SATURDAY JANUARY 31, 2008

This is the HTML version of the IndexWa.org newsletter. Sent to a WHOPPING 86 MEMBERS monthly (well, most of the time).  we never claimed to be big.

STAY UP TO DATE ON WEATHER RELATED ISSUES OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT COMES OUR WAY WITH News As It Happens. 45 members AND GROWING.  PLEASE Join'em.

1st Up

We have been asked a few times where we get our news.  Well, a lot of it is word of mouth (verifiable information before we it put into print) and we use a few sites.  Index News from the Everett Herald, Puget Sound News, Monroe Monitor, Exploding Cigar, Drudge Report, Emergency.org (one of our fav's) and a small host of other online sources, one of which will be in our Site To See section in the future.  Now ya' know.
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Well, we spent many hours laying out a new format on the newsletter and we only had one comment and that was negative.  We NEED TO KNOW if the format is ok for you folks.  The only complaint we had is, the lettering was a bit light in some cases.  I had to agree with that however, on my monitor it was light but quite legible.  Certain areas will be a bit light intentionally (as they are not important).  We changed from the gray to a a bluish color and hope that works better.

Keep in mind, some ISP's strip out certain code before arriving in your email box.  We have no control over this.  We have personally tested on GoDaddy (they strip), Earthlink (they strip) and Gmail (they do not strip).

Enough Snow?

Boy...I am writing this piece on January 3, 2009.  Will it ever stop snowing.  My wife said "we still have Jan, Feb, Mar." as if we need a reminder.  It is so pretty but it gets old quick.
Anybody out there know just HOW MANY INCHES we have had through this posting?  Heybrook area had 106+ inches as of Jan 1.  We recorded (with a yard stick) 45" in some areas ON THE GROUND so we must have had a lot more than that.  If you know how much snow has actually FALLEN in Index, give me a holler.  I will post it on the blog.  Please include the date or as of. You can just hit REPLY to this Newsletter to contact me.

Site Statistics 2008

Stats are in for 2008.  We did not begin recording true stats until mid January 2008.

Site Requests: 390,693
Page Requests: 67,596

Blog Stats: 5,810 Unique Page Views (began recording in mid September 08).

Advertiser Stats: 7,925 Impressions
Click Throughs: 132 (1.65%) - Pretty Dang Good!!! 0.80 to 1% is average.  A Click Through is when somebody clicks on a banner ad and goes to our sponsors web site.  Yeah, we track that.  It's a must.

We had a crash August 24, 2008 on the Advertiser Software, so the Ad Stats are only from August 24th through December 31, 2008.

Not too shabby for a small town website that serves mainly the valley and a few outlying areas.  We have visitors from all over the world (Russia, Germany, Iraq, China, Berlin), and some odd places we have never heard of).  We are thrilled!!

Redman Hall Collapses (is the Bush House Next?)

This was sent and posted to News As It Happens on January 3, 2009.  Article may be read and photos viewed via the following link: http://indexwa.org/blog/redman-hall-collapses/

To be the FIRST TO KNOW (or at least as soon as we know), please subscribe to News As It Happens!

Flooding?

It seems (as of this writing 01.10.09), Index avoided the flooding.  High water?  Yes, but nothing out of the norm.  Lisa Stowe introduced me to the water gauge at Town Hall, which is monitored closely during flood season.  Quite interesting to say the least.

Snow is still piled up as I write, anywhere from 2-5' at any given spot within the town.  The town has a 100' right of way from the center of the street to your property (on to your property), so the snow is piled where it is.  There really was no place to put the snow, so as of this time it is doing its best to melt and hit the river.

Update 01.17.09 We added 60+ photos to the blog covering the flooding throughout Washington State.  A credit goes to Heidi Ludwig for the photos out of Snohomish.  THANK YOU HEIDI.  Readers of NEWS AS IT HAPPENS saw it first!

Mudslide On The South Fork

Posted to The Blog 01.11.09:  I was cruising the net a few minutes ago to see if there was anything new to report on the mudslide. I ran in to an interesting discussion that was turning into an argument.

Now, my wife and I have lived here only a bit over 5 years and were outside visitors for 4-5 years before that (2-3 times a year for a few days at a time).

One of the comments I read state "You can always get out by the pit", referring to the Reiter Pit. Alas, that is on Reiter Road.

For your "outsiders", Reiter Road is on the North Fork of the Skykomish River. The mudslide was on the South Fork and would not be accessible via Reiter Road.

