And Just To Keep the Day Interesting

there's a grizzly wandering the neighborhood.

And you thought you had a problem with rabbits in the garden!

Girl Shoots Grizzly, Then Goes to Prom

A very Alaskan prom night: Girl shoots grizzly before dance, family says

"Prom night is a memorable event for teens across the world -- but it's even more so for a Kotzebue girl, whose parents say she hunted and killed a grizzly bear hours before taking to the dance floor last weekend."

Only in Alaska, folks. You can find the whole story at www.ktuu.com. 

Friday Morning

Good morning, out there!

Like most Alaskans, I occasionally feel a trifle claustrophobic here in southcentral, knowing there's only one road in or out of town. We have to drive 7 hours to reach the state line and our nearest neighbor - the Yukon Territory. Unless you're willing to drive around the clock, it's a 3-day trip to Seattle, some 1400 miles away by road ... or 3 1/2 hours by air.

I do sometimes miss the ability to drive for an hour or two and be with family ... but that's part of living here. While life here is not primitive, one accepts a certain isolation. Anchorage hasn't been "frontier" for thirty years or so, but we are on the edge of the frontier. It's not always for the faint of heart.

None of this is a "woe is me" party - it's just part and parcel of living here, on a completely different piece of the planet from the Lower 48. There is a prevailing sentiment here that we're barely a part of the U.S., being so far away from everything "down there."

Our weather is still unseasonably warm, with uppers 20s at night, and highs near 50. The normal high this time of year is in the upper 30s.

This is also "Good Friday", the day on which most Christians remember that Jesus of Nazareth voluntarily let himself be executed by the Roman & Jewish authorities. This was the key part of God's plan of redemption for us: a perfect Man, the Son of God, had to take our sins upon himself* - as if he were a sinner - and suffer the punishment that we so richly deserve.

Why? So that God the Father of us all could look at us as righteous and forgiven. Jesus paid the price for us, so we could be with Him.

All we can do is receive the free gift of God with gratitude, humbling ourselves in obedience to Him who loves us.

That's about it for now - y'all be good, and if you can't be good, be careful!



* For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.(2 Corinthians 5:21)

Another Slice of Alaskan Life

I'd like mornings better if they didn't come so early in the day ... sigh.

It's cloudy and cooler this morning, and the weatherman's head said we'll get more rain this afternoon and tonight. That's welcome news; conditions are still quite dry, although the wildfire danger has dropped from "extreme" to "moderate".

* * * * *

I mentioned on Saturday that my wife & Younger Daughter participated in a 5-mile run to benefit breast cancer research. They both finished, and it's the first time my wife has ever done such a thing.

Forgive me while I brag on her for a moment: she has lost a total of 140 pounds over the last two and half years. I can't tell you how proud of her I am.

* * * * *

Speaking of running, there was another event yesterday which I didn't hear about until this morning: a 5k "mud run". Nearly 7,000 participants went for it:

 
 
 
All photos from the linked story.

* * * * *

And, with the onset of summer in Alaska, military officials have issued their annual warning to beware of ... well, let's put it in their words:

Just because the military fires ammunition, cannonballs and bombs doesn't mean they always explode.

[snip] In June 2013, someone called authorities after having second thoughts about a purchase at a Wasilla estate sale -- two white rusted mortar rounds, said 1st Lt. Steve Latulipe with the ordnance company. The Kodiak Daily Mirror reported in 2010 a 600-pound bomb was on display outside of Jim's Diamond Bar in Kodiak for years with "U da bomb" inscribed on its casing.

Yep. Happens frequently, and you thought bears were the only danger up here. :)

Re-Post: "Grizzlies: A Very Close Call"

Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. Other days ... well, maybe you shouldn't go camping.

My friend Sandi stopped by to tell me about her weekend: she and a friend had gone to a campground in Williwaw, using a pop-up camper and a tent. She was bitten by a black bear through the side of a tent, at that campground several years ago ... but that never happens twice, right?

