Alaskan Girl

Frustration

2011-06-26T02:13:00.003-08:00

I have decided to remove this post in the interest of keeping my blog public. I would like to be able to vent about, oh, things like in-laws and such, but I can no longer risk them finding this and completely overreacting. It's come from a recent issue that was the last straw and a facebook 'note' we made telling our side of the story meant to get advice from only our close friends that's permissions weren't applied properly and a complete meltdown by the opposing side. Yay for technology, exposing the truth everyday! =) Silence about our mutual feelings is much better (sarcasm intended). Again, such is life!

2 Months 'Til Mrs.

2010-07-07T19:58:00.004-08:00

And I am near to losing my mind, ha ha. Planning and organizing and gardening and playing and stressing andandand...sigh...oh my! I was thinking today about how I miss blogging. I hope I can get back to it someday soon. Just a touch down here to say that the fireweed has started blooming in Fairbanks and my forget-me-nots are tiny but alive. With some proper winter mulch and a little luck, I may have some pretty flowers next year! The friend of the fellow in the picture above didn't fare so well, but maybe I will make it back down near Hope again to collect some seeds this fall. Having a house is sooo much nicer than having an apartment. There are more responsibilities, but more rewards as well. Need to get packed for a trip down to Denali with my future sister-in-law and her friend tomorrow morning, so I'm off! xoxo

Photos (Facebook)

2009-11-22T10:55:00.011-09:00

Big news since I last touched down here is.....

drumroll

;,;,;,;,;,

I'm ENGAGED!!!

Crazy, huh??

After my strange difficulties posting them here, I have also abandoned posting photos posted to Facebook albums, as that still didn't fix my issues.

A.G. aka D. sighted - still alive!

2009-09-26T10:40:00.004-08:00

On a hike in the White Mountains last weekend:
(picture that wouldn't post)

Jealous of -50F Weather in Fairbanks That I'm Missing

2009-01-04T08:22:00.003-09:00

Long time no blog! The reasons for this include the end of semester rush, and an added 'occupation' of spending time with a lovely man who I like to call my boyfriend... I am currently in Idaho Falls visiting the folks. Very sadly, my buddy near here (who I was supposed to spend half of my vacation here with) was in a horrible car accident with her family (all survived except their dog and tragically, their unborn child) the Friday before Christmas. Banally related to this occurrence, I have already outstayed my welcome (under the thumb of my need-to-know-all mother, even though I love her very dearly), and am now being told that I have spent far too much time on the computer today. So, I will have to finish my long overdue update here on a future date... Extravagantly wonderful belated holiday wishes to all!

Something to Share

2008-12-08T15:59:00.007-09:00

Alaska's Wilderness Confounds Self-Importance
by Craig Medred, ADN

Until you have known the northland night in the cold, white silence of winter, it is hard to imagine a landscape lit only by the dim light of the stars, yet this is the way it can be.

Then comes the moonrise and you realize the night can be startlingly bright with the spindly black spruce trees casting long shadows across the frozen muskegs.

To be on the trail on a night like this with a dog or dogs who are among your best friends might be the greatest experience you will ever know if your heart runs toward the wild places.

Even along the edges of Alaska's largest city, this otherworld of winter comprises a special place if for no other reason than that the wilderness of our times, especially now just past the dawn of the 21st century, is not so much in the landscape as in the climate and the weather.

The weather is the last great wild thing uncontrolled and unchanged by the hand of man. We have gained dominion over almost everything else. We manipulate the populations of the animals to our liking. We tunnel the mountains for our roads, and fill the swamps to build our parking lots, and send our steel-glass monuments to modernity into the sky almost anywhere we want.

On a daily basis, we revel in man-made comforts as we move from warm centrally heated dwellings to warm steel steeds that transport us to the warm hum of offices and businesses. That anything lives on the planet other than people and their machines is sometimes almost easy to forget in this work-a-day world, save for those occasions when Mother Nature summons her last wild forces to rain devastation, or at least inconvenience, down upon us.

It is a reminder we might now own the planet, but we don't really control it. We only think we do. We are, if nothing else, the most self-important, self-involved species that ever thrived.

For someone on the trail in Alaska in the dark of night with the headlights off and the world brought back into the natural dimness and the elemental silence of the nothingness which was all our ancestors ever knew, the feebleness of what sometimes passes for significance in the modern world is laughingly evident.

Does it really matter if the screen on your TV measures 22 inches or 60 inches, or whether the TV itself is thick and sits on a table or thin and hanging on a wall? Is it really worth trampling to death some poor Wal-Mart employee to get a bargain on either? Is the size of a TV or the money saved over "list price" on its purchase really the measure of a man or woman today?

Most important, will it matter at the end if you have collected more toys than anyone else?

"For dust you are and to dust you will return," Moses wrote in the book of Genesis, if you fancy the Judeo-Christian version of the history of the Bible. And no matter your personal take on the authorship of that book or of religion, the ancient observation stands as valid.

Our bodies are passing coalitions of atoms that will eventually and inevitably split again into tiny particles only to rejoin in other forms someday. So, too, for our vast piles of consumer goods. Wonderful though they might be in the short term, they do not age well, and you cannot begin to carry them all with you.

All we can really carry in quantity are memories, and those are written not in possessions but in the richness of the people and the places we know.

The latter is the real gold mine of Alaska.

In a world overrun with scurry and noise, the elemental Alaska -- as opposed to the tiny slice of the state that has fallen to the onslaught of urbanization -- remains a place that can inspire awe and inspiration as to our own frailties. Detached from all that protective technology, we become once again the vulnerable animals humans so long were.

Out on the trail in the Alaska winter, nothing about you really changes, but everything does. You discover silence has its own sound and a whole other reality.

The snow collapsing with a noisy "whomp'' beneath a ski seems somehow almost alive. The airborne crystals of ice that twinkle in the moonlight become an echo of the stars above, a miniature universe within the bigger universe. The crack of sap freezing in a tree makes you wonder what life is like in that whole other community of green things.

Though we might each think ourself important, we are no more important than grass, except to those we touch along our journey.

In the end, that's what matters. The only really important things we leave behind are what we also take along -- the memories.

And there are few better than those of a night on the trail in Alaska with the winds calm and the snows fast and a whole universe above seemingly looking in at the same time you are looking out wondering in the quiet what exists beyond.

randomness

2008-12-05T15:25:00.006-09:00

...on being a sleep-deprived grad student...

mmm warm soup
firing neuronsmy pet spider
lame but funny school humor...must sleep now...

Goose Egg

2008-12-01T21:32:00.002-09:00

How sad is this? I hope I get to see the aurora at least one more time before summer...

A few things I am thankful for...

2008-11-28T23:33:00.008-09:00

at Idaho Falls Volehollow: birchleaf mountain mahogany, cercocarpus montanus; feathery "achenes" protrude from each seed

random swirly clouds

sundog (parahelion)

sharing good times, including Thanksgiving, with friends

Cool Blasts from the Past

2008-11-22T03:31:00.008-09:00

My mom's on this page!
"Ground Magnetometer Survey in the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes"

And my dad's on this one!
"Geochemical analyses of rock and stream-sediment and soil samples from Ambler River, Survey Pass", "Mineral occurrences in the upper Wood River, Edgar Creek, and West Fork Glacier areas, central Alaska Range"

Totally of no interest to anyone but me and my family, I know. Pretty cool, nonetheless!

Logging the Day

2008-11-20T18:28:00.009-09:00

This morning my tires were a little flat on the bottom as I bumpled out of my driveway and down the road.

