Icewind's Ramblings

Hotheaded Naked Ice Borers In its April, 2013 issue Defenders Magazine announced that Dr. Aprile Rooz, a noted wildlife biologist, had found a fascinating new Arctic species: the hotheaded naked ice borer.  These bizarre creatures were each about half a foot long, very light, and had a bony plate attached to their head that could become burning hot, allowing them to bore tunnels through ice at high speeds.  They used this ability to hunt penguins.  Packs of them would melt the ice beneath a penguin causing it to sink into the slush, at which point the borers would surround the hapless creature and consume it. Dr. Rooz discovered the borers by chance as a result of their predatory nature.  While studying a group of penguins on Arctic sea ice, she noticed one frightened member of the group rapidly sinking into the ice.  When she pulled the hapless creature out of the fast-growing slush pool that surrounded it, she found a host of small creatures attached to ...

I had a great weekend with my friend Mark Evans in town after his long motorcycle ride from Texas to Alaska.   He made it all the way up past the Arctic Circle and on to Deadhorse in Prudhoe Bay at the top of the world a feat many people will never experience.   Congratulations Mark, driving a vehicle is tough enough but doing it on a motorcycle is a feat in itself! We met up on Wednesday and I took him to see Sarah Palin’s house on the lake and drove up about an hour where we enjoyed lunch in “Beautiful Downtown Talkeetna”. We wandered the streets and airport seeing the crazy sights and listening to all the sounds of a busy tourist season.   We drove back to the cabin he was staying in Wasilla where we enjoyed sitting on the porch of a two room cabin built in 1931.   Totally rustic with a gas lamp and outhouse we sat on the porch for hours talking and getting to know one another after communicating on FB for several years. Sipping from bottles of Jack & Crow...

Hotheaded Naked Ice Borers In its April, 2012 issue Defenders Magazine announced that Dr. Aprile Rooz, a noted wildlife biologist, had found a fascinating new Arctic species: the hotheaded naked ice borer.   These bizarre creatures were each about half a foot long, very light, and had a bony plate attached to their head that could become burning hot, allowing them to bore tunnels through ice at high speeds.   They used this ability to hunt penguins.   Packs of them would melt the ice beneath a penguin causing it to sink into the slush, at which point the borers would surround the hapless creature and consume it. Dr. Rooz discovered the borers by chance as a result of their predatory nature.   While studying a group of penguins on Arctic sea ice, she noticed one frightened member of the group rapidly sinking into the ice.   When she pulled the hapless creature out of the fast-growing slush pool that surrounded it, she found a host of small creatures attac...

It has been awhile since I’ve written a blog so I decided to do a quick one to let everyone know what I’ve been up too. Alaska finally came out of a pretty harsh winter with a somewhat nice (but short) spring.   With that comes a busy time for me preparing for the upcoming construction season here.   There are so many tasks to do in a relatively short time period where our projects are assigned to the different construction managers to make things happen so construction may begin during the summer. The construction work plan has to be written up along with safety plans and assembling all of the required paperwork and permits.   There are the usual ones for storm water runoff control and spill prevention but there are a couple one would not think about.   There are the archeological permits if we dig anywhere since we may disturb possible ancient burial grounds that are unmarked.   There are very specific plans to follow if you do come across human bones or a...

In my travels around this beautiful state I have the opportunity to experience some interesting & oddly incredible things.   Some places it reminds me of stepping back in time or in some cases third world countries.   My company’s mission is to change that bringing clean water, sewer service, & clinics to those villages. The weather this winter has been brutal at best & one of the places I fly in & out is Kotzebue.   Enjoy their recent weather in a blog from one of the locals. http://finnskimo.blogspot.com/2011/02/seriously.html Ice

I made my trip up north to Selawik on Tuesday morning leaving the house at 4 am making my way to the airport for my Alaska Air flight to Kotzebue.   We took off into the clear cold night sky leaving the sparkling lights of Anchorage below as we turned northwest for the one hour forty five minute flight.   I thought about grabbing a nap since this would be a long day returning to Anchorage around midnight but chose to instead listen to my music on the iPod and enjoy the coffee and Danish the flight attendant had given me.   I sat next to the window but many of these early morning trips I do not spend time looking out the windows since in the darkness it is like looking into a black hole in space.   Tonight was different as there was almost a full moon to the west a couple hours away from setting casting its silvery bluish glow on the landscape below. As we made our way at flight level 340 (34,000’) and had just crossed over the Yukon River below with its ribbon li...

I have had several comments on my travels around the State of Alaska and going up north specifically ‘above the Arctic Circle’, places with names like Kotzebue, Selawik, Barrow and Point Hope to name a few.   Time of year comes into the equation but only slightly as it can snow or have freezing temperatures there even in summer.   For many of those who ‘work’ in the arctic it is a place where seasonal changes do not hamper the operations of providing much needed oil and natural gas to the nation.   It is a place where things continue to move about and work performed even in the harshest conditions known to man.   60 below zero with a 70 know wind many times is a common event with things moving a little slower and with safety always forefront in everyone’s mind as a misjudgment can be tragic to those who are complacent and not fully aware of their surroundings and wildlife. When I moved from Atlanta to Alaska, I learned what a “winter coat” really meant.   Whe...

