Finally...A New Blog Entry

OK, so I'm WAY behind on updating ye ol' blog, but think of it this way...instead of getting many little updates, you get a big juicy entry full of tremendous wit and fabulous pictures. Surely that's worth the wait.

Let's go back in time to early December. Remember the field sites with the antennas we set up in Barrow and Wainwright, Alaska? Well, the ocean had frozen over by early December, so there wasn't any more information to collect on ocean currents with our instruments. Our permits require us to remove our field sites until the ice breaks up again, so we headed north to do just that...take everything down. Did you catch that we headed north from our already northern locale in December? Do you know what happens to the sun as you travel north? Sun? What sun? Sometimes you just do what you have to do, so we suited up and hit the 'beach' in Barrow. Yes, it was dark, but the temperatures and wind really weren't that bad. It helps to be wearing several layers and head lamps, which we were. Here are a few scenes from the trip to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

The dark, snowy beach in Barrow before we took down the antenna


Ice buildup on one of the antennas we took down


There was some digging in the snow to try and find everything we needed access to


and some laying in the snow to get access to things we needed to get to. Hank definitely doesn't look like he minds or is being tortured in any way.


By the time we got to Wainwright, the skies cleared up a bit and we were able to catch some of the mid-day light. The frozen Arctic Ocean is in the background of the next few pictures. It's interesting how it can look as if the boundary between land and water doesn't even exist.


There was a lot less snow to clear because the wind blows most of it away from the bluff where we put our field site.


Well, it didn't blow all of the snow away. There was still plenty of digging to find our anchor points.


Here is the only picture of myself that isn't tremendously blurry; however it is rather flashy.


It wasn't all sunshine in Wainwright, it didn't take long before everything went dark.


Moving on to Christmastime, I had a fabulous time with family. Somehow the days just seems to fly by faster and faster during my visits, which is a shame because I already have an extra person to visit in my little super-cute, super-sweet nephew Parker.


I normally attend three large family gatherings when I go home for the holidays, and although it seems like a lot to do when it's all packed into two days, it's always a lot of fun. I've started to notice a lot of similarities between the three family gatherings. No matter where you are, Christmas is a time when every surface starts to look like a good seat and you think twice about getting up if you want your seat back when you return.


Christmas is a time when people don't mind crowding around a table even though it means that everyone's drink is on the same table and that you're looking everywhere later for the cup that is yours.


It seems there is always someone the kids like to hang on (and someone who gets a little tired if you noticed Nettie on the right hand side of the picture below)


and as soon as someone young picks up a new musical instrument, we all sing along to a Christmas concert. (Good job, Sarah!)


Another thing that is always the same from year to year is that everyone tries to take group photos. You need a picture of all of the great-grandchildren, one of all the grandchildren, one of the aunts and uncles, one of the in-laws, one of the great-grandchildren with grandma, one of all the grandchildren with grandma, one with all of the aunts and uncles with grandma, one of everyone with grandma (aside from that one cousin's boyfriend who is stuck taking every single picture of everyone with each person's camera). You know the drill. Most of the time, everyone gets set, but there are at least five people taking the same picture at the same time, and the seven or more people in the picture are all looking at a different camera, so you get back to Alaska, and you have 39 different attempts at group pictures and in not one of them is everyone looking at your camera and smiling at the same time. Next year...repeat. Is this a Midwestern thing or does it happen everywhere? Aggravating isn't it, but every year you still have the hope that you will get that one picture where everyone is smiling and looking. Funny thing is, I love it. Every bit of it. It wouldn't be the holidays without it.

Not to be overshadowed by Christmas, I have a grandmother that turned 90 on New Year's Day. Unfortunately I had to fly back to Alaska before New Year's, but that didn't mean we couldn't celebrate. Mom and I had her over for dinner, cake and just a general good time while the snow fell outside. Happy 90th Birthday, Grandma!! I'll definitely be there for 100.


This begs the question...Since I wasn't able to attend Grandma's birthday, what DID I do for New Years? I'm kidding of course with that last sentence, but if you want to know, you'll have to wait until the next entry because I'm tired of typing.

To be continued...

The Rest of October

The latter half of October brought the snow that will stick around for the rest of the winter. It was in the newspaper not too long ago that Fairbanks is one of the few places that is always 100% guaranteed to have a white Christmas. Somehow when the snow starts falling and the skies get darker and darker, life becomes more social because everyone isn't running in quite as many directions as we do in the summer.

