# A morning walk
#blogpost

December 18 and we are enjoying the second measurable snowfall of the season. The first one did not last long – a sizable monsoon swept through last week and brought everything back to brown.  Mr. Snow Balls died in that tragic episode. Alas – the snow this morning did not lend itself to his resurrection.  However it did lend itself to picturesque walks on the inner loop.

At the start of the walk and clearly there was signs of a wumpus about

I grabbed my old D800 with the 50mm 1.2 – still such a great camera even though I have a little lust for an 850. I resist as I know the 850 would do nothing to enhance my ability or the resultant quality. I would not mind the 4K video. That is one place where the 810 jumped over the 800 and now the 850 over the 810.
Perhaps 2.5 inches was all we could squeeze out of the clouds yesterday and last night. As much as a pain as it is to clean up, I sure would love to see a healthy snow drop some day soon.

Always making sure I am on their six

The Goldens love first walks in fresh snow. Who doesn’t?   It is great to have this for the holiday as light as it is. I am one of those people that just has to have snow for the Holiday. Just doesn’t seem right without it. Growing  up, as a small child, I could  not understand how it worked in places like Arizona. How could Santa drive a sleigh without snow?

There is still open water on the loop in several places.It is always a reminder on how long the terrain needs to drain off from such events. I think Portland recorded over four inches of rain on the day.

Open water at near the top of the loop

The basement flooded. First time in a while. The new drain keeps it under control (one year early on we had over 18” of water in the basement) and all we get is a skim of water in the corners.  A week later and I can still hear the cascade in the drain under the floor.  I started the dehumidifiers and fans this morning and hope that in another week on it will be back to normal.

I energized my heating cable that I put in the stone dust under the re-built section of the walkway. It worked to a point – and that point was to illustrate that I have perhaps only one third the capacity that I would need to be fully effective in

⅓ of what I need underneath

the mission. The better news on the re-build was that the lake that always formed up in that section did not during the recent melt-down. There was no pooling and the drain at the end worked as designed. I think that next season when I re-build the rest I will go with a heated liquid in pex approach. Something I could drive from a solar source – or boost from electrical.

I found the wumpus further along on the walk.