Winter 2008, First Snow

It started snowing this morning...

It's starting to accumulate a little but it's only 33.6 degrees F. If it warms up a little it'll melt away.

A little over a month ago the fireweed was still blooming. The conventional wisdom is when the topmost buds bloom on the fireweed, winter is three weeks away.

Studs

Because of the surprise late spring snow storm, on April 24th, the State of Alaska extended the May 1st deadline to remove studded snow tire to May 15th. So last night I changed the tires on the old, 252,000 mile Subaru. I've been putting it off because of my injured back. The back is healing slowly so I figured I could manage it, without reinjuring it, if I worked slowly and carefully. It turned out ok.

Next, however is the 3/4 ton Dodge. The tires and wheels on that one weight 60 to 70 pounds each. I'll carefully start this evening. It might take 2 sessions because I'm determined not to reinjure myself.

Apparently, I'll Never Learn

I really thought proclaiming Spring on April 24th with near 60 degree weather was safe.
I'll never learn...

Signs of Spring

Ok, I think we've broken the back of winter in the Great Frozen North. The temperatures in Wasilla were into the high 50s and low 60s this last week. The forecast is for some overcast and rain possibly mixed with a little snow for the weekend. No accumulation expected.
I am officially calling it spring because of all the signs of spring I saw and smashed into on my way to work this morning. It started off with the cow moose with last year's calf in the yard this morning. Next, just after the Subaru had achieved cruising speed on Wasilla Fishhook Road, a grouse jumped into the air from the side of the road and zigged when he should have zagged. The chicken sized grouse makes a real loud thump when they impact your windshield at 50 miles an hour. Fortunately they don't have as much mass as say, a moose butt, so the windshield didn't suffer any damage. I assume the grouse did.
Just as we dropped off the ridge to cross the Knik/Matanuska flats, a flight of Sandhill Cranes flew overhead, a couple hundred feet above my windshield, fortunately. Across the flats the air was full of flocks of Canadian Geese returning from wintering in Mexico or where ever they go to escape Alaska in the winter. Along side the northern branch of the Matanuska River, a quarter mile from the road, was a small herd or "gang" of 5 moose munching away on delicious bushes.
As we arrived in Los Anchorage, we spied another moose walking along the anti-moose fence that parallels the Glen Highway. She was just north of Merril Field Airport and of course on the wrong side of the fence trying to find away out. I made a comment about there seemed to be moose everywhere this morning. Five minutes later we were sitting at a stop light at 5th and Cordova when a yearling moose stepped into the street just ahead of as and ambled across to the other side, ignoring all crosswalks and traffic signals.

Feels like spring to me!

Snow

It's snowing again. Predicting 4 to 8 inches today and more tomorrow. We figured out what is causing it. My brother and I planned on towing his disabled truck to the local repair shop on Saturday. It snowed. Since he lives on a hill above Peters Creek, we canceled until the snow melted. We rescheduled it for today. It snowed. We are not going to make any more advance plan for the tow. We'll try to sneak up on it by spontaneously grabbing the truck next time the snow melts.

It Didn't work

I tried, I really did! After 55 years I know better than to think spring this early. So I quit blogging about the weather while the snow all melted away and the temperature was getting into the 50s. I really tried not to jinx it. But some tenderfoot must have said something about "Spring!"













Today at 3:30 pm.

Gettin' Close

I took a mini-vacation over Easter and spent almost all of it on the living room project. It's done! I bought the flat screen TV last night. I'll be hanging it on the wall tonight and buying shelves for the rest of the wall. Also I'm ordering custom blinds for the windows. I'm still working on lighting ideas and also looking for a rug, other than those items the room is done. I'll post pictures this weekend.
Now back to my previous project, the motorhome. I took it out of the garage this weekend, because the garage needs a major spring cleaning. I'll probably leave it in the driveway unless by doing so, I jinx us and we get a late season dump of snow. (You'll notice I'm not talking about the weather!)

"Now, that's a knife!"

2/8/08 - Friday evening I was using my folding Gerber hunting knife to dig dried wood putty out screw holes in my spiral staircase. Yes, it was the wrong tool for the job. Yes, I know I could slip and stab myself. Fortunately I missed the major nerves, ligaments and all but one artery in the my left little finger. The doctor at the urgent care was able to stitch it back together and stop the arterial spurting with 7 fine stitches. I'll have a scar across the fingerprint of that finger when the stiches come out on the 22nd.
The next day, while sporting a large bandage on the injured finger, I dismantled the spiral stair and built a new stair case. Pictures to come this weekend.
The weather has warmed up. It's currently at or above freezing. We had some snow and wind the last few days with more predicted for the next few days. It's a nice break from the -23 degree temps of 2 weeks ago.
Happy Valentines Day. Roses and dinner out with Kate.

I'm Trying not to...

I'm trying not to write about the weather. So I'll not mention the +40 degree temperatures last week nor the -8 degree temperatures earlier this week. However this mornings commute was, I believe, noteworthy. The temperature is a moderate +12 and it snowed 8 to 10 inches last night. Leaving my unplowed driveway, the snow came over the nose of the Subaru, coating the windshield and blocking the headlights. I had to stop and clear the front of the car when I got to the plowed street. So traffic was a nightware. Slick snow packed roads and 30,000 commuters bumper to bumper and an average speed of 30 mph. We come in early, leaving Wasilla at 5:30 am. Consequently, we are ahead of the heaviest traffic. Usual commute, in the winter is 45 minutes. This morning 1 hour and 25 minutes. Several early ditch divers. I'm still trying to get the tension out of my shoulders.

