Icewind's Ramblings

Over the last couple of years there have been changes in my life and at times that isolation with myself has given me some time to think about all the different things and people directly around my life and those that are within that circle or circles that are peripheral to my main group.   I used to not really understand that we can figure out how this whole “life thing” works and once we do everything falls into place so much easier. I was primarily focused on absorbing as much information as I could and getting better at the things that I thought were going to “get me ahead in life”. But, I didn’t realize that I was also supposed to be focusing on seeing the bigger picture and learning from all the lessons that came my way. There were road blocks where I am sure I left family down at times by being focused on myself or the things I was involved in or closing off parts of me to get through whatever may have been going on in our lives. It hadn’t occurred to me that I wa...

The Mad King ventured from his cellar in his castle. He wanted to be a part Of the real world. What he found was injustice in humanity . . . Scared, he returned to his cellar. Ice

Waking up this morning after a weekend of constant snowfall it was piled high as one would expect but overnight it was crystal clear with stars shining and an awesome full moon hanging above the horizon.   The moon large on the western sky as I drove to work with temperatures dropping from 14 degrees last evening to about minus seven this morning. My rig struggled to get warm by the time I made my short drive to work.   I had used my auto-start about 10 minutes before leaving home but with the cold temps it takes it a few miles to feel warm inside my auto.   Work was a typical Monday with meetings, working through the logistical problems with getting material shipped to remote villages.   As the day wore on I needed to go to our shipping yard to look at a conex (big metal shipping container) that I was preparing to ship to my project in Larsen Bay.   Today was clear, calm, and cold staying about minus 4 by mid afternoon. This was the calm before the next ...

Have a great Day! Ice

Why do we press harder on a wireless mouse button when we know the batteries are getting weak? Ice

With Christmas just around the corner and things going into full swing this holiday season I wanted to give you something to ease that stress of the crowded malls, that parking spot at the far end of the lot and bring back that time of Christmas carols.   This little video clip from Two and a Half Men reminds us how fun those little moments are that brings out that unexpected smile. Enjoy! Happy Holidays, Ice

Living in Alaska puts a damper on some things but the last couple of years one is left to wonder what happened to Halloween. Even with the cold weather you would see kids out with costumes over the snow suits or all bundled up against the elements.   Lately there have only been a few people out and about knocking on doors looking for the candy treats we looked forward to as a child. Alaska does things a little differently with several indoor places to take the children to a ‘festival’ atmosphere where there are the big inflatables for the kids to play and being inside there is little worry of the cold or snow outside. Does that take away from the whole fun of Halloween going to the neighbor’s house for that trick or treat tradition?   I had only four people who knocked on my door this year and they all came at the same time.   Over a period of several hours there was nothing happening even though my wife gave the dog a Valium to calm him down since he barks at anythi...

It’s one of those evenings where I want to write about so many things but just cannot seem to put it on paper tonight. The snow level is coming slowly down the mountainside to the valley floor.   We should have our first measurable snow by morning which is later than most previous years.   Usually I am excited about the coming winter but lately that excitement has not been easy for me.   I think it is because work has been so busy I have not had time to properly get my mind frame adjusted. I started a fire . . . sitting here looking out the window into the darkness of night slowly waiting for the rain droplets to take form and turn into the multifaceted flakes falling past the street light across the street. Will it make the change over before I go to sleep?   It may as I sit here and ponder what to write next. But the with the waiting it seems I just can’t finish anythi Ice

During the bathroom remodel as I bored of working on it in what seemed like all of my free time I decided to build an outdoor kitchen area.   My brother-in-law Mike and I had talked about it since last summer when we were always cleaning and processing our fish on coolers in the driveway. At the time he was working out at the end of the world on Shemya Island which is on the far western end of the Aleutian Islands.   His work schedule had him working for three months at a time on the island with two or three weeks time off.   He has worked out the schedule so he could be home for the beginning and end of the fishing season. I needed a break from the bathroom work and headed to Lowe’s to grab some lumber.   Mike had bought a new stainless steel electric smoker over the winter and I wanted to make a place where we could smoke our fish out of the weather as many times it was always raining while we would tend the smoker for 6 to 8 hours. Things I wanted to include...