She was awakened by a "mmm, mmm" sound, repeated every few seconds. The sound seemed to be getting louder, then softer again. Sandy says she rolled over and peeked out the window, to see a grizzly walking down the road between their campsites. Being very quiet, she continued to watch as it passed by both sites, stopped suddenly, and then spun around to stare directly at her.

Sandi froze.

The bear walked over toward her camper, swiped by it with a brush of its shoulder against the side, and then went on down the road.  Once the grizzly was out of sight, she called her friend, who was also awake. "Did you see them?" her friend asked.

"Them?"
"Yeah, there were two grizzlies, but they kept on going."

Sandi jumped in her car to follow at a distance, wanting to know if they kept going. She didn't see anything, and came back to camp. It occurred to her at this point she was still in her nightgown, so she went inside to change.

As she finished dressing, she heard the "mmm, mmm" again. She raised one flap to look out, but didn't see anything. Keeping her eyes on the road, she backed into the counter where her .44 Magnum revolver and cell phone were. Feeling around, never looking away from the window, she found the pistol, but not the cell. She turned to locate the phone, and was face to face with an adult grizzly which was standing up with its front paws on the side of the camper.

About that time, her phone rang. She punched the "speaker" button without picking it up. Her friend said, "Sandi, there's a grizzly at the end of your camper, acting angry."

"Yes, I'm looking at it right now."

"No, there's another one. It's a good thing you don't have the end window open, because that's where the other one is. It's shaking its head and snapping its teeth."

Sandi figured she was dead; she realized she only had the six rounds in her pistol, with no backup or spare ammo, and figured she couldn't kill both bears with only six rounds.

She told me, "At that point, I figured five shots for the bear and the sixth shot is for me, 'cause I'm done." For whatever reason - and she believes it was her friend, who began praying at that point - the bears both went back to all fours, and walked away.

Once the bears were out of sight, the ladies packed up and left. But Alaska wasn't done with Sandi yet.

On the way home, she hit a moose.

Fortunately, it didn't disable her car, and she made it home. But that night, coyotes either killed something, or found something that had been killed, on the land next to her cabin, and set up a howling that kept her up all night.

Sandi's okay this morning, although shaky, and says she only got two hours of sleep last night - and that only after taking tranquilizers.

I told her, "After all that, I'm very happy to see you."  She replied, "Not as happy as I am to be here to tell you about it."

Any final thoughts?

"The only thing I did right was, I had all the food in the car. You know, it's never the way you think it's going to be. I've gotten lax, because it's been so many years since the time I got bit. I only had the six rounds, with no backup.
"And in all my imagined scenarios, I never planned for two bears."

Slice of Life: Anchorage, "A City That Knows Its Furs"

Speaking of things which get the PETA folks upset ...

Julia O'Malley: A city that knows its furs, and wears them to the grocery store

I'll tell you what I thought when I saw a guy at the grocery store in a full-length fox-fur coat the other day. I thought: "Anchorage, Alaska, you are awesome." And then I exercised restraint by not taking a photograph of him and posting it on social media.

Maybe I should have posted, though, because a perfectly average professional man, say a real estate agent or an corporate IT guy, in full-length fur at Carrs-Safeway gets at something about this place that you only understand if you live here. That is: Anchorage keeps it real. Fur-coat-in-the-grocery-store real. And this is why I love it.

If you've fallen for this twisted, gritty city like I have, then you know what I mean. To get this place, you have to be wooed by stunning juxtapositions, by the contrast between modern and ancient, picturesque and garish, conventionally corporate and singularly wild. Think the blazing fluorescent lights of a Holiday gas station against the backdrop the Chugach Range at sunrise. Think sled dog races down city streets in Fairview, past the Office Depot and the probation office and the cemetery. Think dude in his fur coat standing in the checkout line with a couple "reduced for quick sale" fryer chickens at Carrs in the Sears Mall. That guy isn't pretentious, even though he's wearing a clothing item favored by rappers and Paris Hilton. That guy is buying some chicken. And getting a good deal on it, too.

