Winter's Last Act

Strange as it may sound, one actually sees a lot of "Summer Sucks" stickers in Alaska. Of course, Summer in Alaska truly is an extraordinary thing to behold, but to enjoy living here year round, you simply have to love Winter, warts and all. A license plate we saw today (on the way to the Iditarod, naturally) read H8SUMR. We don't share quite those sentiments, but we do enjoy Winter along with everyone else, and this season has been no exception. It's also been a very snowy few months, and we've taken every opportunity to play in the white stuff. But Spring beckons, and break-up will soon be upon us. The Nenana Ice Classic has been accepting entries for a couple weeks now, which is sort of like Alaska's version of Punxsutawney Phil - one way or another, Winter's days are growing short.

Today was another late Winter milestone, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Though the race officially starts in Anchorage, it only does so as a photo op (though it would be funny to see sled dogs racing up the Glenn Highway). The Iditarod restarts in Willow, about an hour north of us (until recently, the restart took place here in Wasilla, and the Iditarod's headquarters are based here - the move was the result of increased development and a quickly warming Alaska). The drive up was packed with visitors, and after we were directed to park in a huge new lot, we got on our gear, loaded the kids in the sled (which Brandon happily towed around), and set off with the rest of the crowd to Willow Lake, where several thousand people (and not a few excited dogs) were gathered on the snow and ice. In the Summer, the lake is a popular floatplane harbor. Today, however, it was teeming with tourists, locals, kids, dogs, snowmachines, four-wheelers, vendors, broadcast trucks, two helicopters and even a motorized hang glider on skis. There were folks tending camp fires directly on the ice, cooking their lunches. Many wore absurdly large fur hats, and Carhartts' and bunny boots were everywhere. We absolutely loved it, and will definitely make it an annual tradition from now on.

In other news, Malcolm has absolutely taken off at school. He's an Advanced Reader in his class, has joined the chess club and recently participated in the school science fair (the only one in his class to do so). He's convinced he's going to be a paleontologist someday, and so chose "Dinosaur Dig" as the theme for his project. When the judging was finished, he'd won first place at his table, and the science teacher confided that if a fair were held just for the younger kids like Malcolm, his would've won overall. Needless to say, he was very proud of himself (as are we). He starts little league before long, which is also exciting.

Everyone else is terrific. Chloe continues to love dancing, and has grown up so quickly these past several months. It's hard to believe she'll be turning 5 and entering kindergarten this August. Calvin is great, and is getting bigger every day. Still no teeth yet, but we expect to see a full set suddenly pop out any time. He seems to have decided to skip crawling altogether, and is far more interested in trying to walk.

Stephanie and Brandon are also doing well, though our lives aren't nearly as exciting as the kids'. We can hardly compete with the science fair, little league, dance class or the overall cuteness of babies, but we're not complaining. In fact, we recently finalized our first true family vacation - a trip to Disneyworld, set for the end of May. It's pretty pedestrian as far as getaways go, but that's the point. No worries or risks, other than which ride to go on first and how many frozen lemonades to buy. The kids are thrilled, naturally. In two years we hope to drive an RV across Canada, down through New England, and onto New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Two years later, we'll be ready for Australia. We want to expose the kids to the world at large, and let them experience other cultures and places. That's the plan, at least. We'll have to see what real life has in store for us. :)

Take care,

-The Tuckers

ps. A very special Happy First Birthday to our nephew and cousin, Jack! Happy Birthday, Jack! We love you!

Life at...50 Above?

These past two weeks have seen some of the strangest weather in Alaskan history. The last blog entry we posted, we were experiencing overnight lows of -30°. Two days ago, the daytime high was +50°, which set a record. In fact, several record high temperatures have been broken over the past few days, and months' worth of snow and ice have nearly completely melted away in a matter of 72 hours.

Wednesday and Thursday of last week, local school districts (including the kids') closed, as well as Anchorage's two universities, the public bus sytem, area ski resorts and even Meals on Wheels - all because of the rapid thaw, which turned icy roads, highways and parking lots into wet skating rinks. Ice may be slippery, but wet ice is simply impossible to drive on, and southcentral Alaska woke up on Wednesday morning to sudden chaos. Even the city's ice art project, The Freeze, was ironically turned upside down by Mother Nature. It's as if breakup has begun, yet we know we're in for another few months of winter. Very confusing, though a welcome surprise.

