October 17th - Frost, Snow and Hockey

We still don't have a laying snow. Winter is taking it's time coming to Alaska. Who would have believed that Buffalo NY would have been hit with a blizzard, and here in Fairbanks we still have mostly sunny skies and not a bit of snow.

This doesn't mean it's not getting colder. Overnight temperatures are now dipping below freezing and when I get up in the morning, there is frost on everything. The frost clings to the edges of leaves and grass, like sugar coating. It's a beautiful sight.

A few days ago, I took my camera with me on my morning walk with Sedona. I wanted to capture some of the leaves with their delicate edging of ice crystals. I just love the way Mother Nature makes even dying leaves look so beautiful!

I've been keeping busy during the week with my friend Rachael. We're hoping and praying that our Stryker Brigade comes home before Thanksgiving, but the word is that they'll be home by mid December. Homecoming can't come soon enough for the families waiting to see their loved ones again. Rachael hasn't seen James since Thanksgiving, so it will be a year since they've seen each other. I do my best to help the weeks pass quickly for her; spending time running errands together, and attending local events.

This past Friday night, the Alaska Nanooks hockey team played the Air Force for their opening game. It was military appreciation night, and the Nanooks won the game 3-0. We had a blast watching the game, practicing our skills shooting action photos, and people watching. We especially loved watching the kids as they cheered, waved pennants, and banged on the glass when the opposing team got close to it. There certainly was a lot of spirit in the arena.

The team comes out of the polar bear

Missing the puck Score for the Nanooks!

Everyone loves the tripping and falling and fighting

After the final score.

On Sunday morning, we woke to a beautiful dusting of snow. Unfortunately, it was gone by later in the afternoon when the sun came out. But, for a few short hours, the ground was white with snowflakes. Again, I took my camera with me when I took Sedona for her walk. This time, there wasn't sugar coating on the edges of the leaves. Instead, white fluffy flakes clung to the foliage and the grass. It almost looked fake; like something you'd see at a play or on a movie set. Dry and airy, rather than wet and heavy. Light as a feather...

“The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event”

I stopped under the trees edging the path behind my house. There's a fence that runs under the trees, separating Fort Wainwright from the civilian neighborhood. There is a squirrel who makes his home on the other side of that fence, high in the trees. I scanned the treetops looking for him. I could hear him chattering, but couldn't pinpoint his location. Even if I could have located him, there was no chance of him coming down closer while I had Sedona with me. She's not a fan of squirrels, and the minute she catches a glimpse of one, she turns into a close cousin of Cujo. I knew there'd be no photographs of squirrels that morning.

The chickadees were an active bunch - flitting from branch to branch high above us. They fly quickly, and capturing them with my lens can be impossible. By the time I get a focus on one of these feathered beauties, he's off for another branch in another tree.

I decided to wait it out; letting them get used to my (and Sedona's) presence. I stood quietly for about ten minutes and then began to whistle softly. A few of the birds flew down low, across the path, as if they were checking me out. And then one landed on the fence right next to me. I pulled my camera up to my eye and focused on him, hoping he wouldn't take off before I snapped the photo. He stayed put for about 45 seconds, as if he knew I merely wanted to take his picture. What a treat! Not only did I get a lovely photo of him perched on the fence, but I happened to catch him flying away too.

The chickadee I photographed is a Boreal Chickadee (P. hudsonicus). They are found in the coniferous forest of central and western Alaska. Like the dark spruce forests they inhabit, boreals have relatively drab colors—brown cap, brownish gray back, and reddish brown sides.

From the Alaska Department of Fish and Game website:

While most songbirds we see in the summer depart for the south each fall, the chickadees are year-round residents in the north. It is remarkable that such a small bird can endure our long, cold winters. At times the difference between its core body temperature and the air temperature just outside of its feathers can be 150°F! Chickadees have a few special adaptations to help them survive in this rigorous environment. First, they have much denser plumage than other songbirds of their size. This heavy down coat allows them to trap warm air close to the body to insulate them from the cold. Second, chickadees have a special ability to put on fat quickly. Birds use fat as fuel to keep them warm during the long winter nights in Alaska. Chickadees can put on 8 percent of their body weight in fat each day (equivalent to 12 pounds of fat on a 150-pound human). They use that fat overnight when food is unavailable and then replace it the next day. Each winter day the chickadees go through the same cycle: eat and put on fat in the daylight and then burn up fat to keep warm through the long night. To help them conserve this valuable fat, chickadees have one more physiological trick. They drop their body temperature at night, much like woodchucks and ground squirrels. By producing less heat, they burn less fat.

Chickadees are attracted to bird feeders filled with unshelled sunflower seeds. One of the first things I plan to do when we move into the new place is hang a bird feeder. I'd like to hang it close to the house, so I can watch (and photograph) the chickadees. I've heard that if you hold seeds in your hand, they are sometimes brave enough to come down and take them from you. That would be an awesome experience!

Steve and I are anxiously awaiting settlement on our house. We can't wait to move into the place, and arrange our furniture, hang photographs and drapes, and finally have a real 'home' after years of moving from place to place, courtesy of Uncle Sam. I have an idea how I want to set everything up, but really won't know how it will work until we get our stuffed moved in.

Over the last week or so, I've been busy purging and tossing things I don't want to move to the new house. Today I donated six bags of clothing to the Fairbanks Resource Agency. It's stuff I've been hanging onto forever, but which I know I'll never wear again. I still have some major purging (and shredding) to take care of in the home office, but I need an industrial strength shredder to do it. Steve's going to borrow one from a friend this weekend.

What I am most excited about is putting up the tree for Christmas. I didn't put the tree up last year because I spent Christmas with my sons. But this year, I will be able to celebrate with Steve and friends, and I look forward to having a festive house. Sometimes I want to pinch myself, because I can't believe we're really going to be in our own house, and living here in Alaska. We have dreamed about this for years.