It was late when we got home but I had made some chicken rice soup so we were able to have a quick simple dinner.
The rest of the week was fairly uneventful. I worked and decorated the house a little. Since we aren't going to be here, I decided to keep it simple. I had to call MP and tell her that I wouldn't be by to pick her up but that on Saturday they were having the fireworks at North Pole if she wanted to go. She said yes and I told her I would call her Saturday morning.
On Thursday December 1, JW's company was having their Christmas party. He picked me up and we drove to the West Mark. They had hors devours (my mother-in-law used to call them horses dovers) and a no host bar from 6 to 7:30. Fortunately his hunting partner and his wife showed up so we spent that time visiting with them.
At 7:00 they handed out an award to one employee from each department who had been selected by the team. They gave them each a "gold" gold pan. Then at 7:30 they announced dinner so everyone fell into line and headed into the other room to fill up their plates with baked halibut, prime rib, potatoes, roasted cauliflower and salad.
We finished eating, visited a little longer and then headed home so we would be ready for work the next day. The party continued on till midnight with dancing. By 9:30, I was home and sound asleep.
Finally Friday December 2 was here and we could go get John's truck. The dealership called and it was ready. So of course it started snowing and snowing and kept it up for way too long.
I checked outside and it was piling up on the porch. This is my little ice bowl - I had this bright idea to freeze ice in a big metal bowl that had a small bowl upside down in it which would leave an indention. Then I could put my light "ball" in that and let it bring a little light to my porch. I thought it would be good since it is so cold up here and this ice "bowl" would last till March.
John got home early and came in to see if I was ready. Then he told me that my truck didn't make it up the driveway. So he went back outside and put down a little gravel on the driveway for traction. Then he could drive up.
I wasn't too thrilled about driving into town but JW convinced me the roads weren't bad and they sure didn't seem to be - we could still see black top once we got down to the highway and it wasn't ice. Right before we got to the Ford dealer, JW said that his truck needed the oil changed so we decided to just go ahead and leave it there. Then we went over to the eye doctor so he could get his eyes pressure tested
It was snowing a little bit when we started driving back home. As he was driving on College Rd, approaching University the light turned red and the truck just slid into the rear of the truck in front of us. Fortunately no one was hurt and only slight damage to the bumpers of both our truck and the one he hit.
On Saturday, December 3, we had to go into town to pick up his truck that we had left at Ford. I dropped him off out front and went to do some other shopping. I stopped at Freddy's to get gas since I was running on fumes and had enough points to get 50 cents a gallon off. While I was pumping gas, JW was calling my phone. I listened to his message and he said to come and get him cause the truck wasn't done.
Apparently someone hadn't turned the paperwork over to the quick lane and no one new the oil was supposed to be changed or if it had been changed the night before or what. I picked up JW and told him he would have to run errands with me. First stop was Walmart to return some junk I had bought and decided I didn't need. Then to Freddy's to return a couple of books I had bought for my Mom because when I saw the published date on them, I remembered that I had bought them for her years ago. While I was in Freddy's, I called MP to see if she was still good to go to the fireworks but she said she had an Upward Bound thing she needed to go to so we decided to get together next Wednesday our normal time.
We then went to Hallmark because I wanted to pick up an item that was advertised in the catalog I had just received from them. I got what I wanted and we went back to the truck. I told JW, "Since we don't have to do anything today and the roads aren't too bad, how about driving over to North Pole so I can pick up a few little things and stop by the Screaming Weasel." He agreed.
When we got there, I remembered I had my Christmas cards in the back seat of the truck that needed mailed. I was planning on putting them in the box at my post office that was going to be sent to North Pole so the stamps would be cancelled there. But since we were at North Pole, we stopped by the post office and mailed them.
North Pole is just such a festive place year around. It isn't very big but there are "candy canes" everywhere including the light posts.
Christmas in Ice opened on December 3 and the first few days is the ice carving. The above is a work in progress on one of the round abouts on the main road.
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| Not sure why it looks like Wendy's is in that one wing of the SC house - it is not, it is down the road a little. |
I had mentioned that we could go to the Elf's Den and have a reindeer sausage but when we drove by there, it looked closed. So we went to Subway instead. After eating we headed back towards Fairbanks but turned off to stop by the Screaming Weasel Gift Shop. The building had been there ever since we moved up but it was only a few months ago that they finally opened it and I was wondering what they would have inside.
It is an extremely tiny place and you only go in the bottom level but inside is jam packed with all kind of home made wood things, photos and artwork done by local people. I am not sure what the guy is doing on the left hand side of the building but this building reminds me of a building I might see if I actually went to the North Pole to see Santa.
We stopped at Big Rays to get JW a pair of boots. He hadn't bought any really warm boots since we moved up here and so he found a pair that is rated to 75 below. Good thing is that he gets a 10% discount there because the mine does a lot of business with them.
We then got groceries and went home to shovel some snow and take care of a few things.
The weather had warned that on Sunday it was going to reach 40 degrees. No one was looking forward to that as we still remembered what it was like last November when it warmed up, then rained and left everything around covered with a sheet of ice.
Sunday morning when we got up, I went into the living room to turn on the Christmas tree lights like I do first thing every day once I get the tree up. I hit the switch on the power strip and it immediately tripped. I hit it again with the same results. I reset the gci in the outlet and then went outside to the main box and turned off the circuit and turned it back on. I tried again with the same results. I went out to see if the tree outside was lit. It was but my blue light ball was not and it was sitting in a bowl of water.
The ice bowls that I had thought would last all winter had started to melt. I unplugged my light ball and threw it in the garbage. Once it was unplugged, my indoor lights worked fine.
The roads were kind of icy and slippery according to news reports and they were talking about cancelling school on Monday. With the roads so bad, I knew I wasn't going anywhere so I settled down inside the house to finish wrapping up some things that I needed to get sent down to the lower 48. JW went outside to do some leather work in his shop. It was a nice quiet relaxing day. Too soon it, along with the rest of the weekend was gone and it was almost time to start a new work week.
On Monday, they did cancel school as they didn't want the buses out on the road. JW went to work and didn't have any problem getting there although he said that one of his people called off as he wasn't going to drive out there. I worked all day and then the shuttle from Ford came to pick me up so I could finally bring JW's truck home. Fortunately, I made it home without putting any new dents in the truck.
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