All geared up but you can't get there from here

Is this winter in Alaska? December 30, 2014.

New Year's Eve has always been great at the East Pole. It just seems to be the best place to shed the old year and put on the new. The problem is you need a good cover of snow to get there. That's not happening this year. For an idea what this winter is like, get this: December 27 marked a year since the temperature in Anchorage dropped below zero.  That's the second longest streak on record. All the local sled dog races have been cancelled.

Gear gathered? Check.

Puddles of water and ice in the yard, snow almost gone. Conditions aren't much better around the Pole, with a reported snow cover of about 9 inches which would translate to a little more at the cabin. But with rain in the forecast and temperatures well above freezing, most likely the trail would be lakes overlaying a base of ice, creeks open and a miserable trip along the way.

Transportation ready? Check. Snow? Eh, not so much.

Here is the choice: If I had to go, I probably could make it. If the trip is just for enjoyment maybe it isn't worth it.  Am I growing up? Finally? Maybe. Why make yourself miserable if you don't have to, not that spending the holiday under gray skies and 40-degree temperatures here sounds any more appealing. There was a time when just poking your nose out to see how it looks, as in driving up there with the idea I might have to drive back, was the best choice, but it just doesn't sound like much fun any more. Perhaps this time discretion is the better part of courage.

Nevertheless I spent much of yesterday shopping and getting the winter gear out ready for the trip in hopes the weather forecast this morning would be more promising. Actually it came up looking worse, so the trip is off and it will be at least two weeks before another one can even be considered.

Maybe it's a good year to see if the Hillbilly Hangout has another great recipe for welcoming the new year.

And who cares if every economic indicator is up and Rolling Stone named him one of the most successful presidents in American history? What I'd like to know is what has President Obama done about the weather?

Hillbilly Hangout recipes for a new year.

Tasteless Christmas – 2014

It's the Monday before Christmas and all across the TV

there are ads that offend anyone who can see.

Yes, that time of year again and Madison Avenue has been hard at it, taking traditional Christmas carols and using them to sell us stuff we don't really need.

To begin with, this was the first year I can remember seeing Christmas items on display in stores during September. People complain it starts earlier every year, but September?  Almost four months early? Seriously? I love the joke that goes: "The thing I don't like about this war on Christmas is that it starts earlier every year."

Once again Kmart wins the top of the post video position with another tasteless ad. Last year it was "Jingle Balls." This year is not quite so bad, but fat guys beating their bellies like bass drums to "Jingle Bells" to sell underwear is pretty darned close.

But, back to those early ads. How about the guy pitching a spray sealant, one of those miracle sprays that fix everything, as the perfect gift for everyone on your list. Tell that to your wife. On top of that it first showed up around Oct. 3. By Oct. 8 there were promotions for future broadcasts of Christmas movies to the tune of "It's Beginning to Look a Lot like Christmas." Hey guys, on October 8 it doesn't look anything like Christmas.

This one stretches the Christmas theme but it still fits the bill nicely. Somebody advertised that Black Friday begins on Wednesday this year, and sadly it probably worked. Just for the record, I have never bought anything on Black Friday – I don't even like that name, black is such a negative image and who decided that? – except maybe cigarettes back when I smoked. I also saw someone posted the Seven Days of Black Friday, but there was no way I was going to find out what they were.

One I found extremely offensive – and sadly it was for a product close to my heart, Alaska seafood – was "Angels We Have Heard on High" used to sell dead fish.

Then there was the ad that began with an image of a room and door decorated festively (is that redundant?)  with an announcer in loud voice declaring, "Fear not for we bring good tidings of great joy …" The door bursts open and professional wrestlers explode into the room while the announcer tells us World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) will broadcast marathons of wrestling matches.

And while we are on sports (if pro wrestling can be counted as a sport) some soccer organization put up an ad promoting attendance at upcoming matches with the song, "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful."

I guess we can be thankful Pampers finally gave up selling diapers to "Silent Night," and let it go at that. I TAKE THAT BACK! PAMPERS AD USING "SILENT NIGHT" seen Dec. 26.

And, just so this post doesn't end on a totally negative note, here is a song new this year from Pentatonix, the group that brought us "Little Drummer Boy" last year.

Tasteless Christmas – 2013

Tasteless Christmas – 2008

She won't be with us this Christmas

I sat with her, just the two of us in her hospital room. She and cancer had reached the end game and cancer had the upper hand. She wondered what she had done in her life, what was worthwhile, what had she accomplished. I searched my mind and told her everything I could think of and it was considerable. I couldn't tell if she was convinced or not.

