Icewind's Ramblings

If ignorance is bliss . . . Why aren't more people happy? It was a busy day today with all of the activities going on around town for the 50 th anniversary of Alaska ’s Statehood celebrations. Arctic Thunder had great weather for the air show . . . Downtown had 4 th Avenue closed for all kinds of activities including the 49 th Star Flag reenactment . . . and the Park strip was full of people. So much to do trying to hit a little of everything means tomorrow will be full of more partying and experiencing the ‘newness’ of Statehood. Ice

Fifty years can seem like a long time to some . . . While for others it might seem like only yesterday. Alaska is in the middle of our statehood celebrations with events and reenactments all over. Tonight there is a joint military family appreciation/50 years of statehood concert featuring Wynona Judd out at Elmendorf Air Force Base that is a free concert with a live broadcast on KTUU Channel 2. Towards the end Wynona brought out her mama, Naomi to sing a few songs and also had several families come onstage for a teleconference with their family members who are combat stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq . Tonight’s concert will finish off with the lighting of a bonfire to reenact the ‘statehood bonfire’ fifty years ago on the park strip downtown. Tomorrow starts the Arctic Thunder Air Show with many static exhibits and live flight demonstrations by both military and civilian pilots as well as parachute drops by our own Alaskan Arctic Warriors based at Fort...

The morning dawned at 4:25 am and I am taking a working break to play in a yearly golf tournament that one of my vendors invites me too. Ferguson puts on a great outing every year and it is a great time to network with those other contractors who you have bid against, not seen lately, or are old friends sharing a great time. The forecast last night was calling for the clouds to roll in and rain but as I woke up it was sunny with the sun just clearing the mountaintops . . . a few clouds lazily hanging over the city and the temperatures would climb into the mid sixties. That seems to be our “normal” summer now as we still have yet to hit the seventy degree mark. My foursome was Scott, Frank, and Dave and we had a great relaxed round today. We played a normal round as out team was 1B so we started on the first hole. We started out with nice drives off the tee and that seemed to set the tempo for the day. Everyone made the ‘shot’ that was needed ...

Here in Alaska there are more natural resources in and under our land it is hard to believe how our gas and fuel oil prices have gone through the roof. It is not just here in the arctic regions but all over the country. Gas prices keep escalating about ten cents ($ .10) every two weeks with our averages around town in the 4.29 to 4.59 range for 87 Octane. Premium is at five dollars a gallon and diesel has broken the five dollar mark in many stations around town. An odd concept to me has turned into reality for some Alaskan’s . . . What happens when a village runs out of fuel? That's not theoretical for the village of Manokotak , about 25 miles south of Dillingham. Our company did some plumbing work there last year so it was strange seeing a report in the Bristol Bay Times recently. The entire village ran out of gasoline June 2 with the spring barge not due until June 6. The problem was a delay in a Dutch Harbor dry dock held up the vessel, fi...

The sun was out as the high clouds rolled into Anchorage and from a distant thunder the sounds grew louder and there they were. Making an entrance that everyone could see over the city was like a scene from a movie. The Air Force Thunderbirds, a squadron of ace Air Force pilots who perform all over the country, arrived in or over Anchorage this evening in preparation for the Arctic Thunder air show this weekend at Elmendorf Air Force Base. The Thunderbirds arrived with a bang and the arrival show they performed in the skies above Anchorage just after 7 p.m. tonight was awesome. I live just off base so had a great view as the jets maneuvered as a group or in solo sorties quickly making their way across the city with the Chugach Mountains in the background. In years past the Thunderbirds will practice for several days before the weekend shows and this year will be celebrating our 50 th year of statehood along with fifty five years of the demonstration team’s existen...

The house if full of people again as the guests who come up to fish every year are here. One friend of the family who lives in Florida and works at my favorite place Disney World, arrived almost a week ago and has fished in several areas with my brother in law. We tried to get up this morning after about an hour and a half of sleep to fish on Ship Creek in downtown Anchorage but it was pouring down rain so we opted to stay put an let those hardcore fisherman who braved the downpour all the fish. We waited most of the day for things to let up to head out but it waited until now to stop so I think everyone has found other things to do. Charlie my father in law arrived Thursday after a week’s road trip relocating his belongings and vehicles to Alaska from Utah . We have the parking lot now that we expected with everyone’s vehicles here now. Deb’s rig is in the garage as well as mine (I do not drive often as I have a company rig) and in the driveway out front there is my w...

