Let it Snow!!!!

We LOVE SNOW!!! Eagle River has about 10  feet of beautiful white FLUFFY snow.  Our snow is fluffy and doesn't turn to dirty slush after a few days.  I guess that is because when it is 25 degrees it snows and then the temperature drops to minus 15 degrees so it doesn't freeze.  George, Beth and I  went snow shoeing and moose looking last weekend.  George is one of our teacher friends from our Bear Adventure on the island last summer. He teaches physicals and economics up in the Bush (about 500 miles North West from Anchorage).  The Bush schools have not opened school from winter break yet due to frozen water pipes throughout the town.  Remember, most of towns in the rest of Alaska are on tundra so things freeze quickly.


The towns of Cordova and Valdez are in such terrible condition.  I know they have been on the news all over the world.  They have had 25 FEET of snow!!! That is a lot of snow. The average snow fall for them is about 322 inches of snow per year.  They are 168 inches above that already!! There are people who can not get out of their houses do to so much snow. The news showed one family crawling out the attic window to help the Army Reserves help dig out the town.  One lady was watching her children use the snow as a slide off the roof.  The town of Valdez has a population of 4300 people.  Maybe they will get more inches of snow than their population!  Most of the world remembers Valdez from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.  Valdez has held the World's Extreme Skiing championships several times and is known for heli-skiing adventures. 

Show those snow shoes - Kara, Niki, Beth and George.

Ooops!  Someone pushed Niki into the snow.  Gosh it is deep and she is having a difficult time getting out of the snow.

George stepped off the trail and found himself in deep snow.

  My hair looks like a huge giant Q-tip!  Don't touch or my hair will break!

 So Niki gets revenge by pushing Kara in the snow.  It is so deep she needed more assistance to get out of her conundrum. 

I chose to make a snow angel in the parking lot.  Safer and easier to get back upright!

This weekend it was snow beautiful - MORE SNOW!!! There was a white out on the highway to Eagle River which caused a 30 car accident.  A hummer was stuck in the ditch.  I didn't think they got stuck in anything.

 We went Ice Fishing on Finger Lakes, in Wasilla. Finger Lake is 69 acres big and about 15 feet deep where we were fishing.  Finger Lake is known for Rainbows, Char and Graylings.  As we arrived, a float plane was taking off over our head and the Bald Eagle was watching over the fishing adventure.

 Andrew, our expert Ice Fisherman, caught a 16 inch Rainbow! 

 I caught nothing.  Just a few nibbles but no fish.

 Bjorn is Jake's dog and he was used to skijorn during the day.  That is harnessing Bjorn and then pulling a person on skis around the lake.  Bjorn is about 7 years old and beautiful.

This is Silver, Jake's other dog.  He was so sad when all the beer was gone.  He was looking for food but he has so many allergies all Silver gets to eat is fish and sweet potatoes.  Adorable.

Beth and Niki stopped for a photo op.  Doesn't that scenery just make you want to get outside and play? Snowmobile? ski?

There is a famous bar in Anchorage called Chilkoot Charlie's.  It has 10 separate bars in the huge location.  Each bar has a different theme and different type of music.   I just loved the toilet seats as the restroom signs!

 We chose to play a bit of shuffle board.  I love this game. We use to play this a lot in Milwaukee when we went to visit family.

This weekend we needed some good laughs so we went to the Hypnotist Comedy Night.  It was a blast.  Beth volunteered for our group.  She was awesome and provided us with sore cheeks from laughing so much.

We ended the evening with a bull ride.  Niki met a young man who is trying to get on the Professional Bull Riding circuit (PBR).  I watch the PBR when there isn't anything else to watch so we had some interesting conversations.  I just had no idea that Alaska had its own Little League for Bull Riders trying to make it into the big league.  Alaska??

Back to work tomorrow.  We had such a great three day weekend and last weekend.  We are in a heat spell during the day time.  It got up to minus 5 today with blue skies and sunny.  We are gaining about 7 1/2 minutes of sunlight per day.  That is almost an hour a week we gain in sunlight.  The weird thing is the extra day light comes in the evening not in the morning. I can drive to school (7 am) in darkness and the moon. My first days back in Alaska we were dark by 4:00 pm.  Now the sunset colors start to show about 5:30 p.m.  We will be to a full day of sunlight before we know it. 

