October

We are in a record stretch of October heat on top of the world. Yes, heat! It has been hitting up to 60 degrees every day through much of October. it get down into the 20s at night, but then shoots up during the day. It's a real Indian Summer! The truth is, it can't last. We are just waiting for the bottom to fall out. It could easily be -10F by now. The timing of this warm stretch has been very fortunate for us as we have still not completed the rebuild on our chimney and wood stove. We decided that since we had to rip the whole thing apart anyway, we might as well upgrade to a more efficient Blaze King stove with a catalytic burner. We should use half of the wood we used last winter with this baby. It might get put in today so we are pretty pumped to use it. We are also going to have the hearth and surround redone so it looks nice. Our previous set up was pretty ghetto. This stove also has a clear front so we can actually see the fire. That should be relaxing on a cold winter night.

Without a stove we have just been going without heat and wearing sweaters, burning candles, etc. Our house is so tiny that it is actually very easy to keep it warm. Kari has also been busy putting clear plastic over some windows (acts like an extra pane) in order to keep some more cold out. We'll be in good shape once winter really hits.

Dominik and I started Mite hockey last Saturday. We have about 30 kids and I have about 6 helper coaches so it's going to be a great winter. This will be Dominik's first chance to play actual games so he's really excited....so am I.

The light has changed a lot. Sunrise is now around 8:30 am and sunset occurs around 6:40. We're losing 7 mins a day, so by the end of October it'll be pitch black at 9:00 am and then well before 6 pm....and that's just the beginning. i'm looking forward to experiencing a 11:00 am sunrise and 2:00 pm sunset. New experience!

Sept 09

September 09

The weather around here is constantly amazing me. It seems to turn precisely at the turn of the calendar! July was hot and dry. August was constant rain and cold. September is absolutely perfect! Cool mornings and warm sunny afternoons. It is truly great weather. After not biking to work much at all in August ( too wet) I have been able to ride again. Morning temps have been 35-40, so I now sport a sweater as well as a touque and gloves, but I'm holding the line on the shorts. I'm trying to pretend it's still warm enough for that. The evening ride home is great! 65-70 degrees and sunny. Perfect.

Kari's son Matt arrived last night and will be staying until about the 20th. He is up from Louisianna and back to where he was born. I think he preferes the heat now. I teased him about being a southern boy.

The light changes really fast here, but it's only certain days when you suddenly notice just how different it is. last night Dominik and I were coming back from hockey shortly after 8:00 pm and we both noticed that it was starting to get dark. By 9:00 it was quite dark outside. That has actually been a good thing as all of us are having a much easier time going to sleep. Imagine trying to get your kids to go to sleep when it's never dark! I got up to workout this am and it was still pitch black at 6:00. It wasn't long ago that I could train in full sun at 5:00! I have been backing up my workouts to follow the sun. Haha.

This is the time of the year when people up here start going to bed a little earlier and sleeping in a little more. It's the best way to "catch up" after a summer of staying up really late to enjoy the weather. We all know what's coming. The morning air is a little beyond crisp at this point, and soon it will be cold. our family is actually looking forward to the challenge of our first long AK winter and all the darkness. I think we're well equipped for it.

We have had another house problem and it's a doozy. Our chimney sweep informed us that our chimney is a disaster and a total fire hazard that will require total replacement. I can't wait to see what this costs. We have spent some serious $$$ just getting this place up to snuff, but what can you do. We're trying to keep a positive attitude about all the house stuff and just make it better. The more stuff that pops up, the longer we'll stay here. I have all but decided that we'll just constantly improve this house as we're able and make it better vs. looking for something a little bigger. We wanted a "cabin" style house and that's what we got. We just weren't expecting so many problems!

There aren't many birds left at Creamer's field. We live right along the flyway, so we constantly here them leaving. Pretty cool.

The birch trees are all yellow now, so I'll post a few pics to let you see them. They are beautiful.

I went moose hunting with me friend, Tyler, in Delta Junction on September 1st. What an experience. We saw tons of moose just wandering by, but nothing we could take. Getting a legal moose is serious business around here. Many of my patients have been out hunting this week as well. It is pretty cool to see people cycling with the seasons here. I enjoyed the hunting so much that I need a rifle. I'm told that every Alaskan needs a .22, a 12 guage, a heavy pistol for bear protection, and a 30-06. I need to pick up a 30-06 and the shotgun and I'll be all set. Dominik is really into the hunting and loves to be outside. We have tried to grouse hunt several times, but they are at their low cycle right now and we haven't even seen them. I think I'd rather go for a big animal so that when you get it, the freezer is full for the year. We become residents in January, so I should be moose and caribou hunting in February, and then Salmon fishing in the spring. Should be fun!

Fall is early!

The weather has changed to wet and cool. Fall is in the air. There are a few signs that summer is over and we have them all as of today. The fireweed is at the top, the cabbages are ready to go and today is the first day of school.

