March Bites Back

Yes - I love March. It's bright, close to summer, yadda, yadda, yadda. However - I'm no dummy. I know it doesn't mean winter is totally over. It doesn't mean the end of snow. Yes - the 's' word. Snow: pretty, fluffy, bright. Snow: Silent, sneaky....

Snow doesn't let you know it's falling during the night. Nope - all of that frozen precipitation falls silently to the ground - I think it appreciates the surprise factor. Now - I do like surprises. But not on mornings when I have to be at soccer practice by 8am. You know it's bad when you wake up and it seems like everyone in the neighborhood is snow-blowing their driveways before 6:45am. Opening the garage door to a wall of snow = Not a good sign.

Fortunately we have a steep driveway, so getting down to the street was no biggie - gravity works. Of course - this incline totally works against you when you come home. Normally our good ole Subaru can handle anything - even without studded tires; it's that good of a vehicle. But not today. Upon returning home from soccer practice, after several failed attempts - I had to "park" (if that's what you call it) the Sube at the bottom of our driveway. Sorry kids - no time for lunch yet - we get to dig out the driveway & the car. We were in for a long afternoon.

Have I mentioned our driveway is steep? And rather long? Oh - and that hubby is in sunny San Diego right now? And perhaps that I'm having my torn meniscus repaired on Thursday, so my left knee is not at 100%? No worries - I just sucked it up, put on the snow bibs & boots & went to work. Of course, while I was digging at the top of the driveway, our neighbor across the street was merrily snow-blowing her nice, flat driveway. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a few choice thoughts for her, or that running to Sears or Home Depot & laying down the cash for a snow-blower of our own didn't enter my mind.

Then, the heavens opened & the choirs of angels began to sing. As I was hauling off the snow - up the street comes my new knight in shining armor - or at least my knight in Carharts with his trusty heavy-duty snow blower. One of our neighbors noticed the 3 of us (shoveling is a family affair around here) shoveling & digging out the car. He asked if I "minded" if he took a few passes at our driveway with his machine. Did I mind? Heck no! I'd say he spent about 15 - 20 minutes clearing the snow & helping me get the car up the driveway & safely into the garage. What a nice, neighborly thing to do. I'd like to think that if we ever invest in a snow-blower of our own, that we'd do the same for others.


Here are the thank-you cookies. Yes - March is nice. But having kind, thoughtful neighbors is even nicer. Well - given the conditions of the roads, I guess errands will have to wait; seems like a good excuse to get some more spring break knitting done.

~Ciao!

Did I oversleep?

Okay - please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it APRIL???? Did I sleep through the summer (and if I did - was it fun? Are we totally broke from spending all of our money on gas? Were the RUSH concerts fun? How about the family reunion in Wisconsin - how'd that go?) The reason I ask is that Anchorage & the surroundings have received over a foot of new snow over the past few days? I mean "WTF?!?" - (For those who don't know that totally means "Why, That's Fantastic!")

I knew we were premature in thinking spring had actually arrived in Anchorage. All throughout March I kept thinking, even as the ice was melting and the grass was emerging "just wait - more is on the way." It never fails; Ma nature lures us into a false sense of security thinking it's safe to put away the parkas, take the studded tires off the vehicles, and time to rake the lawn. - Then WHAMO! Sometime in the middle of March we're hit with a late season snowstorm that blankets Anchorage. Never fails. Until this year - Anchorage residents were believing more and more that yes, Global Warming is real. Snow was melting - lawns were visible and we were thinking that in no time - we'd be able to have soccer games outside - as they were intended.

Not so fast.... Saturday morning, April 5th, the weather forecast in the paper predicted 3 - 6 inches of snow. Yeah, right. But - lo' and behold, the snow was falling & sho' nuff - we had an accumulation around 6 inches. But.... the sun started to peek from around the clouds and the mercury was on the rise. The snow left behind after my shovel job quickly melted away - streets were clear and dry by the evening. Okay - just a little last minute hic-cup. I can live with that.

