When temperatures are this cold, the air is very still, and the Tanana Valley has dramatic inversion layers (mmm good bite of turkey right there). Higher elevations can be 40F degrees (22C degrees) warmer than lower elevations. And by higher elevations, I mean about 1000-2000 feet. It doesn't take much to experience this phenomenon (mmmm some gravy has run into my squash...). Smoke rising from smokestacks cannot even push through the dense, cold air, so it moves sideways, even though there is no wind. Smog and particulates are trapped with us, making air quality quite bad. I won't run with the girls until temperatures come back up and the air gets moving again. I think it's bad for our lungs. We return from outside excursions smelling like everyone's smoke, and this can be unpleasant when people are burning trash.
Thank goodness heating oil prices have come down! It's about $2 a gallon right now. It was about $4.75 late last Winter. Ouch! (mmmm... good bite of thigh meat right there... does that sound pornographic?)
Here is a photo of the girls this morning. I think I caught a new napping permutation!
Happy new year everyone! I wish you joy in 2009!
6 comments:
Ok, so someone has to say it out in the open - you are crazy!!!
People climbing Himalaya want to prove they can do it, but that action is just for days or weeks, not for months and years. When most human won't do something, there are usually good reasons. Why beat up your body for no necessary reasons? I pray there won't be adversarial effect on your body in the long-run. Please be careful and alert.
Daisy, you continue to amaze me in your badass ways.
40 below, huh? So when you open the door of a building to the outside, is there an immediate poof of moisture that crystallizes from the diff in temps between inside and out? Is there a big foggy cloud?
Hope that the air inverty thingy clears up and you're able to enjoy the outdoors again. Burning trash? Really? Do people have backyard incinerators or is that something that happens at the dump under some sort of regulated process?
I just don't see how you handle that cold! Especially moving from California! I bow to you! :) Happy New Year!
Have a safe, healthy and happy 2009
Yes, exactly! The big puff of steam makes your entrance look like that of a magician!
Our trash goes to landfill, so I'm not sure exactly why people burn it. I do know that some people burn a lot of household trash in their wood stoves, as a source of free heat. Another source of local stench is people who cook up salmon gruels for their dog teams. Ew! Yeah, the girls and I often smell fishy.
Yeah, we're all crazy as loons up here. Cheers!
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