Icewind's Ramblings

"There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive." -- Jack London, The Call of the Wild Sometimes we may forget . . . But I try not to let the things build up and overwhelm me into forgetting. Ice

Spending my Alaskan summer off the map and under the midnight sun, I can truly say that I leave the summer’s light and warmth without regrets. I can also say that one day in the months ahead, I’ll look forward to the “breakup” and winter’s horizon sun slowly climbing higher into the sky. When that happens . . . I’ll be back to that mindset that is the Alaskan summer. Ice

Today is the 25 th anniversary of “The Wall” in Washington D.C. and it still moves me anytime I visit or see pictures. The Vietnam War Memorial for those that have not seen it is cut into the ground into an inverted V shape that starts on one side by date (1965) and as the list of fallen grows it continues to go deeper into the ground with the maximum height about seven feet tall. As the war wound down and the number of fallen decreases the reverse happens and the list of names shorten (the height decreases) until it returns to ground level on the far side (1973). The back granite is polished so there are reflections of those looking at the names. You may make etchings of the name of a loved one on “The Wall” or leave a tribute to the Fallen if you choose. They will start today reading the 58,000+ names of those who lost their lives and it will take until Friday or Saturday to finish the list. To our brothers who are the Fallen we ...

After last night’s rant I thought I would share a little ditty that hopefully will bring a smile. OK, I know it’s been a little while since I posted one of those wonderful (at least to me) stories from real life . . . Many may not be like me to revel in the fact that the human experience is one of those funny things that can bring a smile to someone’s face. That trying day or night is why we spend time sharing stories so we can make people laugh or smile when they may not feel like it. My house lately has been one of those places where it is hard to find that private place to get away from all of the people in the household. It has been a full house with my father in law in town the last couple of weeks and my brother in law in from his work rotation out on Shemya Island . My son and his daughter are around as well as my wife so needless to say it has been hard to find a quiet place. One of the few places that I can spend ‘alone’ with a house full of people i...

What in the world were they thinking? I like many Alaskans are beside myself trying to figure out how we have gotten into the state we and much of the nation is in right now. Alaska teens can make own abortion decision. Last Friday, November 2, 2007 the Alaska Supreme Court threw out an embattled state law that required parental or judicial consent before a teenager can have an abortion. Do you understand what I just said . . . It is now legal in Alaska for a girl who is 12 or 13 years old to walk into an Alaskan abortion clinic and pay with her own money (from selling Girl Scout cookies) to have an abortion without her parents being notified by anyone? On the flip side if she is injured in an auto accident and taken to a hospital for life saving surgery the parent has to sign permission before the hospital will operate. There are many things that occupy our time lately in The Last Frontier . . . The gas pipeline project possibilities . . . the rising...

“The user does not know what he wants until he sees what he gets.” For some reason it seems every Saturday morning at breakfast I experience that little observation. I meet up with several friends at a local eatery every week and the people who drop in are a mixed bunch of interesting people. Most of us have either worked together at one time or another or in one of the related trades associated with the construction industry. It seems as we sit and drink coffee and swap stories over the course of several hours there comes the time when we need to order our breakfast. Most of us know the menu from memory as we have been coming to this restaurant for over four years now. Every week there is at least one or two people who cannot decide what to order . . . every week the same thing. Eventually we all order and receive our food and as soon as our waitress put the plates down one of us will say something on the order of, “Man I wish I would have ordered that!” Or...