Life (sometimes) Below Zero

Jeff and I like to watch shows about Alaska.  We started watching them before we went on our honeymoon in 2012, and pretty much never stopped watching them.  We don't watch all of them, but we do watch "Life Below Zero" (even though I can't stand a couple of the guys on there).

Well, guess what?

Thursday, Oct 30, 7:23 AM

Yep, we've already experienced below zero temps here.  The forecast is ranging in the "Lows near zero" and "Highs around 20" lately.  Not the best, but maybe normal for around here?  I don't know.  I just want to get acclimated to it.  Jeff is outside enough with work that he's gotten used to it.  Plus it's been long-sleeve shirt weather for him since August.

We got this new new thermometer at Fred Meyer a few weeks ago.  We had one, an older model, when we lived in Wisconsin, but the portion to put outside had died, so it didn't travel to the Great White North with either of us.  Jeff put the outside portion of this new one in a place that won't be affected by the sun, so hopefully we will actually know what the weather is.  So far it looks like it's warmer at our house than the AccuWeather on my phone lists.  So that's good!

There's not a ton of stuff going on around here.  I've gotten very much into popcorn lately.  I guess I just need that crunch.  I had heard of the concern over what's in the microwave popcorn, plus that stuff is super expensive, so I had bought a bag of popcorn kernels.  I pop them in a pan on the stove and then add flavoring.  It's actually what I had for lunch today...

Mom & Dad had sent us a puzzle for our wedding anniversary.  We started on it together, but it's not exactly the kind of puzzle you can work on at the same time.  I pretty much did the outside (with Jeff's help), the field, and the top down to the stadium seating.  Jeff did almost all of the fans.  Jeff also said to tell Mom "no more puzzles!"  We're going to frame this one and put it up, and I'm very much looking forward to getting the coffee table back...

Jeff spent at least 3 full evenings (5+ hours) staring at and finding where the pieces go.
He was using his glasses plus a magnifying glass to complete it.

Jeff was quite happy to place the last piece!  Finally!

Rylee snapchatted me a pretty sunset picture yesterday (around 6PM).  I, in turn, sent her this:

3:05PM Sunday Nov 2, 2014

Only 3PM, and only the beginning of November, and the sun was down the top of the ridge line that's just to the west of us.  Maybe next time we shouldn't live in a house just east of a ridgeline...

The sun is very definitely in the south.  Luckily any light that we have bounces around on the white snow.  The moon, which was only a half moon, was so bright the other night that we thought there were lights on outside.

So, what have you been up to?