WALKING WITH PENGUINS

We moved into our rental house in November. Since our arrival, the bulbs of the track lighting in the living room have played electrical chairs (taking turns flickering on and off). The daily aftershocks add movement to their placement. One day, they all decided to stay off, after some crackling and shedding a few sparks.  At that moment, we notified the landlord and relied on sunlight a few hours and a lamp and moonlight (we are still waiting for blinds or curtains) for the rest of the time. Big and Sweet Pea love it as it is the perfect place to play flashlight games.

This morning, the electician arrived. As he climbed the ladder, he already figured out the problem, but wanted to do an inspection before confirming.  The transformer was missing a part which left a loose connection and effected the entire fixture. It is no longer in working condition or safe to use.

Until the landlord purchases a new light fixture and contracts the electrician to install, we will continue to enjoy the moonlight and flashlight fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter has arrived. The temperatures have plummeted to the single digits and even to negative numbers this past week.  The still silence is broken by the chattering of our teeth whenever we are outdoors.

The littles ones are trained.  When someone says, “it is so cold out,” their response “welcome to Alaska!”

There is an amazing beauty to this season, the sparkling white covered trees. It is called hoarfrost.

HOARFROST: deposit of ice crystals on objects exposed to the free air, such as grass blades, tree branches, or leaves. It is formed by direct condensation of water vapour to ice at temperatures below freezing and occurs when air is brought to its frost point by cooling. Hoarfrost is formed by a process analogous to that by which dew is formed on similar objects, except that, in the case of dew, the saturation point of the air mass is above freezing. The occurrence of temperatures below 0° C (32° F) is not enough to guarantee the formation of hoarfrost. Additionally, the air must be initially damp enough so that when cooled it reaches saturation, and any additional cooling will cause condensation to occur. In the absence of sufficient moisture, hoarfrost does not form, but the water in the tissues of plants may freeze, producing the condition known as black frost.  — ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA

The forecast for the rest of the week has a high of 13 F with snow showers and freezing rain during the beginning of next week.  We continue to adapt to the climate change from the sunny desert of El Paso, TX.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Alaska! 60 years ago (Jan. 3, 1959) Alaska became the 49th state.

 

 

 

 

Today is the shortest day of the year. I don’t think the winter solstice has ever meant as much to me as it does now.  We enjoyed five hours, 27 minutes, and 48 seconds of daylight today. The sun rose at 10:13 am and set at 3:41 pm, losing six seconds of light compared to yesterday.  Tomorrow, we gain six seconds! The days will slowly grow longer. Yeah!

It is a challenge waking up in the dark and also eating supper in the dark.  We came from the sunny skies of the desert in El Paso. The sun, moon and stars were key elements in our little ones schedules.  They miss that and are still trying to figure out where the sun is for most of the time.  My guess is that they will be in search of the moon in the summer.

We appreciate electric lights, especially a happy lamp from our friends. Turning lights on and playing music helps get us going in the morning.  Do you have any tricks or ideas to help our transition from the sunny desert in Texas to the winter darkness in Alaska?

 

“Is everyone okay?” flooded my phone and social media as the 7.0 earthquake hit Anchorage, AK at 8:29 this morning. The news reports the epicenter was 7 miles north of Anchorage, but it felt like we were right on top of it.

I had experienced earthquakes in Japan & Dominican Republic, but this was the strongest one I’ve felt. For our little ones, this was their first one.

As we are new to the frontier, this wasn’t on our radar as our minds are full of new faces, places and things to do.

When it hit, Daddy wasn’t home. The kids were in their beds. I was working on my “to do” list for the day. The rattling began. Noises & movement filled the air. At first, I thought a big truck was passing by or an airplane. After a few seconds, I realized it was an earthquake. I ran to the kids rooms, catching the falling TV on my way. Big was in a deep sleep due to last night’s late bedtime and the late winter sunrise. Sweet Pea was curled up in her bed, crying. I gathered them up and the three of us huddled together while taking cover.

We held each other tight as I watched the kitchen light fixture swing back and forth, waiting for it to fall (it didn’t). The house felt like it was going tip over. After the inital quake, there were a few moments of stillness before the aftershocks began. Immediately, I called my husband Nate.

The four of us are fine and survived our first big earthquake in Alaska (I’ve heard that AK has many earthquakes daily, but small and rarely felt).

We are thankful that we haven’t heard of any injuries and that everyone we’ve contacted is safe.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Psalm 18:2

We experienced minor damage to our home, as we just moved and the majority of our things are in boxes in the garage or storage unit. Tiles fell off the kitchen backsplash as well as base boards off the family room walls. Drawers flew out onto the floor from the kitchen cabinets. The stove jumped a foot from the wall. Everything that we had unpacked was tipped over on the floor. Our road is flooded 1/2 block away. Many of our friends lost dishes, pictures & artwork on the wall, electronics and more. There will be lots of clean up in homes and around the city.

So far, 31 aftershocks. The first few were strong, but unexpectedly #17 & #18 were too causing the little ones to cry.

We pray for a calm and still night.

Tonight, we saw our first moose outside our apartment. My husband was coming home from church around 10:00 pm. He texted and then called to let me know there was a bull moose right in front of our apartment door.

I slowly opened the door and saw the big moose licking the sidewalk. He looked at me and I slowly went up the stairs to the second floor for a better and safer view. Then I saw my husband on the other end of the sidewalk with the moose between us.

The moose slowly moved along the sidewalk, eating frozen berries from the tree. I went around the back of the building and joined my husband on the other second floor landing.

Both our little ones were asleep, but as soon as Sweet Pea heard me say “moose” she popped out of bed. We wrapped her up in a blanket and took her to the second floor to see her first moose while her brother Big remained in bed in a deep sleep.

The moose continued eating berries until he disappeared around the corner of the apartment.

What an amazing opportunity for our first moose sighting!