Welcome To "MY" Alaska

As I type this, the maniacal wind in once again raging outside, keeping me from my sleep. Like last time, it has been blowing for hours and it is fierce and relentless. I have to admit, this is the part of living here that I am so completely and totally over! I thought for sure that after that last freak wind storm (the one when our tree blew down) it would be a very long time before experienced that kind of violent wind again. After all, it had been a very long time since winds like that had ravaged the community. How wrong I was!!!! A few short months was not nearly long enough to be re-living it.

I am siting inside our house right now, typing away and literally ducking as the wind hits the house, anticipating a fallen tree, a broken window or certainly a power outage! I've tried sleeping and even put in earplugs, but let's be real, I couldn't even pretend to not hear the wind roar. This is the part of living in Alaska that I had never heard about when I was living in The Lower 48 and the part the realtors don't warn you about before you purchase. Apparantly, although it doesn't necessarily seem like it, we live in an enclave on a hillside on The Turnagain Arm. I have learned that often times when we experience high winds, the rest of Anchorage is still calm and serene. I suppose, in hindsight, this is the price we pay for a good school and a great view. I guess we kind of sound like those people who live in Laguna Beach in CA. They experience fires, floods, and mudslides, but people still buy,build and re-build homes there. Let me tell you friends, I have learned my lesson and I will be asking about things more trivial things such as wind before we purchase our next home, whenever and wherever that may be.

So everyone, welcome to MY Alaska! In "MY" Alaska, we just spent the past three weeks living with temeperatures well below zero (the 7th longest cold spell on record). Then, two days ago, it literally went from zero and below, to 35 degrees. Wednesday, schools were even closed because we had such a quick and treacherous thaw that it was unsafe to travel on the slick, icy roads. Many streets were literally turned to ice rinks and were so bad that trucks with studded tires and four-wheel drive couldn't even get traction. The streets and ditches were littered with cars all day long! Needless to say, it wasn't your typical Wednesday around here. I am starting to wonder if "typical" really exists here in Alaska.

I am all about character building, but this is a bit ridiculous! It is currently 1:20 in the morning and all I want right now is a little peace and quiet so I can get some sleep. Wish me luck!

It Started As A Nightmare

I'll let you know how it ends!

The wind started in the night and in the early morning hours it howled like a mad man. Winds on our hillside were clocked at just under 100 mph. At some point we knew something was actually hitting up against our house. When we went out to look, this is what we saw.

The only reason the tree didn't completely uproot was because our house caught it. It certainly could have been worse and it could still get worse. As I type, I hear chainsaws in the near and far distance and we're still trying to figure out a way to get the tree off the house without having it come crashing down on another part of the house. We've already tried to jack it off the house using a wench and a 4x4 atv, to no avail. The next option is going to be for Eric to get up on the roof with a chainsaw and to top the tree. The problem is, there is no great way for him to get his footing once he's up on the rooftop, because of where the tree is in proximity to the roofline. While Eric and our friend Chet regroup, they have ventured to another neighbor's house to see how they can begin to start cleaning up the havoc that the wind wreaked over there.

Considering the chaos here (the picutres don't do it justice), I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to be in a hurricane or a tornado. What I do know is a situation like this sure pulls a community together. We're all having to work together to help each other piece our houses and yards back together.

I'll keep you posted once our plan materializes.