Gonna be a Coooooold winter.

It's only October 28 and we are already below 0F! I'm not looking forward to the rest of this winter if this is any kind of an indication of what is to come. Fuel prices may be going down in the rest of the country but not in Alaska. I filled up our heating oil tanks 2 weeks ago at $3.87 a gallon. We only heat our house to 64F during the day and 62F at night which isn't as bad as it sounds but it does get a little chilly in the evening. I supplement the heat in the evening and night with our wood stove but the wood I have got absolutely soaked in the rain this fall and it is really hard to get it going.
Now on to the political front. Mary and I both think Sarah Palin is a whack-job. In our opinion she is an extremist in her beliefs and she tries to force those beliefs on to the people around her. Can you believe she charges the state to stay in her own home in Wasilla? The state didn't ask her to stay in Wasilla she is living there for her own convenience. The state is providing and maintaining the governor's mansion in Juneau. She chose to live in Wasilla and work in Anchorage. She lives in the same world as George Bush where they are king/queen and can do no wrong. Hopefully now that her rise in the national spot light has exposed many of her failings she will be deposed when she returns home.
Ted Stevens is another crook that finally got what he deserves. I was actually on the receiving end of his pork in the FAA. A project that I worked on would never have gotten off the ground if he hadn't continued to throw millions of dollars at it. I tried to report the mismanagement a couple times but never got anywhere. The project itself was a good idea but there was no or very poor oversight and money was being wasted. I moved to Alaska in 1981 and was told then that Ted was the one that could get stuff for Alaska. I know he and Don Young saved the Flight Service Stations up here. Trouble was they never really got the extra funding needed to keep them going so the FAA had to budget for them but didn't get the money to do it.
So anyhow, this house has become rather political. Mary actively supports Obama by going to meetings and rallies. She has also volunteered to be a poll watcher on November 4. She was and still is a Hillary Clinton girl but feels she has to help get Obama elected or there won't be any country left. I have contributed to the Democrats also but have not actively gone out campaigning. We were pleasantly surprised that in this blood red state where even convicted felons can run as Republicans and actually have a chance to win that there are quite a few Democrats in the Willow area.
Now on to more pleasant news. After years of asking Mary finally got a kitten. It was supposed to be a cat for the barn but if this cat ever sees the barn I will be surprised. One of these days I'll update the website with some pictures of it. Which brings up another subject. You may have noticed that live webcam on our website hasn't updated since August. I've had problems with the wireless connection between the barn and the house and have basically given up on trying to keep it going. When I update the page next time I'll probably just have a camera shooting out our window in the back room. I hope to get that done in the next month or so so keep checking back.
Mary's sister Pike and her 2 kids and grand kids are planning on visiting us next summer. the thing kind of snowballed but we are already getting excited.
Well I have work to do in the shop so I'll sign off now. Don't forget to vote next Tuesday!