Snow fell quickly, creating havoc with the traffic, and a report on Mama

First I shall digress for a few moments, to say thank you to those who visit and comment, as well as those who visit and do not comment. I really appreciate it. My time to blog has diminished as my duties at home have grown. Any more Mama cannot do any of the things she used to do the most of, home things like the dry Swiffer, the wet Swiffer, the carpet sweeper, the laundry, the cooking, the washing of dishes, the dusting. For years she happily did these things most of the time, saving me from having to do them as I worked 40 hours a week, did the grocery shopping, most of the cooking, and some of the other housework. She knew she was contributing and it made her feel good about herself, needed. Now, even with the continuous oxygen, she is out of breath after walking 20-30 feet in the apartment. She's upset, feeling down and somewhat worthless, and scared now and then. I'm trying hard not feel scared all of the time. Please continue to pray for her to regain some stamina. The heart doctor, after last Thursday's visit, didn't change any of her medicines and made an appointment for March 30. Today she had a CT scan of her chest, ordered by the lung doctor. She goes back to her on Jan. 28. I am going to call that woman later this week and try to find out what, if anything, she's learned from it. I can't wait until Jan. 28. Mama needs some help before then, if there is anything that can be done.

Now to the snow.

It must have been around 2:30 p.m. when I noticed it had started to snow. To tell you the truth, I thought, "Yuck!" when I looked out the window at work and saw the grass and the streets turning white. I thought, "Well, maybe it'll quit soon, turn to the predicted rain." Nope. By the time I got on the bus to head home, I believe at least 2-3 inches had fallen on the sidewalks and streets where I walked and waited. The only thing to wonder about really was what sort of traffic jam awaited the homeward bound bus ride. I think it must have taken about an hour to get from the corner of SE Grand and Morrison, over the Morrison Bridge, west on SW Washington, then south onto SW 11th and west onto SW Morrison, to the stop very near PGE Park. It took another 45 minutes to go the next two blocks!

This photo gives a hint or two as to why we went so slowly. Bumper to bumper traffic, headlights facing us as we turned right towards West Burnside. That Burnside with the right-facing SUV on it. That clear space behind the SUV would be the last open space on Burnside that we, including the skilled, determined TriMet bus driver and about 10 of us who stuck out the bus ride, saw for at least 30 minutes.

The 15 bus heading south was on its actual route. The 20 bus, the driver said, had probably been informed by TriMet to turn around here, to not continue west up the ever-steepening Burnside. Well, the 20 is stuck. The hill is steeper here than it seems. I took this photo out the side windows, behind the driver.

Our goal, this stop which is out on Burnside, was oh so close, yet so far, right beside McDonalds. I had plenty of time to take this photo, to not worry about the motion of the bus causing any blur because we were sitting still.


Here's why we sat still. I took this photo out the windshield of the bus. The cars going left to right and right to left are on Burnside, in the middle of the intersection, inching along just in case they could make some progress. Good grief! All they did was jam up the intersection which caused us and the other cars who had to turn left to jam up the intersection behind us--it was a time-consuming mess!