Icewind's Ramblings

Tomorrow is Bike to work day and my company is hosting a BBQ for our new interns who come in to work with us during the summer months.  The combination bike day and a welcoming BBQ will make it a fun time and the weather is looking great for the event.  I was volunteered to help cook and people were bringing side dishes and deserts.  I figured I would give everyone a treat with my slightly different baked bean recipe. Baked beans are a favorite side dish in the South.  It's rare to go to a barbecue or to a pot luck dinner and not see a baking dish with baked beans. Some baked beans are a whole lot better than other baked beans . . . it takes some "doctoring up" to make the really yummy baked beans . . . the kind that means you come home with an empty casserole dish or crock pot.  If you’re really lucky someone will take the cornbread and lap up the juice in the bottom of the dish. There are probably as many baked bean secrets in the South as there are South...

A dog still has bad breath even after eating a Tic Tac. Ice

When we were younger there used to be a distinction between the movies & television .  The movies at the theater were called the Big Screen while television seen at home was the Small Screen .  Today, it would be a misnomer to say that.  From the big screen analog to the flat screen High Definition TV’s of today, the television of today is also the Big Screen. I would probably like to say . . . my name is Icewind and I'm a TV addict.  I've only recently admitted this, and I probably would still be in denial except for the fact that we just brought into the house a fourth HDTV cable box (digital video recorders).  Mind you they are not all for my watching as I travel somewhat but when I am home like to see my favorite programs.  We've got the big (42”) flat screen TV in the living room, and there is an older television in the bedroom (20”) for my wife to get away from all of the chaos from the grandkids.  She will fall asleep with that one on...

This year like many in the past has shown us that there are more homeless and ‘street people’ than years past.  It is a problem with no easy solutions.  Several years ago the company I worked for built a new state of the art shelter called Brother Francis shelter which is next door to Bean’s Café which we remodeled the year before.  Both handle feeding and housing those in need of a hand.  Many have given up on life and go through the motions of hanging out all day waiting for the next meal or place to sleep.  Mixed into this counter culture are families and children.  Sad but true. One of the major problems here in Alaska is we have extreme conditions that can kill you quickly even when properly prepared for it but leaves little chance when you are intoxicated and not 100% ready for survival.  Each year we have many deaths, and last year I think I wrote about it raining men as one after another seemed to fall out of the sky being frozen to death....

Snow left on the mountains from last winter still blocks the Resurrection Pass Trail in Chugach National Forest .  Things up high are melting fast as you can see the ground and rocks high above the city.  Lower levels of the mountains are in that transition period of greening up for summer.  Over the weekend I had to pull on the fleece in order to sit on my southwest-facing deck and enjoy the evening sunshine. The spring sun, admittedly, feels as good and warm as ever.  But the air, well, something is wrong with the air.  The air is still cool.  As soon as the sun disappears behind a cloud, the temperature starts falling as if it were nighttime in the desert. A bright sun warming the deck one evening last week actually encouraged me to engage in the foolishness of pulling on shorts and a short-sleeved jersey for an evening mountain bike ride.  It was only a fleeting thought as I did not want to dig out the bike from under my deck storage area....

Four or five days ago there were some changes coming to the Anchorage area which gave us our first real glimpse of summer.  The clouds parted, the sun continues to give us the sunlight lost during our long winters.  We are up to about 17 hours now with sunrise around 5:30 am and sunset around 10:30 PM so you can still see it light outside to the west after midnight. The city is in that period of time when everyone comes together to walk the roadways picking up trash that has either been dropped or blown around the streets.  Everyone has the opportunity to clean up the debris and limbs that were blown down in your yard.  The City of Anchorage opens up the two landfills for a couple weekends for those that want to clean up and drop off their debris.  For those two weekends the do not charge so the lines are long but it makes a big difference in how the city looks during the summer. With the sun out in force giving a sense of warmth at about 60 degrees it wa...

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...

I work for an engineering and construction division of the Alaskan Native Tribal Health Consortium which is a hospital and medical company here in Alaska . Some of the engineers who I work with come up with some pretty innovative things to make our water treatment plants, medical facilities, and waste water systems do the impossible.  We make things happen in villages across Alaska and we use all kinds of equipment including excavators. Here is an interesting video of a pretty incredible feat using an excavator. It’s pretty amazing. Is it useless time wasted or a pretty amazing mix of technology and guts? Ice

People do not change . . . You only get to know them better. With time you will see exactly who they are . . . As they reveal their true self.  Ice

Several days ago I posted about a family friend who was taken by Medivac aircraft off Shemya Island and brought back to Anchorage to Providence Hospital .  While in the emergency room he was told he had colon cancer and later that night I put him on an Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle and then Orlando Florida so he could return home to be with his family and see his family doctor. After several days waiting to hear anything my brother in law received a call from his brother who said he had seen a doctor and was starting his medical treatment . . . exactly what that is or means right now is still up in the air for us but our prayers are with him and his family. His diagnosis is stage IV colon cancer which has spread into his liver.  This was a shock to all of us as the thinking was he may have an ulcer or some other stomach disorder.  He has had no pain or symptoms until it started several days before going back out to the island. We can only be positive and f...

On my short drive home today I pulled up behind the car in front of me to wait for the light to turn green.  I’m sitting there thinking of all the unfinished things I left at work this week and I glanced up to see this on the back trunk panel as if it were screaming to me . . . “Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.” A smile came across my face . . . my jaw relaxed and I realized all of the work will be there when I return.  I did get a ton of work accomplished this week including a trip out of town so all in all we won this week. Hopefully I’ll have exact change. Ice

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...

My grandson is almost three years old and proud of the fact that he is potty trained and goes to the bathroom like ‘big people’.  Saturday started out like most others for him with the typical playing, coloring, and the jumping around that comes with his age. I went to breakfast as usual and returned home to do the normal chores that come on the weekends.  My grandson went about his day and was a pretty happy little guy until his world fell apart just before noon. He prides himself in being potty trained and usually alerts someone (everyone) when he goes so sometimes it’s a pretty big deal for him.  Sometimes being new to the procedure he tries to get things right.  He sometimes can barely pee on his own without shooting a stream like a fire hose was out of control on the bathroom floor.  The problem I have to admit is not totally his fault.  The hall commode is a cathedral of tile (new I might add) and fixture with a throne set almost too high for his...

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...

The Masters started today in Augusta and with it a return of two great champions, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer for the honorary first tee shots.  We are off for a great weekend of chasing that little white ball around the hallowed grounds that is Augusta National Golf Club. Yesterday before the competition started and the hoopla of a returning Tiger Woods there was the usual press conference from the Masters chairman but it was not the normal talk with little meaning as Billy Payne did the right and necessary thing for all of those who love the game, the traditions, and keep The Masters what it is. For all his brilliance and leadership as the man in charge of the Masters, it is unlikely Billy Payne will ever do anything as masterful, as blunt and certainly as necessary as what he did Wednesday afternoon on the eve of the 74th edition of The Masters. In what was a stunning and rare departure for a Masters chairman, he not only admonished one of the players in the field for...