Icewind's Ramblings

A little different than Joni Mitchell’s but it what I’m in the mood for. I love the beat and need the uplift tonight after a week of losing another friend. Enjoy! Ice

“I can see myself it's a golden sunrise Young boy open up your eyes It's supposed to be your day. Now off you go horizon bound And you won't stop until you've found Your own kind of way. And the wind will whip your tousled hair, The sun, the rain, the sweet despair, Great tales of love and strife. And somewhere on your path to glory You will write your story of a life.” (Harry Chapin) It seems like this happens more and more these days as I received the call yesterday afternoon that one of my good friends and co-workers had died of a heart attack.   We worked on multiple projects together over the last three years and traveled around Alaska with the shared goal of building water treatment plants and clinics making life better for the communities and villages we worked in. I know this last winter had taken a toll on him with his family but things were working it self out getting back to an even keel.   We talked Friday and now in another instant he...

Highlights from Anchorage Daily News of Coast Guard Video of the rescue of 4 people whose boat had grounded on rocks and this rescue helicopter crew hoisted them from the ice in Portage Bay. This is another great example of the selflessness of our military going above to keep us safe. We have had temperatures well below zero for almost a month now so this rescue had to be in some pretty extreme conditions. Air Station Kodiak rescues 4 from Kimberly from anchoragedailynews on Vimeo . This is our Alaska Coast Guard at work, there are men and women in all branches of the military who give of themselves each and everyday so we may be safe.   Keep them in your prayers and when you see these great people in or out of uniform, give them your thanks. We salute you for all that you do, for your professionalism and honor in performing your mission. Ice

Its cold too early in the season for these temperatures so it seems somewhat strange that everyone has pretty much shut themselves inside the home hunkered down to stay warm.   Blankets are about and coffee or hot drinks available. It’s still in November and we have had several days with below zero temperatures and for the last several days’ extreme high winds which lower the wind chill factor and also create many problems with flying debris downing power lines.   There have been many communities without power from the winds. People seem to be staying indoors and not heading out to the normal activities usually seen on a weekend.   The area downtown is mostly barren of the throngs of people who hit the several restaurants and bars close to Town Park.   There are still the few protesters who have a small wind break tent to take turns warming up between carrying signs along 6 th Avenue. Internet activity is quiet tonight as I think many people are just happy for...

It has been a long crazy week full of so many different things it has been hard to catch my breath.   There was a bit of travel . . . a ton of paperwork, a few meetings with a couple of strange things thrown in for good measure. Over the last couple of weeks I have seen some interesting things . . . quite a few Kodiak brown bears in both Larsen Bay and Old Harbor.   In Old Harbor there were two groups in the area where we are building a new water treatment plant.   It is a marshy area and one group was a large mama bear teaching her three cubs to swim in the estuary while close by (about a hundreds yards away) was another teaching her two cubs to catch fish close to shore.   On either side of those two groups was a male bear on the bank sunning itself or rolling around on its back.   Several of us watched them while waiting for the weather to improve so we could fly out.   It was pretty incredible to see. In Old Harbor there was a large bear that w...

This has been a long two days for my family. My youngest daughter and her son have been preparing to move to California and the day for them to leave was last night.   She sorted and packed and did some more to get their things into four items to check on the flight along with a car seat.   We headed to the airport at midnight and get them and their bags checked in for their 1:30 am flight to Seattle then to Sacramento. I returned home around 1 am only to return to the airport for my own flight out to Kodiak for a day trip to two villages I have projects in.   That meant no real sleep as I hit the sack about 1:30 only to have the dog scramble off the bed at 2:15 am chasing the hamster around who somehow had gotten loose. After jumping out of bed . . . ‘au natural’ and the mad dash through two bathrooms and the living room to retrieve “Hammy” and get him back in the cage I headed back to bed.   If there had been cameras in the house it must have been an awfully f...

Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack? That’s how I would feel lately if I knew exactly what it was.  Sorry for not writing much lately but it has been one busy summer with work keeping me on the road . . . well not really “on the road” since where I travel is not on the road system.  Traveling to ‘bush Alaska ’ this summer has been trying with all of the rain and marginal weather.  Multiple projects in various parts of the state has me going in so many directions about 4 or 5 days a week it has been hard to keep up with things. During the brief down time I have managed to get in a couple rounds of golf (though not enough but with the weather, it is not a bad thing), three fishing outings (not as many as normal years), and I have finished my projects around the house.  The master bathroom turned out nice and it is a joy to be able to shower in there again as 4 people trying to use one bathroom for many months was a pain in the butt.  I ...

This summer has been going in what feels a hundred miles an hour.  So many trips to different places for work with little time for doing the things that make this such a great place to live. The last month or so has been a series of trips to inspect and visits the many projects going on around the state.  I have several on Kodiak island and several more scattered around the state so it has been one plane ride after another going from project to project. Last week was to several jobsite visits on Kodiak and the weather was trying not to cooperate.  There were times of fog and rain showers in between times with millions of mosquitoes buzzing around my head.  It was something else wearing head nets while wondering if I should be in a full body “bug suit”. I need to upload some of the pictures about the villages and trips but my internet service while out of town is totally lacking.  The brief time at home has me playing catch up to laundry, finishing house pr...