We had come to Alaska together 40 years earlier.  We had not lasted together, but individually Alaska and each of us had. We had careers and adventures together, we had a daughter together, one who was about to make us grandparents, but we had gone our separate ways somewhere in that timeline though we had remained respectful and cordial through it all. Now she wondered what she had accomplished and I tried to assure her she had had her effect.

She worried, too about an obligation, a task she had performed longer than most could remember and wondered what would happen in the future. In that moment as she laid in that hospital bed, ill-fitting scarf around her head which had been ravaged by chemo, I assured her I would carry on her obligation, at least until a suitable replacement could be employed. We made something of a plan to work together on the most recent part of that project so I could learn it.

As we talked I saw at moments where the mind slipped, when she almost fell asleep and when she finally excused herself, simply too tired to carry the conversation any further.

Trying to be understanding, I stood up, smiled at her, touched her hand and said goodbye, Sally.

As I passed through the doorway with my back to her on the way out, I very suddenly realized that really was goodbye.  It was the last time I ever saw her.

I held it together until I got my car out of the parking lot and onto the road home before the tears started.

A most remarkable woman

Where's this White Christmas we hear so much about?

A couple of years ago around Christmas time I posted a video made by elementary school students in  Quinhagak, Alaska. Using signs to show the words, they acted out the Hallelujah Chorus.


Well, they are back again this year only this one is funny. You see, in many parts of Alaska we are having a very strange winter with a decided lack of snow. The Quinhagak kids lament the missing snow in this video based on the song "A White Christmas."


Enjoy it.


Merry Christmas from Quinhagak, Alaska

Sea World Tweet storm

WE DID IT! Trending for 10 
hours, more than 120,000 tweets.

If anybody looks, you might wonder about the strange posts in the Twitter feed on this page. It is all part of what is called a tweet storm aimed at Sea World.  16,000 tweets in the first 35 minutes.

Details here

This has been a long time coming

Strange things are done when there's no midnight sun

It's shaping up to be a very strange winter, indeed. Here it is December 15 and it's raining with a temperature of 42 F – ABOVE! The yard has very little snow, what there is clings to shadows. Ice covers much of the area where it has been packed a little and in the low spots, open water.

I had planned to go out for Christmas and/or New Year's but there is no snow at the East Pole either and given the rain, the trail would be a total mess, not to mention the possibility of getting in there with a four-wheeler and having a huge snow dump, trapping man and machine there at least until some people ran over the trial and I could hike out.

These are the dark days anyway, made worse by mostly overcast gray skies that allow little sunlight to sneak through. All of it does little to enhance any joy in life.

And, in all this, some strange behaviors. Among other things, there are bright red tomatoes on the plant standing in the window next to the kitchen table.

First of all there hasn't been a single redpoll visit this winter so far. Outside feeding birds today they showed some different behavior. I have often had chickadees land on a feeder I was filling and once one even landed on my shoulder. But the grosbeaks being the spookiest of the bunch usually disappear at any sign of anything unusual and possibly threatening. Today, though, while I was filling one feeder a grosbeak landed on the one right next to it. And when I looked down two of them were grazing through the spilled seed on the ground at my feet. Very unusual. But the biggest surprise was yet to come.

As I was picking my way carefully across a patch of ice I happened to look at the lilac bush, protected from moose for the winter by a circle of wire fencing. I had to look twice and then go in closer, but sure enough, there were several green leaf buds on the branches, in December, in Alaska. What?

In search for a simple blue ball

You can buy a car that parks itself. You can buy a telephone that has more computing power than the early space shuttles. There are apps that can control any part of your life you want them to, but can you find one simple ball?

This isn't the blue ball i am seeking.

I have been looking for Christmas presents for my grandson who will be all of three months old not too long before the day comes. There aren't many toys kids that age will play with, most of the ones I see are more for parents so they can entertain themselves with them thinking they are playing with the kid. It came up not long ago that the boy's sports education is going to fall to me and his uncle, his father never having been involved with them much. (I have been informed, quite cryptically that my son in law played hockey throughout his high school career. It was the insertion a ball that made the difference.) It's a responsibility I gladly accept.  Hope I can still dunk when I am 80.

The earliest toy I can remember having was a simple ball; it was hard plastic about the size of a baseball and blue. Oddly it was not a present from anyone or just a toy my parents bought me. I found it in a cabin my family rented on the Canadian side of the Niagara River one summer. I don't recall what I did with it but I remember the blue hard ball and I suspect is was the beginning of my lifelong interest and moderate success in sports involving balls. So, I have been looking for a simple hard plastic (read lightweight)  ball for this new boy in our family to give him a good start in the right direction, or at least the one I think he should go (that may be up for some discussion). I see it as something he can push around in his crib or wherever he plays and eventually I can start rolling it to him which might lead him to roll it back and then we are off on a grand journey. I would have better luck finding him a pint-sized AR-15.

