What Blizzard???

 There are seven of us from different parts of the country who write post for the Voices of Mainstreet. If you read everyone’s post, it’s supposed to give you an idea of what people across the country are thinking about this week’s subject. Sometimes I feel that living in Alaska I’m out of touch with main street America or they are way out of touch with Alaska. Maybe it’s both.

Our first two questions from the editor are “With colder weather throughout the country, do you have a routine when you’re trapped indoors? And, What do you do in the winter when you’re less able to go out and enjoy the outdoors?”

If I ever was trapped in doors in Alaska due to the weather and anyone found out about it, I would have to move. My routine along with everyone else is “It’s another day”. 4 inches, 8 inches or 12 inches of snow doesn’t matter. It might slow things down, but that’s as far as it goes. If you let a little snow keep you from going out, you’ll never go out.

Cold weather doesn’t keep you from going out either. Anchorage was just named as a bicycle friendly city earlier this year. People bike all year round. Hike, jog, ski whatever, dress for it and go do it. It’s winter from October to April. That’s 7 months of the year when any kind of winter weather can happen and it does. Who wants to stay inside for 7 months? Not me!

The rest of the questions are “Are there special recipes you cook? Crafts you do? Books you like to read? Does it make you crazy or do you find it calming? Do you still brave the elements to get in workouts or just fun?”

Nothing stops day to day life. The newspaper, the mail, and pizza’s get delivered. People go shopping, to the gym, watch outdoor events like dog mushing, go ice fishing, go to the zoo, you name it.

I volunteer at the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage. We take care of wild birds that were sick, injured or orphaned and we attempt to rehabilitate them and return them to the wild. 75% of the center is outside. The well birds live outside year round. The eagles, owls, ravens, you name it, live outside year round. Thos birds need to be fed and cared for no matter what the weather is. You don’t stay home because it’s snowing or its cold out.

Today it warmed up to +18°f in Anchorage, but in Prudhoe Bay its -39°f with a wind chill of -68°f. You can bet the oil pipeline doesn’t close down and the trucks are still moving on the Haul Road. The Alaska State Troopers, fire departments, ambulances, garbage pickup, you name it, they’re all operating at 100%.

Life in Alaska doesn’t stop because of the snow or cold. You can count on that. But when it gets above 80° in the summer, well that’s another story.