Today I learned the difference between my car battery being dead (the engine makes a clicking noise when I try to start it) and my car battery being cold (the engine makes a weak grring reving noise when I try to start it). For the former, I need to get a jump start (as I did one morning a couple of weeks ago). For the latter, the battery will warm itself up a little from trying to be started and if I wait a little while and try to start it again it will probably start (avoidable if you always keep it plugged in when you're not driving it - or at least for a while before you plan to start it). I did this yesterday morning; after I called for a jump, I tried to start it one more time and it started!

The inversion seemed the worst I've experienced so far this morning, with a slight sickly yellow seeming to hover near cars (or at least their tailpipes)...and I could smell something a bit breath-catching as well. According to the FNSB Air Quality site it was "good" today, however, and much better than yesterday, so I must be nuts. 8^)

It is now about -15F and the cold usually sort of lodges in my throat when I walk outside so that I cough a little bit (though I'm not sick yet, knock on wood).

It's been snowing off and on. I like the light fluffy snow dry weather and cold temperatures evidently produces. It usually (lately anyway) consists of clearly visible snowflake crystals and tiny snowballs mixed together.

I can understand why so many people are excited about "auto start." This is where your vehicle is outfitted such that you point a remote key towards your car (i.e. from inside a nearby structure) and it starts the engine and warms up. I thought this was just to warm up the car so that it ran better, which I view as hockeypuck (for newer vehicles anyway) based on listening to Click'n'Clack (at least until we're proven wrong somehow). Now I realize that it's all about human comfort, because dang my car is cold when I first hop in! Even my heated seat warmer doesn't really take effect for a while. I typically fill the time to warm-up looking at my heated breath in the frigid air and doing a little cold dance in my seat.

The method used for winter road traction by the Fairbanks North Star Borough is tiny gravel. This gravel really does a number on your windshield. My poor car got her first star on the Mitchell Expressway and the second star on the Johansen Expressway. I regularly hear loud glass cracks and know that where there isn't a star, there are many pits in the glass. Luckily the light here at this time of year hasn't highlighted these myriad dings, and I can still see fine out of my windshield.

The exhaust around many vehicles' tailpipes (which is primarly water vapor) curls and billows up around their cars and makes crunchy white frosting grow where the steam deposits.

I have grown quite used to sliding a bit while driving, especially near intersections, which tend to be more icy. I prefer not to, of course, but it doesn't even seem to give me a good scare the way it did many times in Idaho Falls (hello snowbank). That said, I don't think that the ice here is the same...here it never gets a chance to really melt and refreeze (forming a perfect and continuous car-skating surface). The road tends to clear under tire tracks first, and then whole lanes become clear with snow only in a stripe down the middle of the road and along the edges.

Thus conclude my various observations for today on life in Fairbanks during my first winter...this Thursday before Thanksgiving, 2008. Cheers!

1.18%

2008-11-19T16:32:00.003-09:00

1.18%, as reported yesterday by the Alaska Division of Elections, ends Uncle Ted Stevens' 40 year run representing Alaska in the United States Senate. It is bittersweet, but I think for the most part we're ready to move on. I for one am glad this tiny percentage of votes brought about this change, and that the Senate wasn't forced to vote him out in light of his recent conviction. Happy Birthday, Ted: enjoy your retirement.

Manmade Aurora

2008-11-19T13:50:00.011-09:00

Tuesday night as I was leaving class, I noticed a light smattering of snow in the air, lit up in the headlamps of a car and lit in a faint glittery vertical projection both up and down from a parking lot lamp. The sparkling ice crystals filling the air mesmerized me as I headed towards my car.
But was it snowing, or was ice crystallizing out of the air? I later found out that it was what is known as diamond dust or crystal fog.
It was around -7F and a group of snowboarders was zooming down the short slope near the back of the Duckering Building to the parking lot below, jumping over the sidewalk which they had covered with snow.
As I drove home I noticed that the lights started looking 'stretchy.' Light from streetlights and car headlamps rose vertically like tiny little spectral torches. I take Davis in between University and Lathrop, and there is a part near a big soccer-type field where is it pretty dark. I approached this area and the tiny torches became heaven-seeking beacons!
I couldn't believe my eyes, and must have said, "Oh, wow!" about 50 times! I've seen sun pillars before, but this was beyond incredible... I went home and got my camera (I don't really like lugging it around and don't want to leave it in my cold car) and achieved some reasonably representative photos:

I left my shade pulled through the night and saw even more awestriking displays.

Some of the light pillars were disconnected in the middle, enhancing their likeness to a static auroral display.

"Oh my gosh!" escaped my lips several times...

...maybe it wasn't a stunning display of optical physics...maybe they were aliens. =)

Or candle flames suspended in midair?

To cap it off, there were rainbow clouds featured in one of my dreams last night (cza's?).
What can I say but: "Come visit!" I've got some extra space and an air mattress, too. ;,)

Alaskan Author Debuts

2008-11-14T16:15:00.007-09:00

Buy The Book!
Visit Jill Homer's Blog!
The true story of an ordinary person and her unlikely route to one of the most difficult winter bicycle races in the world, an extraordinary 350-mile epic journey along Alaska's frozen Iditarod trail. Through her struggles and intimate confrontations with her fears and weaknesses, she discovers the surprising destination of her life's trails.

FCVB Photos

2008-11-10T13:11:00.002-09:00

The Fairbanks and Interior Alaska Photo Contest is apparently a contest wherein you can enter five photos per quarter. (The information from a flyer I picked up and the website don't really agree on particulars, so I'm trusting the website. I already posted 6 so I'm really not sure how this all works.) The theme for the contest this quarter is 'light, energy and warmth.' Why not post some of your photos of the area and see if you win?

In other news, I have posted my photos from my hike up Gunny Sack Creek here - enjoy!

Snowshoe to Bear Paw Butte

2008-11-08T17:50:00.021-09:00

I met up with the Fairbanks Area Hiking Club this morning at Chena Hot Springs Resort to snowshoe to Bear Paw Butte.

It was my first time on an outing with the group.

I didn't recall the name from the hike I did earlier from CHSR to Angel Rocks, but it was on the same path...

...the first uphill-all-the-way part.

My heart rate monitor claimed I hit 101% of my maximum heart rate, but I survived, met some cool people, and saw some beautiful scenery.

The sun came out and sparkled the hoar frost...breathtaking.

It really was incredible. I thought that this must be what Christmas decorations poorly imitate.

I do wish we had taken a break at the top. (Even though I did take some little breaks of my own near the top to look around and take pictures.)

However once we stopped working so hard to get uphill and the sun re-hid behind the clouds, some of our group were feeling chilly and booked it back down to CHSR.

These views are from the approximate top of the butte, and of most of the gang again with their sundry canines.

This backlit photo is much more interesting than the one Carmen took of me with my face in the sun. The view futher below looks toward the headwaters of the Chena River, so I was told (with still bouncy chocolabs McKenna & Riley).

My new snowshoes performed wonderfully. On the back-down-the-hill section my toes did feel a bit pinched, but not too terribly. Once I got back to CHSR, I got out of the snowshoes and knocked my heels into the back of my boots, all was well.

My toes didn't get cold this time; I wore a 3-layer system of liner, water-resistant, and wool blend socks. Effective but bulky. Can't wait to get and try out some more sophisticated system, though.

We had a late lunch/early dinner at the spendy hot springs restaurant.

I had a yummy spinach salad and a hot drink called a 'nutty Alaskan.'

The drive back featured lovely sunset colors, inadequately captured by my camera.

After a deliciously hot shower, I headed towards nearby Ester to meet up with some of my new friends and check out a beer tasting at the Blue Loon. They didn't show, ha ha! I had a reasonably good time anyway. I got to try Alaskan's current special brew, the Baltic Porter, which tasted rather like bubblegum to my by then beer-infused taste buds.

