More snow, cold - and a rock

I had a wonderful Christmas day with my daughter & family; phone calls to loved ones out of state; very tasty prime rib roast; relaxing and enjoying everything.

By 3 p.m. the kitchen was cleaned and the tree down and put away for another 11 months. I put it up the day after Thanksgiving and I'm always ready to put it away and watch winter go away. Although it's several months away, I like seeing the daylight come through the window earlier in the mornings and last later into the afternoons. Since the tree sits right in front of the window, putting it away now lets in more light.

I looked out late yesterday afternoon and could tell by the softness of the street lights it was snowing - and boy was it ever! It was coming down fast and steady. I go back to work tomorrow, so I thought I'd brush the four new inches off the car today and get a head start. It is somewhere between 15 and 20 below, so I got a bit chilled, but warm boots and coat really help. It was the gloves that took the worst of it.

I brushed the snow off the bird feeders a week ago when I filled them. Looks like one needs new seed already, but there's still plenty there.

Buddy just told me he wanted to go out, so off we went. As soon as we hit the porch, he pulled off all four booties, as he does all the time. Here he is after about 5 minutes, wanting to come back indoors because his feet are cold. Notice the two front feet are not touching any snow. I think if he could figure out a way to get all four up at once, he'd do it. He just cannot seem to figure out those booties keep his feet warm! It was hard to get a good sharp shot as he was shivering and moving. I figured I should put him out of his misery and bring him back in. Note how his breath frosts his beard.

Several years ago my friend Mae and I drove to the Salcha River Rec area just for a short ride. My granddaughter Maddy has a habit of picking up stones and rocks wherever she is, and I guess some of it rubbed off. I saw an interesting stone at the water's edge and put it into the car. It barely fits into my palm and I can't close my fist over it. It has a reddish-brown color over much of it, but there are spots where it looks as though it was once white. I thought it might be quartz that had spent a lot of time in some water rich in iron. The rock has cracks all over and Saturday I decided to wiggle the loose end to see what's inside. I was surprised to see a deep red color covering much of the inside. It has some white marbeling and some very tiny, sparkly gold-colored flecks - almost like glitter. Very pretty. My brother-in-law, a rock hound in Arizona, said it sounds like an agate. I emailed a few photos to a professor at UAF with whom I've worked a few times to see if he might be able to identify it.

Stay warm everyone.

Fairbanks winter is more than cold and dark

Every now and then friends from the Lower 48 tell me they don't know how I deal with the cold and dark in the winter up here. I usually just say the summers more than compensate. But that's not the whole truth.

Fairbanks winters are beautiful in a Christmas-card kind of way. The trees are covered with snow, and the spruces especially remind me of Currier and Ives cards or the old Budweiser commercials at Christmas - the ones with the wonderful Clydesdales pulling a sleigh. Fresh snow on the trees and sides of the roads make everything look pristine.

Yesterday morning on my way to an appointment I noticed the car in front of me sitting in the left-turn lane where there was no street to turn onto. A second later I saw a moose step into the street. A huge cow, she very slowly moved past his car and sauntered across the street. She was in no hurry and simply walked slowly to the vacant lot on the opposite side, next to an apartment complex. Drivers watched her, then waited, as did I, to see if a calf followed. She was alone, so we proceeded on our various ways. I don't know if the other drivers marveled at this animal as I did. They are so large - and this one was very big - and yet so graceful. Their legs remind me of piano legs, very slender. They don't seem capable of holding up such a big beast. In addition to the graceful movements as they walk from one spot to another, the moose can move incredibly fast for their size. I always consider myself very lucky to see one, especially because I live in town and they are not as plentiful here as in more rural, wooded areas.

A couple of blocks later I drove past Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. The spruce trees along the sidewalks and parking lots were festooned with strings of white lights, giving even this clearly urban spot a holiday feeling.

On a good clear day, we can see the snowy peaks of the Alaska Range, and on a great day we can see Mt. McKinley. This view against a bright blue sky is awesome. I never get tired of looking at these mountains.