Friends of mine have “Fun Friday’s” on their blogs . . . does this one count? I returned home tonight from a long road trip in the Alaskan bush to find out there had been another bear incident, which is not all that uncommon in the summer months. This incident happened just a couple blocks from my house and with this tale it is oh so sad but funny as hell.  I have to look at this with that slightly off kilter approach since it is another one out of the bizarre pages from the long list of Anchorage happenings over the years. Officers say they responded to the 200 block of Yellow Leaf Circle just after 10 a.m. when neighbors called to report a woman was chasing a bear down an alley. This is where the story starts the unusual twist.  Almost every other story about “bear attacks” involves bears having contact with humans and sometimes there is a mauling or even death.  It is not common to hear of someone ‘chasing’ a bear.  But in all honesty, this was the middl...

This one will go under the Useless Trivia category . . . The Statue of Liberty 's fingernails weigh (on average) 100 pounds each. I hope everyone has a nice holiday and you took time to remember what this day means besides the cookouts, hot dogs, and fireworks. Give thanks to those who serve for giving us those Freedoms we enjoy each day.  Ice

Well weeks actually . . . as I was out of town last week on Monday to Kipnuk for a long “day” trip.  It is one of those where you leave the house at 4 AM to get to the airport for an early morning flight.  It just so happened that this was June 21 st which is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.  When I walked out the door at four the sun was already above the mountaintops to the northeast of town.  With our high latitude we do not have the typical sun rises in the east and sets in the west like most places further south.  During the long summers our sun rises in the northeast about 50 degrees from north not the “normal” 90 degrees “east” heading and sets briefly around 310 degrees not the usual 270 degrees “west”.  So much for the brief explanation as all I wanted to say was the sun was already heading up into the summer sky. I went with the engineers for a progress inspection since I took over these three projects just over three weeks ...

Sometimes we get busy and caught up in work or possibly play . . . here in Alaska with the abundance of both things always going on.  For many of us it usually does not take long for something to trigger that memory of what brought you here in the first place.  Springtime is one of those times as the renewal of life comes to the neighborhoods all around Anchorage .  We have over 1,100 moose roaming within the City of Anchorage during the winter months with the females calving in springtime.  One such occurred here on May 25 th in a lower hillside neighborhood backyard belonging to Mark McDermott.  These photos cover only about 1.5 hours, from 10:30 AM to just after 12:00 noon.  His pictures show the renewal of hope and the first hours of “Life in the City”.  Will this moose remain in the city or head for the hills? Enjoy these incredible pictures of new life. Mom (Cow) lying down just below the deck at the start of her labor. Note: the fron...

Summer is a great time for grillin’ keeping the heat buildup out of the house and fishing season is upon us so I thought I would put this one out there for everyone. 1/4 c pineapple juice 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 4 (6 oz) salmon fillets 2 tbsp brown sugar 4 tsp chili powder 2 tsp grated lemon rind 3/4 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp cinnamon Cooking spray Lemon wedges (optional) Combine first 3 ingredients in a Ziploc plastic bag, seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning occasionally. Before we start grillin’ let me give you a few tips on barbecuing salmon recipes. Make sure that the rungs on the grill are clean.  There’s nothing worse than old bits of food burnt on the grill bars, not only does it leave a horrible taste but it will make the Salmon stick. Get that barbeque really hot.  Depending on charcoal or a gas grill use plenty of charcoal to build a really good fire that will retain plenty of heat. Let the flames die down until you can see...

One of my favorite books is called Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.  It is a book about life, values, and of course fixin’ motorcycles.  There are many great quotes in the book by Robert R. Pirsig and one of them is this: "The truth knocks on your door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away." Once you think about that for a minute it becomes increasingly obvious to many of us that there is a lot of truth in that statement.  So many times we cannot see what is right in front of us or goes by without our consciousness grasping the fact that it was there. I’ve been flying a lot lately and it seems like I have been spending more time in planes than in my rig (car).  So many flight attendants with names like, Dawn, Natalie, Jennifer, and Grant. Always the slightly forced smile after so many years serving people pretzels, water, coffee, and a soft drink giving that pleasant word here and there while resetting the call b...

