Slip Sliding Away....

It's been an adventure in ice these past 3 days. The schools have been closed since Wednesday. City busses have quit running. Some folks have had quite a hard time making it out of their neighborhoods.

The Chinook wind is blowing warm air up to Alaska from the tropics. This has pushed our temperatures into the upper 40's, which is wreaking havoc on the winter balance of snow cover and chill. It's been raining on and off for two days!

So now, southcentral Alaska is one giant ice rink. The road leaving our neighborhood resembles a giant luge run. Studs or no studs, it's extraordinarily difficult to get down the hill much less back up it again...

Stephen got stuck coming home last night. I retrieved him with the van and we drove to Walmart to purchase some chains for his tires. With those, he was able to make it up to the driveway.

There is a "back way" to get to our street which is slightly less steep. But it's still tricky.

Our cat is currently at the bottom of the hill where he stayed overnight at the vet's so they could run some tests on him this morning. I'm not sure I can get down the hill to pick him up. And if I can, I don't know if I can make it back home with him. It might just be "bring your kitty to work" day! I do need to go into the office this afternoon. It's one of my staff's last day before he gets deployed to Iraq with the National Guard.