Weather

-8 degrees again this Saturday morning. This follows five work days of Hellish commuting. It snowed everyday this week. Not a lot, 8" total in Anchorage, half of that in Wasilla. But the roads were "slicker than greased ape shit," as my adolescent friends and I would say when I was an adolescent. That lead to ten, 50 mile commutes at an average speed of 25 mpg this week. I heard on the radio that in Anchorage, by Thursday morning, there had been over a hundred fender benders and cars sliding off the road for the week. My 12 year old Subaru, with 235, 000 miles is showing it's age. Last weekend I lost a headlight, the one I didn't break on the moose ass the winter before last. This weekend I have to try to fix my turn indicators. They quit working Thursday morning. I've checked the fuses, they're good. This morning I'll try to wedge my considerable self under the dashboard and try to find the flasher. If it's not the flasher it's a trip to the Subaru clinic next week. If I hadn't bought a motorhome and hearing aids lately I might be car shopping. Just as well, my plan is to drive this Subaru until I retire, in 4 years and 10 months, but who's counting.

Winter Wonderland II

I didn't take any pictures of the stupid snow. First because I had a long tiring week and slept in until 9 a.m instead of my work day 4:30 am. Then I lazed around the house until noon when I finally got out and fired up the snow thrower. Three and a half hours and a sore back later I was in no mood to take pictures of the frakkin snow. Besides in was a gloomy overcast day with no shadows so the pictures would have been damn near monochromatic anyway. Today I went to Anchorage with my girlfriend Kate and her brother to work on a property problem. That was a nightmare but I'll spare you the details. The trip home was similar to my October 24th post. It was snowing - freezing raining all day turning the highway into a skating rink. Predictably there were cars upside down in the ditch and bouncing off each other and the guard rails all the way home. It was another 3 plus hour ride home. It's Alaska! You'd think people would know how to drive in these conditions.

I finally dropped off Kate and her brother and headed home down the twisty country road that leads to TrippingOverMoose Ranch. About a mile from home I watched a Mini-van approach from a side road a couple hundred yards ahead of me. He caught my eye because he was going too fast to stop at the intersection he was headed for. I was right. When he touched his brakes the mini-van turned into a sled did a 200 degree rotation across in front of me and slid backwards off into the ditch across the road coming to rest with the drivers door firmly jammed into a tree. I carefully slowed and pulled into the next driveway about 35 yards beyond the street he had come from. I made my way back to the accident scene on foot to lend assistance. I arrived at the scene no more than 1 minute after the car impacted the tree. There was already another car stopped on the road right at the scene already. That car must have successfully pulled out from the same side road just after I went by. A woman was standing between the 2 cars directing a large group of small children as they climbed out of the car in the ditch and into the car on the road. The ditch diving driver, a man, was still in the drivers seat. I asked, " Is everyone alright?"
The woman, with a Russian accent answered, "Yes, Yes, " and then said something to the driver in Russian.
I said, " I just wanted to make sure everyone was OK!"
She said "Yes, Yes," spoke to the driver motioning to a bag on the front passenger seat. He clambered up and over the passenger seat grabbing the bag and getting into the backseat of the upright car with all of the children. She then got into the front passenger seat, slammed the door and they all drove away, leaving the car, headlights still on, leaning rejectedly into the tree and me standing on the side of the road in the falling snow. I figured they were late for a potluck or he had no drivers license, insurance nor english and damn well did not want to be there when an Alaskan State Trooper Arrived.

I finished my ride home, fixed something for dinner and fell asleep on the couch for awhile. When I woke I stood up and glanced out the front window just in time to see something move in the darkness just to the left of the porch. I quickly killed the interior lights and moved to the kitchen window in time to see a big healthy moose calf stop at the corner of my shed just on the thin edge of the light from the porch light. As I watched her twin stepped out from behind the shed and the two touched noses. Then their mama followed the first one out of the light and the three of them slowly walked down my driveway into the dark.

It's still snowing. Tomorrow more snow removal.

Winter Wonderland

It snowed 8 to 10 inches at TrippingOverMoose Ranch last night. The snow is pretty wet and it's suppposed to be warm tomorrow so clearing the 600 plus feet of driveway is going to be a workout for me and the trusty snowthrower. This being Alaska in November, it was dark when I left this morning and it'll be dark when I get home so I'll try to get pictures tomorrow.

Boo!

My costume? Old guy waiting for retirement!

Happy Halloween! I awoke this morning, and drove to work in the pouring rain. The snow will all be gone by this evening. Well, it'll keep the trick or treaters off the street. Are there trick or treaters any more? The last ones I saw were my niece and nephew about 6 or 7 years ago. Admittedly to get to my house, children have to walk down a long dark driveway through Trippingovermoose Ranch, (btw...cow and calf moose just off my back porch last night.) Also most of the families in my neighborhood are Orthodox Christians that don't celebrate Halloween. So maybe there are still children trick or treating. I buy candy every year, but I end up eating it myself. When my kids were young I tended to take them to friends and relatives, malls and school parties. We didn't do random trick or treating like I did as a child.

That Didn't Take Long.

Two inches of snow this morning...