How Much is Too Much?

The day is glorious.  The temperature was above freezing, at least after a chilly start.  We started the day at 12 degrees.  I drove around town doing errands, and for the first time in months, I didn't need to be using my 4-wheel drive.  The intersections are still ice packs, but they are shrinking.  Almost like miniature versions of shrinking ice packs from global warming. 

Our global warming is directly related to the increased amounts of sunshine we are experiencing.  We currently have over 10 hours of sunlight a day.  Compare that to December when we were lucky to experience half that.  And in December the days were gray and cloudy.  Now we have days like today where the sun shines and the sky is a beautiful blue.


But just because the sun is out, it doesn't mean the snow is gone.  Our official snow total is 129 inches.  We are 3.3 inches away from breaking the 60 yr old record for snowfall.  I would say that most of us are done with snow, but we are rooting for that additional snowfall so we can smash that record.  Since it is all ready mid-March, it better hurry up and get here!

So, just does that much snow look like and what does it do to a community?

Winter still holds the landscape captive

I can't take credit for this photo - but it is what it looks like.  A moose on a roof.  He used a snow bank as a ramp.

For us in our house, it looks something like this...

The view down the street after a recent snowfall

This is actually an inlet on our little lake.  There are 5 float planes on this little inlet and every house appears to have a dock.

I drove home one day wondering "what the heck is that?"

A diehard - that's what

We received so much snow and had so much on the roof, that even though the temperature was below freezing, our windows started to leak

improvised collection system

 

 

 

 

That's about a foot of ice on the roof

After the big scrape we were left with about 4 feet of ice in front of the house. My neighbor has been shoveling her roof too.

I am not looking forward to spring thaw.

We called the landlord who had some folks come out and shovel the roof.  It took care of the ice load on the house, but when the snow starts to melt, it's all going to wind up in the crawlspace.  That's about 4 feet of ice and snow right at the foot of the house.  There have been about 15 roofs that have collapsed in town, so I suppose this is better than the alternative.

Earlier this winter, Cordova, Alaska made headlines with it's record snow.  Steve's company manages some property there and he passed these pictures to me.  The buckling walls are from the weight of the snow.

A town buried

It certainly does look like the Wrong Way to go

Up on the Roof

This is no back road. This is the highway.

Tonight I took the dogs for a walk after dinner.  At 6 PM, it is still dazzling light and bright out.  We walked out onto the lake.   As I walk I look at the tracks on the ground, mostly there are shoes and boots, lots of dogs, and the occasional moose track that even I can discern. Although it is about 30 degrees out, the snow, in most places, still crunches when I walk.  In areas where the sun has softened it, I sink in where I step. Not much, just about an inch, or two at the most.  The dogs are able to walk on the crust without sinking.  I did this same walk a few weeks ago, before daylight savings went into effect.  That time it was about 7 PM and the sky was dark all ready.  Because it was still cloudy, the sky appeared backlit, but at the edges you could see where the darkness was gathering and getting ready to take over the whole sky.  I decided to follow the trail left by the cross-county skiers and snowmobilers.  I chose to follow a path that cut the lake in two, and half-way across the lake I found myself in snow up to my knees.  I was still on the path, but the snow here was apparently not packed enough to hold a person walking.  I wasn't concerned about going through the ice.  It doesn't go from -20 to meltdown in a few days, so I figured the ice was safe.  I was more concerned about getting stuck and floundering in the snow.  No one really knew where I was. I figured my only saving grace was the red flashers attached to the dogs leashes.  If I got stuck, maybe someone would come and investigate the strange flashing lights.  But, I managed to backtrack my way and Rosey, Riley and I made it home without any further incident.

As we walked along the lake today, I avoided the middle.  I figured that after a few days of sunshine, the crust would be even less stable.  Instead, I followed the path along the perimeter, with my boots sinking slightly. It's hard to walk uneven like that.  It's tough to get a good stride going, and your balance is off.  I find myself using different muscles that I don't usually use when I walk.  All of this made me think of another event that just finished up - the Last Great Race on Earth - The Iditarod.  This years Iditarod was won by a rookie, and he held onto first place only by an hour.  He displace Ally Zirkle, the woman who held the lead for most of the race.  And although he officially won on the 13th of this month, there are still two racers out on the trail.  This year there were fathers competing against sons, and even twin sisters out on the trail.  While the Iditarod gets a mention on the National News, it is big news here.  Live broadcasts, updates on the trail, and if you check out the website you can see where there are videos from the trail you can view.

