Icewind's Ramblings

It is great being back at work again and I am getting into the grind of putting bids out to get projects done around Alaska this summer.  The group that I am working with are great and now that my official State of Alaska email is up and running I have started to receive emails 'welcoming' me to DPS and 'congrats' on the new job replacing a long time employee who is retiring at the end of the month. My first email this morning was from one of the troopers who sent this to me so I know I will fit in just fine with this bunch of characters.  Missing Wife Found by Alaska State Troopers The day after his wife disappeared in a kayaking accident, an Anchorage man answered his door to find two grim faced Alaska State Troopers. "We're sorry Mr. Wilkens, but we have some information about your wife," said one of the troopers. "Tell me! Did you find her?" Wilkens asked. The troopers looked at each other. One said, "We hav...

As I sit here this morning it has been several days now since I heard about Lance’s passing and like many people we are trying to make sense of it all. It is strange how news of such an event can take the wind out of your sails and gives us another reminder of how fragile life is.   Today would have been Lance’s fifty fifth birthday. When I first moved to Alaska Lance was one of the first people I met when I started working.   He dropped by my office to talk with my boss about several projects we were doing and his company was providing the insulation.   We chatted for a bit and then Lance wanted to take us out to lunch to get to know me more since I had just arrived. We talked and shared stories about ourselves, some good & bad and I realized that I liked his attitude and how much he embraced the “give a guy a chance” in life.   He said we all need ‘second chances’ and he was grateful that after problems in his own life someone was willing to give him a br...

I finally got through my work week and did not finish this until tonight so it is about a couple weeks old now from reality.   I had finished up Friday (the week before Thanksgiving) and had a few days off until after the holidays.  I needed to use some of my time before the end of the year so as not to lose it so I did not have to be back to work until Nov. 28th which is not bad. I decided that I had worked too hard these last few weeks and needed a break from everything so I decided to drive down to Homer for the day to clear my head and get ready to slow down from work.  I have a friend who has a boat there who had asked several weeks ago to drop by if I was in the area.   With the cold weather he was not there this weekend but no worries.   I have another friend who has lived in Alaska for many years but had never been to Homer so I asked if she wanted to accompany me on what would be about a 10 hour trek.   Several friends thought I'm crazy to dri...

This week Alaska is having strong winds that usually are more into springtime but as we have had crazy weather all winter it seems the ‘big blow’ has come early.  Monday had winds over 75 mph and one house in the valley had the whole roof ripped off and as it broke up it scattered pieces over a two block area.  In Palmer several airplanes had been blown off their tie downs and tumbled over and over across the airport. For a coworker and me, we left at 0 dark thirty to catch a plane headed for Kodiak so we could catch another smaller plane to take us across the island to the village of Old Harbor to do a little recon of an upcoming project we are starting soon.  The project on paper had several areas where we have questions on how and what we will be able to do so it was decided to go there and see first hand what will be involved and to take pictures of the area where we will build a new village water storage tank and water treatment plant. The takeoff out of An...

Friday afternoon we head out to sea leaving the boat harbor in Homer heading 265˚ while running about 16 knots.  The fishin’ area we wanted was 26 nautical miles from Homer in the direction of Augustine Volcano which we could see in the distance with a plume of steam rising out of the top.   The "Ring of Fire" (map) is an arc stretching from New Zealand , along the eastern edge of Asia, north across the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and south along the coast of North and South America . The Ring of Fire is composed over 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes. This huge ring of volcanic and seismic (earthquake) activity was noticed and described before the invention of the theory of plate tectonics theory. We now know that the Ring of Fire is located at the borders of the Pacific Plate and other major tectonic plates.  Alaska has many active volcanoes ranging across the Cook Inlet from Anchorage winding its way down along the Aleutian chain. ...

I’m heading down to Homer Alaska for a little fishin’. Have a great weekend! I’ll be back online on Monday . . . Ice