Winter still has us in its grips as this long spell continues. At least the high winds have subsided. I finally put on my first winter coat this week as I gave up and finally acknowledged that it is indeed winter. The jacket I put away is the one I wear for most of the year usually starting in April through at least October or until the temperatures drop to below 20 degrees. This winter jacket has a bit of insulation inside, but with all the high winds, even it was hardly warm enough. Almost grabbed the next coat in line, but didn’t go anywhere so it is still put aside. The winds were so strong that they knocked down two of our trees and blew all my wind chimes off their hangars! Bitter cold winds!!!

Today’s sunrise was at 9:10 a.m. and sunset was at 4:27 giving us a total of 7 hours, 16 minutes, 58 seconds between sunrise and sunset. We lost 4 minutes and 44 seconds over yesterday. Daylight will continue to decrease for another month. The state’s high temperature was 44 degrees at Adak on the Aleutian Chain, and the low was -30 degrees in the center of the state at Delta Junction. Most of Alaska has been hit with high winds and at any temperature, it is bitter cold, but for the people living in the colder temperature areas the wind chill factor puts the feel of the cold at least 20-30 degrees colder than the actual temperature.

I am continuing to enjoy eating my super salad and have added a green smoothie or two to my daily diet focusing on eating lots of raw veggies and fruits. It still amazes me how much better I feel and how much clearer my thinking has been as I increase those raw foods. I have always eaten a lot of vegetables, but have not eaten all that much that were raw until the past couple months. Part of that may be just living here where the cold gets to you and a steaming cup of soup, or warm veggies in a pot roast just help take the chill off the bones. Now, most of my veggies are in salad form and that always goes well with the salmon we had for dinner tonight or the steaks that were part of last night’s dinner, too.

In a few days, my husband and I will be making another trip to Anchorage. This time we will be staying at least a night or two, but the boys will do fine taking care of things while we are away. The forecast is for clear skies so the highway should be in pretty good shape although there may be some black ice here and there. I always drive as those there was black ice all around anyways. So long as it doesn’t warm up and snow, things should be okay. Some people don’t know how to drive in and on the snow and make it hazardous for those who do.

Well, this is about all for this time. Take care. Until then …………….