Entry for December 19, 2008

Couple of things...I went home early today, since there was not a lot going on, and when the evening rolled around, I was watching the news, and found out our Governor is proposing to layoff state employees, and require the ones still working to take a 10% pay cut. Many people I know think government workers all make too much money, so it would probably surprise them thaty where i have been working at a state facility many of the machine operators make about $16 a hour, while their private industry counterparts make around $22 an hour. Its a trade off for a stable job versus more money. Still, i dont think California is going to make a dent in their budget shortage by doing this...California is about $7 BILLION in debt right, so if state workers could balance that, it would mean each of them taking a 100% pay cut for about a year....good thinking Gov.

Merry Christmas

My daughter called to say it was really snowing the other morning at her house, overlooking Santa Cruz CA...about 3 miles from the ocean!

My brother is working a lot of overtime with his new job as plow maintenance supervisor in the mountains...I might give him some of those artic boots for Christmas.. It has been COLD here in our valley, high 20s at night, low 40s in the day...

Dec 19, 2008 10:15 am US/Pacific

Blowing Snow Making Sierra Travel Difficult

SACRAMENTO (CBS13/AP) ―

Crews repaired downed power lines, motorists cursed and skiers rejoiced Friday as another winter storm raced through the Sierra with more snow and strong winds, including one gust of 142 mph over a mountain ridge west of Lake Tahoe.

Interstate 80 over Donner Summit, a major artery into northern California, was closed for nearly six hours before reopening at 6:30 a.m., said Donna Jones, a California Department of Transportation supervisor in Kingvale, Calif.

"The blowing snow caused zero visibility. So for safety reasons we closed it," Jones said.

Chains were mandatory later Friday on all three highways linking the Sacramento, Calif., and Sierra areas: I-80 over Donner Summit, U.S. 50 over Echo Summit and Highway 88 over Carson Pass.

Winds in Reno gusted up to 79 mph early Friday, said Gina McGuire, a National Weather Service forecaster in Reno. To the south, she reported gusts of up to 162 mph on White Mountain Summit in Mono County, Calif., and up to 82 mph in Washoe Valley north of Carson City.