The Obligatory January Weather Post

Chipper Fodder We’ve had a month of cold weather. There were a few times that my electronic thermometer, which registers to -39.9, flatlined, and once in a while there would be a day with highs in the -20s, but  other than that we’ve had a month of -30.

On top of that, we’ve had snow, and lots of it. I spent two hours today shoveling my walks and driveway. The photo on the left was taken before we had this last snow. Every shovelful of snow had to be lifted and thrown over these half-tree tall snowbanks.

This may be typical for a Yukon winter, but if so, it’s been a while since we’ve had a typical Yukon winter. Tomorrow it may be warm enough for me to take the dog for a real walk for the first time in a month. Unless the weather man is playing a cruel joke.

Road Trip

Of all the posts I’ve written while blogging, this one written in the spring of 2004 is my favorite. I’m in the reorganizing mood (Isn’t that what January is all about?) and I want to make sure that all my faves are here on this blog. I’ve tried just importing the blogger posts to Squarespace, but I have formatting that doesn’t always come through right and I can’t have that. I’ll post of those oldies but goodies with their original dating so they won’t show up at the top of the blog, but once in a while, I may post one up here. Like today.

….today the sun is shining. This morning, I’m longing for another road trip.

When the weather gets nice in the spring, I always get a hankering to pop the Eagles into the CD player in my car and hit the road for a long road trip. Not a five hundred mile a day, find your reserved hotel room, swim in the pool, then have supper sort of road trip, but the real thing, when you drive from sunrise until midnight, eat sandwiches from the cooler, sleep in the car, and don’t shower for three days. I’m not sure why I like this sort of trip. It means you arrive at your destination looking like a mess and ready to sleep for 24 hours. It means you get where you’re going with a trunk full of dirty laundry and no clean clothes left in your suitcase. But there’s something about being connected to nothing but what’s inside your own vehicle that brings a refreshing reprieve from everyday life.

I’ve been on many of these hard driving road trips. This was the kind of trip our family took when I was a child. We rarely slept in the car, but each day we pushed for as many miles as possible. When I first got married, we were two students living on one income from the GI bill, but we loved to travel, so we traveled as cheaply as possible. Out west, up north, all in a little dark green Porsche my husband had bought before we met. It was good on gas, but small for sleeping.

Click to read more ...

Two Things

1. I’ve got photo galleries. Look in the far right sidebar underneath the More From Me collection of links. So far there are only two three galleries and very few photos, but I hope to add more. Around the Town is the gallery for things you’d see might if you visited my town and In the House will show you things you might see if you visited my house on a good day. I will try not to post photos of dirty laundry piles unless they are particularly attractive ones.
   
   [Update: I’ve also added From the Yard for photos taken … well…I’m pretty sure you can figure it out.]


2. If you enjoyed the Beatrix Potter post, you’ll want to read Brandon Watson’s additional information about her research into mycology.