Icewind's Ramblings

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...

This has been another busy week flying by with many things happening and it seems too little time. I have been surprised this summer with better weather in a few weeks than several past summers combined. It has been great . . . what have we done to deserve this? Yesterday it jumped up to 76 degrees and for a short while reminded me of past lives when I lived in Atlanta . The humidity was much less here but for a few fleeting moments it was awesome. I was making my way home driving the round about for the entrance ramp for the Seward Highway and as I made the circle I noticed two geese had taken refuge in the quiet space between the hustle and bustle of city around them. As I continued the turn I saw that they also had several goslings swimming in the small retention pond. They will stay there until the small ones learn to fly and can move on. Geese mate for life and it still amazes me to find different pairs here and there in places you...

June 5 is National Doughnut Day and today it’s your chance to eat free doughnuts at Dunkin’ Donuts and Krispy Kreme in USA . The problem that I have is that it’s over 2,000 miles to the closest shop for either franchise. Alaska has a few donut stores to go with the over abundance coffee kiosks all over Anchorage but not a DD or KK to be found anywhere. During some fund raisers people have boxes of the doughy delights flown up from Seattle . A few hours old but it’s not the same as that familiar ‘Hot Donuts Now’ sign flashing in the window. On June 5, 2009, Participating Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants throughout the country promise to give every customer a free donut of their choice, with the purchase of any beverage, limit one per customer. However, participating Krispy Kreme stores will give away a free doughnut to all its customers, no purchase necessary, with a limit of one doughnut per customer. National Do...

This evening while my father in law was outside in the front yard working on deck stairs we have just installed a very clean-cut college age person came up and started a smooth talking sales pitch. He said his name was Justin and he worked for APX Alarm Security Solutions and wanted to talk with us about our alarm system. He came into the house and gave his pitch about window break and door sensors and that his system was cellular based and would work even if a burglar ‘cut’ our phone line. It all sounded pretty good and he threw around names like “Honeywell”, ADT, Brinks, and Guardian which are other local companies who have been around Alaska for many years. He explained they had over 90% of the Anchorage residential market and could “waive” the two thousand dollar equipment fee if we placed their APX sign in our front yard (his hard part) and we could just pay the $ 49 dollar monthly monitoring fee (our easy part) for a period of three years. ...

Yesterday was another one in a long series of days that seemed to go on forever. I had a job meeting for the new super Walmart we are building in Kenai Alaska at 9 am which meant that I needed to be out of the house by four in the morning to make it to the shop, load up items we were taking down, and make the almost three hour drive to the jobsite. We are still in our “light gain” period for another three weeks so we gain about three and a half minutes a day now as the sun slows it trek northward for Solstice on June 21 st . Sunrise is 4:34 AM and sunset is 11: 24 PM leaving the five hours between with a semi-full light for about 3 hours and twilight ‘dusk’ period for the other two. I went to bed Sunday evening just after midnight with the birds still singing their songs and when I awoke at 3:30 AM the light was on again with no clouds to block the soon to rise sun rays peaking out from behind the Chugach mountains to the east of my house. I was not tired as I ...

If the facts do not conform to the theory, they must be discarded. Ice

I’ve been kicking this around lately when a friend was talking about life choices and sometimes just the normal day to day dealings with things and other people. One of the personal secrets to happiness . . . “Control your exits.” I mean it literally. When doing things or going to a gathering or party . . . Drive yourself so you can leave when you’re ready. Go to other people’s houses instead of inviting them to yours. There’s nothing worse than seeing someone lean back and cross their legs when you’re ready to go to home or ready for bed. It may make you laugh, but I actually think there’s truth to that. I have felt trapped before unable to exit was when I was ready to go. I run at max speed and when it comes time to rest and recharge I want to be able to do it without having to change everyone else’s agenda. In retrospect, it is more interesting to me when I think about it less literally. My friend and I have been holding an ongoing conversation...

Sometimes after a long couple weeks going at warp speed it might be in order to stop for a second and return to a much slower pace . . . Try this one . . . Hopefully you found a measure of peace and quietness here. Ice

Today we take time out of our daily routine to Honor and remember the fallen, both past and present that have served and given that sacrifice for our society to be free. Alaska has a big military presence and Anchorage has two military bases within town and there are more retired servicemen who have returned to live here after their service. I read this in the Anchorage Daily News this morning and wanted to share it with everyone for a little perspective that you may not have known. Our view: Memorial Day We honor the fallen today with silence and taps and life Chances are that when you opened this page you saw the photograph first, in the same second that you saw the headline. When you look at it and read the caption, isn't it easy to imagine the grandfather buried beneath that headstone, wherever he is, taking great joy in the grandchildren who visit his grave? Today we honor the dead who served, from those killed in battle to those wh...

I heard this Neil Young song today and it brought back many thoughts. I have always been intrigued by the lyrics and the possible meanings from which Neil was writing at the time. In different interviews over the years he has said he has no idea and probably was from whatever he was taking at the time (drugs or high fever?). I have always looked at the song from the perspective of past, present, and future. As time has progressed from 1970 until now its possible meanings have also changed when I think about it. I’m going to give you three versions of the song and with each, if you take the time to listen, will bring with it something different. The imagery throughout the song is haunting in one sense, a past from medieval times and the pageantry, painting pictures of a possible lost planet in another, and possibly new beginnings at the end. Either way great music from a long ago time that still impacts the listener if you can stop and take the ti...

I like lawn sprinklers. In Alaska they are not needed very much as normally we have a pretty good mixture of rain or snow to give us our water for the season. I used to live in the South and I miss that early morning ritual that they bring. I like the Ch…Ch…ChChCh sound they make. I like their consistency. I remember the sound of sprinklers either retires a hard fought day, or it welcomes a new day’s possibilities. No one ever ran their sprinklers during the details of the day. I now live in a semi-arctic climate so I do not have sprinklers at my house and few here have them, but there is a house up my street with sprinklers. I hear them as I walk up a nearby hill each morning during the ritual that is “my morning walk”. I walk very early and the song of the sprinklers as I climb up the hill is a mantra for me both in my exercise and life lately. Ch…(keep going) Ch…(new things are coming) ChChCh…(stay strong). I can not explain it and it may sound...

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 ...