Just back inside the Gulag after a smoking break while burning the midnite oil working on my designs.  Got some new ideas so I'm going back and overhauling some of the basic stuff.  I still have a lot of tweaking to do.

Temps have dropped to the negative digits Farenheit tonight after being in the single digits the last 2 nights.  Now the real test of this year's shelter system for the homeless gets rolling.  Also the test of the electrical grid and the NG supply to run the power plants and provide the juice that makes living in AK reasonably comfortable in the modern era.  The 15 minutes outside smoking at these temps reminds me quickly why only around 60K people liked up here  when the Europeans first arrived.  You just can't spend much time outside unless you're seriously bundled up in layers, and you need a good insulated habitation to hibernate in.

The fact it's only Thanksgiving and we still have a solid 4 months of this weather ahead is annoying, but then I think about what it would be like living down in Houston with no A/C when the power goes out and it's 98F with 90% humidity.  At least in the cold you can keep adding layers. Hot & humid, once you're naked that's it.

RE