Today was a lovely, spring-like day. The temperature got up to 39 degrees! It hasn’t been that warm for a few months. Almost every winter we get a few days of above freezing temperatures to tease us a bit yet give us hope that winter will end soon. The snow is melting slowly which is so much better than a rapid melt. When it melts rapidly there is usually a big mess on the roads and walkways with lots of slush and sometimes water on top of the ice.

Although tonight there is expected active auroras the clouds will prevent us being able to see them…again. Guess I would rather forgo seeing the northern lights than having to deal with those really cold temperatures. Most every time the temperature comes up a bit we get snowed on. So far we have had over 32 inches of snow this winter. Because the temperature is so warm, they are predicting rain for the next day or so if we get any precipitation.

We have now gained almost two hours of light each day over the amount we had just before Christmas. That means we now had 7 hours 37 minutes and 3 seconds of daylight today. That is an increase of 4 minutes, 56 seconds over yesterday. Sunrise was at 9:30 this morning and sunset was at 5:07 this evening. I sure like it when there is increase in daylight. Barrow even had its first sunrise of the year this week after two months of no sun above the horizon.

There were several times this winter where the temperature variations were over 90 degrees within the state. I have seen it where there is 100 degrees difference between the highs and lows. In fact, many years ago I remember being in the interior two weeks apart and there being over 100 degrees difference between those two visits in the same area. The first time it was -65 degrees and then two weeks later it was 36 degrees. Usually there is quite a distance geographically between the areas. Yesterday’s high was at Palmer at 49 degrees and the low was at Arctic Village at -17, a difference of 66 degrees. So it goes in Alaska.

We had a nice stew for dinner tonight. That is one of the blessings of winter. Some things just don’t taste so good all year…soups and stews being a couple that taste so much better during the winter. Anyway, the stew had a nice beef roast, lots of carrots and onions, some celery; and turnips and turnip greens that I grew last summer, blanched and froze. I added some leftover brown rice with other vegetables, too. Before serving I added quite a bit of dulse and granular kelp which not only adds flavor but also lots of trace minerals including iodine.

I’ve been taking T-3 to try to get my body temperature somewhere near normal, my metabolism started again, and maybe find some energy. Apparently, my early morning temperature indicates that I have Wilson’s Thyroid Syndrome and the

T-3 is very effective at restoring the body temp to normal. Once it does become normal, I shouldn’t need any other help to maintain the temperature for several years. That sure sounds good to me.

Well, this is all I can think of for tonight. Hope all is going well with you and yours. Till next time……………