Snow Scraper

2008-11-07T18:56:00.004-09:00

My neighborhood recently had its streets plowed to or near the asphalt. Prior to that the area in the middle of the road had been built up with packed snow while cars driving down the lanes had melted much of the snow below their tracks. Turning into my quadraplex's driveway was a bumpy affair. I wonder how many times a winter it will usually be plowed.

Love, Loss, and Life

2008-11-06T22:27:00.007-09:00

Instead of leaving another way too long comment on one of Jill's posts, I figured it would be better to take it to my own blog. Jill possesses some mystical power that makes me want to write, too. I don't think I would have ever started a blog if I had not read hers frequently beforehand.

In her post, she relates moving thoughts on the loss of her great grandmother. Jill is definitely doing her great grandmother proud by the way she lives, through her talents, and in the inspiration she provides to others...just visit her blog and I'm sure you'll agree on all counts.

Having lost my grandmother a month before losing my brother, Jill's words drew up thoughts of both in me. Though I don't keep a running tally, I feel fairly confident that not a day goes by that I don't think of my brother. I feel that it somehow sounds rather whiny or obnoxious to say that, though I can't process why right now...

The time in my life before I had to deal with death on a personal level and the time after are completely separate and distinct books in my life.

One might say in general that odious experiences lead us to appreciate the simple things that are so exquisitely good. I suppose this could be in the same vein as making mistakes and learning from them. Bad begets good, in a way? The experience of losing my grandmother and brother taught me how much I really love people (like my family), how incredibly precious every second I am alive is (and every second others are alive), and how cherished each moment we spend together should be...

There is no justice in losing a loved one...regardless of the circumstances. We lost my grandmother excruciatingly slowly, as she succumbed to dementia and overall failing health. Indeed it was a blessing for her, and us, to finally find release. In a way we got to say goodbye, though who knows when it was that she really left. In the end, I don't truly think the entity she became was recognizable as Grandma as she had been in any way...just as we were likely indistinguishable to her from the nursing home staff.

Is a long goodbye any more resolved than a goodbye you didn't know you were going to have to make (when it is too late to express it)? From my own experiences, I don't really think so.

Sometimes I anticipate the losses I will endure in the future - especially my parents - and don't know how I will cope. (Though I can see how the religious inclination that I stalwartly lack could ease this stress...tis' the opiate of the masses, indeed.)

I also think of the strength of my father. His father died when he was five, in a house fire; and his mother died when he was seven, of complications following open heart surgery for her heart disease. From about age six my father lived near his father's parents (dad's mother and sisters had moved to California with his mother's mother and step-father), in a boy's home. Shortly after I was born my dad's paternal grandparents passed away. He had been estranged from his sisters for eight years prior to that (too long of a story to relate as an aside), and still is to this day. Really he has no family but his wife and children (and I suppose my mom's nearest sister's family).

Not to belittle my mother's pain, but it has been so incredibly hard for dad to deal with losing his only son. I have wished ridiculous things like that it was me instead of Scott. Ludicrously, I wish I could - but know I can never - compensate for Scott being gone, filling the void in my parent's hearts. On more than one occasion when meeting new people I have been referred to as 'the only child.' Inside my head I scream, "No! I'm not!" while I look awkwardly aside. They say that the pain is healed with time, but I find that it has not yet lessened. Though it isn't numbingly nightmarish anymore, it does seem more acute in ways. Time has gone on without him here, and his absence can seem more painful as a widening chasm of time further divides us. Last Saturday would have been his 38th birthday.

Happy Belated Birthday, Scott! *weak grin*

At some point I realize that I'm still breathing, and the best way to celebrate Grandma's and Scott's memories is to make the most of my time here...and share what I've learned from them as best I can.

To end this train of thought for this evening, I have to ask myself why I have been inclined to wander down these varied depressing mental pathways lately. I am certainly continuing to fight off depression and loneliness, being here so far away from any family or old friends (yes, those nice established folks that you feel completely comfy around and mutually accept and celebrate each other for just who and what you are, ah friendsies!). [I'm not sure how wise this is to post here considering local humanoids that may read this; please understand that I really have no intention of coming across as desperate. I'm just a slow-good-friend-maker.] I do feel that I am slowly settling in.

Yet I look at my older posts and they seem so upbeat. I wonder, now that I've got myself to the relative island of Alaska, is the honeymoon over? I most sincerely hope not. I have been a rolling stone that gathered little moss for much of my life since leaving Alaska. I now need to set aside the urge to roll again (to Juneau or elsewhere), and figure out how to focus my inertia into my course and degree work. No better time than the present: be here now!

Dust Storm November 2005

2008-11-06T02:01:00.003-09:00

Three years ago an intense, warm chinook wind whipped up a huge storm of glacial sediment into a massive plume off the Alaskan coast:
Crazy, huh?!

Historic Day

2008-11-05T00:08:00.007-09:00

Barack H. Obama is the 44th President of the United States of America!

I am (obviously) very happy that the title will not belong to John McCain.

I am sooo overwhelmingly exhausted...and elated...and relieved. I hope that Obama will live up to the promise of his words; that would be a change from politics as usual.

We really kicked @$$ by getting out and voting, America, and I think that is the best part of all (irrespective of who anyone voted for).

Big cyber hug to Lysa (he won, we won!!!), who instructed me in the art of diggin deeper to find the truth behind the bobble heads...thank you for helping me to become a better informed citizen and voter.

Call me a little (or a lot) weird, but I found it thrilling to just get to vote. Indeed, if you did not discover even a small measure of blissful inspiration somewhere in the events of the day, I am at a loss for words.

This blog will now return to its regularly-scheduled non-political bent. PEACE. (peas & carrots, too!)

Thank You 19th Amendment

2008-11-04T13:11:00.010-09:00

Follow the results online! @NPR /PBS @CNN (where AK has not only been relocated but has lost SW & SE :])

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now for a completely different message:

The somewhat important 2008 election is upon us.
Silly though we may usually be, we at the Committee to Elect Michael Palin President would like to take a moment to say, in all seriousness...
VOTE!
Vote like the wind!
Vote like you've never voted before!
Vote like your life depends on it! (It may)
Vote like the ice caps are melting! (They are)
Vote like if you don't then the Spanish Inquisition will fry you up and toss you into a Spanish Omelet!
Vote like a crazed weasel with its head on fire that has to vote in order for someone to dunk its head in a bucket of water, thus dousing the fire and eliciting a collective sigh of relief from every other potentially flammable weasel, stoat or ocelot in the vicinity.
VOTE, YOU MISERABLE BASTARD, AS IF BY DOING SO YOU CAN KEEP AN OIL-DRILLING, WOLF-KILLING, IGNORANT ALASKAN MOOSE-MUNCHER FROM EVER GETTING HER IGNORANT, WELL-MANICURED FINGER ANYWHERE NEAR THE BIG RED ARMAGEDDON BUTTON! (You can)
Ahem.
We believe we've made our point.
*************************************************************************

And now back to our regularly-scheduled silliness...
*************************************************************************
SPLUNGE!
Until next time...
Your friends at the Temporarily Serious Though Usually Quite Silly Party
P.S. If you're not a U.S. citizen, please feel free to close your eyes and vote metaphysically.

Sock Search

2008-11-03T11:37:00.006-09:00

So tomorrow is the big day - exciting! Right now I am trying to find superwarm socks online since my toes were too cold during my last hike, and ran across these superfunny biking socks at REI. Sock suggestions, anyone? I am looking at Bridgedale (Trekker, Endurance Summit Heavyweight, Expedition Trekking), SmartWool (Ski Sock, Mountaineer), DarnTough (On-Mountain Cushion Ski Sock), Dahlgren (Alpaca Backpacking). I'll update on how it works out. Will hopefully finish the alluded to hike's post and get it published supersoon!

