Oh my goodness. So many things I never knew about Alaska! Thought I'd share some of the things that I find interesting/entertaining/funny.
*Of course, the moose. I see them several times a week, not quite daily, but close. We do not in any way live in the wilderness, just a regular neighborhood like everyone else. They wander into our yard, our driveway, our neighbors yard, etc. and just eat the dead bushes. We have a momma and baby moose who seem to have a home nearby. Can you spot them both in this picture I took this morning? I am standing on our porch taking this pic in our neighbor's house just across our driveway.
*More moose! Moose at school - sometimes they come over the intercom warning the kids about a moose in the back of the school, and on Friday our school secretary burst outside banging on a drum so a moose in our courtyard would take off.
*Icy roads. Turns out when there's a thick layer of ice/snow on the roads, you can't actually see any lane lines. So people just sort of drive where they want. Entertaining on big 6-lane roads.
*Similarly, icy parking lots. They don't ever plow the parking lot at our school, so the visibility of the lines separating the parking spaces have long since disappeared. So you just sort of park where you vaguely remember the spots used to be. Also, my bus duty station involves asking parents to not park in our Fire Lane. Since the ice and snow have long since covered our curb, and there is no longer a curb to be seen, it usually sounds something like, "This is actually a red zone. I know. But there's actually a curb here, and it's red. So could you park somewhere else please?"
*The snow here has a really weird texture. Very powdery. You can't actually make snowballs or a snowman or anything.
*Lack of snow. Well, we have tons of snow. But it doesn't actually snow very much. I'd be surprised if it snows more than 2-3 times a month. It just never melts.
*Oh, speaking of which.... this is actually a depressing one. Often, when I get into my car in the afternoon after work, there is still snow from my boots from the morning. Like, big chunks of snow. Unmelted.
*The kids here go outside for recess no matter what the weather. Well, I guess extreme wind or maybe if it got to like 20 below. I told my kids at school that California kids stay inside for recess if it's raining and they did NOT believe me.
*The only time we've had snow days off school this year was once when it got into the 30's during the day and then froze at night, causing all the roads to be too icy to drive on the next morning. So ironically enough, the only snow days we got were some of the warmest of the year!
So there you go! A little glimpse into our life up here and some of the things that have been amusing me this winter!
