Icewind's Ramblings

Here we are going into the last week of March and many of us in the Anchorage , Alaska area are finding that it has once again been lightly snowing for the last couple days with forecast for temperatures to warm up a bit by Monday with wet snow falling and melting on the way.  I am sure everyone is ready for “break up”, the yearly ritual of melting snow, muddy water splashed on vehicles leaving them filthy.  Everyone waits until the snow melts and things dry up a bit before finally cleaning up all the cars and rigs on the highways making Alaskan vehicles in springtime probably the dirtiest in the country. With the snowfall yesterday and today it seems like most people enjoy watching it fall out the windows, I know I do.  I kept hearing something like someone knocking on my door only to look and find no one there.  I looked out my back deck door and saw what was making the knocking sounds.  It seems that spring has sprung and the birds are returning to Ala...

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...

This summer I travelled to several remote villages in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta area of Alaska or the YK Delta as it is know locally.   Many of these trips start we me leaving Anchorage on Alaska Airlines’ 737 and flying to one of the hub cities like Bethel, Dillingham, or Kotzebue from which I change planes to a smaller single engine or twin engine airplane. I spend time in Cessna 206, 207, and 208 aircraft along with the Piper Navajo which are the workhorses (taxi’s) to travel into the bush communities.   Many times over the course of the summer I fly over literally a million small lakes scattered across the tundra as I visit my project sites.   I find it interesting to see the different wildlife that calls these lands home.   There may be caribou herds transiting the area as they free range never stopping or hardly slowing down as they drop there babies who quickly keep up with the groups.   I have seen a few mush oxen that usually stay within a 10 to 15 ...

Have a great Day! Ice

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...

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...

Driving home each day I pass a power plant close to my house that usually has a large steam plume rising several hundred feet into the sky this time of year.  If there is no wind it goes vertically straight up over a thousand feet into the air and on days with a light breeze it angles up into the air until the steam plume evaporates.  The hot air continues to rise even without a visible plume to show you where it is going. The strange and sometimes funny thing that many of us driving by each day notice is the large flock of birds that are flying in circles upon the rising warm air.  When I used to fly hang gliders when I was young it is called thermaling and within the hot air rising you make tight turns so you can stay in and ride to the top sometimes just under the bottom of the clouds. It was a great feeling going up to the top of a thermal and then leaving that one to fly over to another rising air mass to start circling all over again.  Some flights I may...

Alaskans give a big Thank You and Welcome Home to the first members of the 1-25 th Stryker Brigade returning from a yearlong deployment in Iraq .  The first 160 troopers arrived to a quiet hanger in Fort Wainwright in the darkness of an early morning 3 a.m. Inside the hanger was filled with yawning and pajama clad children and adults who erupted in a joyous reunion as the soldiers came off the plane.  Over the next several weeks a total of 4,000 military personnel with the Stryker Brigade will be coming home to similar welcoming events. Thanks again for your service and sacrifice from a grateful nation! The crazy birdman of Alaska is at it again as the geese are gathering in larger numbers making preparations for their migration south.  They are hitting many areas around Anchorage looking to bulk up on food before hitting the skies before the approaching winter weather arrives in a couple of weeks. I have been playing with my birds hitting my feeder multiple tim...