Every time I get near a toy department I look through the aisles for such a thing. Oh, there are balls for sure, huge  balls, musical balls, knobby balls, balls with wings, balls that change color as they roll; you can even buy balls in lots of 100 to fill a home version of a ball pit. After several stores, I tried Amazon. No, Amazon says it has 400 pages when you search toys/balls. Four hundred pages and not one simple smooth plastic ball the size of a baseball.  There are non toxic, safe balls, Nerf balls a kid can take a good bite out of; kid sized soccer balls (soccer? this is an American kid).  But a simple ball that all it does is roll, nope. Some places have bags of 100, but what do you do with 99 plastic balls?

I have an idea. I have to see how much they weigh, but you know those wood balls they put on banister posts?  I can see that happening with a nice coat of paint.  It will matter how heavy they are.

If that doesn't work, those MacDonald's with the ball pits better be guarding their inventory because one of those balls is liable to be missing some time before Christmas.

Three white lights

In navigation, three white lights vertically and red to right 
and green to left mean a tugboat and tow more than 200 
meters long is coming toward you.

That Thanksgiving night seems like it was more than a hundred years ago now. That night I learned what the loneliness of the ocean sailor is all about. We were delivering an 83-foot fish tender from Alaska to the Seattle area and Thanksgiving found us off Namu, British Columbia, about to enter Fitzhugh Sound.

Below in the galley we had a turkey we'd brought along cooking in the diesel stove. The odors wafting up through the house brought memories of their own. The boat rose and fell on a gentle swell as we entered the sound and I checked all the visible navigation aids against the chart to make sure we were far enough offshore and heading the way we wanted to go. With all signs good, I set the auto pilot and leaned back in the chair casually watching the dark water ahead. The VHF radio had barely issued a peep all day, but occasionally traffic on the Single Sideband disturbed the quiet in the wheehouse.

Then out of the buzz and garbled voices a clear one loudly called for a particular vessel. That vessel responded equally as clearly and suddenly a father at sea connected with his young son on the night of Thanksgiving. The father said he was on a tug off the coast of California near San Francisco; the son responded with an unhuh. And that was how the conversation went from there. The father  trying to coax any kind of conversation out of the boy he could, wanting that connection so desperately and the son unsure and shy answering in affirmative grunts and mumbles. Did you have a good dinner?  Uh huh.  Did you have turkey?  Yeah. Did you have mashed potatoes and gravy?  Mm hmm. Did you eat your vegetables? Ummm. The seaman laughed at that response.

But you could almost feel the desperation in the man's voice as he queried his son most likely wanting any sign at all that they were connected and he was appreciated. If it did come, I never heard it. In time the father said he had to go and the boy said OK and that was that. Given that a woman never came on I assumed this was a divorced father, as I was, which probably made the pain all the worse.

On and off through the night I thought of that father on the tug somewhere south of us, not even knowing which way it was headed. I replayed the conversation in my head and thought of my own son 2 years old at the time with whom I could not have even had that stilted conversation.

I actually thought of a song.  For a long time I thought it would be cool given the number of folks on the water around the world to write a series of country-western-type songs in the way of truck driving ballads but about work boats and the people on them. A tug with a tow longer than 200 meters shows three white lights vertically forward and I started on "The Three White Lights of Christmas." Perhaps fortunately for the world, I never got very far with it, but I have never lost the memory of that night on Fitzhugh Sound and that sailor's conversation with his son.

I guess on holidays no matter who we are or what our circumstance is, in one way or another we reach for family. I have spent many holidays alone since that night and in a way feel that kinship with mariners and in that understanding I know that every year somewhere in the world, there are sailors out on the big oceans trying to converse with a child across the waters and, one can hope, making that desired family connection.

A whale of an argument remains unresolved

Have you ever been involved in an argument that ended unsatisfactorily and then lingered in your mind, maybe for years, unresolved? This post is an attempt to resolve one of those. It came up as a memory after seeing this item about sei whales on Facebook the other day.

Sei whale photo by Christin Khan on the Mission Blue FB page.

The Sei Whale is the THIRD LARGEST baleen whale and one of the FASTEST of all cetaceans: it can sprint up to 50 kilometers per hour! They're also ENDANGERED, having been hunted to near extinction during humanity's whaling days. (Japan still hunts them, by the way.) – From the Mission Blue Facebook page.

