a winter's day

Our home.




One of my loyal friends.

Juneau is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful places in the world, but never more than when the sun is out. Sadly, we don't see the sun often enough.... Lack of sunshine and long nights can cause severe cabin fever in the winter time as we long for more day light hours and more sunshine. Lack of sunshine depreciates our vitamin D and we get so pale looking. Mostly, when the sun shines through the windows and rays stop long enough on a table top, lamp shade, or a portion of the floor.... the first thing you notice is the dust and dirt and dog hair that has been hidden for so very long in the darkness! Talk about ruining a good thing!


Too much snow.

But today was one of those beautiful sunny days that filled us with hope and renewed our spirit. It was a good day! Never mind it was minus 10 degrees when we woke up this morning. That would be -10 like in below zero. Minus 10.... Now we're in for more harsh weather.


Out the road.


The national weather service says we have a winter storm coming our way. Tonight will bring minus temps again and "gusts" to 65 mph.... That would bring the wind chill factor to -35. Brrrr. Tomorrow we're supposed to get more snow; a total accumulation of 14-24 inches. Tomorrow will be a heavy day of shoveling.
A winter storm a brewin.


A beautiful sunset.

These are some pictures of Juneau; not necessarily this year. Just pictures that fairly represent the good, the bad, and the ugly of Juneau. Enjoy!




Our airport area. Much of our commute to and from remote villages are done by float planes.


A rainy day in Juneau.

you know you live in a small town when....

I know this is my second post today, but as I'm sitting here listening to the radio, and laughing, I just had to make another entry. I wasn't actually listening to the radio but was on hold with the car dealer and the "music" was our local radio station. Problem Corner on KINY.

You know you live in a small town when your daily call in program is to sell and buy and trade and barter or just to visit! "This is Phyllis (the Alaskan Native says)..... and I'd like to wish my sister Harriett and her husband Tom Feller happy second anniversary....." Or Henry who has an 1985 vehicle for sale, cheap.... Or Marge who's just lonely and wants to chat for awhile. Maybe you're looking for some seal oil.... or mukluks.... or canning jars.... or instructions on how to knit socks.... This is THE place to shop!

KINY radio is a main source of communication between all the small villages and towns in Southeast Alaska. Natives living in Angoon will call Problem Corner (in Juneau), asking that their son call them. They're regulars. The DJ doesn't need to ask names or phone numbers. He has it all memorized from talking to these people day after day after day.

And if you're a day laborer, you can call Problem Corner looking for work. Have shovel will travel! If you need someone to come shovel snow, this is the means you would use in Juneau. If you have something to sell, or just want to sit and visit, just pick up the phone. If you have a political view .... just call KINY and let us all know what it is.

When I moved here in 1971, I didn't miss a day of Problem Corner. It felt like a piece of home. Families calling and talking about what's going on in their homes that day or relaying messages to other families in Southeast Alaska. But 30 some years later, you'd think we would have moved out of this simple, back road means of communication, bartering, visiting, and keeping in touch. But we haven't. Every day you can visit and chat with Dennis Egan from 10:15 until noon. He's your family.

We don't listen to KINY so much anymore. I guess I outgrew it.... but every now and then I turn the radio on it takes me back home 30 years ago. It's good that some things never change.

yep....

it's still winter....



We're expecting another foot of snow by tonight.... We got well over a foot of the white stuff yesterday.... It's beginning to look a lot like last year.... Here's some snow pictures for those of you who have to dream about snow :)

(By the way, this mountain with sledders is no mountain. It's a heap of snow! We still had some this Fall.... this is the beginning of a new glacier!)

follow up

I was caught off guard yesterday when my little grandbaby came with his momma. My blog post got stopped quick as a wink and I hit that publish button so quickly I didn't even have time to do spell check! Usually I go back and fix some of my ramblings and make sure all the spacing is good, but not yesterday. I had more important things on my mind for sure. We even got to watch him for a bit while his momma went grocery shopping! He was sleeping when he got here but I managed to wake him up in the tradeoff.... oops.... When Hunter arrives, he has a habit of staring at you for the longest time, an intense stare, and then he recognizes me and coos and smiles. I know you! he says. Just way too cute.

It's still snowing.... We're supposed to get another 8-18" by tomorrow. January snow was below normal with only 23" accumulating. I guess I'm surprised it was even that much.


