Cows in the Mist

Well, it’s just after 10:30am and we have had daylight for about an hour already. The short days weren’t really that noticeable. The kids had a very Merry Christmas as did we. We do miss all of you though. I am plugging along in my Master’s Program (1 assignment and 1 midterm graded and still no less than 100%). From now on I’ll refrain from updating my progress until I either finish a class or fail to achieve 100%. I have been contemplating (still) a change in careers. I’ll keep you posted as or if it develops into more than a contemplation. Six more inches of snow fell last night and I just rediscovered or vehicles and drive way (again). The kid’s snow fort is complete (4 walls and one tunnel entrance). I’ll send pictures to those who request them. Next year, if the kids want to help me build one, I might even throw on a roof. Then we might be able to camp igloo style. I haven’t seen a mouse for a couple weeks and am getting antsy to run into the woods. Today however we will be spending the day at the Arctic Oasis on base (a fun place to play for the kids while mommy goes shopping). Gotta go.

I’m dreaming of a white Christmas… OK, I’m not dreaming. It’s reality. The snow continues to fall over Anchorage and we already have about 2 feet in our backyard. By the time it is through on this go around we may have 3 feet. I’d be really happy with about 5 feet. Just enough to start tunneling through. If I could get on the roof as easily as I could at the last house we would already have a large pile somewhere (probably the back yard since the front yard is almost all driveway and I have already created a couple of snow berms at least 3 feet deep (4 feet in places). The Christmas Angel and reindeer in the fron yard have been buried. The reindeer is still showing the tips of its antlers and the angel is only waist deep. After tonight that will change significantly. I need to get back outside and shovel the driveway before Elisabeth gets home. This will be my 4th shoveling in 3 days. Good thing she got sick when she did or I would not have been home to take care of this. I have Saturday through Tuesday off and am hoping to get some school work done next week while everyone else is out of the office. So far so good, I have acheived the highest grade in the class on two written essays and one quiz (the only three graded assignments we have done so far – 100% on each). The instructor seems to be a fair guy as well. It is easy to tell when reading assignments who has spent some time researching, thinking and writing and who has not. Well, as I said earlier I need to go, I also need to take care of a couple babies. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

I can’t begin to describe how impossibly beautiful it is here. The way the fog swirls through the snow covered alpine firs as they cling to the edges of jagged moutains below the timberline, how the sun makes the snow covered world glitter like diamonds, how the steam rises off the large rivers when temperatures drop blow 20, or how the smaller rivers churn swiftly beneath the snow covered ice formed at the height of their swells. How the steam escapes the mouth of the moose seen standing at the edge of the trees along a busy street, or just driving up the road through the frozen lowlands and seeing majestic snow covered-sun bathed mountains ahead, behind, and beside you. Pictures alone cannot capture this beauty, nor can the simple words from this simpler man. Just walking outside of town you get the feeling that God Himself has touched this part of the world in ways we can only dream of, and hope and pray for Him to touch the rest of the world as He did here. The view from my back bedroom windows is stunning. I am hoping to have my deck finished by the end of next summer.

Every season here is better than the one before. We arrived in Autumn and it was beautiful. Winter however contains its own beauty and in ways outshines the Fall. Spring I can only imagine gets better than winter, and summer better still as the days grow warm and unimaginably long. When the leaves turn again in late August it will bring more beauty still, getting progressively more stunning as the days shrink into an overpowering dark that stays illumninated from perpetual winter snow. Close your eyes and imagine, but you will not see until you experience Alaska.

If those who read this want me to come back to the lower 48 pray I get promoted to Major. Should that fall through (for whatever reason) I might have to stay here a little longer to explore. This is a fantastic place for older boys to be (it would be hard to leave here if we were not forced to). It will be hard to leave for them and for me. Until such a time I shall enjoy every breath and every view and every eagle that soars through it. Have a great day.

The trip north was fantastic. The only thing that would have made it better is if my kids were all old enough to remeber it. Most of them should be old enough to remember the trip back though. We may be up here until summer of 2010. The USAF just extended officer Permanent Changes of Station from 3 years to 4 years in the CONUS (Continental United States) and allowed liberal use of voluntary extensions in OCONUS (Outside Continental United States) locations. Since my house will probably be worth more in 2010 than 2009 and I really like it up here we will most likely volunteer to stay a year longer.

The tempurature rose above freezing for the first time since late October last night (38 degrees). It was warm enough that I could walk outside in the snow barefoot with my t-shirt and pajama pants on long enough to unload the groceries from the truck. The snow felt pretty good on my feet, although I wouldn’t recommend standing in one place for more than a minute. That never has been a problem for me though.

I haven’t seen the northern lights yet, usually it’s because if I am awake in the middle of the night it’s to take care of a child and I’m way to tired to care much. I think we’d have to drive a little ways north out of the city to get a clear view. I’ve heard they are seen best in mid-winter (January time frame).

I am hoping for more snow. The warm recent warm weather has allowed the snow to become liquid enough to really firm up the 3 foot high foundation on the children’s snow fort. If we get some more snow I will be able to finish it up. I might have enough plywood in the garage to build at least a partial roof. I look forward to weekends where I actually have time to spend outside with them.

I just started my Master’s program in Security Management. I should be completing the program by late winter 2008. So far the course work is relatively easy (most likely because I enjoy the subject and the reading).

We are just about all moved in. We put up the Christmas Tree a couple days ago. Now we just have to find all of our ornaments and other decorations. They are securely packed in boxes in the garage. We just need to determine which boxes. My mother-in-law has decided to return to Colorado. She is now looking for a house but has decided not to ship her stuff right away. So we’ll start taking bids. OK, just kidding. I will have to devise a better way to store her stuff though so we can actually fit one of our trucks in the garage. I might actually start using the attic for storage of smaller items. The battle continues.

We will pick up our family photos from Sears today. I will have to get a letter composed quickly. So much has happened in the past 12 months I can barely begin to think where to start, but I’ll figure something out.

That is all I have time for for now. I hope all of you are well.