It began off the coast of California a couple of days out from San Francisco Bay. On a dark gray afternoon we spotted a whale resting on the surface several hundred feet from the boat. The visual silhouette indicated one of the larger baleen whales, the long back with an unnaturally small dorsal fin in the rear third of the body. From experience, looking at it, I guessed a fin whale or a sei whale while others on the boat said it was a blue whale, one outside my experience.

In time and very authoritatively two people decided it was a blue whale and that was that. At the time to a younger person I suggested it could be a fin whale or a sei whale. One of these two authorities overheard me and said it could not be sei whale and I was dead wrong.  Now I hadn’t said it was definitely a sei whale, the way this former friend had decided it was a blue whale.  I just said it could have been and just as easily could have been a blue or a fin whale. No, it cannot be a sei whale, he said.  Why not, I asked. To that he said this wasn't sei whale habitat.

Sei whale range from the American Cetacean Society

Now, I knew better than that. Years earlier a friend and I had had almost the same discussion. We saw a similar whale from a boat I was operating in Alaska waters and most people identified it as a fin whale, but this one fellow suggested it could be a sei whale. I had never heard of sei whales, so I looked them up. What I learned was they have the same shape and almost the same size as a fin whale, averaging only about five feet shorter.  According to my source book, they are very difficult to differentiate from fin whales and the only way is in how they hold their tail flukes when they dive. Also according to that book, A Sea Guide to the Whales of the World by Lyall Watson, sei whales are found throughout all the world's oceans except the extreme Arctic and Antarctic waters.

None of that mattered to this guy who in front of a whole bunch of people told me I was wrong and to boot, stupid for thinking what I was thinking. At one point he said he didn't think sei whales went into Prince William Sound, a place we both had sailed in, but was about 2,000 miles north of us at the time. But then in frustration to my not bending down in homage and agreement he said very authoritatively that he had spent years in the Antarctic and there were no sei whales there. What that had to do with whales in the mid latitudes I don't know, but by that time I was embarrassed and fed up. I told him I didn't care if he had spent years on the moon, sei whales certainly could be where we were and this could have been a sei whale, and walked away. There comes a time when you just have to cash in your chips and get out any way you can.

Still that argument has lingered in my mind for the four or so years since it happened and every time I

Blue whale

Fin whale, you tell me

see the mention of a sei whale it comes up. I guess what bothers me is that this person who has since lost my friendship, had so little disregard for me or my knowledge or intellect that he could tell me in front of a bunch of people we barely knew that I was ignorant and stupid. I did eventually tell him he was wrong about sei whales but I never said absolutely that this whale was one, only that it could have been one and that he and others had identified it as a blue whale because they wanted it to be blue whale. They had wished it so.

In the long run it is silly and immature to let oneself be dragged into such an argument and to let that argument linger as anger in the psyche for so long. Perhaps just venting here will help let it go. And by the way, I will brook no arguments over this post; as they say on Facebook, LOL.

And perhaps for those who have read this far, you are now aware of yet another species of great whales endangered on the high seas.

I guess the southern tip of Chile doesn't count as being near Antarctica

Mission Blue petition to the United Nations to save sei whales

Milestones, logs and blogs

"Sea Guide to the Whales of the World"

What a day, what wild weather

This is the lake effect snow cloud approaching Buffalo from Lake Erie.

What an interesting weather day. To begin with my old home town is being blasted with up to 70 inches of snow from an awesome storm that moved across the Great Lakes, with healthy snowfalls elsewhere in Western New York. More expected until at least Saturday.

Meanwhile here in Alaska because of a lack of snow and dry conditions we have wildfire warnings out all over the place and responders have already doused two in this general area.

Freezing temperatures in all 50 states this morning.

What's more, the Weather Service says this morning was the coldest November day recorded at least since 1976. Every state among the 50 had temperatures below freezing, including Hawaii. But right now at about 5:30 pm in Alaska it's almost 40 degrees above zero. But our time is coming: A major storm system is working its way up the Pacific Ocean and should be in the Gulf of Alaska by Thursday promising some wild weather in this area just a day or two after that.

That polar vortex was something last year and looks to get worse this time around. I wonder which way the snowy owls are flying.

And, here is the storm approaching Alaska from the south.

Photos of the storm and approaching lake effect cloud.

Coldest morning in US since 1976.

Matanuska-Susitna fire danger

Owl be seeing you in the Polar Vortex

Meanwhile back in Alaska

The sun rose this morning. Lots of birds came to the feeders. The electricity in the house still works. So, I guess it's not the end of the world quite yet. And, I realized I have been ignoring the better parts of life in recent posts, so please bear with some disjointed thoughts from the north.

Why is it most songbirds look angry from head on? There's that bluebird.

