Freaky Warm

Last time I posted I was concerned about this warm spell. Now I'm and highly worried. Yesterday we had rain. The air temperature was around 32 F, but of course the permafrost kept the ground below zero. Every time a drop hit the ground it instantly froze. Unlike the Midwest, Alaska is not used to this time of weather mid winter. Usually the put down gravel for traction, never salt. The salt supply here is limited due to the fact it is not preferred when temperates are blow where even slat can melt the ice the salt becomes useless and expensive.
The frozen rain yesterday stopped all the buses midday. Which added to the fun of the day of slipping and sliding to and from classes that were optional to attend, because we were already on campus. At the end of the day after using the campus Internet for homework and some good old BBC Sherlock Homes, we began out two mile walk home. I am so grateful we live close enough walking is an option. Luckily they hadn't been plowing most of the sidewalks so the snow offered us protection and we did very little sliding.
The temperature currently now at 8:00 am is 41 F. The warm air is heating up the snow wetting it to drip onto the path ways. But the frozen ground keeps the ice frozen and the sun is not yet up to evaporate any ice. When the sun does rise it will be far too low in the southern sky to reach many ice slicks.
Classes have been cancelled for the day, although luckily they are keeping campus and the buses open and running.

Here is a picture of what campus does with the sun being down, they keep Christmas light up!

Gordon looking at lights on the trees and railings

they have snowflakes and Gordon calls "bananas" on the top of this
building where we have our English classes

When the sun comes up it is really gorgeous. I rarely have time to take pictures while the sun is up however because I am busy zipping between classes. However I did get these yesterday while I was waiting for the shuttle as I had to go across a very slick campus.

On a nother side note, I saw this cartoon on iwastesomuchtime.com and could not help but repost it. Although there are many factors in play with how the weather is acting, I liked how the artist put this.

Too Warm

Yes, I know the thought is almost laughable for someone in Fairbanks, Alaska in the middle to January to say it is too warm, but indeed it is. It's been over freezing during the day for the past few days, and last night the temperature never went below freezing. The ice is melting. As I was walking to class today the compacted snow/ice mixture on the sidewalks that is as even and compacted usually as the cement, was broken in two with a gash of three inches that ran the length. The run off of the melting snow cut under the perfect walking path splitting it like fire wood. The water went down the path and has started it's own little puddle, that wont last long as liquid. It will soon turn to deadly ice as the temperatures dip again. There are puddles and slush on all the walking paths, the ground is still trying to keep everything frozen, but currently the air temperatures are winning where the snow is insulated away from the ground.

Usually here the weather stays to consistently cold that the snow maintains its texture and allows for significant traction. When the snow gets warm and starts to soften, then it becomes slippery and dangerous.

Another concern is how this warm spell with damage the ecosystem. There is a fear that the plants with put out their new shoots for spring, wasting all that energy when they freeze off, and then without the energy to start over again they will die or be late this season, which impacts the animals with how much they are able to eat of the vegetation. I haven't seen any mud yet, so hopefully the plants wont miss read the signs quite yet

We are all hoping here this mid-winter thaw stops and Mother Nature can return her balance.

We have found a nice little apartment in town, over a church, so we don't need to turn our heat on with the heat coming up from the floor and the outdoors being above freezing. In fact we've had to open our window a couple of times already to attempt to cool off our place.

Eventually I will put up some more pictures. I promise.

Otherwise like the popular country song by Billy Currington (with some alternate lyrics),

God is Great,
Life is Good
and
People are crazy

Sunrise Vs Sunset for PG vs Madison vs Fairbanks

	Fairbanks, AK	Madison, WI	Pleasant Grove, UT
Sun Rise	10:20 AM	7:25 AM	7:46 AM
Sun Set	3:42 PM	4:50 PM	5:27 PM
Total Sun	5:22	9:25	9:81

The sun here never gets very high in the sky, it does a sort of hop on the southern horizon. At the sun's peak the sunlight given is only enough to feel like it is late evening. The shadows are always long pointing north.

Other wise things are good here. We have started school, are finding work, and a place (we opted out of dry cabins for now). We will let you know once we have finalized our jobs and are moving in.

The people here are nice. I keep having my thoughts answered out loud. I will wonder out loud what the time is and someone will tell me. Or I was trying to find a class, and the classroom doors went from 303, 304, 306,... and of course I was to be in the hidden 305. So as I stand there staring at the wall that should be 305 hoping that it will magically part or the door appear, I ask myself "where is 305." And I hear a peer lead me to a reclusive hall with the one classroom with out any further prompting.

Not everything here is perfect, people tend to be very stingy and want to milk money out of everything they can. And that includes toilet paper. I have never before realized how much of a toilet paper snob I have become.

The Road Goes Ever On And On

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet.

And whither then? I cannot say.

Yes I know I've quoted The Lord of the Rings Walking Song before, but it is simply so great and fits my adventures so well.

We have moved to ALASKA!



And the packing took forever! We brought with us what we could fit on the plane with in total has been two backpacks, two carry-ons, and three checked-bags. While packing I slashed my finger when I was moving too quickly and forgot myself in space. Who thought packing could be so dangerous.