On a good clear night, we are often treated to incredible light shows as the Northern Lights dance across the sky. Once again, living in town has some drawbacks as the city lights really interfere with light-watching. However, it's only a short drive until we are out of town and can see nature's lights more clearly. I never tire of watching them move and sway.

There's a lot to do here - skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, ice-fishing, sled-dog races (or mushing yourself), hockey, basketball, concerts, plays, art - all sorts of both indoor and outdoor activities. It's never a boring place.

Above all, Fairbanks winters seem to create in people a kind of kinship. We all have in common the cold temperatures, the high heating oil and gasoline prices and the darkness. We share horror stories and solutions to problems stemming from the cold and darkness. Strangers smile at each other in the stores and on the streets. The friendliness of Fairbanksans makes it a special place to live.

Today is winter solstice, the shortest day of the year and one of my favorite days. It means we will soon be gaining daylight, at first by seconds, then minutes. Happy solstice!
I will admit I'm not particularly fond of the extreme cold and the darkness seems to bother me more each year. But the amenities of living here - the wildlife, the mountains, the Northern Lights - make it all worthwhile.

Merry Christmas everyone. May 2012 be healthy, happy and prosperous for all of you.

Thanksgiving

Since I don't seem able to do a daily thankful post, I thought I'd lump it into one. Every year there are certain days I look over what I have and give thanks for it. One of those, of course, is Thanksgiving.

I am very thankful for my family - parents, sisters, brother, daughter, grandchildren (and steps and halfs), nieces and nephews, cousins - and the friends who may not be genetic relatives but are family nonetheless.

I am thankful I have a job that allows me to work with the most amazing group of people. And I'm thankful my job gives me the opportunity to travel occasionally and pays well enough that I can travel for nothing but pleasure other times. And I am thankful that my health, although not great, is still good enough to make that travel fun.



Clock tower at Spokane, WA's, Riverfront Park



State Capitol and other buildings, Harrisburg, PA





Oahu's North Shore, Hawaii





old mission in San Antonio, Texas



Tombstone, Arizona

I'm thankful my friends like baseball and we can enjoy Cactus League Spring Training in Phoenix together. It's the best vacation after a long Fairbanks winter. And it's not too hot yet.

I'm thankful every day for the beauty of this place I call home. Whether it's right here in Fairbanks or down at Denali National Park, whether it's summer or winter - it's beautiful. Northern lights and the Alaska Range make the cold temperatures tolerable. And the glorious colors of grass and sky and flowers make the summers pure pleasure. How lucky I am to live here.

Above all this year, I am thankful my wonderful dad survived a heart attack, surgery and stroke and is recovering well. I love talking with him on the phone every weekend and I thank God every day for allowing us to have Dad for a while longer.

I know there's a lot I didn't cover here, but my life is so full of wonderful family and friends and good times, there's no way I could possibly touch on all of my blessings.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Spokane, winter

It looks as though winter is here. We've had our sticking snow, though it's not really deep yet. It was enough to make the roads bad for a day or two and to remind drivers to slow down and exercise caution. My challenge now is to keep the bird feeders filled.

My new furnace is working well, not constantly running to try to keep up and the house is very comfortable.

The congestion and cough are still with me, almost two months later. I am really tired of it, but I'm at least recovered enough to be able to get some sleep at night.

Fortunately, the worst of it was over when I started my trip to Spokane, Washington, to see my two granddaughters. They live with their dad, stepmother and three little siblings, and I haven't seen them in a number of years.

The trip was very nice to Seattle. My seatmate was an old friend from Toastmasters. We caught up on the news, then napped until we reached Seattle. From there, things went downhill.

We got an announcement the 7 and 8 a.m. flights would be delayed due to fog in Spokane. (I was booked on the 9 a.m. flight.) Both the earlier flights took off a little late and our flight boarded and took off just 10 minutes late. We reached Spokane and saw nothing below us but white clouds. We circled an hour then returned to Seattle. I was able to get a seat on a 12:30 p.m. flight, but we were told almost as soon as we were seated we would not take off until Spokane's weather cleared. We could leave the plane, taking all our carry on items with us, or we could stay onboard. I opted to remain on the plane. I had my tablet with me, we had WiFi access and I had plenty to do.  I phoned my Spokane family and told them to go home, I'd call when I got in or had more information on what was happening. Finally, we left Seattle about 2:40 p.m. We circled Spokane again, for an hour or more, and at last the pilot spotted a hole in the clouds. Everyone on the plane applauded when we touched down. I heard an airport employee say all remaining flights that day had been cancelled. So my 10 a.m. arrival became 4:30 p.m., but I was there.