A good summer solstice to you all: this is, in the northern hemisphere, the longest of day and for those of you Outside living further south . . . the shortest night for this year. Living in Anchorage the summer solstice comes tomorrow at 3:59 p.m. Alaska Daylight Time. That’s 11:59 p.m. Universal Time, and the US Naval Observatory says it’s the first time since 1896 that the summer solstice has landed on June 20th. The leap year puts the solstice just before the dawn of the 21st of June. If you go further north, you will find even longer days where in Barrow the sun doesn’t set at all. Tonight's quote comes from Shakespeare from a Mid-Summer's Night Dream (referring to the summer solstice): “Whatever is dreamed on this night . . . will come to pass.” Celebrate the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere! Enjoy and dream big under a full moon in the light of a new summer. Ice

Lost . . . Last Friday two unrelated events took place . . . Tim Russert who hosted the Sunday morning program Meet the Press and was the best political analyst on MSNBC died suddenly of a heart attack at work preparing for the Sunday program. Tim Russert’s funeral and public memorial service was this afternoon. It has been a somewhat strange phenomenon since last Friday seeing the public outpouring of everyone. I have not seen anything like it in a long time and it makes my heart happy to see everyone’s love for such a man. The everyman we could all understand and relate too on so many things . . . family . . . politics . . . fatherhood . . . patriotism. He will be missed on Sunday mornings and the upcoming coverage of the elections in November. So . . . some may ask the question . . . why all the hullabaloo and continued coverage? It's simple really . . . because he was so loved by so many. To see the likes of Tom Brokaw with breaking voice so eloqu...

Tonight is the first night in recent memory that I am in the house alone . . . everyone is gone . . . someplace. My wife, daughter, and son in law are all in Seattle tonight after early morning departures from Anchorage . My daughter who has been ill for several months was medivaced from here for treatments Outside. My brother in law has left this afternoon with friends who flew in from several parts of the country for the start of a 10 day marathon fishing adventure. They headed for the Kenai River for the start of the Red salmon run. They will come back in town on Thursday for a couple of hours and then head out once again to Seward for some King Salmon fishing. Hopefully I can sneak away for a night of fishing to relax and collect my energy for the coming weeks. My grand daughter is spending a couple of days with the other grandparents and my father in law is somewhere on the road between Utah and the wilds of Canada on his way here relocating all his belon...

I was driving to work early Friday morning and as I made my way through the curve that makes the transition from Muldoon Road to Tudor Road I saw them in the middle of the road. A gaggle of geese . . . Mom and her 8 goslings huddled together in the lane in front of me of a 5 lane road. The traffic at this time of morning was building and there were vehicles filling the road giving the gaggle no real escape . . . Mom had stopped several times to allow cars or trucks to go by as each swerved after seeing them at the last minute avoiding collision. Where was dad? He had gone ahead seemingly to clear the way and was standing on the far edge of the highway helpless to the impending disaster. Meanwhile Mom was making several attempts to move everyone across cautiously stopping as vehicles came up moving around them. A few vehicles stopped on my side of the road so as to clear a path back to safety but Mom and her gaggle continued across into the oncoming traffic de...

It’s been a busier than normal week for me here. My daughter has been back in the hospital so the time spent there with trying to grab a couple of hours sleep before heading off to work has left me somewhat a ‘grumpy old man’. The last thing anyone wants is the phone to ring around 4:30 in the morning . . . as there are usually only two things that goes through someone’s thought process at that hour. One is someone has died or the second is something bad has happened . . . last night or actually early this morning was one of those times. Without making this a rant or being really irate I’ll try to put it into a not so biting tirade. What I wish people knew about Alaska that they may not currently know. The time! I was ready to kill someone this morning . . . If only I could reach through the phone . . . If I get another middle of the night phone call (even though it is still light outside) from some East Coast telemarketer, I just might go complete...

Bittersweet day here for me . . . My daughter turns 23 today . . . she lives in Florida so she has no family there to enjoy it with. She called last night saying she was having a pretty crappy day . . . I talked with her today and things were going better. She and her son were at a DQ drive through getting an ice cream . . . a nice way to beat the heat of Florida on a summer day. Some basic facts of life that I have discovered by observation: Life is unfair. Unfair has two sides . . . the sweet and the bitter. You can choose which side of unfair you want to be. Ice

It started out as any normal day . . . early. I awoke and drank a cup of coffee while I showered and headed out for work. It was just after four am and the sun was just coming over the mountains. It was a somewhat typical Alaskan summer morning . . . full light at an early hour . . . birds chirping . . . dogs barking . . . and as I made my way down the street there’s a black bear rummaging through the trash cans left on the curb about ten houses away from mine. This would only be a half day of work as I have my first chance of the season to play a round of golf. It is a business outing with Mark my salesman from United Rental where we rent all of our equipment for jobs. We get our man lifts, forklifts, and extend-a-boom lifts from him. Chris & Scott who work for UIC construction were also in our foursome. I picked Scott up at his house on the way to Moose Run Golf Course. It is a public course but is on part of Fort Richardson ’s land. There are two areas...