My point is, that I don't think that my dogs and I have much to complain about, walking through a little unpacked snow, when those mushers and their teams are out in the elements breaking through all sorts of snow.  My hat is off to the teams - at least virtually because I still need to wear my hat to keep my ears warm when I am outside.

Until next week!

Where have we been, and are you sure this isn't a third world country?

I have neglected my blog for several months now - if I were to try and condense the last few months into a few lines they would go like this - in (mostly) chronological order

wedding anniversary (#23!!)
Tara and Sky arrive
Thanksgiving
job interviews
daycare interviews
Joe arrives
Steve has Dr appt
Steve has birthday
Christmas
Steve has hip replacement surgery
Happy New Year!
Tara starts to work (such a trooper, taking the bus to and from work in -10 weather)
I do the daycare run
Joe goes back to school
Steve has therapy and goes back to work within a few weeks of surgery (Amazing)
I have a birthday (don't ask)
Tara starts a new job - fulltime
Jake has all the stuff that goes with school

Add a couple of root canals and repair work on the 4 wheel drive on the jeep, and that about covers Nov-Jan.

Life has pretty much settled down now and we are (I am anyway) breathing easier.  I can't believe it's been a year.  It really has gone fast.  This winter is much different from last winter.  Last winter there wasn't much in the way of snow. And it was cold, but nothing like the days of -10 degree weather we had in town. Closer to -25 in the mountains.  And that isn't windchill.  And is has snowed this year.  And snowed.  And more snow.  We've had about 10 feet of snow I think.  We need 24 more inches to tie the record.  It's just the end of February - there is yet another month left of winter. And we can get snow into May.  I think there is a good chance we might make the record.  Snow is forecast for pretty much the whole week - just an inch here and an inch there, but it piles up.

You might ask, what does all that snow look like... well, it's not all here.  Much of it had melted, but I think I can dig up a few pictures from one big storm we had.

Riley loves snow

Skylar can almost walk on the snow, the rest of us sink right in.  Time for snowshoes

Rosey is not so sure.  Neither is Skylar.

Help, I've fallen and I can't get up.  Good thing that branch is there!

Pure joy

The winter has been hard on the moose too.  Over 450 have been killed since July.  They would rather walk on the roads then plow through the snow.  The Moose Federation - don't laugh, there really is such a place - is seeking donations so they can put hay out in the woods to try and keep the moose out of populated areas and off the roads.

Apparently, this little guy didn't hear about that.  He came over on Superbowl Sunday.  Maybe he wanted hot wings.  Sorry the pictures aren't the best, but I wasn't going to ask him to pose.

headed right for the front door step

Add caption

Sitting alone in a dark house,

afraid to open the door sounds like the classic introduction to a Halloween story.  And, in a way it is, but not the traditional scary monster type of story.

This story starts off with balmy weather.  "Balmy" is the word that everyone has used to describe the weather this fall.  Countless folks have said to me "this is a beautiful fall, isn't it?". And I reply, "I guess so".  After all, it's October, we are down to 8.5 hours of daylight, and the snow is creeping down the mountainside.

And then there was the weird day that it snowed on the mountains, rained in town, and I caught sight of this right outside the front windows from work.

It's the first rainbow I've seen since I moved here. We don't get thunderstorms either.

So while the east coast was getting hammered with a freakish storm, we were apparently have a freakishly warm fall.  However, the warmth couldn't last forever and the snow had to come.  And it did this weekend.  Not a lot.  Maybe an inch.  But with it came the ice.  And that is what I really recall from last winter.  Not that there was so much snow on the ground, but the ice pack on the roads.  Lots of studded tires around town.  Jake and I got in the jeep and the first thing, okay, the second thing I noticed was my jeep wouldn't go into 4 wheel drive.  And when I got it there, it sounded like gears grinding.  The first thing I noticed was the ice.  The jeep handles like a shoe box on wheels and it really is not good on ice.  So we skated around the roads with lots of other cars, and a bull moose.  The moose was really in the median, apparently eating an early lunch, but he had traffic stopped on both sides as I'm sure everyone realized if he stepped out in front of them there was no way they would be able to stop.  Anyway, Jake and I skated the jeep back home, and I didn't stop at the store to buy candy as I had planned.  I like to buy candy right before Halloween.  It's usually on sale, and more importantly, it's still available to hand out.  If it's in the house for to long, it will disappear before Halloween arrives.

