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Hoo boy. We've been getting into "real winter" winter, with temps in the single digits and reduced daylight. Dawn is at about 9am and dusk at 4pm. Which means the solid daylight hours are from about 11am to 3pm. But Anchorage gets one hour more of daylight than Fairbanks in winter, and single digit temps are chilly, but not as chilly as the negative teens and twenties in Fairbanks. Anchorage just isn't that bad, as far as Alaska winter goes. I mean, we don't even have an engine block heater in the car (because the manufacturer doesn't have an approved one - supposedly hybrids are tricky). If you don't have to remember to plug your car in, and remember to unplug the cord before you leave, does it even count as winter? A lot of our friends are Fairbanks refugees and like to bitch about what a horrible pit Fairbanks is, but I learned a lot of good lessons in Fairbanks and I don't think of it as a bad place. Couple winters in Fairbanks and everything else gets so much easier in comparison. I guess it's like living without running water. Not fun to do forever, but is a good experience for a little while. Whenever I read one of those hopeful, breathless "we're going to move to Alaska and live in a cabin!" posts, my gut reaction is mostly that this person has no clue what they're getting into and this is a very bad idea. But I moved from CO to live in a dry cabin in Fairbanks by myself. I had an Alaskan friend to coach me, but I was fine. It's just not possible to explain to people the psychological toll the cold and the dark will take unless they experience it. It's not a matter of buying "the best" coat and winter boots. It is a crucible. I know how to cope now, and better still, I know when it's time to get myself out. I know Anchorage is babytown frolics compared to Fairbanks, and Fairbanks is babytown frolics compared to all the villages off the road system. Sure, move to Alaska. But make sure you have the $$$$ set aside to leave if it's too much. Lots of people just aren't mentally built for it and there's no way to know for sure until you go through a winter. Super expensive and difficult to move to Alaska. Super expensive and difficult to move out.

This past summer I turned an old stump in the front yard into a bird bath. I got two 18" plastic plant saucers, and I screwed one into the stump (with drilled drain holes) and the other just nests in the first (to dump it out for easy cleaning). As it got colder I got a bird bath heater and sandwiched it between the two saucers, because they say in winter the birds have trouble finding liquid water to drink. The instructions said not to put anything on top, but I did anyway because it arrived all rolled up and wouldn't flatten. Well, I went to check on it yesterday and there was a thick frozen ring of ice and nothing in the middle over the heater, and also the extreme temp changes had cracked the plastic of the top saucer. So as it melted the ice, the water just leaked out of the cracked top saucer and the drainage holes in the bottom saucer. Rats. So I had to go buy a second top saucer (slightly smaller this time, like 15", so there's less water mass to heat) and this time I put the (now flat) bird bath heater directly in the water. We'll see how that goes.

I have a bird feeder with sunflower chips for the chickadees and a suet block for the woodpeckers and a couple of little platform feeders for Reginald the magpie and the greedy stellar jay pack. I swear, the one jay will make a racket at the window or the chimney to get my attention if I haven't put peanuts out. He will peek in the windows, figure out where I am, and scrabble around to let me know he wants peanuts. Cat does not appreciate this. Cat likes to watch the birds, but he'd like it more if he were allowed in the front yard to get them.

Cat's interest in going outside decreases substantially when it's colder than 20 degrees. I got a cheap rug to put in front of the sliding glass door, so when we come in with snowy shoes we can avoid a slippery puddle of meltwater. The door was an addition by a past owner, so there's a register vent in an awkward spot right in front of the door opening. I put the rug over the vent temporarily and it became the Cat's favorite spot. He sits right in front of the patio door over the heat vent and watches the backyard. I cut a hole in the rug for the vent and worked the register cover through it, and the Cat still loves it. The cats are not fond of the smooth, cold flooring in the house. I wanted smooth floors because carpet gets gross when you have a puker cat, but I didn't realize it would be a big deal in other ways for the kitties. Other Cat is not graceful and the smooth flooring makes her footing more uncertain. The more rugs we put down, the happier she gets. She goes from rug to rug in the house like her own personal "floor is lava" game.

Well it snowed about 2 feet over two days this week. Biggest snow in 20 years, supposedly. It was lovely coming down, but oh, the shoveling. So much shoveling. When we lived in apartments we didn't have to worry about shoveling, aside from cleaning off the car and maybe digging out the wheels a little. Welp. I had to clear off the back porch, a trench down to the grill (idk, maybe we will want to grill - I know spouse will give me the "no" look for this but listen, you can grill just fine down to like -15 or so, I had an engineer friend in Fairbanks who decided to figure out what was "too cold" to grill), then a trench along the backside of the house to the gate so we can get the trashcan out, then a trench from the gate to the front, dig out the driveway, the walk to the front door, a short trench to the bird feeders, and then an attempt to dig out spouse's car. I got 2/3 done but he's going to have to do the remainder because my arms are just too short. The snowplow has not got to our street (maybe tomorrow - which is okay because we will have to dig out a second time once the plow passes) so it's risky for lower clearance cars, or any vehicle without 4wd or awd.