I was downtown earlier this week looking at a job to bid next week and I ran into a guy I had worked on another project a couple of years ago. He was working on the new Museum addition and it reminded me of the ‘small town’ feel Anchorage still has. You can go almost anywhere and it is not uncommon to see someone you know. Still nice to run into people you haven’t seen in a while. When I left the pre-bid walkthrough I had to walk back to my rig which was in an area that the summer season is filled with tourists. They come here on the cruise ships or fly in to start their own unique adventure going to places unknown to me. The streets were filled with a multitude of people scurrying about looking into the different shops for that perfect Alaskan gift. People are funny to watch as I made my way down the street looking at several groups taking pictures of the painted sides of buildings or the many flowers placed all over town. Some wanted their picture taken next to...

Alaska in the summertime is filled with many unique sights and you never know what to expect on any given day. On this drive home today was no exception. The weather now is finally approaching the norms for this time of year as we slowly make our way towards seventy degrees. We are consistently hitting the sixty degree days now with temperatures dipping into the forty’s at night but since we are now into our full light season it does not take things long to warm up. The sun is rising now at 4:30 am and setting below the horizon around 11:30 pm so the time period with the sun physically out of sight it remains light outside. Birds chirp seemingly confused by the seasonal changes. It is common to hear them outside an open window when you’re trying to get some sleep. They cannot be found during the darkness of winter and gladly sing all summer long giving anyone within earshot a song. When I left work this afternoon it was not a clear blue sky kind of day but...

There is a Citibank commercial running in Alaska right now that drives me nuts. Maybe I’m just a little sensitive to it because my wife watches every HGTV program about remodeling and is always looking for that next project for me to tear out, build, or fix. The spot: a woman stands in her living room while her husband relaxes on the couch. In voiceover, she explains how something doesn't feel right. A home improvement montage follows: purchasing nick knacks, a new carpet, painting the walls, all paid for with her ‘Citibank’ card. Her husband can be glimpsed on the couch throughout, relaxing or working on his computer while she redecorates. Finally, she realizes: "It wasn't the room, so I used the cash I got back to redecorate my husband." We watch as she purchases new clothes and he models his new khaki pants, shirt and sweater combo. Finally satisfied, she sits on the couch with her husband after he pauses to relocate one of the new nick knacks on...

Last night was the start of a three day event under the Alaskan summer sun and one that will be talked about for a long time to come. Rocker Sir Elton John came into Alaska for three sold out concerts in Anchorage and Fairbanks . Yes . . . the odds are good that the goods are Odd . . . we’re crazy! (Photo by unknown EJ Fan) Anchorage is a unique city in the wilderness . . . 1,900 miles from the nearest city with a population over 100,000 people. In our city you can watch moose in the morning and a ballet in the afternoon. You can take a short flight to see some of the most dramatic mountain scenery on earth then be back in town for fresh seafood at a five-star restaurant. Our “Big Wild Life” city is an urban enclave surrounded by wilderness. This international city uniquely combines the conveniences of the modern world with a rugged, natural environment and backs up to these beautiful Chugach Mountains and surrounded by the waters of Cook Inlet in the middle of ...

Elton John mania stormed into Anchorage this month with two schedules shows . . . the first in Anchorage tomorrow night and the second show in Fairbanks on Thursday evening. I’m not going but it has been fun watching this phenomenon happen all over the city. This will be the biggest thing we've had here in recent memory and it started with people camping out for three days before tickets went on sale for the performance at the Sullivan Arena on May 28. The show is part of his 2008 tour, "Rocket Man: Number Ones." I stopped off at one of the spots where local radio station Magic 98.9 KYMG was giving away tickets, today’s spot was the Muldoon GCI Cable store. As I waited the few minutes before the drawing for two seats one thing stood out to me . . . there was no one under 40 years old stopping by for the drawing. All of us ‘old farts’ were waiting . . . laughing at what the younger kids were missing. Elton John, the British pop star is quite the d...

The World is just Awesome . . . I'm watching Discovery Channel on Tuesday night with two great programs currently running . . . Deadliest Catch and The Alaska Experiment, and a commercial comes on about all their current series on air. It starts with these two astronauts space walking, looking at the earth . . . and one says . . . “It never gets old huh?” . . . “Nope. It kinda makes you want to break into song.” “Yup.” I love the mountains. I love the clear blue sky. I love big bridges I love when great whites fly I love the whole world and all its sights and sounds Boom di ada Boom di ada Boom di ada Boom di ada I love the ocean I love real dirty things I love to go fast I love Egyptian kings I love the whole world and all its craziness Boom di ada Boom di ada Boom di ada Boom di ada I love tornados I love ar-ach-anids I love hot magma I love the giant squids I love the whole world it’s such a brilliant place Boom di ada Boom...

"Seek those who find your road agreeable, your personality and mind stimulating, your philosophy acceptable, and your experience helpful. Let those who do not, seek their own kind." Ice