Friday, January 29, 2010

Two months, two blue moons...


... and this is the second one in January. It is only proof an attempt at a photo was made. Had to deal with a neighbor's dog barking and snarling at me in my own yard (lucky I had a camera instead of a gun) and a camera that is just too automatic for its own good, a new and unfamiliar tripod and a lens that just isn't long enough. But, this is the blue moon the second month in a row we have had one (although December and January shared the same full moon Dec. 31 and Jan. 1). So all excuses given, an A for effort???

Here's how a professional shot the moon (so to speak) and some more informatiion

Humor for today

There's a facebook group called "I'm from Alaska and 30 degrees is not cold." Just a fun site with occasionally funny comments. Today I ran across one of the best. "I love it when the thermometer reads 'Made in China.' " The picture of my car's thermometer reading -40 is in the album of fan photos.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Sunday, sun day, son day



Driving home yesterday I went by this pasture in town. With the light and the hoar frost I said if the weather was the same I would come back today and it was, and for once i actually did one of those things I said I would. In one of the pictures you can even see the cattle. Beautiful clear days this time of year Driving back home I rolled back into the shadow of Pioneer Peak. Don't know what it is about me and living on the north side of things but I seem to do it a lot. The sun goes behind the hill for a couple of months at the East Pole, too. There it comes back January 14. That's an easy day to remember. Besides the day the sun shines again at the East Pole, it is also the day my son was born, AND, that was a Sunday. So, now the title is explained.

I went to see "The Book of Eli" later. A good movie. I have always liked the more realistic of the apocalypse movies and this one has a good plot with a surprise ending. Denzel Washington was, well, Denzel Washington, very good in the part. And little Mila Kunis, so good, and has come so far from Jackie Burkhart in Point Place.

Driving home under a clear sky and half a moon I came across a couple of moose in the road. A cow and a young bull. At the honk of a horn, the cow went over the guard rail and into the boonies, but the bull was too stupid to jump and I kind of had to slowly chase him honking the horn for a couple of hundred yards. I learned a couple of years ago not to try to pass them. One night i tried to pass a young bull but when I got next to him he put his head down and tried to bull into me. Knocked off my side view mirror and knocked himself silly. All survived though, but I stayed behind this guy and gave him lots of room to find a way off the road.

The rest of the pictures

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Boogie nights and layoff days

This has been a week. Started and ended on a positive note but, oh, that middle ground. Every time I see that ad on TV "help, I've fallen and I can't get up" it occurs to me that I live alone in a fairly isolated area, seldom see or talk to other people -- most days the only people I talk to outside of work are the kids at the Subway where I buy my lunch sandwich -- and could easily not be missed by anyone for weeks if something happened. Now, one day this week I ran into one delay after another on the way to work which made me half an hour late. Mind you, in almost five years there, I have never missed a day, nor have I been late more than once or twice and that only by a minute or two. With all that in mind, that delay day as I was finally pulling into the parking lot my phone rang. It was the supervisor asking if I was all right. It turned out he and another fellow I work with had wondered why I was late, and discussed the fact I am never late and actually started to worry a bit. I found it reassuring that people notice things like that and were concerned enough to call.

Well, that was the good part of work. On the day after the Haiti disaster occurred, the company announced a new round of layoffs, the third in little more than a year. This time the cuts went deep. I watched a woman leave who has worked there for 32 years and there were rumors of others with that sort of longevity getting cut as well. This is a recurring action in the newspaper business and particularly at McClatchy which made some financial mistakes that are now haunting the company. I survived this cut and the others, mostly I think because I took the offer a couple of years ago to work on the Web site rather than the paper, although I still edit several stories a night for the paper in addition to my internet duties. But it has reached the point where I think we all begin to feel guilt as we watch colleagues leave the office while we sit quietly in our seats glad it didn't happen to us, but feeling so much for the departed and not really knowing what to say. There were tears this time and I have never seen that happen in previous layoffs. This one hit me harder than the others, I guess because now I don't see the possibility for improvement. I have a feeling we are now clinging to a sinking ship and it is only a matter of time before it turns bow up and slips below the surface.

