Gee Caroline. I didn't know that Calgary got that bad, especially vis a vis us. Trouble finding block heaters and battery boosters. They are a way of life here usually though not so much in recent years. Of course, our coldest times are Jan-Mar so we have yet to really dip our toes in the cold. A few days of single digits and a few more of -teens don't constitute much of a winter to me. 37 years in Fairbanks with lower than -30 a great deal of the time makes Anchorage seem like the banana belt.

Somehow I can not visualize Anchorage as a banana belt!
This is the first winter over several that I needed block heaters and battery boosters.

We got hit yesterday - 13" of snow and 30 degrees. Today temps starting the downward plunge, brought by strong winds. In the next 4 days we'll be sub-zero.
As I shoveled the snow, I just couldn't help shoveling over a patch of green grass. I needed to see some green today. Yup, it's still there!
I also bought a hyacinth bulb to force by my kitchen sink this winter. My winter companion.

Holy moly, Kathy -- 13 inches!! You need to consider to moving to Escanaba in the UP! (we got about 4" of snow )

That's a lot of snow, we have been lucky, just got a few inches the past few days, but it is very cold.

We are back up to plus single digits. No wind. Clear skies. The snow stayed so we have maybe 10" on the gardens. People are still driving like idiots underestimating the frosty coating on the roads, pulling out in front of you thinking they will have traction. And the ones weaving in and out even when it was snowing and blowing up snow in blinding clouds. I guess since they were in front of the clouds they were causing with excessively fast driving (in a downtown four lane) they didn't realize that traffic slowed to almost nothing by those who for some strange reason don't like to drive when they can't see beyond their hoods.

Really crazy Mary, they do the same here, idiots!

We are still in the deep freeze, last night it was -20f, today is calm, sunny and 5f, looks like the cold will continue for a few more days. Sure glad I don't have to go out anywhere except to feed the birds.

I got the Christmas tree decorated today, glad that's done.

Lol Margaret. Don't envy your subzero. Even though only a few degrees colder than us, well actually about 25 degrees colder, we have a slight wind that really drops the wind chill.

Funny how we always say we are so glad to get Christmas decorating finished. Like it is a great chore not entirely enjoyed. Guess it is simply a lot of work. Nice to sit back and enjoy the results though. DH is getting down the boxes for me tonight. I actually bought a few new things this year. After divesting of much in the last few years I guess I was ready for some new. Was just tired of the old stuff. Only used once a year but still you get tired of the same thing year after year. Except for those few things that have great sentimental value. I still have some decorations my son made when he was 5 and now he is 45! lol

Too much cold!!

We had a lovely sunny winter day here today, with a high of 14F but a pretty stiff breeze; I'd just as soon not know what the wind chill was! I did see 5 deer go trotting across our yard this afternoon, coming from the woods on one side and going into the woods on the other side. Not much snow here yet, with only 4-5 inches, so they are having a relatively easy time so far. I'm always amazed at how the wildlife survives winter, though... we drove down to Marinette, Wisconsin yesterday, which takes us right along the shore of Lake Michigan; the lake is still wide open and there were LOTS of geese and even swans paddling around near the shore. Brrrrr!

I've been doing the decorating pretty gradually and will finish tomorrow... I don't mind putting it all up, but taking it down really does seem like a chore!

It is -3 F and I finished shoveling with a brisk wind.
When you start you are a bit chilly but then you get warm and you nose starts running and you sweat.
Good thing is once you warm up you really do not notice the wind and even before that when you turn your back to the wind the supposed wind chill simple does not exist.
Wore a baseball cap as I knew once I was warmed my bare ears would be zero problem.
Warm gloves that do not get frozen when wet are exceedingly important.
Bad thing is the snow blower will not start and I cannot get it fixed for a week so I had better get used to shoveling again.

Sometimes the snow is so wet that the blower has a hard time pooping it out. Rather than blowing it, well, poops. But still beats shoveling. Damien shovels unless it is over 2" or so and we have a 40' x 15' driveway (about) All that snow goes right on my flower beds. I have seen 10 foot mountains on top in the spring along the sidewalk garden and only slightly less on the one on the near edge of the driveway.

Still no change in the freezing weather, -22f last night, sunny and 10f was the high today. Last night the water line to the kitchen froze in the laundry room, happens at least once a year, once the temperature was turned up a few degrees it thawed, it doesn't freeze hard enough to break the line as it is inside but goes through and over hang that gets very cold.

Ouch, Margaret -- that's cold! Glad the frozen pipe wasn't bad enough to cause a break.

The fuel line into our crawl space to the furnace used to form a plug in the wall several times a winter in Fairbanks. At -40 or so. Had to turn on the propane stove and open the oven door to get some heat until we could thaw out the plug. It was a quick, though cold fix. lol

And every so often when I was a kid we would get a rock or piece of metal in the auger from the coal hopper to the furnace. It would break the cotter pin to space the auger and motor, and by the time we realized it was getting really cold in the second floor, it was a while to warm up. Dad used to keep nails by the auger to replace the cotter pins.

Mary, I don't think I'll be moving to Fairbanks anytime soon... I can only remember experiencing -40 one time, many years ago, up here. That was enough for me

Giggling while reading this thread. It reminded me of my brother in laws first visit to northern Minnesota during the winter (one of the last brutally cold ones we had even by our standards), he is from southern Mexico and the coldest place he had ever lived was southern California. They had a business meeting in Minnesota that couldn't be avoided, arrived in the middle of the night and had to drive a rental car maybe 50 miles or so. We tried to prepare him ahead of time but he had no frame of reference to comprehend just how concerned we were about the timing and conditions. I talked to him a couple of days later to ask him what he thought about it. He told me he had been talked into going for a walk (annoyed about the insistence that he cover his face with a scarf) had unwrapped it and in breathing in that brutal cold thought he was going to choke to death from the instant pain in his lungs. In telling about the 'horror' at how cold, cold really was to him with his new experience he lapsed into broken English and Spanish, speaking faster and faster and concluding with " if I had to live here I would suicide myself!" It was one of the only things I could understand clearly from the conversation. Still cracks me up after all these years and I think of his horror whenever the temps drop seriously low.

That is hysterical. I can only imagine. Wish I could have seen/heard him. My daughter gets grumpy with people who actually live here complaining about cold at 25F. She says Mom, we live in Alaska what do they expect?

I am with your daughter there Mary. My DH calls me from the Arctic, nearly every day reminding me to check the fuel level, keep an eye on the pipes, safety gear in the car and yada, yada because it is going to be cold...for real? Most of our lives spent in cold climates and he thinks I might not be prepared? Just like every single year I gripe and whine about winter coming, dread it until I almost make myself sick: first morning I wake up (don't even have to open eyes to know) that it has snowed and when I look out at how beautiful it is I want to fall to my knees with gratitude that I have lived in such beauty for most of my life. Of course I don't actually fall to my knees because you know that darned arthritis that gets us cold climate people. Just came in from checking the propane tank level and noticed I forgot about 8 pots of asst. lily seedling and mums out next to the garden. Oh well I guess I will find out just how hardy those babies really are.