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 ...

These last couple of weeks has been pretty brutal with my schedule keeping me out of town with brief returns to the office for design meetings and paperwork.  I have been out of town without internet so sorry for the lack of writing and no word of what has transpired. Barge schedules have been hectic with equipment and materials moving all over Kodiak Island .  One load is picked up in Kodiak and taken to either Old Harbor or Larsen Bay and returns to their home port to get another load to go to the other village.  One trip each way is 15 to 20 hours on the water with a brief time at high tide to unload items.  Last week in Larsen Bay my crew started moving dirt and getting things ready for construction.  They were setting up camp, getting a septic tank in place so we can have water and sewage for our 5 th wheel housing units.  They are almost too nice for construction work crews but my guys are appreciative and will take great care of them. A...

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...

Continuing last week’s trip and catching up on posts . . . Wednesday to Larsen Bay 5/27/10 Brian and I were heading out to Larsen Bay this morning to set up another camp for our Larsen Bay project.  The weather was colder and light rain was falling as we waited for the plane to arrive.  We had Paul (one of our surveyors) drive us over to the airport as we watched a plane land and thought it was ours as it taxied in to stop.  It was a Servant plane and Wes the owner was flying in a group of school kids and he told us our plane was right behind him on final approach.  Several minutes later Nick, our pilot taxied in with more children who had been in Kodiak for a school function. Once they unloaded and gathered the cargo of supplies off both planes everyone quickly left as we loaded our gear and some of the surveyor’s items into the plane.  We taxied out for takeoff and climbed out to the southwest over the harbor where several fishing boats were out haul...

It has been busy here with work and travel as the construction season ramps up.  I had written these next couple of posts while I was out in the bush last week but did not have internet in the villages I was in so I’m going to try to catch up now over the next couple of days. Monday 5/26/10 I’m on another trip for work so leaving the office around noon on Monday seemed kinda weird not being there all day long.  Getting the items done and heading off to the airport midday was not something I had done before.  The weather was deteriorating as I arrived for the Alaska Airlines flight down to Kodiak.  I had a late afternoon meeting and would overnight in Kodiak and head out early Tuesday morning once my superintendent arrived from Anchorage . The flight down is short in just under an hour flight time.  There is no time for coffee, snacks or in flight movie.  We quickly climbed out to altitude which was 33,000 feet and leveled off briefly before starting o...

I had every good intention to sit down this weekend and write a few things for this coming week since I will be out in the bush most of the week but as the weekend started there were many things going on closing out a busy week. Saturday morning started off nice with breakfast and conversations with friends one of which had some bad news for me.  I went to work for several hours booking flights and a couple of places for myself and superintendent to stay.  We are going out to start setting up our job camps in two locations and work with our survey crew.  I came home and it was a great Alaskan spring day with temperatures almost fifty degrees so I worked cleaning up outside and getting things ready for de-winterizing all of the deck furniture, and shoveling the last remaining piles of snow. I started planning out the work for my brother in law’s outdoor kitchen on the side deck so he can smoke his fish and I can BBQ.  I am going to build a cabinet for the smoker...

Last night I shoveled snow off the deck several times before dark and was down to an area of about 10’ x 10’ that was still packed with about 3 foot depth of snow. All of the front decks were cleared, the side deck that runs the full length of the house was finally clean and I made the turn in the back of the house all the way to the steps going down to the backyard.  I would get them today along with the last patch of snow. Or so I thought when I went to sleep last night. I awoke this morning to find it snowing large wet flakes and the glow of the streetlight out front showed me it was coming down like there was no stopping it soon.  Four inches had falling since about 2:30 AM and when I left for work just after six it was almost blizzard conditions on the Glenn Hwy. with the wind blowing vehicles and snow all over the place.   I had not checked the weather before heading to sleep so I was shocked and somewhat miffed that we cannot get through breakup and w...

I saw this recently and it gave me a belly laugh as it is probably true of most men. A young single guy was on a cruise ship, having the time of his life.  On the second day of the cruise, the ship slams into an iceberg and begins to sink.  Passengers around him are screaming, flailing, and drowning but our guy manages to grab on to a piece of driftwood and, using every last ounce of strength, swims a few miles through the shark-infested sea to a remote island.   Sprawled on the shore nearly passed out from exhaustion, he turns his head and sees a woman lying near him, unconscious, barely breathing.  She has also managed to wash up on shore from the sinking ship.  He makes his way to her, and with some mouth-to-mouth assistance he manages to get her breathing again. She looks up at him, wide-eyed and grateful and says, “My God, you saved my life!” He suddenly realizes the woman is Jennifer Anniston!  Days and weeks go by. Jennifer and our guy are liv...