It being Fur Rendezvous, I got to thinking about our particular relationship with fur. Anchorage is a city where the wearing of fur -- serious and sometimes very expensive fur -- is totally commonplace and maybe even expected. People wear seal here. They wear vintage polar bear cuffs and wolf ruffs. They wear mink. No one thinks they're trying to send a message about status. No one makes assumptions about their politics. No one judges them for animal rights-y reasons. Why? Because look where we live. Look at that crazy, frozen moonscape out your window right now. You think boiled wool is going to touch that? Go ahead. Wear your little REI get-up in that bitter wind blowing in off the inlet. Give it an hour. Tell me you don't wish you had a beaver-skin hat. (I say this from experience, as someone who wears REI get-ups and does not have a beaver skin hat.)

... Ellen Arvold, who owns Second Run consignment store downtown ... prefers to think of her coats as "rescued" because they are not new. She's squeamish about chinchilla (they are cute), but outside of that, she has got no problems with fur and neither do her customers. It's just practical.

"When I am outside and it's 10 below zero I'm really glad I have on my fur parka," she told me.

(I'm speaking generally now about our locals being mellow about the wearing of fur. That does not mean we're all low-key. There are some outliers. Some self-conscious fur-wearing will occur out on the street this Fur Rondy week. You will see it. Like a pelt-y Halloween. There might even be some people rubbing in the killing of animals like it's some kind of special badge of being Alaskan. But it isn't. Advertising your carnivorousness in a state where a good proportion of people kill their own protein is like a short man buying a truck with novelty mufflers. It's best not to judge, but pretty easy to see through.)

Anyway. My fur curiosity lead me to visit to David Green Master Furrier on Fourth Avenue the other day. I was given a tour by David Green, who is the son of Jerry Green, who is the son of David Green, who founded the business in 1922. Young David and his wife, Shani, run it.

David's grandfather came from New York City, back when Manhattan had an dense and competitive fur district, he told me. It was a different time, before polar fleece and overseas garment factories. Grandfather David Green went west by rail, and then north by steamship, looking to make a name for himself as a furrier. He worked all over the state and settled in Anchorage in 1956. The remnants of his apartment and first fur shop are built into the now much larger anatomy of the modern-day David Green.

Over the years, the shop has outfitted mushers and generals' wives, cardinals, senators, beauty queens and Leonard Nimoy (That's Spock from the original Star Trek, for the youngsters. He is a cousin). They clean fur. They alter fur. They send their furs to customers all over the country and the world. Lately, East Coasters have been calling a lot thanks to the polar vortex. They do about half of their business with locals. The other half are tourists, internet customers and people they meet at hunting conventions Outside.

Read the rest here. 

Pictorial: Alaska's Outhouses

Not something many of us see everyday, anymore. There were lots of 'em around, when I was a young'un, but that was somewhere around the time the dinosaurs died off.

To wet your whistle:

Go here to see dozens more. :)

Parking Lot Security: Bear on Patrol

Yesterday afternoon at my building:

Estimated around 250 lbs.

Standing in Line, and a New Follower

Amy Morgan has clicked the "Follow this Blog" button. Welcome, ma'am - and thank you.

* * * * *

You'll recall our experience, last week, waiting for ammo supplies at Big Box Store (arriving an hour early, being 250th in line, and having them run out of what Daughter wanted before we got to the counter).

Today's line was considerably longer. But Daughter arrived at 7:15, and was 4th. I joined her about a half hour before the doors opened at 0900.

Last week, they had a couple of pallets of ammo in various calibers, plus whatever would fit on the shelves behind the counter. This week, they had about 1/10th that much. There were very limited supplies of .308, 9mm, .45acp, and .22LR. We were rationed to one box per caliber, so she and I each purchased a box of .22, and one of 9mm.

