Spring is Coming
“I woke up with the birds chirping, just like at the old house.” My husband said.
“The sound of spring.” The image of spring flowers appeared in front of my eyes behind my eye mask.
Lynton got up and opened the blinds in our bedroom. I couldn’t wait to look out the window. The gentle light green broke out of the bare branches in the front and back of our new home and in the neighborhood. In less than two months, the view on the street outside of our office had a makeover.
Outside of another window in my neighbor’s yard, there was a vertical tube birdfeeder with visitors flying back and forth between the feeder and the bushes. I looked over our backyard to search for a spot where I could put a birdfeeder. There are no bushes on all three sides of the yard. On the south side of the yard, there are four pine trees. Two of them reach into the sky. In purchasing our home, I mentioned to the home inspector that I wanted to plant flowers, fruits, and vegetables. He reminded me that the south side of the yard doesn’t get too much sun until summer. It may not get full sun even in the summer because of the tall trees. Oh, well, I was going to landscape the backyard, but it seems like I better observe my backyard before making planting plans.
Many organizations keep track of newcomers. I received two brochures, one is about the Pacific Northwest Native Plants and the other one is “Help Stop Invasive Plants.” My daughter pointed out to me that there are blackberry bushes behind the west side of our fence. I had seen the invasion of blackberry bushes. We hired a gardener to trim back the blackberries. I study the two brochures carefully to help me plan my garden. Many plants that grow well in my California home won’t survive in the cold here in Oregon. I have seen no hummingbirds in our neighborhood. There are hummingbirds in my daughter’s backyard, so I know it’s a matter of attracting them. I want to plant some flowers to attract hummingbirds.
The sight of the coming spring made me forget the dreary trip we had gone through less than two weeks ago. This is a quick update, not to worry you but to remind me to press on under difficult circumstances.
We went to California on February 17. We rented a car, stayed in a hotel by the Ontario Airport, and attended Lynton’s niece’s wedding on the 18th. After the wedding, we went to Fullerton to stay in a hotel close to our storage. The next day, Sunday, Lynton rented a 26’ U-Haul. Now we had a moving truck and a car. We could see that the moving truck was not big enough to hold everything from our three storage units. Mentally, we sorted out what to take and what to leave behind. I wanted to give some furniture to a thrift store or Salvation Army, but nowhere close by to accept furniture donations. In the press of time, we had to take them to the dump. Lynton rented a small U-Haul to take the discarded items to the dump. Now we had three vehicles.
On Monday, the day of loading, the four experienced moving helpers wasted no time in fitting everything into the 26’ truck, like fitting the puzzle pieces together. Everything we wanted to keep fit to the ceiling and all the way to the door of the truck. Everything we wanted to discard also barely fit all the way to the door of the small truck! Miracles!
We had two trucks and a car at the storage facility and needed to get them out of the gated area before 6:00 p.m. We needed to take the small truck to the dump before 4:00 pm and then return it to U-Haul before 5:00 pm. We had to drop off the rental car by 7:00 pm. By the end of the day, we should keep only the moving truck. Lynton was playing chess in his head and tried to figure out which move should go first. He tried to explain to me but finally asked me to take the car to follow him.
How would you do it from 3:30 to 7:00 pm to get the two trucks and one car out of the storage (by two people), take the small truck to the dump by 4:00 pm, return it to U-Haul by 5:00 pm, return the car before 7:00 pm, and keep only the 26’ truck when done? All the locations are within a 15 to 20 minutes’ drive! You’ll get a price by solving this puzzle!
We did it! Miracles!
We woke up at 4:00 am on Tuesday, February 21, and hit the road at 4:30 am to get out of Downtown Los Angeles to beat the commuters. We didn’t take breakfast or lunch breaks. Whenever stopping by to fill the tank, we grabbed some drinks and snacks. Lynton was full of energy and motivated to go through this trip and go home as quickly as possible. The drive and the weather were good until about 45 minutes before reaching Redding, California, where we wanted to spend a night. The gusty wind blew from the left side of the truck. I checked the weather app, and it showed the wind was 21 mph. It surely felt stronger than that. The fully loaded truck was swaying. I gripped the door handle and pulled it toward me as if I could pull the truck back from flipping over to the right.
