ice makes my life interesting...

Right after Christmas, the whole state got a major warm up. For Fairbanks, that means it went from 40 below to 20 below. For Port Alsworth and the Anchorage area (not that they are close, but that they got the same weather and I was in both places to be affected by it) it went from well below freezing to a daytime high of 40 degrees. While the heat wave made new years eve fireworks very pleasant, it made commuting and general movement outside, well, difficult.

I know. Slushy snow does not make ice. However, when you apply a couple days worth of rain to the slushy snow, it makes for a glassy surface of zero traction (remember, the ground is still pretty solid, so it doesn't just melt away into the earth). Not only do you have difficulty moving across a flat surface, you also have puddles collecting in any low lying areas. It was difficult enough maneuvering around the slightest of inclines around Anchorage, but then I got back to Port Alsworth. Have I mentioned that I live on top of a little hill? Its not up the side of a mountain, its just a hill. But now this hill is, like everything else, covered in ice.

After several days of getting used to traction on ice, we got a light dusting of snow. now not only do you have no traction, but you have a lubricant over the top of the ice to make it that much more slick. I was walking to work that evening (helping someone wrap a project up) and I unintentionally started walking through a rather deep puddle. Someone had mentioned earlier that it went over his bunny boots. so I steer to try to get out of the puddle, but my direction change was too rapid, and I felt myself slipping in further toward the middle. From there, an unbalanced application of force occured, ending with me sitting right in the middle of the whole thing! The same person who warned me of its depth was outside saw my headlamp from a distance and couldnt help but laughing at my misfortune.

I probably would have laughed too.