It is a Poor Family that Hath Neither Hoar Frost or a Thief

This picture was taken a little past two in the afternoon.   The days are surely getting shorter.   There is no "mid day" anymore.   The sun rises at about nine-thirty and peaks through the boughs of the trees until about three-thirty when it dips below the treeline again.  

The day pretty much goes from morning light to evening light with nothing in between.   It's gorgeous.  Lilac mixing to a perfect azure and back to a lavender on a clear day.  It's supposed to be sunny and clear for the rest of the week, so I'm hoping to drive to the park entrance and do some wandering in the snow.  Though, with this celestial clarity brings "bitter cold" according to weather.com

My fingers felt pretty frozen on my morning trip to the outhouse, so I could tell it was starting to get legitimately cold out... and the thermometer agreed with me!   It's officially below 0 these days!  


Break out the brandy! (don't worry mom, it's just to stay warm...:)

Behold... HOAR FROST!

I remember when I was a kid in Hawaii, I asked Santa for one of those kits where you could grow "crystals" in a jar.   I'm not sure of the exact science, but I think it just used colored sugar and other household products to produce beautifully hued crystal growths that "died" in a few months.  Santa came through, and I grew crystals in my room... it was magically sweet.   I feel like a kid again watching these hoar frosts grow outside of my cabin where the exhaust from my heater comes out.   Kids in Alaska probs just stick to sea monkeys...


ALASKA!  Liberals tend to think of this state as being super conservative and filled with gun toting, beard growing recluses.   Citizens who only care about hunting cute animals and driving giant fossil fuel guzzling trucks... 


WELL stoners... Alaska is pretty much the ONLY state that legally allows ANYONE to have up to 24 marijuana plants and 4 ounces of pot in their home.   Sure, the Feds still aren't having it, but when's the last time you saw a federal agent above the Arctic Circle?  


ALSO, Alaskan's are ALL about privacy.   The Alaska Supreme Court routinely denies requests from the Federal government trying to enforce the Patriot Act by requesting library patrons records.   The FEDS will never know I'm reading The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann!  Ha!


Alaska really has a great mix of politically conservative values mixed with a libertarian dream.   AND one of the highest per capita alcohol consumption rates in the nation!   But don't you dare try to take my booze away, you're violating my RIGHT TO PRIVACY!


Oh, and also again... Permanent Fund Dividend!   

Parnell is SO proud.   


I <3 Alaska.


In parting...


Listening to: Walt Disney (children's radio) Pandora station.   Just leaving this playing while I cook dinner and clean my cat's litter box is pretty bizarre.


Noticing:  It's going to be clear for the next many days... Aurora?...

Paradise Lost, and Paradise Regained

The snow keeps falling outside.  High piles of the white stuff are surrounding me.   They seem so much more voluminous than they really are due to their airy consistency.  It would seem that multiple feet of snow have accumulated. I think if it was all packed down though, it'd only be an inch tall!   

I'm beginning to feel like I'm inside an ant farm... only instead of sand or dirt, my home is made of SNOW...

I have to stay on my toes, remain alert to the ever persistent edging in of the snow.   It's become almost a battle!   Okay, too dramatic.   Plus, I pretty much LOVE snow.   So, maybe it's more of a playful wrestle than all out war?   Much like sand or dirt... this snow wants IN...

Ye shall not pass the threshold!   


Oh, but it manages to sneak in to be sure.   It hitches a ride in the tread of my shoes much like rats aboard cargo ships.   It comes in the form of some ancient hieroglyph for me to decipher...

I think it comes in peace.   Just saying hello to the new neighbor.   As much of it that has trailed in behind, ahead of, and on me, none remains.   It disappears back into the farm, leaving me yet more mounds to tunnel through.

Despite the Oregon plates, Darla the Moose Mobile is looking more Alaskan every day!   She complains a little when I start her up, but over all I think she's enjoying the crunch of snow under her tires and the crisp winter air flowing over her carapace.  


