Icewind's Ramblings

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...

A dog still has bad breath even after eating a Tic Tac. Ice

My grandson is almost three years old and proud of the fact that he is potty trained and goes to the bathroom like ‘big people’.  Saturday started out like most others for him with the typical playing, coloring, and the jumping around that comes with his age. I went to breakfast as usual and returned home to do the normal chores that come on the weekends.  My grandson went about his day and was a pretty happy little guy until his world fell apart just before noon. He prides himself in being potty trained and usually alerts someone (everyone) when he goes so sometimes it’s a pretty big deal for him.  Sometimes being new to the procedure he tries to get things right.  He sometimes can barely pee on his own without shooting a stream like a fire hose was out of control on the bathroom floor.  The problem I have to admit is not totally his fault.  The hall commode is a cathedral of tile (new I might add) and fixture with a throne set almost too high for his...

Is it just me or has this happened to any of you? This have been a really busy period for me over the last few weeks with working everyday and then working on the bathroom installing the tile on the walls and ceiling of the shower.  There has not been a lot of time for rest even though I have tried to get to bed earlier. One of the weird things that have also has been happening is my wife’s schedule is changing.  She has been out of work over the last few months when she was on call to travel to Seattle with my daughter for her medical appointments.  Now that is behind them and she has been trying to get back on staff part time with one of the dental offices in Anchorage .  She has been able to pick and choose since dental assistances are in demand here so she has tried several of them before deciding to get back into the routine. During this time off she has not had any schedule staying up late watching HGTV or late night episodes of the old Twilight Zone ser...

I need to come clean since I pretended to be asleep last night after “The Incident”. I would like to give you a little back story before I confess.  This past weekend was one of those times where there were multiple things going on and everyone is required to give way from the normal routines and go into that feeding frenzy mode that comes during these times. We had the start of the Olympics with the athletic competition getting underway on Saturday.  Then add to that the happenings in Daytona with auto racing which included Danica Patrick’s debut in the Nationwide Series 300 and the running of the 52 nd annual Daytona 500 NASCAR race and you have the makings of a stomach disaster. To properly watch any of these events you have to prepare for them.  The Super Bowl has its ‘must haves’ to do it up just right.  There is always chili, hot dogs or hamburgers, nachos, and the chips & dip that set the mood for the afternoon.  Mine was no different where you...

Dog Farts . . . or how my eyes were burning as I woke up this morning. Sometimes dog farts tend to be nastier than some of our best human counterparts.  My wife’s dog Gus lets go of some absolute beauties . . . and he knows it too.  I have been known to pinch my nose and give my traditional cry of "Awwwwww Gussssssss!", as he never moves off the bed just looking up at me with innocent eyes in the dimness of the bedroom as if to say "What?"  But I know that he knows, because of the way he looks away again just a little too quickly hoping he will be left alone and not thrown or kicked off the end of the bed.  The other night he was in fine form after sneaking the remnants in a bowl of chili . . . his own pungent smell woke him up . . . and he indignantly got up . . . jumped off the bed and left the room!  Of course leaving behind the toxic cloud in his wake, luckily it wasn’t mine and no one else woke up so I did not get blamed for polluting the room. Of cou...

It’s a Dogs Life . . . They must think it very strange that most humans only sleep once a day, but for 7 to 10 hours at a time. Over the holidays being home during the day I had the chance to watch my dog go about his day continually taking naps after playing or getting into something. Gus would charge out the doggy door and chase the birds or squirrels then come in and nap for a bit. Next he wanted to play ball so we threw it for ten minutes then a quick drink of water and another nap. He would try to find something to get into . . . trash, toilet paper, underwear, or the grandkids toys left out to chew on and after a while, yep another nap. If my wife watched television or decided to take a midday nap he would be at her side . . . both on their backs snoring lightly. Gus is still a young dog and likes to play but one problem is a short attention span as he gets distracted quickly as you throw the ball after several times retrieving it the next throw as he passes an...

You can't trust dogs or grandkids to watch your food while you go to the bathroom. Ice

I’ve had one heck of a day and I do not know where to start explaining the madness so I guess I will start at the beginning.  Saturday is my time to get different things or chores done that get put off with a busy work week.  This Saturday was no different but I had a few added places to go or stop for things before I was able to stop and relax for the evening. “Where everybody Knows your Name” – Village Inn breakfast with friends.  I started going to ‘Saturday Breakfast’ over six years ago when I was working on a Project at the University of Alaska Anchorage .  We were building a very nice Library and the project took over a year and a half to complete. My Superintendent and I started to go there on Saturday morning so we could go over the progress of the job, set goals for the crew in the coming week and to review the past weeks goals and to make sure we had all the material to keep 12-15 plumbers busy the next week.  It was too hectic each day to fi...