But with only what would fit on a single shelf available, I'm thinking there were going to be some unhappy customers in that line.

Such is life at the tail end of the supply line.*


* Specifically referring to Alaska here, not the folks who arrived to late to get what they wanted. But I guess it applies to that, too.

Just Another Morning in Alaska

Always check before you open the door. Just sayin' it's a good idea.   :^)


From my friend UpinAK

Grizzlies: A Very Close Call

Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. Other days ... well, maybe you shouldn't go camping.

My friend Sandy stopped by to tell me about her weekend: she and a friend had gone to a campground in Williwaw, using a pop-up camper and a tent. Sandy was bitten by a black bear through the side of a tent, at that campground several years ago ... but that never happens twice, right?

She was awakened by a "mmm, mmm" sound, repeated every few seconds. The sound seemed to be getting louder, then softer again. Sandy says she rolled over and peeked out the window, to see a grizzly walking down the road between their campsites. Being very quiet, she continued to watch as it passed by both sites, stopped suddenly, and then spun around to stare directly at her.

Sandy froze.

The bear walked over toward her camper, swiped by it with a brush of its shoulder against the side, and then went on down the road.  Once the grizzly was out of sight, she called her friend, who was also awake. "Did you see them?" her friend asked.

"Them?"  "Yeah, there were two grizzlies, but they kept on going."

Sandy jumped in her car to follow at a distance, wanting to know if they kept going. She didn't see anything, and came back to camp. It occurred to her at this point she was still in her nightgown, so she went inside to change.

As she finished dressing, she heard the "mmm, mmm" again. She raised one flap to look out, but didn't see anything. Keeping her eyes on the road, she backed into the counter where her .44 Magnum revolver and cell phone were. Feeling around, never looking away from the window, she found the pistol, but not the cell. She turned to locate the phone, and was face to face with an adult grizzly which was standing up with its front paws on the side of the camper.

About that time, her phone rang. She punched the "speaker" button without picking it up. Her friend said, "Sandy, there's a grizzly at the end of your camper, acting angry."

"Yes, I'm looking at it right now."

"No, there's another one. It's a good thing you don't have the end window open, because that's where the other one is. It's shaking its head and snapping its teeth."

Sandy figured she was dead; she realized she only had the six rounds in her pistol, with no backup or spare ammo, and figured she couldn't kill both bears with only six rounds.

She told me, "At that point, I figured five shots for the bear and the sixth shot is for me, 'cause I'm done." For whatever reason - and she believes it was her friend, who began praying at that point - the bears both went back to all fours, and walked away.

Once the bears were out of sight, the ladies packed up and left. But Alaska wasn't done with Sandy yet.

On the way home, she hit a moose. Fortunately, it didn't disable her car, and she made it home. But that night, coyotes either killed something, or found something that had been killed, on the land next to her cabin, and set up a howling that kept her up all night.

Sandy's okay this morning, although shaky, and says she only got two hours of sleep last night - and that only after taking tranquilizers.

I told her, "After all that, I'm very happy to see you."  She replied, "Not as happy as I am to be here to tell you about it."

Any final thoughts?

"The only thing I did right was, I had all the food in the car. You know, it's never the way you think it's going to be. I've gotten lax, because it's been so many years since the time I got bit. I only had the six rounds, with no backup.

"And in all my imagined scenarios, I never planned for two bears."

Another Day in Anchorage

... as another moose wanders in traffic. (Note the logo on the bus.)

And Lower 48 drivers thought jaywalkers were bad.


Click to enlarge.




All pictures copyright Anchorage Daily News.

It's So Alaskan

Duh! Dept:

Galen West of Sitka, a 68-year-old retired dentist, says he is fortunate to be alive after he killed a charging mother grizzly with a "lucky" shot or three during a pheasant hunt in Montana. West said he first saw the bear standing upright on her hind legs about 20 feet away in heavy brush. Then she growled and charged. West fired three times with a 20-gauge shotgun -- with no time to aim -- and struck the bear between the eyes. It landed at his feet. "There was no decision to make," West said. "I had one thing to do and that was defend myself." The bear had three nursing cubs, which probably will not survive, said officials. They added that the incident appears to be a straightforward case of self-defense.

