Two dogs attacked a school bus driver this morning at Eckstein Middle School, leading to the school being locked down briefly.

Our news partners at The Seattle Times have the story about the attack, at 3003 N.E. 75th St.,  here.

The bus driver, who was taking a walk around the school before heading to another school, suffered puncture wounds to his hands, according to a recorded message sent to all Eckstein families. All students and staff were told to remain in their classrooms out of concern the dogs would strike again.

Police detained the dogs, said Seattle Public Schools spokeswoman Lesley Rogers, who did not know what type of dogs they were.

This summer, plenty of our neighbors gathered for National Night Out, but you don’t have to wait until summer for another reason to get together with your neighbors.

Feb. 11 is Seattle’s 18th annual Neighbor Appreciation Day, a special day to reach out to neighbors, create new friends, and express thanks to those who help make your neighborhood a great place to live.

The city suggests several ways to participate:

• Plan an activity for your neighborhood such as a block party, potluck, or work party. The city’s Neighbor Appreciation Day website provides ideas, tools, resources and templates to help community members organize an activity. Once organized, the event can be posted to the online calendar (the submission can be made public or private).
• Send out Neighbor Appreciation Day greeting e-cards to your neighbors. The selection of e-cards feature artwork from past winners of the Neighbor Appreciation Day Student Art Contest.
• Share a story or two about your favorite neighbors. Community members can visit the Neighbor Appreciation Day website to post stories about great neighbors or their neighborhood.
• Attend one of the many community activities listed on the online calendar. Seattle Fire stations, Seattle Parks and Recreation community centers and pools, and other organizations have special Neighbor Appreciation Day events and work parties planned.

For information, contact Wendy Watson at wendy.watson@seattle.gov.

A Big Blog post proudly displayed now on the home page of SeattlePI.com, “Seattle’s 15 best coffee shops, and why Starbucks made the list,” puts Wedgwood’s Cafe Javasti, 8617 35th Ave. N.E. (and in Maple Leaf at 8410 Fifth Ave. N.E. ) in the No. 4 spot, saying what we’ve known for years:

This cafe and bakery in Wedgwood and Maple Leaf has god-awesome crepes. Enough said.

Enough said indeed.

Update Monday Jan.23: Winds overnight didn’t even ready half that speed BUT there’s a lot of black ice in the neighborhoods this a.m. Drive carefully!

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Shortly after 2:30 p.m. the National Weather Service issued a new wind advisory that’s in effect until 10 p.m. increasing today’s predicted wind gusts to 45 mph.

* SOME AFFECTED LOCATIONS…EVERETT…SEATTLE…TACOMA.

* TIMING…WINDS WILL INCREASE EARLY THIS EVENING.

* WIND…SOUTH 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH.

* IMPACTS…WINDS THIS STRONG CAN SNAP SMALL BRANCHES AND CAUSE

LOCAL POWER OUTAGES. TREES THAT HAVE BEEN DAMAGED BY THE

RECENT ICE STORM MAY BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO LOSING LARGE BRANCHES.

3 p.m.: 1.5 inches of snow have fallen on top of the ice today, for a total storm total topping 7 inches.

City urges residents to get home before dark.

2 p.m.: National Weather Service issues Winter Weather Advisory until 4 a.m. Friday.

Noon: We now have a half-inch of new snow atop the ice atop the old snow.

Cliff Mass has posted: “Well folks, this is not my profession’s finest hour.”

9:30 a.m.: The neighborhoods have a quarter-inch of ice on top of a half-foot of old snow. And it’s now snowing steadily.

Icy tree limbs over power lines.

7:50 a.m.: One Sea-Tac runway now open. But massive delays.

5:45 a.m. The three runways at Sea-Tac airport are closed because of the icy conditions.

The National Weather Service has issued an ice storm warning until noon 2 p.m.:

ICE ACCUMULATIONS…ICE ACCUMULATIONS TWO TO FOUR TENTHS OF AN

INCH THIS MORNING.