I ended up giving Mary and John a ride to the airport on the night of the heaviest snow, because they are wintering at their house in hawaii, lucky duckies. Mary has given me good monies to check on her house and shovel the drive, etc. Seemed like a great deal until it snowed 2 feet! Anyway I shoveled her drive at 10am, and 12 hours later when they stopped at their house before their flight, there was a good 10" of fresh snow. The person who was going to give them a ride to the airport couldn't, because their car wouldn't make it. Sure you can call a cab in a snowstorm, but it prob won't show up. We bought our little SUV specifically to make sure we could get through bad weather. So we're standing in the street chatting and this giant white pickup comes blasting around the corner, fishtailing everywhere, and kinda stumble-bumbles down the cul de sac and gets stuck trying to turn into his driveway and starts revving his engine over and over in an attempt to get himself unstuck. (I've seen this truck before - a couple large dogs were loose and this guy came down the road, recognized the dogs, started yelling, forced his barefoot girlfriend/wife to get out and herd the dogs, and the way he was yelling and her body language was just not good. Do not have positive impression.) Then john tried to back their awd sedan over to our drive to move their luggage into our car and he got stuck. Brenda and her kid came out to help us dig john out - which we did by taking a cardboard box and tearing it into pieces and putting the pieces under the wheels. The kid said he saw it on The Walking Dead. Worked great to get the sedan past the soft spot that had it trapped.

Meanwhile the white truck down the street is still revving its engine trying to get unstuck. We all look at it. Brenda says, guess we should try to help. So she and her kid go down the street. I start clearing off my car to get Mary and John to the airport. By the time I have my car done, Brenda and her kid are back. I can see the pickup still stuck in the street. "Couldn't get him out?" I ask. Brenda shakes her head. "He's from Wyoming," she says, by way of explanation. "The truck is 2WD." Everyone says, "Ohhhh ..." That fits, for someone from Wyoming, who has to tell you they're from Wyoming.

So I take John and Mary to the airport and the roads are not fun but we make it. I'm a terrible driver in heavy traffic but I have confidence in my winter driving ability. There's more traffic than you would think for midnight in a snowstorm, lots of pickups with plow fronts rushing to clear off parking lots and such. Two/three lane traffic is down to a single lane. We pass one really nasty accident. But I drop them off with enough time before their flight and I get home without fuss. As I drive down our street, I see a tow truck moving the white pickup. Ha.

The other drama on the street is we have a snow shovel thief. Wednesday they tried to steal Brenda's snow sled, but she's had a run in with a thief in the area before, when he stole her kid's bike. The kid followed the shovel thieves' footprints back to the same house and spotted their snow sled out front and stole it back. But the slappers had like four snow shovels stolen out from under their carport. Two neighbors have the shovel thief on camera. Our street is pissed. I am imagining a secret black market snow shovel ring. Snow shovels aren't cheap, and in a big storm you can't repurchase them easily. Bet they're being resold on craigslist. I thought I was paranoid for keeping our shovels inside, but I guess not. What kind of delinquent steals snow shovels the day after a big snow? Good way to get a pitchfork mob after you.

I have shoveled so much I really dehydrated myself and gave myself a nasty headache. I had some disappointment this week because my lunar holiday came 'round and I still got a headache. Thought I'd been very good, taking my vitamins, not eating walmart garbage pizza, no adult beverages, etc. Still got a headache. It only lasted 24 hours, but still. Seems like I can reduce the severity and the length somewhat, but nothing stops it cold. I am going to have to go full elimination diet madness in January and cut out cheese, alcohol and all tasty, prepared food. I am not happy at all. I'm not going to start until January because it's going to take me that long to figure out a "approved" food list and some recipes. Ugh.

So I had headache sun/mon. Tuesday was a good day. Wed I started getting a weird tension headache and thurs was even worse, like a bad hangover. Why do I seem to have a headache more days than not? Ridiculous. Then I realized I had been out shoveling all this snow for hours and I am probably dehydrated, even though I am not thirsty. Yup, forced myself to drink more water, had more potassium and with a solid nap, started feeling much better.

I was expecting to get a lot of projects done while spouse is gone but between feeling like garbage and the snow shoveling I have completed very little. Really frustrating. I have to go over to Mary's and finish digging out her place today, but I am hoping that will be the end of shoveling for a while. Spouse gets back on Saturday. We're supposed to get more snow sun/mon and he can do the shoveling for that one.

I did get the led strip lighting up in the office under the shelves, and in the living room under the long shelf. It looks damn good, and it will look even better once I get the wood trim up on the shelf edge to completely hide the aluminum channel. I got these dim-to-warm kits from armacost lighting and they seem great so far. The important thing is they "remember" their settings when the power shuts off, so I have the one in the office plugged into the outlet controlled by the light switch. They come with a little remote for dimming control that I'm going to mount on the wall next to the switch. It's a warm white light that dims to a molten gold. Cozy as shit. Way better than a floor lamp and nothing to trip on or knock over. I have a third kit on order and I'm going to light the shelves in the project area and the bay window. I also have a sekrit super ultimate project that involves getting some of the individually addressable led strip lighting (sk6812) and running it down the center beam in the living area and the topside of the long shelf and programming it to do fancy color stuff like fire and northern lights. Ohhh it's going to be so cool!! Our house looks so boring on the outside and then you get in the door and BAM, dwarfy pub magical disco ambiance!!!! Aw yeah! But I better not even start that project until I finish all these other things. It's one of those projects where I know if I tell spouse beforehand he will be a total killjoy wet blanket, but once it's done he will admit that it is super amazing. So I am not telling him, ha ha. Shhh.