Self-defense ... ya think?!?

* * * * *

All-The-Comforts-of-Home Dept:

David B. Offer, a retired Maine journalist serving as C.W. Snedden chairman in journalism at UAF this school year, writes a column for his hometown readers about Fairbanks residents who live in "dry" cabins -- those without running water. Such cabins are particularly attractive to UAF students and faculty because rent is cheap and showers are easily available on campus. Still, there's the issue of using an outhouse at 40 below. But acquaintances point out that some are heated, and some even have wireless Web access. "People take a lot of pride in their outhouses," professor Robert Prince tells Offer. "You just accept it; it's the nature of the beast."

You take care of your long winter nights, and they'll take care of theirs...

* * * * *

That's-a-Little-Too-Wild Dept:

A drunken Wasilla man on the Alaska Railroad's "Murder on the Train" mystery charter was arrested Saturday when he refused to calm down, urinated from the moving train and then wouldn't get off in Talkeetna, police said. The theme of the charter was "The Wild Wild West."

I can't add anything to add to that.

Saturday Meandering - UPDATED

Good morning! Okay, it's after noon in the four Lower 48 zones, but it's still morning here. So there.

I mentioned a few days ago that one of my wife's tires had a large bulge in the sidewall. I took it back to the dealer on Thursday, and they said whoever mounted it had torn the bead, which allowed air into the sidewall, forming a bubble between the outer rubber & sidewall plies. Not good. Also not their fault, so I had to buy a new tire (gripe, grumble, mutter). We can afford it, but that's not the point.

This morning I took the damaged tire, receipt for having it installed two weeks ago, and the receipt for the new tire, to the Sam's Club on Old Seward, where it was so recently mounted. I mention their name because of their response.

I showed them the steel bead wires, and told them what happened. The guy at the tire counter said, "Yeah, that happens sometimes. We apologize." He picked up the phone and called a manager.

He told the manager what happened; manager asked for my receipts, and brought me cash for the price of the new tire I bought, plus installation. They also offered to install the tire (if it hadn't already been taken care of) and to dispose of the damaged one without fee.

There were no questions asked, and the money was handed to me in only a few minutes' time. I wasn't sure what kind of reception I would receive with this complaint, and they made it painless. I appreciate that a great deal, and so I wanted local readers to know about it.

* * * * *

I also picked up some more rifle ammo at Wal-Mart (gasp-shock, they had some). Traipsed over to Sportsman's Warehouse & got another magazine for my 1911 - can you have too many of those? - and some Hogue rubber stocks. My hands, being fairly large, appreciate the more secure feel of the fatter grip.

The right-side grip had a marked area to cut away, to accommodate the ambi safety. After trimming, it's still a tight fit, but that's okay. I'd been noticing that the safety was a little loose, and tended to ride up slightly while shooting. I was having to push it down about every other magazine, at the range.

Having the slide come back & break the safety would have ruined my whole day, so the safety being held in place by a rubber pad is alright by me.

UPDATE - My older daughter & I went back to Sportsman's Warehouse this afternoon. I picked up an S&W Model 442 in .38 Spl.+P for her to learn with, and for personal defense. It's a tiny gun (to me) but fits her small hands just fine. They didn't have much in the way of ammo for it, so that's the next task. In the meantime ... to the range!

* * * * *

There's not a lot of local news worth repeating outside the immediate Anchorage area, but this one might be ...

A dead beluga whale washed up on the beach just below downtown, yesterday. It was pregnant, but there were no immediate indications of what killed it. Boaters had radioed the Coast Guard they'd seen a dead whale bobbing in the coastal waters, the day before, so that just adds to the minor mystery. The Fish & Wildlife folks are on the case.

