BEAUTIFUL

I went out to see Vaughn this past weekend, March 10, 2012, and it was absolutely gorgeous! The roads were FINALLY clear, and the sun was shining with about 20 degrees. He moved out of the house that he had been sharing with a couple other guys for several years. He still lives in Wasilla, Alaska with a couple other friends. It's a nice apartment, but I forgot to take pictures of him or them. :(

This is one of the beautiful mountains along the way to his house.

Removing the snow

Sometimes it's very difficult to get to solid ground so the snow can be removed. This cover was starting to lean because of all the weight of the snow, so we removed some of it.

This moose came to help us...not. Poor thing, they have had it hard this winter also. It's so difficult for them to go through the deep snow that they are on the roads & highways, and trails. There have been several killed by vehicles and lots starving to death. Although this year, the game and fish department started setting designated sites to feed the moose, to help them out. I was glad to hear that.

Tonight when Angel and I were getting ready to go for our walk, there was a big moose that came into our neighbors yard, so we did not go walking tonight. :-( They like the roads and trails also. And...the snow is sooo deep around most houses that it's very difficult to see if they are near by, until it's to late. Last weekend walking with Angel, we went our usual route to the school and when we climbed the snow bank to start on one of the trails, there was a big mama moose about 30 feet in front of us. I quickly put Angel back on the leash and we hightailed it out of there as fast as we could. :-))) There was NOTHING to protect us from her. Yikes!! I think she must have been laying down and we spooked her when we came upon her. I saw her tracks, so I was watching for her, but did not see her until we were right there. Fortunately, she was more interested in something else, possibly her calf, so she went the other way. WHEW! We made it home safely, with my heart beating 90 miles an hour. LOL
Some of the adventures of living in Alaska. :-)

Poor thing, resting in our driveway. They get pretty agitated easily, because they are hungry and it's hard for them to find food in the deep snow.

Basking in the warm sun!!

AWWW--WARM SUNSHINE--ABOUT 72 DEGREES--WONDERFUL. IT FELT SOOOO GOOD.


Ok,...I was in the house, but it was delightful sitting at our kitchen window, and enjoying the warm sunshine. It was only about 20 BELOW zero outside, when this picture was taken.

 

Beautiful

I was trying to capture the glistening of the sun shining off the snow, on our car port. Nothing is quit like being here and capturing it with your own eyes. It was just beautiful when the sun came out, but then it gets real
cold.
 

January and Febrary 2012

Since we are breaking a record of over 132 inches of snow this winter, I had to share some pictures with you. :-) We have done a LOT of shoveling. The city has done a pretty good job of keeping the roads half way cleared. There was a time in February that MOST streets were down to one lane. It was VERY difficult and kind of scary to drive in the neighborhood for a while. It's kind of fun to watch the big road graters and the Big front end loader with a HUGE Snow auger on it, that blows the snow into big trucks that haul the snow away. The auger is about the size of a car. The areas where the big dump trucks are dumping the
snow, are all full and they have asked businesses with spare land to let them dump the snow on them.

 
This pile of snow was removed twice this year.
This was taken right near our house in January.

We had weeks of very cold this winter also. There are parts of Alaska that were a LOT colder than Anchorage, but...

Isn't this beautiful!! This is our view out our front window. This poor tree, it's a wonder any of the trees or plants come back after such long winters. I'm sure it will be mid May before it's all gone. I'll have to see how close I am to guessing when it's all gone. We'll see...

Peek a boo-Where is the house?

This has been one LONG winter with LOTS of snow. This house right around the corner from ours is almost hidden. We will probably set a new record of OVER 132 inches, that was set a LONG time ago in 1954. Most everyone is very tired of the snow, except the snow removal guys, the snow machiners, and the skiers. Right now, as of today, Wed. March 14, 2012 @ 9:45 pm we are about 3 inches short from setting the record snow fall, and there is still a possibility of getting more tonight.
So...what do we do during these long winter days? you might ask. Well, let me tell you, we have shoveled a LOT of snow this winter and replaced the belt on our snow blower 3 times. :-)