So, ups and downs and overs and outs. Today my son turned 20. He is no longer the kid or the teenager who lights my life so much. Now he is officially in his 20s and a man I love. And though I have known it for a while, today my daughter announced her engagement publicly. Maybe these are signs I need to grow up, too. But I really don't want to. I am glad to see them progress and I cheer for them but still out there is drugs, sex, and rock and roll, boogie till you puke, and ohhhhh baby. I am not trying to deny age. I am quite comfortable with my age, I am just not ready to act it. So, today, I am playing with a new machine. It converts audio tapes to MP3 and I have 30 years of music with the attached memories to keep me going for a long time. And, it helps for a while to sublimate what is happening to my colleagues at work. Plus it is a party day for my son and the announcement of a party for my daughter and her fiance, so let's get down and boogie.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Embarrassing to be an Alaskan these days


Alaska and living here have always been a source of pride for me. I have tended to ignore the less flattering elements of the state’s persona, like its submission to the oil industry and what passes for politics around here. The country, the climate, the wildlife, the mystique are what make the place so compelling.
But, beginning about the time the Governor Interrupted ran for vice president some things that previously were kind of our dirty laundry have become very public and I think, casting Alaska in an unflattering light. The best way to describe it is Alaska politicians’ war on science. It came up again yesterday when our Republican senator admitted enlisting two energy industry lobbyists, who formerly worked at EPA in the Bush administration, to help her write legislation limiting the ability of the EPA to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources (meaning power plants and industry). And the other day the new governor came out entreating the EPA not to regulate for the same reasons the senator did. Never mind that EPA is operating under a Supreme Court order to do this -- an order put out by the Bush-appointed conservative court.
So, that’s just the most recent. Before her run, the Governor Interrupted had set up a commission to look at global warming and its effects on Alaska and what we might do about it. No report has ever been issued and now the GI is denying all of climate change to the point where she tried to subvert the climate conference in Denmark recently by saying an overblown scandal around a few innocuous e-mails was proof scientists were trying to hide the fact that there is no global warming. She belongs on Fox noise.
Then, there is this. The Cook Inlet population of Beluga whales has been declining for years. From 1,500 in the 70s to about 300 today. The whales have been declared endangered. Now NOAA has proposed a critical habitat area in Cook Inlet in an effort to save them. However our only U.S. Rep and the mayor of Anchorage have called for more study and development of the “opposing science” to refute the finding. What ever happened to science being objective? Oh, it still is, unless you disagree with what science finds.
That’s not the only one. Arctic ice melting has threatened polar bears. They live on the ice and hunt from it. Having to swim longer distances has led to deaths, particularly of cubs, and some bears moving ashore. But the GI says this will hinder oil development and says the science is wrong. This from a woman who had to go to four or five different colleges to get a journalism degree (which isn’t that difficult, believe me). Not only her but the new governor and other officials are also saying without doubt polar bears are not threatened. Like they could know.
All of these attacks on science are couched in the language of development and jobs -- most of it by people who already have jobs, not to mention some, particularly the mayor of Anchorage, who are in the process of laying off workers.
And with a large and important number of our public officials and one interrupted governor denying science, refuting science with no intelligent basis and doing it out loud they are an embarrassment to all the rest of us, or at least some of the rest of us. All you have to do is read letters to the editor around here to realize these people actually have a following.
The upshot of it all is their war on science is simply embarrassing, creates an atmosphere where everyone here is considered an ignorant flake, and in the long run, most likely won’t change a thing except ruin any credibility anyone from Alaska might still possess.

Friday, January 8, 2010

Table for two, with a view, please



A couple of new critters showed up at the feeders today. Two choices, they are either spruce grouse or willow ptarmigan. Because ptarmigan are supposed to be white in winter, and because in the book these look slightly more like spruce grouse, that is my semi-educated guess. Still have never seen either kind around here before and these look so much fatter than the spruce hens I see around the East Pole. Later when I filled the feeders I spread a little extra on the ground where they were in hopes they will come back. Although I am not sure I want them to. There are some free running cats around here and these birds are not the smartest ones on the wire. It was kind of cool, while I was sneaking up on them and photographing them, I could hear the fluttering of the chickadees as they dove toward the feeder. Later when I filled the one they like most, me being around didn't even bother them. At one point there were three on the feeder while I was holding it in my hand. Besides the grouse, redpolls showed up for the first time this year today too. They come in clouds and eat way too much. Last year it got to be 15 pounds of sunflower seeds and 6 pounds of hearts every two weeks. Also learned a sad lesson today I should have learned a long time ago. Another of those phrases to live by: Don't park your car under the bird feeder. When I saw half a dozen redpolls on it I realized the mistake but I got it out of there before they had enough time to really foul it. Still maroon. Whew.

Another sighting today also: I went to see Sherlock Holmes tonight. Good movie but not the Holmes I grew up reading about. I am sure Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would say the same. As I pulled into the parking lot I saw a familiar shape only much closer than I have ever seen him before. Wide brimmed hat, long grayish beard, puffy winter coat, backpack. Pretty sure this was the solitary man. This is the town he was always heading toward when I saw him in the mornings and leaving when I saw him in the afternoons. He was talking to another man. I walked as close as I dared without drawing suspicion and I'm pretty sure it was him. Problem was, he was out of context and I realized I have never seen him close enough to recognize facial characteristics, so I can't be sure.

