Posts tagged #New Home

When We biked to Millbrook

Around here, where we now live, there are many smaller roads. Roads that will take you past farms and horses. A month or so ago we took our bikes and went to Millbrook. It’s about 6 miles, one way to get there.

We biked past bunnies, turtles, goats, cows and horses. We really live on the countryside now. 190 people live in the nearest hamlet, and in Millbrook about 1500 people reside.

It still feels pretty weird that this is our home now, and that we are able to do all of this directly from our house. Life changes, and isn’t that great. This general area will be our permanent home now. We’ve been moving every second year the past 4 years so it will be nice to finally settle down.

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Millbrook is just like any other little village around the countryside in the US, although the villages here on the east coast are older than elsewhere. This general area houses many rich people, and you can clearly see that while biking or driving around. There are large mansions that you can buy for 13 million dollars here, if you can afford it. Many of these places you can’t necessarily see from the road, but the stone walls and fancy entrances to the driveways are telling those stories. But just like any other place there are houses that barely stands around here too.

Once we got to Millbrook we didn’t really spend too much time there. We bought a coffee and something to eat and went to the park. After maybe an hour we got on our bikes and biked home again. You could clearly tell that we were going slightly downhill now, which probably explains why I felt like I was dying biking there.

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Countrylife, Nature and tagged 2020 Bike adventure Bike Adventure biking Country Life New Home Millbrook New York State A Swede in the US.

In The Rearview Mirror pt.2

 

Flashback Friday

    In regular fashion Alaska showed it's rollercoaster climate in 2016. We went with no snow, yes NO NEW SNOW from late December to March, a whole 105 days, until we received 4 inches early April, that of course disappeared by the end of the day. The 2015/2016 winter season was pretty mild, because we didn't really dip down to -40 that regularly, we stayed around -4 to -22 F (-20 to -30 C), which was welcoming. I think I was kind of done with cold winters in Alaska by this point, even though I miss it so bad now. 

April

    I received my green card, which actually went pretty fast! Life went on at the cabin, water chores, wood chopping but no shoveling...Just kidding, then we got snow, but it melted pretty quickly! I went out to into the field with the mega super large truck, that literally probably is twice my size. Ice was still on the rivers, thick ice. April also mean longer days. In the wintertime you loose up to 7 minutes a day, so come spring that is what you gain, every day. By April 22 you could see the sunset after 9.30 pm, and it would still be light out at 10pm at the end of the month. As always April turns into a wet and muddy ordeal as snowmelt starts, once you get passed the cold temperatures and new snow that is. We experienced the earliest bud burst in history, a whole week before the usual green-up. April also brought the first mosquitos...

 
 

May

    All of a sudden May had arrived, with a record breaking pollen outburst. Rain showers mixed with pollenshowers. A friend of mine and I decided to go to Denali for one last hurrah before both of us moved out of the state. This was also the first time I went biking in Denali without running into a bear, the only animal we saw was the distinct ptarmigan. Had my last day in the field and at the end of May W arrived, and I packed the red Subi and life went on, and on for 4157 miles...6690 km. We drove through Alaska, then Canada, and Canada and Canada. The journey through Canada was the longest, we drove about 1962 miles (3157 km) give or take, through Canada. From Bozeman we drove via Yellowstone and Cody all the way to Madison, a journey about 1360 miles (2189 km). Through Canada we camped until we approached the Canada/American border. I had a sandwich we made from our own stuff, with turkey on it in Banff, that had gone bad and got food poisoning by the time we passed Calgary, thank god we had already decided to stay at a motel that night. Then on to Bozeman and Yellowstone for some fieldwork before our journey continued.

 
 

June

    June 1st was our last day on the road and we finally landed in Madison by the evening, after 12 days on the road. One of the first things we did was to buy an air conditioner, which is how I survived all summer. Madison is so far south, it is actually on the same latitude as southern France so it gets very hot in the summertime, too hot for me, and for long haired cats. Everything is so green and lush in Wisconsin, and I went to the Botanical gardens on one of the hottest days. One day we were driving back from some errands and discovered one of the bike races in Madison, namely a naked bike race, looks extremely dangerous if you ask me. W went back to Yellowstone for more fieldwork and I explored Madison. I also received the very last package from mom around this time, didn't know back then that it would be the last one I would get from her. 

 
Posted on January 13, 2017 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under The great wide open, Flashback Friday, Rearview Mirror and tagged Alaska Alcan Canada Canadaland Wisconsin Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone Montana Home New Home roadtrip road trip fieldseason utlandssvensk utlandsboende Denali Denali National Park Spring pollen Budburst National Park rearviewmirror2016 2017 Summer Adventures Spring Adventures Fieldwork rearviewmirror Life in Alaska.

New Home - Madison, WI

June 22

Ugh, it's been too long since I updated my blog, again. At least I can excuse myself by saying that moving to a new place across the country takes time. Adjusting to a new place takes time too. 

Wisconsin vs Alaska

I wont lie, I really really miss Alaska, but Wisconsin has a lot to give too, I just have to get used to it. There are so many more social things I can do here. There are local shops in various neighborhoods, many local breweries, and live music at cafe's and bars to name a few. I can go on a stroll down to two different lakes if I feel like it, walk or bike 5-10 minutes to hit a grocery store. The farmers market is huge, and cheap!

The past few weeks the temperature has been in the 90's (30°C), inside the temperature has stalled at about 77°F until this morning when it finally dropped down, to 74°F. We keep the windows open at night and close them during the day, we also did buy an AC when I just got here, which I am so happy about. I don't think I would have been able to survive without it. 

Tycho disappears during the night, probably out hunting, something, or trying to escape the heat. I think I know where he goes though, the neighbor's flower bed by the driveway. Maybe it's cooler there? He usually comes when I call for him, but not anymore. I don't know if he's angry that I took him away from heaven on earth to hell, temperature wise, it's hard to tell what a cat thinks. If he's not outside exploring the yard, or I guess the neighbors flower bed, he sits by the window and watches the day go by. He did do that in Alaska too, so that's not something new. 

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Ann Rumbleinthearctic and filed under Garden, Madison Life, Wisconsin, Tycho - The Kitty Cat and tagged Lake Monona capital capitol icecream union cats Tycho_the_earless_cat New Home Iced Coffee Apartment Madison utlandssvensk Wisconsin Tycho Mendota Summertime 2016.