Tell me about Seattle, WA

[smilingcat]

Have a quick question.

We all know about how lack of sunlight affect our mood in the winter time, but what about our furbabies? cat and dogs. Will they also get depressed? and are they more irritable in the wintertime?

[XMcShiftersonX]

I'm probably not the best person to respond since I hate the weather here, and I only live here because the culture is great, the landscape is beautiful (which, yes, is undoubtedly because of the weather), and my dream has always been to work at Harborview. I have lived here all my life, and just never gotten used to it. I feel like I can never get warm in the winter.

Some years are drier than others, those years are the best for all year long riding. It usually is every other year with the el nina, el nino cycle. This coming season is supposed to be wet, cold, and snowy, so it won't likely be a good year (for me anyways). I rode all year round this last year because it was very dry.This summer, however, was not very warm and was overcast a lot of the time. Usually after the 4 months of no sun from Oct-Feb like someone mentioned, the summers are the best you will find anywhere (although that's probably because you're so deprived of sun and warmth you will take any improvement)! That is another reason to stay here.

A lot of people, including myself suffer from seasonal depression due to the lack of sunlight here. But, compared to the rest of the country (minus California), we have pretty mild shifts in seasons - no months of unending snow, or summers of extreme heat. So, it really just depends on you and your style. Do you not mind riding in the rain? Are you okay doing other activities during the wet months? Are you prone to depression? Are you not really attached to the sun? I've noticed staying active all year long helps as well as having a dog My counselor has also recommended a light box, which I may look into this year.

There's many amazing things about living here, but in my opinion weather isn't one of them.

[NbyNW]

Have a quick question.

We all know about how lack of sunlight affect our mood in the winter time, but what about our furbabies? cat and dogs. Will they also get depressed? and are they more irritable in the wintertime?

Now that we've had Gordy for a year, I would say that he generally has less energy in wintertime. (We are currently living at 50-something degrees north.) He likes to get up with the sun, so with short days he wants to get up later and naps a lot and doesn't have as much energy to burn off. When the days are long he is up with the sun and wants lots of long walks and endless games of fetch. Maybe he's solar-powered!

I don't think it affects his mood all that much. He's his happy cuddly self all year round.