Lynton concentrated on keeping the truck stayed in the lane. Did it come across his mind that, “How much longer?” I didn’t ask him. But I read him the info: wind – 21 mph, time to Redding – 30 minutes… We made it to Redding, checked into the Red Lion Hotel, and walked across the street to have dinner at the Applebee restaurant. We went to bed early to hit the road again before 6:00 am the next day. He wanted to get through Mount Shasta as early as possible.
After our California home closed escrow on December 7, 2022, we took two days to drive to Portland, Oregon. Lynton wanted to be familiar with the road to prepare for the moving trip. He expected to drive through Mount Shasta in the cold even though it’s only over 4000’ in elevation. The summit of Mount Shasta was gorgeous when we first entered the area.
As expected, it snowed. Further into the mountain, at 24 degrees Fahrenheit, the snow froze on the windshield. I turned the defrost into a full blast, but it didn’t melt the ice. There was no rest area or shoulder to stop for miles and miles. Even if we could stop, we didn’t have an ice scraper to take care of the windshield. The defrost helped a bit of thin out the ice for a few inches. Lynton ducked down, but could barely see where he was heading.
Again, I kept him informed of the weather and the distance to the next town. After about 50 miles, we arrived at the bottom of Mount Shasta. Lynton pulled the truck over at a parking lot. I walked across the street to a convenience store looking for an ice scraper. By the time I went back to the truck, Lynton took care of the ice on the windshield using a chisel in his tool chest in the truck!
The Southern Oregon part of the road wasn’t any easier. It snowed steadily for 240 miles from Ashland to Salem.
There was a heavy rainstorm for 46 miles from Salem to Portland. The rainstorm was worse than snow, with splashes and low visibility.
We finally pulled the truck onto the curb in front of our house. It was a huge relief that we got home safely. I made myself a cup of hot tea and looked out the window. About 45 minutes after we got home, it started snowing. I examined it for a few minutes. It looked like a mixture of rain and snow.
By 5:00 pm, I texted Mercy, “Is it snowing by your house?” “Yes, Mom. Autumn is in her ice-skating class. She and Nora will play in the snow when she gets home.
The news the next day reported that Portland got 10.8 inches of snow, the second highest since February 1943 when there were 14.4 inches of snow. Many cars got stranded everywhere.
We were thankful beyond imagination that we were spared from being stranded somewhere on the freeway with a big truck.
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Miracles! Miracles! Miracles!
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The Showers of Blessings 
Quite an exciting experience, and very nice journalistic photos! I had similar situations while driving with my husband in in USA and Canada and I was happy taking photos from the windshield 🙂 Now that he’s gone, I will never have that again – well thank you Lord for what I had!
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Sorry to hear that your husband is no longer with you, Tatiana. I’m sure the memories of him cheering you up. The photos you took during the trip with him mean a lot to you. Our moving trip was an exciting experience. ☺️ Thank you for your comment.
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Wow, that was quite the adventure, Miriam. Glad you made it safely and that spring has sprung at your new home.
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We’re thankful to be home safely, Carla! The previous two owners didn’t plant any flowers. I’ll have fun doing it in the years to come.
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I’m so glad you made it safely. Whew, what journey!
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Thank you, Priscilla! My neighbor said we seemed to be one step ahead of disasters. I’m thankful to be home safely!
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That was quite a journey! How lucky that you arrived before the worst of the weather hit.
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I know, Debra! Can you imagine we got stuck in the snowstorm after 16 hours of driving? My husband was pushing quite hard to get through the joinery. We were very lucky to be spared from the frustration.
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Wonderful, and thanks for sharing. Snow? If only.
