A winter's day,
in a dark and deep December.
I am alone, gazing from my window to the ground below,
on a freshly fallen silent shroud of snow.
I realized today that I needed to see the sun. I know, I know, who am I right!?!? But I admit it... I needed sunshine. After really thinking about my last blog and the fact that it's been TWO WEEKS since I last saw the actual sun, it had to be done...
Road trip!
I made the Nenana bridge at a little past noon, and the sun never made it over the mountains and clouds, but I was close! It amuses me to read the sunrise and sunset chart and see where it says, "the sun will be directly overhead at 12:23 PM". The sun is NEVER directly overhead these days.
Anyway, the Nenana continues to freeze up. It was really FREEZING being near the river. The temperature at my house was a little over 0°, however it must have been at least -15° over the Nenana. Brrrrr.
I continued my drive south...
I finally managed to catch that bright orb in the sky before it set a little south of Creekside...
I soaked up the sunlight like a sprout in the springtime!
Upon getting home after my reinvigorating sun soaking... I conquered my puzzle! Voila!
On my journey to Alaskanism I've embarked down the road of SOURDOUGH. As you may know, sourdough played a large role in the pioneering days of Alaska. Old time Alaskans are even known as "Sourdoughs". I've made my first sourdough starter! Well, it's actually my second. My very first attempt was a fail, as I was unable to keep the starter warm enough to LIVE.
Now, I have an active, healthy (and happy I hope) starter! Her name is Pretty-Pretty...
I even made my first bread from her... biscuits in the shape of moose (and a blob?)...
They're not the best biscuits as I have no milk or butter or other such yummy ingredients, HOWEVER, the awesome Pretty-Pretty sourdough well made up for anything lacking:)
Sourdough is a pretty awesome pet/friend to be sure! It's way more fun than that cat that lives with me.
I have my books,
and my blog to protect me.
I am shielded in my armor;
hiding in my room, safe within my cabin,
I touch no sunlight, and no sunlight touches me...
Wow, it's been a whole week since I last blogged. Guess I was busy with shoveling snow, cooking beans, knitting and puzzling. Well, hello again!
Good day to you! The daylight hours (few as they may be) seem to grow in beauty with each passing day. I don't feel as though I can call any time of day "sunrise" or "sunset", as I haven't actually seen the sun in about two weeks. So "daylight hours" it is!
I'm on day 58 of NOT seeing a MOOSE. Don't I live in Alaska!?!?!
It's sad.
I spoke with some friends today that drove up to Fairbanks last week, and saw not one, not two but FOUR MOOSE on the drive up and back. WTF.
SO, anyway, I had trouble sleeping the other night, so I went to work making my very own moose...
I'm no sculptor, but it's really quite fun making snow sculptures. This is more of a reductive piece since it's way easier to make a huge pile of snow and then chip away at it, than to try and mold fresh, dry snow:)
Here's what he looked like the next morning after another snow shower...
I accomplished a new cabin living task today... refilling my propane tank! I wasn't too nervous about disconnecting the tank, since well, it was empty. I was a little more nervous about the full tank however. I put it in the backseat of my car on the drive back home, and it was making these creaking sounds from the temperature change. The whole drive I just kept imagining it exploding and all the metal shrapnel ripping into my skull. Next time it's going in the trunk:)
Success!
Guess what the first thing I cooked was? If you guessed BEANS, you win!
I just learned today that the Chevron gas station in Cantwell (town about 40 miles south of me) burnt to the ground after a propane explosion a little over a week ago. No one was killed thankfully. A woman I met through work received severe burns to her head and hands, and is recovering in a hospital down in Seattle. Pretty crazy. I'm glad I hadn't heard of that before I refilled my propane, or I'd just be chewing on uncooked beans right now.
It still surprises me sometimes that I can live in such a small community, but because it's so spread out I don't hear about major events right away.
In less catastrophic news...
I'm almost finished with my puzzle! One last section to go... and it's tough. But tomorrow is the day!
Ernesto finally found my yarn...
Good night all...
Two days later, and wow, what a change! It's hard to believe that just yesterday I was marveling at the lack of snow and ice around me, and today I had to dig myself OUT of it. Yesterday I woke up to the pleasant sound of RAIN. It was rather refreshing, but kinda made my surroundings a little gross with all the slush from melting snow. Everything was so... GREEN...
However, as I was drinking my morning coffee and feeling like spring had sprung, the rain abruptly changed...
SNOW! And how! Not even just a little snow, but like... WHOA.
It continued to snow all night, and ALL day today too. The wind picked up again in the afternoon creating a BLIZZARD! Needless to say, I had a LOT of shoveling to do. It was pretty exhausting, yet quite rewarding! There's really nothing like the feeling of sliding the shovel into a huge heap of snow and then flinging it into a pile:) I even had to DIG the snow off my car...
I did manage to have some fun mixed with my hard shoveling work...
It was truly amazing to actually WATCH as the snow fell and changed the scene around me. One of the trees across from my porch became so laden with snow, it drooped into my walkway, over my oil tank and actually froze to my roof...
The most drastic changes occurred to my roof I think. In the span of two days my roof went from having a buildup of two feet of snow/ice, having that slide off, next snow began collecting again, then started sliding off again, and lastly icicles have formed. Wow.
Icicles are a safety hazard! So I'm putting them to good use...
Time to sit back, watch the snow fall and enjoy my new drink concoction:
The Flying Wolverine!
Flying Wolverine recipe: mix one part bottom shelf rum with three parts "plonk" white wine, add icicle and enjoy!
Today was certainly a great day to stay in and knit! While the temperature warmed up to just about 40°, the wind has been INSANE! Healy is pretty much known around Alaska as being a veritable wind tunnel, and today it earned it's reputation to be sure. As I'm typing this it sounds as though my cabin is going to lift off into the night air and be taken away to the north pole. Pretty scary. The warm temps mixed with the wind is wreaking havoc on the snow accumulation on my roof...
All the snow accumulated on the back right half of my cabin slid off just while I was trying to take those pictures! Pretty crazy. It truly feels like spring is here! Here are a couple pictures from this past spring...
Perhaps I should be glad my roof is getting cleared a little now, so the buildup isn't quite so awesome?
Last night after I finished my cheesy RomCom (Friends with Benefits staring JT and Mila Kunis) and turned off the lights to head up to bed, I was treated to an unexpectedly clear sky and... AURORA! I love it when she surprises me...
It wasn't the most amazing display of northern lights (or RomCom) of my life, but even the weak ones are pretty awesome. I would always rather see some dancing, colorful lights in the night sky than a bunch of clouds...
Shout out to Portland!:)
Progress on the new puzzle is slow, but rather rewarding.
Puzzle tip of the week: Take many breaks so you come back to puzzling with fresh eyes. Pieces you were trying to find for AGES turn right up!
Ah puzzles, I think I enjoy them as they are such a metaphor for life!
I'm going to go hide under my covers now until this cyclone disperses...
