Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

    For years Jan has been after me to replace the last four original windows in the house. They were standard issue back in 1945 when the house was built. They were good windows, wood and glass, but they weren't insulated and were really showing their age, kind of like me.  A quick side note. Did you realize that glass is liquid? A science teacher told me that years ago. The molecules move at a snails pace, but apparently over a period of hundreds of years, it would be noticeable I guess. At least that's what he said. Anyway, back to the story. We finally decided to replace the last four windows, two in the dining room and two in the living room. We also decided to have the bathroom remodeled. A fellow I'd used before for several previous projects showed up on Wednesday with three Mexicans and a stepson. Sounds like a title for a sitcom on TV. "Tune in tonight on ABC for Three Mexicans and a Stepson on channel 8 at 9:00 PM." Anyway, they di...

    Those of you who know me, know that I'm not a big fan of cold weather. Can't say I really like it too hot either, but when it's warm you don't have to shovel snow, or let your vehicle warm up or turn on the heat in your home. Cold weather brings with it a variety of extra problems, frozen pipes, condensation in your fuel tanks, hypothermia, snow covered roads, the list goes on and on. Right now Alaska is in the middle of a pretty good deep freeze. Especially further north. One of my grandsons is living in Fairbanks and according to the local news channel, they can expect from minus thirty to minus fifty degrees over the next few days. No thanks. It's been in the teens here, and that's plenty cold enough for me. With all the troubles that winter can bring, there is also an uncommon amount of beauty, as seen in the above pictures. What is fascinating to me is that all the snow that is depicted here, is made up of individual snow crystals, a...