So I've decided to try Bridgedale Endurance Summit, SmartWool Mountaineer, Darn Tough On-Mountain Cushion, and Dahlgren Alpaca Backpacking (though this last is only a midweight it's still intriguing). Update to come on how they perform.

Happy Punkin & Ghostie Day!

2008-10-31T20:24:00.003-08:00

Up Gunny Sack Creek

2008-10-29T02:10:00.019-08:00

This past Saturday I joined UAF Outdoor Adventures for their 'Delta Day Hike.' It was cold, windy, and snowy (on the ground, not in the air). It was something I would never do on my own; I appreciated being pushed. By the end of the hike, my hip flexors were strained, I crunched my knee on some rocks, and slightly wrenched my ankle. We headed back home and stopped at the Buffalo Center Diner, where I munched down some fish and 'buffalo chips' (seasoned potato rounds) and shed my overly moist layers. My earlier physical insults quickly melted away and I was left with good memories, a feeling of achievement, and later only a slightly sore neck and back (bizarre - perhaps unrelated?).

Morning: dark o'clock we met up and set out; passing North Pole on our way southeast we saw a light pillar. Snow flurries kicked up by cars on the road and iced-over car windows obscured much of the early morning views. Passing by Eielson Air Force Base, our leader James (who's father was stationed at the base for 2 years) told us a little bit about his experiences there. A gorgeous sunrise filled with purples, oranges, and yellows beckoned us onward towards Delta Junction. We stopped at the IGA and followed the huge orange bear paw prints to the restroom in the way back of the grocery store. The party grabbed coffee and breakfast snacks and we set out again.

Donnelly Dome
One of the most popular places to hike in the Delta area. About 23 miles south from Delta at mile 248 on the Richardson Highway. Take the gravel road to the right, proceed past the second sharp bend for 300 yards and park in the pull-off on the left. An unmarked but well-worn trail heads towards the north ridge of the dome. The trail is steep but the hike is not difficult. Elevation at the top is around 2,400 ft. Allow half of a day and bring a light jacket as it is often cooler and windy towards the top.

The above photos were taken from a pullout even further south of Delta, not too far from our final destination of Gunny Sack Creek, below.

Three of our party were wildlife biology majors, one biology major, one agriculture, one electrical engineering, and me. Two international students (Japan and Canada) and another from Rhode Island. One from Michigan and another from Ohio. I was the only one from Alaska! =)

Surrounded by beauty:

Who could ask for anything more?

"Remember: avoid the water!"

Where we just were and beyond:

Up and over.

Nice rocks! =)

Deep snow? No, not at all...

High winds swirling on the mountains made us thankful to be in our little valley.

Where to cross?

It's quite slushy!

A neat little cave filled with ice stalactites and stalagmites beckoned us to it.

Interesting creek ice.

We stopped and headed back soon after these shots.

Last snack break.

Heading back down the valley, a strange white streak floated in the sky above...I imagined it as a day-time auroral band.

While the guys descended back down the first climb up, the girls took a slightly different route.

Pile up the gear,

take a last look around,

and head home.

We made it back to Fairbanks by about 7 pm. The OA roster is full for the rest of the semester, so I will have to find some other groups or go solo. I generally have no qualms about hiking alone; however, I do usually find more enjoyment in another's company. I have a GPS on order that will give me more confidence in winter wandering without worrying about getting lost (yeah, I'm feeling a bit wussy).

Shimmer Shimmer Beautiful Glimmer!

2008-10-28T23:18:00.023-08:00

Up Top Update - I found these pictures and video on the Aurora Sightings webpage!

***************************************************************************
Sublime success on the aurora front occurred tonight!!! (What a difference a day makes!)

A huge thank you! to Daisy for calling me while I was staring at my feet and enjoying the crunching snow sound on my way to my car after our Arctic Engineering class...to alert me to lift my head and look at the green ribbons in the sky!

The absolutely phenomenally best was what I saw on my drive home (too many lights at UAF and in town!) where the nearly straight lines went bonkers and swirled and scintillated impossibly quickly, sizzling into doubled-back spirals and untwisting themselves again, excitedly expanding towards earth with jaggedy spikey violet edges and withdrawing, suddenly a shock wave of whitish yellowy lights rushing across them here and there...a second passes and the display has morphed into something totally different. No photographs, no descriptions, no video snippets (internet or otherwise), NOTHING can prepare you for what it is like to see, to visually drink in, to be immersed in the northern lights. I can't wait to see more!!!

As I got home about 3/4 of the sky became infused with greenish hues, long lines separating into several irregular sections, and small groupings off here and there. I got my camera and bundled up further, trekked back outside and unfortunatley was rewarded with only poor photos of the waning display (a tripod would have helped, but that takes even more time to set up). Of course I wish it was still brilliantly amazing when I found a darker spot and was armed with my camera, but I enjoyed myself immensely nonetheless. Bring 'em on, Light Master!

The view from Poker Flats near Chatanika, AK:

& the big dipper too

2008-10-27T23:21:00.006-08:00

If you look REALLY closely you can see a green band across the bottom of this shot from Poker Flats - a much removed but still first glimpse of the N.L. (or A.B.) for me here at latitude 65N - yay!

Daily Show Visits Wasilla

2008-10-21T01:49:00.009-08:00

Are you an Unamerican? Do you live in the Real America?

Jon Stewart is here to help you understand these complicated issues: check out the October 20th episode of the Daily Show.

Just What My Soul Needed

2008-10-18T21:56:00.036-08:00

Today I checked out part of the North Campus (UAF) trail system.

Thisaway.

Thataway.

Where I came from (looking towards the west side of town).

Educational signage.

Thrillingly tall trees line the path...

...decorated with sparkling white frosting.

Some aging signs of fall persist.

What's 'round the bend?

Long dramatic shadows:

The path of light / The path of darkness:

Red berries are always a pleasing vibrant
contrast in a white winter wonderland.

Fingers of illumination:

I came upon a big trail intersection at the end of this tall-tree-lined stretch and saw a couple of skiers. Over the course of my outing I saw mostly skiers (less than 10), one guy with a dog, two walkers, one runner, and one skijorer. Besides red plates, the trails were also marked with blue flags.

Just a tad nippy, not bad at all. It was really a lovely day to be out.

Ah-ha, a map! And a trail for walkers! (Not that I met anyone on the ski trails I'd trekked already, which had obviously already seen their fair share of the non-ski-shod.)

I could now see that I missed the boreal arboretum by a long shot - I had made a loop back west far too soon. But a good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent upon arriving, so saith Lao Tzu.

If anyone wanted to track me it would have been no problem
as I was trying out my new yak trax.
Each footprints left two big X's in the snow. :)

I crossed many ski trails, each one
with a sign proclaiming a new name.

The skijorer's dogs got distracted and he fell down near me. Here he is back on the move. The one of the couple below commented to the other as they passed by that dogs aren't allowed on this trail...oops! Indeed, all the the signs I saw said noted skiing, snowshoeing and hiking areas 'no dog.' The winter trail map shows one 'pooch loop.'

My favorite part of the excursion was what I found when I gave in to the pleadings of my bladder and followed bunny tracks off into the trail-less woods.

What an unromantic impetus for an
overwhelmingly enchanting detour.

The frost crystals growing from the snow-covered black spruce and fall plant 'skeletons' were incredibly beautiful!

The day's last trailing light and warmth from the sun...

On the way back, I passed the GI's passive parabolic dish antenna:

Farewell for now!

"Sarah Palin: The View from Alaska" by Nick Jans

2008-10-17T20:15:00.008-08:00

.
Oct. 11, 2008 | JUNEAU, Alaska -- I sat on the bank of the Kobuk River in northwest arctic Alaska on a mid-September morning. Upstream somewhere, wolves were howling -- their chorus filling the silence, close enough that I could hear the aspiration at the end of each wavering call. Behind me, the slate-gray heave of the Brooks Range spilled off toward the north, the shapes of some peaks so familiar I've seen them in my sleep. The nearest highway lay 250 miles away. This is the Alaska where I spent half my life, and the only place that's ever felt like home -- the land of Eskimo villages, waves of migrating caribou and seemingly limitless space.

