Some scenic randomness

 I've been snapping rather randomly and without much thought the last few days, so thought I'd better share before I got too far behind. This and the next shot are from the sunset a couple days ago. Love how the colors, usually some shade of pink or even blue, color the whole landscape.

 I also continue to be amazed at how the colors so often seem to layer themselves in the sky, one atop the other with relatively visible color separation lines.

 I couldn't quite work myself into getting dressed to go chase the sunset for a better angle, but even the everyday view of my backyard was touched by alpenglow, that touch of pink from the skies.

 This is what can happen if you have a metal roof. In this case, this is the old schoolhouse at the Ol' Wasilla Townsite.

 And, I obviously haven't been paying enough attention (or going to the library often enough) because they seem to have made the old schoolbell its own little bell tower just outside the schoolhouse. Pretty cool and I'll try for better pix later.

 I'm happy to say this is not my drain pipe but, yeah, just as pipes freeze here, so do drains.

 Just another day, another view in Wasilla. :)

 Back home and looking south along Holiday down toward the Chugach Mts.

 Hadn't been to Lake Lucille in awhile, so snagged this shot the other day just in case it was getting jealous of all the photo attention I've been giving Wasilla Lake.

 A common sight in Alaska, snow covered cars.

Speaking of Wasilla Lake.....

More snow?

 No sooner did the layers of snow on the fence start to disappear when....

 ....more snow began to fall. Here's the neighbor's dogs on its way home after checking to see if the birds had knocked any of their bread onto the ground.

 The Denali Restaurant is a good place to eat. Just out of town a bit, up Parks past the turn to the Sports Complex.

 The view off Pat's deck the morning after Thanksgiving. You'd never know there was a mountain over there, let alone a whole range of 'em.

 The birds were out to eat. 

Not the best shot, through not only a dirty windshield (I stopped to shoot this, honest) but falling snow.

It's been cold...

Heat wave!!!

Deep Freeze?

 The weather forecast today is calling for temps into negative numbers this evening with winds kicking up and creating a wind chill of some -30 degrees.  Oh, joy, Kansas, here we come again, albeit a frozen Kansas. In any case, decided I'd probably better restock my library book stack while the going was good (only....only?.... +7'ish degrees) and snapped some pix as I meandered about.

 Sigh. Stupid birds. They were bouncing around like crazy in the tree and around it.... until I stopped and raised the camera. Taken on the way to the library.

 From my car in the library's parking lot. I'm in the car, holding the camera parallel to the ground to give you a sense of how big the snow piles have already gotten here. That's Old Wasilla Township to the rear, the ol' Capital Building/Cabin, far right.

 And, of course, just in case I get blown away by the wind, needed one last McD's fries fix. Saw this as I went through the drive-through. This isn't water, btw. It's frozen in motion and will stay that way till the first good warm up, which could be, oh, March?

 You've got to admit, McD's has a nice view. Taken while eating my fries. Ha

 This will become an increasingly common sight around here as winter progresses. Clearing the streets so we can continue to get around up here without a dog team. Mush, you Camry, mush!

Coming home. Had just stopped at the mailbox but had to stop again for this lovely view. Looking generally south, thus across not just Wasilla and Parks Hwy. down the hill a bit, but across Lake Lucille and over to the Chugach Mt. in the distance.

Veteran's Day

I'm not sure when I started the habit, but I've found myself heading out to take a photo of our flag on special days relating to the military and those who serve to keep us free. This shot at Idita-Park is doubly special as I took it at 11:11 on 11-11-11, tho' obviously had to tweak the posting time here to indicate that. 

Random Scenics

 I love my spruce trees!

 Snow clinging to one of my birch trees alongside the driveway.

 Hmm, Christmas card?  View off my hill across Parks Highway, Lake Lucille, and to the distant Chugach Mountains.

 Looking down Briar to the east across downtown Wasilla, such as it is.

 From the parking lot at Idita-Park

 Whoa, who took such a big bite outta the spruce tree?

 I believe I'll title this photo "The Leaning Tree"

 For those who live in the south, here's a little hint of what we run into if we park outside when it's snowing. Not mine, phew, but in the Carrs parking lot.

Blue Marble (more on this soon) needs to visit here with me on a day when I've got on boots with high enough tops to walk through the snow over to this recycled train car.

And more snow....and Wasilla Lake

 The driveway was cleared yesterday down to the pavement so there was obviously some more snow overnight.

 Betty, your spruce tree is guardian of the winter snow pile from the driveway plowing.

 License plate? This is Alaska, we don't need to be able to read no stinking license plate.

 Back to one of my favorite photo spots of late, the Pizza Hut parking lot above Wasilla Lake. Loved the low cloud just sorta sitting there on the mountains.

 Close up view

 The building stretching across part of the lower right of the pix is Fred Meyers.

 The snow and cold are beginning to create interesting patterns in even the most mundane things, like this weed.

 I guess the ice must be pretty solid tho' seems just a tad early to me to be out there making patterns in the snow with your snow machine.  Ha

Hard to tell already where the shoreline ends and the lake begins.

More snowfall yesterday and last night

 Was too lazy, not to mention it was cold out there, to open the door to take a pix of the snow when it started coming down again fairly seriously last night, so wound up with a nice reflection of my camera and hand in addition to snowflakes.

 Even with the snow, the birds are still out and about, begging handouts.

 No, the snow really wasn't this deep, at least from my human perspective. I sat the camera on the floor of the garage at the edge and got this shot of what the driveway looked like from the camera's very low angle, however.

 Boots on the ground, er, in the snow.

 Lots of snow clumped up on Betty's spruce tree.

 From Betty's spruce tree, looking east out through the pasture gate.

 Never really thought about it but guess you'd need a snow shovel for a picnic right now, huh?

 At the end of the driveway, checking the snow piled up on the fence.

 The view from the end of the driveway back to the house. Probably looking sorta NE since this isn't a direct shot. The window, left, is my bedroom window that some of yesterday's shots were taken from.

 Just outside the fence by the driveway, artsy clumps of snow and berries.

 Looking toward the Talkeetna Mts. from the middle of the road right in front of the driveway. They hadn't plowed yet and, in fact, as I type, still haven't. My plow guy did my driveway soon after this jaunt, tho', bless him. I told him he was my hero today cos the snow blower was being cranky.

My hands (bad me, I'd wandered out without gloves) were finally getting cold, so one last shot of the spruce trees to the right of the driveway as you enter (the rear one is "Betty's Spruce Tree") as I headed back to the warmth of the house.