Monday and A Rough Start

NOTE to squeamish readers: you might want to avoid this one if dental work weirds you out.

So there I was ... two weeks ago with a molar broke in two, and the filling fell out. That turned into  a toothache turned an abscess, which engendered a script for an antibiotic. Now, six days later, out the little bugger came. 

Which required the assistance of a drill, and removal by the numbers: first piece, second piece, and so on.

The process didn't take a long time, which is a very good thing.

But now I'm on 800 mg of Ibuprofen and Vicodin for the next few days (if it goes that long). I'm fortunate to have a fairly high pain threshold. 

sigh ...

The weather continues its strange ups-and-downs. It was warm two weeks ago, with highs in the 40s which melted a great deal of the snow. Then last week it got cold, but still no snow. Yesterday the low was 14°, rising to a blistering high of 15° with a half-inch of snow. Oh, and a heavy fog for the second time in the last few days.

This morning it's 18, and AccuHunch insists that we might get a bit of the white stuff. Time will tell. 

So the day will be a quiet one. That's a good thing.

94% Humidity & -11° F.

Those have been our overnight conditions for the last several days. Highs have ranged from -1 to 11 above.

Normally we'd have a very dry air mass in place, but not this time. If it's humid, we get snow. Or rather, we should get snow.

Here's what we get, instead.

Friday Night: -11°

That's the current temperature here at the ol' homestead. We've had a couple inches of snow, dry though it is, in the last day or two. Roads are in pretty good shape, except where the packed-down snow has been turned to ice by wear, and worn slick by stopping and starting.

I've been joking for a couple of years that intersections in the Anchorage area are groomed by Zamboni in winter-time. It's not really funny at all, and just another reason why I so rarely drive into the city anymore.

I'm happy to report that we haven't found any more "new" cracks from the 7.0 earthquake and the 8,000 or so aftershocks since then. However, although we had a couple of quiet days in mid-week, there have been a series of 3.7 to 4.7 magnitude 'quakes in the last few days. The 4.7 got our attention, because ... let's face it ... everyone is still on edge about the shaking, and wondering if we'll have any more large aftershocks.

But with every day that passes, the chance of such an occurrance grows slightly less.

In other news, there's a bit o' buzz around the Wasilla area. You remember Wasilla: the former hometown of ex-Governor Sarah Palin...  Anyhoo, Alaska's first Sonic drive-in will open there, later this year. That's probably worth driving over there to check it out, when it happens.

A Cold Day, and U.S. Navy news

Greetings, fellow travelers! It's been a standard winter day (Mark 1, Mod 0) here in southcentral Alaska. It was -2° F. when I awoke, dropped to -5 around sunrise. That's 10:30 am today, for the record. It's back up to -2 now, at a few minutes past 3.

And the U.S. Navy has announced that it's naming the next Arleigh Burke destroyer, hull number DDG-128, after deceased Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. That's a big deal for us. :)

The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile-destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69) is seen in Yokosuka, Japan on May 22, 2018. The US Navy has announced it will name its newest Arleigh Burke-class destroyer (DDG 128) the USS Ted Stevens. (US Navy photo by Garrett Zopfi/Released by FLEACT Yokosuka Public Affairs Office)

My Drive Home Today

It's not -74 like Delta Junction, but this was the reading as I pulled into town just after 1 pm.

Foggy Day, 3 Degrees

What does it look like after two foggy days, with temps in the single digits?

 

 

Even this picture doesn't do it justice. Everything is fuzzy with the flaky hoarfrost, and the trees just fade into the fog.

And when the sun eventually comes out, they will glisten and sparkle. It's truly lovely.

What Alaskans Do on a Day Off

This is the short section of the 275' driveway.

We take turns so that no one works up a sweat. That can be deadly in really cold temps. Fortunately, it's only 19° today.

Now we fire up the grill and make some wonderful burgers seasoned with Kenai Premier sauce, and some others with Moosetard's Alder-smoked mustard. Those are Alaskan brands made in Kenai and Fairbanks respectively, which are roughly 500 miles apart. But luckily for us, also sold locally.

As I said yesterday, our New Year's Eve will be a quiet evening at home.

So all y'all take care out there, and have a great evening, however you choose to celebrate it.