Icewind's Ramblings

Is It Still A Mess? I grab my morning coffee on my way to work and some mornings the conversations can be quite entertaining. Woman: It's a pig sty.  I want it cleaned out! Guy: But it's my office. Woman: In our house! Guy: I'll shut the door. Woman: I'll know it's there. Guy: You'll never see it. Woman: Doesn't matter. Guy: What?  Why? Woman: Because I'll know it's there. Men . . . we can never win a conversation. I’ve wanted to post a couple pictures of work around the house over the summer.  A few I had already shown but the big project was getting a facelift to an old facade. Here is the old blue that has been on since the house was bought.  Nice, tired and just blue.   The new coat of paint has been toned down a bit with the splash of color on the front door with a red look to go with the ‘ See Rock City ’ birdhouse hanging close by. These next few weeks will bring about a solid change but this weekend there is one last fl...

Voicemails Many of you know I work as a mechanical plumbing contracting company where we have projects here in Anchorage and scattered all over the State of Alaska. Sometimes you find those little things that brighten your day when you least expect it.  It may be a call or an email you receive about getting a new project or something good has happened on a jobsite.  At times with the difficult logistics getting materials into some of the most remote locations in the world a call that it arrived at all is cause for celebration. Then there is those other calls . . . you know the ones that crack you up when you play them back on the answering machine returning from lunch.  Here is one from this afternoon. Voice Message 1: You know what you're all a disgrace to your profession. This is my 8th call to a plumbing company . . . I’m telling you our bedrooms are flooding . . . I thought we had a relationship . . . you people don't even have the decency to call back.  T...

I have talked lately about the seasonal changes that are happening now and there are more signs that it will not be long before its here.  With the limited amount of ‘summer’ and our short construction season the different road work projects are now coming to an end.  The orange cones have been everywhere and the barrels blocking lanes are slowly being removed as one by one the work nears completion for this year. The ‘Moose Crossing’ signs have been changed once again and placed randomly along the highways for the tourists seeking photo opportunities.    Moose cannot read so they tend to cross the roads and highways wherever and whenever they feel like it.  The sightings of tourist with cameras by the moose tend to make them hide creating the illusion and myth that moose are everywhere.  The sourdoughs here keep the rumor alive that we have moose on every corner but it sometimes looks like the scene from the movie ‘Funny Farm’ where Chevy Chase is...

This weekend I have been feeling under the weather so other than my Saturday breakfast meeting I have stayed around the house resting and trying to get rid of a nasty bout of sneezing, wheezing, and coughing.  They call it the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so you can rest medicine and oddly it’s true.  Feel like crap, take some Nyquil and hopefully feel better.  It may take two days but at least it seems to work. During this down time I haven’t felt like working on a couple of upcoming bids but I did get in a few hours here and there.  I did feed the birds a bit and hung out watching movies.  Today the house has been mostly quiet as my wife and father in law headed down to Seward to go fishing.  Gus and I have enjoyed a couple of brief naps between my sneezing attacks making for some funny moments as he is trying to figure out what is going on with me and all of the noise. One of the movies seen this weekend was S...

It is a little funny to me when you hear something over and over and in the back of your mind you know it is something you have seen or heard before.  Have you ever watched an old movie and said, “I don’t remember this actor or actress being in this movie” or something to that effect?  You may have seen the movie a hundred times, but because that person wasn’t as famous yet you don’t make the connection.  Or a small line from the movie is said which your subconscious logs away but later you cannot remember where you heard it or what movie or television show if came from.  Well that happened to me this afternoon when I watched the movie “Jaws” for the first time in many years.  When that movie came out in 1975 there were no computer generated graphics like movies today so when a movie kept you on the edge of your seat and scared the crap out of you it was a great movie. The setting for this particular scene from "Jaws" is on the beach, right before the fatal...

Long day? Enjoy . . . Feel Better?  I do. Ice

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...

I am not in the mood to write tonight so just a few goofy thoughts. What are some funny things to say with two lungs full of helium? I’ve got a helium balloon in my possession but I’m stuck for something funny to say with a high pitched voice. Any ideas? Falling Rocks Sign – This must be a gravity defying place. This sign is helpfully placed at the top of a cliff.  You will have to take my word for it that there is absolutely nowhere a rock could fall on you from above if you can read this sign.  Therefore the rocks would have to drop off the eroding cliff at your feet, circle back up around and fall on your head. Unfortunately climatic conditions were such that the phenomenon was not happening on the day I was there. This morning when I logged onto facebook someone had posted a Kurt Vonnegut quote that amounted to something like, "Our purpose on this earth is to fart around." I find that to be very, very comforting. And to end on a quote I saw recently a...

