Nana and Snowzilla

Ice Fishing

Wow, I'm just now realizing how terribly busy my December was. Sooo...SarahBeth's class had a field trip to Jewel Lake where the Alaska Fish and Game hosted an ice fishing thing, as mentioned in this here article.

I figured this was my one and only chance to ice fish, so I drove SarahBeth, 2 other classmates and Jamison to a beautiful frozen lake in the middle of town. There were about 20-30 holes in the ice and each kid got a pole. The adults were in charge of baiting the hook with tiny "salad" shrimp and then the kids lowered the line. For whatever "magical fishing" reason, some kids caught multiple fish, but most caught none. What was amusing was watching the "non-catchers" flock to other holes based on the "catchers" telling them how many fish they caught in their holes. No amount of explaination could get the kids to understand that all the holes lead to the same lake..the same body of water...the same fish supply.

Mary-Kate, Ashley and SarahBeth...

...Olsen. SarahBeth loves to hang out in her jammies. She has a special twist to her lounge wear a la MaryKate and Ashley Olsen.

Snowzilla

The Anchorage Daily News had this article on Monday and then a new one today. After reading the article on Monday, I loaded everyone up in the car for a surprise visit to the 16 foot snowman.

It's really cool-for lack of better words, but my favorite part of the whole thing is not the snowman, it's the decor surrounding the snowman. This guy isn't one bit worried about a sad melting snowman littering his lawn this summer (yeah, it'll probably be there that long) The snowman's yard is comparable to any yard one might find deep in the hills of Kentucky or Virginia (or the Northern Neck). However, this is in the heart of Anchorage, just down the street from a mall. Snowzilla is just one of many many ornaments in the yard on this quiet neighborhood street. Yes, that's the guys house behind the truck and tree. I'm sure the neighbors are thrilled.

Eagle River Tree Lighting Cermony

So, way back earlier this month, LeighAnne's choir sang at the Tree lighting ceremony. Tim was out in the field so I loaded up everybody, including Kenai and headed out. (I also had the fore site to borrow a sled made with a back support for little ones.) There was a ton of snow on the ground and it was contining to snow.

We were lucky to find good parking, but we still had to hurry and finish wrapping up in our coats (and gloves and hats and boots and hand-warmers and snow pants...) With all the layers, it was a little hard for Jamsion to bend at the waist and sit comfortably in the sled, but he managed. The dog was beside herself to be out and about and allowed to socialize, so I put the sled rope and dog leash in the same hand and let Kenai do the work. Everything was OK until we hit the "spectator area". To my suprise, under all the new fallen snow was an ICE RINK!!! We were expected to stand on a concealed ice rink and watch the festivities...remember, I had a grumpy 2 year old in a small sled and a wild puppy attached to it. It was sooo much work just remaining vertical that I was exhausted afterwards, but we all stayed until the very end, after everyone else had left and played under the town Christmas tree sliding across the ice rink with the snow falling all around us. It was two hours well spent.

What Tim wants for Christmas

and he got it!!!

Another blog to check out

(or should I call it Amazing Ramblings and Run-on Sentences)

So I was checking out some of the Alaska Bloggers and found a fellow Anchoragian...Anchorager...Anchoraganee...he works on Fort Richardson and has really captured some of the feel of things around here. He has some of the very same pictures that I have tried to (un)successfully capture. Check it out. Not just this once, but every once-n-awhile and see what he's got.

As a continued sell...we have had this crazy thaw the last week and a lot of the snow has disappeared. Wait, let me back track and tell you about the road maintenance here.

The snow falls...and falls...and falls...everybody has killer SUV's with killer tires to get them thru the falling snow without batting an eyelash. Seems to me, no matter how much snow is falling, the city keeps going. But the snow removal-the same kind of trucks you see in KY, VA, shoot, even Germany-those big trucks you see sitting on the side of the highway just waiting for the first snowflake...well they come out a day or so later. Later, after we have all driven on it over and over and packed it down to a nice thick layer of ???. It's really not that scary to drive on...it's like nothing you've really driven on before. But you learn, and you adjust and you take your time changing lanes because each lane has formed its own groove so you have to thunk-thunk your way between. The main highways get almost cleared completly, but neighborhood roads hardly at all. And they don't use salt. They use gravel. I don't know about you all but I recall most idiot teenagers flipped their cars on gravel roads...so tell me how gravel and snow and ice mix?!?!?!

Now the thaw. The main road get scrapped and scrapped (is that scrape or scrap?-you know what I mean)and have come out with nearly dry roads. The side roads however, not so good. With 3 inches of snow/ice on roads that don't ever get direct sunlight (a whole other post)nothing short of a ton of SALT will clear it. So the temps melt all the nice easy going grooves we've all worked to hard to create and leaves us with a literal ice rink in the mornings. I can go to the "access road" in front of my house and count the layers of gravel suspended in the ice. All I can say is, it's crazy...just put a little salt down...the enviroment and the eagles be damnmed, I have a new Pilot that I don't want dented!!!!!