Though I was beyond the reach of the Internet and cellphones, and life was filled with rutting bull moose, incandescent autumn light and fresh grizzly tracks, I knew that thousands of miles to the south, the rest of the country was getting a crash course on our governor, Sarah Palin -- someone who believes that climate change isn't our fault; is dead set against a woman's right to choose; has supported creationism in the schools; and was prayed over by a visiting minister at her church to shield her against witchcraft.

How was I to explain to all my lower 48 friends and writing colleagues how such a person could have been elected to lead our state -- let alone been chosen to possibly become vice-president? Truth be told, I was as startled as anyone when I heard the news. At first I thought the McCain campaign's announcement was some sort of bad joke.

In the broadest sense, Palin is a poseur. Alaska is too large and culturally diverse (it's only a bit smaller than the entire lower 48 east of the Mississippi, and once was divided into four time zones) to be summed up by some abstract, romanticized notion. And even if it could be, it sure wouldn't be symbolized by Palin. "The typical Alaskan? She couldn't be farther from it," says Alaska House Minority Leader Beth Kertulla.

Still, Palin is a genuine Alaskan -- of a kind. The kind that flowed north in the wake of the '70s oil boom, Bible Belt politics and attitudes under arm, and transformed this state from a free-thinking, independent bastion of genuine libertarianism and individuality into a reactionary fundamentalist enclave with dollar signs in its eyes and an all-for-me mentality.

Palin's Alaska is embodied in Wasilla, a blue-collar, sharp-elbowed town of burgeoning big box stores, suburban subdivisions, evangelical pocket churches and car dealerships morphing across the landscape, outward from Anchorage, the state's urban epicenter. She has lived in Wasilla practically all her life, and even now resides there, the first Alaska executive to eschew the white-pillared mansion in Juneau, down on the Southeast Panhandle.

Folks in the Mat-Su Valley, as the area is known, overwhelmingly support their favorite daughter's policies -- including a state-sanctioned program where private pilots chase down and kill wolves from small aircraft, and another that favors oil drilling offshore in the arctic sea ice and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. These same voters forage at McDonald's and Safeway in their hunter camouflage, and make regular wilderness forays up and down the state's limited highway grid with ATVs, snowmobiles and airboats in tow behind their oversize trucks. Sometimes I imagine I can hear the roar echoing across the state, all the way to the upper Kobuk, where easements for the highways of tomorrow are already staked out across the tundra.

Like many Alaskans, I resent Palin's claims that she speaks for all of us, and cringe when she tosses off her stump speech line, "Well, up in Alaska, we…." Not only did I not vote for her, she represents the antithesis of the Alaska I love. As mayor, she helped shape Wasilla into the chaotic, poorly planned strip mall that it is; as governor, she's promoted that same headlong drive toward development and despoilment on a grand scale, while paying lip service to her love of the place.

As for that frontierswoman shtick, take another look at that hairpiece-augmented beehive and those stiletto heels. Coming from a college-educated family, living in a half-million-dollar view home, basking in a net worth of $1.25 million, and having owned 40-some registered motorized vehicles in the past two decades (including 17 snowmobiles and a plane) hardly qualifies Palin and her clan as the quintessential Joe Six-Pack family unit -- though the adulation from that quarter shows the Palins must be fulfilling some sort of role-model fantasy.

Palin can claim to know Alaska; the fact is, she's seen only a minuscule fraction of it -- and that doesn't include Little Diomede Island, the one place in Alaska where you actually can see Russia. So she can ride an ATV and shoot guns. Set her down in the bush on her own and I bet we'd discover she's about as adept at butchering a moose and building a fire at 40 below zero as she is at discussing Supreme Court decisions. And that mountain-woman act is only the tip of a hollow iceberg.

Palin, and by extension, the McCain campaign, has hijacked our state for political purposes, much to the chagrin of the tens of thousands of Alaskans who loathe what she stands for. Her much-touted popularity among residents has eroded over the past six weeks to somewhere in the mid-60s -- not exactly what you'd expect in support of a home girl making a White House run.

There are no doubt a variety of reasons for this decline, but many Alaskans are embarrassed -- not just by her, but for our state and for ourselves. What's with the smug posturing, recently adopted fake Minnesota accent, and that gosh-darn-it hockey mom pitch? Maybe it plays well in Peoria (and presumably Duluth), but it's all an act. "She's definitely put on a new persona since she's been a vice-presidential candidate," says Kertulla, who has worked closely with Palin for the past 18 months. "I don't even recognize her."

Affectations aside, there's plenty about Palin we Alaskans do recognize, and all too well. She's already proven to us that her promises of transparent government, attendant to the will of the people, are bear pucky. We know about her private e-mail accounts and her systematic obstruction of the Alaska Legislature's investigation of the so-called Troopergate scandal. But let's turn to her environmental record, where a similar pattern of obfuscation continues.

First, Palin pushed hard, along with sport hunting and guiding interests, to help defeat a ballot initiative that would have stopped the state's current aerial wolf control program, which had been criticized by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council for flawed science. Now her administration has pointedly refused to respond to repeated public information requests (I'm one of the petitioners, and a potential litigant), regarding the apparently illegal killing of 14 wolf pups at their dens on the Alaska Peninsula this spring by state personnel, including two high-level Department of Fish and Game administrators. A biologist at the scene admitted to an independent wolf scientist that the 6-week-old pups were held down and shot in the head, one by one. This inhumane practice, known as "denning," has been illegal for 40 years. But a simple request for information on the details of this operation, including to what extent the governor was involved in the decision, has resulted in a typical Palinesque roadblock and a string of untruths.

Our I-love-Alaska governor was also instrumental in defeating a ballot initiative to stop development of a gargantuan open-pit mine incongruously known as Pebble near the headwaters of the most productive salmon watershed in the state, Bristol Bay. The current mine design calls for building the world's largest earthen dam to hold back an enormous lake of toxic waste -- this in a known earthquake zone. Crazy stuff, yet Palin openly opposed the initiative, in lock step with international mining corporations that invested millions of dollars in a misinformation campaign.

But Palin's certified anti-environmental whopper is her lawsuit against the Bush administration (of all outfits) for listing polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. She claimed Alaska's own experts had completed a review of the federal data and concluded that the listing was uncalled for. The truth was, state biologists had come to the opposite conclusion. But that report was never released, and her researchers had a gag clamped on them. Palin simply didn't want anything to get in the way of offshore oil drilling in moving pack ice -- where there is no way to contain, let alone clean up, catastrophic spills.

Whenever science or rules get in Palin's way, she blows them off. Says homesteader Mark Richards, co-founder of the Alaska Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (a moderate conservation group), "Palin, like Governor Murkowski before her, is part and parcel of the good-ol-boy network that says, 'Alaska is open for business.'"

Want to talk to Sarah? As governor, she has been accessible only on her carefully chosen terms, a trend we're now witnessing on the national stage. And how about those Katie Couric moments when she drifts just a skosh off a well-rehearsed script? Are those a recent phenomenon, brought on by all this new information, pressure and the liberal-gotcha media? Nah. She's been spouting "political gibberish" (to quote gubernatorial opponent Andrew Halcro) since she arrived on the Alaska scene. Yet somehow she continues to get away with it.