At any rate it was a good day to have my eyes open.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Winter as the days grow longer



Had to dodge two moose on the way home last night, one a little too close for comfort. Snowing today but expected to turn to rain by nightfall. Days are getting longer. And, oh yes, confirmed there is a second blue moon in a row. The overnight full moon Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 will be followed by another Jan. 30.

And, more than a year ago I put up a photo gallery of fall colors along the road to work. This week i did it again only this time with everything decked out in winter lace. You can find it here.

Friday, January 1, 2010

Once in a Blue Moon



Or maybe twice considering there will be another one this month. Anyway this was New Year's Eve 2009 and New Year's Day 2010.

Slideshow: The first blue moon.

Best headlines ever

Naked pair fed LSD gummy worm to dog

Owners of a Noah's Ark replica file a lawsuit over rain damage

In Southcentral Alaska earthquake, damage originated in the ground, engineers say

A headline that could only be written in Alaska: At state cross country, Glacier Bears and Grizzlies sweep, Lynx repeat, Wolverines make history — and a black bear crosses the trail

Man kills self before shooting wife and daughter

Alabama governor candidate caught in lesbian sperm donation scandal

Sister hits moose on way to visit sister who hit moose.

Man caught driving stolen car filled with radioactive uranium, rattlesnake, whiskey

Man loses his testicles after attempting to smoke weed through a SCUBA tank

Church Mutual Insurance won't cover Church's flood damage because it's 'an act of God'

Homicide victims rarely talk to police

Meerkat Expert Attacked Monkey Handler Over Love Affair with Llama Keeper

GOP congressman opposes gun control because gay marriage leads to bestiality

Owner of killer bear chokes to death on sex toy

Support for legalizing pot hits all-time high

Give me all your money or my penguin will explode

How zombie worms have sex in whale bones

Crocodile steals zoo worker's lawn mower

Woman shot by oven while trying to cook waffles

Nude beach blowjob jet ski fight leads to wife's death

Woman stabs husband with squirrel for not buying beer Christmas Eve

GOPer files complaint against Democrat for telling the truth about Big Lie social posts

Man shot dead on Syracuse Street for 2nd time in 2 days

Alaska woman punches bear in face, saves dog

Johnny Rotten suffers flea bite on his penis after rescuing squirrel

Memorable quotations

The best way to know you are having an adventure is when you wish you were home talking about it." — a mechanic on the Alaska State Ferry System. Or as in my own case planning how I will be writing it on this blog.

"You can't promote principled anti-corruption without pissing off corrupt people." — George Kent

"If only the British had held on to the airports, the whole thing might have gone differently for us." — Mick Jagger

"You can do anything as long as you don't scare the horses." — a mother's favorite saying recalled by a friend

A poem is an egg with a horse inside” — anonymous fourth grader

“My children will likely turn my picture to the wall but what the hell, you only get old once." — Joe May

“Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.” — Ernest Hemingway

When I write, I feel like an armless, legless man with a crayon in his mouth. Kurt Vonnegut

“If you wrote something for which someone sent you a cheque, if you cashed the cheque and it didn't bounce, and if you then paid the light bill with the money, I consider you talented.”Stephen King

The thing about ignorance is, you don't have to remain ignorant. — me again"

"It was like the aftermath of an orgasm with the wrong partner." – David Lagercrants “The Girl in the Spider’s Web.”

Why worry about dying, you aren't going to live to regret it.

Never debate with someone who gets ink by the barrel" — George Hayes, former Alaska Attorney General who died recently

My dear Mr. Frost: two roads never diverge in a yellow wood. Three roads meet there. — @Shakespeare on Twitter

Normal is how somebody else thinks you should act.

"The mark of a great shiphandler is never getting into situations that require great shiphandling," Adm. Ernest King, USN

Me: Does the restaurant have cute waitresses?

My friend Gail: All waitresses are cute when you're hungry.

I'm not a writer, but sometimes I push around words to see what happens. – Scott Berry

I realized today how many of my stories start out "years ago." What's next? Once upon a time?"

“The rivers of Alaska are strewn with the bones of men who made but one mistake” - Fred McGarry, a Nushagak Trapper

Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stared at walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing. – Meg Chittenden

A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity. – Franz Kafka

We are all immortal until the one day we are not. – me again

If the muse is late, start without her – Peter S. Beagle

Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain Actually you could do the same thing with the word "really" as in "really cold."