Tomorrow is Bike to work day and my company is hosting a BBQ for our new interns who come in to work with us during the summer months.  The combination bike day and a welcoming BBQ will make it a fun time and the weather is looking great for the event.  I was volunteered to help cook and people were bringing side dishes and deserts.  I figured I would give everyone a treat with my slightly different baked bean recipe. Baked beans are a favorite side dish in the South.  It's rare to go to a barbecue or to a pot luck dinner and not see a baking dish with baked beans. Some baked beans are a whole lot better than other baked beans . . . it takes some "doctoring up" to make the really yummy baked beans . . . the kind that means you come home with an empty casserole dish or crock pot.  If you’re really lucky someone will take the cornbread and lap up the juice in the bottom of the dish. There are probably as many baked bean secrets in the South as there are South...

This year like many in the past has shown us that there are more homeless and ‘street people’ than years past.  It is a problem with no easy solutions.  Several years ago the company I worked for built a new state of the art shelter called Brother Francis shelter which is next door to Bean’s Café which we remodeled the year before.  Both handle feeding and housing those in need of a hand.  Many have given up on life and go through the motions of hanging out all day waiting for the next meal or place to sleep.  Mixed into this counter culture are families and children.  Sad but true. One of the major problems here in Alaska is we have extreme conditions that can kill you quickly even when properly prepared for it but leaves little chance when you are intoxicated and not 100% ready for survival.  Each year we have many deaths, and last year I think I wrote about it raining men as one after another seemed to fall out of the sky being frozen to death....

Snow left on the mountains from last winter still blocks the Resurrection Pass Trail in Chugach National Forest .  Things up high are melting fast as you can see the ground and rocks high above the city.  Lower levels of the mountains are in that transition period of greening up for summer.  Over the weekend I had to pull on the fleece in order to sit on my southwest-facing deck and enjoy the evening sunshine. The spring sun, admittedly, feels as good and warm as ever.  But the air, well, something is wrong with the air.  The air is still cool.  As soon as the sun disappears behind a cloud, the temperature starts falling as if it were nighttime in the desert. A bright sun warming the deck one evening last week actually encouraged me to engage in the foolishness of pulling on shorts and a short-sleeved jersey for an evening mountain bike ride.  It was only a fleeting thought as I did not want to dig out the bike from under my deck storage area....

Four or five days ago there were some changes coming to the Anchorage area which gave us our first real glimpse of summer.  The clouds parted, the sun continues to give us the sunlight lost during our long winters.  We are up to about 17 hours now with sunrise around 5:30 am and sunset around 10:30 PM so you can still see it light outside to the west after midnight. The city is in that period of time when everyone comes together to walk the roadways picking up trash that has either been dropped or blown around the streets.  Everyone has the opportunity to clean up the debris and limbs that were blown down in your yard.  The City of Anchorage opens up the two landfills for a couple weekends for those that want to clean up and drop off their debris.  For those two weekends the do not charge so the lines are long but it makes a big difference in how the city looks during the summer. With the sun out in force giving a sense of warmth at about 60 degrees it wa...

Wednesday afternoon heading back to Kodiak - 5/27/10 The pilot taxied out to take off for the flight along the coast to Karluk and as we broke ground and climbed to about 50 feet above ground level (AGL) to the end of the runway as we flew past the lodge we banked sharply to the left and headed out over the bay.  We climbed to about 300 feet and bounced our way around the island toward Karluk.  We flew just off shore along the rock outcroppings and worked our way to the homecoming for a mother and daughter with the family.  As we flew along they kissed each other and glad to be returning home after a few days in Kodiak for a school function.  There had been a music function and many of the kids on the island were brought to Kodiak to participate.  This happens all over the state with school kids flying to sporting events, music outings, and other functions as needed giving some sense of normalcy within the communities. As we flew over the village along the...