Scenes seen along the way...

I was driving to Kathleen and Josh's house yesterday and thought I'd share

a few of the scenes seen along the way.

My husband is a happy guy right now because he is in New Mexico

running in a marathon. This sign made me smile as I thought of him.

These are some pretty ugly cabins near a little local post office.

They intentionally have the sod growing on the roof for insulation.

Outhouses are around back. I think they are leased by college kids.

(Poor suckers.)

They are of the style built by hermits and trappers.

This even has the cache (on your right) to store meat and food where the bear can't reach.

Moose antlers hang on the peak.

The low ceiling and few windows make these cabins quite unappealing to me!

(Nevermind the lack of plumbing...)

Moving on.............;-)

Not much is prettier than the clear, blue sky on a cold winter's day.

What a distinctive shade of blue that almost cries out its brilliance!

The house that Josh and Kathleen are building looks wonderful surrounded

by the leafless, tall birch trees. I'd not viewed it like this before.

I have been privileged to experience the "growing" of this remarkable house during my times working and living in Fairbanks. I've witnessed some of the measuring, cutting, painting, hammering, etc. first-hand and have great respect for the tremendous effort which has gone into creating the beauty and solidity you see here.

The snow in their yard was simply shimmering from the sunlight.

I tried to take a few pictures to capture the sparkle of the individual flakes, but it

didn't come out as dazzling as it really appeared. But you can see a hint of sparkling.

I have always absolutely loved the diamond-like glitters in the snow!

This is the birch fence Josh built last summer to protect his newly seeded patch of grass.

The snow reveals lots of paw prints because the neighbor's old Black Lab crosses it daily.

She often uses exactly this little area to roll around and scratch her back,

much to Josh's chagrin.

I drove home the following morning and was surprised to discover that this small creek had already iced over. After all, it's only mid-October.

I paused to step out of my car and reflect on this spectacular sunrise. That one bright beam shot directly upward until the orange sun soon made its appearance on the horizon.

This sunrise was 8:51 AM. Days are growing shorter...

As of today, the length of day is officially 9 hours, 26 minutes.

Daylight lost from yesterday=6 minutes, 44 seconds.