I thought that not having a working defroster would be a real problem here.  However, my experience so far leaves me thinking it was worse in Portland.   Since the cold is so DRY here, there isn't any condensation to build up on the glass.   I can just brush the snow off the windshield and drive.  In Portland I would get icy buildup on the INSIDE of my windshield due to all the moisture in the air.   Most of my drive would be spent with the steering wheel in one hand, and the other hand furiously wiping off the glass so I could kind of see through the wet streaks.   I like driving in Alaska winter better than Portland!   Who knew?


Oh yes, yes... my puzzle... acabado!

AND... glowing like Aurora herself...

Ernesto Heinlein!   Can you spot him?

Well (as Milton would think of me) this "vulgar reader" is getting back to her reading!  


Rimes may be the invention of a barbarous age,
not needed by the smart to set the poetic stage,
how'ver,
Wretched matter and lame meeter be damned,
a poem without rimes is so very bland!
      
I'm with the Stooges...

DGLM in the Snow

The snow here just never ceases to amaze me!  I know, I know, I've only been in it for a month, and I have many more to go, however, it's neat!   The only snow I've experienced, to my memory, has been in Oregon.  It usually isn't cold enough to really stick, and then when it does hang around, it's wet and thick.   It's great for making snowballs!  And snow forts!   And mostly just turns to ICE!   Not here...

The snow falling and blowing in Healy is light and fluffy!  Since the humidity is pretty much nil, the cold air is dry and crisp... leaving the snow likewise.  It really is neat!  Like sugarless cotton candy!  Inches and inches and inches of snow have piled up on my car and porch and EVERYWHERE!   At first I was like, "This is going to be a real shoveling ADVENTURE."   Turns out... not so much.   You can pretty much just blow on it to clear it.   Delicate like a souffle!   I have visions of myself coming down on the snow "pack" hard with my shovel and then slipping backwards with all my unneeded momentum to SHOVEL.  I'm learning... slowly...

Oh, my puzzle?  Thanks for asking, yes, I'm almost done!   Slated for completion this weekend...

My real life puzzle scene this morning...

BREAKING news (literally!)

Don't worry too much... a new circular needle is heading this way!   I was forced to read today and start a new knitting project on a sub-par needle.   I pretty much carried on!

Speaking of carrying on... I like JUST learned that Aimee Mann was in the band 'Til Tuesday, that sang "Voices Carry"!  I always thought the line in that song was... "hush, hush, keep it down now, this is scary"  Like I always say... live and learn!

A friend was talking about meeting a girl for a date from OK Cupid.   I remembered that I had joined that about seven years ago because I liked taking their silly quizzes.  I thought I'd log on to see if I still had a profile... and I did!  This was the first quiz result I happened upon...

The Maid of HonorDeliberate Gentle Love Master (DGLM)

Appreciated for your kindness and envied for all your experience, you are The Maid of Honor.

Charismatic, affectionate, and terrific in relationships, you are what many guys would call a “perfect catch”—and you probably have many admirers, each wishing to capture your long-term love. You’re careful, extra careful, because the last thing you want is to hurt anyone. Especially some poor boy whose only crime was liking you.

We’ve deduced you’re fully capable of a dirty fling, but you do feel that post-coital attachment after hooking up. So, conscientious person that you are, you do your best to reserve physical affection for those you respect...so you can respect yourself.

Your biggest negative is the byproduct of your careful nature: indecision. You’re just as slow rejecting someone as you are accepting them.

P.S. Please don't worry about me... that "epic storm" that's going on is happening like hundreds of miles away from me.   I just have normal Healy wind and snow.   Alaska is HUGE!

Forced to read: The Sunlight Dialogues by John Gardner (he's AWESOME!)

According to OK Cupid circa 2004 I'm fishy, domesticated and tifty!

Goodnight from this deliberate gentle love master!

