The sun rose this morning at 8:25, and will set at 6:50 this evening. The day length has decreased to 10 hours 19 minutes, about 6 2/3 minutes less than yesterday. The sun will not quite make 18 ½ ° above the horizon today, which means that I need to use the sun visor for driving throughout the day. It won’t be long until we’re driving straight into a blinding low sun at noon.

It’s getting cold at night, down to the teens and twenties. So far the daytime temperatures are still warming to above freezing, but that may not last much longer — forecasts suggest a chance of snow by the end of the week. I’ll be spending next Monday in upstate New York and the one after that in southern Arizona, but I fully expect to see snow on the ground when I get back home to Fairbanks. It will be a nice change from the browns and rather dark green spruce that currently color our world.

The garden has been put to bed for the winter, with leaves piled over the perennial beds, and the snow stake is back in the lawn. This year I pulled the wind spinner and put it in storage, so it won’t bend over and interfere with seeing the snow depth. I hope we get a decent depth of snow early, to insulate the ground.

P.S. — the stores already have Christmas decorations for sale, with more excuse here than in most areas. Stringing outdoor lights at 40 below is not my idea of fun, even if the cords were flexible at those temperatures!