Icewind's Ramblings

Education is a cure for ignorance, not stupidity. Ice

I was sitting here tonight and remembering my friend Lewis Grizzard as I was re-reading one of his books.   Years ago we hung out many nights together at Harrison’s on Peachtree with his step brother, Ludlow Porch (Bobby Hanson).   Both were humorist and funny as hell.   Ludlow was a rather large man, huge really while Lewis and I were quite skinny back then.   Sitting at the bar or at a table the three of us looked a strange sight.   The laughter and stories are probably why I enjoy my Saturday breakfast so much; it reminds me of those nights. The internet is a great thing as I looked I found several YouTube pieces from Lewis’ comedy albums or concerts.   I listened to them and I cannot stop laughing and honestly a few tears remembering those times.   It’s hard to believe Lewis has been gone almost 20 years now and Ludlow just over a year. Keeping my Southern heritage alive and well I share one of my favorite stories, “The Last Confederate Soldi...

Today Anchorage Alaska had warm weather and the snow is melting nicely. The streets aren't too bad now and you can wash your rig as the puddles of water are slowly receding around town. Cars riding around town today with windows down and in several I saw dogs getting for many their first ride with heads out the window in months. It got me thinking back when Levi was still around . . . Did you ever notice that if you blow in a dogs face it gets mad . . . yet when you take him in the car for a ride he sticks his head straight out the window enjoying every minute of it? Ice

Hotheaded Naked Ice Borers In its April, 2012 issue Defenders Magazine announced that Dr. Aprile Rooz, a noted wildlife biologist, had found a fascinating new Arctic species: the hotheaded naked ice borer.   These bizarre creatures were each about half a foot long, very light, and had a bony plate attached to their head that could become burning hot, allowing them to bore tunnels through ice at high speeds.   They used this ability to hunt penguins.   Packs of them would melt the ice beneath a penguin causing it to sink into the slush, at which point the borers would surround the hapless creature and consume it. Dr. Rooz discovered the borers by chance as a result of their predatory nature.   While studying a group of penguins on Arctic sea ice, she noticed one frightened member of the group rapidly sinking into the ice.   When she pulled the hapless creature out of the fast-growing slush pool that surrounded it, she found a host of small creatures attac...

It has been really busy at work so there has been little time to write.   Preparing for the upcoming construction in Alaska is a major logistical undertaking.   With the limited barge season in many areas in the Arctic there is a push to get equipment and materials from Seattle or Anchorage barged to the villages we work in.   Many times there is only a month or so that the sea ice recedes to allow ships into dock to bring in fuel and supplies.   Sometimes you move items this year to actually do the work the next season.   Such is life in Alaska. The more you learn . . . the more you know . . . the more you know . . . the more you forget . . .   the more you forget . . .   the less you know. So . . . Why learn? Ice

Why do musher’s seek the challenge of the Iditarod? If you listen to them, they'll tell stories of experiencing the serenity of a beautiful day on the trail, dog team and musher working as one.   They'll talk of the intensity of the experience.   They'll talk of the challenge of meeting the demands of the world's last great race. On the early morning flight from Anchorage to Kotzebue and then to Nome the other day the last person to board the plane was an old haggard looking man who sought out a space to put his items in the overhead space on the plane.   He looked the part of what I would call the Alaskan Old Timer who had on his flannel shirt, Seal skin hat and bushy beard with thick glasses.   He was not a big man but rugged in every sense of the word. He sat down in the seat directly behind me and started talking, and talking, and did not stop from push back, deicing, take off to Kotzebue, landing and the hour turn around time to head to Nome and only quit ...

It’s Speed Week in Daytona Beach and there is a lot of racing going on with qualifying for the Daytona 500 on Sunday. Thursday had the two Gatorade twin qualifier duels each a 60 lap race to set the remaining field for Sunday’s race.   In the first race it went pretty smoothly with only one small crash on lap 9 and another mishap by Michael Waltrip as he exited pit row. On the last half of the lap Danica’s car was hit and then skidded across the apron and hit a safety barrier wall at almost 180 mph.   Fox did a great job having several camera angles for point of view shots from above, alongside, & inside the car and lastly one watching Danica drive the car. In real time it happens so fast that from being hit, skidding, and impacting the wall is just a couple of seconds.   What is amazing is watching the training and instinct kick in as Danica prepares for hitting the wall violently. In Indycar races she was taught to let go of the steering wheel just before i...

The Mad King ventured from his cellar in his castle. He wanted to be a part Of the real world. What he found was injustice in humanity . . . Scared, he returned to his cellar. Ice

Many days at work I take my lunch at the Applebee’s down the street from my office.   It is a nice place and the staff treats me and my co-workers great knowing what we usually eat and as we walk in the order is put in so we have our meal fast. I walked in on Valentine’s Day and the two high top tables that we normally sit at were full and I was by myself my waitress asked me to sit at the bar.   I said ok and as I walked in noticed this old man with a walker making his way slowly from his table toward the bathroom.   I did not think anything of it other than I noticed him and also a lady on the other side of the restaurant who was trying to get her small child to stop throwing his napkin and spoon on the floor. I was talking with the waitress for several minutes while I waited for my salad and soup to come out and she was telling me about a couple of things happening at Applebee’s and with a couple of the staff she worked with. The woman finally had her son under c...