In the end, Palin's attempt to cash in on the Eau d'Alaska mystique as she supports its destruction sickens those of us who do love this land, not for what it will be some day, after the roads and mines and pipelines and cities and malls are all in, but for what it is now. What we see before us is the soul of an ambitious, ruthless, Parks Highway hillbilly -- a woman who represents the Alaska you probably never want to meet, and the one we wish never existed. That said, we're all too willing to take her back. The alternative is just too damn frightening.

Nick Jans is an amazing person and writer, contibuting editor for Alaska Magazine, and author or co-author of Tracks of the Unseen: Meditations on Alaska Wildlife, Landscape, and Photography, Alaska, The Last Light Breaking: Living Among Alaska's Inupiat Eskimos, A Place Beyond: Finding Home in Arctic Alaska, Winter, Alaska's Tracy Arm & Sawyer Glaciers, Black Bears of Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier, and The Grizzly Maze: Timothy Treadwell's Fatal Obsession with Alaskan Bears, among other works. I found this piece on Salon...and had to share it.

Harvest Moon, Partially Eaten

2008-10-16T22:33:00.005-08:00

The rabbit seems to be hanging out upside-down like a bat, perhaps waiting for spring to return.

This morning:
This evening:

Birds Of Ice & On Ice

2008-10-16T21:39:00.012-08:00

Frost grows in dendritic patterns on windowpanes.
Dendrites are simply structures that branch out like trees -
in this case, crystalline ones composed of water.
These have taken up residence on my balcony sliding glass doors.

Some mallards were gathered in the Chena River
off of Peger Road yesterday morning.

I've been told that I take pictures with "too much sky."
My retort? I like the sky!

Snow Snow Snow

2008-10-12T14:35:00.007-08:00

Our warm spell has ended, and today it's been snowing all day. Here are some snow videos just for fun.

Snow is formed from hexagonal, dendritic single crystals of remarkable beauty. The main kinds of ice crystals that form in the atmosphere are columns, plates and needles. The beautiful snowflakes with hexagonal symmetry, or stellar crystals, are actually rather rare. It is often said that no two snowflakes are alike, because of the seemingly infinite variety in them, but many snowflakes are really quite similar. Snow rarely consists of perfect crystals, but more often as fragments and clumps and balls of dendritic pieces, with an occasional more perfect plate or star. Columns form at the lowest temperatures, around -40°C, plates and stars at intermediate temperatures, and needles at the lower temperatures, from -8°C to 0°C. (from Ice by J.B. Calvert)

A Favorite Poem To Be Read Slowly & Repeatedly

2008-10-11T00:18:00.005-08:00

Part I: Life
XXXII

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

- Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

Complete Poems, 1924

Meese!!!

2008-10-09T15:07:00.053-08:00

I just drove down the (new) Steese Highway towards the Fred Meyers on the east side of town. It a nice warm (45 F -ish) sunny day here, and there's not too much snow and ice on the road. The traffic is buzzing along in both directions, and...what is that by the side of the road?!?! A big creamy chocolate colored mommy moose and her two huge babies!!! Grazing away, off in their own world, paying no heed to the cars going by not five feet from their noses. I slowed down and slowly cruised by, ecstatically amazed (having an oh-so newbie to interior AK moment). I didn't have my camera, so can't visually share it, but let me tell you it was SUPER AWESOME! :oD I ran into the store I was on my way to and back and drove down the same way, but they were long gone. =( However, I'm sure I will never forget this. Yes, I am easily amused by simple things such as large herbivores eating grass and shrubs. Here are some pictures of moose we saw along the AlCan to make up for not having a photo of the ones I saw today.

Banff NP, BC

Chainsaw Carving, Chetwynd, BC

Summit Mountain / Stone Lake, BC

Muncho Provincial Park, BC (just west of Toad River and Folded Mountain)

Teslin, YT

Haines Junction, YT

NW of Beaver Creek and Canadian Customs, YT

Tetlin NWR, AK

NW of Tok, SE of Robertson River
(near Tanacross), AK

SE of Delta Junction, AK

Delta, AK

Chena Pump House, Fairbanks, AK

Addition for AK Dave DU - Knotty Shop (Mooses?)

Every Day is New

2008-10-05T09:24:00.016-08:00

It seems strange that its still fall in Juneau and not even thinking of being winter in more southerly places. Right now in Fairbanks there is a sort of dusty snow that seems to be humidity in the air instantly freezing...or the icy fog falling out of the air. This is --> what outside looked like from my apartment this morning.

Just 20 days ago I witnessed this gold and silver morning fog -->

More winter indications (though it needs no confirmation): yesterday this little not-so-buzzy fellow appeared on my balcony...meanwhile, the spiders have moved inside for the winter.

I hopefully tried to see the aurora last night as activity promised to be moderate, but it eluded me once more. I did sort of see the big dipper at one point, but the cloudy fog twarted my efforts. Then I realized that its supposed to be like that most of winter here in the city. So I suppose I am going to have to get out of dodge to see the dancing night lights?

Gloomy

2008-10-04T20:11:00.005-08:00

I'm feeling really lonely today and can't think of anyone who would want to listen to me blather on, so I am inflicting my sad state on my blog. Being single and introverted isn't always all fun and games. Sometimes I start wondering if I'm going to spend my whole life alone. Not that I don't interact with people at work, at school, at stores, or elsewhere, but when I come home to my cozy little hobbit hole and there are only cats to greet me, I can start to see my whole life stretching out in front of me solitaire. It's not a terribly comforting prospect. I do have a very good imagination, but evidently not quite good enough.

Not that the only thing that could possibly assuage my loneliness is a significant other. Real friends would help, too. Friends that I would feel completely comfortable talking to in person about the type of crap I am writing here and who would care and who would likewise share their cares and joys with me. I find myself increasingly annoying to be around. That is, if I were someone trying to get to know me, I would probably blow me off. I need to develop some filters. I'm far too prone to speak my mind, whatever happens to be buzzing around in it, without totally thinking through what it could mean to my audience...and I delight in being a smart ass. I blame this on living alone and friendless for so long (pretty much since I left Albuquerque). Good excuse, eh?

As far as a serious relationship goes, I don't see any hope on the horizon. People tell me I'm still young...yada...yoda...boda... I am not young enough anymore to embrace another for all their weird opinions and habits and friends (I'm too particular). I am not young enough to have a biologically primed sex appeal that would help someone look past all my weird opinions and habits and friends (though all my friends live 1000-2000 or more miles away anyway). I am not young enough to meet someone, etc, etc, and have a pregnancy before the probability of a multitude of complications and cancer skyrocket.

And where is that needle in a haystack hiding anyway, if he even exists? I can think of lots of places I don't choose to look: bars, online...well ok, pretty much everywhere. I'm mostly still not ready for a relationship. I know my faults are many and most will never go away, but I would like to at least be able to imagine myself somewhat attractive first and that's at least 30 pounds (and maybe some plastic surgery, ha ha) away. I'm working on it. Meanwhile, being in a place I wouldn't mind settling down in has flipped some kind of switch inside me...I keep getting crushes on totally ridiculous people for the silliest reasons that have nothing to do with any sort of compatibility... I'm an emotional loose cannon! =) At least I've mostly mastered the art of squelching them relatively quickly now. Damn imagination. Crushes are more terrible than actual relationships in terms of viewing people through your own lens and not for who they really are. Not to mention who you really are. In your imagination you can conquer any possible difficulty. In reality, people very seldom change in basics (like political and social leanings - worldview if you will), and if they do it is usually temporary.

Referring back to the beginning of the last paragraph, my previous (obviously doomed) relationships began in connection with school, work, and/or other friends...oh and one wine festival. ;) I imagine that it would be practically perfect to be friends with someone and have it develop into something more, as my first and longest relationship did (putting aside for a moment the absolute hell it eventually became before I could finally move on). I wonder if I've already had my go and there isn't going to be any more out there for me. I will just have to hold on to my memories about what it feels like to love and be loved until death finds me sooner or later.