First, I finally pinpointed the exact date when the sun goes behind the mountain in the fall. It came last Wednesday right at the peak when the sun slipped behind it for less than an hour. Two sunrises for a while, but they will get farther apart until the day when it doesn't show at all. Marking the date at October 29. The two sunrises come back for the spring around February 5.

Then there is the solitary man. Not much to write about him these days because I just don't travel

I have one of these hanging in a window at the cabin.

that road often enough and at the right times. But there is news. Driving by the  island between freeway lanes where I believed he lived, I saw massive bulldozer cuts into the woods and a huge pile of soil fill at the north end. More bulldozer scars at the south end and a collection of heavy yellow machinery. The world is taking out his home. Plans are for a highway widening to three lanes on each side and the new bigger, safer interchange of entry and exit ramps in both directions. Where he went is anybody's guess but for sure he isn't gong to be staying there any more. Another attack on the homeless.

Around here chickadees crowd the feeders and as many as nine Pine grosbeaks at a time join the frenzy. A nuthatch here and there and a junco join the fray now and again but so far no sign of redpolls. They usually show up later in the winter. I have gone through about half the first bag of feed of the season.

Only a thin, broken cover of crusty snow colors the yard but that's about normal for the season. More to come for sure, especially with a huge storm coming in on the Bering Sea coast this weekend, part of a huge cyclone system moving up the Pacific this week.

I started the first fire in the wood stove this week, replaced the kitchen sink and repaired the chain saw, not that it's needed anytime soon. There's a good supply of firewood in the yard.

Given the events of the past month, it's coming time for an extensive foray to the East Pole. I look at the idle snowmachines in the tent and hear Alaska calling again and it's time to heed that call. All that’s needed is about 20 inches of snow. Bring it.

On the slippery slope that leads to third-world status

American democracy goes on display for the world tomorrow. Let's hope we get it right. It's difficult to force our system down the throats of third-world countries when we can't do it correctly at home.

Dan Sullivan should come with a warning label

Finally, we have reached the last weekend before Tuesday's election and frankly, it's been upsetting and tiring. If this election weren't so important, I'd let it go, but it is important and perhaps the very fabric of our nation depends on the outcome. We all know what the Republicans have done and want to do in Congress, an attack on regular folks, old folks, the poor, the working poor, students, education, health care, the list goes on and on. At the same time they want to continue tax cuts for the very wealthy, in essence reversing Robin Hood to take from the poor and give to the rich.

Here in Alaska we have a candidate for the U. S. Senate who could be the poster boy for that Republican agenda. In fact most of his comments during the campaign have been more about what he sees as national issues like stopping the president and he has said very little about Alaska or issues specific to the state.

His campaign comes right out of the Republican book of tricks and the things he stands for, if from the generalities he spouts you can even figure out exactly what he stands for, follow right along with that agenda. You only have to see who's helping him: Rand Paul in ads on YouTube and Ted Cruz in Fairbanks. Do we want either of them having some influence over Alaska issues?

For starters, on this last weekend, according to the Mudflats blog, despite being funded by the Koch brothers and questionable donations from his wealthy family in Ohio, he has sent a last-minute appeal for funding: “Make an emergency contribution of at least $25 – without it we're not going 2 defeat Mark Begich.” He says the money is needed to combat his opponent's out-of state money. That is typical Republican mind-screwing, do what you want and then blame the other guys for doing it.

The other day, being alternately tired and outraged by his advertisements, and their generalities I dissected one of his ads. To begin with he has this smarmy condescending way of speaking except when he says the president's name and then he effects this complicated tone that at once projects masked outrage and is said in a way that assumes everyone hates President Obama and his policies, particularly Obamacare.

In one of his ads he says he will protect Alaskans. Gee, thanks padrone from what?

In this particular one he starts out by saying he will "stand up to Obama… ." If elected this guy would be the junior senator from a red state with three electoral votes. He is not going to stand up to anybody. If he expects to gain anything to "protect us" he will be kissing ass all over Congress to have any effect at all.

That particular phrase goes on: "… and his failed policies." What failed policies? By most measures the president has been very effective despite the hatred and opposition aimed at him by the party this guy hopes to join in Congress. He particularly says he will get rid of Obamacare. Now, Congress has voted as many as 51 times to repeal that act and failed every time. By any measure it has been deemed a success, with more than 10 million people who now have health insurance who didn't have it before. That should be a dead issue, but he is going to protect us from it anyway. He points to some Alaskans who have seen costs increase but fails to mention that Alaska, governed by his party and the administration he was part of, is one of the few states that did not go along with the law and expand Medicaid to take advantage of it.

Chart detailing the president's "failed policies" provided by the Democratic party. All of the numbers are easily verified.