* * * * *

It's unusually warm this morning (57) because of a "pineapple express" from the south. We have cloudy skies, sprinkles, and winds of 15 mph gusting to 40. The sun was peeking through, in spots, when I went out at 9:00, but it's completely clouded over, now. Sounds like the rain is getting a little heavier, too.

I think that's all for now. Y'all have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by; I appreciate your time.

Alaskan News, 10/8/09

Good morning. It's 43 degrees and rainy again. Our friends at AccuHunch haven't had to work too hard this week, with lows in the upper 30s, and highs in the mid-40s. It has rained almost every day since last Friday, too.

* * * * *

Facts-of-life Dept: A burglar discovered facts of Alaskan life the hard way:

Shaw went to call police and the would-be burglar allegedly came after him and grabbed his arm, according to police. The resident stabbed the intruder and called police.

Police found Archie Wilson, 25, still on the porch with stab wounds to his abdomen. He had no explanation of why he was on the balcony.

Read the rest of this Daily News story by clicking on the link.

* * * * *

Oddity-is-where-you-find-it Dept:

Police responding to a report of a mutilated body with a severed head this afternoon were left wondering how the carcass of an ungulate ended up on the roof of a Midtown office building.

The carcass consisted of a severed spinal column and some ribs that likely belonged to a moose, police Lt. Dave Parker said.

People can be strange, sometimes.

* * * * *

Put-that-thing-away Dept:

Levi Johnston is going for the ultimate exposure -- his bare body.

The 19-year-old father of Sarah Palin's grandchild will pose nude for Playgirl, his attorney said Wednesday. To get ready for his close-up, Johnston is training three hours a day, six nights a week at an Anchorage gym with a local body builder.

A formal agreement hasn't been reached with the online magazine, but the photo shoot is a "foregone conclusion," said Johnston's attorney, Rex Butler.

The sad part is, our local rag titled this a "Palin" story. My opinion: Mr. Johnston is a sad, little man who is desperately seeking significance, as he tries to recapture his fleeting minute of fame. The fringe media's seeming obsession with him is in an attempt to marginalize Sarah Palin. And what a legacy he's building for himself - high-school dropout, a failed North Slope apprenticeship, and now nude photography.

Hey, Levi: you were never famous. Only Sarah was ... and is.

* * * * *

Honesty-is-its-own-reward Dept:

Anchorage police may have stumbled upon the most honest person in Anchorage Tuesday. Leslie Lorentzen walked into the restroom at the Midtown Barnes and Noble Booksellers about 10 a.m. and found a bank envelope stuffed with $3,978, according to police. Police said she called them right away and turned the cash over -- all of it.

Click the link to read the rest.

* * * * *

That's about it for this morning. Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Thursday.

Saturday in the A.M. - UPDATED

Good morning!

I woke at 5:15, for no apparent reason other than it's about the time that arise on weekdays, and I obviously wasn't all that tired, the night before.

It's 38 this morning, with a rain/snow mix falling. AccuHunch guesses there will be an inch or more of fresh snow at about 1500 feet, and more, higher up. What a surprise; it does appear that winter is making an early entrance this year.

UPDATE: The snow came much closer to sea level than expected. The trees are white just a couple of hundred feet above us. And we guessed right about the following paragraph, too - the lines are now out the door.

My truck's at Sam's Club this morning, getting the snow tires mounted. I waited a week too long last year, and had to stand in line for an hour just to get to the counter to order the work. Today, there were only 4 people ahead of me, and the work should be done by 9 a.m. I'll toss the car's winter tires in the trunk before we go get the truck, and hope they're not too busy to do it today, too. Then that's done for the season, and we don't have to worry about tires again until late April or early May.

I'm going to get out the VHS-to-DVD gadget which I purchased earlier this year, and try transferring a movie (via the PC) just to see how it works. I'm also thinking about a trip to the range today, and may still try, depending on how hard it rains. Tomorrow's forecast is identical to today's, so if I'm waiting for dry weather, I won't make it there at all. I'd rather go when the weather is iffy, anyway, because there are far fewer shooters there. It's kinda nice to have the pistol range to myself, anyway. If I lean the target toward me a bit, it might not get too wet, so we'll see.