We decided to take advantage of the long weekend and booked a last-minute hotel room in Anchorage. That's a big deal for us, and something we enjoyed to the fullest extent. We were lucky enough to catch the Alaska Museum of Natural History's "free day" on our way into the city. After setting up in our room, Brandon headed out for sushi for the whole family. The pool and hot tub, cable TV, the next day's big breakfast, and still more pool and hot tub time made for a very special overnight trip - for us, at least.

We'll blog again soon when the temperature is sure to be in the 90s. Till then, enjoy the photos!

♥, The Tuckers

Life at Thirty Below

To say that Alaska gets cold snaps seems redundant, but all things are relative, and this past week or so has definitely been colder than usual for us. Every winter brings its brief periods of truly intense cold, and we're now in the heart of one. The forecast for tonight is a low of -30°. That was actually updated from earlier in the day, when it was supposed to be -35°. To someone unused to that kind of deep freeze (far colder than your kitchen freezer), it can seem like some sort of bizarre, inhuman condition. But the funny truth is you actually get accustomed to it.

Not at first, of course. But over time, and after accumulating enough of the right winter gear, your body adjusts. Well, ours have , at any rate. At the height of day (here in southcentral Alaska we're still getting a good 6-7 hours of daylight, and gaining), the air temperature doesn't climb above -20°. Yet the kids still go outside to play, Brandon still spend hours out splitting wood, and Stephanie will still take Calvin out for hikes or just hanging out in the snow. Noses freeze up, and hair becomes an icy tangle of frost, but it's just par for the course. At least we're not in Fairbanks, currently at -39° with freezing fog. :)

Enjoy the photos, and happy New Year!

Merry Christmas, you've been robbed!

Things have been going well for us. The kids are great, there's lots of fresh snow everywhere, our cars start without complaint, even the house has been completely flood-free. Life has been good. Too good, perhaps. So it shouldn't have come as a shock when Stephanie came home today to find we'd been robbed. And apparently, we're not alone.

Some brief background: we live in a quiet neighborhood. Take away the occasional snow machine or raven and it would be nearly silent around here. We wave hi to our neighbors, the kids walking home from school, the postman, but mostly we hang out as a family on our property, or out in the cul-de-sac, which seems like it's ours since we're the only house on it. It's easy to forget there are other people out there. Our home is modest, but at the same time idyllic. Sometimes it feels like we're the only ones around.

And because the door we most often use to come and go has a lousy latch that we haven't been able to fix, we leave it unlocked when we go out. We know, we know. Remember, silent, idyllic, only ones around. We got careless; it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Luckily, no one was hurt, we didn't encounter anyone and nothing of great value was stolen. As far as we can tell, they only took the kids' Nintendo Wii and games, and all of Steph and Brandon's DVDs. Several hundred dollars, to be sure, but it could have been so much worse. A State Trooper came by to assess things, and isn't worried it will turn into anything more serious. And in the mean time, Brandon will be changing out the locks. :)

In happier news, Chloe had her first dance recital. She was beyond beautiful. We couldn't get any photos during her routine because of our distance from the stage, but if you've ever seen a troupe of 4 year-olds do just about anything in synchronicity, you get the general idea. We gave her pink carnations when her number was finished, and she had the most radiant smile.

Malcolm is finishing up his Mad Science classes for the winter. He's turning into such a terrific science geek, we love it. He really gets excited about astronomy, robotics, rocketry, anything futuristic. Of course, we help encourage him however we can. His reading has also taken off, and we're now sitting down with Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets each night before bed.

Calvin has come into his own these past couple of months. He has a very happy, funny personality, much like his siblings. His gorgeous blue eyes are as bright as ever. He's not crawling yet, but he sits up and plays and "talks", and has started his first bites of Cheerios.

Stephanie and Brandon are great, and exhausted, and happy. The weather is warming up again after hitting a cold spell. The other night Wasilla saw -25° with the wind chill. A heavy blanket of fresh snow had fallen the day or two before, and there was a brilliant glow at night, where you could literally read a book by the bright white moon. We've never seen such stark moonshadows as there are in Alaska on a cold clear night.

After having half of our house cave in last year, a little thing like some stolen electronics aren't going to stop us from having a good Christmas. One of Brandon's friends from work is coming over for Christmas dinner, and we still have our tree and our presents and each other. In fact, one of our tree ornaments is a cutting from the first burst copper pipe to be replaced last year. It's a good reminder, and it helps us keep our senses of humor.

We wish you all a very healthy and happy holiday!