And Trick or Treat actually falls on Halloween. When I asked folks if there was a special day they looked at me as if I had two heads.  Well of course there is a special day.  It's Halloween.  That IS the special day.  And when I asked if there was a special time, like 6 PM - 8 PM they looked at me as if I had three heads.  I learned that Trick or Treat is on Halloween night from whenever to whenever.  At least the kids seem to follow the porch light rule.

But that still doesn't explain why I'm alone, sitting in the dark, afraid to open the door.

See, we took the jeep to the repair shop and we thought it was fixed, but half-way home I realized it was still having troubles so back to the shop we went.  Steve took me home and he dashed back to work.  That's why I'm sitting alone in the dark.  Between the ice and the jeep I never made it to the store to buy candy.  And I'm afraid of the trick or treaters and their disappointment.  While the kids are wandering around outside in their coats and mittens in the snow, did I mention it's snowing, I'm hiding and hoping they don't come to the door.

We are down to a little over 8 hours of sunlight a day.  The sun usually crests over the mountains, when it crests, at about 9:30 AM.  We are losing over 5 minutes of light a day, and I guess that works out right to get us down to 5 1/2 hrs of daylight in the middle of December.  As much as the brightness at night made it difficult to go to sleep in the summer, I find that the darkness in the morning makes it hard to get going.  And I don't just mean to get out of bed, I mean at 9 AM it feels like I haven't accomplished much, even if I have been at work for an hour or two.

This past month at work has been one of our busiest.  We have gotten referrals on some really sick patients.  And it also seems we are getting more referrals on more uninsured patients. I think that is a sign of the times, and I also believe it is only going to get worse before it gets better.

I keep my bird feeders going in the backyard.  The flocks of little birds that were hanging around at the end of summer are long gone, but I found this guy.  He really seems to like peanuts

He's a stellar jay.  Western cousin of the blue jay that all of us from the east coast and midwest are familiar with.

Hey! Did you know there was an Alaska Day?  It was on October 18th and is a legal holiday in this state.  It recognizes the day when the Russian flag was taken down for the last time and the American flag flew over Alaskan soil for the first time.  Happened back in 1867, but it took another 92 years before Alaska became a state.

We are in a state of flux here at home.  Only 20 more days until our household expands by two.  I have stopped looking at rental houses and we are staying put here.  At least for one more year.

There is one major difference between the snow in the east and the snow here.  The east coast storm left a bunch of snow, that probably won't stick around. I saw temperatures in Portland, Maine are forecast to be in the 50's.  But for me, I think the snow is here until May.

Until next time!

Miss me?

Well, I wasn't ignoring the blog or any of my readers (faithful or unfaithful), rather we ran into another Alaska quirk.  It seems that we buy internet service, and although you would think we have unlimited internet access, we don't.  Or we do, but you have to pay for it.  See, we purchase so much internet (and I don't know how much, but it's alot) at one rate but if we use it all up then we have to pay a much much higher rate.  And it's not like the internet gets turned off, you can still use it.  So we have to keep checking our usage online and if it looks like we are getting close to our limit, we stop using it.  Now imagine one teen-age boy on spring break with a bit too much time on his hand and lots of ways to use the internet... yeah, you get the picture.

Anyway, its a new month and I am back!  Not that I have all that much to share.  We have settled into a routine of work and school.  I know where the stores are, and the names of some of the streets. I know where the hospitals I have to travel to are and where to park.  I think I have even figured out where most of the units I need to go to are.  I have learned names of people, streets, stores and physicians that I have never laid my eyes on.  All in all I think that is progress.

I have made plans to go back to WI in June.  It will be a short trip because I only have 2 weeks off and Jake and I are driving back here.  According to mapquest the trip is a little over 3500 miles and takes about 62+ hours.  I am in no rush to make the trip, and want to try and enjoy some of it so I plan on giving us 10 days to make the trip.  That severely limits the amount of time I have to visit with family and friends.  But, I will be grateful for the time I get.

