Icewind's Ramblings

This one is a little strange story that I should probably not make light of but it struck me a little funny when I heard that from my co-worker Kelly this morning. The last two or three summers have not been very nice to us with more rain and clouds than previous years. Last summer there one only one day that the temperature hit 70 degrees and that was only for about 2 hours, not much of a summer for my tastes. This spring it has been wonderful with pleasant weather for almost a month now. We had not had any precipitation since the snow quit in mid April and this morning I awoke to a nice light rain. It helps wash away the dust and debris left from a long hard winter with the crews still working hard to clean up all of the road sand/gravel mixture before the main contingent of tourist arrive. Anchorage is a vibrant town with a lot of pride in both how the city looks after another winter and in our residents. For a city of our size we probably have a slig...

Job safety is always on everyone’s mind on a construction site and keeping those injury free work days climbing in the books usually makes for a great Safety Program. It’s a shame when someone gets hurt on a work site but sometimes it seems they just can’t be helped. One such incident happened recently that I just had to blog about. Electricians work with high voltage lines and take extra care to be safe at all times but as one found out he might just have been too careful. One of his coworker’s passed by and observed an electrician shaking violently while working on a circuit. Construction workers know that if someone is being electrocuted you should never grab them or touch them as the current will pass to that person also. The trick is to either kill the power by tripping a circuit breaker or getting something non-conductive to move the person off the power source. Acting quickly is important in saving a life and keeping the amount of damage to ...

Or Adventures in Bathroom Learning Kids discover early in life that the flush handle on the toilet is a magical device to make things disappear. Years ago when my kids were little and more times than I can count . . . I had to lift the toilet and use a sewer snake to clear the blocked toilet drain. Lucky for me plumbing was right up my alley so toilet removal was yet another bathroom activity which the children found absolutely fascinating. I felt like a scuba diver for Roto-Rooter and went sewer fishing so often that (for a while) we kept a stock of wax rings in the bathroom cupboard . . . they're cheaper by the dozen, you know. (Helpful housekeeping hint: Articles of clothing that have progressed past the P-trap of the toilet are no longer serviceable. Even if they weren’t shredded when the sewer snake snagged them, the stains will not come out and who would want to wear it again anyway.) One recent Sunday afternoon, the grandkids were over as we were goi...

This post got buried in my ‘working folder’ from when Scott and I took our families to Mexico on vacation. It’s strange to dig in there after awhile and see what craziness lies beneath the laughter. I’ll throw it out there now to go along with our lengthening days since I had originally wanted to brighten a long dark night several months ago. During one of the many fabulous dinners while at the Moon Palace there was one night where the families went to eat a Cajun meal in one of the 13 restaurants on the compound. After dinner when the families had split up and gone on to other things to do Scott and I headed to the beach bar for a couple of drinks and some laughter before heading to our rooms. We had both eaten big bowls of jambalaya for dinner along with several other spicy entrees and after a couple of hours it was working its way through both of us. The jambalaya was full of some spicy sausage goodness, but about an hour or so later, my intestines were p...

I picked up from the airport this afternoon a friend who is coming back up to Alaska to work with us. He was here briefly almost a year and a half ago working but it was more in the late winter into spring part of the year. It was good seeing him again and catching up on things this afternoon and until one of my out of town projects starts later this month he will be staying at my house. We kicked back for a bit and relaxed and talked about the economy in Montana and Alaska before everyone started to arrive at the house. My daughter and son in law decided they wanted to come over for a dinner of tacos and fajitas and go over some things since they never made it by over the weekend. It was a great dinner and the two grandkids were happy to eat peanut butter and jelly while everyone else chowed down on both chicken and beef fajitas as well as soft and hard shell tacos. We made fresh guacamole and a salsa blend with my “magic bullet” for that quick and easy meal...

My time on Saturday morning is spent for a couple of hours with a few friends during which we talk about all sorts of subjects, tell a few stories, and mainly laugh. It is therapeutic time to decompress the usually busy week. It is normally pretty full of people coming and going during the couple of hours we are drinking coffee. Sometimes watching the other people is fun and can sometimes give you a surprise or two. One couple was sitting behind us and we noticed they were not in a good mood while they waited to be seated. After a few minutes of strained conversation the talk turned serious. Woman: “Just once I'd like to sit down and have a conversation.” Man: “Pass the sugar, satisfied?” See . . . Talking Is So Simple . . . Really. Ice

When all else fails, Read the instructions. Today was one of those almost perfect days of springtime in Alaska . Everyone was out and about, cleaning up the city, taking care of the yard work needed after a long hard winter. There were long lines at the two ‘free dumps’ where the city opens up the landfills for two weekends in the spring to allow everyone to clean up the debris from winter, their garages and sheds as well as get rid of those old tires sitting in the yard the last three seasons. At my house there was pressure washing going on, painting, laying out a new deck I’m about to build. There was a makeover of a bedroom, a quick trip out to buy a queen bed and table off Craig’s List and gathering all the items for a run to the trash dump either tomorrow or next weekend. Lastly I tried to kick back late in the afternoon to sit outside and watch the world go by. It did not last long as I was asked to look at the hot tub so I can demo it t...