I bought the cutest little towels from Shabby In The City yesterday. I love shopping on-line! It's such a perfect marriage for people like us that live a somewhat secluded life with limited shopping options. They're made from a vintage embroidered table scarf....two hand towels with a pretty crochet border. Only $7. I can hardly wait to get them. You have to be johnny on the spot though with some of these blogs shops though because items go so quickly. Too, because of our time difference in Alaska and most of ya'll (four hours behind you), it could be practically noon before I get around to shopping.

Anyway, I love the little flowers and can hardly wait to see them in real.

I've also been doing some on-line shopping for the baby shower. I talked a bit about my favorite little grandbaby yesterday but neglected to mention my most favorite little granddaughter is still on the way. A granddaughter! Oh, the fun we're going to have! So I'm planning my daughter's baby shower, with the help of her best friends Jerusalem and Tanya who have access to more resources than I do. The color theme is pink and brown polka dots! It's going to be so cute! But since it's going to be a couple's shower, I had to think of a theme that wasn't too cutsey and girlie, yet sophisticated and fun for Tracy, with a hint of masculinity in it for Adam and his friends. A huge order! April 5, 1:00 p.m. if you're in the neighborhood :)

Tomorrow is Super Bowl and although I am so not a football fan, I do love the food! For my famnily it's all about the food! We usually invite some friends over but everyone's sick this year and I really don't want them here if they're sick because my grandbaby may be here. Too, I may not have time to visit with them if my grandbaby is here.... So we'll have plenty of food and if anyone shows up, I'll be covered.

Have a good weekend!

it's still winter

Yep, it's still winter here.... in case you were wondering.... You wouldn't know it though if you lived down south. Many people don't even know Alaska is part of the United States! How sad is that? And too many people see the two letter state abbrebiation AK and think Arkansas!


We find it interesting when we watch the morning news (national) that other states can have blizzards and zero degree weather and 10" of snow and gusts to 55 mph, and it's always recognized on the national news as NEWS! Chicago is buried today with 10" of snow. A train was tipped over yesterday due to high winds. But you never heard about all our container vans that were blown over due to high winds this week. Yes! Shipping containers weighing 11,000 pounds were knocked over like dominoes! Or that we've had temps dipping to -9 at night with wind chill factors of -35 for most of the week. Last year we had record snow fall well over 200". Never heard a peep about it on the news.... I wonder why Alaska isn't recognized as being newsworthy....

Here's the week in review at our household:


Blue Jays versus the Yellow Bird....
Bird DOG that is.... I've noticed ears of dry corn laying about in our back yard lately and just thought the Blue Jays had carted it off. I keep a plant stand up on my outdoor table filled with dried corn on the cob for my Blue Jays to enjoy during the winter months. It stays out of the weather pretty much because there's a second story deck overhead that protects it. It's an easy place for the birds to get a little snack. But our little Sadie Girl has figured out that somehow this is food meant for her and she wants her share as well. A picture is worth a thousands words. Do I need say more?


Grandbaby turns 2 months!
My most favorite little grandson turns 2 months today! Okay, so he's my only grandbaby so far. But two months, already! How time flies. He is just so adorable, I can hardly stand it. I get to visit with him at least once a week and we're developing a good rapport with each other. He's already indicated that I could just possibly be his most favorite grandma (out of three of us) and he likes coming here to visit me best of all. :)

Personally, I think he's already advanced for his age..... But I could be just a tad prejudice.

And, yes, it's still winter.... The temps have been to near zero or below for several days. We're having a heat wave today as it's almost 20 degrees outside. It's been snowing all day and we've accumulated about 6" of very light, fluffy snow. You don't need a snow shovel for this though, all you need to do is blow and it flies away!


Despite winter conditions, I've got a few Valentine decorations up, although I don't do much in the way of decorating for this holiday. I love little splashes of red here and there and especially chocolates wrapped in red celephane! Or just chocolate. I love chocolate. I got like 12 boxes of chocolate covered cherries (CCC) for Christmas this year. Did I tell you that? My family all know how much I love them, but 12 boxes....? I may still have some come next Christmas! I've tried buying other variety of candy since Christmas and my husband not-so-politely reminds me I have candy at home.... I have to tell him that one cannot live on CCC alone; variety IS the spice of life! And I do love variety! I hinted that I expected a box of chocolates for Valentines Day, but we'll see. Some times he's not so good at picking up on hints....

