O bed! O bed! Delicious bed!
That heaven upon earth to the weary head.
~ Thomas Hood ~

For more than 14 years, Steve and I have slept on the same queen size mattress. It was a Sealy Posturepedic and gave us many years of sound, comfortable sleep. A few years ago, we both started having problems sleeping, and woke up with aches and pains in our lower back. We put 'band aids' on the problem - first with a feather bed topper, then with an egg crate topper, and finally with a 3" memory foam mattress topper. Each time we added a new mattress topper, we'd get a few more months of comfortable sleep, but soon we'd be back to feeling the familiar aches and pains of a mattress that was no longer doing its job. It was time to invest in a new bed.

We're now the very rested owners of a new king size bed. The bed is made of latex with a memory foam top layer, rather than a coil innerspring. Latex/foam mattresses are reported to be best for those who have back problems and sleep on their side, because the mattress conforms to the curves of the body. We've had the mattress for four days now, and Steve and I haven't slept this well in years! I've been going to bed by midnight and sleeping soundly until 10am. What a difference! Steve's resting much easier too - which is so important on night shift. And as for the bed being bigger, we still get our cuddle time in before drifting off to sleep, and then have plenty of room to spread out too. We should have invested in a new bed a long time ago! A good night of rest is so important.

I had fun shopping for new bedding, and now I have the urge to redecorate the master bedroom. I have a headboard project in my mind that I'd like to build myself too. So many ideas! I hope I can make the time to see them come to fruition.

Wednesday evening it started snowing and didn't stop until Thursday afternoon. A storm settled over Fairbanks and just kept dumping on us for hours. When I woke up, we had 11" of fresh snow. Fairbanks reported an accumulation of 8-10", but some folks in the hills were reporting 14" or more. The snow was so deep that the bottom of Steve's truck left marks across the top where it just about touched. I knew there was no way I would ever get my car out of the garage - or anywhere! - with snow that deep.

Steve's been on night shift and needed to go to bed, so I grabbed the shovel and got started on our driveway. More than two hours later, I had moved 11" of snow from our 60' driveway, to include the turnaround we shovel out in front of the porch for ease of turning around in the driveway.

It wasn't too cold - about zero - and I was dressed more than warmly enough. I broke a sweat almost immediately, and my hair, where it framed my face, was frosted from the warmth of my breath. Frost began building up on the outside of my fleece coat - caused by the evaporation of perspiration. By the time I was through, my legs were rubbery, my back was hurting, and my arms were weak. But I was very proud of all I had accomplished and I knew that Steve would be surprised when he woke up. And he most certainly was!

The snow covered up the sunflower seed trays in the yard, so I dumped the buried seeds and refilled another tray for my chickadee friends. They've been visiting in great numbers over the past few days, no doubt because of the unseasonably warm weather we've been having (above zero). I've got black-capped chickadees (left) and boreal chickadees (right) coming to the seed tray.

Tonight, as I let Sedona out for the last time of the evening, I noticed the almost full moon in the sky and decided to take a few night photos. In the second photo, you can see the headlights and tail lights of a passing car.

There's another Challenge Race tomorrow at Musher's Headquarters. With all the snow we got, the trail should be in much better condition. Tomorrow should be a nice warm day as well. Right now it's 8F above zero here in North Pole, and they are predicting that we could get as high as 30F tomorrow! It will be a good day to watch the dogs run. I plan to go, although Steve will be sleeping as he has to work tomorrow evening.

The Junior Yukon Quest is scheduled for Saturday, February 2nd. You can read more about the young mushers registered to run in the race HERE. The following weekend is the Yukon Quest - and it's the 25th Anniversary of the race. There will be special events downtown to celebrate. I'm excited because the race starts here this year (even numbered years), so we'll get to see all the mushers and the teams before the race start. All of these activities make the winter pass more quickly - a good thing!