The next point he makes is that he will attack the president's wasteful spending. That is just an outright lie. By every measure this administration has made gains in that area and reduced the federal deficit by a considerable amount.  He might look at wasteful spending in the form of subsidies given to the largest corporations operating in this country, including a few that have moved their headquarters offshore to avoid taxes the rest of us pay.

In another stated objective he says he will promote Alaska energy. Does that mean putting vitamins in the water supply? Mostly he has said in the past he wants to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to petroleum drilling. He blames his opponent for not getting that done. Well, that's been an issue for years and every Alaska member of Congress since the 1970s has not managed to get it done. A lot of people who this guy hopes to represent don't want it to happen anyway. "Wildlife refuge" means just that.

The last point the ad makes is that this candidate will strengthen national security. What is he going to do along that front that already hasn't been done? President Obama got Osama bin Laden, something his GOP predecessor couldn't do despite starting two very expensive wars and not achieving that goal. Is he going to vote like this last Congress did to spend money on tanks the Defense Department says it doesn't even want? Is he going to put anyone who has even heard the word "ebola" in quarantine? Is he going to back a ground war against ISIS? Another empty statement.

Those four points were the main ones in this ad and they generally followed what's been put forward in all of his campaign materials. Empty statements that don't stand up under scrutiny, pure hatred for America’s president and his policies and projections of himself as a superman who is going to change everything while he stands up to the Goliath, Barack Obama.

In short, he stands against a whole lot of things, but hasn't named one specific positive goal he hopes to accomplish. He simply wants to join the rest of the Republistructionists and stop Obama.

No thanks, Dan Sullivan, Alaska wants to move forward, not backward and Alaskans definitely don't need his protection. What would be better is if we did with him what was done with unwanted, dangerous people in past years: tie an airline ticket around his neck and leave him at the airport.

 By all means let's send another clueless, obstructionist to Congress

Murkowski on marijuana: Don't you wish he would just go away?

Doing something a little different today and turning the blog over to another writer. 

This past week, former Gov. Frank Murkowski stuck his nose into Alaska politics once again to tell us all how awful legalizing marijuana would be for the rest of us. Many of us thought Murkowski was out of touch even when he was still active in politics. Since he was tossed out like yesterday's cantaloupe rinds by Sarah Palin of all people, he occasionally ventures into the public debate to illustrate to us how far out of touch he is. And, how out of touch is that? He says we have no need to rush into legalizing pot. Hey man, pot has been at least partially legal in Alaska since the mid 1970s. If we went any slower we'd be going backward. This week he chose to warn Alaska about the effects of "big marijuana"as if there is some huge industry out there like "big oil" or "big agriculture" threatening our very existence. Well the father of my brand new grandson has taken the former guv to school about the issue and here is his essay on the subject. 

Former Gov. and Sen. Frank Murkowski's attack on marijuana

Get your facts straight, Frank

By DAVID PHIFER

After reading Senator Murkowski’s opinion piece on Ballot Measure 2 I was struck by the lack of understanding of many of the issues involved.  His misconceptions are summarized most eloquently in his second paragraph: “It reminds me of the herd mentality of the lemmings stampeding off the cliff with little thought to the consequences.”[1]

That is a good line – except it is lie.  The lemmings jumping off a cliff was staged by photographers looking for a good story with no regard for the truth.  The State of Alaska Department of Fish and Game has this to say about the incident, “The epic "lemming migration" was staged using careful editing, tight camera angles and a few dozen lemmings running on [a] snow covered lazy-Susan style turntable.” [2]

This type of lie, the one that sounds good, endures while the truth struggles on.  Senator Murkowski asks us about the impact on our children.  Rather than look into the truth he is appealing to our feelings and what we think the answer will be.  The truth of the matter is that teen cannabis use in Colorado has dropped since it has been legalized[3].  Ballot Measure 2 does not legalize cannabis use for children but for adults 21 years and older who can decide for themselves how to live their lives.  Drug dealers do not check IDs but licensed and regulated stores do.

Senator Murkowski uses scare words like “Outside money” when he disagrees with the issue however he was not decrying this same “Outside money” when he accepted political donations from Chevron, Pinnacle West Capital, BP, and others[4].  When multi-billion dollar companies wanted to support him he accepted their help with open arms.  However when two non-profit organizations are working for the people of Alaska he suddenly has a change of heart about “Outside money."

As a life-long politician I can’t help but feel he thinks Alaskans are lost without people like him telling them what to do.  Senator Murkowski used to be for a small government that didn’t interfere in the lives of its citizens.  Now he is telling Alaskans that they are helpless without government stepping in and telling them what do to with their lives.  US citizens should be seeking more freedoms rather than submitting to the authoritarian will of an ever-expanding government.