Worst ever house move ? One of our team collapsed, terrible ,pain, ambulance called.
I blamed our huge sofa…
Wrong. Appendix, and he was OK.
Incredible buyers, moving in, shared their team with us and saved the day. .
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Wow! What an interesting story (love the photos) as well as the fact that you just missed this historic snowstorm. That is very, VERY lucky. And in terms of your brainteaser, I love the fact that you added it, but it was no match for my brain cells trying to work on a post, haha. Thanks Miriam!
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We’re so lucky to escape the historic snowstorm, Melanie! Yeah, the brain teaser! I almost argued with my husband but it turned out he was right and saved some time. Now I have to remember exactly what we did! 😀☺️
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Ha! I just thought it was a clever puzzle in the middle of a post. 🙂
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Thank you, Melanie! My first time off doing it.
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You did it! Gosh, what a nightmare. No breaks, fully determined, then gusty wind when you got near Redding. I don’t envy anyone driving trucks. Miracles indeed. I’m very glad you got home safe and made it through the weather. There’s a lot of snow! It looks so beautiful, but it’s so impractical, not to mention dangerous when people are out on the roads.
The daffodils, hurrah! I’ve seen a couple of little flowers starting to sprout and it’s amazing. Spring can’t come soon enough! The weather here in the UK has gone bitterly cold again so I’m hoping that once this week is out of the way, we start actually heading towards spring.
I hope you have a lovely week!
Caz xx
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I’ve heard of the weather in the UK, Caz. I’m thankful to be home safely.
I think the weather in the entire world is crazy and confusing. I don’t know if there’s anything to do with the climate. And if we could do anything to change it. David Attenborough spoke at the UN to urge the countries to do something to save nature and save us. I’m not sure if the industries are willing to comply!!
In the meantime, we try to do what we can to live for today. Have a wonderful week! ☺️
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What a crazy journey, Miriam! Happy you made it safely!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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It was a crazy journey, Yvette! It’s not something we want to do often. In fact, I don’t want to do anything like that again. I’m thankful we arrived safely. Thank you. 🙂
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Gosh, Miriam, what a journey. My cousin did something similar but he did it in the summer time. I’m glad everything worked out well.
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Thank you, Robbie. We’re glad things worked out well. Wow, your cousin did a similar thing? We have friends driving this route regularly coming to a city close to us from California to visit their son and his wife. They don’t save too much by driving if they stay in a hotel. But they need a car to drive around, so it gets to be expensive. So probably it makes sense for them to drive.
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Miraculous, Miriam!
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That was what I thought, Toni! It was amazing!
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Reblogged this on Ed;s Site..
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Thank you for sharing, Ed! I appreciate that.
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After reading this, Miriam, it felt like an exact page out of our moving book in 2020! Moving, loading, renting, hoteling, driving in rain, unloading, egads, I relived our experience with yours! I’m glad you were safe and made it in good time. It’s nice to wake up in the new home and see spring outside! Your spring is sure different looking than ours right now–still a lot of snow on the ground and no daffodils will show themselves for a few more weeks if they know what’s good for them.
By the way, your pic of Mt Shasta is the “fake” Mt Shasta, or Black Butte. I thought that was Mt Shasta too, a few years ago. A few miles to the east, Mt Shasta looms like a giant over the hills and trees. I’m glad you are enjoying your new home and yay for spring!
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I have no idea about “fake” Mount Shasta, Terri! Is your photo Mount Shasta? I bought the daffodils and kept them in the garage for a while. I took photos right after transplanting them. But the new flowers have not come out yet. I bought four rose bushes. They started budding because I keep them in the garage for now. I bought daylily bulbs. Just waiting for the warmer weather to plant them. The rain/snow will be back next week.