It’s sad that another one of our musical star’s brightness dimmed and snuffed out.   Another God given talent wasted away by fame and fortune. We have seen it before . . . Whitney’s is another in a long list of stars who seemingly had it all and let it slip away, or in my mind p*ssed it away, such a waste. There will be many others touting her fame and saying it should not have happened but I guess with my age I am getting cynical in looking at those who wasted the talents given them. Some were superstars . . . Michael Jackson, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and who could forget my childhood favorite, Elvis. All great musicians in their own right but in the end . . . sadly druggies who could not function without something to destroy themselves taking away from my memory of most of the great music they made. Elvis had great music and it is hard for me to remember that but always it comes to mind that he died from a drug overdose, same thing for the others. Whitney Houston did ...

May I never miss a rainbow . . .   Or a sunset because I am looking down. There is a beautiful full moon tonight no one should ever be looking down when something so beautiful rises over the mountaintops. Ice

I have not been writing much lately for several different reasons.   With the extreme cold this winter I could say it has been “brain freeze” but that would only be a small part of it.   Things have been quite busy for me in a non-busy way if that makes any sense.   I have been traveling a bit around the state so it has been very cold and isolated going out to the villages preparing for new projects this season or checking on ongoing projects from last.   At work it has been busy with so many things going on with new work and dealing with the logistics of such remote places to get people, equipment and materials to the jobsite.   Around town it has been a time for reflection and throttling back a bit from going a hundred miles an hour.   In that sense I guess I have become a semi-recluse.   What is a recluse, really?   Well, it's someone who chooses to live a life of solitude.   This kind of lifestyle isn't for everyone, obviously.  ...

Highlights from Anchorage Daily News of Coast Guard Video of the rescue of 4 people whose boat had grounded on rocks and this rescue helicopter crew hoisted them from the ice in Portage Bay. This is another great example of the selflessness of our military going above to keep us safe. We have had temperatures well below zero for almost a month now so this rescue had to be in some pretty extreme conditions. Air Station Kodiak rescues 4 from Kimberly from anchoragedailynews on Vimeo . This is our Alaska Coast Guard at work, there are men and women in all branches of the military who give of themselves each and everyday so we may be safe.   Keep them in your prayers and when you see these great people in or out of uniform, give them your thanks. We salute you for all that you do, for your professionalism and honor in performing your mission. Ice

It was an interesting State of the Union speech tonight . . . Wrap things in the American Flag, throw in our great military men & women, and add some things about unity and greatness . . . we must be doing pretty damn good right now. I'll probably blog about it but let's see . . . 3 years of promises, out of control spending on borrowed dollars, massive unemployment . . . I thought it was a fairly confrontational speech going after the partisan other side.  It made a direct reference to Mitt Romney’s 15% taxes and used the charisma of his speaking abilities to ask American for a second chance.  It seemed like he was saying I have for the most part pissed away the last three years but hey look, the economy might be in a small rebound so give it another look.  I am sure the young will get all worked up in the same vein that John Kennedy’s speaking did for a nation so many years ago.  The problem is that time period is long gone and the world is so much differ...

A little story for you to ponder. The 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o'clock, with her hair fashionably coiffed and makeup perfectly applied, even though she is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today. Her husband of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, she smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. As she maneuvered her walker to the elevator, she was provided a visual description of her tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on her window. "I love it," she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. "Mrs. Jones, you haven't seen the room . . . just wait."   "That doesn't have anything to do with it," she replied. "Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time.   Whether I like my room or not doesn...

Funny headlines from the newspapers that make you go what the heck . . . and then the laughter sets in bringing that little smile to your face. You wonder if the editors get burned out in looking at story after story and miss something or if they catch it and decide to let this or that one slip by to give the readers a little chuckle or find that little gem waiting inside the paper. Sometimes the obvious really does not make much sense when it is put this way.   It makes you want to ask, Duh dummy, I know that. In our lives we see and hear many things that make us want to say, I should write this stuff down because you cannot make this shit up . . . well I think you could but the reality of things is sometimes funnier or more absurd than one might imagine. Ice

If you can't be kind . . . at least have the decency to be vague. Ice

Life Observation # 147   A man's home is his castle . . . in a manor of speaking. Ice

On the farm lived a chicken and a horse, both of whom loved to play together. One day the two were playing, when the horse fell into a bog and began to sink. Scared for his life, the horse whinnied for the chicken to go get the farmer for help! Off the chicken ran, back to the farm.   Arriving at the farm, he searched and searched for the farmer, but to no avail, for he had gone to town with the only tractor. Running around, the chicken spied the farmer's new Harley.   Finding the keys in the ignition, the chicken sped off with a length of rope hoping he still had time to save his friend's life. Back at the bog, the horse was surprised, but happy, to see the chicken arrive on the shiny Harley, and he managed to get a hold of the loop of rope the chicken tossed to him. After tying the other end to the rear bumper of the farmer's bike, the chicken then drove slowly forward and, with the aid of the powerful bike, rescued the horse! Happy and proud, the chicken rode th...

Waking up this morning after a weekend of constant snowfall it was piled high as one would expect but overnight it was crystal clear with stars shining and an awesome full moon hanging above the horizon.   The moon large on the western sky as I drove to work with temperatures dropping from 14 degrees last evening to about minus seven this morning. My rig struggled to get warm by the time I made my short drive to work.   I had used my auto-start about 10 minutes before leaving home but with the cold temps it takes it a few miles to feel warm inside my auto.   Work was a typical Monday with meetings, working through the logistical problems with getting material shipped to remote villages.   As the day wore on I needed to go to our shipping yard to look at a conex (big metal shipping container) that I was preparing to ship to my project in Larsen Bay.   Today was clear, calm, and cold staying about minus 4 by mid afternoon. This was the calm before the next ...