The pumpkin didn't make it....

Nope - from all appearances, juvenile delinquents carried it along our sidewalk and then smashed it in front of our terrace wall. Robert cleaned it up and placed the broken halves strategically in our front flower bed and we are now calling it compost.

I'm beginning to think pumpkin may only be an emergency ration for moose as I found tracks in our yard this morning. (Very easy to see the big indentions on the frozen tundra.) I didn't follow them around to see if they waltzed by the buffet but the compost hasn't moved.

We used our 4-wheel drive yesterday to go play in the snow. The roads climbing the mountain were a little slick and no less than six cars were in the ditch because either they weren't properly equipped for the conditions or they forgot how to drive over the summer. A tow truck could make a mint there. Most were trying to use ratchet tie downs and trees to get them out. Very dangerous - but not a dangerous as the kids snowboarding down the road itself.

Once again, Squirt had a blast even when we were walking through the heavy snow storm to the pass. We saw two moose and what seemed like 50,000 cross country skiers.

Feeding rules

I am not sure if I have mentioned in the past there is actually one downside to living in the city of Anchorage - in the great state of Alaska.

You can’t feed the wildlife.

It is against the law.

There are special rules about trash, fines if bears are caught eating your trash, etc., etc. And you don’t what to dangle carrots for moose and then run into your kitchen when you run out as the moose might follow you into the kitchen – not understanding the whole “moose don’t belong in houses” rule.

However, you can set pumpkins out for Halloween decorations.

See this example (or if Alaska Daily News changed their naming convention), this example.

Ours has been out since October 1.

:)

Slogging through the snow....

How time makes you forget as in I had forgotten how much “fun” (translation – “work”) it is to go for a walk when as little as 6 inches of snow exists on the path.

Yesterday evening, we bundled up (i.e., big coats, boots, hats, gloves), dug out Squirt’s snow booties and headed to Powerline pass. We found a few cross country skiers, fewer hikers, and one redneck spinning in circles (in his truck) around the snow covered parking lot. (We parked on the other side of the lot with several cars between us.)

Once we got Squirt’s boots on (a two person job unless there is an emergency and only one is available), we headed off down the path. It was so quiet, peaceful and incredibly pretty. The pine branches drooping with fresh, new snow and most of the leaves gone off of the other trees along with the tall grasses dying off. This means there is scenery when walking along the initial path now. Denali and Foreaker were in prime viewing mode with just a hint of pink on their faces from the sunset.

Squirt had a ball. He was in sled dog mode, running full tilt to the end of his leash, attempting to pull me over, then turning around with a look on his face saying, “what’s the problem – why are you going so slow?” He loves the cooler weather and hopping around in the white stuff. Upon returning to the car, he had a belly and face full of snow balls. He slept rather soundly last night.

We saw no animals other than a magpie and a couple of dogs. Moose and sheep were well tucked away. OK – I have no idea if the sheep were out or not – white sheep – white snow – I won’t see them again until next summer.

What a difference a year makes...

Last year as we were rolling rapidly into colder temperatures, ice and snow, I remember how cold I was and how I always bundled and wore my heavy winter wear for anything below 40. The last two days, we have been working outside in 34 degree weather and I was in a sweat shirt and jeans. I haven't dug out my winter boots yet and don't know where my heavy gloves are. We have gone to work a couple of days in 17 degree weather. OK - I did wear my light gloves those mornings.

It is still amazing how much the sun moves in the sky over the course of a year. Once again, it rises and sets in our southeast and southwest windows at about 8:45 am and 6:30pm. Only 67 days until the shortest day of the year - then the sun comes back. Robert is not looking forward to all of the darkness this year. I am not too worried about it. We have scheduled vacations in lighter locations! :)

I am looking forward to daylight today. It has rained steadily at our house for 12 hours now. That means higher up the mountain, they had snow. I can't wait to see how much!

Winter is here!

So much for that last 1100 ft for the snow to come down the mountain.

Our ground is white this morning!

Glad we put the studded tires on last weekend!

First Freeze....First Snow....New Toys!

Yes...I have closed all of the windows. Tuesday morning, it was 28 degrees at our house and last night when we went for a ride, we saw the first patches of snow at about 1900 ft in elevation. Luckily, I think our house is sitting around 800 ft. We still have 1100 ft before it gets here. (Our first snow showers are scheduled for Sunday (tomorrow).) The sun rises about 8:30am now.

We saw a Bullwinkle last night. The first thing Robert said as we were sitting in our car watching him was, "He's legal to shoot". Just goes to show how perspectives change.

I finally remembered to have the pictures downloaded from the camera. Voila....our new toys and where we have gone to ride!

Parking Lot at King's River
A day looking at views like this even bouncing around on the back of an ATV is pretty nice!
Clean up - woof did we have a lot of mud. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of water pressure so this takes a while.
On a different note - our apple crop this year. We have 1.5 gallons of applesauce in the freezer for the winter! I have cooked more since moving here than I have in years. Who would have thought??