Cold and I

Temperature- 10 degrees, snowing, windchill -6
Begin civil twilight 9:35 a.m.
Sunrise 10:32 a.m.
Sunset 4:41 p.m.
End civil twilight 5:38 p.m.

The cold and I have made peace. We were fighting for a while, but it looks as though we will have to contend with each other for a long while still, so we sat down, and worked it out.

My latest strategy: to ignore it. I try as hard as possible to not think about the outside at all until I am actually outside. This is pretty difficult to do when you are standing in your arctic entry, a trail of windblown snow on the floor because it blew through the cracks in the door frame, putting on a massive amount of clothing.

In all seriousness, things are good. The weather has not (generally) be horrifically cold, and I am enjoying winter very much. Chris bought a snowmachine last week, and I am taking up (or attempting to take up) cross country skiing. There have been talks of winter camping sometime soon, and hopefully ice fishing (manaqqing) will happen soon.

It is dark dark dark. The sun has only been up an hour when I walk to work....at noon. At is LONG set when I leave. But if I worked a 9-5, there would be no amount of time during the day that the sun was up and I was not at work, so I consider myself lucky that I can at least walk TO work in the sun.

Thanksgiving was lovely- lots of rushed cooking on my part, dinner with a coworker, followed by one with friends. I am looking forward to Christmas in Omaha with my parents and siblings followed by a visit from Ma and Grandad! Less than 3 weeks away!!

Hope all is well downstates...
Peace.

Voters Relax Liqor Laws

Temperature: 48 degrees F, 70% chance of rain rain rain
Begin civil twilight 8:29 a.m.
Sunrise 9:12 a.m.
Sunset 7:56 p.m.
End civil twilight 8:38 p.m.

Here's an interesting article about a vote that took place this week involving Bethel's liquor laws.

In general, people are very surprised that this new policy passed. Many seemed to take it for granted that it would fail.

Under current laws, a Bethel resident can order or bring in up to a certain weight amount of liquor, beer, and wine. You cannot purchase alcohol in the city. You have to have it air-freighted from Anchorage.

Under new laws, there will be no limit on the amount of alcohol one can bring in to Bethel. It also allows for up to two liquor stores and up to two bars. These venues are not automatically granted (and would most likely be opposed by the city council), but the very possibility has a lot of people very frieghtened by what might happen as a result of the influx of alcohol into Bethel and the region.

It's worth noting that nearly all of the 56 villages accessable through Bethel are dry- meaning possession of alcohol is illegal.

Click HERE for the article