Icewind's Ramblings

Or does it? It’s funny how the old saying “Time stops for no one” is said over and over and if you don’t stop to think about it that might be true. If you slow your thought processes down from the hectic speed most of us go during work or other daily activities we may in the stillness of those brief moments find that we can stop time or slow it down enough to get back to those moments that bring about a smile . . . that warm feeling . . . or that thought from the past. I have been thinking about this week and oddly again it was music that brought it back to me. I jumped into the car this morning to head for breakfast and a song come on the radio that captured my thought perfectly. “All Those Yesterdays” by Jennifer Hanson I looked on YouTube but found no video for that song to share with you. It is our past that makes us who we are and the people around us. The times spent together live long in our memory when the hectic day tries to stea...

“Yesterday’s gone and we can’t get it back.” In the twenty-first century, change is constant. Change drives people out of their comfortably numb chairs into a world of exciting new experiences. Change isn’t comfortable yet just beyond the discomfort lie a range of endless possibilities. It is a modern truth that if you don’t happen to change, change is going to happen to you. Therefore happen to change and allow your life to open up before you. Ice

This whole fiasco with Obama, Dr. Henry Lewis Gates, Sgt. Crowley, and the Cambridge Police Force has drawn attention from both sides of a tired argument about the state of our nation’s health . . . our racial health. In the movie Forrest Gump he states: “Stupid is . . . as stupid does.” Maybe its stupidity that is running rampart in America today. Before I comment here is a copy of the police report. Police Report Short version (If there is one): Respected Harvard professor Dr. Henry Lewis Gates (a black man) returns from an overseas trip from China to his home, (probably exhausted) has trouble getting into the front door, enlists help from another man (also black) who is seen by a neighbor attempting to “break in” or force the door open (not the first time at this residence). Neighbor calls police where Sgt. Crowley who is close by responds being the first to arrive. ( Crowley is a admin type officer, not a “beat cop”) Crowley is...

Or how my day started and continued . . . Sometimes the body takes over and reminds us that it controls more than we want or give it credit for on a blustery morning. I awoke at my normal 4:30 am time but did not feel so good so I lay there hoping the slight headache would quickly fade. It didn’t but for some unknown reason fell back asleep only to jolt up with a wicked ‘charley horse’ in my foot at 5:15 only to fall out of bed trying to get weight on my foot hoping the pain would ease and I could hobble my way to a shower. My headache was doing no better now and had increased so I grabbed a cup of Joe while I showered with the thought all would be better shortly. I didn’t shave (for about two weeks now) but wanted to and slowly started my day . . . out of sync and hurting. I left the house and headed out to Elmendorf Air Force Base to a project we are working on spending several hours out there delivering materials and checking on the progress of thin...

“The music is all around you, all you have to do is listen.” Music plays an important part in many of our lives and sometimes you find the music in the most unexpected places. It may be on a river with the white water rushing around your legs creating sounds that is a joy to many fishermen (or women). It falls upon you walking in the sound of the wind or possibly sitting sharing a bottle of Beringer’s overlooking a beautiful landscape. I found the music tonight in a movie on my television as I put something on to fill the void of dead space noise as I tried to get myself into a bid I was working on. Oddly I stopped and became absorbed in the story before me and the music that filled the room. Here are a couple examples . . . Enjoy! August Rush Opening Scene August playing for the first time. Evan (August) and Louis playing together in the park. Enjoy the music where ever you may find it. Ice

July 20, 1969 They captured our imagination that afternoon as the whole world watched with labored breath. I was a young boy/man living in Atlanta glued to the television set after a childhood immersed in the space program. There were many drives down to Florida over the years to see the launches of Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, and Shuttle liftoffs. For those of us who understood the call outs by Mission Control were on the edge of our seats knowing there was only seconds of fuel left before Eagle finally touched down. True American Hero’s were the Astronauts who flew space missions; test pilots whose flights reached the outside of the envelope of known technology. We salute you and all of the wealth of information gained by our exploration into the unknown. Re-live those final minutes before the dust flew and those famous words were uttered from the lunar landscape . . . Happy Anniversary! Ice

Here is another one from my ‘working folder’. To pass the time here in The Last Frontier many people play board games or cards to make the day or night go by a little quicker. Winter time this is especially true as the many hours of darkness and the extreme cold can seem like time stands still or crawls along at a snails pace. Here is a little ditty from one of our recent games . . . Wife: There! I just added four letters to your word and covered the triple-word score. Thirty-three points! Ice: Ummm, dear . . . do you know what that word means? Wife: Don't worry, it's a word . . . I looked it up in the Scrabble dictionary. Ice: I wasn't questioning whether it's a word. I was just curious if you knew its meaning. Wife: It's one of those Italian ice creams, or something . . . right? Ice: No, that would be GELATO. FELLATIO is more like a Popsicle. Life from a ‘Northern Exposure’ . . . we always find a little l...

I seem to get my best/most interesting ideas when I am busy doing something else. If I sit down at the computer needing to come up with a great idea, I can’t do it. But get me busy doing something completely different, and I just might come up with something. So the best question for what I’m getting at here is not “Where do you get your ideas?”, because we all get them from the same place: life. I think the more precise way to ask the question is “When do you get your ideas?” What are you doing when most of your ideas come to you? It seems like (for me at least) the mind wants to censor itself. It puts too much pressure on itself for ideas to be “great,” so it avoids opening itself up and becoming vulnerable. So the more engrossed I am in something, and the more my conscious mind is completely occupied in flow, the easier it is for my subconscious mind to slide something in under the radar. I can’t be trying too hard - in fact I can’t be trying at all. It’s as ...

