Writer's Ice Block

                       Photo from http://www.nenanaakiceclassic.com/

Well, it certainly has been a long time since my last post. In the past couple months of quiescence, my life has been anything but. From super solar flares, the Yukon Quest, local tumult, and the World Ice Art Championships, Fairbanks is constantly on the move. I will have to write/explain most of these things in greater detail (and with photos!) than I will be doing now, but this post is more of a teaser, I suppose.

Break-up (goodbye to ice) is coming soon, and people in town speak of it constantly and with great anticipation. I, for one, am excited for the change and can feel the excitement building within myself. Today we have surpassed the 12 hour daylight point by a few minutes. With Daylight Savings it is even more apparent that spring has almost arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska. Happy equinox!

The tripod is on the ice of the Nenana River which means it is time to buy a ticket and guess what time the tripod will crash into the water, officially announcing the start of break-up. This tradition has been going on for 94 years and is a popular lottery throughout all of Alaska. It began back when the Alaska Railroad was being constructed.

The workers, bored to ice tears, would place bets on when the ice would break up, allowing boats and supplies to reach them. Word of the lottery spread throughout Alaska, and now it has paid out nearly $10 million since its inception (good movie). Last year’s pot was around $280,000! Price to play is only $2.50 a guess, but it has to be to the minute!

Speaking of melting ice, my garden area should be thawing out soon enough. Another goal (there are many) for this summer is to establish a healthy vegetable/herb garden. For reasons maybe not too obvious, Alaskans have amazing gardens! The chief reason is the incredible amount of sunlight during the summer (almost 24 hours!) we receive.

If this goal is achieved, I will report its success with much aplomb and selflessness (if failure, then quiet reflection). Well, this is all that I care to write since this post is getting too long for the attention span of most readers. There will be more to come once I sort and edit my digital pile of photos and HD videos.




Cheers!

The Antler: Extreme Home Edition

I sat in row 34 E, the middle seat in the back of a Continental jet. The plane was late, very full, and leaving at 1 am. This was not going to be a good flight.

This post is coming not from Alaska, but from my new home in Texas. In the short time since I left my home and made the drive to Alaska, my parents made some life changes of their own. My father picked me up from the airport, but drove me to a new home, a different home.

The last time my parents moved, I was four years old. So, I am a little emotional about this "uprooting". In other news, I have accomplished what I had set out to do in the last blog post, namely make a few time-lapse videos of the short winter days in Fairbanks. They are located at the end of this blog post.

Temperatures in Texas are 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit greater than what I am used to. Also, there is abundant sunshine which has been wonderful. However, it has not been a vacation because my parents are still moving things to the new house. In addition, the old house needs some work before it is placed on the market.

I do miss Fairbanks and all of it's many quirks. Leaving was strange because it felt like I had just arrived. School has a way of distracting you from the passing of time. I am thankful for the change and look forward to returning soon.

Cold Snap: Oh, Snap!

Well, it appears that our warm winter is over. The highs and lows here have stayed well below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Tonight may be the coldest night yet with a range from 35-45F below! I have found where the insulation in my cabin is not sufficient. It is mainly around the edges of my front door. There is actually frost on the inside near the locking mechanism!

The aurora must be cold too because I have not seen it in quite a long time. The outside of my cabin needs some shoveling especially on my "party deck". there is 1-1.5 feet of snow on it, and I am afraid that if more gets piled on there it will collapse. I have a new hat and pair of mittens to keep me warm. Long underwear is next on my list.

I also rigged up a full-spectrum light alarm clock. It has been getting harder and harder to get up in the mornings since it is so dark, and this is my solution. It worked like a charm this morning even though the timing was a bit early. Not a big issue. School is almost over which means deadlines are very close! I have a couple of weeks to finish up my grading and turn in some papers and projects.

I think my next blog will have some timelapse photos of the rising and setting sun. I think that will interest some people. Be looking for that sometime this week perhaps.

Rain Day: Part Deux

Raining non-stop. Over an inch or rain (=ice) on some roads. School canceled because of the warmth!

Warm it is here in Fairbanks. Jackets are missing for the most part as temperatures hover above the freezing point. The roads are improving as the ground slowly thaws out. I managed to escape the slushy grasp of my driveway as the many inches of hard-packed snow gave way. Having a two-wheel drive truck in Alaska is definitely a humbling experience.

I keep on taking the risk of leaving my cabin because it is the only way to learn how to drive in icy conditions. I just remember what I was taught many years ago in driving school (yes, I went to "school"). It is fair to say that Alaska never has "snow days", but it has "rain days". Forty below should not slow you down any!

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but concentrating on driving is a top priority for me. Also, I do not want to stop moving because I may never get the darn truck moving again! Momentum is an important part in gaining traction, I have found. Luckily, the rain will be switching over to snow tonight as the temperatures plummet to the negatives once again (Luckily?). It is true that I get annoyed when it warms up here.

For now I am sitting in College Coffeehouse grading my babel-sized stack of papers.

Danger: ICE!

It is dark and rainy out on the roads. The ground still clings to the cold temperatures from bygone days. conditions are perfect for turning the roads into skating rinks.

