Pix 4 u

We've been really, really busy the past couple of months. Here are a few pix to update you~

We finally found an eskimo in Alaska, and adopted him. Rambo is eskimo and husky. We adopted him from a young lady originally from North Carolina. Her husband and she moved to Fairbanks with the military.

Ice chunks floating down the Chena River. The photo doesn't do justice to the constant flow of the huge chunks of ice that floated by all day. Fortunately we did not experience flooding like Eagle, AK.

Rear view of the duplex we purchased. Snow has all melted and veggies are planted in back yard.

View across the street from our living room window.



Street view of our duplex. We live in the upper portion; Brian and Camilla will move from their dry cabin in late August into the lower portion.

Pioneer Park, Parka Parade n Puppies

Snowy buildings at Pioneer Park - formerly known as Alaskaland. See how much snow is piled on the roof? Fact: 50 5-gallon buckets of Alaska snow = 5 gallons of water. Another building in Pioneer Park. With no wind the snow just remains right where it falls, piling up.

The snow on the building below has begun to melt, creating a wave effect. Today the temperature was 27 degrees and we could see definite signs of melting.

The sweet children below are the children of Letha, our receptionst. She made the kuspak's for her daughter and son on the left and her mother made Letha's coat modeled by her other daughter. There was a nice article in today's paper...check out the entire article here: http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/22/story-tell/

Open water on the Chena River - it's been open all winter because it is downstream from the local power plant.

More drooping snow

Snow piled atop the trailer Brian and Camilla towed to Alaska in July. We've been told that once the snow begins to melt, it goes very quickly, as it is low in moisture content.

Letha arranging her coat on Chanda as her son, Randy, looks on. The coat Chanda is wearing won first place. Her prize was the parts and pieces to make a man's parka.

There were more dogsled races in town this weekend. It's amazing how they are all yippy once harnessed before they get to run, and once they start running they become stealthily silent. You can tell these dogs are absolutely delighted to be turned loose to run! Here are some interesting articles about the race: http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/20/fast-trail-awaits-fairbanks-mushers-open-north-ame/

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/20/streeper-leads-after-first-day-open-north-american/

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/21/egil-ellis-team-take-lead-open-north-american/

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/22/theres-another-race-back-pack/

http://www.newsminer.com/photos/2009/mar/22/8019/

Here's a photo from the outhouse races held last weekend in Chatanika, Alaska.

This little gal is all bundled up and awaiting the outhouse races. Every time we go to an activity I continue to be pleasantly surprised by the number of young, young children in attendance. Gotta hand it to the Alaskan parents for their patience in getting the little ones' gear organized, on and off...and on a regular basis.

More mushing competition pix. We watched a movie this afternoon at Pioneer Park and learned that they initially train dogs to pull dogsleds by allowing them to run alongside the dog team for a season. When the weather is very, very cold (by Alaska standards, not Iowa standards) they put booties on the dog's feet to keep them from injury. (They are very similar in appearance to the hand mits worn by newborn babies, with velcro attached to the top.)

More dog mushing. The wooden building across the river is a new bingo parlor. There are three bingo parlors in Fairbanks which are open 7 days a week. They each give away a minimum of $5000 every night.

They went to great lengths to get the snow in the right places for the race. They hauled snow back into downtown, as the race began on the street in downtown Fairbanks. At the end of the street they took a left hand corner where they'd built a ramp of snow down onto the Chena River.

It was a nice 22 degrees at the start of today's race. There were a LOT of people out on/by the river watching the dogs go by. One family brought their cookstove, lawn chairs, cooler, etc., and had a picnic in the snow on the riverbank.

The picture below is absolutely hilarious to me. This girl was at the riverfront awaiting the passing of the dogs. She brought along her pink hobby horse and her stuffed monkey. Here she is shown having propped her monkey on the teeter-totter and is attempting to figure out how to get the hobby horse attached to the teeter-totter. Right after I took this photo she threw down the hobby horse and hopped on the teeter-totter.

Handmade mukluks worn by Letha's children. The diamonds are pieces of fur cut in that shape and attached to the other fur to make the beautiful cuff. The bottoms are made from sealskin.

Hand beaded gloves made by one of Letha's ancestors. Typically these are made from moose hide.

I went to the Festival of Native Arts at the University Saturday evening where they had Alaska native dancers and craft sales. On one of the tables I noticed a purse made from a moose heart. I left it there for someone else to admire and/or purchase.

