31 degrees
snow, wind
20-22 inches of snow on the ground
Argh--more blizzard weather this morning. Light snow was threatening last night when I drove home but I wasn't expecting to look out this morning into--white. Denny had mentioned plowing out their facilities in Cold Bay yesterday and that it had been zero/zero that morning, so I should have suspected something like this. As they (Cold Bay) are considerably west of us, they get weather before us.
I guess I should have brought more wood in last night. I cerainly wasn't itching to haul wood this morning, but finally forced myself to don my mukluks, wool cap and gloves to brave the wind and snow.
Actually, it felt Spring-like--if you idea of Spring can co-exist with knee-high wet snow. Rather than dig the last row of wood out of the wood box by the back door, I went to the source and hauled a couple of loads right from the wood pile to inside. I loaded the stove with what had been left in the house, so the fresh wood can dry out while I am at work. Wood stove management doesn't really take a lot of time but it does take some planning. Of course, since it is some forty-plus degrees warmer than it was two weeks ago, the wood stove, while nice, isn't essential.
Since I was all dorked-up, I went around to the front of the shop and hauled out a couple bags of garbage, shoveled the front steps and cleaned the night's accumulation of snow off the Suburban. Yes, this was definitely a day for the four-wheel-drive.
I wanted to stop off at the store to see if they had some sandwiches and more salads. Working this shift, I don't cook much. Unfortunately, time was getting short, but I figured I had enough time to dash in and out in the ten minutes before I had to be at work. Typically, the store didn't have any new salads and I had checked out what they had last night. There were a couple sandwiches and wraps out in the deli case, so I got one of each and a container of soup and was back out on the road in five minutes. The selection was poor but decades of living in Alaska have pretty much wrung the desire for perfection and instant gratification out of me.
MH hadn't talked to a single airplane all day. Nary a strip in the strip bay. This is the second day in less than a month that we haven't talked to a soul on the radio. He had, however, been issuing NOTAMs like crazy, updating the runway and ramp conditions for the local airports. After he went home, the snow and rain tapered off and the clouds lifted enough that one local air taxi pilot started flying. The last few scheduled flights from Anchorage came down, so MH will have a few strips to count when he logs the day's traffic tomorrow.
Now, at 9 pm, the temperature is nearly forty, so it will be sloppy driving home. I don't imagine it will drop below freezing overnight. In Fairbanks, they warn folks not to park in the puddles of meltwater during the Spring Breakup, because your vehicle can be solidly frozen in place come morning. I don't think that's going to be a concern for me.
Thursday is normally my first day back to work, but with PD on leave, I moved over in the schedule to take his days off and cover his shifts. So this is my Wednesday. Denny should be home late Saturday, so we can have two days together before he travels Outside again.
I spend entirely too much time alone in a house full of cats....
snow, wind
20-22 inches of snow on the ground
Argh--more blizzard weather this morning. Light snow was threatening last night when I drove home but I wasn't expecting to look out this morning into--white. Denny had mentioned plowing out their facilities in Cold Bay yesterday and that it had been zero/zero that morning, so I should have suspected something like this. As they (Cold Bay) are considerably west of us, they get weather before us.
I guess I should have brought more wood in last night. I cerainly wasn't itching to haul wood this morning, but finally forced myself to don my mukluks, wool cap and gloves to brave the wind and snow.
Actually, it felt Spring-like--if you idea of Spring can co-exist with knee-high wet snow. Rather than dig the last row of wood out of the wood box by the back door, I went to the source and hauled a couple of loads right from the wood pile to inside. I loaded the stove with what had been left in the house, so the fresh wood can dry out while I am at work. Wood stove management doesn't really take a lot of time but it does take some planning. Of course, since it is some forty-plus degrees warmer than it was two weeks ago, the wood stove, while nice, isn't essential.
Since I was all dorked-up, I went around to the front of the shop and hauled out a couple bags of garbage, shoveled the front steps and cleaned the night's accumulation of snow off the Suburban. Yes, this was definitely a day for the four-wheel-drive.
I wanted to stop off at the store to see if they had some sandwiches and more salads. Working this shift, I don't cook much. Unfortunately, time was getting short, but I figured I had enough time to dash in and out in the ten minutes before I had to be at work. Typically, the store didn't have any new salads and I had checked out what they had last night. There were a couple sandwiches and wraps out in the deli case, so I got one of each and a container of soup and was back out on the road in five minutes. The selection was poor but decades of living in Alaska have pretty much wrung the desire for perfection and instant gratification out of me.
MH hadn't talked to a single airplane all day. Nary a strip in the strip bay. This is the second day in less than a month that we haven't talked to a soul on the radio. He had, however, been issuing NOTAMs like crazy, updating the runway and ramp conditions for the local airports. After he went home, the snow and rain tapered off and the clouds lifted enough that one local air taxi pilot started flying. The last few scheduled flights from Anchorage came down, so MH will have a few strips to count when he logs the day's traffic tomorrow.
Now, at 9 pm, the temperature is nearly forty, so it will be sloppy driving home. I don't imagine it will drop below freezing overnight. In Fairbanks, they warn folks not to park in the puddles of meltwater during the Spring Breakup, because your vehicle can be solidly frozen in place come morning. I don't think that's going to be a concern for me.
Thursday is normally my first day back to work, but with PD on leave, I moved over in the schedule to take his days off and cover his shifts. So this is my Wednesday. Denny should be home late Saturday, so we can have two days together before he travels Outside again.
I spend entirely too much time alone in a house full of cats....