♥, The Tuckers

UPDATE (12/16/2008): Remember when we mentioned perhaps things have been "too good"? Yeah. Turns out we should've checked the tool shed, too. They made off with our chainsaw, some gas, and a collection of tools. Worst of all, they took our summer tires (for both vehicles). For those Outside, just imagine having two sets of tires - studs for winter and standards for summer. Once you make the investment in your extra tires, it's only about $50 twice a year to have them changed over. Now, however, we'll be looking at replacing both sets of summer tires; about $1,000 combined. Throw in a new chainsaw, tools, and the electronics we initially noticed missing, and our losses are easily over $2,000. Great.

And for those wondering, no, we won't be filing an insurance claim. You may recall what happened last year. Even though our $2,000 deductible is less than our losses, the probable fallout from filing another claim (i.e., getting dumped by our provider - again) would be far more damaging in the end. We'll just be thankful it wasn't worse. We're safe, we have our home, our Christmas presents, and three beautiful reasons to simply enjoy being together for the holidays. Besides, Brandon replaced that lousy door lock, so none of this should happen again. :)

HISTORY.

Words escape me. I've never been more proud to be an American.

-Brandon

Mooseapalooza!

It's Alaska. You get a lot of moose. After all, they were here first. And it's not just moose, of course. For example, a couple weekends ago, Brandon was out splitting wood, when Stephanie and the kids came back from the store. Once they were back in the house, Brandon started to smell something that, once you've been exposed to it, you'll never forget - decomposing flesh. Having worked for however long at the Butte Humane Society back in college, he's more than familiar with the scent. BHS literally stored animal carcasses by the drumload in a walk-in freezer, and the smell is unmistakable.

So, suddenly the same overpowering stink hits. There's no breeze, nothing to carry a nasty faraway smell. The cat sometimes leaves dead shrews and birds about, but there's nothing in sight, and this stench is way too strong to be from some tiny animal. It also smells nothing like a skunk. It's disgusting, strong and appears suddenly. And then it occurs to Brandon - oh great, a bear. He camped out in the house for a while after that, and Steph told a story from about a year ago, when she was visiting a client's house in a rural area. She gets out of the car, and the client urges her to get into the house immediately. Why, she asks. Take a whiff, says the lady. Same disgusting, rotting stench. There's a bear nearby, the lady says. Which explains why, shortly before Steph got back home, Simon suddenly perked up and stared nervously out in the distance. So much so that Brandon stopped what he was doing to check out whatever the dog had noticed. There was a rustle in the woods on our property (within 100 feet), but Brandon figured it was just another moose, and went back to work. Guess not.

Fast forward a week or two later, and one of our neighbors was out for a stroll in the woods adjacent to our yard with his four chihuahuas (we know, it's an odd visual). He said everyone in the neighborhood had been talking about the bear, and that it had taken a moose calf in the marsh down in front of our property. In fact, our property line cuts into the area where this apparently took place. It's amazing we never saw or heard it happen. Then again, maybe this finally explains the moose remains Simon keeps finding in the woods. Obviously from this latest episode, his discovery was one of the moose's front legs, complete with muscle and fur. Gross, Simon.

At any rate, yes, we have our share of wildlife. When the moose show up, which is regularly, at most we'll have the usual mama moose and her twins. On occasion a lone bull will wander around, like the one who rutted up our deck a few weeks ago, then helped himself to our apple tree sapling. But recently we hosted not one, not three, but six moose simultaneously. This is odd, because moose are not herd animals at all. They're utter loners, expect for mothers looking after their calves. And on this day, we somehow ended up with two mothers and their respective twins. One set of brothers were clearly a bit older, and rutted in our front yard with their budding antlers. They also stood about on our deck and snacked on our foliage. One of the two smaller calves was curious about our garden hose, and peeked her head around the corner of the house for a better look. All of this took place in full view of our front door and windows, and the five of us peered out to enjoy the free show. They roamed around for more than an hour.

In other news, Halloween came and went again. Trick or treating can be challenging when you only live five degrees south of the Arctic Circle, and many parents resort to sitting in their running vehicles, while their kids hop in and out on their way for more candy. As serious Halloween goers growing up, we find this practice unacceptable. Therefore, we get very cold, very quickly. :) The kids wear multiple layers under their costumes (even then usually ending up with a coat on before the night is over), and we move fast. This year, we took our pirate, cheetah and teddy bear out to several houses, and then to the pioneer home (retirement village) to say hi to the old folks and score more candy. We all had a blast.

♥, The Tuckers