Random thoughts from the last week

Today is a departure from my normal writing, and just a collection of random thoughts:

• Two nights ago when I went to sleep, I saw my first full moon in a dark sky since last winter.
• Over the last two days we've had a lot of rain, and on consecutive days I heard my third and fourth lightning bolts (thunder, actually) of the year.
• This morning I woke up at 5am, and it's dark outside, and a little windy. (The windows are still open, open since late March, I believe). The darkness reminds me of winter.
• We're losing more than six minutes of sunlight per day, or one hour of light every ten days.
• I need to make a decision very soon about whether I'll be staying in Alaska, or moving back to the Lower-48. That's part of the reason I'm up at 5am.
• A Chicago-style hot dog place in Anchorage named "Johnny Chicago's" ran a Groupon ad recently, and they were slammed when I stopped in on Tuesday. I looked up their ad, and they were selling $18 worth of food for $9. I hope it doesn't bankrupt them. The owner is a super nice guy, and our fathers went to the same school in Chicago.
• Speaking of Illinois, some people from high school are organizing a reunion of our graduating class, and managed to track me down. I don't even want to tell you how many years it has been.
• The temperatures have been starting in the upper forties Fahrenheit every morning, and getting up to the mid-sixties on the warm days. With the rain of late it has been more like the mid-fifties.

That's life as I know it on August 18, 2011.

One thing I do know is that regardless of whether I decide to stay in Alaska or move, I'll be back in Talkeetna and Seward again soon. When I think about what I love about Alaska, it's those two places, plus Hatcher Pass, Fairbanks, cool summer weather, the low population density, and the open roads.