Icewind's Ramblings

Friends of mine have “Fun Friday’s” on their blogs . . . does this one count? I returned home tonight from a long road trip in the Alaskan bush to find out there had been another bear incident, which is not all that uncommon in the summer months. This incident happened just a couple blocks from my house and with this tale it is oh so sad but funny as hell.  I have to look at this with that slightly off kilter approach since it is another one out of the bizarre pages from the long list of Anchorage happenings over the years. Officers say they responded to the 200 block of Yellow Leaf Circle just after 10 a.m. when neighbors called to report a woman was chasing a bear down an alley. This is where the story starts the unusual twist.  Almost every other story about “bear attacks” involves bears having contact with humans and sometimes there is a mauling or even death.  It is not common to hear of someone ‘chasing’ a bear.  But in all honesty, this was the middl...

This one will go under the Useless Trivia category . . . The Statue of Liberty 's fingernails weigh (on average) 100 pounds each. I hope everyone has a nice holiday and you took time to remember what this day means besides the cookouts, hot dogs, and fireworks. Give thanks to those who serve for giving us those Freedoms we enjoy each day.  Ice

There was a program on National Geographic about a ten-member team that is about to climb Turkey 's tallest mountain in search of what they believe to be Noah's Ark.  It was in interesting program giving the pros and cons about whether or not this may actually may be the remains of Noah’s boat. It got me thinking for a minute and reminded me of the movie Evan Almighty with Steve Carell about a reluctant boat maker.  This might be somewhat of a rant but it is not meant to be . . . just the crazy thoughts of times long ago. Is this the way the creator of the universe works? God makes everything.   But He can't make a boat? That's proof He/She/It is very powerful indeed.  God is the culmination of all knowledge, forgiveness and love.  I think that's a nice definition we can all agree on.  So You then decide to make some poor, lowly human build a ship out of wood to save two of every animal from a flood You are creating to punish a wicked world? ...

Well weeks actually . . . as I was out of town last week on Monday to Kipnuk for a long “day” trip.  It is one of those where you leave the house at 4 AM to get to the airport for an early morning flight.  It just so happened that this was June 21 st which is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year.  When I walked out the door at four the sun was already above the mountaintops to the northeast of town.  With our high latitude we do not have the typical sun rises in the east and sets in the west like most places further south.  During the long summers our sun rises in the northeast about 50 degrees from north not the “normal” 90 degrees “east” heading and sets briefly around 310 degrees not the usual 270 degrees “west”.  So much for the brief explanation as all I wanted to say was the sun was already heading up into the summer sky. I went with the engineers for a progress inspection since I took over these three projects just over three weeks ...

I just received word that my daughter is back in the states after her tour of duty in Iraq . Welcome Home to your entire unit who will be looking forward to reunions shortly back home with family and friends, everyone is proud of you! So much to be thankful for, I have always told my children when they left home to “return with honor” as a way for them to not get into trouble. I am now grateful to say to all of you that you have returned with Honor and a job well done. Thanks from a grateful nation. Welcome back. Ice

Sometimes we get busy and caught up in work or possibly play . . . here in Alaska with the abundance of both things always going on.  For many of us it usually does not take long for something to trigger that memory of what brought you here in the first place.  Springtime is one of those times as the renewal of life comes to the neighborhoods all around Anchorage .  We have over 1,100 moose roaming within the City of Anchorage during the winter months with the females calving in springtime.  One such occurred here on May 25 th in a lower hillside neighborhood backyard belonging to Mark McDermott.  These photos cover only about 1.5 hours, from 10:30 AM to just after 12:00 noon.  His pictures show the renewal of hope and the first hours of “Life in the City”.  Will this moose remain in the city or head for the hills? Enjoy these incredible pictures of new life. Mom (Cow) lying down just below the deck at the start of her labor. Note: the fron...

Summer is a great time for grillin’ keeping the heat buildup out of the house and fishing season is upon us so I thought I would put this one out there for everyone. 1/4 c pineapple juice 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 4 (6 oz) salmon fillets 2 tbsp brown sugar 4 tsp chili powder 2 tsp grated lemon rind 3/4 tsp cumin 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp cinnamon Cooking spray Lemon wedges (optional) Combine first 3 ingredients in a Ziploc plastic bag, seal and marinate in refrigerator 1 hour, turning occasionally. Before we start grillin’ let me give you a few tips on barbecuing salmon recipes. Make sure that the rungs on the grill are clean.  There’s nothing worse than old bits of food burnt on the grill bars, not only does it leave a horrible taste but it will make the Salmon stick. Get that barbeque really hot.  Depending on charcoal or a gas grill use plenty of charcoal to build a really good fire that will retain plenty of heat. Let the flames die down until you can see...