I was looking for a flying segment from Alaska this afternoon that I thought might have made it to video on YouTube when in my search I came across an old video from my youth. It is from my hang gliding days when I was a free spirit traveling the world flying hang gliders, tow kites, and hot air balloons. Skydog has put up a video from the Chicago Fest Tow Gliding Invitational that was held each summer in front of the Holiday Inn on the Lakefront. It was a lot of fun as I was one of the “Moyes Boys” flying Moyes Gliders. They were made in Sydney Australia by Bill Moyes and his son Steve. I was flying for a team out of Georgia that owned Hang Glider Heaven. It’s funny seeing this after so many years ago as it reminds us what we have done in our lives and also what choices made or paths crossed over the years. This is footage from the four years that it was held from 1974 to 1977 and more or less was a competition between two Australians who started the p...

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...

I usually hit Costco on Saturday mornings after my breakfast meeting. This week was no exception and as I was checking out with just a few items, the lady behind me put her things on the belt close to mine. I picked up one of those dividers that they keep by the cash register and placed it between our things so they wouldn't get mixed. After the girl had scanned all of my items, she picked up the divider and looked all over it for the bar code so she could scan it. Not finding the bar code she said to me, "Do you know how much this is?" I said, "I've changed my mind; I don't think I'll buy that today." She said, "OK," and I paid her for the things and left. She had no clue about what had just happened and I felt like giving her one of those Bill Engvall’s “Here’s Your Sign”. Clueless at Costco Ice

I’m somewhat tired already of the jokes asked of me these last few days since returning from Mexico about the swine flu. Many jokes, many questions about how I feel and then to see the news stories about what is going on in the world around us reminded me of one of my favorite movie mini series, The Stand by Stephen King. It has had me thinking the last couple of days that I could not be the only one thinking about the similarities in context between the two. This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends This is the way the world ends Not with a bang but with a whimper. T.S. Eliot (from the 1925 poem The Hollow Men) I’ve been thinking a lot about The Stand lately. It’s one of those stories that, although fantastic, seemed entirely possible. The Stand was so epic in book form and the movie was a cult success with many reruns on cable channels every few months. In fact, this blog would be a great place to compare dreams. I’m in Anc...

I’m not into watching a lot of sports on television like some people I know, after all I grew up in Atlanta during the lean years when all of the major sports franchises to be brutally honest . . . sucked. I was in the stands almost alone during the Braves years before they developed their farm clubs to later become a powerhouse and I was there during those years . . . somewhat jaded but enjoying their success finally. The Flames were great for Atlanta during the 70’s but being a southern city it really did not know what to do with hockey. Ted Turner brought us the Hawks to go along with his Braves but they never amounted to much of anything and the Atlanta Falcons were laughable every Sunday they played always stating in the post game interviews that “they just couldn’t get their head into it” week after miserable week. The couple of bright spots were the majesty every spring of The Masters and the various auto sports races all over the south. One was just a couple ...

I thought of this one while in Cancun with my toes in the sand after not enough sun block. Reading while sunbathing, makes you well red. Ice

In my travels to Mexico recently you have the opportunity to see how the airlines are doing during this economy and how hard they are working to keep things positive for the passengers. Our group was broken up between several airlines and flights with the Alaska group flying on Alaska Airlines with a layover in Seattle each way. Some of the flights I have made into Seattle have been entertaining as there is usually a pretty decent wind blowing across the runway giving a chance for the pilot to either show off his great skill in bringing several tons of pressurized metal tube full of people down smoothly or allowing the elements to win that landing with a bounce, hard drop, or a controlled crash. One of our flights with Alaska Airlines was both entertaining and slightly different. It was our return leg from Cancun to Seattle where we had a male/female flight crew along with a mixed steward staff taking care of us after a fun week in the sun and warmth of Mexico ....

Animal Planet is now playing a six part series called “Stranger Among Bears” about Bear Haven and a friend of mine, Charlie Vandergaw who is a retired Anchorage school teacher who spends his summers at his compound observing and interacting with Grizzly and Black Bears. I used to work with Lee who also spends his free summer time at Bear Haven helping Charlie keep up his place. It is a truly unique and almost magical place being with these wild animals spending time in what is surreal to most people but to those who have had the experience there a sobering sometimes life changing perspective of Bears, Life, and how you deal with certain situations. The last two years there have been film crews on site for the BBC and ABC’s Primetime staying for several months getting these stories. The Animal Planet story is from BBC who had cameraman Richard Terry alone to cover this story. He was observer, writer, cameraman, participant in what can only be described as an Alaska...