Happy New Year...

Tried to get some decent sunset photos since this is the time of year when they're pretty spectacular (Winter Solstice...12/20/14)  but this is the best I could do. Happy new year:

Another sunrise...

And a sunset...

Well the sun finally came out the day after new years, so here's a few more:

Need to cut down some trees to get a better view from the deck.

Looking down the valley behind our place. The snow covered hills in the distance are the site of the locally world famous chena granite tors.

Merry christmas...

In the past I've always started our yuletide greetings with "happy holidays or season's greetings." But now that Fox news and the repugnant ditto heads apparently are on the rampage because the libtards "want to take christ out of christmas, I feel I must use the approved christmas greeting. This despite the fact that most of what we currently do to celebrate christmas has been taken from old pagan solstice traditions (Winter solstice, 12/20/14) and that retailers and advertisers care little about christ, just about maximizing revenue with endless holiday sales.
But I digress. We hosted the neighborhood "christmas eve celebration" for the first time in a few years.   Since we don't normally do much, if any, seasonal decorating, I felt compelled by whatever holiday spirit to take a few photos (I forgot to take any during the party, but maybe I'll get one from someone who did).

Merry christmas to all...

And to all a good night.

First dog run...

Finally got out and put the dog trail in. There were a couple of trees across the trail, but a little chain saw work was all that was needed to clear the way. The main trail down the valley is well used, so only had about two miles to break out, then go back the next day and pull the drag over it to get some compaction. Ran dogs today and it was great to finally get them out for the first time this winter. Barney, my fearless leader, just turned eleven, but he also ran great and appears to have another season in him. Since we're about the same age (in dog years), I figure that's a pretty good sign.

Barney and Jabba look ready to go for another winter on the trail.

Dog daze...

Despite all the snow we've gotten so far this winter, I still haven't gotten out on the trail. Andy snow-shoed in the upper part. She found several large trees had fallen down onto the trail on the back side of the hill, so will need to do some serious chain saw work as soon as the knee gets a little stronger. In the meantime, the dogs get let off every day so at least they can run around for a bit and not be completely out of shape.

The dogs stick around Andy as long as there's dog biscuits left in the pouch.

Obi usually winds up on the bottom of the pile when they play "dog down".

Warm and snowy...

The weather bureau came out with their official summary for November (lightly edited for brevity). As expected, the month was warmer with  a lot more snow than normal:(Http://www.arh.noaa.gov/textforecasts.php?type=statement).

Monthly weather summary for November for Fairbanks, Alaska...

November 2015 was warm, wet and snowy with persistent snowfall.
Measurable snow fell on twenty days during the month and a trace of snow fell on 4 days.
The snow depth at the airport was 15 inches at the end of the month.
Season to date snowfall at the airport is now 50.1 inches
with September to November of 2015 ranking as the 5th
snowiest September to November periods on record.
So far, snowfall this year exceeded the snowfall for the entire winter of 2014 to 2015 of 43.8 inches.
A total of 25.4 inches of snow fell during November,which was 12.2 inches above normal.
This ranks as the 7th snowiest November. Nearly all of the precipitation fell as snow except for a brief period of freezing rain that fell on the 26th. A total of 1.78 inches of precipitation
fell at the airport which was 1.11 inches above the normal and ranks as the 5th wettest November.

November 2015 was much warmer than average with an average high temperature of 16.9 degrees which was 6.0 degrees above the normal. The average low temperature was 1.3 degrees which was 7.0 degrees above the normal. The average temperature was 9.1 degrees which was 6.5 degrees above the normal average temperature of 2.6 degrees. This ranks as the 29th warmest November.

Looking forward to December...the average high temperature drops from 7 above on the 1st to 2 above on the 31st. The average low temperature drops from 11 below on the 1st to 16 below on the 31st. In the last 111 years the temperatures have varied from a high of 58 above in 1934 to a low of 62 below in 1961. Average snowfall is 12 inches but has been as much as 50.7 inches in 1984 to as little as a trace in 1969.

December is the darkest month of the year with possible sunshine decreasing from 4 hours and 42 minutes on the 1st to 3 hours and 42 minutes on the solstice. By the 31st possible sunshine increases to 3 hours and 58 minutes.