No School Again?

Day three of the melt down/no school saga. I'm beginning to wonder if these kids will ever go to school again. The roads are pretty messy. There is still a thick layer of ice over the gutters on the streets, so very little water is draining off. It's in the upper 40's, so the snow is melting rapidly. (I can see grass! I'm not kidding!) It's been raining for most of the day. There is a wind advisory for gusts of 50 mph in Anchorage, and 100 mph south of town on Turnagain Arm. Now, to add insult to injury, they have added a flood warning. It's like driving through a river out there. I think the only place that the ice and snow aren't melting is on our street and driveway. What are the odds? I get to go out tomorrow with a shovel and pick away at the mess to clear it off. If you want a good laugh, hang out on the corner and watch me try to carry trash bags to the dumpster. If I don't break something before this is over, it will be a miracle. Who knew spring would come so early? I'm heading out to buy some flowers and sunscreen. It's tan time. Who needs Hawaii anyway? Apparently our yard is now beach front property.

Day 2 of The Lockdown

No school again today. I was smarter this time, though. I got up at 5 am, checked the school information channel, saw that school was out again, and went back to bed. I didn't wake anyone else up. Do you know what the high is predicted to be today? 50 degrees. Are you sure we are still in Alaska? Is this really January? Crazy weather! Anyway, the thaw continues. This will be our second day of bombing here at the house. Bombing, you ask? Yes. Our roofs are made of metal here. As the weather warms, the foot deep snow and ice on the roof starts to slide down and over the edge. Huge frozen slabs hit the ground with a booming sound. The floor actually shakes. The sound is really impressive when it falls onto the metal garage roof. You definitely don't want to walk around there too close to the house. One big chunk almost took out a neighbor on his back patio last year. Definitely dangerous stuff. I am thinking of making a break for freedom. There are only so many viewings of recorded NCIS and games of Wii Star Wars that I can take.

Tales from the Tundra

It's warmed up a little bit. It's around 14 degrees now. That's practically balmy. Everything is covered with a layer of frost, and that layer is now being covered with a thin layer of snow. It started snowing again an hour or two ago.

I remember once when I had a nice looking Christmas tree. Now there are hardly any ornaments from about the middle of the tree down. Tink steals them. If you aren't there to appreciate this act, then she will hunt you down and proceed to chew on the ornament in front of you. Whoever saves the ornament then tosses it back at the top of the tree where Tink might not be able to reach it. All of the ornaments are on the top third of the tree. I will be surprised if the tree survives Christmas this year. I will be surprised if the Tink survives Christmas this year.

Another Snowy December Day

It snowed again yesterday. Fresh snow always makes it feel more Christmasy. (Is that even a word? Spell check says no, but I beg to differ.) This is the overhang on our front porch. Whenever it warms up a little bit, the ice and snow slowly slide down the metal roof and ease over the edge. Then it refreezes at night, and we are left with what look like huge fingers or paws reaching over the roof of the house. It gets very exciting when it warms up again, because then the ice and snow slide off and hit the ground with a big boom. One big chunk almost took out a neighbor on his back patio last year. It's best to keep an eye on things while you are shoveling off your patios and porches. As you can see, we are getting a lot of use out of our fire pit right now. You can almost hear the crackling fire and smell the marshmallows roasting. As I was standing in the doorway, taking pictures of interesting things out back, a big gust of arctic wind came through. I jumped back into the house, reached out to shut the door, and happened to look down. What interesting tracks. Some small creature has been checking out my back porch. Then I looked down at the stairs. That's my small creature! Apparently Tink crept out when I was taking a picture. She's lucky I looked back before I shut the door! We could have ended up with a Tinksicle. Of course I yelled at her. I explained to her that I was wearing socks and was in no way going out there to get her. She was not impressed. I explained to her that her spoiled little rear would be frozen in minutes if I left her out there. She took a bite of snow.

I told her she was being a royal pain and I was shutting the door now, cat or no cat. She decided her toes were a little chilly and began to casually pick her way through the snow to the door. Of course, you can't rush the Tink. With each step, she would raise a paw, shake the snow off of it and carefully place it back down. Ugh. I wouldn't have half this trouble if I had just gotten the kids a reindeer.

Snow & Ice

I was driving home from work Friday afternoon, and hit a patch of ice while turning a corner. I lost traction and started sliding to the left instead of turning to the right. I did my part: I stomped the brake to the floor and went "UGHHHHHHHH!" Apparently I didn't pronounce it right, because I kept sliding and ended up on the curb. Nothing major, no damage done, and I backed up and went on around the corner. In my defence, I was doing a whopping 5 mph at the time. Clearly not my fault. Then I did what every good wife should do. I went home and said, "Can you put my snow tires on the van? I slid into a curb." Big mistake. Now I am the recipient of an instructional speech on how to drive on icy surfaces. It involved percentages, physics and braking vs. turning. I didn't get it all, but nodded when I felt I should of. Apparently I passed the test, and the snow tires went on. Now I am raring to go.