It's Cold . . . .

. . . even if there isn't any snow on the ground.  I'm going to have to sort through my old pictures to determine if this is the longest stretch we've had without snow on the ground for the months of December, January, February and March.  On Saturday we rode the bikes down by the river.  While there were a few patches of ice, it wasn't unmanageable to weave our way around them.  It felt good to be outside doing something. A combination of the weather, house projects, and lack of motivation have kept me more inactive than I want to become, so getting out a little this weekend is a start in the right direction.  It helps to have a little more daylight and it will only get lighter!

A quick YouTube video down by the river:  http://youtu.be/O80RmqRxhKM

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Warm Weather

 I really don't mind this warm weather pattern now that the ice has melted, no ice on the windshield, no shoveling, and best of all, easy driving on the roads. As we continue to work on our flooring project, these warm temps allow Bryant to keep the table saw on the top deck right outside the work area.  I mentioned to a co-worker who had just moved to Alaska that these warm temperatures aren't unusual, but it seems that this is lasting longer than normal.  A few days later, an article popped up in the newspaper where the NOAA weather forecasters were saying the same thing. 

It is a bit unfortunate that I have a fat bike hanging in the garage that has been useless for the last three weeks, but I also know that Alaska isn't done with winter and for the next three months, I'll be writing about all my frustrations and winter activities dealing with snow. 

Floors at Last!

 Picture taken at the house toward the cabin

I caught the tail end of a good sunrise this morning when I went to bring the garbage to the top of the drive.   Luckily the hill going up the drive is in better shape than the bottom as it is a sheet of ice due to our extended warm weather pattern. Earlier in the week, we had some pretty scary mornings getting to work as it was raining and it had been awhile before the sander had made its way down our subdivision.  There is a cop who nearby who happened to be experiencing some difficulties getting around in the subdivision as well, so he called in a grader/sand truck.  He probably had a little more pull than the rest of us. 

Since warm weather equals ice on the trails, about the only thing left to do was finish the rest of our kitchen remodel (paint and flooring) from last spring. We managed to make progress. Unfortunately we are only halfway through this stack of laminate flooring; there is still one more room connected to the kitchen to go . . . . so we'll be dedicating some more time to this home improvement project. 

The rewards of our labor this weekend is encouraging though and seeing what a disaster the other room is, I doubt that we'll wait too long to finish the task.  



Merry Christmas . . . . .

. . . and a Happy New Year.  On Christmas Eve, I had my annual ski at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood. When you dress like Santa, your ticket is free, so Gus and I found our red and joined the rest of the Santas on the mountain for the day.  Our truck thermometer had a 30 degree temperature swing in 75 miles.  The coldest reading was -18 right down by the Knik River and on Turnagain Arm south of Anchorage it read 12 degrees.  Most of the day at Alyeska was around 8 degrees. Since it wasn't windy, it was tolerable.  This was however, the least amount of snow I have ever seen on the mountain for this time of year.  There were trees, bushes and rock cliffs in places I have never seen in any other Santa Ski I participated in or when I worked there eons ago.  We had an unusual dry and warm October, and then even though it has been cold through November and December there really hasn't been a whole lot of snow or rain, so surprisingly the mountain that regularly receives over 750" of snowfall yearly is at a meager 146" this year so far.  The snowpack itself is at 43", which isn't much for Alyeska, but obviously enough to get us crazies out skiing for the day. 

On Christmas morning, we enjoyed beautiful blue skis, amazing mountain views, and the not so nice temperature of -15.  Today when I woke up the thermometer read 4 degrees and my first thought was "it's finally getting warm again."  Yeah, my perception is a little warped right now.  



Soft White Fluffy Stuff

. . . . and a lot of it this past weekend.  It looks like a lot more snow than what it will pack into and if the wind blows, which it is sure to do sometime soon, it will all fly away into compacted snow drifts. 

For now though, it sure looks pretty.  This kind of snow is the classic Christmas scene.