I had a brief conversation with my co-workers husband the other evening.  They had been out skiing all day and had seen bear cubs.  Bear cubs.  That means bears.  For some reason, the moose don't make me too nervous, although I have a healthy respect for them, but the thought of encountering bears makes my stomach knot.  I think it is time to go and get some pepper spray.  A really really BIG can of pepper spray.  Not that I have been doing much outside lately.  Spring is trying valiantly to make an appearance, but winter has still got this town in it's grip.  Actually, I'm not sure it ever really lets go.  Last night someone from Springfield, Ill told me that I will not miss the hot humid days of summer and that I will love the 65 degree days of summer here.  He was serious.  And I heard nothing he said after 65 degrees.  I hope it gets a little warmer then that!

Another thing I have noticed as spring tries to advance is the amount of dust there is in town.  I was driving into town the other day and I could see a cloud of haze hovering over the city like smog.  But it isn't smog, it's dust. All winter long the road crews put gravel down on the roads.  Apparently in the spring they sweep it up and save it so they can place it back down on the roads again.  But now there are clouds of dust everywhere.  This morning, a huge storm was sweeping across the state.  Some areas had blizzard warnings, and here we had wind gusts up to 70 mph.  The dust blowing down the street looked like it was a demonic lifeform - fierce with no real outline, but tangible.  And in your mouth you can taste the dust.  It leaves an unpleasant taste and sensation like you were sucking on chalk.

Steve and Jake have had the opportunity to go trap shooting a few times.  I tag along, just because I can.

The mountain in the distance is called Sleeping Maiden (I think).  Her head is to the left with Jake's gun in the middle of it.





In between the range where the guys are shooting and the mountains in the distance is part of Cook inlet.  This is where it narrows down and becomes boggy. A short distance from here the Knik river flows into the Cook inlet.  I drive over the Knik river on my way out to MatSu hospital.





Cruising along the Cook Inlet heading toward the Knik river.

This is also the time of year when baby mooses start to come along.  I haven't seen them yet, but I am told they start to make their appearance any day now.  We had three moose in the front yard the other day.  I was taking these pictures out Jake's window.  I couldn't get a shot with all of them together.  The moose that is in this picture did not want the other two near her.  I actually saw her ears twirl around before they laid flat on her head and she reared up on her hind legs, kicking her forelegs out at a smaller moose on the other side of the hedge.  That was enough warning to keep them all separate, but I still got a few good shots of her.  I think she looks awfully round for this time of year, maybe she is a hungry mama moose-to-be.





What are you looking at?



The moose on the left is the one that was picking a fight with the smaller moose on the right.  A third moose is out of the frame, but further to the right

A few weeks ago the Anchorage school district presented a choir program where all the high schools participated.  There were 9 schools and they each sang three songs.  I thought the program was well-done and enjoyable.  It was the audience that needed disciplining.  At least some of them.  And why do parents think it is ok to leave when their kids are done singing?  Don't the last acts deserve a full audience too?  On the other hand, if the audience isn't paying attention maybe it is best they leave.  But can't they do it quietly?

Tomorrow I start orienting on the floor.  I don't know what unit I am working on or who my preceptor is.  Basically it is training for another brand new job. Maybe in a few more weeks this will feel comfortable too.  I'll keep you posted.

Until next week - or as long as we have available internet access! 

Tights

are something I usually associate with baby girls, with ruffles and frills covering their well-padded  and diapered bottoms.  I think of them in white, usually worn with a Christmas or maybe an Easter Dress. Then there are tights worn by a slightly older child along with her shiny patent leather mary-jane shoes.  Maybe they are more colorful, but still holiday themed with candy canes or holly berries embroidered in contrasting thread.  Therefore, it came as a surprise to me to find myself standing in front of a display of tights at my local Target store (yes, we have a Target!) and buying not just one, but 3 pairs of tights.  They are basic, a couple of black pairs, but the grey pair is slightly fancier and actually called "sweater tights".  And while I only bought some simple ones, they were also available in pink and teal, lacy and non-lacy. Even argyle. I am thinking there is at least two more months of winter left here before spring comes around so I think that I will get lots of use out of how ever many pairs of tights I purchase.  Me.  Wearing tights with a skirt.  I never would have imagined myself as the tights-wearing type and especially not at the age of <cough cough> 50.

