Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

I guess the term “wonderland” depends on who you’re speaking to. Winter? Yes. Wonderland? The jury’s still out on that one.  I happen to think the fresh snow is beautiful, and I usually welcome the onset of winter with a little bit of excitement.  I love the pureness that the snow lends to the landscape. I love the contrast of blue skies against sugar-coated trees.  I enjoy the sense of quiet that settles over everything, and the way you can hear your own footsteps amplified in the silence.

With that being said, I don’t particularly care for driving in winter - and especially early winter. In early winter, fresh snow covers ice patches and I find myself driving 10-15 mph under the speed limit, because I’m afraid of going off the road. Driving slow on multi-lane roads isn’t too bad, as those who are more confident - or are in a hurry - can go around me. But when I’m driving down a two lane road like Badger Road (which has sections like an ice skating rink), I’m much more stressed out - particularly when vehicles come up on my tail.  I’ve had this happen to me, even when there are vehicles in the ditches on either side of the road! As the season progresses, and the snow doesn’t fall as much, the roads will become better graveled, and the small rocks will embed in the ice and create more traction.

Some of you reading may not realize that in Fairbanks (and perhaps all of Alaska?), we do not salt the roads.  The salt does little to melt ice, as it’s too cold (imagine -30F to -50F). And if we could melt the ice, it would refreeze immediately and create even more driving hazards. While gravel does help provide traction on snowy roads, it also makes pristine windshields an incredible rarity. I think I have 4-5 dings in my windshield, and Steve has huge “bullet-like” indentations in his.  We won’t replace the windshield until our vision is obstructed, because the odds are pretty good that we’ll get dings and cracks in the next windshield too.

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The past two days have been positively balmy. We’ve had highs in the 40s, and the snow is melting. Our back deck is totally clear of snow now, and the yard has puddles. It’s been a welcome change from the morning temps in the teens and frequent snow flurries, but since it’s still falling below freezing overnight, the roads have been pretty slick in the morning.

The Chinook also brought high winds with it, and Anchorage had to divert planes to Fairbanks yesterday - as well as cancel or delay flights - when winds were measured at 100mph! We had some strong gusts here too, but nothing like that.

While the warmth is a welcome change, the cloud cover is not.  But if I’ve got to take one with the other, I’ll accept a few overcast days in exchange for the warm afternoon temps.

I don’t have any photos to share in this entry. I haven’t been out since I wrote last, except to walk with Sedona. I’ve spent several hours, over the course of the past few days, sorting out the closet underneath our stairs.  It’s a deep closet, but has a sloping ceiling because of the staircase.  I’ve been using it mostly to store my photo stuff (mats, frames, packing supplies, camera gear, etc.), but it’s also used to store the mop, broom, and vacuum too.  There’s a trap door in that closet which leads to the crawlspace under our house - where the mechanicals are for our well pump - so I have to be careful not to block that.

I bought a shelf unit and managed to find a solution that works in there. So that I’m not wasting the space over the trap door, I bought a plastic rolling storage cart to hold additional supplies. If we have to get under the house, it can be easily moved.

I’ve got a few more things to sort through, and then that project will be complete. Next will be sorting and packaging up notecards, greeting cards, and prints for the Holiday Marketplace in November.  I’m still waiting for a few print orders to arrive before I can get started on that.

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Tomorrow, I have a ‘date’ with my gal pal Lisa.  We’re having breakfast at The Bakery, and then attending the noon showing of “The Dutchess” - a period drama about Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. In other words - a “chick flick” that I’d never convince my husband to see with me.

After the movie, I hope to do a little perusing of the sales racks in search of a sundress, and a couple pair of lightweight pants or capris for our Hawaii trip. I think I should pick up a sun hat too, as I tend to burn to a crisp - especially my face.  No need to accelerate the aging process with damaging UV rays! *grin*

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The other night, our local celebrity musher - two-time Iditarod winner, and 4-time Yukon Quest winner Lance Mackey - was on the Conan O’Brien show. He talked about the sport of mushing, and about his racing experiences. Another of the reasons he was on the show, was to promote the new Discovery Channel miniseries: “The Toughest Race on Earth. Iditarod”. This six-part miniseries begins on Tuesday, Oct 14th (10pm ET/PT). Check your local guide for times in your area. It looks like it’s going to be quite interesting. Check out more detailed information about each episode HERE.

We’re down to 10 hour days now, and losing more than 6 minutes each day. As I’m typing this, it’s a little after 7pm and nearly dark. I miss having daylight until 9pm.

Until next time…

I’d like to start this journal entry with a shout out to my number two son - Brandon! Today marks 25 years since Brandon made his appearance in this world, and quickly found his way into my heart. Brandon will always be my “baby” no matter how many years pass by.

The other day, I was checking out his MySpace and saw that he had updated his photo albums with photos from when he was just a little kid. I wasn’t too surprised when my eyes filled up with tears as I looked at those photos. How has time passed so quickly? I began to reminisce about those early days, when Brandon was only 2 or 3 years old.

I remember going into his room to wake him in the morning for breakfast. He always woke up in a good mood, and I’d sit on the end of his bed and say “Wake up, BooBooLa” softly. (I still call him BooBooLa) He’d stand up on his bed, and put his arms around my neck, while wrapping his little legs around my waist.  I’d carry him to the kitchen, while he snuggled his soft face into my neck. Gosh, I miss those days! When I told Brandon that I remembered carrying him from his bedroom, he jokingly told me that I could do that the next time I came for a visit, but that he’s sure it would be a lot more difficult. Silly boy.

Now Brandon is a man, married to a beautiful woman, “father” to a boxer named Pandora (but I hope that someday they’ll give me a grandchild that has only two legs!), a full time college student (and getting all A’s!), and a loving and caring soul.  I love him with all my heart and soul and wish him nothing but sunshine and rainbows.  Happy Birthday my BooBooLa!

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On Sunday, Steve and I met Gip and Carmen for brunch at Pikes Landing. As always, it was delicious and quite filling. We went hungry - to take advantage of all the fabulous food, and made sure to leave some room for the awesome dessert table. The champagne flowed freely, conversation was interesting (they just returned from a cruise which took them to Iceland and Greenland), and by the time we left I was feeling very guilty for stuffing myself so full. I couldn’t wait to get home and out of my jeans and into lounging pants!

I asked Steve to take me driving around town, as I wanted to take some photographs of the winter landscape. The snow hasn’t melted, although I was holding out hope that it would. It seems winter truly is here and the snow isn’t going anywhere.  I suppose I should get used to this, as it will be here for the next 6 months. Now I’m holding out hope that the below zero temps don’t come for a while. *fingers crossed*

This is the sign for the ice bridge next to Pike’s. After the river freezes, vehicles can cross here. Unfortunately, there is always one or two vehicles that try to cross before the ice is sufficiently thick.

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