neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet........

What a week!! We went from minus 25 to 45 above in a few short days. After a great time last weekend trying out my new bionic arm snowmachinging, a weather system that was SUPPOSED to bring us another great foot of snow (added to the couple feet we already had) split and up came the Pineapple Express. Honestly? The hour and a half drive into Anchorage last night for the awesome Hattenburg, Dilley and Linnell Christmas Party that overlooked Anchorage and Cook’s Inlet was THE most frightening drive I think I’ve been on in the last 10 years! We counted 20 dtiched cars and one car even accordianed a State Trooper’s rig. The winds were clocked at over 120 miles/hour on the Hillside, and the rain, sleet and combo snow, depending on what minute it was, made the roads unbelievable.
While we were enjoying the fellowship and fun, (Bill ended up with an Elf’s Christmas Hat that when you press it, lights on it blink off and on and it sings Christmas Carols – MUCH better than the toilet seat or Big Foot Slippers!) the roads cleared…….once home though, the winds howled and blew part of the chimney cap off. The winds then whipped down the chimney, blowing the smoke back through the intake and into the house…….AUGH!!  Definitely one of the days I am sooooo blessed to have a husband who knows how to ‘fix’ EVERYTHING……he stayed up most of the night, but can’t get up on the roof until the winds die down. As long as we keep the wood stove going hot, we’re fine – and with SPRING temperatures, we were lucky to be able to open the windows all up to air the house out….
Life in Alaska – NEVER a dull moment!! But you Lower 48’ers? You can keep your hot air – just send us back our COLD air masses!!  (The weather folks say teens and twenties by tomorrow…..and you believe in the tooth fairy, too?!)