Icewind's Ramblings

In my travels around this beautiful state I have the opportunity to experience some interesting & oddly incredible things.   Some places it reminds me of stepping back in time or in some cases third world countries.   My company’s mission is to change that bringing clean water, sewer service, & clinics to those villages. The weather this winter has been brutal at best & one of the places I fly in & out is Kotzebue.   Enjoy their recent weather in a blog from one of the locals. http://finnskimo.blogspot.com/2011/02/seriously.html Ice

I woke up this morning and had coffee then prepared for the Daytona 500 which was being run in Florida today.   It is still dark here in Alaska and will be for several hours but in Daytona it is sunny and warm with fans ready for a great race. It is nice seeing the fans out in force without having heavy gear on as we do here in the far north.   The activities were completed and the race started with a clean run the first few laps.   On lap 3 the tribute to Dale Earnhardt with everyone silent and raised hands with three fingers held high was a testament to his contribution to the sport.   The broadcasters were silent as well and the impact of hearing the power of the cars and seeing the images of everyone during that lap was pretty special. Shortly the first wreck happened and during the race it was followed by many more making for a great day of racing.   I have watched the qualifying and some of the 150 races and kept seeing this young man named Trevor Bay...

It was a beautiful day in Anchorage today, left for work at 0 dark 30 with a big moon setting to the NW of the city.   It was about the size of a half dollar held at arms length.   A moose was feeding on alders at the entrance ramp from Muldoon to the Glen Hwy.   Now there is a great sunset with orange and pink Alpenglow reflecting on the mountains. I do not have a long drive to and from work only a couple miles each way but it seems there is always something interesting to see almost everyday.   I have written about the mixture of birds soaring in the heat of the electrical plant not far from my house.   They circle and climb in and out of the steam plume topping out several thousand feet above the ground.   They are smart to seek out the warmth during subzero days and share space with other species.   The main flock is ravens, big fat ones and can number several hundred on any given afternoon.   I have seen the ravens and bald eagles fly from...

I went into a Starbucks today for a cup of coffee while on our way to a meeting and it dawned on me why I really do not like going here preferring to stop by one of the many coffee stands with a cute barista on almost every street here in Anchorage. I hope I get right because I heard it rather quickly and didn’t have anything to take notes with but as we stood in line to get a normal, plain ole cup of java there is this pompous guy in front of us ordering.   It dawned on me the more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. He walked in to the Starbucks and barked out "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one Sweet-n'-Low, and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole. I think I’ll keep bringing mine from home or hitting the drive ups. Ice

It is that time of year at my company where we start to find out what new projects were funded for this year and will go to construction.   The process for selecting which projects are moving forward and which will be put on the back burner till next year is an interesting one.   At times it reminds me of something. Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence. My hope is we chose wisely the ones to be built and the village’s needs were they deciding factor as funding can only go so far and we like to give the best bang for the buck. Ice

Since leaving Atlanta in 1995 there are a few things that I really miss about the south and Atlanta in particular.   Food is always at the heart of a good southerner where during family or friend get together outings it is impossible to finish the meal you are eating without discussions of the next meal in a few hours.   It is a southern thing that has been passed generation to generation . . . father to son . . . mother to daughter.   It is a way of tradition of a proud people. Growing up I lived in the downtown are and The Varsity drive-in was just a few blocks away so it was not a big deal to walk there and get a chili dog and a coke or if you had the extra money a frosted orange drink.   Those were great times and fond memories. Another one was the Auburn Avenue Rib Shack a staple of great southern BBQ.   I used to go there many times with my old friend Lewis Grizzard, another one I miss a lot, Catfish too.   They were best buddies! There is alway...

As I travel all over I have loaded on my iPod many songs that go with me from place to place, or while sitting waiting at airports or at night on the overnight trips to the villages since there is no television.   My music travels with me and is varied as the wind with so many artists and styles. The feel good music is naturally from the 60’ through the 80’s as to many of us in the baby boomer generation that was when the music was at its best with so many great artists changing the face of music and how it was presented to our ears. Music for many of us starts our day and sets the mood of what is to come.   For some of us we may play a certain song or two everyday like an anthem.   My two songs are: Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole And What a Wonderful World by Israel “Iz” Kamakawiwo’ole What is your music that starts or makes your day? Do you have a certain time you play it?   Is it in the car on the way to work or when you first...