This winter season brought the first ever Sauerkraut Throwdown!! This is a little friendly competition in which one must have grown their own cabbage and then make their own kraut...not so complicated, right? I was honored to be an official judge for the competition.


It was hard to pick a clear winner as we judged each of the krauts on appearance, aroma, taste, and texture. In the end, I would say that all of the competitors were winners although we did have to pick first, second, and third. Congratulations!!


October also brings the start of the hockey season. What would winter be without going to one of the UAF Nanook hockey games?


Between the second and third periods, there is a competition where people throw these tiny frisbee-like things and try to get them into a bin at center ice.


I can't remember what you win if you get one in, but I assume it's a good prize. Speaking of winning, the Nanooks did manage to win that night, putting everyone in a good mood for the ride home.

The end of October is pretty obvious when you look around and see plenty of people in costumes roaming the streets. This year was no exception. My friend Steve had his annual Halloween party, and yet again the costumes did not disappoint. I went as a Death Panel. Get it? It's a play on words!


Even our snacks were festive! Check out the ham skull.


Not everything was gross or scary, there were bee keepers


Sesame Street characters


Linda Richmond from SNL


Yukon Cornelius


A Banana


Injured Hockey Player with Monty Python knight


Me and Pie


and a Mombie and gypsy made the drive from Delta Junction!


This is always a great time of year filled fun activites and lots of laughter!!

A Visit From Mom : Part 2

After a good night's sleep in Destruction Bay, we continued our journey to Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory. We started out the day driving along Kluane Lake, the largest lake in the Yukon, and soon came upon the aptly named Sheep Mountain. There were sheep all over the mountainside. Too bad we forgot the binoculars!


A few more miles down the road, it started to snow, and it didn't look like it was going to stop. The forecasts on the radio were calling for 2 to 4 centimeters. Centimeters? How much is that? The snow was coming down fast, which made the driving a little more challenging. Luckily I had my winter tires on the car. We almost stopped in Haines Junction rather than continuing on to Whitehorse because of the snow, but we decided to charge on and try our luck. In the end, we were glad we did because we made it to Whitehorse without any trouble.


Our first stop was the visitor's center where we learned that pretty much everything was closed for the season. Apparently you aren't supposed to visit after September. The theme for our trip was quickly and easily defined as "CLOSED". You may recall this word being used in the previous entry as well. The good thing was that the visitor's center did have a list of the things that were actually open in October, although it seemed many things were only open one day a week and during limited hours.

Over the next couple of days, we took in the sites. There were things that you can see no matter what time of year, such as the log skyscrapers


the many murals on building around town, this is a mural, not real storefronts


They may not have let us in the old log church museum because it was closed for the season, but they couldn't stop us from walking by and taking pictures.


One of the few places that actually had an open sign the window was the MacBride Museum of Yukon History. They had exhibits on everything from wildlife to mining, to transportation, to lifestyles, to artifacts...nearly anything you could think of. There was a good explanation on how the permafrost slowed down the miners. The exhibit read: 'Miners hauled firewood to their claims and painstakingly thawed the frozen ground with a series of fires. The average rate of descent was one to two feet per day, and bedrock lay from 5 to 25 feet down.' Here's the display showing how the miners would lower down buckets with small fires to melt the permafrost.


We stopped to pop our faces into a photo opportunity to play Soapy Smith and the Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman who caught him.


After the museum, we headed to the Yukon Brewing Company.


We sampled some of their beers and then got a tour of the behind-the-scenes equipment.


In addition to bottling their beer, they also can it. We got a demo of how they manually can their beverages.


We took in a walk along the Yukon River one afternoon


during which we saw a bald eagle


and ended up at the SS Klondike (yet another attraction with a CLOSED sign in the window).


In adding to our 'World's Largest' list we made sure to go and see the World's Largest Weathervane, a converted Douglas DC-3.


Outside of our hotel was a giant wooden Mountie. World's largest? I don't know, but it certainly seems like it could be.


Soon enough our time in Whitehorse was over, and it was time to head back to Fairbanks. Since it wasn't snowing on the way back, we actually got to see the town of Haines Junction without blinding snow. Low and behold there was another Quonset hut church, Our Lady of the Way Catholic Church.


We also got to see the Village Monument, aka The Muffin. I believe the picture speaks for itself.


The beautiful drive back afforded the same gorgeous views but from a different angle.



Life slowed down a bit once we returned to Fairbanks. We ran a few more errands, had lunch with Dianna, and dabbled in the pumpkin arts.




It was a fabulous visit! I wish they could happen more often.