Icewind's Ramblings

It has been another crazy week here in the Arctic northland. We have had several days of milder temperatures, falling gasoline prices (it finally dropped below $ 3.00 a gallon here in Anchorage ), and several days of off and on snow showers. I saw Aurora one night this week earlier in the evening than I normally see the lights. Work endeavors pulled in many directions all week keeping us busy trying to stay ahead of the game. We sent crews out in bush Alaska to start work on another health clinic and in an almost predictable time found several of our conex containers were missing some of our plumbing materials. We suspect that they may not have been loaded fully and made the several barges that carried our equipment and materials to the jobsite. We scurried around the last several days buying new materials and getting things air lifted out so the crew was not waiting around. Things turned costly quickly flying things out especially after sending things out on the...

With grandkids in the house there are times lately that we have had to ‘child proof’ some things as now the kids are mobile and getting into things. The drawers in the kitchen and dining room seem to draw them over for a look see and as they watch us put trash away in the cans in the cabinet they immediately go over and open the doors. The trash cabinets are not too bad but getting into the ones under the sink could prove to be a problem. There are the cleaning supplies, those little dishwasher tablets with the little blue ball embedded on it. There is the sponges bought in bulk at Costco and my cooking can for my grease drippings. I guess it is time to look for those little locks to put on the cabinet doors and drawers. I head out in search of these nifty little devices after my Saturday morning breakfast and add it to my chores for the morning. What I discovered in the years since I had a small child in the house surprised me and makes me wonder who thinks up thi...

I was trying to figure out how and what I wanted to write about this subject that I have observed for a few months now. I finally did a Google search and found out that this is not a totally uncommon problem and that there is a name for it also. Who’d known? My dog Levi who I lost last March was a wonderful dog and friend. No bad traits at all unless it was the one where he would let anyone into the house. Levi had no malicious traits and it seemed he never met a stranger and continues to be sorely missed by me to this day. My wife had lost her dog Casey the year before Levi and could not take the loneliness coming home to an empty house so she found another a few weeks after my loss. He is called Gus now and she has been raising him since he was about 5 weeks old. There were the typical list of items to deal with and training to make Gus a household member. Many hours were spent taking young Gus outside every twenty to thirty minutes for his potty train...

The purpose of Veterans Day is to honor all veterans. To the Fallen we salute you and remember your sacrifice . . . To those who continue to serve around the world we gratefully thank you for standing post and protecting those who cannot protect themselves . . . Soldiers have always been more about peace than war as we have seen firsthand the effects from conflicts in our past. We will always remember . . . as it stays with us within our memory’s reach. Ice

The trouble with bucket seats is that Not everybody has the same size bucket. Ice

The election is over but I still have to have a little fun with this before it gets to boring and I’m locked into the winter observations found here in the Arctic northland. Watching the election night speeches were a mixed bag for me but I thought both men did a great job both victory and defeat? It was great seeing the mix of all those involved in the celebrations around the country. Hopefully it will continue as we work through the upcoming difficult times we are facing. One of the comments on election night was getting a new dog for his family so their stay in the White House would be like most other first families. I guess having ‘normalcy’ is a good thing but if they have not had a dog in the past getting a new puppy to ‘break in’ will have some added entertainment for those covering the political beat. I cannot wait to see those stories in the near future. He expounded on his pet plans during Friday’s press conference. “With respect to the dog, thi...

Therapy is expensive . . . Popping bubble wrap is not . . . You choose! Ice