Icewind's Ramblings

The days are getting shorter now and winters on the way, there’s whispering on the winds telling us it’s that time to pray.   Pray for a quick winter and a return to our beloved summers. We are almost at that time when the frost is on the windshields of vehicles not tucked away in a garage and the time to return to using the auto-start on your rig to warm it up before you get in for that drive to work.   I originally came from the South and I have been surprised that no one there has started selling vehicle auto-starters for the use in summer to cool their vehicle before getting into them in the near 100 degree heat.   Could do well there I bet with a little promotion.   Not I mind you as I could not take the heat full time unless I was on one of the tropical islands somewhere with a drink in hand.   Jeff Foxworthy made famous the “You might be a Redneck” jokes and along those same lines we have our share of Alaskan humor that is a little different than the...

This summer I travelled to several remote villages in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta area of Alaska or the YK Delta as it is know locally.   Many of these trips start we me leaving Anchorage on Alaska Airlines’ 737 and flying to one of the hub cities like Bethel, Dillingham, or Kotzebue from which I change planes to a smaller single engine or twin engine airplane. I spend time in Cessna 206, 207, and 208 aircraft along with the Piper Navajo which are the workhorses (taxi’s) to travel into the bush communities.   Many times over the course of the summer I fly over literally a million small lakes scattered across the tundra as I visit my project sites.   I find it interesting to see the different wildlife that calls these lands home.   There may be caribou herds transiting the area as they free range never stopping or hardly slowing down as they drop there babies who quickly keep up with the groups.   I have seen a few mush oxen that usually stay within a 10 to 15 ...

When you join the military or are elected to public office you take an oath to protect the country from both foreign and domestic enemies which is part of our Constitution. Throughout history world powers nearly always fall from within. We may be going that same route as we look for ways to get involved in all the world’s conflicts when we cannot take care of things on our own home front.   We have invaded Libya to stop another nutcase from killing his own people as we watch over the country’s oil fields without taking anything for our efforts to stop the violence in that country.   It has been that way in all of our Middle Eastern protective missions. Does that make us a stupid country?   The foreign oil is there for us to take as part payment for helping countries gain freedom from dictators who think nothing of killing their own people.   Within our own borders exists 1,000 to 2,500 years worth oil and gas.   We have hamstrung ourselves from using it and...

Winter is almost here even though we have had an “Indian Summer” lately, not the same as other places where they get to 70 degrees . . . ours in Alaska is more like 50’s which is not bad at all.  Hunting season is quickly coming to an end for most game and people have filled their freezers with moose, bear, caribou, and other game.  Fishing has for the most part also finished so my gear is stowed away now until next summer or the occasional ice fishing trip.  Fly rods neatly placed in their holders . . . creels and waders hung for the winter. I went on two hunts this year and my moose hunt left much to be desired.  There was all of the preparation . . . going out for the hunt . . . the tracking which is my favorite part of the hunt . . . only to find no legal moose lurching about anywhere.  I came back somewhat dejected not to kill food for my family.  It’s a man thing I guess, wanting to provide.  It dates back centuries and is a way of life in...

Yesterday was another one in a long series of days that seemed to go on forever. I had a job meeting for the new super Walmart we are building in Kenai Alaska at 9 am which meant that I needed to be out of the house by four in the morning to make it to the shop, load up items we were taking down, and make the almost three hour drive to the jobsite. We are still in our “light gain” period for another three weeks so we gain about three and a half minutes a day now as the sun slows it trek northward for Solstice on June 21 st . Sunrise is 4:34 AM and sunset is 11: 24 PM leaving the five hours between with a semi-full light for about 3 hours and twilight ‘dusk’ period for the other two. I went to bed Sunday evening just after midnight with the birds still singing their songs and when I awoke at 3:30 AM the light was on again with no clouds to block the soon to rise sun rays peaking out from behind the Chugach mountains to the east of my house. I was not tired as I ...

For no reason at all. That line was from one of my favorite movies, “Remember the Titans!” We do construction work all over Alaska and see some pretty incredible things especially when you get off the limited road system within the state. Our mode of travel at times is sometimes a little unconventional taking a ‘bush plane’ into the interior to some remote village where we may be working to build a school or medical clinic. I have had to be taken once by dog sled from one location after being stranded there in bad weather where the plane could not land for several days so one of the Native locals trekked me over 40 miles to a larger village with an airport so I could return home. At those times Life is an Adventure and you just kind of go with the flow. At others things do not work out so great. A friend whose company does a lot of work on the North Slope recently sent me a couple of photos taken by DEC personnel during a site inspection. Th...