Here are a few pictures of the season as well as one of Dominik about to enter the school.

I hope everyone is well!

Who flipped the switch?

I had heard about how abruptly summer ends here, but it has totally shocked me. I had been riding my bike to work in shorts and a t-shirt since the middle of May......come to think of it, it started abruptly, too.........but this week we switched gears. I needed a sweater yesterday! It's only August 10th. I have come to expect August as being another hot summer month, but it's not that way here. August brings much cooler mornings and the daytime high is rarely past 70. July had morning temps around 55-65 F, but we are now firmly in the low 40 F range. What a rapid change!

The daylight has been amazing. We have really enjoyed watching the days stretch out and it's nice to have those long summer days. You can literally play cards outside or garden until 1 am and never need a light. That too, has been disappearing. We are back to having full night and it seems weird. The dark is now beginning at around 10:30 and it is staying dark until around 5:00 am. I get up to work out at 5:45 am and very soon I'll be getting up in the dark. The change is noticeable every day as we are losing about 7 minutes of light daily.

I have been adjusting a teacher from Barrow and he is heading back to the town to prepare for the school year. In Barrow the sun goes down on Nov 20th and doesn't return until Jan 20th! Now that's extreme! I asked him if he does any snowmobiling and he said, "no way! We have polar bears there and they see people as part of the food chain". I would have to say that I sit firmly in my conviction that it is good to live on the edge, but not on the very edge..... It's fun to practice here. I have patients that literally fly in from over 300-400 miles away to see me. Fairbanks is the hub of the interior and when these people come in to shop, they stop in and see us as well. It's interesting to hear stories about living out in the villages or in the bush. We see quite a few people that don't even have running water. You can tell! Haha.

I bought a .22 cal rifle over the weekend and Dominik and I took it to the local range to take a few shots. Dominik is still only 6, but he really likes guns and enjoyed pulling the trigger and pointing it at cans. We are going to go to the Tanana Valley Fair tonight after work.....I'm not that interested since I've been to enough fairs for one lifetime.....but Kari says that it's part of the Fairbanks experience, so we're going. Later this week I am going to take the boys out into the woods and see if we can find some grouse. I bought a small animal license and we're going to continue in the Alaskan experience by seeing if we're cut out to be hunters. I'm going to take Yanik as well, so the birds will have an unfair advantage. He's never been good at being quiet.

We're starting small. I've been on youtube all week learning all the ways to field dress a bird. I don't want to be caught unsure of what to do in case I actually hit one! We're allowed 15 grouse/day, 20 ptarmigan/day and an unlimitted amount of hare. If my shooting is any good, I should be able to get some nice healthy meat for the freezer. We figured we would start small and if we enjoy hunting, maybe next year when we are residents we could go for a deer/caribou/moose, etc. I thought about doing it this year, but we are not residents and it is very cost prohibitive at this point.

Overall, life is great in Alaska. We miss familyand friends of course, but we are thankful for the experiences we are having. I know we'll never regret coming up here, no matter where we end up, but we're planning on staying here for the medium to long term. The biggest shock to living up here was the cost of living and now that Kari is working partime, we have adapted well. Ithink she is really enjoying having a little of her own money and being more independent. My practice has been growing, although it never seems as fast as you would like it to. We had a slow July, but some of that had to do with the high temps and forest fires. Most of July was in the high 80s and we had a record smoke season. The smoke in town was so bad for much of July that it was extremely unhealthy to breath the air and people were supposed to just stay inside if possible. Thankfully it has been raining and the fires are dying down. We saw blue sky for the first time in quite a while this weekend.

More White Mtn Pictures

White Mountains

On July 11th we had yet another new experience. I took Dominik and Yanik and we rode ATVs 7 miles into the White Mountains to stay overnight at Lee's Cabin.

We took after after work on Saturday and headed up the Elliot highway about 40 miles out of town. The scenery along the way was just beautiful. Large rolling hills and lush forests as far as you can see. We arrived at the trailhead and unloaded the trucks and then piled onto the ATVs. I couldn't believe how much stuff we had to cart in there! My buddy had a "meat wagon" and that was sufficient to get all of our overnight supplies into camp.

The trail was pretty bumpy and was certainly a climb in a few spots. We had our guns fairly handy, as this particular area is bear country. I was hoping to see one, but maybe it's better that we didn't with all the little kids.

When we arrived at the cabin we unloaded and then spent the evening enjoying the scenery, playing hide and seek in the woods, and of course eating! For future reference, do not bring potato chips or bags of mini carrots on this trip. The carrots were transformed into soup by the trail and you could imagine what the chips looked like! Nonetheless, we enjoyed spaghetti and even a few nice steaks. The cook...yours truly. The kids had a great time and we loved the fresh air. We never even saw a hint of another person the entire time!