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I had to look the little range up on the map–it’s called Black Butte. I always thought it was Mt Shasta until we drove around the bend and saw it looming in the distance (that is my image). Hopefully you won’t have to drive down Hwy 5 again for awhile! Your roses are going to go nuts in Portland– it’s called the Rose City for a reason 🙂
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You’re right, Terri. We won’t drive down I-5 again for a long time. I look forward to planting my roses. Hope to have some flowers in the summer. 🌹😍
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OMG, the pictures of your trip north are amazing, Miriam. What terrible weather! But you made it with some great planning and some good luck. You’ll love planning a garden, and when summer comes, aaah… it’s beautiful. Enjoy your new home, my friend.
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The trip was unforgettable in many ways, Diana! I don’t think we’ll ever do a driving trip like that for fun, though. I can hardly wait to do the gardening. Some rose bushes, flower bulbs, and seeds are waiting for spring to come!
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I’m happy you beat the storm, Miriam. Enjoy your new home. xo
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We’re fortunate, Jill. I’m so thankful! 💖
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Look at you, Miriam, making your new house a home. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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Exactly, Jacqui! We’ve been making the house our home. I kept comparing this house with our old house. We’ll work on it until we feel comfortable. For me, it’s the garden. I’ll be doing a lot of gardening once the weather gets warmer.
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yay, a lovely sign that gives me hope, especially since we had a giant snowstorm last night
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Hope sustains us. Beth. How you’re okay after the snowstorm. We have a heavy rainstorm after snow.
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yes, the sun is out and it’s better today
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Good to hear that, Beth. The rain stopped today and the sky looks brighter here also.
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Wow! Miracles indeed. Well done in fitting all the vehicle moves in time. A credit card makes a useful emergency ice scraper!
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I was amazed how things worked out, Peter. We’ll remember the credit card use. Thanks!
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Your daffodils gave me a welcome boost as I look out my window at the snow and the rain and the clouds and, and, and… Mother nature is a tease!
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We have rain now after the snow, Quial. My daffodils were half buried in the snow. Some flowers were broken, but I popped up the rest that survived. Nature symbolizes our lives, doesn’t it?
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First, I’m so glad y’all made the trip back home safely.
Those snow photos are so pretty, but I can imagine the white knuckles anxiety while driving in that weather. Hope spring comes soon. 🙂
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I’ll never forget how grateful I am to be home safely from that trip, Barbara! When we watched the news the next day, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like for our truck skidded away. We didn’t even have an ice scraper!! Living in California for most of our lives, we don’t know how to deal with driving in the snow. My husband got snow tires right after we arrived. I don’t think we need them because Portland doesn’t get that kind of snow regularly, but it was for his peace of mind! 🙂
Spring is coming! I can see the changes in the trees! 🙂
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I did see some news that motorists have been stranded. In some places people are kind of used to this, but like you say if you almost never get cold or snowy weather, you are not prepared. I was going to suggest for future reference if the ice or frost on the car windows isn’t very thick you can use a credit card edge as a scraper. I’ve done that before. 🙂
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You’re the second person recommended using a credit card. We have to remember that. It’s a good emercy device. Thank you, Barbara. 🙂
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Driving with any kind of a U-Haul in that kind of weather is terrifying! I will never forget the time we were pulling a U-Haul trailer on the New York Thruway after a bad storm and jack-knifed on the ice. It was a miracle my husband was able to steer out of the skid. You were very fortunate to get home safely!
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Wow, Liz, your husband steered a U-Haul out of the skid! That’s amazing. It must be scary and unforgettable! When my husband decided to drive, I looked at the sizes of U-Haul and visualize how he would maneuver the big thing. He almost rented a 29 feet truck. I’m glad it was 26 feet. He drove it like a van and passed the slower trucks. I was worried all the way. He wouldn’t have handled it well had we gotten stuck somewhere. I told my daughter that the guardian angel was watching over us throughout the entire trip. Yes, we were very fortunate to get home safely.
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My husband is the safest driver I know. He has been since high school.