I mentioned last night that some leaves had started to fall, yesterday, but it appears I spoke too soon. This morning, the ground (and vehicles) are carpeted with wet leaves.

I know this is a collection of random thoughts this morning, but that's what I have today. We tend to resist making any plans at all, on the weekends, because we don't have to. So there.

That's not always the case, of course, and today is one of those exceptions: Younger Daughter, the chef, will be attending another cooking class at noon. Today's topic: cupcakes and cake balls, whatever those are. Yes, she's been firmly instructed to bring home samples.

Thanks for stopping by; I do appreciate the visits. Have a great weekend!

Sunday Evening

It was a good day, and has evolved into a quiet evening. I didn't realize how much the noise and traffic were weighing on me until they weren't there.

The traffic is a temporary situation, due to road construction, and will be much better in 48 hours when the nearby road reopens. Then all the north-south traffic won't be diverting onto the little east-west road behind my place. It's my hope that we'll go back to being a sleepy neighborhood, rather than the infield at Daytona.

The neighborhood children seem to have gotten a bit noisier since school started. I find myself wondering if it's a response to school starting last week, or perhaps a sense that winter's no longer that far away, along with the daylight hours growing shorter by nearly six minutes per day. Or, perhaps, that parents have sent the young ones out of the house to burn off some of that pent-up frenzy before bed.

The picture here was taken at 8 p.m. It was only a few weeks ago that I took a similar picture at 10 p.m., but it's dark now by shortly after 9.

The leaves are turning more rapidly, now, and have been falling in small quantities for about a week. We're thinking about such things as when to schedule the winter-tire changeover; putting the studded snow tires on each vehicle is an annual right of passage, it seems. The biggest question is "when?" ... and woe unto those who guess poorly, and the first snow catches them by surprise. Those folks are destined for a loooong wait at the tire shops, as all the last-minute folks rush the counters, hoping to be first. I've gotten to the nearest shop at 6:30 a.m., and found myself 15th in line as we await the 7 o'clock opening. Dress warmly - and bring coffee.

We'll be watching the automotive aisles at Wally World, Sam's, etc., for the booted wiper blades, too. Those not only make a difference in terms of not being frozen stiff by ice and snow, but they're required by law here.

Let's see; what else? We'll stock up on the deep winter washer fluid - the kind rated to minus 35 degrees. Make sure we have blankets and other emergency supplies in each. Put the emergency road kit in my wife's car, since her sedan is arguably more likely to get stuck than my four-by.

It seems a bit incongruous to be making "winter plans" on a late summer evening, with sunshine and 57 degrees at 8:30, but we know this Alaskan version of Indian Summer won't last much longer. AccuHunch is calling for 60 and sunny tomorrow, and then rain and temps in the 50s for the rest of the upcoming week.

But for now, a last look at the puffy clouds hanging over the mountains, and then off to the living room to watch a movie with my wife.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Hump Day

UPDATE: there's a black bear rooting in someone's trash at Elmore & 68th; traffic is backed up as drivers are trying to turn around & avoid the intersection. Local readers, go a different way, 'kay? We now return you to our regular post, already in progress.

Happy July the Oneth! It's 49 and sunny this morning, with mostly blue skies (the other parts are chartreuse? whatever) ... okay, mostly clear skies. We had a fan in the window, blowing in, last night as it was stuffy.

This morning it wasn't stuffy anymore. What it was was 57 degrees.

My internal thermostat, which usually keeps me roast-toasty, seems to be on the fritz - meaning I have very little body heat this a.m. Two large cups of coffee woke me up, but didn't seem to provide any warming effect. I'm hoping breakfast will do that, once my sluggish metabolism starts processing the cottage cheese-and-mango. (Tastes great; less filling!)

