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!