Anyway, the gigantic tractor machines that they use to "scrape" the ice off are incredible steel monsters that look like some farmers science experiment. The dog goes bezerk when they (rarely) pass by and even my "guk" boy gets a little freaked out, which all brings me back to my fellow Alaskan Blogger who captured the monsters, along with so much of the beauty that surrounds me everyday. It's pleasant to look at...and since I seem to be lacking in the picture department lately...

On the subject of video clips

Have you seen this commercial?

Come on, watch it real quick...I'll wait...


Ok, is it just me or doesn't it bring an incredibly large boo-hoo to your throat? Or maybe it is the darkness getting to me, or just plain old home sickness? None the less, I know a little/big brown haired girl that is getting an extra long hug from me today (and a red head and a blonde boy too!)

Birthday Boy

I feel a little bad not posting Jamison's birthday pictures earlier. I guess part of the problem is the party was more eat cake real quick and open presents kind of party.

We got an ice cream cake and put it on the front porch after the party. Best thing about being somewhere cold is your fridge space really expands during the winter. However, yesterday it warmed up into the 40's(!!!) and Jamison and I were forced to eat chocolate mint and red velvet ice cream cake for lunch.

Well, I guess I should say, Jamison had cake for lunch. Look and see.

Now that you've watched, I need feedback. Does the video come out OK? Does it take forever to load? Do you even bother to check them out? The idea of sharing little clip like this are great, but if it doesn't work well, then I'll either find another image hosting service or just not bother. Post on the comments or let me know.

Rumbling in his Sleeping Bag

The weekend before Thanksgiving Tim and his fellow soldiers had to prove they had absorbed all the knowledge bestowed upon them by cold weather instructors. "Prove" by sleeping out in the open in 20 degree weather all night. According to Tim, they road marched out to the firing ranges...did a little training and then bedded down where ever. Tim told me he was warm enough and his poncho (small thin blanket) draped over two trees provided enough shelter to keep the freezing rain and snow out of his face. He said his biggest concern was some Moose (yes, it should be capitialized) might tromp over him while he slept. Gee, I said, didn't you sleep close enough to other people that a Moose wouldn't mistakenly tromp over a pile of bodies. Nope...these men, in honor of the we're straight-see the chair between us code, sleep several dozens of yards apart. Idiots.

Now, to the rumbling...it was not of Tim's own doing when he felt a rumbling in his sleeping bag that cold Friday night. He felt an earthquake...about a 4.0. Now for my couple of CA friends, I know that's not much...but where I come from, that's pretty cool. Not everyday ya feel an earthquake. Or so I thought. If you notice, I have convienently provided a link to Alaska Earthquakes in the sidebar. Alaska is like Santa's belly at a comedy club (shook when he laughed like...OK, bad, I know) The Cook Inlet is where we are and we seem to be a shakin' and a shimmin' all the time.

Time for another installment of...

Only in Alaska

5 years ago I was listening to 99.7 on the radio on my way to Nuremberg to do a little Christmas shopping, keeping my ears peeled for the words Autobahn drei und neunzig to make sure there wasn't a stau I should be aware of.

3 years ago, I was listening to Christmas music on Lite 104.5 and wondering if Shelbyville Road mall traffic (who puts 2 malls less than a mile from each other?)was backing up.

2 years ago I was heading one last time into Elizabethtown listening to Quicksie 98.5 trying to finish any final Santa shopping before a new little creature consumed all my energy.

1 year ago I was heading to Mecca (Potomac Mills) listening to a litany of traffic reports...all of which made translating German seem easy...to try and decipher if I-95 was backed up to Woodbridge.

Today...today, today, today...I was driving into Anchorage for a little Christmas shopping (are you seeing a pattern) when the DJ advised us all to avoid Northern Lights Blvd. and UAA Dr.(University of Alaska, Anchorage) Why? Why should the city avoid a very busy road during rush hour? Because, stupid, there is a TransAm off the road and two Moose have decided to bed down and watch the tow truck excitement from the median. Ofcourse!

Showing Off

It's been awhile so I though you might need some recent pictures of the kids. While the girls were dressed up to go to The Nutcracker with Popa, I thought I might get a Christmas Card worthy picture...yeah right!

The Darkness

Everyone wants to know about the short days here. We are now at 6 hours of day light and by Sunday I expect it will be less than 6 hours. At one point we were losing nearly 6 minutes of light a day, but it has now slowed to 3-4 minutes a day. I have to say, over all it hasn't been too bad yet. In the mornings we are busy getting ready for school and by the time I drive the girls to school, there is enough light peaking out from behind the mountians and bouncing off the snow that its quite bright, but I still need my headlights. Here's a picture I took today at 9:15 a.m. There's a bit of cloud/fog coverage so it's a little "blue-er" than normal, but you get the idea.




Now I have to admitt, the early evenings are starting to get to me. Two days ago I left the kids with my dad and ran down to the store for bread. As I was heading home, I felt awful for staying at the grocery for so long...it was getting so dark...I must have been in there nearly an hour. Nope-only 20 minutes. At 4:30 I felt like I should be washing the dinner dishes and getting the kids ready for bed. So, I pulled over in my neighborhood and took a picture.



The snow makes everything so bright during the day and when the moon is full it's unbelievably bright. So again, it's not as bad as I expected...I know I have 3 more weeks of light loss and I am looking forward to gaining momentum the other way come December 22!