Just an FYI and a short explanation of how the roads run around here.

Update 01.22.09: There is a barrier up on Index Rd. on the South Fork with a narrow opening for cars to get through (my guess is locals only).  No more cars have been parked on HWY 2, so things must be moving along down there (yes, DOWN.  If you head west from us, it's down to the locals).  When we drive to Monroe, we call it DOWN BELOW.

Update 01.24.09: Looks like it is open.  No barriers in place (that we can see from HWY 2 at least).

Heartwarming News

Two items actually.  We were surprised to have these two folks say or do what they did.

On Jan. 15, '09, we recieved and email from a Mr. T. Cox asking for our snail mail address as he had something he wanted to send us.  Nothing out of the norm really as we get this request a few times a year.

On Jan. 20, after arriving home from work, I was going through my mail and there was an envelope from Mr. Cox and a thank you note as well as a Starbucks gift card enclosed in the envelope.

I was SHOCKED. This mans generosity gave me that warm feeling that you get when somebody really cares.

The IndexWa.org is a lot of work and it is nice to know we are appreciated.

Mr. Cox. This is our public THANK YOU for your kindness. You don't know what it means to us.
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Second up:

We received an email (we get a lot of them and we are sorry we don't have the room to post them all), from Sonja.  Please read:

As owners of property in Skyko 3/4 we loved all the happenings in Index. Since the road has been washed out, we have had to bypass your "sweet" little town and use Jacks Pass. Your website keeps us updated on what is happening, as well as provide us with current weather and road conditions. Thanks you so much for all you you do! It is very much appreciated.

You folks may or may not know what all this means to us. THANK YOU ALL.  Thanks to ALL who are reading this newsletter.  You are just as important to us.  We can see that our efforts are not futile.

USAirway Photos

We uploaded some photos of the recovery of the USAirway flight that went down in the Hudson River.  We have heard enough of this story personally.  We did this for our subscribers and the photos will be available for 2 weeks, then they are gone.  NOBODY else has been notified of these photos on IndexWa.org.  WE DID THIS JUST FOR YOU, subscribers to our newsletter..  www.indexwa.org/usair/

Scheduled to Post on The Blog

02.18.09 - Off The Beaten Path by Bob Hubbard, Feb. 1997.  It's a LONG ONE but quite interesting.  A great explanation on why the river turns green in spots at any given time.  If you are interested in the "food chain", this is a must read.

Plea From A Visitor

This item was also posted to the Blog as well as News As It Happens on 01.25.09.

I received and email from a visitor to the site and had been awaiting his permission to publish it.  He is seeking a lady that he met some time back.  If YOU ARE THAT LADY or YOU KNOW who it is, please pass this on and I will let Alan know she has been found and I will pass on Alan's email address to her.
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Hello Ed, I must congratulate you on your website. Very clear and informative. I love hiking in Washington and I visit as many websites connected with Washington as I can to get information and inspiration.

I was wondering if you could help me contact a lady that I met in the R.E.I. store in Seattle back in September.  We talked about hiking around Index and I told her that I had just hiked from Snoqualmie Pass to Canada on the PCT. We looked at maps of the area and she told me that she was a writer and lived in Index. (Maybe she writes for your website?) Unfortunately I never asked her name and our conversation was interrupted by a salesperson.

So if, by some strange coincidence, you know the lady I'm talking about please pass her my e-mail address. It's always a dodgy area estimating a lady's age but I would guess she is in her early forties, very petite and attractive. If it jogs her memory I told her that I work/live on a private yacht. I'm currently in the Caribbean enjoying the sunshine. Hope you can help me contact her Ed.

Cheers Alan

UPDATE 01.26.09: Thanks to a reader of News as It Happens and a few phone calls, Alan's plea was answered and the "lady" has been found. She has agreed to a contact from Alan and she is just as excited as Alan.

We promised to keep their privacy.

Small world we live in!! Thanks to all for your help.

 

A Site to See:

The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
A repository of cast lists and information on every movie ever made.  There is one more database out there on the net, but IndexWa.org has found this one the best of the best.
Ever wonder about the name of a movie and you know the actor that plays in it?  Or vice versa.  This is the place to get what you are looking for -FAST & FREE-.

This Months Quote:

The world is getting to be such a dangerous place, a man is lucky to get out of it alive. -WC Fields-

Ed

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