I blogged about this in 2006 and with all of the recent death of friends and people I have known over the years I thought I would write about this once again.   I wanted to share it and see what you are thinking about your own “Theater of Life”.   Friends and friendship play an important part of our everyday life whether we are consciously aware of it or not.   It is one of the things you go through life & hopefully as you get older there are those you have around you everyday by choice, those that are there for you without question without the everyday or recent contact but you know they are “in the wings” for you if you needed them. This was a simple analogy and I do not know where it originally came from or who the author is.   The words and concept have me thinking and looking at the different possibilities from my own life as different people have come and gone over the years.   With Facebook it makes it even more real as we can now re-connect with...

Here is a fun video showing you what happens to boiling water at 20 below zero when thrown into the air.   Pretty wild! I invite you to come up to Alaska during the winter time where you can find things to do with a little creativity.   Peeing at forty below is something else if you can find it . . . freezes before it hits the ground. We’re having our winter time blues and wishing for the calm winds of the Caribbean or Mexico about now. Ice

I made my trip up north to Selawik on Tuesday morning leaving the house at 4 am making my way to the airport for my Alaska Air flight to Kotzebue.   We took off into the clear cold night sky leaving the sparkling lights of Anchorage below as we turned northwest for the one hour forty five minute flight.   I thought about grabbing a nap since this would be a long day returning to Anchorage around midnight but chose to instead listen to my music on the iPod and enjoy the coffee and Danish the flight attendant had given me.   I sat next to the window but many of these early morning trips I do not spend time looking out the windows since in the darkness it is like looking into a black hole in space.   Tonight was different as there was almost a full moon to the west a couple hours away from setting casting its silvery bluish glow on the landscape below. As we made our way at flight level 340 (34,000’) and had just crossed over the Yukon River below with its ribbon li...

It is hard to believe that it has been 20 years since the start of Desert Storm in the Gulf War to rid Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait, Iraq still owes its smaller neighbor billions in reparations and more than 1,000 people are still missing. Saddam is long gone . . . many of us only remember his statute falling at one of his palaces and the excellent “war” coverage by CNN. It was in August 1990 that Iraq invaded, declaring that Kuwait was its 19th province.  The United States led a counteroffensive starting January 16, 1991. War came to television in real time with the CNN broadcast by Peter Arnett, Bernard Shaw, and John Holliman who gave us continuous coverage from Baghdad for the first 16 intense hours from their room in the Al-Rashid Hotel.  January 17, 1991 the world’s new organizations and everyone on the planet was captivated by what was happening. Wolf Blitzer and Nic Robertson (the sound man during that broadcast) look back at the start of the war and it is i...

Politics can sometimes be a very frustrating and rewarding thing and over the last couple of years I have wondered where the direction of this nation might be headed since Obama’s election. There are still many ideals I cannot see eye to eye with the current administration as I believe that both sides debate for the sake of debating and not looking out for the needs and wants of our nation.   But when one does rise to the occasion I have to admit I put away all of the misgivings and embrace the words and emotions of the occasion. We finally saw something out of the man who leads our nation, that spark that makes men and women want to protect the freedoms we have every day.   We saw that moment, 51 seconds that could very well define his Presidency. Did you catch it during the memorial service in Arizona? He was giving his speech, part sermon, more heartfelt than most of the last two years of speeches about the senseless tragedy last weekend.   He had started talking...

The tragedy of 9 years old, Christina Taylor Green being killed in Arizona while she was learning about the freedoms in this country and was on her way to meet Rep. Gabrielle Giffords since she was just becoming interested in politics having been elected to student council. Christina was born on a day of overwhelming tragedy, 9/11/2001. She died on another. As a baby, Christina's photograph appeared in a book commemorating the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.   Faces of Hope: Babies Born on 9/11 was a project undertaken by a Pennsylvania mother who sought out children from each of the 50 U.S. states to be featured in the book. "A baby is God's opinion that the world should go on." - Carl Sandburg "I think it's something hopeful," Christine Naman, the book's author, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2002.    "Maybe they were born to help us remember those who were lost, as well as to help us remember the things we should fight to hold...

