Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

I can’t believe it’s been a week since I wrote last. Mainly, the reason I haven’t written is because there has been nothing to write about. Up until yesterday, I hadn’t left the house in 8 days. I was going absolutely stir crazy, but I didn’t want to risk taking my car out in -45F weather, after hearing all the weird sounds coming out of it the last time I took it out.  A lot of folks here - who had to go out in the cold - had problems with their vehicles breaking down, power steering lines freezing and breaking, batteries dying, etc. I didn’t want any parts of that, and since I don’t work outside the home, I wasn’t going to tempt fate. But Oh, how crazy I went!

Yesterday, the chinook winds finally arrived.  While the rest of the country is having record lows, Alaska is having a warm-up. As I type this, Weather Underground is reporting 21F ABOVE zero in North Pole. It’s not quite that warm at my house, but it’s above zero, and that’s a welcome relief. I hope it sticks around for a while, but most likely we’ll only have this reprieve for a week. I’ll take it.

Steve was off yesterday, and promised me a scenic drive. We decided to drive down to the Donnelly Dome area - about 120 miles from here. It was partly cloudy, but there was a high ceiling, so we could see the Alaska Range on the horizon. It wasn’t as visible as I hoped, but I’m not complaining.

When we left the house, it was about -8F. As we got closer to Delta Junction, the truck gauge read 6F above. The only downside was strong winds - and they were whipping pretty good, especially when we drove next to the Tanana River.  The forecast is calling for winds as strong as 60mph in that area today and tomorrow. Even 23F above isn’t going to feel so nice with those winds.

We stopped for breakfast at Midway Lodge. Midway Lodge is a regular stopping point for military troops heading to and from Fort Greely for cold weather training.  Our troops are deployed right now, so I’m sure it’s been some time since the owners have fed hungry soldiers and airmen.

I ordered what I always order when we go out to breakfast: scrambled eggs, crisp bacon, hashbrowns and toast. I don’t know where they get their bacon, but it was the best bacon I’ve ever had. It had a bit of a spicy kick to it, and was cooked perfectly - crisp but not burnt.  Steve enjoyed his very large omelet too.

The only negative (my personal opinion) to eating at Midway is that smoking is permitted, and although there was no one smoking while we were there, I could smell it in the air. I don’t have anything against smokers - to each his own - but as a reformed smoker (I kicked the habit cold turkey when I was in my early 30s), my nose is very sensitive. I have asthma too, so if a place is really smokey, it can trigger an attack. That didn’t happen, fortunately.

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The last time I wrote, it was -47F outside my front door. The temperature since then, has hovered somewhere between -45F and -52F at our house, and lower in areas east of us. Today, it’s on the warmer side, if you can call it that.

The fireworks celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Alaska Statehood, which were scheduled for this past Saturday, have been indefinitely postponed. Lisa and I were fully prepared to watch the display, but the ice fog was so thick, that they wouldn’t have been visible.  I’m glad that Festival Fairbanks postponed them, and hope that the celebration will be held on an evening when the temperature is closer to zero.

Lisa and I saw the movie Doubt this past weekend.  I took the following plot summary from the IMDB website:

It’s 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A charismatic priest, Father Flynn, is trying to upend the schools’ strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Miller. But when Sister James, a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shard of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequence.

First of all, the opening scenes of this movie gave me serious flashbacks of attending parochial school as a child. I was a 1st and 2nd grade student at Maternity BVM in Philadelphia in 1965-66, and I swear there were nuns like Sr. Aloysius Beauvier! There’s a scene at Sunday Mass, when a young boy is busy having a conversation with another student, and Sr. Beauvier comes up behind him and whacks him in the back of the head!

When I went to Catholic school, there was knuckle rapping with rulers, lots of Hail Mary’s for penance, and I even remember one nun who kept a “dunce cap” in the classroom, and would put bad kids in the corner wearing it. There was also a demerit system, as well as detentions for not following the rules perfectly. When I was in 2nd grade, I was made to kneel on the floor so that the nun could see if my uniform skirt was long enough. It had to touch the floor when I was on my knees.  It didn’t, by 1/2 inch at most.  I was kept in from recess, and a note was sent home to my mother, telling her she either needed to buy me a new jumper, or take down my hem. She lowered my hem that night.

I was pulled out of Catholic school and sent to public school in 3rd grade. I remember how happy I was not to have to wear a uniform everyday, but I also discovered what it was like to be made fun of for not having ‘cool’ clothes.  The grass isn’t always greener on the other side.

As for the movie? I found it to be interesting, thought provoking, and even a little disturbing. Merle Streep is truly excellent in her role as Sister Aloysius Beauvier. All the actors did very well. The movie ends just short of giving a solid “guilty/not guilty” verdict regarding the actions of Father Flynn. You are left to make your own decision based on what you have seen, or what you personally believe. If you like movies that leave you in a place of uncertainty, you’ll enjoy this movie.

