When It's Not Cold, But It Is

29 February 2012
4:56 PM

Sunrise at	8:01 AM	in direction	106°	East-southeast
Sunset at	6:07 PM	in direction	254°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 10 hours, 5 minutes (6 minutes, 46 seconds longer than yesterday)

Ho Oh .. today was the first day in 2012 that the duration of the day was over 10 hours - not that I actually saw the sun shining today.  It is overcast, but I did notice teal blue early this morning instead of pitch black.  Yes, this is all very nice.

Today was warm, around 5F (-15C).  Ah, but it was not really warm in the sense that I couldn't be out indefinitely without some protection.  I was in and out of buildings a lot today, getting my mother's Alaska ID ready so we could fly to Anchorage tomorrow.  I did not button or zip up my coat.  I did not wear gloves or a hat.  I did not wear a sweater.  I was not particularly cold, but when I bought tulips for Mom's last day at Fairbanks Resource Agency (along with cake - yummm), the clerk still covered the tips of the blooms carefully.

It is not warm, but you get used to it.  That was one phrase that stuck in my mind when I listened to a wonderful interview of Allen Moore and Hugh Neff talk about racing into the finish of the Yukon Quest, finishing only 26 seconds a part.  Allen said when it is really, really cold - like last year, 2011 .. like -50F below cold, you lose sensitivity to it.  You get used to being cold.  That is life.  He would ask others, "Is it cold?" so he could gauge how he needed to proceed because he had lost that sensitivity.

Jack London's short story, "To Build a Fire", talks about that very hazard.  London described the man as lacking in imagination.  This was his failing.  Obviously, Allen had imagination.  He had lost sensitivity, but not his ability to imagine it being dangerously cold.

It was not dangerously cold today, but pleasantly cold.  I needed to have protection, but could still enjoy the sensation of chill, of brisk air, of the Interior Spring on its way.

Driving the Parks Highway

28 February 2012
7:48 PM

Sunrise at	8:05 AM	in direction	107°	East-southeast
Sunset at	6:03 PM	in direction	253°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 9 hours, 58 minutes (6 minutes, 47 seconds longer than yesterday)

Both drives between Anchorage and Fairbanks are spectacular.  The first route, from Valdez to Fairbanks is now the lesser traveled as most tourists arrive in Anchorage, Kenai, or Fairbanks and make their way along the Parks Highway to the Denali National Park entrance.  Being a busy route, most of the expansion of South Central, in particular the Mat-Su Basin (Matanuska-Susitna), has occurred along that route, so there are sections where I find myself just waiting to get past the Talkeetna turn off so traffic will drop off.  One does get very crotchety about all these dang people and their automobiles after living in Fairbanks for a few years.

As traffic increases, collisions with moose increase, which is another downside of that region growing as rapidly as it is.  The region is among the most appealing to moose, and they, like many non-human living creatures on the planet, are losing ground to encroaching civilization.  It's a huge state, so you wonder how I could even say that, but the populations of moose, bear, wolf, and salmon are not as great as you'd think.  Only so many individuals among the wild life population can thrive due to the long winters.  And the general tendency of humans is to kill what's in its way.  We are a very destructive species.

Yet, as with everything in life, there are up sides and down sides.  Shifting focus from the down side to human-wildlife interaction, road kill of moose is handled positively in Alaska.  When moose are killed on the road, the meat is harvested and used to feed those in need.  The spirit of minimizing waste and making use of all available resources is still alive and well here.  My son, Lorien, is the News Director at KTNA, the public radio station for Talkeetna.  One of his interview spots for the community covered the activities of the Su Valley High School Moose Club. Alaska Public Radio often re-broadcasts unique aspects of living in Alaska, and his story was picked up by APRN - Alaska News Nightly, 27 February 2012.

And, as I said, once you are past Talkeenta on your way north, traffic drops off appreciably - even in summer.  The Milepost guide - printed anew each year - has provided details of Alaska travel since 1949.  It is invaluable when driving the Alaska Highway through Canada to Delta as it provides cryptic, but clear indicators of stops, hazards, things to watch for and what to expect, such as the following notes listing viewpoint stops for Denali: 

Formal mountain viewpoints are: Denali Viewpoint South, Milepost A 134.7: Denali Viewpoint North, Milepost A 162.4, and Denali View North Campground, Milepost A 162.7.  There is also a Denali viewpoint on the Talkeetna Spur Road, 12.8 miles from Milepost A 98.7.

The guides are thorough with excellent maps included.  The notion of describing sections of the road based on mile posts is extremely useful when in regions where the only recognizable marker of man (besides the road itself) is the milepost sign.  An overview is provided online, Milepost - Parks Highway and includes a brief, but nice YouTube slide show.  Watching it reminded me of why I really like that drive.

