It’s super duper cold in Cleveland right now. 11 below zero currently (not counting the wind chill), and despite us cranking the heat way up to 72 inside (we usually keep it between 62 and 65), the thermostat is only registering it at 56 indoors. It’s cold. For real.
I grew up in Fairbanks, Alaska, born and raised until we moved to Michigan in time for me to start 8th grade. Everyone always says I should be totally used to the cold… but the truth is I’m always cold! Andy makes fun of me for one time calling 75 “tolerably warm”! I think all that cold when I was young makes me enjoy warmth that much more now! It also helps that my parents liked to vacation in Hawaii, haha! Anyway, even though it has nothing to do with work on our house or anything really blog-related, I thought it might be fun to share a few pictures of my life in Fairbanks, a kind of throwback Thursday Tuesday. Hope you enjoy.
Baby me, my mom, and our dog Frosty, who was rumored to have been quite protective of me when I was little. And no, this is not our back yard!
Here I am with my dog Deneki (pronounced “duh-NEE-kee” — it means “moose” in Athabascan Indian). My parents made that parka for me! Would you believe Deneki was still young here? He grew up to be about 175 pounds!! He loved being outside in the winter and so did I. Do you see my sled?
This is the house I lived in from about five to 13. My parents designed and had this house built. It had a full 12 inches of insulation in the walls and a really sophisticated heating system, so we were nice and toasty.
This is the living room. Some of this furniture is in our house now!
This is the only picture from my parents’ wedding day!
I would totally wear my mom’s outfit today! We used to cross country ski a lot.
And proof that I was cold even then!!
Stay warm today, everyone!!!
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Love the photos, especially the one at the end! I’ve been thinking a lot lately that I don’t know how people live in places like Alaska that are this cold regularly do it! (which I know people would also say about Cleveland, haha)
Thanks Ann! I remember when the last picture happened. I was SO MAD at my parents for wanting to take my picture, haha.
What is that you’re holding in that last picture? Is that an animal of some sort?
That’s Seymour the Sea Otter, you know him! He was my favorite stuffed animal and went with me everywhere.
Heck I could go for 12 inches of insulation over here!
I have no idea what the normal temperatures are there. Would what we experienced this week be normal there?
Yeah, I would say what we’ve been experiencing is pretty typical of a winter in Fairbanks. I’d expect anything from about 0 to -20 on an average winter day. I read in the paper there that it was -40 on Christmas Day, which happens occasionally. The funny thing is that I don’t remember school ever being cancelled for any reason in all the years I was there! We even took recess outside most of the time, but everyone was prepared and knew how to dress for it. I think it’s something we were so used to, that the cold wasn’t a big deal. Here, I hate it! :)