Counting Down the Sleeps

“How was your sleep?” is what I get asked most mornings by students. Translated, “How was your night?” So, using that logic, I’ve got 10 sleeps until we leave for Winter Break!

Our frosty doorknob, from inside the house!

It’s been cold here, very cold. The high doesn’t even hit zero during the day and the windchill (20-30mph winds) keep the temp close to 30 below. The inside of the door to the outside has frost on it. Thank goodness for the Mud Room, which has now become the Ice Room. The river is frozen solid now and has become a superhighway for snowmachines and automobiles (the 4WD kind). No speed limit, no road signs, no ditches, no holds barred.

A couple of little boys knocked on my door yesterday carrying what appeared to be a dead grouse (or maybe ptarmigan). Still sickly, I just called through the door, “No visitors,” and watched them walk to the principal’s house next door and knock (no one was home there). I’m not sure what they wanted. Perhaps they were bringing me a present, but I was in no mood to clean a grouse.

The wind howled last night, shaking the house and rattling the siding. It was from the north and it was blowing hard, smoothing over prints in the snow and seeping through the seams in the house. The floor gets cold on nights like that. But, our space heater and slippers help to take off the edge of the chill. Our house is insulated well and for that, I am thankful.

Denali’s been doing great outside during the day, although she has yet to go into her doghouse. I was worried about her being out in that cold, but she seems to be made for it. She gets a little frosty around the neck but seems happy and healthy.


Ten sleeps from now, Sarah and I will be bedding down in Bethel for the night. Eleven sleeps from now, I’ll be having a cocktail on the lanai of our condo in Honolulu – 72 degrees, watching the sun set without even a jacket on. I wish I could find that magic wand that I misplaced so that I could be sure to set a spell and slow down time while we are in Hawaii…