Alaska's George Parks Highway (Great Drives) highlights certain regions along the highway and treats the drive as if it were started from the Alaska Highway.  It provides details of how to loop from the Alaska Highway and back.  The route follows the Alaska Highway to Delta, Delta to Fairbanks, Fairbanks south to Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula, and then Anchorage to Glennallen and Tok where you could return to the Alaska Highway.  DOT (Department of Transportation) includes the Parks Highway in its Alaska's Scenic Byways series of web pages.

Remember Alaska - Parks Highway has some very nice photos of Broad Pass.  The pass, as its name suggests is a wonderfully broad, relatively flat region that runs between the Talkeetna Mountains on the East and the Alaska Range leading up to Denali itself on the West.  The passage through the Alaska Range itself gently follows the Nenana River from Cantwell to Healy.  Driving in Alaska - Alaska Highway 3 - Parks Highway, in fact, is a short view of that stretch of road, shortly after leaving Cantwell.

Gary drives down the Parks Highway to meet me and my mother there on Thursday.  We both will drive back on Monday.  We won't see it like these photos, though, as it will still be snowbound everywhere along the way.  Rest assured, I will take photos on the return trip.

2012 Ice Arch - 90 Years of Engineering at UAF

27 February 2012
7:50 PM

Sunrise at	8:08 AM	in direction	108°	East-southeast
Sunset at	6:00 PM	in direction	252°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 9 hours, 51 minutes (6 minutes, 47 seconds longer than yesterday)


Our office looks out at the Flag quad. For the longest time, we wondered if they were actually going to build an ice arch this year.  Days passed and there was no apparent activity in the flag circle.  We wondered, if they started an arch later in the year, would it be done before it warmed. By the end of January, though, the circle had been blocked off with signs warning people out of the area. 

Then a scaffolding appeared and in a big way.

The frame for an arch is under construction - 1/26/2012

Then it stalled out.  We saw some sporadic work on the frame through out early February, but for the most part, it looked like not much was happening.  But by mid-February, clearly someone or some ones had been at work because the full frame was nearly completed:

Nearly complete arch frame, mid February, 2012

 Then blocks of ice began to appear along the sides of the arch.

Sides formed, waiting for the Keystone

The keystone soon followed, in this case a series of ice blocks that appeared to follow the line of a Jack Arch, but not quite. The ice block lines are vertical rather than slanted.  We looked over all arch examples we could find in, but none fit exactly.  Was it a modified Roman Arch?  Did they modify the shape of the arch to suit the medium of ice?  How could this arch stay up, we wondered? 

Individual blocks of ice forming the keystone clearly visible in the sunlight.

Larger blocks of ice at the base

Then all of our questions were answered. 

They constructed a true arch, made of individual blocks of ice instead of stone.  Despite our doubts, they knew what they were doing.  They are engineers, after all.  And, as a nice touch, the strung lights along the outside of the arch ...

Double click on image for full effect

The Indescribable Blue of the Northern Skyline

26 February 2012
3:44 PM

Sunrise at	8:12 AM	in direction	109°	East-southeast
Sunset at	5:57 PM	in direction	251°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 9 hours, 44 minutes (6 minutes, 47 seconds longer than yesterday)

If you were to take snow and then add just enough blue so that you knew it wasn't still white, it would be more pale than the sky that peeks between the clouds, just at the northern hills horizon.  If you were to add a few more drops of blue, you might make it too blue.  Somewhere between still almost white and baby blue is the color of the northern sky as it touches the horizon.

When the sky is completely clear, you might not notice the subtle hue of blue at the horizon.  The overall brilliance of the sky predominates.  It's when clouds hold swaths of sky captive, isolating ribbons of pale blue from the rest of the sky, you see it best.

When the clouds shift to reveal the imprisoned sky, I want to travel toward the horizon.  I want to touch that blue, lie down in it, sip it from my tea cup.  It pulls me toward more than the pot of gold at the rainbow ever did.

Uncomfortable Facts on Suicide Rates in Alaska

25 February 2012
8:10 PM

Sunrise at	8:16 AM	in direction	110°	East-southeast
Sunset at	5:54 PM	in direction	250°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 9 hours, 38 minutes (6 minutes, 48 seconds longer than yesterday)

There is a point in March or April when people are more than ready for break up, leaf out, and the advent of 24 hour light - full sunlight or twilight, doesn't matter.  I am already at that point, actually.  We did not go Outside for a winter break this year and I definitely would have enjoyed it.  It appears we may be traveling Outside quite a lot once we choose a treatment center for Gary's bladder cancer, but that wasn't what I had in mind, you know?  Besides, by the time we get it all shaken out, it will be moving toward May and then summer and that is the best time to be here, not away somewhere with too many people and lots of cars and noise, dagnabbit.

