Icewind's Ramblings

We are finally cooling down to normal temperatures for this time of year. The weather patterns now have started moving again and we are getting a snowfall or two every three days it seems. There were the early dustings but them we seemed to return to an ‘indian summer’ weather pattern. As we continue to lose our daylight the ability to heat the daytime also continues to drop off and colder weather is here. We had about six inches and then another 4-6” in the next round or two. Its ‘plug-in’ time again when the temperature drops below 20 degrees so our vehicles start easier and pollution is less with the warm engine. Some people tend to think that there are no cars in Alaska because it's too cold for an internal combustion engine to work. If an Alaskan wants to travel, he must either use a dogsled, or carve a car-shaped, Flintstone-like vehicle out of ice. There have been a few of these over the years . . . which have improved and with a l...

Despite the high cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular? Ice

Fallen Heroes To commemorate a fallen warrior, an inverted weapon and bayonet -- a tool of war and an instrument of peace -- was placed in the ground to symbolically mark the spot where our friend had fallen. A pair of polished jungle boots, fully laced, was placed at the base of the weapon to symbolize our brother's place on Earth, that he had fallen while standing up for liberty in the same manner as patriots of past wars who made the same supreme sacrifice. Finally, the helmet was placed atop the weapon to protect our brother and friend. He would suffer no longer the pain of war. What have you done for your Country? All Gave Some . . . Some gave All We will always Remember. Ice

In this place I fondly call the ‘far north’ today was one of those very lucky days that don’t come around very often. I awoke and saw the light dusting of snow on my deck as I poured my first cup of coffee. Winter is finally settling in here in Alaska so it was still dark outside. A Sunday morning like many others where the newspaper is out by the street in the box but I really did not want to go outside quite yet to read about many things I’m not really interested in. I showered and noticed my wife had fallen asleep on the couch probably watching the snowfall outside the sliding glass of the front deck. It is Veterans Day but many will observe it tomorrow so they can take time off from work. It seems somewhat funny to me now as I think about how things have changed over the years. Later in the morning I phoned several friends and asked what they will be doing on Monday. They all said the same thing: working. Me, too I thought as I was going to take time off but I...

"There is an ecstasy that marks the summit of life, and beyond which life cannot rise. And such is the paradox of living, this ecstasy comes when one is most alive, and it comes as a complete forgetfulness that one is alive." -- Jack London, The Call of the Wild Sometimes we may forget . . . But I try not to let the things build up and overwhelm me into forgetting. Ice

Spending my Alaskan summer off the map and under the midnight sun, I can truly say that I leave the summer’s light and warmth without regrets. I can also say that one day in the months ahead, I’ll look forward to the “breakup” and winter’s horizon sun slowly climbing higher into the sky. When that happens . . . I’ll be back to that mindset that is the Alaskan summer. Ice

Today is the 25 th anniversary of “The Wall” in Washington D.C. and it still moves me anytime I visit or see pictures. The Vietnam War Memorial for those that have not seen it is cut into the ground into an inverted V shape that starts on one side by date (1965) and as the list of fallen grows it continues to go deeper into the ground with the maximum height about seven feet tall. As the war wound down and the number of fallen decreases the reverse happens and the list of names shorten (the height decreases) until it returns to ground level on the far side (1973). The back granite is polished so there are reflections of those looking at the names. You may make etchings of the name of a loved one on “The Wall” or leave a tribute to the Fallen if you choose. They will start today reading the 58,000+ names of those who lost their lives and it will take until Friday or Saturday to finish the list. To our brothers who are the Fallen we ...

After last night’s rant I thought I would share a little ditty that hopefully will bring a smile. OK, I know it’s been a little while since I posted one of those wonderful (at least to me) stories from real life . . . Many may not be like me to revel in the fact that the human experience is one of those funny things that can bring a smile to someone’s face. That trying day or night is why we spend time sharing stories so we can make people laugh or smile when they may not feel like it. My house lately has been one of those places where it is hard to find that private place to get away from all of the people in the household. It has been a full house with my father in law in town the last couple of weeks and my brother in law in from his work rotation out on Shemya Island . My son and his daughter are around as well as my wife so needless to say it has been hard to find a quiet place. One of the few places that I can spend ‘alone’ with a house full of people i...

What in the world were they thinking? I like many Alaskans are beside myself trying to figure out how we have gotten into the state we and much of the nation is in right now. Alaska teens can make own abortion decision. Last Friday, November 2, 2007 the Alaska Supreme Court threw out an embattled state law that required parental or judicial consent before a teenager can have an abortion. Do you understand what I just said . . . It is now legal in Alaska for a girl who is 12 or 13 years old to walk into an Alaskan abortion clinic and pay with her own money (from selling Girl Scout cookies) to have an abortion without her parents being notified by anyone? On the flip side if she is injured in an auto accident and taken to a hospital for life saving surgery the parent has to sign permission before the hospital will operate. There are many things that occupy our time lately in The Last Frontier . . . The gas pipeline project possibilities . . . the rising...

“The user does not know what he wants until he sees what he gets.” For some reason it seems every Saturday morning at breakfast I experience that little observation. I meet up with several friends at a local eatery every week and the people who drop in are a mixed bunch of interesting people. Most of us have either worked together at one time or another or in one of the related trades associated with the construction industry. It seems as we sit and drink coffee and swap stories over the course of several hours there comes the time when we need to order our breakfast. Most of us know the menu from memory as we have been coming to this restaurant for over four years now. Every week there is at least one or two people who cannot decide what to order . . . every week the same thing. Eventually we all order and receive our food and as soon as our waitress put the plates down one of us will say something on the order of, “Man I wish I would have ordered that!” Or...