An unusually warm pocket of air has affected almost all of Alaska today, and no one is happy about it. With the air temperature rising, the snow has turned into rain while the ground remains below freezing. Fairbanksans are finding the roads here downright impassible in many areas.

There are reports of multiple car pileups on the highway and many more in ditches scattered across town. I left my cabin this morning with the reasoning that the best way to learn how to drive on ice is to do it. Talley ho! As soon as I left my cabin, I saw the Gray Line city bus in the ditch surrounded by flares. No good.

I crept along at a snail's pace, giving the three cars in front of me enough room for me to stop. Stopping is not easy, however. Even the tiniest change in speed seemed to cause trouble and loss of traction. Oh, to have four-wheel drive right now! I had escaped Farmers Loop Road, but then had to tackle the hill to upper campus.

Progress was good up until the halfway point whereby my tires ceased to grip the road. The truck came to a halt and slid backwards until the tires regained traction. I was in a bit of a quandary. How do you get an object with no traction up a steep hill? The answer is you cannot. Sitting in the idling truck, I though long and hard about how to solve this dilemma.

A man in a navy blue UAF truck pulled up and offered a solution. He got out and slid (not walked) to my truck and tossed salt under my wheels. After trying this several times, but to no avail, he left me with the promise of a gravel truck. Cars behind me were annoyed and attempted to go around me. They eventually slid back to where I was, much to my amusement.

Once the gravel truck arrived, I was able to gain traction and head up to upper campus. Classes were canceled of course, but I came up here for the experience and to work. It is still dark outside, but lightening up a bit. I hope the ice is taken care of soon!

Winter: The Signs

It was dark and cool when I pulled into my snowy driveway. As I walked up to my cabin everything seemed normal until I heard a rustling, crashing sound to my right. I stopped in my tracks immediately.

Moments passed as the list of large animals that could possibly be out there flashed through my mind. Moose? Bear? Sarah Palin?

Suddenly, I heard another crashing sound to my left. This time I could see it. Snow sliding off of my slanted metal roof. I breathed a sigh of relief and entered my cabin a little wiser. 


Winter is definitely here in Alaska. The signs can be seen all around town. The easiest one to spot is the marshmallow blob on cars. The snow in Fairbanks is not like the snow in most places. It is very dry and powdery. In fact, it is so dry that you cannot make a snowball or a snowman with it. This also help when you want to get the snow off of your car in the morning. You can simply brush it off with little effort. You do have to make sure that you dust off your license plate, too!


 

Another sign is the large amount of cars in ditches. Apparently, the people of Fairbanks forget that ice is inherently slippery. Winter happens every year people! Plus, it lasts for the majority of the year! How can you forget to drive carefully on ICE! Sigh.

The remedy for this problem is the next sign. Namely, the whirring, clicking sound of studded snow tires. These are a must for those who have 2-wheel drive (me), who are magically drawn to ditches, who like the movie Tokyo Drift, or those who are from Colorado (You people only THINK you can drive on ice).


Amazingly, this leads into the next one perfectly (witch!(warlock?)). There is an abundance of snow plows/blowers buzzing about. These can come in all sizes from hand-propelled to massively large trucks the size of Brittney Spear's trailer (home?). I even have a buddy in the snow-plowing business (plow my driveway, Joe!). 


This last one may be the most obvious as well as the oddest. The sun tends to race across the sky at a rapid pace (lower angle, too!). I have definitely noticed this recently. It is not uncommon to get up and go to school/work and completely miss the day. Currently, it starts getting dark around 3 pm with a sun rise around 9:30am. I try to make an an effort to go outside and do errands during the daylight hours. If not, then it can do weird stuff to your body. 


Well, I hope y'all enjoy Fall wherever you are. I am sorry for the lack of posts recently. School. That is my excuse. There will be more to come soon, I promise. 

Sun Dog-Taken at "high" noon

Strange light spires formed in the icy atmosphere.

View facing South from Farmers Loop Road by my cabin.

View facing West towards my cabin.

Vanity Plates: README

If you drive anywhere in Alaska for a short period of time you will begin to notice the high quantities of vanity plates. Now, I wouldn’t describe Alaskans as vain since most look like the Gordon’s Fisherman or the crazy prospector, Gabby Johnson, from Blazing Saddles (rerin!), but they do have vanity in other forms.
 

For one, they take their state pride way too seriously. I haven’t felt this discriminated against since I visited China and all because I am a Texan. I don’t seem to recall making fun of people because they were from Vermont while living in the Lone Star State. “How does it feel to be from the second largest state?” is one jeer that I received recently. But I digress.

40BLOW, RAVENS, and TI3VOM are some of the colorful plates I have seen. A creepier one spotted recently was LVBSKT. I think the reason why people get these plates is the fact that they are easy to create on the DMV website (and fun!). They are also inexpensive compared to other states.

I still have my good ‘ole Texas plates on my truck for now, but a time will come when I will probably need to get Alaska plates. Should I choose to get vanity plates, I would have to have a pretty good 6-character combo to put on there.

Any ideas?