And speaking of my grandbaby, he just arrived so I'm signing off! I have a sweet little thing to hold!

winter....

...HEAVY SNOW WARNING HAS EXPIRED
......WIND ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM AST SUNDAY...


TODAY...CLOUDY. SNOW IN THE MORNING...THEN A CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW. LOCALLY VERY WINDY. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO 1 INCH. TEMPERATURES FALLING INTO THE LOWER 20S IN THE AFTERNOON. NORTH WIND TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 55 MPH...STRONGEST IN EXPOSED AREAS AND NEAR DOWNTOWN JUNEAU..

TONIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. A 20 PERCENT CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS IN THE EVENING FAR SOUTH PART. AREAS OF BLOWING SNOW. LOCALLY VERY WINDY. LOWS 3 TO 9. NORTH WIND TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 55 MPH IN EXPOSED AREAS...BECOMING NORTHEAST LATE. WIND CHILL TO 20 BELOW.


It's been a funny winter for us. Not too cold. Not too much snow. But it's been consistent with snow, wind, rain, and cold temps. We received about 10" of snow yesterday and everything is pretty today. Tonight it's supposed to get down to 3-9 degrees with "gusts" to 55 mph. This would make the wind chill factor -20, or 20 below 0. Brrrrrrr!

But Alaskans, we're tough! We just put on an extra layer of clothes and grab the wool socks, bundle up, and head out the door as planned. Inclement weather doesn't stop us from doing much of anything. We still run our errands, go for our rides. The outdoor enthusiasts are thrilled more than ever. We even know how to drive in more than an inch of snow!


I love sitting, looking out my window at the snow and I even don't mind shoveling it. These pictures were taken early this morning when it was still still a little dark out. It's so calm right now. No matter which window you look out of, it greets with you serenity and calmness. Hardly a bird is fluttering about. They're all home, tucked safely in their cozy nests, waiting for the snow to fall off the tree boughs. Chippy, well, I don't see Chippy when there's this much snow on the trees. But not to worry. He won't go hungry. He's been busy squirreling away peanuts all summer long. In fact, my husband found a bucket half-full of peanuts in our shed! I told him just to leave them there until spring.


Moving out of Juneau is constantly on our minds but then I think about our weather versus your weather, and it doesn't seem so bad here. Yes, last year we had over 200" of snow and it was a horrible horrible winter for our bodies, minds, and souls. We can also get minus temperatures but not too often. We get an occasional minor earthquake and have even had thunderstorms half a dozen times in my 30 plus years living here. But we don't have hurricanes or tonadoes or ice storms. We don't have the flooding or mud slides like you do down south. Our weather here is pretty consistent: a lot of rain and winter conditions we can live with. We don't have natural disasters. So for now, I guess we'll stay.

new reading

Bought a couple new books today.... I need more books like I need a hole in the head! But next to dogs, books are my next weakness. Okay, chocolate is in there somewhere, but books, definitely, find their way into this house way too easily.

A trip to Costco today found the Barefoot Contessa's Family Style cookbook in my cart. I have most all her others and they're some of my most favorite recipes. They're simple to make and oh, so good. Tonight we're having prime rib and I thought I'd try her Parmesan Roasted Asparagus to go with it. Here's the recipe:


Parmesan Roasted Asparagus

asparagus, about 30 stalks
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 lemons cut in wedges, for serving

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If the stalks of the asparagus are thick, peel the bottom half of each. Lay them in a single layer on a sheet pan and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 15-20 minutes until tender. Sprinkle with the Parmesan and return to the oven for another minute. Serve with lemon wedges.


This will be a perfect accompaniment with prime rib and oven roasted french fries!

The other book that found its way into the cart was Elizabeth Gilbert's eat pray love. The back cover says, "In her early thirties, Elizabeth Gilbert had everything a modern American woman was supposed to want--husband, country home, successful career--but instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she felt consumed by panic and confusion." This is "One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia." This book requires a good cup of tea and a soft, comfy chair. I think I'll start this book first.

Thanks for stopping by today. Hope you had a good day!