I think that winter is going to last at least until April because the community rec program offers learn to ski lessons beginning in the middle of March.  To me, that's a pretty good inidcator that the cold weather is still going to be here.  After that, it would be nice to think that warmer weather will start to prevail.  Well, I guess it will get warmer here, but not as warm as I might like.  There was a discussion held at work the other day about summer temperatures and how they hover between 65-70 degrees.  I expressed that I was glad there weren't going to be days into the 100's as that is too hot for me, but I wouldn't mind temperatures hovering in the 70's.  I was told to go to Fairbanks because in the summer the temperatures there get to be 95.  I am scratching my head over this one because Fairbanks is the same place where it currently hits -40 F.  Welcome to Alaska, the land of extremes.

Our weather got a little warm and a little rainy in the beginning of the week. The temperature actually got to be about 40 degrees and the rain washed away some of the ice that was on the road.  I was glad of that because some parts of the street had ruts in them formed by the ice and when I would drive my little car down the street I would rock from one side of the street to the other - making me feel as if I had lost all control of the car and that I was going to crash into the car in the next lane. Just about the time panic would set in the ruts would run me back to the shoulder and just as suddenly they were gone.  At least the problem was gone for a couple of days but then the temperatures dropped and everything iced over.  Yesterday I think we topped out at about 15 degrees and today was slightly warmer.  Some of the people I work with are heading to or coming from, Hawaiian vacations.  I would be lying if I said that a tropical vacation didn't sound good right about now.

This week we did what so many parents have done, including us, for so many years.  We attended a band concert for Jake.  The concert was very enjoyable, but for me, there were some huge differences between the concert here and the ones that we experienced in Burlington.  As usual, the kids had to be at the concert quite a bit earlier than the start time.  I dropped Jake off and hurried back home so Steve and I could get there in plenty of time to get a seat.  We needn't have worried as the band is quite a bit smaller then the one at BHS and there was lots of seating available.  In fact, another Anchorage HS came so the two schools could play together and there was still lots of seats available. Dimond HS has a swing band of about 20 kids and a concert band, also with about 20 kids.  And the bands don't join to play together.  The guest school was Service HS and they had essentially the same set-up with about the same number of kids.  Since both schools are slightly larger than BHS I really thought they would have larger bands, but maybe it speaks to the success of the music program at BHS.  The other odd thing for me at the concert was not recognizing any of the kids but Jake.  Part of what I enjoyed every year at the school events was watching the kids grow and change over the years.  So many of them I have known since they were in kindergarten and I really missed that. It's surprising the things I discover.

Here is a photo of the band on stage.  I wasn't able to get a picture of Jake playing the tuba.



Dimond HS Band





Combined Dimond and Service HS Bands

Yesterday the three of us went to our favorite Music Store - (hope you are practicing Sue as I learned how to play two chords!) and ran some other errands.  On the way back we drove through Kincaid Park which is at the end of Raspberry Road (the main road we live off of).  We didn't get to far into our exploration but I did get these shots

 

 We are in a parking lot in front of some sort of field.  Maybe soccer? And folks were obviously practicing their cross-country skiing skills. There were lots of trails visible, some of them lighted, and I know the park promotes well-groomed trails.  Whatever that means.  We passed lots of folks cross-country skiing, some of them with their dogs. I think I even got Steve interested in giving it a try.  I know I certainly would like to!  At the edge of the parking lot was a sign with information about trails, facilities, usage, etc and these handy-dandy tidbits of info

Yeah, I think we live in one of these areas of frequent bear-human interactions....

On the way back out of the park we found one of it's inhabitants.  I am still amazed at how well these guys can hide when they are so damn big...



peek-a-boo



see the skier going by in the right hand corner?

the moose is watching the skier go by

As we headed back out of the park we caught a glimpse of something.  The fenced in area belongs to the National Guard

see that brown spot next to the fence?



It's a moose! Sunbathing in 18 degree weather lying in a snowpile!

 Here we are headed back home.  Our road is just about a mile away.  Until next week!