The rest of the long weekend was fabulous. I reconnected with my granddaughters, now almost 13 and 14. I met their little sister, almost 6, and two brothers, 1 and nearly 4. It's a beautiful family. They welcomed me and made me very comfortable.

I had a wonderful time taking the kids shopping and watching them choose clothes, enjoying their delight in their choices. We went to Red Robin for lunch - none of them had ever been there. I like to eat out at places we don't have in Fairbanks, and I wanted a good hamburger. Red Robin has some of the best! My choice was a guacamole burger with bacon. Certainly not the healthiest thing, but when I'm on vacation I don't look for healthy :)

The next day we visited Riverfront Park, site if the 1974 Expo. It was a gorgeous day, sunny and a little cool. We walked a bit and rode a little train around the park. The engineer pointed out areas of interest and added a little history.



Our train


















Then we visited the historic carousel, which the kids rode. Their smiles were great - they were really enjoying it.

These are some of the other things I saw at Riverfront Park:



I loved the brilliant red of this tree. Most everything was still green.





Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in Riverfront Park

On the way home to Loon Lake, we stopped at Dairy Queen, another first for the kids and another special treat for me.

The weekend was over all too soon, and I had to come back home. I had a great time and plan to repeat the trip sometime in the not-too-distant future. The flight back was uneventful and it hadn't snowed yet, so I was able to finish up the last of the end-of-summer/fall stuff.

Now that winter's here, I've started going back online into the genealogy archives, trying to track down some elusive ancestors. Looking forward to some pretty photo ops and an easy winter. Stay well.



Denali on the train

At the end of my week off in September, my friend Mae and I took our annual trip to Denali on the Alaska Railroad. I love the ride - four hours of beautiful scenery, eating in the dining car, relaxing in the comfortable seats and reading the Nook. I've decided that I prefer the park in September over May. In May, the leaves aren't fully out yet and it looks too much like winter. In September, the colors are all out - vivid reds, brilliant golds and the dark green of the spruce trees all make a gorgeous palette.

For the first 12 or more years, Mae and I were among the very lucky park visitors who get to see the mountain - Mt. McKinley. Bus drivers in the park say only 25% get to see it, so we felt very fortunate to see this enormous snow-covered peak so often. However, I think the law of averages has finally caught up to us. This year made the third year in a row it's been shrouded in clouds and not visible to us.

This year we only saw two squirrels - no moose, no caribou, no bears, no Dall sheep. But the colors and the scenery were awesome. We did see two moose cows, one with twins and one with one calf; two pairs of swans and a large flock of sandhill cranes flying out as the train made its way back to Fairbanks.

Here are a few of my favorites:



A low-lying fog bank moves in from Savage Canyon below Mt. Margaret's fall colors.





Even the weeds are pretty!



Savage River from the park road.



Healy Canyon & Nenana River from the train.

Two days after we got back I developed bronchitis that hung on for almost three weeks. Am finally feeling much better, able to get some sleep and only coughing a little.

I will be heading to Spokane, Washington, soon to visit my two granddaughters, who live with their dad. I haven't seen them in many years and am really looking forward to seeing them. Then, maybe, I'll stay home for a while and forget packing, trudging through airports and strange beds.

I went to the store early this morning. The sunrise was gorgeous; there was a cute little dog walking his human; Jimmy Buffet was on the CD player and there was no line at the store. Life is good. Happy October everyone.

Taking care of business

I took this week off to take care of things like annual physical, car and furnace tune-ups and use up some leave time.

All went well last Friday with the car and the physical. I came away with a clean bill of health from the doctor and a lower bill from the garage than I expected.

By Sunday, the car wouldn't start - wouldn't turn over. And it was a holiday weekend, so I couldn't even get it checked until Tuesday. So Tuesday morning I ended up buying a new battery.