This one has been filed away for some time now and I just realized it was never posted. This one comes from a road trip I took to drive above the “Arctic Circle” and see the start of the Alaska Pipeline in Prudhoe Bay my first summer in Alaska. I guess I need to look in my ‘working posts’ folder more often. Four hundred and fifty miles into Friday's 16-hour drive from Anchorage to Prudhoe Bay, I jam my credit card into a Chevron pump just off “the haul road” in Fairbanks , Alaska . The pump spits it back at me and tells me to go inside and make arrangements at the counter. I'm not in the mood. I shuffle up to the counter and tell the woman, "I don't know what's wrong out at Pump 8 but it won't take my credit card." She doesn't bat an eye. "Must not like you," she deadpans. Then she grabs the card and says, "Go pump your gas." By the time I get back to the car, I'm laughing. It's two o...

Alaska is “hot” for a change with temperatures near a record of 80 degrees here in Anchorage . The past weekend was nice with warmth like has not been seen for several years but with the dry comes forest fire dangers. There are several large fires in the interior west southwest of Fairbanks and with our high pressure situated just so is bringing the smoke down from the north across south central Alaska . It reminds me of my travels to the Blue Ridge Mountains of the Appalachia and the hazy look found there. The lake wasn’t too bad but the view around Anchorage today is quiet hazy. With the smoke and haze it reminded me of one of my childhood friends. It’s hard to believe Smokey Bear is 65 years old. Many people still think that his name is Smokey the Bear but that is not right for all these years. Happy Birthday Smokey! There are still the teaching tools for the kids available and updated commercials and print ads that show Smokey has a...

The future you have control over is the one you create. There are some things we have no control over. It is wiser to accept what you have not been given the power to change. I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful holiday weekend. I spent mine with friends (Scott & Kim’s family) out at their cabin on Big Lake . It was a combination of families which included: dogs (3, with one having OCD), kids (5), grandkids (1), grand dads (2), Nana’s (1), Mom’s (1), and Dad’s (2). This is just sort of a mix match of all kinds of things. It was an interesting weekend with many things going on between relaxing, riding wave runners, 2 pontoon boats, a speed boat, and a paddleboat. The kids were all over the place having fun and one surprise Saturday evening was 6 kids ranging in ages from 5 to 15 years old all on a trampoline jumping, having a great time without anyone mad, whining, hurt, or not wanting to be there. It was strange but nice. The wea...

Getting together with friends on a holiday weekend is one of the best, yet simple, pleasures in life. To know those around you just a bit better, break bread and share good drinks and conversation over a meal . . . I can think of no finer way to celebrate our American Independence Day. So if you are like us in Alaska heading out to the lake, going down to the river to fish, or heading out to sea for a great catch . . . Have a great 4 th of July! Have fun . . . Be Safe . . . and enjoy the Freedoms given you. Ice

Or what length one goes for a little tail. This is for a fun Friday after a trying week mixed with the best and worst parts of dealing with people. I couldn’t resist this one . . . Moose Picture Caption: “Hi . . . what’s your ‘sign’?” After a few minutes a little more formal introduction . . . I am pretty sure this is NOT and Alaskan moose as it looks more southern to me since it doesn’t seem to care what it mates with. It struck me funny so I thought I would throw it out there. Tomorrow is July 4 th , the United States Independence Day so everyone have a safe weekend and remember those whose sacrifice allows us to have our parades, picnics, and family cookouts. Many thanks to all of you who have or are serving to protect our way of life. Thanks for listening! Ice

It’s summertime in Alaska and there is the abundant wild life roaming the streets of Anchorage . Recently the local moose population worked their magic and we see the young calves sticking close to mom and dad moose. There are plenty of geese now raising their newborn goslings it seems like in every pond or drainage pool or soccer field. I have a friend who works for Chugach Electric who was telling me about the trials and sometimes strange things that happen when there are power outages that occur in Alaska . There are the normal things like the rest of the country has like wind blown down trees or limbs that break off or blow over lines cutting power to many homes and businesses. There is the occasional transformer that goes out from normal wear or the power pole that gets hit in an auto accident but there are other things that happen here to bring us back to the “dark ages”. A wayward bear or moose may cause an outage but sometimes it’s that pesky ...

I saw this first at Chatty Crone’s Blog last week and it stuck with me. I personally have no desire to return ‘in country’ but I think it is great this man has found a way to heal old wounds. A picture taken from an ‘enemy’ 30+ years ago returned to his daughter, not much else needs to be said. Another example of why we should not forget the cost of war or of any life. MSNBC Broadcast by Keith Morrison There may be hope for our world yet. Ice

Or how to “see” Alaska in one quick trip. Yesterday was one of those whirlwind days where your well thought out plans for the day get shuffled and turned upside down changing everything? It was not necessarily a bad thing as I needed to make a spur of the moment trip to one of our project in Sitka Alaska . I did not have to pack a bag as I would return the same evening and I have learned from past trips that no being prepared for the unknown can come out and make things miserable if the weather changes. I figured I could ‘pack light’ stuffing a light long sleeve ‘wind shirt’ into my computer bag in case there was some wind or light rain at my destination. The temperatures were supposed to be in the 50’s so that is not bad for me most of the time as my Hawaiian shirts seem to give me some protective bubble and I usually do not feel the cool winds. It is after midnight when I quickly pack for the day trip and try to get a few hours sleep before leaving for ...