I started off the New Year with a ‘quick’ trip up to Selawik Alaska for meeting with the tribal leaders on our plans to refurbish their water treatment plant and add some water and sewer service to 8 new homes added last summer to the community. There was a large group of us flying up from Anchorage leaving for the airport around 4 am to light snow mixed with rain.   We gathered at the boarding gate in the airport with everyone mostly quiet as we waited to board the plane around 5:30.   Once on board the plane several people took the chance for a quick nap since we were not due to return to Anchorage until almost midnight.   The rest of us chatted briefly or listened to music on our iPods.   We landed in Kotzebue which is a small spit of land on the Arctic Ocean along Norton Sound.   We deplaned from Alaska Airlines and made our way over to Bering Air for our charter flight to Selawik. Everyone dressed in their arctic gear and boarded the plane in the darkn...

I saw this on Google images and thought you might enjoy this. Polar Bear Christmas This looks like Barrow, Alaska which is in darkness from November to until January 24, 2011. Polar Bears playing on the ice next to the Beaufort Sea. Happy Holidays! Ice

This summer has been going in what feels a hundred miles an hour.  So many trips to different places for work with little time for doing the things that make this such a great place to live. The last month or so has been a series of trips to inspect and visits the many projects going on around the state.  I have several on Kodiak island and several more scattered around the state so it has been one plane ride after another going from project to project. Last week was to several jobsite visits on Kodiak and the weather was trying not to cooperate.  There were times of fog and rain showers in between times with millions of mosquitoes buzzing around my head.  It was something else wearing head nets while wondering if I should be in a full body “bug suit”. I need to upload some of the pictures about the villages and trips but my internet service while out of town is totally lacking.  The brief time at home has me playing catch up to laundry, finishing house pr...

Saturday evening Montana rookie musher, Celeste Davis (Bib #58), made her way under the Burled Arch of Front Street in Nome Alaska with 9 dogs on her team bringing a close to the 2010 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.   The 37 year old musher made the trek from Willow to Nome in 13 days, 5 hours, 6 minutes and 40 seconds, landing her in the Iditarod record books with the fastest Red Lantern in race history! From the Iditarod web site . . . Iditarod Traditions The Story of the Widow’s Lamp During the days of Alaska sled dog freighting and mail carrying, dog drivers relied on a series of roadhouses between their village destinations. Since these mushers ventured out in most all kinds of weather, for safety reasons they found the idea that pilots rely on, known today as the flight plan. Word was relayed ahead that a musher and team were on the trail, and a kerosene lamp was lit and hung outside the roadhouse. It not only helped the dog driver find his destination at night, but...

This week is “spring break” in Alaska and the kids are out of school. Normally one thinks of warm balmy breezes and maybe going on that first camping trip of the season or possibly heading outside to play for long hours.  These were the things I did years ago growing up in the southland but it seems things are a little different here in the arctic. Spring break here has the kids hunkered down close to a fireplace with the television going or maybe away from everyone in their room on the computer playing some game with a tropical setting so far away from the realities outside their window.  For those who can brave the winds and cold there is the ‘dress code’ of Alaska . . . Carharts with jackets or insulated bibs to keep warm.  Gloves and sockhead type hats to keep frostbite at bay as well as ‘bunny boots’ or Sorel’s to keep your feet dry and warm.  Kids are kids’ so playing outside during spring break is expected and another of those somewhat different experie...

Systems Performance Analyses of Alaska Wind-Diesel Projects; Selawik, Alaska (Fact Sheet) Last week I flew to the village of Selawik , Alaska an Inupiat Eskimo community just above the Arctic Circle .  The group I traveled with was made up of mechanical engineers, AutoCAD draftsman, construction, and Indian Health Services.  Our mission was to do an emergency evaluation of the existing water treatment plant and come up with a design and construction plan to renovate the plant as quickly as possible.  The 35% design drawings completed by another firm were almost useless as when we arrived on site we discovered much of the information in the “As-Built” drawings was wrong.  Equipment was located in the wrong place and the measurements for things were so out of whack that the easiest way for us to proceed was to make a new drawing to work from and design the new system. We gathered in the Anchorage airport just after 4 am to begin our journey first on an Alaska Ai...

It has been a mixed week here in the far north as work has accelerated getting ready for the upcoming construction season.  Many meetings trying to sort through which projects will have funding and for those that do quickly moving through the winter time preconstruction activities. Part of this process is making material lists of every part and piece to be built.  Literally it is figuring out exactly how many nuts and bolts will be needed.  All of the equipment that will be installed is ordered and shipped to make the limited barge season schedule.  For many of these villages there may only be two barges that dock bringing with it 98% of things the village will need for the next year.  This could be food, clothing, heating fuel, construction materials, snow machines (most villages have no real roads so not many ‘vehicle’s’ are there other than construction ones), and anything else that you could think of.  It is a different world and if something misses...

Will Rogers Remembered I had meant to post this back in August to commemorate the anniversary of the plane crash which killed Will Rogers and Wiley Post, who was known as one of the best pilots in America .  He gained fame by being the first pilot to fly solo around the world. After Mark Twain died, America found another great humorist, raconteur, story-teller, who tickled the nation’s funny-bone and pricked the collective social conscience at the same time.  Will Rogers made people laugh, think about our social interactions and his musings gave us much to think about. Post asked Rogers to come along on a tour of the great unknown land of Alaska , where Post was trying to map routes for mail planes to Russia .  Ever adventurous, Rogers agreed — he could file his newspaper columns from Alaska by radio and telephone.  On August 15, 1935, their airplane crashed near Point Barrow, Alaska , killing them both. One quote by Rogers has always struck me . ....