Senator Murkowski is ignoring the US’s own history of failure in the prohibition of alcohol.  Prohibition enriched ruthless criminals such as Al Capone and did nothing to stem the flow of alcohol while making otherwise innocent citizens into criminals.  Instead of being taxed and regulated bootleggers were violently fighting for territory.  Consumers were forced into dealing with criminals and buying a product which was often poisonous due to the lack of oversight.  The US-Mexico border is rife with cartel violence and as much as 60% of cartel income comes from cannabis.[5]  Mark Twain once said “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.”

The Senator believes in pushing half-truths on Alaskans and hopes that we’ll run off a cliff and vote “No” without evaluating the truth.  I believe Alaskans are not so easily goaded.  A regulated cannabis market will create local jobs, tax revenue, increase our personal freedom, reduce the amount of money going to criminals, and will help move cannabis out of the hands of youth by putting it into the hands of licensed local business owners.

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[1] http://www.adn.com/article/20141005/frank-murkowski-alaskans-should-just-say-no-big-marijuana

[2] http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=56

[3] http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/08/07/pot-use-among-colorado-teens-appears-to-drop-after-legalization

[4] http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/contrib.php?cycle=Career&cid=N00008006&type=I

[5] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100603847.html

Alaska Supreme Court decision legalizing personal use marijuana defines Alaskans

Perseverance pays off

Hairy woodpecker female

Finally caught up with her.
Seasons change and so do I

And, a few others.

So far no redpolls so maybe I will make it through the winter still solvent. We had quite an invasion of them two years ago.
Redpoll invasion

Revving up for takeoff. Or, maybe he's just trying not to slide off that slippery plastic.

It's OK to be an introvert as long as you keep it to yourself

I have finally come across a type of person with whom I could be comfortable. The problem is we will never meet.

Years ago one day I was waiting around for some people to make up their minds about whether we were going to do something or not. Tired of waiting, I decided right there if I wanted to do something I would do it, whether alone or not, just get up and go while the rest of them discuss the possibilities. Since that time most of my adventures except for sailing have been alone and I would have done that alone too, if I had ever owned a boat that I could single-hand on the big ocean.

I also found myself uncomfortable in crowds or groups, often at parties wandering among conversational groups listening quietly to what was mostly small talk but seldom joining the discussion. After an hour or so of that at many parties I would excuse myself and leave rather than endure that sense of being alone and obvious in a crowd.

I have avoided confrontation as much as possible, not even answering the phone rather than risk a confrontation of one form or another. It reached the point where  the phone ringing created a minor anxiety attack, startling me with its rude intrusion.

As a child I recall almost every question to my parents about wanting some toy or wanting to do something ended very quickly with a "no." As a result to this day I loathe asking people for anything and avoid it as much as I can. A side effect of those parental "nos" was that I made a conscious effort to never tell my children no unless there was a good reason and if so explain it to them. No quick reaction arbitrary negative responses.

For the most part if I can't do it myself, it doesn't get done or else I learn how to do it on my own. I built three houses with a minimum of outside help, often working with a book in one hand and a hammer in the other. As I progressed through a project, I would plan out  tasks working out how I could accomplish them by myself. This included some very creative heavy lifting that I did rather than ask for help if I could avoid it. People even came by to help once in a while and offer a hand but I had no idea what to tell them because I was all prepared to do it alone. 

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"I want that t shirt that says 'introverts unite! we're here, we're uncomfortable, and we want to go home.'" – Allie  Billings

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As life moved along, and I did more things on my own, and outside the norm for most people like sailing the big ocean, living in the Alaska Bush, going to a Lady Gaga concert at the age of 70, my accumulation of experiences further isolated me from the conversation. I just could not relate to people who lived more normal lives, never getting very close to the edge and doing for a few hours on the weekends what I did all the time. My lifestyle as well was alien to them. Sooner or later while I was describing life in the Bush someone was sure to ask a question about an outhouse. Once that came up the questioner usually dropped out of the conversation while I had to describe a toilet rather than the joys of the life. I quit talking about it.

Writing further isolated me. While it gave me a method of expression that avoided conversation, it is not a team sport; it is done alone in closed rooms and any interruption at all is a major intrusion. Yet when somebody did interrupt I could not tell them to buzz off, just endured the intrusion in silence until the person gave up and left. That may have at least contributed to problems that led to two divorces.

