Lots of light

I think all summer I'm going to be remarking on the amount of light we have up here. It's 11:30 and I can still see the light on the horizon out my window. Buck and I went on an eight mile or so walk yesterday and then had herding today. We both did well in herding class, but he definitely did a better job than I did. I might have a bit of video with the both of us later this week.

I got into a class I need for work at the last minute, so I'll be going to California from May 11th-16th, specifically Anaheim not far from Disneyland. I registered for the class, and booked the hotel, plane ticket and boarding for Buck all this afternoon before taking off for herding class. I'm glad I got into the class though. It's good timing to do it now since I'll need it for work I'll be doing this summer and the only other time it's offered is in July. It'd be in between people coming to visit, but just barely, and I need that week to get things ready and work a few extra hours so that I can skip out early a couple days. Being in Las Vegas would not be helpful.

Anyway, since I'm always talking about the sun being up for forever here, I thought I could offer some photographic explanation. Namely that the sun arcs so much that it doesn't really 'go down' as much as go across the sky. Heh! Here's proof using Mount Susitna as a reference point:

This is probably around 8 pm or so.


This is around 9:15-9:30 pm


Just before 10 pm


It's also super apparent if you are sitting on my couch and the sun is not in your eyes, then in your eyes, then goes from the far left of the wall of windows to the far right before setting. Heh!

The rest of the pictures from the walk are here. If you look for the Slideshow button at the upper right of that page, you can view them all in a larger window in original size. It even scrolls through for you.

Birthday fame

Buck and I went for a walk in the snow and met up with a dude that had a camera. I was taking pictures so it didn't seem too weird when he was taking pictures of us- Buck is pretty cute. He was doing it from a distance-not being creepy or intrusive. I went over to say 'hi' (because people do that here) and it turned out to be a video camera and he was from the Anchorage Daily News. He asked if I minded if he asked me some questions and filmed me. Not being much of a wall flower, I said, 'Sure, why not.'

Anyway, it's up on the Daily News' web site- the Spring Snowstorm video- I'm on in the last twenty seconds, so you won't have to suffer long. Snow pants and puffy, huge coat were being worn, so no judging! LOL!

Oh, and here's the full set of the snow pictures.

A few more snow pictures

Just because it's fun to be able to toss up pictures of a foot and a half of snow when everyone else is looking at flowers and mowing grass. :)

Action shot- the Incredible Bouncing Buck


Uh, can I just say that I'm really happy with my carport today?


Buck likes to dig under the snow to see what he can find.


I liked how weighted down the trees were.


I had to scrape some snow off this bench so Buck could sit on it.

April blizzards bring June flowers?

I'm guessing it's going to be something like that. LOL! It's 11pm and Buck and I just made our trip out before bed. It's still snowing, though not as hard as it has been. But it's already 18 inches deep in most places, so we'll see how much more we get by tomorrow morning. The snowplows haven't been around that I can tell, so the roads are officially a mess. Hopefully they are just waiting for it to stop and then they will be out. I may walk up to the grocery store near by to get a few things. I have enough food to last the weekend, but I'd like to make some strawberry shortcake and I don't have all the ingredients for the shortcake part.

We're at 18 inches and it's still coming down.


I took this one while level with Buck to try to show how high it was on him. It's nearly to his chin even when he's sitting. LOL! I carved him out a little spot and he helped me dig (he loves digging in the snow).

If April showers bring May flowers...

...what do April blizzards bring? 'Cause May is only five days away and we're up to ten inches. And it's still falling. Hard. They say it's going to keep coming until morning. They've also bumped up the projected amount to fifteen inches.

The snow is already up to Buck's armpit. LOL!

Edited to add- we're now under a *heavy* snow advisory and they are talking 18-25 inches by tomorrow morning. And then maybe more all weekend long. HAHAHAHA!

Here's a couple pictures I took- the view from my windows.

Spring was when again?

March 21st, right? First day of Spring? Yeah, not so much:

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ANCHORAGE HAS ISSUED A SNOW ADVISORY... WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 AM ADT SATURDAY.

A COLD FRONT HAS STALLED OVER SOUTH CENTRAL ALASKA AND IS PRODUCING THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL OVER THE ANCHORAGE AREA. BETWEEN 3 AND 4 INCHES OF SNOW HAS FALLEN OVER THE ANCHORAGE AREA SINCE THIS MORNING AND SNOWFALL IS EXPECTED TO PERSIST INTO SATURDAY MORNING. TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 5 TO 8 INCHES IN TOWN TO 8 TO 12 INCHES AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS.

*sigh* I'd love to see what that groundhog would do if he lived up here. Did I mention that I took the snow tires off my truck already? It's the law to take them off by April 30th. That's not working out well for a lot of people this year. Hopefully, they'll realize that most folks have taken them off and the roads will be kept pretty clear. Oh, well. At least Buck won't need to get the mud hosed off him every time we go outside this weekend.

Now, next week when it gets warm and it all melts again- that's another story.

I'm pretty sure that I didn't ask for snow for my birthday, so I'm not real sure what's going on. Heh!

License plate winner

And the winner was (between this blog's poll and my other geeks-only blog's poll)....

The blue mountains plate!

It'll look like this:



Apparently there are at least two other Auburn Tiger fans in Alaska because both 'AUTIGR' and 'AUT1GR' were taken.

In other news, I think I pushed myself too hard after having pneumonia and a cold and now the cold has come back in full force. Or who knows, maybe it's a new cold. Regardless, I hate it and wish it to die soon. Ugh.

Buck and I went out to the dog park on mini-hikes both days this weekend. The snow is melting quickly with our temps in the 40s and 50s and everything is a mix of slush and sludge, heavy on the sludge. Which means Buck got a bath two days in a row and will probably get another half bath (where I just wash the underside of him- though he hates it just as much) on Wednesday after herding class. Poor guy. He smells really nice though. Heh! I do use an oatmeal shampoo so that his skin doesn't get dried out. I may have to start using conditioner too if the ground doesn't dry up soon.

The sun sets at 9:30pm already and everything is melting enough that it creates a haze over everything. I haven't been able to see the mountains across the Inlet in about a week. Here's hoping break-up finishes up by May and we get some nice Spring weather.