Happy Winter Solstice!

Yesterday, Dec 21, was the winter solstice. We got 3 hours and 41 minutes of daylight — with sunrise at 10:57 AM and sunset at 2:39 PM. Today we gained 30 seconds of daylight. Near the equinoxes, the change in day length is about 9-10 minutes a day! Near the solstices, it's under a minute.

Here are some notes from my friend Asikłuk:

"Tatqiġġuuq suli nuiḷġaaqami auraġnaġiaylaitchuġġuuq. Siqiñiġmiñ iŋaiġuti’ami, ukiuq takiraqtuq. Aasriiñ siqiñiq nuiḷġaaqami auraġnaġiaġaqtuġġuuq. Iñuich niqaiqsuat auraġnaġiaqman quyaraqtuq. Aasriiñ auraġnaġianġitman, taragguuq nagliksaaġaqtut, iḷaŋich kakkaaqhutiŋ. Taimani taatnaqhutiŋ ittuatlaiññiqsuat. Taatna niqi katinniuraqługu ataramik piraqniqsut.”

"There are four days in December when the sun will be completely gone from the sky in our area [Northwest Alaska]. After these four days, our people watch the night sky to see if the moon comes up first, our people know that the winter will be long. Summer will be late if the moon comes up first. If the sun comes up first, the people will be happy. They know that there will be an early spring. Winter will be short and summer will soon be there. Food supplies are usually short by the beginning of spring so an early spring is an event to be happy about. It will mean that the birds and the fish will soon be in our area for us to hunt and catch. In the event that winter will be prolonged, we take extra caution to ration our winter supply of food during the second half of the winter season. We make sure that we do not starve before summer comes.”

Minnie Gray and Ruthie Sampson

Atautchikun Gazhee (We are celebrating Gazhee together)!

Our ceremonies and celebrations are sacred. My great-uncle shared about Gazhee which was a seven-day event around this time of year. Ceremonies evolve over time, and we do not want to forget our connections to our ancestors. Today we remember Gazhee by singing to the Winter Solstice Siqiñiq (Sun). Though the ceremony has changed, it is not forgotten. Today, we feel our ancestors present, and we look forward to a new year with family and friends.

Every year on the Solstice, Asikłuk, his wife Amy, and The Pavva Iñupiaq Dancers have a small ceremony to watch the sun rise from the UAF Troth Yeddha' campus.

It worked! The sun came back!

Asikłuk

Look at the snow blowing sideways off Mt. Hayes! It looks brutal up there!

I thought it was cold enough where we were, and there was no wind! Here is a photo Amy took of DL and me:

Here is what I wore underneath:

I wear "just" a sweater and a down jacket to walk the girls. Moving keeps me warm! But the warm air puffs out my coat and frosts my eyelashes.

Taking a walk with my girlfriends!

It's been brrrrrrrr-tacular for a while now.

Mmmmmm kalestem!

We love kalestemzzz!

We also like hugs!

And snuggles!

Only one day in the last two weeks was warm enough for Raven to chase her boll. However, we lost it several times in the fresh snow. Her scentwork skills come in handy then... She sniffs and snorffs around until she finds it!

She is also up to learning weaves in agility! Still with training wheels on...

And they clean their FANGS!

And they snuggle with DL on the COWCH!

I consider winter solstice the new year, so... Happy New Year and happy Gazhee to all 14 of my loyal readers! I hope you and yours are warm and well!

Happy Brrrrrr-Tacular Winter!

Happy Winter! It is officially brrrrrrr-tacular!

Princess Cricket, who is part sprinter dog, gets cold more easily, and sometimes opts out of our walks to remain behind holding down the couch, but I wondered if she might want to join us on more walks if I got her a coat, so our friend MK gave us some doggie coats to try. I think Cricket likes this one, so she let us keep it. It's a very fetching turquoise blue, suitable for a princess.

Over Thanksgiving, Miss April was back at Sirius. She has a wonderful family now, but they went away for Thanksgiving and left her to be boarded. She is all grown up now! But I couldn't get any good photos since she was being boarded with a puppy and just wanted to play. :D

It was super pretty that afternoon.

Then it got warm again, so warm that our creek crossing opened up again! Alas! But we could still access other neighborhood trails. The powerline access trails are well-maintained.

DL and his frosty face.

Then we go home and build a fire and eat veggiebuhlz!!

Mmmmm kalestemzzz!

Another day we decided to walk Ester Dome one more time for the season. It was very pretty up there, although this close to solstice the light is low.

Cricket contemplates the view.

Backlit DL

Open water at a drainage stream.

Raven in the pretty light.

The bare birch trees are very picturesque, too.

The tiny, faraway sun.

There is a lot of Alaskan artwork with this view: Sunlight through winter birch.

A few days later, temperatures plummetted for real, so I dove back into the closet to get more supplies:

Princess Cricket modeling Her Royal Coat:

They always line up at the door when I touch my shoes.

But when we get back, they happily return to the couch.

Hope you are all staying warm and safe out there!

Yay! Finally skiing!

Last Sunday was our first day there was sufficient snow to ski! It seems a bit late in the year, but I do recall doing some Thanksgiving skis that were questionable. But I did so miss this beautiful view.

Raven, the non-racing dog, is a very noncommittal solo skijor dog. This may be the year that I learn to ski for real instead of depending on dogs for propulsion! XC skiing is an actual skill that my years of owning sled dogs have NOT taught me.

Cricket runs loose caboose nowadays. At 14 she is still unbelievably strong, but she deserves to relax.

I climb my office stairwell to the 4th floor, and often arrive just as the sun is rising.

The other morning I found a group of my coworkers all up from their desks admiring the sunrise, too.

It was so bright and cold, there were sundogs. We were starting to muse on sundogs vs. rainbows, and my coworker started explaining.

And drawing diagrams! Sometimes I get frustrated working in academia, but at times like these, I am grateful. My coworkers are so interesting--and interested! And we often have interesting moments to share.

Just had to share a photo of the laundromat crew. Aren't they adorable? The giant puppy, Bjarki, I knew since he was weight weeks old and "only" about 20 pounds.

Mmmmmm KALESTEMZZ!

YESH! KALESTEMZ!

UAF doesn't have classes the Wed before Thanksgiving, so I'm working from home today and tomorrow. Princess Cricket likes lounging in front of the fire.

Raven spends her days on our bed. She is so committed to her weekdays on our bed that she doesn't even hang out with me when I work from home. She'll come down to escort me to pee (a German Shepherd mandate), but afterwards, she dashes back upstairs so quickly she doesn't even wait for her thank-you-snacky, even though she knows she is entitled to one.

Happy Thanksgiving to all 14 of my Loyal Readers! Fred Meyer didn't give out free turkeys with some minimum purchase this year. Instead, they made turkeys $0.59/ pound, up to two, no minimum purchase necessary. These worked out to be $8-9 each! If you are obtaining turkeys for the food bank, this is actually a better deal for two, than one free one and buying another at full price!