January 13, 2007

We really hit some cold temperatures. A couple days early in the week didn’t get above zero. The coldest temperature I saw at home was minus 15. We skipped skiing last Sunday because it was a bit cold and no new snow. We went shopping and bought nothing. Well, Kris bought a 2 GB USB storage device to back up and transport files.

The trees had been looking spectacular. I wish my camera had returned before the weather changed. The cold air caused frost to build up. The trees turned completely white. Even the smallest twigs were thick white crystal coated rods. In the dark, the city lights reflected off the bright trees and they looked like they were glowing. Trees with strings of white lights looked particularly festive. Now we are having warm temperatures - low 30’s - with a little wind. The trees have shed their frosty whiteness.

The snow removal crews have continued to work even though we haven’t had any appreciable snow for a few days. Last night on my way home I noticed the road was unusually snow covered. As I neared our side street, the right lane was closed. A Caterpillar machine had plowed the sidewalk out into the left edge of the right lane of the road. A huge snowblower, mounted on the front of a truck, was sucking up the monstrous ridge of snow. The discharge of the blower was facing forward and right, blowing snow into the backs of large dump trucks that were slowly moving along with the operation. This was the largest snow handling equipment I have ever seen. The flow rate of snow was incredible. The intake on the snow blower was frightening, big enough to suck in a person standing upright, probably big enough to suck in a small car. Now we have cleared sidewalks, room to plow the next storm, and an improved ability to see when pulling out of side streets.

We skied Alyeska today. They had about 8 inches of new snow at the top. It was just another day of skiing soft powdery snow. We didn’t even hurry to the resort, but we still had plenty of fresh snow. It is a holiday weekend and we only waited in a real lift line once. We skied the premier slope in the late afternoon and still had barely tracked lines in the new snow. This is quite a winter for skiing so far. It amazes me how many people have flocked to Denver and Salt Lake City to be close to skiing and have missed out on our lack of traffic, lack of lift lines, unbelievable amounts of snow, and strong local economy.

Last night while watching TV, the emergency broadcast signal went off. We had a tsunami warning. All of the reports indicated that Anchorage was under no threat, but it was weird to listen to the alarm go off every 15 minutes or so with new information. First report told us about the big earthquake in Russia and indicated that a tsunami was possible. A later report confirmed that a tsunami had been generated. The predictions on arrival times started to flow in. Once the furthest islands reported only minor waves, the reports began to downplay the threat. It was a slow motion disaster in the making. I knew the probability of anything major happening was slim, but just knowing that there was a possibility of many of the state’s communities being significantly damaged or destroyed was slightly eerie. I felt like I should be doing something to prepare.

My camera did make it back. The repair order said short circuit. I really wonder how that happened. At least it is working now. It was fixed for free except for the shipping cost to get it to California. To celebrate its return, I bought a new lens. The new lens fills a gap in my collection between my normal lenses and my long lens. This is an in between focal length that should allow me to get some landscapes and portraits that I might have missed without it. It also has the ability to focus very close. I should be able to fill computer screens with images of things the size of bugs. I am not too into creepy pictures, but sometimes I like to look at the world through a microscope. Things like frost crystals can be amazing in a real close up. With that thought, I am sure we won’t see any cold weather again.