Icewind's Ramblings

It seems like this happens more and more these days as I received the call yesterday afternoon from an Old Friend that news of a family member having inoperable lung cancer was texted me so I would know what was happening.  Several phone calls later and with much anxiety details and some form of plan was put together on how best to prepare for things. It is never easy for anyone finding out news that affect your circle of family and friends but one which everyone needs to prepare so you can be the shoulder if needed or the foundation to give them your support and a pool from which to pull from your strength as needed while dealing with things. It is a bittersweet feeling that you are honored to be one of those who is trusted to give your thoughts on things but also the futility of not being able to “fix it” or make things immediately better.  All anyone of us can do is place things in “Others” hands to help everyone see things through as that is all anyone ...

They are starting to take flight all over Anchorage signaling colder weather to come. It’s September now and in the parks, lawns, and bodies of water all over town the Canadian Geese are scrambling for that last meal before they take flight and head south.  When I returned to work at lunch time it reminded me of several scenes from the movie Fly Away Home . The resident geese are taking over the skies around here and are they noisy!  There they were several hundred in various groupings in their awesome “V” formations.  You can’t help but look up as they pass overhead (hoping they won’t crap on you or your car as there are so many of them).  You can see the white turd bombs falling from the formation it is an almost funny sight as long as it is not zooming earthward towards you.  These Canada geese have begun their journey southbound from the farther north land locations for the coming winter.  It’s amazing how they use the “V” shape formation so they c...

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 ...

I have always liked the movie Forrest Gump and the way in the movie that Forrest’s life is happenstance and wanders . . . only to find itself in a place in time that has an effect on everyone around him. Take a look at the opening scene from the movie, Forrest Gump. Is it dumb luck or destiny?   Some of both I suppose but it amazes me that our own lives sometimes make twists and turns that surprise us.   Did we have our own plan and it worked out or did things happen as dumb luck blowing in the wind?   Did preparation meets opportunity happen in the cosmos giving us unexpected results? Could it be that simple?   I think not.   Everyone has a destiny, but the journey to find it is undefined.     Forrest is like the feather, blown around by the wind and does whatever he is told.   This journey, though random and simple, leads Forrest to many good things. He never knew where he would end up, but he reached it all the same. Is that how life re...

Driving home each day I pass a power plant close to my house that usually has a large steam plume rising several hundred feet into the sky this time of year.  If there is no wind it goes vertically straight up over a thousand feet into the air and on days with a light breeze it angles up into the air until the steam plume evaporates.  The hot air continues to rise even without a visible plume to show you where it is going. The strange and sometimes funny thing that many of us driving by each day notice is the large flock of birds that are flying in circles upon the rising warm air.  When I used to fly hang gliders when I was young it is called thermaling and within the hot air rising you make tight turns so you can stay in and ride to the top sometimes just under the bottom of the clouds. It was a great feeling going up to the top of a thermal and then leaving that one to fly over to another rising air mass to start circling all over again.  Some flights I may...

Long day? Enjoy . . . Feel Better?  I do. Ice