Puzzling in Panguingue

Guess what??  Give up??  I got another extension cord!   So, I 'spose it's an extendedsion cord?  Har!  At any rate, now I'll be able to start old Darla the Moose Mobile in ANY negative weather.    BRING IT.  (famous last words?)

Another lovely day on Antares.   So named for the brightest star in the constellation Scorpio.  Other streets on my "subdivision"...


Altair - brightest star in constellation Aquila
Aldebaran - brightest star in constellation Taurus
Achernar - brightest star in constellation Eridanus
Arcturus - brightest star in North celestial sphere 


When I was first walking about my neighborhood, I thought someone just took out a dictionary and started at the A's with naming roads.   Apparently some more thought went into the naming:)    


I don't know much about stars and constellations, however, the night sky IS truly amazing out here!  I'd like to see if these named constellations correspond with the roads.   Astronomy here I come!


Wait... I'd have to put my knitting down right?   Maybe next winter...

I decided to try putting myself up to a more regimented life to curtail my knitting addiction.    I allow myself to knit for a couple hours after breakfast.    Then... puzzle time!

Ya, this one is GLOW IN THE DARK.   Pretty sweet, huh?   I ended up getting a bunch of puzzles with an Alaska theme.    So, it feels a little silly working hard on this puzzle that in the end will look like pretty much what I see out of my window.   Eh, it's not that much stranger than people watching TV shows about family life that resembles their own, right?    ALSO... puzzles... pretty sweet, right?    I think by the end of the winter I'll pretty much be an connoisseur of the puzzle.   Walt and I pretty much went INSANE on this gem...

To a trained puzzle eye, you'll notice how not only IDENTICAL the pieces are, but also how bland the colors are.   The redeeming part of this puzzle was that when you did get the RIGHT piece in, you KNEW it was right.    They would connect with a satisfying certainty.   With the new glow in the dark puzzle, the pieces have more personality, HOWEVER, they don't lock together with the same satisfaction.   I'm left wondering... is that really right?    


Oh puzzles...


Hey!    How about bunny tracks?    Pretty spoooooOooooooky looking, huh?

AND... vole tracks... pretty cute huh?

Breaking update!   New picture of my kitty, Ernesto Heinlein!

My parting thoughts are really more a lament of frost-nip.   OMG... long, boring story short... I got a little frost-nip (sad cousin to frostBITE) on a few of my toes a week ago.   Now, they itch like MAD.   It keeps me up at night.    It's the first thing I notice when I wake up.   Last thing I think of as I TRY to sleep.  My second to Big toe and tiny toe on my right foot feels as though they've been strung through with multiple thin strings and every time I take a step, they feel HORRIBLY awkward.   Calamine lotion?   PLEASE.    I have to go to Fairbanks?   UGH.   

In conclusion... 


Wear lots of layers when you go out in even kinda cold!
KNIT, it rules!
Puzzles are as much fun as TV!


Listening to: Supertramp station on Pandora (no matter who you are, try this one, it's the best:)


Reading: Denali: A literary Anthology


*Best Quote EVER...


"That moose we were looking at this morning, the Word's Tamest Moose?   I'd like to run up and kiss her on the mouth.   I really like her.   She has allowed me to see a lot of neat things over the years, and I really like her."
-Vic Van Ballenberghe (Denali's resident moosologist)


I'm sure you really like her Vic... I'm sure you do...

Wells, Blogs and Barking Dogs

Welcome to town!
You may live next to an incessantly barking hound,
but don't let that get you down!


Enjoy mountains?  How about snow?
We have more kinds than even Eskimos know!
No manicured lawns for you to mow;
only a deep well for your H2O,
just don't forget your hose when you go!

 
Advice I neglected to heed,
so back to my cabin for what I need.
At least I didn't forget the keys!

Got my gloves, hose and my water,
sure, it could be a little hotter,
but I'm just about happy as a sea otter!