Then, since I was already feeling spring could come tomorrow and it would suit me just fine, I was reminded of a comment someone made (don't remember who, of course), that April was the month with the highest rate of suicide for sourdoughs.  The use of the word, "sourdough" in Yukon/Alaska also had its inception in mining, just as it did for the California gold rush.  But in the far north, an added meaning evolved to specify those who protected their sourdough starter in winter by keeping it close to their bodies.  It progressed into the notion of old-timers, especially those hardy individuals who lived alone or in small groups throughout the territory.

There are fewer and fewer sourdoughs, so I don't know if the comment is still meaningful.  But at one point, I tried to figure out why that would be so .. why would these old-timers give up just as things were about to get better?  Maybe it was the prospect of having to work so hard through the brief summer to make it through another winter on their own?

Well, one thought led to another and I remembered reading somewhere that per capita, Alaska had the highest rate for suicide in the U.S.  The Statewide Suicide Prevention Council affirmed that statistic and added several others, such as rural village life has the highest rate of suicide, especially among men.  Addressing the situation is complex due to the remote and insular nature of village life, but one program aims to address root causes through communication: Northwest Alaska anti-suicide program aims for roots of mental illness.

I don't have any inclination toward suicide, but in early fall of my second winter here, I knew I needed some help coping with the onset of winter coinciding with many events in my life.  I just dreaded witnessing the decrease in light and what I then still perceived as oppressive dark.  During my yearly physical, I mentioned it to my MD, who suggested a very low dose of prozac for a short term and upped my Vitamin D for the long term.  I took the pill daily while I weathered the stresses besetting us and openly faced winter.  Unexpectedly, the effect of this very low dose was to alter my perspective just enough that I was able to see how truly wonderful winter can be in Fairbanks.

But I think my experience is very telling in a few ways.  I have traveled throughout the world, held many positions in my career and in general, have benefitted from a solid education and hard work.  I brought skills and experiences with me to Alaska.  When I found I was not at ease with the thought of winter coming, my reaction was to do something to change that.  "Hey, this isn't the way I want to live."  I don't need to feel that way.  I also did make appropriate changes in my life to alter the sources of stress.

But what if I'd been born in the village, educated in the village, abused in the village, had no way to make a living in the village, and had no insurance to pay for prescriptions or counseling?  Would I have seen a way out then?  What if the only readily available way to modify my "perspective" appeared to be alcohol (a depressant) or other recreation drugs?  Would my mental health have been as strong if I hadn't brought another perspective of how life could be?

I confess, it troubles me that many people need help and don't get it based solely on circumstance.

Are you familiar with TV Land?  That channel, if you are not familiar, is devoted to reruns and the majority of those shows are comedies or drama/comedies.  They have added some first run comedies like "Hot in Cleveland", but you get the idea.  We tune it to that channel in my Mom's apartment because it is easy for her to follow.  There is an ad that comes on regularly with a gut-wrenching emotional punch, but very real.  A native teen is obviously distressed by what is happening in his home.  Later you see his feet dangle .. or the alternative - a friend talks to him, "Hey, I hear your Dad beat up you Mom again last night."  The narrator then encourages viewers to reach out to those who need help instead of ignoring it.

This ad is disturbing in every sense of the word, but I am okay with that - if it prevents a person from taking his or her life.

Photo Montage and Word Montage

24 February 2012
5:15 PM

Sunrise at	8:19 AM	in direction	111°	East-southeast
Sunset at	5:50 PM	in direction	249°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 9 hours, 31 minutes (6 minutes, 48 seconds longer than yesterday)

I took many photos for previous posts, but only selected those that I thought were the most interesting, but as I go back through them, I see several I like as well.  I began this enterprise to motivate me to write every day.  But to describe what I see solely in words seemed dry, especially when I could add a photo to do the describing for me.   So, unexpectedly, I find am combining two loves - writing and photography.

For example, I had it in my mind that I would take successive photos of the location below at the same time showing the rapidity with which the degree of light and location of the sun changed.  Then life happened and I haven't been back to that spot at that time with clear skies.  Now we are well past sunset because this photos was taken in late January:

The caption read 31 January 2012; 4:52 pm.  February 6, I capture the sunset in the photo below at the same spot and at the same time.  Notice the heart a romantic stamped into the snow at the base of the tree?

There is poetry in the comparison.  The first is much brighter, yet there is no sun visible in the western sky.  In the second, with sun now setting later, the foreground is cast into shadow in comparison.  The first has the softness of mid-winter twilight while the second captures the golden rays of the setting sun. Light and dark, full sun and shadow interplay when the sun shines, but twilight captures the essence as readily.  Amazing is the giving nature of light as it bends around the curve of the earth to share itself.