I have had several comments on my travels around the State of Alaska and going up north specifically ‘above the Arctic Circle’, places with names like Kotzebue, Selawik, Barrow and Point Hope to name a few.   Time of year comes into the equation but only slightly as it can snow or have freezing temperatures there even in summer.   For many of those who ‘work’ in the arctic it is a place where seasonal changes do not hamper the operations of providing much needed oil and natural gas to the nation.   It is a place where things continue to move about and work performed even in the harshest conditions known to man.   60 below zero with a 70 know wind many times is a common event with things moving a little slower and with safety always forefront in everyone’s mind as a misjudgment can be tragic to those who are complacent and not fully aware of their surroundings and wildlife. When I moved from Atlanta to Alaska, I learned what a “winter coat” really meant.   Whe...

I was picking up my granddaughter last weekend & we were driving back to the house.   Leaving her other grandparents’ house you can drive several back streets before heading back out to the main road.   For several months now she has been reading every street sign & business sign she can as we drive by.   It’s so strange to see the cycle of children & grand kids go through this same process. I hear this from the back seat . . . "Papa, where are all the 'GO' signs?" Ice

I meant to post this on New Years Day but was sidetracked like many of us do and thought I would post it anyway. For many of us this year will be much like last year with many events and things happening in each others lives.   Hopefully more good ones this year than the last few but many times there are choices to be made and possibilities to ponder. I can only hope 2011 will be a great year for you and during those times when you have to think of what direction to go or what changes need to be made one of the things that I try to remember is the poem by Robert Frost – The Road Not Taken .   It gives us an understanding to the possibilities in life and living each day for what it is. The Road Not Taken - Robert Frost (1874–1963) Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood ...And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perh...

I started off the New Year with a ‘quick’ trip up to Selawik Alaska for meeting with the tribal leaders on our plans to refurbish their water treatment plant and add some water and sewer service to 8 new homes added last summer to the community. There was a large group of us flying up from Anchorage leaving for the airport around 4 am to light snow mixed with rain.   We gathered at the boarding gate in the airport with everyone mostly quiet as we waited to board the plane around 5:30.   Once on board the plane several people took the chance for a quick nap since we were not due to return to Anchorage until almost midnight.   The rest of us chatted briefly or listened to music on our iPods.   We landed in Kotzebue which is a small spit of land on the Arctic Ocean along Norton Sound.   We deplaned from Alaska Airlines and made our way over to Bering Air for our charter flight to Selawik. Everyone dressed in their arctic gear and boarded the plane in the darkn...

It’s been two years since I last updated you on the ‘cool’ family in bush Alaska.   “Storm & Icy” live above the Arctic Circle in a little spot on the 400 mile haul road (Dalton Hwy) between Fairbanks and Prudoe Bay called Livengood, Alaska. You can check out the back story in my archives from January 1 found here & 2 found here 2009. Again special thanks to a neat lady, June Dilley who has imagination bigger than mine and continues the fun with her creations.   (I just have the weird mind set to think up a story for these highlighting the uniqueness of Alaskan lifestyle.) As we begin again, life in rural Alaska has its challenges and also rewards.   Those of us who live in a small town adapt and become self sufficient in the everyday things most take for granted.   Many villages still have no running water or indoor plumbing.   Cell phones and internet are slowing bringing communication into areas which has never had an easy time in talking with ...

The New Year starts with words that we can all live by . . . oddly it came from the television series NCIS. Anyone can achieve their fullest potential, who we are might be predetermined, but the path we follow is always of our own choosing. We should never allow our fears, or the expectations of others to set the frontiers of our destiny.   Your destiny can't be changed but, it can be challenged.   Every man is born as many men & dies as a single one. Agent McGee spoke in voice over at end of episode. Ice

On this eve of yet another new year, we celebrate the good memories of years past.   The hang gliding years are yet another chapter in my life that’s been closed and left behind with a twinge of regret.   One remembers riding the air currents all over the world seeing many wonderful things. “Fair winds and following seas” is a nautical blessing repeated by sailors.   It means, “may the wind fill your sails favorably for the duration of your voyage and may the seas be calm.” My New Year’s wish is that your days ahead be warm and safe wherever you are, and that gentle winds will help us ride out whatever challenges lie ahead. In 2011, let’s sail full speed ahead at peace with each other and nature. Happy New Year. Ice