kayaking with whales

You know you're in Alaska when...

You walk up to a group of boys on the playground, one who is lying on a snow mound with his tongue hanging out and ask curiously, "boys what are you up too?" and one urgently responds "We are playing search and rescue, Brain got caught in an avalanche and is buried in the snow so we are digging him out!"

Things I am thankful for:

#1: SNOW! Which is currently falling softly from the sky. Yesterday we roommates had our first snowball fight of the season. It feels as if hot chocolate and mint tea are here to stay. Here is the view from my bedroom window:

This year I have finally invested in a few things that I should have done years ago, which brings me to the second thing I am thankful for... #2: insulated curtains. This weekend Ben Franklin, yes those are still around, had a large fabric sale, so I made my move. After looking at every fabric in the store I settled on a green, which matches my cobalt blue, fuchsia, and green duvet cover. Now I don't have to move to the far side of the bed away from the window to fall asleep at night.


Which brings me to the 3rd fabulous invention I am thankful for: A space heater! Saturday, the same day I bought my curtain fabric, my sweet boyfriend bought me a space heater. He told me it was insanely cold in my room and how was I ever going to get healthy living like that, so now my room is completely winterized. And I am sometimes getting what they call hot in my room. I didn't even turn on my space heater last night because I had gotten so warm the night before.


#4: Knit scarfs are also a lifesaver around here. In this picture above is the scarf I wear daily. It is one my cousins gave me for Christmas a few years ago, and I have been ever so thankful for it since my move to Sitka. My goal this winter is to become a more fluent knitter. Mittens and socks are my humble goal.

weather

Saturday November 14, 2009:
Here is the weather for my homes:

Sitka, AK 9:55AM:

44 degrees, feels like 33 degrees, cold and windy

sunrise: 7:42
sunset: 3:49

Total daylight hours: 8 hours and 7 minutes

Asheville, NC 1:56PM:

72 degrees, feels like 72 degrees, sunny

sunrise: 7:05
sunset: 5:24

Total daylight hours: 10 hours and 19 minutes

York, SC 1:57PM:

71 degrees, feels like 71 degrees, sunny

sunrise: 6:59
sunset: 5:20

Total daylight hours: 10 hours and 22 minutes

Reasons I haven't Blogged Lately...

Excuse #1: It has been too cold in my house and when I type for extended periods my figures get really cold and turn into what feels something close to an ice box. Even just now I just had to blow on my hands to warm them up. It is definitely getting colder here, we even had our first snowfall of the year yesterday!

Excuse #2: I have been terribly sick for the last 2 1/2 weeks, and I am doing good to get myself feed much less able to write in my blog, this too sadly is true! I haven't even been cooking! Which reminds me for all you chiefs out there you'll be impressed with this site.

Excuse #3: It gets dark now at 4:30 in the afternoon and therefore my blogging opportunities has decreases substantially. I don't know why AK insists upon conforming to day lights saving time. I know that Arizona has rebelled, and I think we should follow their lead.

Excuse #4: I think that I might have tried one or two times, but I haven't had much to say, not that my life has been dull and boring, but it might resemble that if one really were to study my recent activity level: I haven't run in months, climbed mountains, or really ventured out much these days. This of coarse being an involuntary choice of action due to an unfortunate series of events.