Press Release: As of 10:00 am this morning neither resident in the Dave in AK household has worked up the gumption to perform the overdue task of taking the kitchen compost out to the pile. There’s staunch competition over who can hold out the longest. This article will be updated. #40Below

“Now is a good time to pick up Paradiso...When the world feels out of control, you can still use your imagination to ascend above the noise, the havoc...There are billions and billions of others just like you, trying to navigate ‘the middle of what we call our life.’”

The best is yet to come.

When temperatures go low, we go high. In the hills that is. Where, thanks to the inversion, it can be 20 or more degrees warmer. Skyline Ridge again, with Kali, the Cutest Dog in the Universe.

It’s already required reading.

It’s not every New Year that you get to welcome in with the ceremonial tossing of boiling water into the forty below zero air. Instant ice mist.

Has anyone ever known anyone who actually knew the lyrics to Auld Lang Syne?

I didn’t find the droids I was looking for, but I did find my missing neck gaiter, and that has count for something at forty below.

We finally got there.

“Eventually, my dad wants me to take over his real estate empire, and he said if I can’t exploit temporary renters on a weekend-to-week basis through an Airbnb, then how am I supposed to exploit tenants for years, slowly raising their rents and bleeding them dry?”

When did Fairbanks lose its edge?

This might be my favorite Bluesky exchange yet. @akchikky.bsky.social @shanahstone.bsky.social @leahwrenn.bsky.social @feelnotes.bsky.social

The difference between -40 and +110 is that at -40 you can dress in enough layers to go for a pleasant walk and still feel comfortably warm, but at +110 there’s a limit on how many layers you can remove and go out walking in public without getting arrested. Checkmate Sun Belters. #40Below

“If Ronan Farrow can present news based on investigative reporting then we sure as shit can monitor Laura’s brain activity at three in the morning for some juicy headlines.”

Drive safely, Fairbanks.

My photo is from the film days. No idea what I did with it, but it was circa 1997. Swim shorts and bunny boots. Nothing else. Cold as hell. Out of the car, pose, “Take the damned picture!”fast run back to the car. Don’t feel the need to do it again. One and done. But it was fun.

This outcome has been the number one priority of my country’s government throughout my entire adult life. And it’s what was predicted in 1980 when it first became so.

The spouse announced that she walked 2025 miles in 2025 and hit that mark on 12/25/25.

A balmy -12 on Gilmore Trail. Man and dog took a good long stroll and stayed up there for a while basking in it. Now we’re back in the Valley and it’s -35.

According to @alaskawx.bsky.social, you aren't imagining it. The ongoing cold snap has in fact been unusually long. Although it's been more about persistence than temperatures. Seriously cold? Absolutely. But no record lows. Just a continual grind that won't be letting up for a while yet.

West Ridge. UAF campus. 4:23 pm. 12/27/25. -32F.

Everyone in town has Extended Deep Cold Snap Face. Including me, I suspect. If you’ve ever seen it, you know it.

You know you’re in Fairbanks when you walk out of Lowe’s and it’s -32 degrees and a guy wearing cargo shorts walks past you.

It’s a subsidiary of the Heritage Foundation.

The future’s not looking so bright. It might be better to not be wearing rose colored shades.

Both “veiny” and “ankled” were played in the family Scrabble game. Damn kids never give their parents a break.

Yesterday I shoveled out the driveway instead of hiring a plow. It was good exercise, but we have a lot of driveway and I’m not getting younger. It took hours. Last night my 61 year old body was feeling it. This morning I woke up by rolling over and falling out of bed. Ho ho ho and a folly old soul.

I once read there are four topics for the Blues. 1: My baby left me and I feel like shit. 2: My baby left me and I'm gonna get drunk. 3: My baby left me and I'm going back home where I belong. 4: My baby left me and I feel like shit and I'm gonna get drunk and go back home where I belong.

Finally. A break from the cold. Except for one thing…

Winter Solstice. Out with the pooch taking a hike on Ski Boot Hill. The shortest day of the year, but the light we did get, as always during these darkest of days, was sublime. Man and dog spent the daylight hours well.

Solstice Sun through the birch and aspen forest.

In just six short months it starts getting dark again!

I was remembering how SeaTac used to have local celebrities and athletes come over the sound system to tell you what a great airport it is. They seem to have stopped that. Must have realized they weren’t fooling anyone. If you live in Alaska, you can’t avoid SeaTac. It’s a curse on us all.

Even as ice melts and sea lanes open, the Northwest Passage grows more dangerous to navigate than ever. It's no longer pack ice that ships have to contend with. It's loose ice that's broken free and drifts through the waters, ready to collide with vessels. Gifted article.

Took the puppy to the dog park. There were four people and a bunch of dogs there. She was excited to go and squirming while I put her booties on. The dogs were all in a knot having fun. Suddenly one of the owners took a shovel and began slamming it down between them. People were leaving. So did we.

If you've never seen this, it's the single greatest moment in rock and roll history. Keith Richards dispatches a stage diver with his Telecaster and then immediately resumes the job he's getting paid to do. Playing the song. Epic.

Facebook as a case study of enshittification. Users find "the difference between ‘I hate this service, but I can’t bring myself to quit,’ and ‘Jesus Christ, why did I wait so long to quit?’ is razor-thin.” I quit for several reasons, all of them, I now learn, rooted in my having been enshittified.

Keith Richards has finally been defeated by the forces of nature.

Earthquake! Small but noticeable.

Coming to the brink of sneezing and then having it recede has to be the only thing more soul crushing than listening to lottery officials read off the winning numbers and the first five match your ticket and you're all set for an explosive victory and then the last digit lets you down.

Almost like old time Fairbanks. -50 is the basemark.

You have to offer a certain degree of credit to people who will stand outside their workplaces at -30 and smoke a cigarette. I won’t do that with an espresso.

I could have greatly benefited from one of Willy Nelson’s Bloody Mary Mornings today. But instead I had a Seasonal Affective Disorder Morning. 1:15 on the Tanana River. Sunrise already sinking into sunset. Four more days and the light begins to return.

I was invited by the Museum of the North to come view their work on the forthcoming exhibit about Chris McCandless and the bus. They know I'm a very loud critic of Jon Krakauer's handling of the story and the subsequent movie, which I blame for the mess at the bus site and two drowning deaths. 1/

From @alaskawx.bsky.social

You need this.

I struggle with the fact that I find myself increasingly finding small bits of common ground with Marjorie Taylor Greene. But giving credit where credit is due. Tiny signs of humanity are emerging. This is her response to Trump's indefensible statement on the deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner.

We've once again reached the "survived a mass shooting in high school so they could be on hand for a mass shooting in college" stage of Republican Party America.

The spouse is cleaning shelves and I keep hearing things like “How old are the [fill in blank with food item]” and “When was the last time you used [fill in blank with personal item]” and I’m now ridden with anxiety wondering what’s coming next. “Now on the docket: Packrat v. Organizer.”

I got the monthly email from the Atlantic telling me what to look forward to when the next issue arrives in my mailbox and spotted this gem.