Icewind's Ramblings

The southern senators who objected to Alaska 's statehood in 1959 may have had a point. People here aren't all that bound to the rest of the country. Alaskans speak of the Lower 48 as "The States" or “Outside” and it sounds just as far away to them as it does to Americans I'd met who were working in another country. People here feel themselves to be a breed apart with a distinct culture and distinct capabilities. One where the harshness of the Arctic climate with the extremes of cold & darkness make one ready to handle about anything not found elsewhere. I wouldn't call us unpatriotic, but I get the impression sometimes that if the ‘Lower 48’ was to sink into the ocean tomorrow, it would make the front page of the Anchorage Daily News for a day and then life would go back to normal. After all . . . we have the oil and the natural resources . . . one day when gasoline hits six bucks a gallon people ‘Outside’ will demand that we open

BOO ! ! ! Happy Halloween Ice

General Observation # 1 about Alaskans. We tend to divide the year into light and dark almost as much as we do with warm and cold. Daylight here is a precious commodity and people are very conscious about losing it. Every weather report on television or newspaper contains the length of the day and, right now, how many minutes shorter it is than yesterday. Almost six minutes a day may not seem like much to you if you live “Outside” (anyplace other than Alaska ), but several times lately I’ve heard Alaskans lament their imminent loss of the sun. For some strange reason we embrace the darkness and the cold so we can revel in the light of summer and the warmth that the sun brings. It may not be the ‘hot’ warmth I used to experience in the south but one that is welcomed in the spring . . . Ice

Sorry it has taken me so long to finish this up but as always . . . life has been way too busy and many outside things are happening to keep me from writing regularly. We have had family in town, car repairs, sick kids, and weather changes as we progress into winter. Snow has fallen . . . the birds are heading south . . . the moose are coming down off the higher elevations back into the city . . . and the light of day is quickly fading over 5 and a half minutes a day now. It’s almost into November by the time I finish these stories so I’ll slow down on the pictures as it takes a long time to load the pages. Cruise Day 7 – September 22, 2007 It was another warm night as I tried to sleep with balcony door open. I could see the flashes of lightning off in the distance, and hear the waves slapping against the ship’s hull as I laid there hoping to quickly drift off for a night of uninterrupted sleep. It did not take too long and I like everyone else on board but the wo