MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE FROM ALASKA...where we are having a white Christmas. It's just beautiful here! We had about 8-10 inches of snow the first of the week and about a foot from 4pm until after 4am this morning. I am attaching some pictures-the first 4 or 5 are from last night while it was snowing. If you look at picture number 4, I think, of the light shining through the trees you can see how hard the snow was falling! You may wonder about some of the pictures I took-look closely and you can see that those are pictures of my snow shoveling efforts! I am hoping you notice how deep the snow is and how much I shoveled-I am angeling for some ohhhing and awing and general comments of admiration here! This was, after all, my first big snow and I think I did pretty well....I did the drive and was working on the sidewalk-I had about 12 inches (no kidding) left when the neighbor with the great snow blowing maching (looks like a lawn mower sort of or a tiller) saw me and told me he was going to do the sidewalk...."I always try to do the walk for them." So, he went back and redid the walk which made it a little neater-those snow blowers make straight wall out of the snow on the sides of the walk instead of the messy mounds that my shoveling makes! However, this Alaska man saw the drive and said, "you really did a big job back there." So, there you are-it WAS as big a job as I thought it was....I thought maybe I was just a whimp! I took some pictures of the big evergreens with snow on them-who needs a flocked Christmas tree??? Some places have lights on theirs and it really looks like the prettiest flocked tree you've ever seen!
There is lots of snow removal going on this afternoon-people out with various types of equipment shoveling side walks and drives and alleys (haven't see the snow plow today)...there are people with shovels (like me) and with snow blowers (like neighbor Barry) and I even saw one guy on a camo 4 wheel all terrain vehicle with a blade on the front doing his sidewalk....and, of course, it seems like ever truck in Anchorage is outfitted with a blade which they drive around with all winter.
And then, of course, all of this snow has to be removed. I hadn't thought too much about that until about 20 minutes ago when I watched a parade of various kinds of trucks drive by each filled with snow. The were marked "Doug's excavation," "Valley excavation," etc. They were a motley crew! About the same time I saw a similiar parade going on the next street over (I caught sight of them down the alley)....only these all appeared to be empty. Since they all seemed to be heading downtown I wonder if they dump all of the snow onto Cook's Inlet until the breakup.
Well, I have a newly released dance movie I actually bought and that is the afternoon's entertainment!! I am craving Mike's chocolate chip cookies and a Diet Pepsi (which is no longer a part of my life!) to go with the movie....I guess I'll settle for some Chamomile and Lavender herbal tea and a square of dark chocolate!
I hope you enjoy the snow pictures and know this white Christmas would be more fun with you here!
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS MOST BELOVED ONES!!!!!