Remember back before the election during all of the campaigning and coverage of the presidential primaries how MSNBC was gushing all over Barack Obama? Well it is interesting now a year later to see how things have changed.  Its not the same now as reality sinks in.  Did you watch Obama's TelePrompTer reading last night?  What a mess we are in and a joke of a speech.  I couldn’t watch all of it because my bullshit meter kept going off and pegging the “get out your chest waders” because we are in deep shit.  He didn't read anything that was unexpected. Holding BP accountable.                        Yep we’ve heard that for 58 days now. We've been on the job from day 1.      Yep typical ‘no urgency’ gov’nment job. Clean up the Gulf Coast .                ...

One of my favorite books is called Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.  It is a book about life, values, and of course fixin’ motorcycles.  There are many great quotes in the book by Robert R. Pirsig and one of them is this: "The truth knocks on your door and you say, "Go away, I'm looking for the truth," and so it goes away." Once you think about that for a minute it becomes increasingly obvious to many of us that there is a lot of truth in that statement.  So many times we cannot see what is right in front of us or goes by without our consciousness grasping the fact that it was there. I’ve been flying a lot lately and it seems like I have been spending more time in planes than in my rig (car).  So many flight attendants with names like, Dawn, Natalie, Jennifer, and Grant. Always the slightly forced smile after so many years serving people pretzels, water, coffee, and a soft drink giving that pleasant word here and there while resetting the call b...

Part 2          Good health on tap in Chevak , Alaska As you saw in the first story about a community that is on the verge of having water and sewer service introduced into their homes will quickly change lives. One of my engineers shown in the first story, works with many villages in western Alaska helping to bring about these changes to people off the road system in remote areas of the state.  ANTHC is a non profit company whose main entity is the Native Hospital system throughout Alaska and my part called Division of Environmental and Health and Engineering (DEHE) which is an engineering and construction company which designs and builds water and sewer systems as well as health clinics all over the state.  Even with the high cost of building these project and the many years it takes to get funding and the construction completed we have found that in the long run it is cheaper than flying by Medivac air ambulance those people ...

I have written in the past about my travels to the rural (bush) villages for my work which is building water and sewer treatment plants for these native communities.  We provide what most of us take for granted in always having fresh drinking water or clean water for bathing, laundry, and brushing our teeth.  That is not always the case in many places off the road system here in Alaska and we are slowly bringing these necessary health changes to many places. We are changing people’s lives in the process of dealing with new technology or having ‘outsiders’ coming into the village to work on these projects.  Most villages welcome us once they understand what we are providing.  Change is hard to the elders whose existence in the harsh conditions is a way of life.  Hunting, fishing, and gathering food is a traditional way of life here and one that is important to the mindset of the tribes.  One of the things that my company does is hire local labor to hel...

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my daughter who is far from home serving in Iraq .  She was recently promoted so congratulations and hope you’re home soon! We love and miss you!   I hope you have a great day! Daddy Ice

It is sad to see so many child stars fall by the wayside. Over the years tragedy or misfortune has struck many of our favorite television child actors.  Oddly often times many if not all cast members find themselves in trouble or have abuse issues whether it is with alcohol or drugs.  Dana Plato died in 1999 and Gary Coleman died last week.  Of the three children on that show Todd Bridges is still around having his own troubles with cocaine addiction and altercations with his former dealer and a tenant which lead to legal troubles. One Day at a Time, Family Affair, Eight is Enough, and Family Ties all had kids who either died before maturity or old age or ran afoul and spent time behind bars . . . sadly not what their bright futures seemed as we watched week after week on the boob tube. Then we have the pathetic case of Lindsey Lohan who in the re-make of The Parent Trap looked so promising as an actress with a star on the rise . . . only to sink into depths of who ...

These last couple of weeks has been pretty brutal with my schedule keeping me out of town with brief returns to the office for design meetings and paperwork.  I have been out of town without internet so sorry for the lack of writing and no word of what has transpired. Barge schedules have been hectic with equipment and materials moving all over Kodiak Island .  One load is picked up in Kodiak and taken to either Old Harbor or Larsen Bay and returns to their home port to get another load to go to the other village.  One trip each way is 15 to 20 hours on the water with a brief time at high tide to unload items.  Last week in Larsen Bay my crew started moving dirt and getting things ready for construction.  They were setting up camp, getting a septic tank in place so we can have water and sewage for our 5 th wheel housing units.  They are almost too nice for construction work crews but my guys are appreciative and will take great care of them. A...

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....