The winter wonderland continues... and continues... and continues

February 25, 2014 – Tuesday

-6 degrees/clear/breezy

Pentoga Road

Just as in the movie, Groundhog Day, the days keep repeating, one after the other. Until the winter weather breaks, about all one can do is to keep throwing logs on the fire.

Due to the wind (50 mph) from last week's storm, snow covers one complete side of the trees, or telephone poles, from top to bottom.

The biggest killer is the darn wind. Supposedly, it’s to die down over the next day or two so we can simply enjoy Thursday night’s predicted low of -30 degrees. That’ll be a good thing; no wind to get in the way of a record-setting temperature. Maybe I can get Al to come and enjoy it with the rest of us who live in the Upper Midwest.

The wind blowing snow across Pentoga Road on Monday morning

I walked five miles yesterday morning and almost hiked another five in the afternoon, simply as an excuse to get out of the house. Common sense prevailed and I remained inside and graded papers.

There's a family-sized car under that mound of snow

Even Brutus was a poop. We went outside to play fetch, but he decided he’d rather lie in a snow bank and simply chew the ball rather than retrieve it. I got fed up, yanked the ball from his mouth, and came back inside. As I told him, if he doesn’t want to play by the rules, we aren’t going to play.

It’s hard to believe that my classes are on assignment seven (of ten) already this semester. Spring break will soon be upon us and after that, we’ll be concentrating on the final projects. I see that I’m already scheduled to teach this coming summer and fall sessions. The university continues to treats me well. You want to go to college… a son or daughter, perhaps grandchildren? The University of Alaska – Southeast! (While in attendance, tell them to take Alaska Studies, ALST 300 or 600; keep the old man working.)

I made three loaves of bread yesterday morning, then barbeque last night. When Sargie came home, she had her’s over salad with a piece of bread on the side. I went “whole hog” and simply piled my barbeque over three pieces of bread, squeezed mustard over the top, and finished it off with a layer of jalapeno peppers. Probably a guy shouldn’t have that an hour before he goes to bed. I slept well, but I can’t vouch for Sargie.

Today… most likely a carbon copy of yesterday. Sargie’s closing tonight, so it’ll be a late one for her. I’ll ride partway with her and walk the five miles back; maybe all the way over to Rt. 2 making the walk closer to ten miles. There’s not a lot else to do; I might as well enjoy a below zero stroll.

There are a few assignments that came in overnight. I’ll read those this afternoon and probably find the time in my busy schedule to sneak in a grandpa nap.

After all, a man’s work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road…

Brutus now has to crawl down to enter his doghouse