Awaiting the judge's decision. I told Randy he should get extra points. He was the only boy there and twirled his number stick around and around, entertaining us (or was it fighting boredom?). Either way, he was cute.

Nate holding the second place prize - a fox skin, won by Letha's younger daughter, Chanel, for her kuspuk. When she was given her prize she reached right out and draped it over her arm. I can imagine in Iowa if a teenage girl were given a "raw" fox skin they would not have the same appreciative reaction. Letha can be seen in the background behind Nate.

Here are a couple more newspaper articles I found to be interesting and want to share with you~

http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/22/light-candle-dont-curse-darkness-youll-life-longer/

The second article (beginning Iditarod ordeal renews...) particularly touched me. You just may want to have a tissue handy~

http://www.newsminer.com/news/Iditarod/

Nanooks & Laundry

Here is a photo of the huge polar bear that I referred to in my prior posting...notice how small the people are that are standing in front of the polar bear's legs? The Nanook hockey team comes skating between the bear's front legs at the start of the game.

This is the arctic entryway to our duplex with the floor opened to reveal the stairway to the basement, where the laundry is located. Never had anything like this back in Iowa....thankfully!

Laundry room in the basement of our duplex. The washer and dryer on the right work, the other three (four?) on the left hand side don't. The washer is actually the washer Camilla and Brian moved here from Iowa. It was installed in the basement and the landlord purchased it from them when they moved out of the duplex. Landlord purchased this property last summer and states he plans on cleaning out the basement this summer.

Carlson Center, Fairbanks, Alaska, where the UAF hockey games took place. I realize that this isn't anything spectacular, rather I posted it so you can see there ARE venues of some magnitude in Alaska. They even have indoor bathrooms with running water. The sign outside the men's restroom indicates there is a diaper changing station in there. To me, as a woman, that rocks!

This is the UAF hockey team praying before the game begins. Alright - I admit I have no clue if they're praying, but thought that would be nice. Note hockey player #3. He's extra special to me because #3 is my son, Sam's hockey jersey # back in Iowa, and because the player's name is cute Ted E Bear. He's one of their 4 mascots, all bears and cute as can be!

When we attended the youth hockey game at Fort Wainwright a couple of weeks ago one of the players became injured. I was touched nearly to tears to see the opposing team stop in their tracks, bend down on one knee and wait for the injured individual to get back up and moving. If only more of the world had that kind of respect for those who are "down and out".

The Alaska state flag.

Hockey and Outhouse Races - seriously!

Frustration at the appearance of my blogs is setting in. I get them all set up, preview, and everything looks great, then once I post it everything seems to skew out of place. In spite of attempting to put things back where they belong the preview and the final page never looks the same. AARGH! My perfectionistic side tells me that I need to work on it until it's fixed and perfect. My realistic side tells me that as long as I'm on this adventure might as well accept the fact that skewed photos and accompanying texts are part OF the adventure. The purpose of my blog is to allow others a view of the world I'm living in, I guess, and not to be perfect. Hence, hopefully I'm accomplishing my mission.

Speaking of missions, I SOOOO appreciate receiving e-mails and comments from those of you who are following my blog. The amount of time it takes to decide which few (yes, few) photos I'll post, log into here, find the photos on my pc to post, upload, etc., is incredible. Hence you won't be seeing me in any local bars. LOL Like that's on my list of 101 places to visit before I die anyway! That said, please DO keep the e-mails and comments coming. It lets me know that my efforts in posting this have made you smile or some impact on you.

My blog is about 1% of this total Alaskan experience. Alaska is SO much more than an out of place state on most US maps. Everything about it is awesome...the people, the weather, the events, the terrain, the sites, the smells, the sounds, the beauty, the peacefulness, the choices of activities, the pace, the traffic, the comfort, well, you get the "picture" without me taking one. Most people in the lower 48 think that there probably isn't much to do in Alaska, because it's so COLD - which is not true, not true...meaning it's not uncomfortably cold, and there is a LOT to do. Each weekend we have to choose which activity or two we'll be participating in because there are so many, and most are free. Those that do cost are well worth the price.

Alaskans have a multitude number of ways of filling their time. How they choose to do that is just that, a choice. Someone recently told me that there's a lot of chemical abuse and dependency (alcohol mainly) in Alaska 'because there's nothing else to do in the winter'. Hello?! We've found a lot of things to do that don't involve drugs or alcohol, and sometimes have chosen to do absolutely nothing. Yes, Ms. Type A Personality has found herself doing absolutely nothing occasionally.

