Thursday's Mix

According to an AP story on the Daily News website,

"Federal investigators have finished most of their work at the site of the Alaska plane crash that killed former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and four others, and will now shift to interviewing survivors and hoisting the wreckage from a steep mountainside."

The four survivors are still in hospital here in Anchorage, but only one (Sean O'Keefe) remains in critical condition. The others have been upgraded to "good" condition.

The article goes on to say that there are

"a lot of unanswered questions, with investigators receiving conflicting information as to when the float plane left a corporate-owned lodge for a fishing camp and when the wreckage was discovered."

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Speaking of Sen. Stevens, his funeral will be on Wednesday, at the Anchorage Baptist Temple.

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The National Weather Service (AccuHunch, to most of us) now says that we're approaching another record: if measurable precip falls after midnight tonight, we'll tie the record for the most consecutive days of measurable precip ... 27. It has been raining, off and on, for most of the afternoon.

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We're trying to decide whether we want to do any more weekend travel before the snow flies. June & July were busy months, since all the travels had to be crammed in on the weekends. But the leaves are beginning to turn, and the daylight hours are noticeably shorter - why, I even have to turn on the lights when I get up at 5 a.m., these days. Up until a week ago, it was still light.

So as we prepare to enter that long, dark tunnel that is winter in Alaska, do we go to Seward for its music festival? Do we squeeze in a trip to Homer? (I do love Kachemak Bay.) Do we travel north again to Talkeetna for river adventures? How about a flight-seeing trip? Or maybe that trip would be out of Lake Hood in Anchorage, instead.

Decisions, decisions.

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I had a delightful video chat with old friends in Missouri, a couple of nights ago, but it ended all too soon. Call again when you're not busy, D & S ... let's do it again.