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Happy New Year from the Stevenson family in frigid cold North Pole, Alaska! Our temperatures continue to plummet, and there is no sign of the arctic frost leaving us anytime soon. I am so thankful for a warm house, even though we’re sucking up the heating oil maintaining our 64F indoor temperature.

My Lower 48 family thinks 64F is mighty chilly for indoor air in winter, but when you consider that my house is 114 degrees warmer than the outside, I can assure you that it feels quite toasty in here.  We do use an electric space heater to take the chill off the air first thing in the morning, but other than that, we’re quite comfy. Opening the front door, releases a thick puff of fog as the heat indoors rushes out to meet the air outside.  We do that as little as possible!

Sedona is always in booties when we go outdoors - even if it’s just a short walk down the driveway. Despite the footgear, she still has chapped paw pads (my poor girl!) which I have to apply medicated ointment to on a regular basis.  She gets them every winter, as the air here is quite dry, and the cold still works its way through the booties. At least they keep ice from getting between her toes.

I took this photo from my front window this morning:

As you can see, it’s reading -47F outside my front door, which is actually a warmer and more protected place than out in the middle of my yard.

The cold hasn’t slowed down the chickadees. They still visit my feeders in record numbers, eating the seeds they need to stay warm for another day. I’m still putting out peanut butter, even though it freezes in no time, and although Mr. Squirrel tends to stay in his den when it’s this cold, the chickadees have been enjoying the peanut-y goodness.

I had a friend ask me about the chickadees up here. Chickadees in general, eat enough during the day to give them the energy to shiver and stay warm overnight. Our Chickadees also hide seeds in different places (holes in trees, etc.) to prevent squirrels and other raiders from cleaning out their food cache. It’s called scatter hoarding, and these tiny birds will remember the location of each hidden seed for weeks to come.

So, even if my feeders were to go empty, the chickadees would have a little bit of food to carry them for a few days. However, I never let my feeders go empty - particularly in winter - as I know how important it is for my feathered friends to have a ready supply of food when it’s -40F and colder.  Lately, I’ve been putting out the peanut butter every few days too. In fact, when we go to the grocery store, we buy a jar of peanut butter specifically for the birds (and squirrels).

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Today Alaska celebrates 50 years of statehood.  Fireworks are scheduled for this evening up at UAF campus. They are supposed to be bigger and better than the display launched on New Years Eve.  There’s a chance that they will be postponed until tomorrow evening if the ice fog is too thick. They’ll make an announcement this afternoon.

Today, I plan to spend the day with Lisa. I’ve missed her company, and I’m looking forward to seeing a movie (Doubt with Merle Streep), having dinner, and then attending the fireworks - if they go off as scheduled.  We will definitely be dressed like the “Michelin Man” to survive these temperatures.

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I edited and cut two hours of old family vacation footage down to 35 minutes, and then split it into four parts to upload to YouTube. The video was shot in 1994, and is of our cross-country camping trip from Fayetteville NC to the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, etc.  All four of our boys were with us. My sons, Chris and Brandon, were 15 and almost 11. Steve’s boys, Eric and Randy, were 13 and 12.  Needless to say it was quite the adventure to be traveling by minivan thousands of miles with four very rambunctious boys.

I’m going to put the links to the videos here for my own records. If you want to watch, go ahead - but I’m sure it won’t be as entertaining for you, as it is for me and my family. I’m so thankful for hardware/software that makes it possible to convert old VHS tapes to DVD format. We only paid $49 for it at Sam’s Club, although I saw the program at the local office supply store for $20 more.

Part One (Lake Dardanelle Arkansas, Palo Duro Canyon Texas, Outside Grand Canyon Park - time 9:23)

Part Two (Grand Canyon, Monument Valley UT - time 9:51)

Part Three (Monument Valley UT, Driving to Green River - time 6:53)

Part Four (Deadhorse Point State Park Utah and commentary about our rafting adventure - time 7:52)

I sent the links to these video snippets to Kayla and Steve’s eldest son, Eric. My kids already have the full and unedited footage on DVD, as I recorded it and took it to them when I visited.

My next project is going to be to sort through the many, many photo albums I have stored in boxes in the garage. I plan to scan photos and convert them to digital format before the photographs degrade too much. I’m most interested in those photos from my kids’ babyhood and childhood.  I think I have a bunch from my childhood in an album too.  It’s bound to be a very long process, but so worth it in the end.

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Now that it’s January, our trip to Hawaii is just around the corner. In a matter of weeks, we’ll be soaking up warm sunshine and enjoying sandy beaches, turquoise water, and greenery! I’m so excited!

Until next time…