January 3, 2020

Yesterday was an unusual day because it was the lowest temp we’ve seen since moving to Alaska. The temp had dropped down to -5F and struggled to get up to +7F before the sun disappeared again. Summer walked two gaggles of dogs in the low temps. By 8:00 last evening it was +2F degrees. I crammed the stove full before i went to bed at midnight. With the temp going so low, I have been setting my iPhone alarm to 4:30 to get up and stoke up the fire. My method is to cram as many pieces of wood as possible into the stove and throttle it way down. The idea is to produce some heat over several hours and have enough hot coals at the end to start up the next fire. Good news. Got up this morning to find the temp to be +15F and going up. Bad news it is starting to snow again. Well-l-l that really isn’t bad news. I am hoping that it isn’t going to go back up above +32 and turn the snow in the slush. Today’s agenda is to 1.Recover the rest of the parts for the, dead but useful, Paquali tractor that we purchased. 2. Bring in more firewood. 3. Dig a path around the water house because yesterday evening Gandie (miniature Schnauzer) got stuck in the deep snow and could have frozen to death. Luckily Summer realized that he should have already done his business and be waiting on the back steps. She got worried, put her boots on and found him stuck in a snowdrift. Yesterday, I dug paths to my truck, the greenhouse, where the ducks and geese are living, and the shipping container, where most of my tools live. However, I did not dig a path around the water house where Gandie got stuck. As previously stated, I will clear a path around the water house today. Yesterday afternoon, I went to Homer Oil, had a propane tank filled and ordered another 200 gallons ($600) of #2 diesel for the the TOYO oil heater. Also, made the trip to the dump to drop off the trash. While I was there I found that someone had discarded a SEGWAY. I brought it home to see if I can get it going. Anyway, I’ve started the truck to warm it up before to town and pick up the last parts of the tractor. So I guess I’ll go put on my ‘long handles”, two pairs of socks, snow pants over my jeans, insulated boots, then a hoodie and a trapper’s hat. I was wearing about the same thing yesterday in +5 degrees and was sweating. Sweating is not a good thing as it can make you very cold when the strenuous behavior ceases. I’m not planning on any strenuous behavior today but I can shed some clothes, if I get too hot. Y’all keep you powder dry.