The local newspaper is chock full of information, such as how much snow is dangerous to have on one's roof-including the data of the water contents of Alaska snow vs. snow we've been accustomed to in Iowa, the entry fee to race in the Iditarod ($5,000+), etc. Be sure to check out the Newsminer's home page at www.newsminer.com for a peek at "my" world. When I was home a bit back my dad told me that each day he checks out the Newsminer's webcam to see what kind of weather we're experiencing here. How nice to know that we're in each other's thoughts and in a sense "touch" each other across the miles.

The Newsminer recently added another webcam website. I'm kind of excited about it, because it is about 4 blocks from where we live. It's actually at the exact site where I took the photos of the mushers coming into Fairbanks on the Yukon Quest. Had I known there was a camera there, and had I known that's where we'd finally decide to take our photos from, I would have waved at the camera. It can be found at www.newsminer.com then select Arctic Cam, then select more web cams, then select View of Chena River from Pro Music.

Even though the weather doesn't seem to reflect it today (-26 as I write this), they say spring will come, and that break-up on the river is something to see. Since the above camera is right on the river, I'd recommend you take an occasional peek at it to see how things are moving along down the river.

The Newsminer also has an interesting web page of the "Public Safety Report" which link can be found under the news tab. It gives quite detailed reports of those found in violation of the law. I found it interesting that it is a crime in Alaska for someone to interfere with someone reporting a crime involving domestic violence....which, in essence, means taking a phone away from the victim as they attempt to phone for help.

I've used the public safety report page to notice where the majority of the DUI's occur, and pay extra attention when driving in those locations in the wee hours of the morning (which, thankfully, doesn't happen very often).

We now have daylight about 12 hours per day, with it increasing 6-7 minutes each day...do the math and we gain about 3/4 of an hour a week and it's only gonna increase from here! It's nice to go to work and come home in the daylight. Nate and I delight in knowing that we've "survived" our first winter in Alaska, 5 hour daylight days and -40 temps. Nate commented the other day that Alaska winters are SO much nicer than Iowa winters. I'll agree that they're longer (we've had snow on the ground since September and it hasn't begun yet to melt), but we don't have the dampness, the wind, the windchill, followed by the thawing and ice covered roads, sidewalks and parking lots, followed by snow to hide the ice, followed by rain, repeat again and again. When it's cold here it is just that, cold. The cold stays where it's at, meaning when you open a door it doesn't come gusting in, and it doesn't creep its way up your sleeves, pantlegs, and down the neck of your clothing. I was back in Iowa in February and thought I'd freeze to death out in the cold and windy, windy, wind.

This afternoon we're planning on going to the Outhouse Sprint Races at Chatanika Lodge, about 30 miles north of Fairbanks. I'm excited about it because 1-we've never traveled that far on the Steese Highway north of Fairbanks so new turf to see, 2-I've never seen outhouse sprint races, and 3-I'm not participating in the race via sitting in or pushing one of the outhouses. Here's a website that I found that gives some details about Chatanika: http://www.mcrw.com/lovenotes/ag_potties.htm It is a well written blog and expresses some of my personal sentiments about Alaska.

Oh my Gosh - just found where someone posted on the newsminer arctic cam website that not only the History Channel is expected at the outhouse races, but 3000 people too! Great! Nate worked last night and is catching a "nap" before we head up there. Looks like I may be waking him a bit earlier than he expected. Having never been there now I'm wondering how far we'll get to walk from our vehicle to the actual race area....and what kind of view we'll have. Can't risk missing another life adventure that's waiting to be experienced. This blog gives us an idea of what fun we're in for...and what you will be missing: http://trevorpng.blogspot.com/2007/04/chatanika-days-outhouse-races.html

I took a peek at the above website and it reminded me of something I said to our receptionist, Letha, yesterday. I said that if I do something goofy or look goofy wearing my klompy yes, with a K, boots or a silly hat I don't feel embarrassed about it in Fairbanks. Two reasons: 1-Most other people are wearing klompy boots and silly hats, and 2-few enough people in Fairbanks know me that I don't have any "image" that might get tarnished from being seen in such a manner!

When I think of how we feel about experiencing Alaska, it reminds me of how someone characterized a first-time grandfather when he meets his first grandchild. "they get all sappy". Yup, that's me! Sappy and lovin' it.