MAIN IMPACT…TRAVEL WILL BE SEVERELY IMPACTED. POWER OUTAGES ARE

LIKELY.

Seattle Public Libraries are closed today due to the extreme weather conditions.

Metro continues on weather routes. Check this site for changes to your bus route.

See snow plow routes here.

Live traffic cams here.

Garbage collection has been postponed by at least a day.

From Cliff Mass this morning: “Over the past day and particularly this morning, something relatively unusual and, quite frankly, dangerous is going on outside–a freezing rain/sleet storm.”

With snow falling for the third day in a row and counting, it might seem like a weird time to learn about an initiative to educate Northeast Seattle residents about solar panels, and help them install the energy-saving systems more affordably.

But you’ve got some time to mull the details about the Solarize Seattle: Northeast project, which invites residents of the 98105, 98115 and 98125 ZIP codes to begin registering for the project starting tomorrow, Jan. 17. Registration, which allows residents to learn more information about adding solar panels but doesn’t require you to take any action, ends April 23.

As we wrote in the blog post Solarize Seattle adding Northeast branch,” Solarize Seattle is a program of Northwest SEED that has teamed up with Sustainable Northeast Seattle in this project. Sustainable Northeast Seattle tells us: (more…)

King County Metro Transit is operating all bus routes on designated snow routes until further notice.

From Metro:

If your bus does not have a pre-planned snow route, it will operate its regular route, however service may be delayed due to weather and road conditions. Transit customers are advised to wait for buses at posted bus stops on flat portions of cleared arterials or at major transfer points, such as park-and-ride lots and transit centers where there may be multiple service options.

It is not possible to know when a bus will arrive at a specific location, or to provide service updates at the individual trip or stop level.

Use regularly published timetables as a guide, check Metro’s online snow page for route updates, be aware of conditions in your area and be prepared for delays.

Update Jan. 14: Channel 13, Q13Fox.com, has covered NEST’s launch. Click here for the video.

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Watch video to see what NEST will do

North East Seattle Together  – the new “virtual village for seniors” – has hired an executive director and opened its office in the Ravenna-Bryant neighborhood.

It is now recruiting Founding Members who will be the first to benefit from the community and support services that NEST will provide to keep seniors safe in their own homes. Founding Members can begin enjoying NEST’s services on February 14, 2012, with the full public launch occurring on May 1.

Many neighbors have followed NEST’s progress for more than a year, watching as it organized, became a 501(c)3 and begin significant fundraising. It was  featured in the Seattle Times and by KUOW Public Radio.  More than 650 people asked to be added to its mailing lists, and over 150 volunteered to help NEST help seniors when as it prepared to launch.

NEST is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization which will be supported primarily by membership dues.  It will serve 14 neighborhoods in northeast Seattle – including Maple Leaf, Wedgwood, View Ridge and the University District – with a wide assortment of services, including transportation, simple household tasks, shopping and many, many more activities that are described on its website.

NEST’s new executive director, Judy Kinney, has worked for decades as a community builder, social services leader, business owner and life coach. She is deeply committed to NEST’s mission.  Earlier this month Judy opened the first NEST office, at 5751 33rd Ave. N.E., inside Ravenna United Methodist Church.

For more information email NEST or call Judy at 206-525-6378.

Disclosure: Mike, the author of this post, is also a NEST board member.

It’s not just North Seattle-area Little Leagues that now are looking for players to register.

Photo courtesy Seattle Vikings Rugby.

Craig Wicks, the director of coaching for the Seattle Vikings Rugby, asked us to let our readers know that his program also is now looking for boys and girls ages 7-18 to register for the season. He writes:

Rugby is one of the fastest growing sports in the US for boys and girls and will be included in the Olympics in 2016. The Seattle Vikings have been operating in Seattle for over 20 years and introduce kids in Seattle to rugby every year.

Practice runs from January to May at Magnuson Park, and Wicks says new players are always welcome.

Find out more at www.seattlevikings.com or rugby@seattlevikings.com.