Possibly the best moment was when Gordon held up a lace piece that I use when shirts are too low, but I don't want to wear a full tank underneath, and declared it "a perfect loin cloth."

I Almost Died.

I could not look at him for hours afterward without picturing him wearing that little thing as a loin cloth doing some Tarzan moves through the jungle.

I am sorry I had to put that picture in your mind. I hope it does not haunt you permanently.

The plane trip was rather..shall I say interesting? or rather somewhat stressful in a confusing way. Our flight out of Madison was cancelled due to weather, so they rescheduled us onto a later flight. Which barely gave us enough time to connect with our next flight. That turned out not to be an issue for our next flight from Chicago to Anchorage was late arriving for us to board by a good half an hour. We we left 45 min after it was scheduled to do so. We arrived in Anchorage long after our flight to Fairbanks had left so they put us on the last flight to Fairbanks happening later that night. We finally got to Fairbanks at 12:30 am local time which was 3:30 am central time. We were very tired. But Gordon took a picture of a huge polar bear and I standing in the airport.

We have been staying these past few nights with a member of the LDS ward as we have been finalizing details with our new home. They have been very kind and generous to us.

After Christmas Party

There is supposed to be a video right here that has several members of my family dancing to wii dance. And I almost burst my gut laughing. Unfortunately for me, but very fortunately for them, the video does not want to be loaded currently, and I want to post this so I can post other things

We had a fairly bad storm come through Madison right after Christmas and we had frost growing under our front door. I had never seen that one before. This picture is with the front door open looking at the door frame.

For Christmas I gave my brothers some paint and told them after Christmas I would paint their room for them. They kept with a jungle-like theme and this is how the painted ended up. I only did an accent wall and the wall by the door. It is rather like I made a sponge mural on a green base coat. I really do like how it turned out. My brothers say they like it too.

Dry Cabins In Our Future

We are moving to Fairbanks Alaska to live in a dry cabin while we further our education. We will be furthering our education in more than one way by living in these dry cabins- because of the frozen nature of the ground pipelines are nearly impossible to maintain, so some places just avoid the whole problem all together and live in a home without running water. It's not too big of a deal, we will tote our water in and throw out that used gray water. It will be interesting when it comes to things like cleaning the house, dishes and ourselves. It also requires the need for an outhouse. Outside-Bathroom In-The-Freezing-Cold-Of-Alaska. Luckily we are not the first to do this, nor that last. We've been informed it is fairly popular and not to hazardous. 

We have learned tons from reading blogs like these http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/cabin-living-grid-frigid-alaska-labor-love
Which talk about living in these dry cabins firsthand. And gives perspectives that allows us to further learn to expect as our new norm.

We haven't even moved in yet and we are being educated on things we didn't even stop to think about. Water wagons and where to put our garbage. We had to ask our landlord if we needed to add dirt/wood chips to help the outhouse decompose. How much of my life have I taken for grated that I can put trash at the curb and it will magically be taken away no longer my problem? How often have I had to live in a home without plumbing - about 5 hours while our piping to a  bathroom was installed. And I was at school almost that entire time.
I do remember a time when our water heater broke for a few days and we either had to heat water on the stove for bathing, or we just did it cold. But even then I didn't worry about using a full gallon of water just to clean my hair.

This entire adventure is a perspective changer.

Because we will be arriving by airplane, we wont have a car or any furniture, or anything bulky at all. Every thing we are being this life with is being put in two backpack, two carry-on, and four checked backs weighing under 50 lbs. each. Luckily between my husband and I we are resourceful and minimalists. Although it was strange realizing my entire shoe collection was going down to a pair of boots, flats, walking shoes and snow boots. And even then I feel spoiled now. 

The worst thing to leave behind are my books. I am a devout reader. And so is my husband we are bringing some books for the flight - like Lord of The Rings, luckily I have all the books in one - it truly hurts to leave the rest. 

We will arrive without blankets, pillows, a bed, any furnishings or decorations, we are starting almost completely new. And completely downsizing, which is hard to believe from an already small apartment.

And why are we doing this? The adventure, the new life, the excitement, the new people and places and for the school, and for the cost.

Christmas Holiday

We returned to my parent's home for the holidays. We had a very lovely Christmas. Gordon and I got each other warm clothing for this winter (really sappy huh) My brother Terrill gave us a binder of family recipes. Alecia gave us an ornament for our first Christmas (pictures below). We also got some cool Lego and Hotwheels cars from Santa.

On the Friday after Christmas my family and I went down to the Chicago Illinois Latter-Day Saint Temple. We had a very enjoyable time there. It was a very beautiful day, with the exception of the fog when we drove down, luckily my father is a very expert driver and navigated us safely.

We had a little open house for both the married couple and for Crissa's homecoming. It was very fun, and delicious, there was a lot of really good food. Here is a pic of the food table. Try not to drool on your keyboard :p

I married such a handsome guy! So we took some pics while we waited for guests to arrive. Gordon has been growing his beard out for Alaska. He keeps it well trimmed so I don't mind it.

 I should also mention I married a very funny guy. I find it hard not to split my gut laughing.

My brothers have been making snowmen for the past couple of years. This year's snowman is 7 ft 10 in. With the hat he's 8 ft 3 in. The 2012 Snowman was 9 ft 9 in.

2013

2012