Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

I woke at 5:45am this morning. When I sat up in bed, my movement woke Steve, who said “It snowed. The ground is covered.”

He had gotten up 15 minutes before, and as he made his way to the kitchen for a glass of water, he glanced out the front window.

Steve was able to go back to sleep, but I was wide awake. I pulled on a pair of fleece pants and socks, and headed downstairs to start the coffee brewing.  Sedona followed me, her bones creaking and snapping as she made her way slowly down the stairs. I’ve noticed that a lot lately, and I can’t help but wonder how much longer she’ll be able to make that climb up and down. She already needs assistance getting in and out of the car.  My poor girl is getting old.  She celebrated her 12th birthday this summer - which makes her 84 in human years. Heck, if I was 84 I’d be creaking as I climbed the stairs too!

I glanced out the window at the snow, and took note of the reading on the outside thermometer - a chilly 24F. I pulled on a fleece jacket, slipped my feet in my hiking boots, and put my camera on the tripod.  My goal was to take some photos of the pretty white ground covering, even though it was still really dark.

While Sedona ran off sniffing and exploring the woodline, I experimented with camera settings and tried my best to get a good focus. Forget autofocus when it’s dark; the lens can’t pick up anything to focus on.  I took about 30 photos altogether, but had to delete the majority of them for being a tad too soft.

I decided to use my flash to brighten up the trees and the snow, but also to set the camera for a long exposure, so it would pick up the little bit of light I could see coming up from the horizon. I ended up with an interesting photo. I didn’t see anything but a slightly brighter area on the horizon, but my camera picked up a lot more of the light - and an orange glow:

Here’s another photo taken before dawn, using just a flash and regular exposure:

Without gloves, my hands grew cold rather quickly. I intercepted the paper-woman as she pulled up to the news box at the end of my driveway, coaxed Sedona out of the woods, and hurried inside to the pot of fresh coffee. It felt heavenly to wrap my hands around the warm mug.

The sun came up about an hour later, and with the daylight came the birds. There’s really a lot of activity around my feeders as the temperature drops. Today there were chickadees, dark-eyed juncos, a downy woodpecker, and gray jays. And Mr/Miss Squirrel too.

The chickadees were so enthusiastic - or perhaps it was pure hunger that drove them - that when I pulled down one of the feeders to fill it with the special fruit and nut birdseed I’ve been putting out (in addition to the black oil sunflower seeds), I literally had three chickadees land on the feeder, while I was pouring the seeds in! They were, at most, 5 inches from my hands - looking up at me expectantly. So cute - and so trusting. I guess they recognize me as the human who feeds them.

I put out a small dish of peanut butter for the squirrel, and added a small saucer of water. I watched him lick up a good portion of the peanut butter, and then immediately go to the saucer for a drink. I suppose squirrels don’t like having their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouth either. *grin*

I love keeping my feathered friends fed throughout the winter. There really is no choice. Once you start feeding them, cutting off their food supply in winter can be deadly. The birds bring me so much joy on dark and cold winter days.

Once all the animals/birds of the household were fed, I took my camera out for a walk around the yard. The snow was about a half inch deep, and covered everything with a nice frosty blanket.

One of my chickadee friends waiting for me to fill this feeder:

The snow didn’t last very long. As soon as the sun came out from behind the clouds, it quickly melted away. We reached a high of about 36F today, and the sunshine made it appear even warmer.

I have to find the time to put the studded tires on my car before the big snow comes. I’m sure that there are many folks like me who will be tackling that chore over the next week. We’ll most likely take care of it at the Auto Crafts Center on post, if there’s a bay available for us. Unfortunately, it’s not open on Mon and Tues, so we’re going to have to wait until Wednesday. I just hope we don’t get a big dumping of snow before then.