April 25, 2008
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We didn’t need this.
We got it anyway. For a while, it didn’t know if it wanted to rain or snow, then it finally settled on snow and the snow started settling on everything.
When I captured these images earlier today, there were a couple of inches of new snow. Just before I sat down here to upload them, the new accumulation had more than doubled. It looks like 5 or 6 inches now, on my “snow gauge,” the tops of the posts in the yard.
Doug had thoughtfully placed the firewood you can see in the top image a few days ago so we could get out the driveway without getting our feet wet. I hadn’t stepped on them until today. I discovered that two of them rock underfoot. I made it from one to the other, then that one dumped me into the slush.
When I got out to the road, I took this shot, then used my shirttail to dry the cylinder that extends the lens from the camera, so it wouldn’t carry the moisture back into the camera body when I turned it off. Then I shut it down, capped the lens, and didn’t bother trying to use the steplogs, just slogged through the slush.
I turned around when I got past the low spot, turned the camera back on, and got this shot of my tracks, then dried it off again, capped it, and came back inside. I now get all the snow I need, looking out the window.
I have had way too little time at the computer lately. I have to work around Doug’s schedule on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. This Tuesday, Greyfox was here bringing groceries, books, videos and stuff, and he was at the computer practically all the time he was here. I cooked and served him two meals at the keyboard, and Doug and I watched a rented DVD he’d brought for us, while he did his moderating thing at totse.
His supply runs are more pleasant for everyone now that the days are longer. In winter, not only are the water runs uncomfortable bordering on hazardous due to the cold, but he has less time to spend here before he needs to leave to head back to town. His night vision isn’t very good, so he tries to get stuff done during daylight.
We had been completely out of water, so he and Doug made 5 trips to the spring with all the jugs he can get into the available space in his Mazda MPV, and filled every bucket and jug we have. When I’m able to get my wagon out again, Doug and I will be able to do it all in one trip.
Doug and I think the runt kitten, PK, is at least partially deaf. Sometimes she seems to respond to another kitten’s high pitched cries, but she doesn’t respond to her mother’s call to nurse, or to Doug’s voice or mine. This helps explain her bony condition. She is able now to eat kibble, and spends time in their food dish while the other kittens nurse.
She continues to seek warmth by cuddling up to the woodstove or the dog. I suppose part of that is because she is so much smaller than her siblings that she can’t really compete for space with her mom. Koji, of course, is afraid of the kittens because their mother jumps him if they get close to him. PK waits until he’s asleep, then curls up next to him.
Despite limited hours at this keyboard, I have managed almost every day to spend an hour to two hours, in my KaiOaty guise, on the Xanga Welcome Wagon. I now have over 30,000 Xanga credits toward the 100,000 I need to buy Lifetime Premium for… for I really haven’t decided yet which site will get it. SuSu has Lifetime, and so do KaiOaty and ArmsMerchant. I might end up spending credits for a shirt or something or give it to someone who can use the extra upload capacity and photo storage. I haven’t decided.
The credits were the reason I started, but that was before I realized that ArmsMerchant already had Lifetime Premium Xanga. By then, I had found a few interesting new Xangans, and that continuing trickle of new blood, so to speak, is what keeps me going back.
If you don’t see me around here tomorrow, it will be because Doug is using the computer. If I am here, it will be because I couldn’t stay away and got up early to get in my computer time before his game starts.
Right now, I have food on my mind. Yesterday, I organized the shelves of the pantry, to get all the stuff in that hadn’t been put away since I became too ill last fall to do it. Doug does it his way, which means the shelves don’t hold as much and things get lost behind other things. When I do it, we can find stuff, and there aren’t heaps and bags of stuff lying around on the floor. It all goes on the shelves. So, I can find something to eat. Now I just have to go decide what.
Snow update: still snowing, with some rain mixed in, temperature 36 degrees F, so the new stuff is melting a bit, packing down more, slushy rather than fluffy.
Comments (17)
I get confused when it snows. I dont know if I should be mad or glad. lol. I think it is really pretty to look at, but I refuse to drive in it so that presents problems. lol
Wow. What a storm. I do love snow, but after a while, I just want it to go away.
Snow in April…around here that’s just a pipe dream. lol
it is snowing here too mostly rain so I don’t think we will get the 6 inches predicted but we also need the moisture just hope some of my spring flowers are ok
This is when I’m glad we’re not up there… I’m through with snow, thank you!! Even massive lightning bolts and thunder and tornado watches are better than more snow at this point (and for me? That’s SAYING something! I hate tornadoes!)
Seems like a lot of people got snow today.
We did here, too.
I’m gathering credits for Lifetime premium, too, but it’s slow-going.
I’m only at about 11, 000.
I don’t say it enough. I really enjoy reading about your life out yonder. thanks.
What part of Alaska do you live in? Is it all like that? And I thought Michigan was bad, hahhah.
This is the time of year that would be most difficult for me in Alaska, (it was the same in Minnesota), after growing up in the south with daffodils in February, I got really homesick for warm Spring breezes.
Wow – 30,000 credits? I have been thinking that I was making good progress (I want Lifetime for myself) but I’m just at about 22,000. Any tips for increasing my rate of credit deposits?
@llibra - I’m in the Upper Susitna Valley, latitude 62. Alaska is a big place. In terms of climate extremes, here we are somewhere in the middle. Above the Arctic Circle, soon the sun will go down for the last time, then after a few months of days, it starts going down again for a while until it doesn’t come up again for several months of nights. In the Panhandle of Southeast Alaska, weather is much like British Columbia, Washington and Oregon: wet.
@quiltnmomi - Do you Welcome Wagon? Each comment there is worth 10 credits (one per blog; after the first, it’s the usual 2). I keep a notepad file with 2 comments, one for new Xangans and a different one for returning Xangans. I copy and paste, opening several pages at a time in different tabs, do a series of noobs, then a series of bringbacks… assembly line. Between the time I posted this entry and came back to check comments, I earned 2,000 credits.
I just got home from the beach. Sorry. It was eighty five degrees at 3pm. I’ll blow some warmth your way. Our weather has been warm then a cold wind will blow around for a few days then hot again. This weather is what caused my dress code violating years ago. Must have layers. ha ha.
glad you didn’t put your winter clothes up yet.
@Jaynebug - Sorry about what? Thank you for reminding me why I stay here. I wilt in the heat and burn in the sun. “Beach” conjures memories of sand in my shoes, shorts, eyes, nose, everywhere. Then I remembered when Doug and I were on the beach in Redwood Nat’l Park, 15 years ago. Drive-by shooting. Ah, home sweet home.
@SuSu - I’ll toss a stone to clear the energy next time I go. hee hee. I wear hats in the sun and we don’t hit wilting temps here very often. It a temperate temp of about 65-68 year round at my coastal home sweet home. I have to drive 15-20 miles for the hot stuff. Enjoy the snow.
Thank goodness the snow we’ve had recently did not stick to roads, sidewalks or driveways. Some stuck to lawns and gardens, but was gone by mid-afternoon! I could still stand some normal temps here is SLC…It’s been unseasonably chilly.
I know what you mean my welt in heat and burn in the sun. Due to a bad case of “the sixties”; I’m pretty much snow blind when there is too much white stuff.
bill
I’d trade our 90 degree heat for snow!