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Wow! Miriam, what a ride. I looked at that picture of the road ahead and thought how beautiful it must have been. Then I remembered what you were driving. I am so glad you made it safely to your house. I look forward to pictures from your window after you add your touches to the yard. I hope you have a great weekend.
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It was an adventurous ride, Dan! I don’t think we would ever do it again. That’s not something we consider fun. We have friends who do that regularly to drive from California to visit their son and his wife in Portland. They had driven from the west coast to the east coast and back with their trailer.
I ran out of space to plant in our CA home. I love gardening and will have fun in the years to come planting in my new yard. Wishing you a wonderful weekend.
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When I lived in Seattle, we did a vacation drive down the coast to San Diego and then scrambled back up I-5. My brother and I drove an 18′ truck with a car trailer attached when we moved our mom from Pittsburgh to Iowa (17 hours). I wouldn’t want to do that again, but at least it was fairly flat and it was in May. I’m glad you’re settling in.
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Spring is almost here in UK, but I adored those snow pictures!
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I love your spring flowers, Anita! Do you get snow in the UK?
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We also had our first signs of spring, a couple of tornadoes in the area yesterday and a snake in our backyard, but that’s Texas. I love your photos with snow and mount Shasta. You seem to have a big backyard, perfect for a Leonberger dog. Anyway, congratulations on a successful move and overcoming all the challenges.
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I learned about the visitors – snakes, deer… in the backyard of the homes in Texas from another blogger, Thomas! Did you get rid of the snake? I drove from Seattle to Los Angeles by myself 40+ years ago after I finished school. It was in the summer, though. I don’t think we would ever drive through Mount Shasta again.
We have a big backyard for any size of a dog. I want to make it a fun place for my grandkids and plant many flowers and shrubs along the fence.
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That sounds wonderful. Your backyard will be beautiful. I am sure your backyard will be a fun place for your grandkids. The snake was not venomous so we let it be and the next day it was gone. However, last year we had a rat snake in the sink in the bathroom. We don’t know how it got there. We didn’t know whether it was a harmless snake or a venomous one, water moccasins (venomous) look a bit like rat snakes (harmless), so we called animal control that time.
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Miriam, I am so glad you and linton made it safely to your destination! You definitely got a lot of snow! I can’t imagine it! Xx
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I’m still in awe of the timing, Carol Anne! Had we started our driving late on the second day, we would have been stuck in the traffic. We’ve learned so much about trusting our premonition during this trip.
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It’s been an unbelievable winter. We have family in Portland, so I know you’ve been slammed hard. Where we live, it can go ten years without snow, but we had six inches in our backyard (most that I can ever remember since we moved here 50 years ago.)
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The weather in the US has been crazy for the last couple of years and breaking records, Pete! You had six inches of snow! That’s unbelievable. Little kids would welcome it. My grandkids had fun playing sledding on the neighboring school grounds. Is today your blogging day? How’s your writing going?
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February was a good writing month—maybe the best one I’ve ever had. I still read the occasional blog post during the week, but I’m only planning on doing one post a month. I did two in February, but only one was planned. I’ll still check in once in a while.
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I’m glad you had a good writing month in February. I remember someone discussed the subject of writers and bloggers. Some are mostly writers who have blogs. Some are bloggers who have written a book or two. It’s hard to be strong with both because we only have a 24-hour day.
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Wow Miriam what beautiful pictures. Love your yard and happy spring is in the air too. Wow the snow captures area amazing and thank god you didn’t get stranded!!!❣️
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Thank you very much, Cindy! After 16 hours of driving in extreme weather, we were thankful to be home safely. Probably we won’t be going too far for a while! ❤ The snow was amazingly beautiful. We may not see that much snow for a long time.
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Whew 😅 I bet!
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Yes! 😀😍
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So nice you sharing spring season. Very write you frist start lines.
Beautiful photography. Nice you sharing your new house surrounding are.
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Thank you very much for reading this post, Rajkkhoja! I’m glad you liked the photos.
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You are most welcome!
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