Alaskans give a big Thank You and Welcome Home to the first members of the 1-25 th Stryker Brigade returning from a yearlong deployment in Iraq .  The first 160 troopers arrived to a quiet hanger in Fort Wainwright in the darkness of an early morning 3 a.m. Inside the hanger was filled with yawning and pajama clad children and adults who erupted in a joyous reunion as the soldiers came off the plane.  Over the next several weeks a total of 4,000 military personnel with the Stryker Brigade will be coming home to similar welcoming events. Thanks again for your service and sacrifice from a grateful nation! The crazy birdman of Alaska is at it again as the geese are gathering in larger numbers making preparations for their migration south.  They are hitting many areas around Anchorage looking to bulk up on food before hitting the skies before the approaching winter weather arrives in a couple of weeks. I have been playing with my birds hitting my feeder multiple tim...

It was a really nice day yesterday with the sun shining and mild temperatures but as Saturday evening drew to a close the clouds rolled in and the chill slowly set in.  I slept well falling asleep at 2:30 am after rolling over and over for several hours.  Nothing like feeling it is cowboys on a train to wear you down to give in to that much needed rest. This morning I woke up to a steady drizzle and had to make Gus get his feet wet to make his nature call.  I had planned to go out to Big Lake today to start the winterization process of getting all of the thing in the cabin out before the freezing hits and putting away all of the toys for a long winter’s sleep.  The deck needs a little more work and the outhouse will wait now until winter to burn and replace next season.  Scott and I have debated whether to build a ‘real’ bathroom on to the cabin or to burn and make another outhouse.  Who knows how it will end up? The rain has continued all day with sev...

Many of you know over the last couple of years that I have enjoyed and been fascinated by the squirrels that have taken up roost at my last couple of houses I have lived in. Squirrels are just so fascinating in how they interact with each other, birds which may share a bird feeder, and my family. Then there is the dog, Gus who now has a ‘doggie door’ so he can go in and outside while we are working or away for a few hours. My bird feeder is just outside the new door a few steps away across the deck, hanging over the side. The birds and squirrels can get to the feed and do so in relative safety with Gus just lurching his way up the railing and barking his displeasure of them eating ‘his’ peanuts. The Blue Jays and the Robbins play tag team luring Gus away from the feeder while the mate flies up and gets the food and off to the nest. It is funny how they work Gus to the point he tires of running back and forth and lies down under the feeder and watches the wildl...

A few days ago I wrote about the movie Lonesome Dove. I did not realize it at the time but oddly the cable channel American Movie Channel over last weekend was doing a 20 th Anniversary tribute to this epic western. Has it been that long? I guess it has but as Gus says on his death bed . . . “By God, Woodrow; it's been one hell of a party.” We all age and go through many changes in our lives, some planned and a few thrown at us by forces unknown. Hopefully we make our way through it and adapt and adjust to those changes. Gus says: “The older the violin, the sweeter the music.” I hope there is sweet music to ease us though each day as music is that universal rhythm that binds us. Personal growth and maturity is a part of life. Throughout life, we deal with a variety of physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual changes. These changes sometimes make life difficult. Time is your life story’s ultima...

One of my favorite books is Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. It’s funny how a novel and later a movie have lasting impact on your life. Good writing is supposed to be that way as the book won a Pulitzer Prize in 1986 for fiction. Oddly the Lonesome Dove story came about in the 1960’s as a movie script for John Wayne, James Stewart, and Henry Fonda but was never developed after Wayne turned down the part. For me I’m glad that it was later developed with Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones as the lead characters. Both were perfect in how they portrayed the lifestyle and complexities of the American West. When things get too busy or stressful for me I tend to make time to sit and watch it again to glean life lessons which I find useful. I seem to watch it several times a year since it first aired in 1989. “If you want only one thing too much, it’s likely to turn out a disappointment. The only healthy way to live, as I see it, is to learn to like all the...

I wanted to sit down and write tonight but after a crazy day at work I came home, sat out on the deck and enjoyed the start of a beautiful Alaska evening. It was evening only by the hands on the clock as the sun was still quite high in the sky and an almost summer temperature of 60 degrees kept me hoping that this would hold during the summer months. It was nice just to sit on the deck watch the birds hitting the feeder every few minutes along with the two squirrels who survived the winter months with my feeding peanuts to them all winter. I love to watch the animals within the neighborhood as I await the bears making their way out of a long lazy sleep. It will not be long before we see our trash cans that are not bear proof scattered all around. I enjoyed a couple cups of coffee while I read the paper and tried to ignore Gus while he wanted me to throw his ball over and over again. People are out and about now with this nice weather walking or riding bi...

Two for Tuesday Observations . . . The hardness of the butter is proportional to the softness of the bread. My wife has been sick since Christmas Day with the flu with some really nasty respiratory congestion. She sounds like she is coughing up a lung and you can tell it hurts. She headed to work yesterday and I received a phone call alerting me she was at the hospital being treated and had been there most of the day. She was hooked up to two bags of IV fluid, one bag of IV antibiotics, and given an inhaler to help her breathe. There were several prescriptions which needed to be filled so hopefully she can start to feel better. All of this has made the dog Gus crazy with him not getting the attention so he has decided to eat every Christmas ornament from the floor to half way up the tree. Gus has shredded newspaper, paper towels, and even pulled toilet paper off the roll in the hall bathroom and made it all the way across the living room in one...