The Evening Update

It's official - Governor Sarah Palin is a grandmother. Her daughter Bristol gave birth to a son, earlier today. There: I mentioned it.

I believe our high today was -4, and the sun shone for awhile, which was nice. I don't care how cold it is, as long as there's some sunlight. It will be another couple of weeks before we notice the days getting longer, but sunny days help. A lot.

It's also -7 degrees, and headed to the overnight low of -10 to -15. That's not as cold as we were led to expect, by Accu-Hunch. I hope nobody's surprised...

Wunderground.com (I thought I'd try another source of informed guessing) says we'll get up to around zero degrees tomorrow, and then drop to -10 to -20. I'm trying wunderground because they have a weather station about 4 blocks from where I live. At least the current conditions should be accurate.

So we've turned the thermostat slightly higher, and I told the girls to put another blanket on their beds tonight. The cats will probably snuggle with them, which will help.

Change of topic: I did a little research, and have discovered that the shooting range nearest my home has a reputation for treating shooters (who pay to use the range) like criminals. Did I mention this is a State-owned range, operated by the Division of Wildlife?

About 30 miles up the road, there is a 92-acre recreational shooting park which is open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days per week, for members. I'm not crazy about having to drive that far, but the members rave about it. It'll be nice to be somewhere that supports shooting.

Yes, I know we're in the largest state in the Union; yes, I know there should be lots of places to shoot. But Anchorage is 1,955 square miles, and you have a drive a ways to get out of town. 30 miles, it sounds like.

Stay warm or cool or dry, depending on your circumstances.