As I said yesterday, we have gotten a lot of snow this year. It's been funny watching the national news concerning our winter. It's abnormal. Freak snow storms. On and on. That is typical media sensation, trying to get you to watch a particular channel instead of watching the other guys.

Truth be known, this is now what is considered to be a normal winter in Fairbanks. Temperature swings, -50, snow, snow and more snow. We have had very weak winters the last several years. Just little bits of snow and temperatures way above winter normals. In listening to the old timers (Kitty is very much an Alaska old timer), this is what our winters have always been. Most that come to Alaska now stay two or three years and are then gone to the next thing in their lives. They don't stick around long enough to know what the real Alaska is all about.

With all of this snow, we have different challenges to worry about. Sinking in the snow is right at the top of that list of challenges. Most of our roads are not borough or state maintained. Many of those roads are little more than trails going into the woods. We live on one of those roads. If your vehicle slips off the hard pack just a bit, you end up sitting right where you slipped and you are not going anywhere soon.

Tow trucks are expensive and they might not be able to get to you for a day or so. For just these occasions, I carry a shovel, rake and machete in my truck. Since I managed to slip from the hard pack my first day home, let me show you how I got out. All it cost me was a little elbow grease and time.

As you can see, our snow is soft and fluffy. Great for skiing. Bad for cars. As I sank into the fluff, I tried several times to rock my truck back and forth to no avail. Fortunately, I was close to home so I took Kitty her coffee then carried my camera up the trail and started digging.

The snow came out from around my wheels very easily. I was stuck because the right front tire couldn't gain traction to climb back to the hard pack. This is where my machete came into play.

I cut a ramp in the snow in front of my tire and smoothed it all out. Since snow is a slick substance, I had to gain traction or I would still sit and spin. We have something up here called Black Spruce. These trees are everywhere. They are durable and they have all kinds of branches hanging in easy reach. During summer, they are a big problem source for wild fires. Anyway, I stepped off the road, found a tree close by, and started hacking branches with my machete. It was kind of fun, hacking away at pent up aggressions! When I felt my pile was big enough, I packed spruce limbs around my tires. Not a biggie and all materials used are biodegradable. I kicked the truck into low range, put the shifter into drive, barely stepped on the throttle, and up I went. Not a tire was spun and no snow or gravel was thrown.

When I finished getting myself out, I went up the road to dig a neighbor out. We have more snow coming this weekend, possibly 12 inches. I'm sure I will be digging out again. That's okay though, it cost me nothing but time, and I got to enjoy being out in the snow!

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