Speaking of websites, here are a few more that I found that might be of interest to you. Well, they are to me~

http://iditarodblogs.com/news/
http://iditarod.com/race/
http://kit-dogdaze.blogspot.com/ - the gal posting this was involved in the Iditarod this year
http://tundratantrum.Blogspot.com/ - the writer of this blog lives 33 degrees north of the Arctic Circle - north of Fairbanks. We haven't yet had the opportunity to travel there, but hope to do so when the road is passable.

I recently joined Facebook, a website where one can locate friends and post items of interest (thoughts, photos, profile info) and connect with them on a regular basis. It's been fun to connect with former schoolmates, former co-workers, current co-workers, current relatives, former relatives, etc. If you haven't joined facebook yet, I encourage you to do so. For those of you who have loved ones that have new generations (children, grandchildren, pets, etc.) it's a fabulous way to be able to take a peek at their lives and bring a smile to your face. www.Facebook.com It's FREE, too!

Friday night Nate and I went to another UAF (University of Alaska Fairbanks) hockey game. They played the Ohio State hockey team in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association quarter final game. UAF won 4-0. The UAF fans were encouraged to wear white and the first 2000 fans received a white towel to wave as we created a "blizzard" effect in the 4200 seat arena. My energetic husband really surprised me during the game. He came aross a stray towel, armed himself with one in each hand, and throughout the game regularly flipped his wrists in front of his chest, arms at his sides, making his towels flutter up and down, up and down. That's my Nathan, my ball of energy! Check out the news article about the game. http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/14/uaf-fans-see-success-whiteout/

I was able to practice my whistle a bit more at last night's hockey game. I actually cheated a bit and practiced it at home Thursday night after Nate went to work at 11 p.m....not sure how the neighbors in the other half of the duplex felt about hearing my shrill whistle, but don't really care since their winter activity (drinking) lends itself to loud, profane arguments on a too regular basis. We know way more than we should about "those people" considering we do not have face to face conversations. The saving grace in this situation is that they have a HUGE motor home parked alongside their side of the duplex so we have high hopes they will be moving on come warmer weather. Our landlord permits 6 month leases, and we have our fingers crossed that theirs falls in that category!

Well, time to post my photos. I'll be posting them in a separate blog so as to hopefully not skew things all up with lengthy text AND photos all in one posting. Yeah, right, there I go thinking positive thoughts again!

Ice and Moose in Alaska

to the left - snow by the entry to our duplex.

Ice used for the ice festival - harvested from a deep pond.

Isn't this just the prettiest blue ice you've ever seen on a pond?

Ice Sculpture of a couple of turtles.

If you want to see the details closer, click on the photos.



Alaska celebrates 50 years of statehood this year.

Long slides 100% made from ice. Kids of all ages were enjoying them...sorry u can't see or hear them.









These were probably 25' tall.

Nathan - Mr. Carharrt

Camilla at our work as viewed from the receptionist station.











The title of this sculpture is spring.

Momma and baby moose across the road from work today 3-12-09.

Lady on the left was recently involved in a serious accident. She was working as an attendant on a local school bus which was hit by an out of control vehicle. She sustained serious burns and is receiving treatment in Washington State. Please keep her in your prayers.

Courthouse in Fairbanks, AK. Isn't the building and the sky pretty?

Front of the courthouse by the entrance.

Nate in our apartment, getting ready to go to the ice park.

Typical Alaska snow - almost looks fake, doesn't it?

Hopefully these photos and the accompanying text stay where I'm posting them. In reviewing my past postings I find that sometimes the text I type next to a photo ends up next to a different photo.

Tomorrow I send my camera back to Sony for repairs...at no expense. I really, really, really love that camera and SO want it back. I've tried using a different camera, but it just isn't as easy to use.

We continue to find ourselves amused at some non-amusing things. Camilla can't get over how little things just "tickle" me. That makes me easy to get along with, doncha think?

Today I was VERY excited first thing this morning to see a mama moose come out from behind the building across the road from work. It made its way into the willows and munched away. About 2 p.m. I peeked out and saw not only the mama moose, but the "baby" too. The baby is actually probably 2 years old. They got very close to the road and I couldn't resist taking a couple of photos with my cell phone. Hope you enjoy them.

I also used my telephone to take photos at the ice park last night. That, too, was a new experience for us. We got on our winter clompy boots and bundled up nice n warm. It was only 20 degrees out, and by the time we got home I was sweaty, sweaty. There were many parents and children there, the parents pulling their children in plastic sleds, as well as moms with small babies bundled up in pouches attached to their chests. Alaskans don't let a little cold or snow stop them from enjoying life. Gotta love their gusto!