Alaska lends itself well to this way of life. Independence is a virtue around here and the tales are full of loners who populate the outer country quite comfortably. These days I live alone and function alone, going days and days without talking to another person, content with chores, the television, some limited writing and enjoying the solitude. My only regular socialization is Internet chat with a woman I have come to accept as an unindicted co-conspirator, trading YouTube videos on line and chatting as we listen to music we recommend to each other.

For years, I thought there was something wrong with me, wondering what personality malfunction caused this abnormal behavior. Then a few months ago, I ran across another person who is pretty much the same way and through her had a minor epiphany. She posted something about being an introvert, not as an apology for her personality, nor even anything she felt needed changing. In fact she opened my eyes to what an introvert is all about. Among items she posted about it were a couple of lists that pointed out 50 traits of an introvert. As I looked over those lists I realized 49 of those traits applied to me. Whoa. There was my life explained to me in almost clinical detail and I happily embraced the idea, not as an excuse for abnormal behavior but as an explanation that made me more comfortable in my own skin.

Adding to that comfort has been learning there are others of us who enjoy the same attribute. I've even heard rumblings of a meeting of introverts. The unfortunate truth about that though, is we know, we know no one would show up, but, then, to an introvert, that's not unfortunate.

ADDENDUM: A friend, who incidentally is enjoying an unencumbered weekend, pointed out that there is no normal. Looking back, it looks like I used "normal" and "abnormal" rather freely here. I usually cringe when I write the word "normal" for that very reason but I might have been in a hurry this time.  Alternates?  Maybe "mainstream," "generally accepted." I am sure there are others. In two cases I used abnormal facetiously as in "abnormal behavior." That was supposed to be sarcastic but on looking at it again, it doesn't read that well. The fact is that everyone's normal is different as is everyone's abnormal meaning as my friend said, there are no such things, except perhaps in the sense that being an introvert is very normal for a whole bunch of us.

Revenge of the introverts

30 problems only introverts will understand

She's so fierce blog – Being an introvert; why I struggle with my personality

Jung's theory of personalities

23 Signs you're secretly an introvert

27 Problems only introverts will understand

15 things introverts would never tell you

10 Ways introverts react with the world

50 inspiring quotes for introverts

When will they ever learn … oh, you know the rest

A friend posted a meme on Facebook the other day criticizing among other things "obscene CEO pay." Foolishly I added a meme I had seen that supported my friend's position. It showed the yearly income of CEOs at several of America's health insurers.

The original meme. The health care act mandates 80% of health

 insurance premiums have to go for care. These may drop.

I should know better than that, but some days you just can't resist. Almost immediately another commenter jumped on the entry critical of it and blaming Obamacare for forcing people to buy the insurance, thus increasing executives' pay. It was a knee-jerk uninformed comment like several others this guy had posted about the original meme, many of which espoused the same unsubstantiated or outright lies mouthed over and over again by radical conservatives who would vote against their own interests rather than go along with a black guy in the White House.

While this commenter defends outrageous pay for executives, I believe he is a commercial fisherman, working in an industry notorious for taking advantage of the first element of the supply chain, the individual fisherman.  Large processors for years have manipulated fish prices to line their own pockets while paying the fishermen as little as possible.  These fishermen are mostly small businesses where a family operates a single fishing boat – think family farmer. The government in 2013 estimated the average fisherman's income that year at $29,000.

In one area of Alaska processors this year were buying pink salmon at 28 cents a pound. Given an average weight of about 4 pounds that amounts to right around a dollar per fish.  In 2013 the ex-vessel price paid to fishermen for red salmon, considered the best of the salmon, averaged $1.60 a pound. Price for a filet of salmon in Anchorage was $11.95. It is difficult to understand why someone at the mercy of overpaid executives would defend them the way this guy did.

·      But then there are women who would vote for republicans despite the attacks on their health care and wages.

• ·      And minimum wage workers who vote for people who refuse to raise the minimum wage, but who work maybe 100 days a year, accomplish nothing and are paid a couple of hundred thousand for it.
• ·      And people who now have health insurance they couldn't get before will still vote for people who have tried to repeal Obamacare 50 times. Polls show people don't favor Obamacare, but they do favor the  Affordable Health Care Act.
• ·      And people who hate waste in government still vote for people who get us into useless wars,  those Obamacare votes, spend millions to save a few thousands drug testing welfare recipients, and deny them health care by not bringing their states in line with the nation's health care law.
• ·      And then there are those who keep voting, too, for people who block any attempt at responsible gun ownership, even when children in their own towns are killed by nuts with guns.

The list goes on and on.  And there's no convincing people who will vote against their own interests that they are on the wrong track, the wrong side of history. You just can't argue with ignorance, well, you can argue, but it is  senseless when facts don't matter and you will never change anyone's mind no matter how right or righteous your cause.