The southern senators who objected to Alaska 's statehood in 1959 may have had a point. People here aren't all that bound to the rest of the country. Alaskans speak of the Lower 48 as "The States" or “Outside” and it sounds just as far away to them as it does to Americans I'd met who were working in another country. People here feel themselves to be a breed apart with a distinct culture and distinct capabilities. One where the harshness of the Arctic climate with the extremes of cold & darkness make one ready to handle about anything not found elsewhere. I wouldn't call us unpatriotic, but I get the impression sometimes that if the ‘Lower 48’ was to sink into the ocean tomorrow, it would make the front page of the Anchorage Daily News for a day and then life would go back to normal. After all . . . we have the oil and the natural resources . . . one day when gasoline hits six bucks a gallon people ‘Outside’ will demand that we open ...

BOO ! ! ! Happy Halloween Ice

General Observation # 1 about Alaskans. We tend to divide the year into light and dark almost as much as we do with warm and cold. Daylight here is a precious commodity and people are very conscious about losing it. Every weather report on television or newspaper contains the length of the day and, right now, how many minutes shorter it is than yesterday. Almost six minutes a day may not seem like much to you if you live “Outside” (anyplace other than Alaska ), but several times lately I’ve heard Alaskans lament their imminent loss of the sun. For some strange reason we embrace the darkness and the cold so we can revel in the light of summer and the warmth that the sun brings. It may not be the ‘hot’ warmth I used to experience in the south but one that is welcomed in the spring . . . Ice

Sorry it has taken me so long to finish this up but as always . . . life has been way too busy and many outside things are happening to keep me from writing regularly. We have had family in town, car repairs, sick kids, and weather changes as we progress into winter. Snow has fallen . . . the birds are heading south . . . the moose are coming down off the higher elevations back into the city . . . and the light of day is quickly fading over 5 and a half minutes a day now. It’s almost into November by the time I finish these stories so I’ll slow down on the pictures as it takes a long time to load the pages. Cruise Day 7 – September 22, 2007 It was another warm night as I tried to sleep with balcony door open. I could see the flashes of lightning off in the distance, and hear the waves slapping against the ship’s hull as I laid there hoping to quickly drift off for a night of uninterrupted sleep. It did not take too long and I like everyone else on board but the wo...

Cruise Day 6 – September 21, 2007 I think this great cruise is finally catching up with everyone on board. I head out for my early morning breakfast and it seemed like a ghost ship as most every one it seems has slept in this morning including my wife. We are arriving in Cozumel and what is the normal rush for a quick breakfast before leaving the ship is absent today. There are a few people here getting fed and making their way to the pier but the pace today is much slower than the last few days. I am not sure if everyone is finally on “island” time and speed or if everyone is exhausted from the great times we’ve had the last few days. Scott and his crew headed off the Freedom and rented a jeep for the day. They planned to hit the dolphin encounter with the kids and also make their way downtown for some shopping before heading to the last Margaritaville of the trip. This would close out the trip with all three being visited on this cruise. My wife orde...

Cruise Day 5 – Georgetown , Grand Cayman – September 20, 2007 It was nice arriving into port this morning with two other cruise line ships arriving within minutes of each other. All three ships anchored in the harbor and would use tender boats to ferry passengers to shore. The Carnival Cruise ship Conquest was moored to our right while the Caribbean Princess was stationed to our left. We took our time getting everyone moving this morning as we did not have any scheduled activities booked through the ship. We ate a leisurely breakfast before heading to shore missing the mad rush by those ‘early wanderers’ on the first tender boats. We wanted to hit the public beach for some snorkeling and found a nice lady taxi driver to take us there. We requested that she return to pick us up later so everyone could enjoy the afternoon at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Cayman Islands, and make our last stop at the Tortuga Rum store for the requested presents by friends and co-work...

Part 2 September 19, 2007 We arrived back aboard ship approximately 45 minutes prior to sailing to our next port, Georgetown on Grand Cayman . We were both exhausted as the time spent ashore was hot, humid, and with very little breeze except while we were on top of the mountain getting rigged up to make our way down the zip lines. The first order of business when we returned was to order room service since we had not eaten anything except a light breakfast and drink the bottle of water both of us had taken. We did not think we could hold out any longer or even make our normal dinner tonight so we ordered plenty of food before taking our showers. Lucky for us today was laundry day so everything was gathered up and ready for Matthew. He had left us a bag for laundry with special pricing so we crammed as much as we could into the plastic bag and had it ready for his evening pick up. Deb crashed as soon as she finished eating and I felt like a nap too but I’m now si...

*Note – As I am working putting this together (uploading pictures and finishing writing this) it is snowing slightly this morning. The weather this weekend has been cool and wet with the temperatures in the mid 30’s and falling into the upper 20’s overnight. I raked leaves yesterday morning trying to prepare for winter. Today it tried to snow so it will not be much longer before the snow level drops lower than the mountaintops. I may have complained on vacation about it being hot but it was nice for a short period of time. The darkness of winter approaches as we continually lose about 5 minutes of daylight a day now but it has been nice looking at the pictures and writing about the trip. I hope you enjoy it too. Ocho Rios , Jamaica - September 19, 2007 (Wednesday) I awoke early and enjoyed the quiet of the ship in the predawn hours before the time when the bowels of the ship seems to come to life as people get out of bed and start their day with a walk to t...