Comments

You look cool. That's genuine Eskimo garb. Shouldn't the scarf be a skinned seal or something though? Alpaca's much easier to knit. :) That's a very cool pic of yourself Emily. Gorgeous.

Doesn't the alpaca object when you stick knitting needles in it?

Neil

Thanks, Neil. I never met that particular alpaca. But if I do, I'll poke him and see what he says about it. That climate sure isn't for me. Even my childhood in Boston was tropical in comparison (as I suspect my wife's in Chicago was). My late father might recognize it from the partial winter he spent in the Ukraine in a tent during World War II. The only one who might appreciate it is my second cousin the famous mountain climber and some of his kids who have/are living in Alsaka. Stay warm and avoid frostbite, particularly on your fingers! Could be worse, Emily. Here it is March and here in Phoenix the thermometer on the ouside of my house is reading mid-90's or higher during the day.

That's way too hot and it'll just get worse. You'll hear me whine when it's 120 this summer!!

So much for global warming.

I guess Al Gore's movie is the butt of jokes up there in Solcoldna.

If it's any consolation, we went cross country skiing last night, and sledding this morning, and the rivers and ponds have still been frozen quite convincingly ever since mid Januar. And we're at Latitude 41! Here it is, a week from spring and we haven't even got mud season yet. And up in coastal downeast Maine, there was still 18" of snow on the ground before this storm came through.

Water temperatures on Long Island Sound:

34 degrees in Bridgeport:
http://tidesonline.nos.noaa.gov/plotcomp.shtml?station_info=8467150+Bridgeport,+CT

36 degrees in New Haven:
http://tidesonline.nos.noaa.gov/geographic.html

Even the ocean is cold! Montauk, 37.8 F!

So much for spring. Blame it on En Ni~no.

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Soldotna+AK

Well, your weather does look like our late January weather.

Here's ours (I picked mid-coast of CT):

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Old+Saybrook%2C+CT

It doesn't look too different in Pennsylvania today. We had an ice storm. After the Al Gore film, I decided to be good and plow myself this winter using a good old snow shovel. Worked about an hour to clear the driveway to drive my daughter to the lesson before the teacher called to cancel.

Ihnsouk

Bilbo, ...Wunderground! Watch out, it'll suck you in, if it hasn't already. :)

So really. I need a guitar player, someone who can pick up chords by ear or by sight and knows how to jig and reel. Otherwise, it's Danny Boy ala carte. (Which is not quite as good as Danny Boy ala mode, but at least it's a better option than Danny Boy ala tone-deaf-rhythm-deficient-guitar. Oh Danny...)

I hear you about the cold and snow. I'm in "sunny" Alberta, Canada, and the snow has dropped from the door handle of a 1/2 ton truck in our hay feild to the top of its tires. Spring is surly just around the corner now.
Theresa Spring is most definitely surly this year. how cold does it get there in dead winter? doesn't it depend on which part you are living in?

Sheila

Sheila, good to hear from you again. I was just wondering how you were doing.

In the winter, temps average 0-20 degrees. Being a coastal town, we are much milder than the interior of the state, which sees an average of 20 degrees colder weather. The coldest I've seen since I moved here was -30 (a couple of months ago). I think the record is -45 or so. But often times it warms up to the 30's and 40's and we get rain.