If you are looking for an experience that will temper your vanity, this is it. There's no one to impress when you're alone on the trap line. – Michael Carey quoting his father's journal

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. – Benjamin Franklin

It’s nervous work. The state you need to write in is the state that others are paying large sums of money to get rid of. – Shirley Hazzard

So far as I can remember, there is not one word in the Gospels in praise of intelligence -- Bertrand Russell

You know that I always just wanted to have a small ship to take stuff from a place that had a lot of that stuff to a place that did not have a lot of that stuff and so prosper.—Jackie Faber, “The Wake of the Lorelei Lee”

If you attack the arguer instead of the argument, you lose both

If an insurance company won’t pay for damages caused by an “act of God,” shouldn’t it then have to prove the existence of God? – I said that

I used to think getting old was about vanity—but actually it’s about losing people you love. Getting wrinkles is trivial. – Eugene O’Neill

German General to Swiss General: “You have only 500,000 men in your army; what would you do if I invaded with 1 million men?”

Swiss General: “Well, I suppose every one of my soldiers would need to fire twice.”

Writing is the only thing that when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.—Gloria Steinem

Exceed your bandwidth—sign on the wall of the maintenance shop at the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center

One thing I do know, if you keep at it, you usually wind up getting something done.—Patricia Monaghan

Do you want to know what kind of person makes the best reporter? I’ll tell you. A borderline sociopath. Someone smart, inquisitive, stubborn, disorganized, chaotic, and in a perpetual state of simmering rage at the failings of the world.—Brett Arends

It is a very simple mind that only knows how to spell a word one way.—Andrew Jackson

3:30 is too late or too early to do anything—Rene Descartes

Everything is okay when it’s 50-below as long as everything is okay. – an Alaskan in Tom Walker’s “The Seventymile Kid”

You can have your own opinion but you can’t have your own science.—commenter arguing on a story about polar bears and global warming

He looks at three ex wives as a good start—TV police drama

Talkeetna: A friendly little drinking town with a climbing problem.—a handmade bumper sticker

“You’re either into the wall or into the show”—Marco Andretti on giving it all to qualify last at the 2011 Indy 500

Makeup is not for the faint of heart—the makeup guerrilla

“I’m going to relax in a very adult manner.”—Danica Patrick after sweating it out and qualifying half an hour before Andretti

“Asking Congress to come back is like asking a mugger to come back because he forgot your wallet.”—a roundtable participant on Fox of all places

As Republicans go further back in the conception process to define when life actually begins, I am beginning to think the eventual definition will be life begins in the beer I was drinking when I met her.—me again

Hunting is a “critical element for the long-term conservation of wood bison.”—a state department of Fish and Game official explaining why the state would not go along with a federal plan to reintroduce wood bison in Alaska because the agreement did not specifically allow hunting

Each day do something that won’t compute – anon

I can’t belive I still have to protest this shit – a sign carriend by an elderly woman at an Occupy demonstration

Life should be a little nuts or else it’s just a bunch of Thursdays strung together—Kevin Costner as Beau Burroughs in “Rumor has it”

You’re just a wanker whipping up fear —Irish President Michael D. Higgins to a tea party radio announcer

Being president doesn’t change who you are; it reveals who you are—Michelle Obama

Sports malaprops

Naked pair fed LSD gummy worm to dog

Owners of a Noah's Ark replica file a lawsuit over rain damage

In Southcentral Alaska earthquake, damage originated in the ground, engineers say

A headline that could only be written in Alaska: At state cross country, Glacier Bears and Grizzlies sweep, Lynx repeat, Wolverines make history — and a black bear crosses the trail

Man kills self before shooting wife and daughter

Alabama governor candidate caught in lesbian sperm donation scandal

Sister hits moose on way to visit sister who hit moose.

Man caught driving stolen car filled with radioactive uranium, rattlesnake, whiskey

Man loses his testicles after attempting to smoke weed through a SCUBA tank

Church Mutual Insurance won't cover Church's flood damage because it's 'an act of God'

Homicide victims rarely talk to police

Meerkat Expert Attacked Monkey Handler Over Love Affair with Llama Keeper

GOP congressman opposes gun control because gay marriage leads to bestiality

Owner of killer bear chokes to death on sex toy

Support for legalizing pot hits all-time high

Give me all your money or my penguin will explode

How zombie worms have sex in whale bones

Crocodile steals zoo worker's lawn mower

Woman shot by oven while trying to cook waffles

Nude beach blowjob jet ski fight leads to wife's death

Woman stabs husband with squirrel for not buying beer Christmas Eve

GOPer files complaint against Democrat for telling the truth about Big Lie social posts

Man shot dead on Syracuse Street for 2nd time in 2 days

Alaska woman punches bear in face, saves dog

Johnny Rotten suffers flea bite on his penis after rescuing squirrel