Well - Mother Nature wasn't through yet; spring forward to this morning, April 9th when my father calls at 6:15am. He was supposed to come into Anchorage (he lives about 45 minutes North) to pick up something from me at school. He'd call to say he wasn't going to come in because he'd heard Anchorage was expecting 6 - 12 more inches of snow! What?!? As I looked out the window, I thought he was smokin' crack since there was nary a snowflake to be seen falling from the sky. That didn't last for long. As my husband was headed out the door, he came in to tell me that yes - the weather forecasters were right - snow was falling and with a vengeance.

Roads were slicker than snot & it took me over an hour to take the boys to school & then get to work. Along the way there were several ditch divers and scores of cars fish tailing as they turning. Due to the hazardous road conditions - all after school activities were cancelled & outdoor soccer games are cancelled until Monday. Arghhhh

Please wake me when it's spring....

PS - The few nice things about the snow are everything is very clean looking and I feel a renewed need to knit. I'm past the heel of my Jacobean toe-up socks - more to report later... (including pictures - I just needed to vent...)

Finally!

Finally - it's snowing! You'd figure that living in Alaska we'd be inundated with snow by now. Yeah - this year - not so much. In fact the temps have been above average for the past week (meaning above freezing) which also means - no snow. When there is no snow in November - it's dark. Dark is dreary. Dark is no fun. Winter in Alaska is no fun without snow. Snow is fun. We like snow. Okay - I'm writing like a 2nd grader now. Geez -

The topic of today's post was going to be "Where the heck is the frickin' snow?" I guess that had to change. However - I won't hold my breath - the temps could shift & then all the glorious whiteness will melt away. *Sigh*

This is the backyard. Unfortunately my little camera won't actually capture the small flakes of snow drifting to the ground. Look carefully & you can see the grass (green!) slowly disappearing under the soft snow.

So - what to do on a lazy Saturday? Should I tackle this:

(a box full of chemistry lab notebooks & papers)? Or this:

Yeah - that's what I'd choose too.

Happy Saturday ~ Ciao

It's Official...

Winter has arrived in Alaska! I awoke this morning with plans to ride my bike downtown for breakfast with friends. My plans were quickly brought to a halt when I opened our front door and was greeted with a fresh blanket of snow. Yup - as Holly Jo mentioned, winter would not wait until after Halloween. We'd better choose costumes very carefully this year.

So.. for fear the bike trails would be too icy, I opted to car pool with my friend & bike next spring. It turns out that our side of town was really the only area to receive some of the fluffy stuff. As I approached my friend's house, who lives only 10 minutes away, it was like driving from one season into another. No snow was in her yard. Weird how weather patterns can be so different within the same city.

New snow also means searching the crawl space for boots, mittens, snowsuits and praying they'll last another season. Fortunately - it looks as if last years' duds will work for now. I have a sneaking suspicion I'll have to restock mid-winter, but if we're set for now, that's all I'm concerned about.
Gotta love being able to make the first snow angels of the season on October 7th! You can see the snow isn't that deep & with the sun peeking out as I type, I doubt this first snow fall will last for very long. Wow - the temp has soared to 35.2°F! Break out the shorts!
The onset of winter provides great incentive to knit, knit, knit. I'm almost finished with my monkey socks for MSS3. I'm using Sockotta yarn - a cotton/wool/nylon blend. I'm not too crazy about it, but hope my pal likes the socks as she lives in warmer climes. The colors are fabulous, but the feel while knitting leaves me a bit luke warm. I'm also working on a pair of socks with the Penllyn pattern for Maggie. I'm a sucker for a good cause. Hopefully the socks will bring her much needed healing powers. I've also joined the Knitters' Coffee Swap 3 - another great combo for cool Alaskan winters. If you love the combination of coffee & knitting - pop on over, I think there are a few spots left in the swap. I love getting up in the morning, having a fresh cup of coffee while lounging around and knitting. I think I enjoy it so much since the rest of the mornings during the week is spent getting ready for and thinking about school. It's great to have the mental break.

Well - knitting (and laundry, and grading) are calling.

Ciao~