Diary of a Snow Shoveler
This is a diary of my snow shoveling activities while living in the "Snow Capitol" of Alaska.
Are you going to be watching the State of the Coast Guard Address on Thursday? http://ryn.cc/dT5xRY
January 31, 2011
Please God, let the temperature stay below 30. I don’t wanna see rain!
January 24, 2011
Well, I thought the weather had finally gotten better. We had a couple of feet of snow over the weekend. Then it started raining this morning. Ruining all the nice powdery snow we had!
I think Mother Nature hates me. I still have to dig out the back patio. I guess the upside to all this, is that the wind has stopped as well, we can now use the fireplace again!
January 15, 2011
What a crappy New Year!!! Weather speaking that is. It started raining New Year’s Eve, and didn’t stop for about 3 days. Freezing, and becoming a nasty sheet of ice on the ground as it fell. Then the sun came out, I understand why my neighbors hate the sun in the winter time now, it makes it bitterly cold out. The clouds help keep the temperatures up in the twenties. With the sun out, it’s about 5 degrees out! Then the winds picked up again. Blowing about 25-30 mph on a regular basis. So that just made EVERYTHING freeze.
The weather has my wife grumpier than hell. “What’s a southern girl to do in this”, she says. Sometimes I wish she would go hibernate like the bears! The kids have been pretty good through this crappy weather. Getting outside and trying to chip away the ice at the playground.
We also ran out of firewood, haven’t been able to have a fire, due to the hellish winds. Being the forward thinker that I am, I decided to go out in the sub-zero temperatures & cut some firewood. I did find some wood to cut up, but didn’t want to cut down any trees for fear of the wind blowing it the way that I didn’t want it to fall! Namely on myself or the van.
Like I said, what a crappy start to the year!
December 30, 2010
The sun has finally given way to the clouds! It also started snowing yesterday. We’re up to about 8” of a nice light powdery snow. It looks so pristine. The snow that has been standing on the ground since Dec 11 was beginning to look kinda nasty!
The shoveling was pretty easy this morning, it’s so light & powdery. I almost think I could just use a broom to sweep it away! I shoveled the sidewalk for naught I think though. My wife told me that the neighbor used the snow blower, I don’t understand why, it’s faster to do it with the shovel, & it’s a decent workout. Guess I’ll be shoveling it again when I get home.
I didn’t have much snow to shovel at work when I got there, one of the guys I work with used the snow blower, again, I just don’t get it.
December 26, 2010
Well, no snow since December 11. I’m starting to doubt that this is the snow capitol of Alaska. The winds have died down, thankfully. I’m also beginning to run out of firewood. My wife says that I better get out and cut some more. I think she’s just tired of me being around the house so much.
We did get to see the lunar eclipse last week. That was cool, it was so cold, my hot coffee started to freeze within 25 min of going outside. I think my wife is still thawing out. At church today I asked where all the snow was, they told me that I should watch what I ask for. Weird, people love it here, but don’t want it to snow.
December 19, 2010
Well, no snow yet. Skies are still clear.
December 19, 2010
Well, the clouds are beginning to come back. Weather says we should only get about 1-3 inches though. I’m a little disappointed, while I was getting sick of the wind, I’ll be missing the lunar eclipse tomorrow night. Would have been cool to see on a full moon. I’m not complaining though, some fresh snow will be so nice to see. Everything looks pristine. Gathering firewood has become cumbersome though. All the wind we’ve been getting has made all the snow on the ground freeze into a 4’ sheet of ice. Kinda hard to find fallen trees, or even get to the base of a tree to cut it down.
I told my neighbor that the weather report had changed, & that it might start snowing tonight. He started swearing. I just don’t see how someone could hate something so beautiful.
