Icewind's Ramblings

The days are getting shorter now and winters on the way, there’s whispering on the winds telling us it’s that time to pray.   Pray for a quick winter and a return to our beloved summers. We are almost at that time when the frost is on the windshields of vehicles not tucked away in a garage and the time to return to using the auto-start on your rig to warm it up before you get in for that drive to work.   I originally came from the South and I have been surprised that no one there has started selling vehicle auto-starters for the use in summer to cool their vehicle before getting into them in the near 100 degree heat.   Could do well there I bet with a little promotion.   Not I mind you as I could not take the heat full time unless I was on one of the tropical islands somewhere with a drink in hand.   Jeff Foxworthy made famous the “You might be a Redneck” jokes and along those same lines we have our share of Alaskan humor that is a little different than the...

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...

Many of you know over the last couple of years that I have enjoyed and been fascinated by the squirrels that have taken up roost at my last couple of houses I have lived in. Squirrels are just so fascinating in how they interact with each other, birds which may share a bird feeder, and my family. Then there is the dog, Gus who now has a ‘doggie door’ so he can go in and outside while we are working or away for a few hours. My bird feeder is just outside the new door a few steps away across the deck, hanging over the side. The birds and squirrels can get to the feed and do so in relative safety with Gus just lurching his way up the railing and barking his displeasure of them eating ‘his’ peanuts. The Blue Jays and the Robbins play tag team luring Gus away from the feeder while the mate flies up and gets the food and off to the nest. It is funny how they work Gus to the point he tires of running back and forth and lies down under the feeder and watches the wildl...

I heard about an incident in Connecticut the other day that struck me with both a tragic and oddly surreal funny way. My mind works in sometimes abstract ways that looks inside out at something wanting to ponder the different possibilities. One quick thought I had was where’s P.E.T.A. in all of this? They have something to say all the time but oddly they seem kind of quiet on this one. Here are excerpts from the Police in Connecticut released tapes of Sandra Herold's phone call to police on Monday as her chimp, Travis, attacked Charla Nash, 55. The chimp can be heard grunting as Ms Herold cries: "He's killing my friend . . . He ripped her apart! Shoot him!" When police arrive, an officer radios back: "We've got to get this guy out of here. He's got no face." The chimp kept attacking Ms Nash as Ms Herold, 70, stabbed it and hit it with a shovel. Now this struck me odd as the owner of this chimp came to the real...