Foggy again this morning in the Anchorage bowl. I believe the high today was 23 but the sun did come out which makes it a perfectly clear evening. I took Squirt on a walk to get the mail BEFORE checking the temperature as I wouldn't have gone if I had known it was 13 degrees at the time. Supposed to have a nice 20 mph wind tonight also. 8 hours and 25 minutes of sunlight today. I think we have to lose about 4 more hours before the end of December.
One thing I have noticed since moving here is the moon appears so very clear and huge compared to other locations we have lived. When you can see it, the moon is just beautiful. When I am more used to the cold - I'll take a picture.
Now where was I.... Oh yes - we are home!
Our new house is totally empty. It echoes when you speak. There is a big hole where the refrigerator is supposed to reside and the laundry room looks somewhat empty. Squirt rather likes it as there is no pesky furniture to get in the way when he runs around.
We have been here an hour and we need to go shopping for a few necessities like toilet paper, soap and paper towels. Do we want an air mattress or just use the camping gear to sleep on. It's only two (?) weeks, we can tough it out. (Yes, we had camping gear as we went camping and sea kayaking the weekend before our house hunting trip - come on - who can pass that up!)
Off to the store to check out how it compares with stores in Houston. (Smaller, more expensive - seems to be a trend here.) Finding paper goods, coffee, a coffee pot and some cleaning supplies (although thinking back I am not certain why cleaning supplies were important since there was nothing to clean yet). We pass by the air mattresses.
The massive breakfast we ate in Tok has worn off and we are hungry. Since we can't cook anything - the skies the limit. (Sad to say I don't remember where we ate the first night.) Dinner is over and time to head back to our home and take Squirt for a walk around the neighborhood. Temperatures are in the upper 60s and it stays light until about 9:30pm, the scenery is wonderful. I am really glad we moved here.
Arriving back at the house, we realize there is nothing to do. No TV. No computers. No stereo. No furniture except the one uncomfortable camping chair we can fight over. Luckily we have books to read which keeps us busy for about an hour. Just after my head hits the hardwood floor I realize it's time to go to the sleeping bag.
Now, when I was about 8 years old, sleeping in a sleeping bag was about the coolest thing ever. Once you hit middle age, it's ok when you are camping on rocks, but not so much on a hardwood floor. Bright and early Saturday morning - "Let's go to the store." I just hope the store is open.
Two hours later, the air mattress is up and the bed is made. OK - now what are we going to do. Ah....Let's go shopping - we NEED more stuff. We have a mission.
Every house we looked had a mud room where you take off and store your shoes. People don't wear shoes in living areas here. (Our only guess is because of the tar driveways and the wet shoes from snow.) We need mud room benches to sit on, a coat rack, dish racks and steps. This should keep us busy for a couple of hours.
Steps? Our house has a huge (thank goodness) crawlspace and the entrance is about 3.5 feet above the floor of the garage. It is rather amusing to watch each other climb in and out.
Benches and coat racks are no problem. We even find Christmas presents on the same trip to ship to the lower 48 later. FYI - you can not find pre-fabricated steps in Anchorage. I guess that's because you don't find many mobile homes here? I don't think they hold up well in the cold? Pure speculation on that one. And the dish racks....none in town like I have to have. Guess I will order those on the internet - a pattern we learn to repeat. (Remember - for the most part everything is shipped here except seafood.)
Saturday night arrives and it was wonderful sleeping on the air mattress. OK - maybe not wonderful but it was lots better than the hardwood and sleeping bags. Money well invested. I am really glad my niece and her husband gave us those business coffee mugs or we wouldn't have coffee cups!
Sunday - once again - up dark and early. I am still not adjusted to the new time zone. Time to go for a walk. It's dark. We don't know the area. There is a greenbelt right by our house which is a little wooded. Better take the bear spray. The walk is pleasant and there are no wildlife encounters. We are back home, reading the paper on the floor and wondering what we are going to go today. Whatever it is, it will involve shopping. I can't wait for Monday to get here so I can go to work and sit in a chair.
Wednesday is a banner day. Our refrigerator arrives. We can cool our water off to 37 degrees instead of 42 degrees just putting it the back porch. We can also pick some raspberries from our bushes...nah. Water is good enough for now. Plus the internet and cable hook up guys come today. (Of course we had to buy a TV for them to come and hook it up.) Now we can fight over the camping chair and watch TV at night.
The next couple of weeks follow in the same vein. It gets old eating out all of the time - even if you take it home. I am looking forward to receiving our stuff. When will it arrive!
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