Yesterday I had the most heart-stopping moment as I was rushing late to my steel design students' field trip with their hardhats, safety glasses and jackets in a huge box that was falling apart...after driving as quickly as possible over newly snowy-and-black-icy roads (joy upon joy upon joy). I was almost to my destination and I saw the unmistakable side-rear view of my ex-boyfriend (aka evil heartless jerk). I have *never* seen anyone that looked exactly like that - stature, build, skin color, hairstyle - except him. I couldn't take my eyes off of him, in absolute terror, as I neared to pass by. He must have felt my gaze burning on him as he talked away on his cell phone, and he turned, and I could tell the eyes were wrong behind rectangular glasses. What the EHJ would be doing here I couldn't possibly imagine, but *thank you dear god* that it wasn't him!

My landlord came to town this weekend to finish his project of replacing the fourplex's balcony and porch glass doors with more energy efficient sliding glass doors. Since I still haven't finished getting all my belongings situated (I could pick from multiple excuses), I thought I could work on getting my pictures hung before he arrived. Needless to say, I did not finish by the time the ladder slammed against my balcony (scaring the crap out of me as it did). I continued my project while Greg worked on my exterior door, and still have more art to mount tomorrow. He asked me how many pictures I had. I replied, "too many." He's from Montana (now living in Anchorage), a nice guy and a fairly good landlord. He keeps asking me if I like hockey, which he of course does. I have no objection to the sport, nor to most others, but I am a rabid fan of none. I find watching most any sport on television about as riveting as watching paint dry. I'm not the sort who goes to a match up and becomes enthused to the point of yelling and screaming for or against. I am interested in doing, not watching. In doing, typical team sports and ravenous competitiveness just don't do it for me. I would much rather connect with myself, my friends or family, or nature through sport...as in hiking, backpacking, biking, skiing (though I am expert at none), or those I rarely do like swimming, or those I haven't tried yet like kayaking. Greg said he enjoyed going to hockey games to meet people and just have a good time. I told him I would go with friends and probably have an ok time, but that I was sure I wouldn't go alone. In general I find going to social gatherings alone (and without knowing anyone else there) to be ultimately depressing. I can satisfactorily imagine going and not having a good time without the pain of actually living through it.

Thus I wasted the whole day, meaning I didn't get any schoolwork done. One of the last row of pictures I carefully spaced out, measured twice for horizontal and vertical location, and leveled included a framed photo collage of my brother fishing around the Aleutians and Bering Sea. I have a small poster of 'The International Port of Dutch Harbor,' a card he gave me for my last birthday before he was gone, and a string with a few big fishing hooks and trinkets that make me think of him. And I thought about how lonely I feel. And I thought about my former plans for moving back to Alaska and getting to spend time with my brother, maybe really getting to be friends rather than filling the role of spoiled baby of the family and thus tormentee to a big brother, and never quite knowing what to talk to him about or how to do it. This version of Alaska isn't what I dreamed about for so long. He was supposed to be here, and it's so unfair. Damn him. Damn that boat and faulty pump and stupid midnight trip to pick up crab pots forced by the Coast Guard and damn the confused currents and the Coast Guard signal void that let him slip away! Scott, my only brother, my only sibling, you were supposed to be here, too! Not just me by myself. Even the Scott that delighted in harassing me in any way possible, that would gleefully hit the back of my car seat ad nausea, that would say inflammatory things just to get me riled like that I wasn't a true Alaskan, yes even you. I know you really loved me as I really loved you. And I miss you, so much. Damn this reality where you lie on the bottom of the ocean and our family lives in pain. Damn it all.

.
.
.
I believe all my whining has proved quite cathartic. Thanks for listening, great wide internet emptiness.

The Distance from There to Here

2008-09-29T21:53:00.008-08:00

Albuquerque: hi 83F, low 52F, wind SE at 0 mph,
humidity 27%, clear
latitude 35.08N, longitude 106.65W.

Idaho Falls: hi 76F, low 40F, wind NW at 0 mph,
humidity 60%, mostly cloudy
latitude 43.52N, longitude 112.07W.

Juneau: hi 54F, low 45F, wind E at 26 mph,
humidity 64%, mostly cloudy
latitude 58.37N, longitude 134.58W.

Fairbanks: hi 32F, low 24F, wind N at 4 mph,
humidity 93%, snow
latitude 64.82N, longitude 147.87W.

And above the snowy cloud-filled sky, the aurora dances!

Snow Arrives in Fairbanks / Chena Hot Springs Trail

2008-09-28T08:22:00.035-08:00

Yesterday morning I exited my apartment to find white speckles covering the walkway and sprinkled across my car - first snow! The 27th of September held much more to come than I could have imagined.

A girl from two of my classes has introduced me to her group of friends...they invited me to share in their plan to hike to Chena Hot Springs this weekend. A group of about 8 would hike from a trailhead 8.5 miles away from the springs, where a contingent planned to soak in the hot mineral waters, while 4 of us and 3 dogs started at the springs and hiked the opposite direction. As I prepared the night before, I imagined a cool late autumnal hike, and selected my gear accordingly.

Driving 60 miles out of town, all the way to the end of Chena Hot Springs Road, the trees gradually lost any vestige of amber leaves, and snow appeared on the ground and in the air. At the trailhead, there was an inch or more of fluffy snow that crunched and squeaked underfoot.

Daisy's Dan picked up an abbreviated map so that we were sure that we were on the right trail.

Ready or not, we were on our way!

The dogs had an excellent time frolicking about, running every which way and coming back to check on their humans.

Ice crystals decorated the evergreens and spent fall foliage.

Enchanting snow white vistas surrounded us.

We took the high trail to avoid possible muddy conditions. I would have liked to see how muddy, but I am glad we didn't take that route.

We found some blueberries that hadn't been munched yet...a bit withered, but slushy and still sweet in our mouths.

My favorite sign of the hike:

We met up with the group hiking the opposite way at about halfway at a little uninsulated shelter with a wood stove.

And after munching some lunch together - tasting everyone's version of nut and dried fruit mixture - we headed out on our separate ways, up and down hills...

That's when the snow really started coming down, and we struggled up slippery steep areas.

The scenery remained enthralling, though passive to our efforts.

The dogs continued to love every minute of it, even when we reached the exposed ridge and felt the chill breeze cutting through our lighter layers.

Daisy and Agatha ate a lot of snow in lieu of drinking their packed water - its more fun, too.

Up and down we continued along, following the apparent ridge line of many domes.

Shades of blue, white, and grey dominated our vision.

We progressed steadily along, warmed by our activity and small talk.

At times the sun's circular shape would register and lend a lemony hue to our world.

Then swirly snow fog would rush around us, giving our expedition epic and urgent tones.

We even met some other hikers along the way.

A rock covered hill provided a challenging descent.

Various vibrantly red-colored berries offered themselves up by the path and revealed themselves as red smears in our tracks.

Interesting tiny bearbread-like fungi clung to birch and aspen.

The wood closed around us momentarily with trees that felt loftily tall.

Agatha and Sam waited for us to catch up with them at regular intervals.

As we hiked along there was less and less snow...it was melting, exposing the rusty leaves, green mosses, and granity sand below.

The biggest patch of blue sky yet.

I accidentally touched my lense a little after this and was unable to get it all the way clean. Hopefully I'll get some end of the hike pictures from Daisy and Dan and add them later.

It snowed quite a bit last night in Fairbanks proper, and didn't melt all the way today. My glutes, hams, quads, hip flexors, and nearby muscles are groaning over simple movements, but not too badly, and I only sustained one small blister. What a way to start winter! What a wonderful experience!

