it and tried to scratch.. She failed and instead drove the tip of the t-post into her buttcheek pretty badly.  I called Suzi over to the house to help deal with it and proceeded to make her aware of the fact that she had just spent time brushing Hula a short while earlier and completely missed seeing it!  Hopefully Suzi learned a lesson and realizes she needs to do a better job of looking over the horse and ensuring she's not got injuries.. It was a pretty big cut for her to miss.. Yes it was on her buttcheek under her tail, however there was blood running down her leg, and she has white legs!  I cleaned it up really well and will do so daily until it starts to heal...  I didnt feel a vet call was necessary, as they would probably just add a few stitches and its not in an area that matters if it scars..  She is definitely sore, but I'm pretty confident we can keep this vet-free.

Still working hard on the baby-making process... still no news.

And no change on the jobs status for Derek.  Boeing has not called back; however, he is set up to take an academical test for the electrical union in about 2 weeks.  Once he passes that, then he should get called in for an interview and then hopefully job placement...  Fingers crossed as his unemployment runs out the end of April and there are no extensions...  things will work out... things will work out... things will work out...  :)