I know it's Wednesday, but my brain keeps trying to convince me otherwise. Since Friday will be a day off, I suppose it is Thursday, in a sense ... at least in the sense that I'm confused & thinking it's not Wednesday.

I'm sure the day will be chock full of fun, excitement and adventure. Or not. Anchorage's new mayor will be sworn in, this afternoon. The acting mayor reverts to his old seat on the Assembly, with much ado and whining on his part. He just doesn't know what it will be like to go back to an Assembly seat after having been Mayor for six months ... waah. He's welcome to step down & go home, and spare us the drama.

The city is distributing bear-resistant dumpsters and trash cans to areas around the parks & streams in town, as our furry friends have been dumpster-diving more than usual, this year. Some tenants in the building where I work saw a blackie doing just that, a couple of weeks ago. They waited until he or she was in the dumpster, and then they scooted out to their cars in a hurry.

We posted signs by the elevators & exits, cautioning people to be watchful in the parking lot, but Blackie hasn't been seen again.

Such is life in the big city. That's all I have for now - keep yer nose to th' wind, and yer powder dry!

Saturday Morning

Good morning! It's 50 degrees and sunny, with some puffy white clouds here & there. The forecast is for 65 and partly sunny, so we're well on the way.

My daughters are helping a friend move today, so the place is already unusually quiet. My wife is heading out to the stores, so I'll be rattling around here by myself for a couple of hours - should probably do a load or two of laundry ... see what an exciting adventure it is, to live in Alaska?!

Later today, I'm going to price reloading equipment at a couple of places, just to see what it would take to get started. Between Carteach0 and Brigid, I think I've caught the bug.

It's unusually quiet for 9 a.m. on Saturday (no sounds of traffic) so I'm guessing that most who wanted to travel this weekend must have left town last night. I need to check on road construction on the Kenai Peninsula; MOBro will be here in early August, and I want to drive him to Seward.

Sooner than that, though, I booked my family on a whale- & wildlife-watching cruise out of Seward, next month. It's a five-hour tour around Resurrection Bay; we're looking forward to getting out of town for a day, as well as whatever critters we see while afloat. (I hope it goes better than the last time! That one didn't work out so well...)

That's all I have for now; thanks for reading this little bit of ... whatever it is.

Friday - the End of the Week

Well, we're getting our third consecutive rain-at-3:00-pm-for-an-hour shower. It's kind of nice, since it doesn't rain all that hard, and it's not a hindrance to the homeward-bound traffic.

The temp made it up to 60 today, which is about where we've been for most of the week since Monday. I think it was only 55 then. The rain showers, each day so far, have blown through, followed by those enthusiastic winds I spoke of. Each time, the trees are whipping around, and curtains get wrapped around lamp poles and the heads of anyone seated near an open window.

* * * * *

There was a hapless but plucky 16-year-old girl who went door-to-door in our building on Wednesday, looking for work. She wasn't real quick on the uptake, though. She walking into my 240 sq.ft. office, where I work alone, and asked if I was hiring for a front desk or receptionist position.

I thought at first that she was kidding, and we engaged in a few seconds of blinking at each other. I finally said, "I'm sorry, but as you can see, I work alone."

"Yes?"

"There's no one else here; there aren't any other positions. I work alone."

"Uh-huh?"

{sighs} "I'm not hiring right now."

"Oh, okay. Thank you."

She seemed bright & chipper enough; I can't fault her for spunk. But great googly moogly! if someone tells you there are no positions available, don't stand there staring at them like a cow looking at a new gate.

On the other hand ... if that's the only comment-worthy thing that happened all week, then my life (while probably boring) isn't too bad.

* * * * *

Update: today, the House passed the largest tax increase in history, and did so with loud cheers from the Dimocrit side of the aisle. Get on the phones to your senators, kids - if this thing goes through, then we might as well turn out the lights & lock the doors. 

U.S.A.: closed for business.