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This blog is about our adventure of a lifetime in the Tundra of western Alaska. We hope you enjoy your visit!

Saturday, October 22, 2011

I'm dreaming of a white... Halloween!!!

Well, it's been a little while since we've blogged, so we'e got a few updates for you.  It snowed on Tueday morning while we were at work.  It was cold enough that the 1/2 inch we got didn't melt until the next day.  The temperatures have been much colder for the last 3 weeks.  Tonight, it's 30 degrees and... snowing again!  It's been snowing now for about 3 or so hours and there's definitely a cover on the ground.  We'll see how long it stays, but it's obvious that winter is already here.  The tundra is brown again,  all the leaves on the bushes and the grass on the ground is dying for the winter.  Jeff and I both agree that it's prettiest up here when there's snow on the ground so we're excited for that.

The only part that makes me a little nervous is that it really gets soo cold up here we'll have to learn soon what people do on the coldest days to keep their pipes from freezing, etc. 

On Thursday a week ago, I was making a cake and a friend called me to ask if I'd seen a bear.  I found out later that one road up from our neighborhood, there was a bear walking down the street.  This is a rare occurence, as the mountains are about 50 miles away and they don't come this far unless they're hungry.  Apparently when this happens, they spend their time at the dump scavenging for food.  It makes me alittle nervous so when I go outside on the deck to enjoy the night, I bring a flashlight and make sure the door isn't locked, just for a quick exit!

The days are obviously shorter now.  It gets dark before 7:40 at night and doesn't get light in the morning shortly after 9:45!  We lose about 5 minutes of light every day, so the difference is very noticeable every week.  My co-workers told me that on the longest day of winter, the sun comes up as late as 10:30 in the morning and goes down as early as 4 in the afternoon.  Our shortest day will be about 5 hours long.  We're definitely making sure to up our vitamin D intake, to hopefully combat any depression that might happen because of the dark.

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