Niki, Beth and I are heading to Bethel to check out life in the Bush next month.  We are taking a Project K'il class everyday this week after school so not much happening for a week.  Then Fur Rondy and the Iditarod will be here before long.  My brother, Chip, is coming for the Iditarod start this year.  Then the four girls leave for Nome to work the finish of the Iditarod.  I am sure the world has kept you up to date about the fuel oil finally reaching Nome, Alaska.  The Bering Sea froze over in October with solid ice and the barge could not make it to port. The Native organization was going to air lift the fuel to Nome but the cost was too high.  So they hired a Russian tanker that breaks deep ice to cut a path in front of the oil barge.  The weather has been so cold and full of snow one day the ice cutter and barge were only able to move 10 feet.  How about that for a long day?  10 feet in 8 hours.  We are staying with Uly Hall again this year in Nome. He said we will have heat now when we arrive in March. Yippee!

Until next blog,  Stay warm and live BIG!!!

Nanuq of the North

Sheryl

Happy New Year - 2012

Thank you all for your prayers, kind words and wonderful support these past few weeks.  2011 was a difficult year for my family.  We are looking forward to a much happier 2012.  I hope you had a wonderful New Years.  I returned to Alaska on New Year's Eve and was greeted by minus degrees and lots and lots of beautiful snow.  I can't remember having such high piles of snow on the streets.  It has presented a challenge driving in some neighborhoods because you can't see the cars or children.

This is the tree outside our apartment.  It is so beautifully flocked in white snow. Our neighbors are still in the lower 48 and they will be shocked when they have to uncover their car when they return.

The outside stairs also show you just how much snow we have had in the last month.  We are very lucky compared to some other Alaska cities.  I am sure you have all read about Nome still waiting for the Russian ice breaker trying to get fuel oil to the small village.  As I am sure I have told you, but we are going to Nome in March to work the finish of the Iditarod again this year.  I hope they receive their fuel oil by then or things may be a bit chillier than usual.

This is our school and some of little ones playing at recess. In Alaska we go outside for recess unless it is minus 10 below or colder.  You can see they enjoy their time outside time.

I am back on the cross country ski trails to enjoy the new snow.

This is the first snow fall for Memphis.  It snowed while I was home just to make me miss the snowfall in Alaska less.  The cold weather lasted about 5 days in Memphis unlike Alaska.

So David and I decided to go to Florida for Christmas week.  We golfed a bit at our condo (west side of Florida) and sat by the pool.  We spent Christmas on the beach and here is our holiday Christmas sand tree and the three sandmen at the beach. 

 David birded this beautiful par 4 and gloated about it all day!  It was a lovely drive.

 This is the largest Cypress Tree stump in the State of Florida.

This is the beautiful beach in Vero Beach, FL (east side of Florida).
Here is Tyler and Cara when they visited Memphis.  We are so thrilled to have Cara joining our family.  The nuptials will take place at Vero Beach in October. 

Back in Alaska I have been spending time with my teacher friends, who all happen to live in my apartment building.  We sat around and shared funny holiday stories and made some popcorn.  Have you eaten Jiffy Pop lately.  It still puffs up in a foil ball and taste just as good as I remember.

I have discovered another reason why I like Alaska so much.  The food!  My room mate and I left a a box of cracker open for almost 3 weeks.  When we had cheese and crackers last night the crackers were just as crunchy as the day we opened the box.  In Memphis if the crackers were not placed in an airtight container within a few hours the crackers would be soggy in three weeks.  Plus, we don't need ice cubes and freezers like we do in Memphis.  We set our beers and frozen items on the balcony and they are always cold!

As I begin my journey experiencing my last semester in Alaska, I hope my New Year's wishes find you enjoying this new year.  I wish for all of you a happy, joyful, prosperous and full of family and friends.
You all have an open invitation to visit.  Nothing like a visit to a beautiful state with your own personal tour guide.  Think about it!

Until then, enjoy your day and may the best NFL team win!!!  Then we can get psyched for the summer Olympics.
Que quay,
Sheryl