Very early in January, I drove down to Glennallen and relished views from the foothills where the sun was already shining brightly and blue skies contrasted with the white wonderland below.  I selected this photo to publish:

But the following was just as good, possibly better for overall framing of the Alaska Range behind.

I didn't choose it because I didn't want the road in the image.  I was so struck by the view, and there was no other traffic, that I stopped the car right in the middle of the road and took the shot.  Notice the difference in color - the mitigating influence of the windshield.  Later I learned to carefully frame the photo to exclude roadways if I thought they detracted from the overall image.  I also learned that I needed to be outside the car to capture truer colors.  Yet, the road itself is as much a part of the trip as the surrounding beauty.  From the time I left Delta all the way to Glennallen, I drove ice covered roads traversed by few mid-winter travelers.

I think as I go forward, I need to add more detail in words.  I need to do that to develop the art of descriptive phrases.  Have you ever read Nora Roberts as J.D. Robb for the futuristic series of a NYPD detective?  If you have, have you ever had any question in your mind about the setting of her novels?  I don't.  I see that world vividly.

Ah, the emotions around this task conflict.  On the one hand, I want to be able to have you imagine what I see as effectively as the word pictures that Dana Stabenow creates of Alaska.  On the other, look at this:

And this ..

I love these photos even though they lie.  Yes, my camera does lie.  It tells you it is dark and perhaps gloomy at 10:00 am, the time these photo were taken.  In truth, brilliant light and color played across the landscape.  Our eyes, our souls crave light and so we see the degree of illumination more clearly, more certainly than the camera.

Perhaps that is why words are a necessary addition - to provide what the camera can not see .. my response to what I am carefully documenting.

Living Far from Healing Clinics

23 February 2012
10:25 PM

Sunrise at	8:23 AM	in direction	112°	East-southeast
Sunset at	5:47 PM	in direction	249°	West-southwest

Duration of day: 9 hours, 24 minutes (6 minutes, 48 seconds longer than yesterday)

My husband is interested in using an alternative method for healing, Insulin Potentiate Therapy,  rather than conventional medicine.  Since his cancer is recurring and his body did not respond to the clinical trial BCG, his urologist is recommending removal of his bladder.  I think we get good medical care in Anchorage, and I think Dr. Clark is an able urologist, but I want to have a second opinion about possible therapies and I also want Gary to have a chance to have an constructive surgery result in a neo bladder, entirely comfortable and natural in his body.  He wants to forego surgery entirely and use the alternative.

Today I made a few calls to an MD in Washington that makes use of the healing methods that has not found its way into main stream medical practice.  There are several practitioners of the Insulin Potentiate Therapy method whereby chemotherapy drugs are administered in smaller doses while also administrating beneficial alternatives, such as Vitamin C IV and the core of the IPT.   There was one in Anchorage, but he felt his medical license was on the line and stopped.

So, I called and found that the IPT will cost $2000/ treatment and the first round is six treatments.  Gary would need to live close by for daily treatments for 3 - 6 weeks.  By the time everything was totaled into the treatment we were looking at $25,000 to $30,000, not including the cost to live there for however long treatments continued.

I tried to find out how much they estimated would be covered by insurance.  The clinic itself refused to give me any information on that.  They require payment up front for all services and we then would use a medical billing company to seek reimbursement from the insurance company.  There was no way to make an estimate of the actual cost because it would vary based on treatment plan and daily interactions with the therapies.  They do not assume anti-nausea drugs, for example, but it could be one day that type of medication was needed.  Very quickly I began to feel it was far out of our reach.

Then I talked with two medical billing companies, one of whom had no experience with the clinic as his company had just begun to work with them, and one who had submitted to Premera for other patients.  The first had a clear understanding of what types of things he could bill, but no feedback from patients yet.  The second had direct experience.  She has not had denials on claims that she submitted, but her client told her that the out-of-pocket expenses were about half of the total bill.

The University of Washington is 6th in the US for research and treatment of cancer.  So we are fortunate in that we have a good facility as close as a 3.5 hour flight, but it still would mean the cost of living in Seattle while Gary is treated, which ever treatment plan is followed.

All this comes down to the basic fact that if you want a second opinion, you have to leave the state in order to get that second opinion.  Perhaps that would be necessary in the lower 48 too, but we did have an excellent urologist in Denver and we were able to do everything that needed to be done right there.   Several competent medical practitioners, each having a large population base to serve, have more opportunity to see the effects of many types of treatments.

I don't know what we are going to do.  We can not afford the alternative method, nor is borrowing money for it possible in that we will not be in the work force another 10 years and we probably would not get it paid off before retirement.  At least I hope I am not in the work force another ten years.  I would like to write novels, and work free lance into my elder years - but you get the idea.