Change of Length of Day

2008-09-24T00:26:00.005-08:00

Have you ever asked a question and had no one respond? You get that peculiar feeling that either you've got it and no one needs to bother to respond because you're obviously correct...or, you've just said something so utterly stupid that no one wants to be the one to say "No, Stupid!" Yeah, well, today it was the latter for me.

While this isn't really noteworthy in itself, the notion popped into my head to figure out the answer to my question. Since I've been in Fairbanks, I keep seeing/reading/hearing how 'we're losing 6-7 minutes of daylight per day.' Yes, I keep hearing the same number... So without fully thinking it through, I quickly reasoned that that must be the constant rate that daylight is lost or gained at our latitude.

Well, today one of my professors said that we were losing about 7 minutes of daylight right now. And I peeped up quietly in the back, "Isn't that what it always is?" Dead silence...for a few breaths. Then we moved on with class. So, whatever. However, this evening I started thinking about this idea again (good idea, moron, *you* might be thinking).

Could it really be a constant rate? I did a quick search (yes, I believe everything the internet tells me...ok, not really, but...) and looked at a graph of the month of September, day of the year vs. hours of daylight. Looked like a straight line to me! But...we're near the equinox now...if it ever changed, it would certainly show up at the solstices. I clicked quickly to June - whoa! - and December - whoa-ho! You got it, baby, a beautiful sinusoid. The change in daylight slows to nil where the amount of daylight in the day peaks at the summer solstice, and again the change in daylight slows to nil where the amount of daylight in the day is least at the winter solstice. According to Marcie, the change of daylight in one day never goes below 2 minutes. The plot of day of the year vs. hours of daylight, as seen for an entire year, does not appear spiky, but instead resembles this:

please note, this above is NOT for Fairbanks' latititude!

There is another interesting graph here showing the sunrise, sunset, dawn, and dusk times in Fairbanks. Gorgeously revealed: at the north and south poles, this function reaches maximum amplitude; and at the equator, minimum amplitude, assuming it's not just a flatline. I suspect there are variations and planetary wiggles and in reality it's not a spot-on perfect sine wave. Still, isn't it wonderful the way mathematics can illuminate the workings of our world?

Back to the moral of the story: sometimes its best to keep your mouth shut. Lesson concluded. =D

Murphy Dome in Early September

2008-09-20T08:16:00.041-08:00

approaching the dome
geodesic military station
stop sign
at the topsomeone was here
orange, red, and yellow
crimson and emerald
standing tall
little fuzzies
autumnal expanse
below my feet
vibrant hues
ruby morsels
tiny forests
many mosses
overlooked blueberries
yonder, Denali
baby spruce
ravens at play
picture perfect
down the trail
soft and wild
are there Whos here?
flutter by
fall bursts
late bloomer
rich landscape
approaching rock outcropping
NW view
N view, winding trail
S view, golf ball
crow berries & more
rolling hills
luminated needles

Gold

2008-09-14T10:09:00.008-08:00

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it,

and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth

seeking the successive autumns. ~George Eliot

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

- Robert Frost, “Nothing Gold Can Stay”

No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace

As I have seen in one autumnal face.

~John Donne

There is a harmony
In autumn, and a lustre in its sky,
Which through the summer is not heard or seen,
As if it could not be, as if it had not been!
- Percy Bysshe Shelley

Winter is an etching,

spring a watercolor,

summer an oil painting and

autumn a mosaic of them all.

- Stanley Horowitz

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~Albert Camus

Listen! the wind is rising,
and the air is wild with leaves,
We have had our summer evenings,
now for October eves!
- Humbert Wolfe

Ere, in the northern gale,
The summer tresses of the trees are gone,
The woods of Autumn, all around our vale,
Have put their glory on.
- William Cullen Bryant, from “Autumn Woods”

Imagine the leaves floating down through the trees like huge golden snowflakes.

Oh, I may be a flake, but I'm a

Glorious Reflections

2008-09-13T19:30:00.004-08:00

These were taken after sunset days apart.

Tanana Lakes

Ballaine Lake

No PFD for me this year, boo hoo!

2008-09-10T15:00:00.003-08:00

If I wrote the rules, those born in Alaska, conceived by the time their parents voted to approve the Alaska constitutional amendment establishing the Permanent Fund, and having received the first seven PFD payouts would be welcomed back into the fold as soon as they resumed full time residence in the state. Did I mention my parent's lived in the state before the whole crazy pipeline was even dreamt up? Anyhoo, I don't write the rules, and so I won't be receiving a PFD check until 2010. :p That's right, not until after I graduate from UAF. Well, money isn't everything, but it helps. =)

The 2008 Dividend Amount is $3,269.00
This amount includes the $1200.00 Alaska Resource Rebate.
Warrant Stub Detail
Overview of the 2008 Dividend Calculation
Explanation of Reductions to Dividends
Important tax information: don't forget that the Alaska PFD and the Alaska Resource Rebate are taxable income for Federal Tax returns. Be sure to set aside enough to cover your tax bill.

What is the Alaska Permanent Fund?
A dedicated fund owned by the State of Alaska
In 1976, as the Alaska pipeline construction neared completion, Alaska voters approved a constitutional amendment to establish a dedicated fund: the Alaska Permanent Fund.
Fund History
Created by a constitutional amendment
“At least 25 percent of all mineral lease rentals, royalties, royalty sales proceeds, federal mineral revenue-sharing payments and bonuses received by the state be placed in a permanent fund, the principal of which may only be used for income-producing investments."
Fund Law
Comprised of income-producing investments
The Fund is fully invested in the capital markets, diversified among various asset classes. It generates income from these investments.
Used for both savings and spending
The Legislature may spend realized Fund investment earnings. Realized earnings consist of stock dividends, bond interest, real estate rent and the income made or lost by the sale of any of these investment assets. Unrealized earnings - those resulting from the change in market value of assets that are held - cannot be spent. Most spending from the Fund has been for dividends to qualified Alaska residents. The Permanent Fund Dividend Division (a separate entity from the APFC) operates the PFD program, which the Legislature established in 1980.
Managed by a state-owned corporation
In 1982, the Legislature established the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation to manage Fund investments.

Information from the Alaska Permanent Fund Corporation and the Permanent Fund Dividend Division.

Election '08 MP

2008-09-07T21:28:00.009-08:00

Since all my candidates have dropped out I have avoided listening to political buzz. However, with my new governor in the running for Vice President of the United States of America - and let's face it, soon to be President of the U.S.A. - I can't avoid it. I keep stumbling upon bits and pieces...so I did some research on our VP candidates. I'm no more impressed with them than I am with the presidential candidates. I think that either way, we're screwed...not that that's anything new. However, I was dismayed to learn many things about my governor (including many of her opinions - not that I'm terribly surprised by any of them), and what they say about her as a person, and in turn what they say about the people who chose to elect her. Use the same line of reasoning with our current Prez-VP and see where it takes you. I hope I'm wrong, but I think McCain-Palin will win, that Palin will shortly become president, and God Help Us All when that happens. WW III? It could be just around the corner...don't forget Russia. I'm more than a little scared, and you should be, too. I found the photos whilst surfing the web.

THE OTHER PALIN FOR PRESIDENT!

My Map of Alaska

2008-09-07T17:35:00.004-08:00

A green star for Juneau, the Capital City: where I was born, cradled in the Tongass Temperate Rainforest.

A gold heart for Fairbanks, the 2nd largest city in AK: where my parents met in grad school, where my brother was born, where I am going to grad school.

A silver encircled cross for a certain location near Unalaska Island's Cape Kovrizhka: where my brother rests forever more.

Hopefully someday there will be a tiny house on this map in NE Excursion Inlet.

Leaves That Fly

2008-09-07T15:16:00.004-08:00

Can you find the eyes in this photo?

Taken at Murphy Dome near Fairbanks yesterday.