Thursday Bits & Pieces

Good morning! It's about 10 degrees, which is normal, and there's some light snow in the forecast.

• AccuHunch is guessing we'll get 2" to 7" by tonight, with snow showers again tomorrow. Most of us here want the white stuff ... and even though 7" isn't a lot by our standards, it serves to insulate the ground & prevent frost from getting deep enough to damage water or sewer pipes. Besides, it covers up all the dirty snow & makes things look purty again!

• Mt. Redoubt isn't doing much of anything, and I'm beginning to think it won't. There hasn't even been a steam plume for the last 2 or 3 days, so ... perhaps nothing, this time. Despite the inner child's cry for a couple of days off, we'd really rather not deal with the clean-up engendered by the ash-fall, possible disruption of the power grid, and various bits of machinery (like automobile engines & HVAC systems) that might result.

• The State Legislature continues to debate how to cut the budget, with a $1.6 Billion shortfall this year.

• The Defenders of Wildlife, a Washington D.C.-based outfit, wants to dictate conditions to Alaska. Now they've released a film, narrated by Ashley Judd (a renowned big-game and wildlife expert? Nawww...) accusing Governor Palin of all sorts of things, like refusing to end the predator control program. Gov. Palin is rightly firing back at those who have no business butting into Alaska's wolf-versus-moose programs. It never occurs to the do-gooders that the reason for keeping the moose and caribou herds healthy is because so many people, especially Natives, still live off the land, here. I think the part that disturbs me the most, however, is that the D. of W. have an Anchorage office, and should know better. Even PETA was able to figure it out.

There's not much else to report, right now. I'll check in if anything new develops, and keep you posted.