The beginning of another Alaskan Winter

 

No, this was not the first snow of the season.  We had a snowfall mid-October and then just before Halloween.  But once the snow falls here, it usually sticks around.  We had a Winter Storm Warning that started Thursday night (11-5-2020) and they were calling for close to up to 20 inches of snow.

All of the last winter, my first here in Fairbanks, most of the snow that fell came in small increments.  I did not have to clear my driveway every day.  I did get used to driving on snowy roads and surprisingly, my Cadillac (Miss Gaddy the Caddy) did really well in the Alaskan winter.  Between the studded snow tires, front-wheel drive, and traction control, Miss Gaddy did really well.

My driveway in Alaska

The link above is the Google Map photo of my house.  It was taken before I moved in, so the car that you see belongs to the previous owners.  The little greenhouse on the right is gone and there is a raised bed behind the little purple bush that had carrots last year.  So the picture is a couple of years old.  This picture was taken from the corner of Waves Road and Tolovana Drive.  Waves Road, if it were to continue, is straight in front of you as you look at the picture.  There is an approved plan for a subdivision to go in beyond my house.  So essentially, the top part of my driveway is actually a road, it just does not go anywhere... yet!  Tolovana goes off to the left of where you are looking.  As you can see, I have quite a long driveway to clear off the snow in the winter.  What you cannot see is once the driveway turns, it widens... making it even more area to clear.  Plus, I clear an area on the side of the garage, where Miles can go out to wander, eat snow and sniff for other animals when he goes outside to pee and poop.  It is clear almost to the basketball hoop.

The first time I cleared snow last year, it took me over 2 hours.  By the end of the winter, I had it down to 1 hour by using my head and not having to constantly change the snow chute.  This year, the first snow was wetter than normal, so the blower had to work harder to blow it off the surface. The Friday snow that I woke up to was between 10 and 11 inches, more snow in a single snowfall than I have seen since I arrived.  After coffee and breakfast, I tackled the process of clearing the driveway with 13 to 14 inches of snow.  The picture below shows my measuring device... something I grabbed from my cutting table... in the snow just outside of my garage door.

So, it took me almost 2 hours to clear off the driveway.  And I had an assist from a snowplow that was doing my neighbor's driveway when my neighbor asked him to run his plow down the top piece of the drive to save me some time.  Mike and his wife live in the duplex that you can see from the house.  He and his wife Maudry keep an eye on things at my place, which I appreciate.  He had planned to have us over for a cookout this past summer, but since Covid did not get under control here, that never happened.

This was the driveway after I had cleared it on Friday.  It had kept snowing when I had finished and you can no longer see the little patches of black asphalt that I had uncovered.  There was another fluffy inch or more of snow.  Miles, whose rear end you see at the bottom of the picture, was quite happy to be able to wander around.  The house that you see is the duplex that Mike and Maudry own and live in.  Their half of the duplex is the one closest to me.  It is the only house that I can see from my house.

Speaking of Miles, while he may seem to be a cute little foo-foo housedog, but he loves the snow.  I put him outside and I usually have to go out and either call him or grab his dog lead and drag him in.  The only time I do not have to do that is when the temps dip below zero.  Then he is out and back really fast.  I may look for some doggie booties, which are common here, to see if he will wear them so he can stay out longer.

Isn't he amazing?  

I have been busy.  Mask making became normal, just as it has for most sewists.  I also continued to fine-tune my home.  I have hung pictures, sorted through the final boxes, except for Christmas, and found homes for more of my stuff.  I have taken some pictures of my bedroom and will post them next.  I have made it my happy place, along with the craft room.  The craft room still needs some tweaking, but I will continue that process over the winter.