It was a really nice day yesterday with the sun shining and mild temperatures but as Saturday evening drew to a close the clouds rolled in and the chill slowly set in.  I slept well falling asleep at 2:30 am after rolling over and over for several hours.  Nothing like feeling it is cowboys on a train to wear you down to give in to that much needed rest. This morning I woke up to a steady drizzle and had to make Gus get his feet wet to make his nature call.  I had planned to go out to Big Lake today to start the winterization process of getting all of the thing in the cabin out before the freezing hits and putting away all of the toys for a long winter’s sleep.  The deck needs a little more work and the outhouse will wait now until winter to burn and replace next season.  Scott and I have debated whether to build a ‘real’ bathroom on to the cabin or to burn and make another outhouse.  Who knows how it will end up? The rain has continued all day with sev...

I woke up this morning to head out to my Saturday breakfast at Village Inn but before I left the house I took Gus out for his morning nature break and walk. While I was enjoying my first cup of coffee I put more peanuts in the bird feeder when the 4 Jays came swooping down into the tree limbs just off my deck and on the hand rails. They landed within a few feet of me and made their ‘good morning’ noises to greet me. I can tell they really know when I put out the food and nuts as they are looking for me several times a day. I picked up one of the peanuts and held it out toward the limb where one was impatiently waiting to see what was going on. Gus usually barks and makes every attempt to scare the birds. The hand is held out and slowly the one Jay hops up to within a few inches from the nut and quickly grabs it and moves about 4 feet away. I had him take two peanuts before I went to breakfast and several hours later when I returned he took another one. It was pret...

I had the distinct joy of watching Big Brother on television tonight and it was not entertaining listening to all of the chaos going on within the house. I started thinking about these young people who are our youth in America and how they approach things, problem solve, and deal with the inner workings of relationships with themselves and those around them. It was a pretty sad thing to watch the last three weeks as they have no clue what it is like to engage each other with respect, gamesmanship, and trust. If this program was viewed as a job interview for most of these housemates they would be lucky to get any job whatsoever. They could not check the box that says: “plays well with others”. The “How do you establish a working relationship with new people” question could set off an nasty tirade of swearing and first impressions about those they walked by on the way to the interview. If the question comes out as to “what have you been most frequently critic...

Some mistakes are too much fun . . . to only make once. Ice

Spending time home this weekend brought several reminders that summer is almost over and the seasons are quickly changing once again. The days are growing shorter now as we head back into the darker months as we are losing over five minutes of light each day bringing with it real darkness once again. That thirty minutes of less light each week is noticeable now as there are signs within nature calling out to you if one pays attention. The birds are once again hitting the bird feeders all day long eating much to bulk up before they fly south to warmer climates for their migratory trek each year. The local birds which remain during the winter months are starting to hoard the food making many trips back and forth between their nest and the feeders. The finch type birds are everywhere preparing for warmer weather and will be missed once they start making the exodus. Blue Jays are getting bolder now wanting more peanuts for the winter as they fly up first thing in ...

For a friend who is going through tough times . . . Older now but still running against the wind . . . Hang in there! Ice

Does anyone else come home after a long day at work to find the phone ringing several times a night by some telemarketer’s firm wanting to ask you questions, sell you a warranty for a vehicle you have never owned, or a burial plot so your family does not have to make those decisions if something happens to you? Or the one calling offering you a great vacation or get away package? I hate these companies! I don't want to buy anything. I don't want to refinance my house. Don't you think that if I wanted to, maybe I would've called someone and already taken care of it? If you must keep calling, please, at least stop asking if my parents are available as I'm in my 50's and my mother lives a half world away. If you really want to talk to her I'll give you her number but be warned she hates you worse than I do and has an air horn at the ready for the sole purpose of blowing it loudly in your ear. She’s in her 80’s and has time on her hand...

Isn’t that a law firm in Connecticut ? Just kidding but it does bring up something that crosses our minds from time to time about the different things about our careers, lives or family. Everyone clings to that intangible . . . something out there that keeps us going in the hope that things work out for us. Why is that so? Is it we just need the music to keep us going? Something so simple but so hard sometimes to attain for many of us. All I can say is to keep looking and seeking out that elusive end and hopefully you find that one thing you seek. It’s raining here today with no chance of sun but there is always hope for tomorrow. Ice

On Aug. 15 to 17, 1969, (and into the 18 th ) hundreds of thousands of people, me among them, gathered in a lovely natural amphitheater in Bethel (not Woodstock ), New York . It was the Woodstock Music & Art Fair in upstate New York officially billed as “Aquarian Exposition” in White Lake , NY . New York was foreign to me at the time, worlds away from a typical southern boy’s existence growing up in Atlanta during the 60’s civil rights movement and all of the national chaos going on around the country during those times. I was just a funny kid with places to see and things to do in what I now, years later have jokingly called the series of my travels, “Looking for America ”. Gasoline was cheap back then at fifty cents a gallon so three boyhood friends were going to make the trek from Atlanta , Georgia to a farm in New York State . Steve Nash, Stuart Morris and I planned to leave three days before the concert started s...