Old Man Winter And Other Worthy Distractions
So many changes and opportunities have come along in the past few months that it is hard to choose where to focus my time and energy some days. This week has been a near communications blackout for me, as Old Man Winter decided to hit us with back to back storms and dump in almost two feet of snow, settling in for an early winter here in Alaska. I know a lot of people think we are always covered in snow, but truly, we have gorgeous summers, and just like most parts of the world, we're none to happy about it when Winter decides to rear his ugly head (especially when it happens to be a full month early!) Thousands of homes are still affected by these area-wide power outages, which have been caused by the heavy snow dropping trees and damaging the power lines. Fortunately, after three days, our power was restored. We are all fortunate that it hasn't been colder than 20 degrees yet, so it hasn't reached dire circumstances, just quite inconvenient for most.
Previous to winter setting in I spent a month working on what has turned out to be a $15,000 fundraiser for the Alaska Nanook Hockey Team at University of Alaska - Fairbanks. I'm quite happy to have this into production, and as our hockey team is a particular passion for my family, I've deemed it my worthy distraction. Budget cuts are rampant everywhere and every dollar we can help earn for the UAF Hockey program is particularly close to my heart. That is all part of the giving back to the community where I've lived my entire life. Last weekend I participated in the season kickoff event and we'll attend our first of the season exhibition game on Sunday. I'll be volunteering during each home game as the season gets underway, and will be out of town at a tournament next weekend, as well. The snow is here, thus, it must be time for hockey!
I took advantage of many opportunities to travel around the state this summer and gathered article ideas and took many pictures to use on my travel blog. My plan is to spend the winter working on my courses and writing articles with all the research material I've gathered. It helps with expenses if I can stay home and write most days, and that is my main objective. I haven't been off our property in a week and I'm loving it! I even resorted to that old school method of pen and paper to work on blog ideas and other writing projects while the power was out. It will take a few days to get that all collated, but I've kept busy, read a lot, and even worked on some long neglected organizational projects. The internet is a boon, but can be a distraction at times, too! There is nothing like a blackout to put that into proper perspective.
I've also spent time exploring different free webinars to branch out with some new writing projects and opportunities. I'll be sharing more on that later as the ideas develop and I've solidly embarked on which avenues to explore. It was a fantastic summer of growth and exploration and I'm excited for this journey. Now that Old Man Winter is here, I've decided to make him my friend and thank him for the opportunity to hibernate in my warm home and work on all my projects! (Now if we can just convince GVEA to keep the power on!)
Be prepared, Winter is coming soon...
Wishing you all the best,
Kim
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I don't want to think about winter YET. I want to enjoy Fall a little longer. Summers are way too short in Alaska and maybe that's why you have 24 hrs of daylight. My kids were little when we lived there and they used to get so confused about bedtime. Hopefully you don't have too many issues with power this year.
Thanks, Debbi! The outages seem more frequent the past few years, but part of being Alaskan is to adapt and overcome whatever the climate might throw your way. We will persevere. We do so love our perpetual daylight hours in the summer.
I remember visiting family in Oregon when I was about six years old. Normally, we would make that trip in the winter, but this particular time it was the height of summer. The first night we were there we all were taking a walk around my Uncle's neighborhood and as it was approaching 8:30 or so, it started to get dark. My world absolutely crumbled and I didn't understand. The adults were confused as to why I was getting upset. I thought there was something absolutely wrong because it was summer (and in my world of experience) it wasn't supposed to get dark at all on summer nights. My distress gave them all a good laugh once they figured out my problem and explained it to me. It is a funny memory now. :)
It goes to show that our world is the total sum of our experiences. That is all part of the adventure here at WA, collecting all the experiences and knowledge possible. It is funny what life lessons we can learn at an early age.
All the best!
Kim
It's that time of the year I'm not looking forward to personally. I'm planning to have a winter getaway this year. Hope all's well there.
Hi, and thanks for the follow! The snow is beautiful and it isn't too cold yet. I may get a few more days of autumn on my trip to Anchorage next week, unless the snow hits them before then, too! Wishing you all the best. Kim
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I am really tired of the heat...winter is good!