Aurora Borealis

I finally saw the Northern Lights last night, and they were even more amazing that I had imagined!

They were so strong we first saw them from our backyard when we were letting Willow outside before bed.

Karl was nice enough to hop in the car with me and head outside of Anchorage where it was a bit darker.

To finish out the evening, a mama moose and her baby walked within feet of our car before we headed back home!

Sun on the Mountains

This view just never gets old...

As seen from the Glenn Highway, at the amazing hour of 5:30pm - finally!

Big Dipper

Can you see it?!?

I wish it wasn't such a blurry photo, but when you're trying to take pictures of stars (with your shutter open for 25 seconds) and you've left your tripod at home, you have make do.  In my case, this was wedging the camera between the dashboard and windshield of my car.  Ideal? No.  Sufficient? Yes.

Still Kicking...

No worries,  Karl and I haven't died - just continuing to hibernate.  It is COLD!  I'm not sure we've made it above zero in the last week.  The furnace is definitely planning to die, but hasn't quite kicked the bucket enough for the landlord to give a hoot.  With my luck it will stop working altogether on a Friday night, and we'll turn in to human (and puppy) popsicles overnight!

You know it's cold when there ice build up on the INSIDE of your house:

You know it's cold when your dog tries to keep one (or two) feet in the air while going to the bathroom outside:

You know it's cold when said dog ends up here immediately after coming back inside:

In any case, we haven't been doing much of anything lately.  My car has been at the dealer for a multitude of problems - fried battery, non-working airbags, a dislocated axel, and no brakes.  Oh, and it's in need of an oil change, too.  What a crybaby, that car...  Perhaps it's experiencing some delayed anger at having been driven so far this summer.  I've been working pretty late every day while I wait for Karl to get off of work to come get me.  I finally get to pick it up tomorrow - just in time to take it back in next week for my remote start to be installed.  Fun times here in Alaskaland!

At least we're not in Valdez - 27 feet of snow!  Check out adn.com for some pretty spectacular photos.  Hey, they're paying $20 an hour to help dig the town out, if you're interested!

We don't have quite that much snow here, although we've already surpassed the average for an ENTIRE winter.  It stands to reason that my first AK winter would be excessively cold and snowy!  Our street is slowly becoming one lane from all of the snow piled up, and I see people cross country skiing down the sidewalks.  Only in Alaska people, only in Alaska!

Willow the Acrobat

Karl and I had some fun tormenting Willow by throwing snow balls at her this past weekend.  Her reaction when she actually caught one is too funny to even put into words.  

I'm continually amazed at how she manages to be going two different directions at the same time.

Part dog, part kangaroo...

 "What? Do I have snow on my face?"

"Hmph.  It's not like I'm eating it or anything..."

I'll just go ahead and call that a winter break...

Oops.  It would appear that I've been rather neglectful in my blogging.  Fortunately, I was reminded by several friends and family members that they've missed my posting, so I rushed home and promptly ignored my blog for another week.  Oops again.

It would appear that I'm entering hibernation mode to some extent.  It's cold here, and oh so dark.  I've been going to bed at like 9 pm all week.  I'm such a party animal.

In any case, I haven't been doing too many fun and exciting things lately.  I have very few photos to share, because it's far too dark by the time I get home to take any.  And I'm sure you don't all need to see a hundred photos of Willow laying on the couch!

So here's what I've got - It's somewhat of a backlog, and there's not much rhyme or reason to it.  Enjoy!

The view from my backyard

BIG Bear!

Gives new meaning to 'icicle lights' 

Louie Louie

Jeg Elsker Deg!

The only thing I miss about Michaels

mmm.... sugar!

Home Sweet Pitsburgh

Kitty Kitty

Willow's got the right idea

Poor Willow is the biggest wimp when it comes to the cold.  Apparently, sitting on the couch, smashed in between Karl and I, still doesn't keep her as warm as she wants to be.

Instead, she sleeps on top of the furnace vent.

Yes, there is a vent under there.  Hard to see considering someone is hogging all of the warm air.

I must admit, it is pretty cute when her ears are flopping all over the place from the air blowing...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I finally managed to get some photos of our outside Christmas lights.  I know I promised them awhile ago...  Oops.  It's been way to cold to stand outside in the street taking pictures, so I've been procrastinating.  This weekend gave us temperatures of over 40 degrees though, so I figured now was probably the best time.  Especially considering that all of Anchorage is going to be one massive block of ice as soon as the temperature drops again...

Having the house all lit up so brightly is a wonderful thing to come home to...

We even had some real icicles to go along with the icicle lights.  Too bad they have since melted with our bizarrely warm temperatures.

I can see them through the window as I sit in the living room each night.  I'm thinking my lights may just stay up through April.  It's quarter to five Sunday night as I sit here writing this, and it's 100% pitch black outside.   My lights help make winter life just a little bit brighter!

Oh Christmas Lights, how I adore you...

Say what you will about BP, but they rock my favorite holiday lights so far.  I love moose and I love Christmas lights, so what could possibly be better than combining the two?

I've been wanting to head over and get some photographic evidence, and we finally made it out a few days ago.  Only one security guard came over and wanted to know why I was standing there, on a cold, dark night, taking pictures of the BP building.

Just makes me happy every time I drive past!