The furnace guy came out Tuesday and informed me he had disabled the furnace (state law, I think) because it isn't safe. So instead of buying a new furnace next spring as planned, I'm buying it this week. It will be installed tomorrow. The positive angle here is I shouldn't have any problems this winter and it hasn't reached the freezing point at my house yet. I'm still in the 40s at night and 60s during the day, so the space heaters I have do a fine job keeping the place warm and I don't have to run them constantly.

Today is my birthday, and I decided a great way to start the day was at Creamer's Field for sunrise. There were a lot of geese, but I didn't see or hear a single crane. The sun was gorgeous as it hit the yellow leaves of the birch trees, and the sky was blue shot through with a lot of pink. It was a beautiful morning.

I shot a few photos, then came back home to prepare for our upcoming train trip to Denali National Park. My friend Mae and I do this trip every year, and it's something we look forward to.

I whipped up a pot of clam chowder (great lunch!), cleaned up the kitchen and now it's time to take the dog out and relax.

Happy autumn everyone.

Fall's coming

Friday started my week-long break. I'm taking some time off to relax, take care of business and (hopefully) sleep in.

Friday, though, was primarily a business day. I dropped my car off for lube/oil/filter change and check-up for winter. I also visited the doctor for my annual check-up, then went to DMV (!) to renew my disabled parking permit.

There was a lull, though, in the morning. My friend came by to pick me up while the shop worked on my car. We went for breakfast, then for a drive. We stopped by Creamer's Field to see the birds and out to Fox for a short drive.

Although I hate to see summer end, I do love the deep reds of the fall. We saw that the fireweed is topped off and the leaves are red.




Geese landing



Have a safe and happy Labor Day.

Sunny, relaxed weekend

After my fast trip to PA, I got back to work and lots of catching up. I had several hundred emails to answer and some online training to do, as well as what work was tossed at me each day. If I didn't have such a capable staff, I'm not sure what I would do. They took care of a ton of stuff while I was gone, or my return would have been terrible. I'm really blessed to work with the people on my staff - they are absolutely the best team I've ever had.

The last few weeks have been full of my job, calling PA for updates on my dad and trying to find time to simply relax.

My dad is continuing to improve. He was home from the nursing home today for a visit, and if all goes well he will be home to stay in 10 days or two weeks. I know he's looking forward to it, and that today's visit gave him more incentive to work hard at his therapy. He sounded wonderful when I talked with him this afternoon.

I took my daughter and granddaughter shopping for school clothes. Maddy is in first grade now. When we walked into the first store she said, "Grandma, I don't like skirts." I assured her we wouldn't buy any skirts. She is beginning to develop her own style - no dark pink, no skirts or dresses, glitter is good - but is still young enough that she can sometimes be talked into something she's not crazy about. We had a wonderful day, shopping and having lunch. Such fun!

I've made several trips to Creamer's Field for bird shots, but haven't gotten the great sandhill crane shot I want. I'm apparently not there at the best time of day, and this morning when we stopped by I only had my small pocket camera with a shorter zoom lens.



I wish I'd had my better camera. Maybe next trip.





I was able to catch these two geese coming in for a landing - not an easy feat for me!



After the grocery store and Creamer's Field, I had a visit from my daughter, her partner and Maddy. I hang my bird feeders on an arch I bought at the garden department of a home building store, and we moved it so I can see it from my computer chair. It had been moved when I had my porch built this summer, and I didn't put it in the right spot when I replaced it. I love sitting on the porch watching the birds. They come in and perch to eat within 2-1/2 to 3 feet of me. Maddy was fascinated to see them so close. She is beginning to be able to sit still and watch them.

This little black-capped chickadee was eating something from the bark of the birch tree.





This chickadee was on the arch, just about 2-1/2 feet from me.







Catching a bubble on the wand.


 

Trying to bite the bubble. She didn't like the taste of the one she caught. Said she thought it would taste like gum :)







This was one of those great sunny weekends when I slept in, relaxed and spent wonderful time with friends and family, enjoying the simple pleasures I can find in Fairbanks. It doesn't get any better than that.