If You Can't Find It At Fred Meyer, ...

31 January 2012
7:52 PM

Sunrise at	9:41 AM	in direction	132°	Southeast
Sunset at	4:29 PM	in direction	228°	Southwest

Duration of day: 6 hours, 48 minutes (6 minutes, 41 seconds longer than yesterday)


.. you don't need it!

Fred G. Meyer opened his first store in Portland, OR in l922.  He is credited with the being originator of the super store - one stop shopping concept.  Here in Fairbanks, the above saying is apropos for finding the bare necessities in a hurry.  The quality may not be the best, but if you don't want to hunt down the best or most suitable for things like waste baskets, linens, dishes, kitchen gadgets, books, electronics, sporting equipment, furniture, rugs, hardware and paint, gardening supplies, clothes, cosmetics, books, and oh, yes - food, then Freddie's is the place for you.

In addition to several locally owned small businesses, we do have strip mall shopping where you can find some of the national store chains.  Fairbanks has:

• 1 Home Depot
• 1 Lowes
• 1 Sportsman's Warehouse
• 1 Petco
• 1 Old Navy
• 1 American Eagle
• 1 Walmart
• 1 Sam's Club
• 1 Sears
• 1 Joanne's Fabric
• 1 Michael's
• 1 Office Max
• 1 Barnes and Nobel
• 2 Safeway Stores
• 2 Fred Meyer Stores

Notice anything missing ... like a Macy's, JC Penney's, or Dillard's?  Which store most successfully fills that gap .. Fred Meyer.  Which parking lot is a nightmare for finding a parking spot and congestion ... both Fred Meyer Stores.  Which store has the best prices for the economy minded shopper overall .. Freddie's.

I confess, I don't shop there much.  Gary prefers to shop at Fred's, especially for selected food items in the organic section we have found are stocked at Fred's but not Safeway, but I prefer Safeway.  But, as I've said before - for basic necessities, Fred Meyer's is the place to go.  When I want garbage cans, towels, storage bins, picture frames, underwear ...  Fred's.

If you seriously need something good for winter or practical for the Alaskan outdoor lifestyle, then that is a whole different story.  Then you need to shop local or online.  The Prospector, Beaver Sports, and Ray's provide the best winter protective clothing for regular folks.  Apocalypse provides extreme weather protection used by some mushers and snow campers.  These stores offer a large selection of gloves, mittens, hats, and the very desirable smart wool socks.  In shoes, local stores offer a wide selection of some of the best in winter and outdoor comfort wear: Ugg, Sorel, Merrel, Keen, and wool felt Lobens from Norway are easy to come by.  They sell over pants, over skirts, scarves, and the Alaskan uniform - Carhartt's for every situation.

Oddly, to buy a really warm, long 100% down parka for business wear, I had shopped Eddie Bauer and LL Bean - both of which have premium down, full length parkas rated to -50F.  I bought mine from Eddie Bauer a few years ago and Mom's just this winter from LL Bean.  To buy my daughter a Russian bluebell teapot, I shopped online.  To buy a good quality down comforter, I would need to shop online.  When I need to buy Blue Max Lights for good winter lighting, I need to shop online.  To buy anything at all unique, interesting, and fun ... online.

I don't particularly care to shop in stores and I very, very rarely buy on impulse.  I know exactly what I need to replace and usually am perfectly content to search for it online.  But, I will tell you one thing I do .. when I go to Anchorage or leave Alaska, I leave space in my luggage because I will always come home with more than I took with me.  Last time I was Outside I returned with two pairs of much needed Levi's.  Another time I returned with long sleeve cotton knit tees.  The last time I was in Anchorage I restocked my good quality tea bags for work.  When we drive to Anchorage, we regularly fill a storage bin with salad dressings, sun-dried tomatos, spelt flour, and gluten free pastas.

Fred's selection covers the basics, but is limited for natural fabric clothes.  The cost of shipping any of these things, when combined with the lack of sale prices many times, makes seizing the opportunity to buy when traveling very practical.

One upside to all of this is I rarely buy anything I don't really need - having limited shopping is certainly one way to save!

The Weather - A Never Ending Topic of Discussion

30 January 2012
time

Sunrise at	9:44 AM	in direction	133°	Southeast
Sunset at	4:25 PM	in direction	227°	Southwest

Duration of day: 6 hours, 41 minutes (6 minutes, 39 seconds longer than yesterday)

We had severe cold for several days last week.  It was a cold January - in fact the 4th coldest January on record.  Sixteen days were record with temperatures below -40F.

What makes it even more interesting is that we are going into warmer temperatures, but not just the average warmer temperatures expected for this time of year (-25F to -20F), but 5F above zero.  I am tracking temperature carefully right now since this weekend is the start of the Yukon Quest: 1000 Mile International Dog Sled Race.  If the temperatures get extremely cold, it means great discomfort and danger for the mushers on Eagle Summit, through Central and Circle and long stretches of cold on the Yukon.

But when it is overly warm, it means dogs that are running at temperatures that are uncomfortable for them, soft trails, and possibly more overflow on the rivers.  I mentioned overflow once before when I talked about the road to Glennallen.  In the arctic and sub-arctic, it is the phenomenon of water flowing, freezing and then water flowing on top of the ice.  No matter how cold it gets, water will still flow.  Normally it flows below the surface of ice, but when it's been relatively warm, followed by intensely cold temperatures, the the quick freeze at the surface layers forces running water to flow up to the surface. 

I did not find many photos of overflow that weren't under copy right, but here are two links to good photos of overflow.  Baffin Island Survival Training and Arctic National Refuge in Spring.  And, I did find this in One Mean Dance Partner: How Mother Nature Twirls the Sport of Dog Mushing which is just perfect! 

Great Blog Article on weather and Mushing - Check it out!

The Yukon Quest is primarily a trail following waterways. ( Detailed description of the Yukon Quest Trail ).  This year, since it runs from Fairbanks to White Horse, it starts on the Chena River and ends on the Yukon River at Whitehorse.  From Central, Alaska to Eagle, Alaska, mushers are on either Birch Creek or the Yukon River for over 200 miles.

There are four summits that take mushers off the rivers and creeks, and exposes them to wind and extreme cold, but they are brief.  All other descriptions of trail conditions discuss creek crossing overflow, drainage overflow, river overflow and lake portages and overflow.  Overflow conditions vary throughout the day.  One musher may pass through a section with no sign of overflow while temperatures are still moderate, while others following later will have water up to their knees in the same location.

But, what I think about it for myself personally is that I will get a break from deep winter.  We won't burn as much wood.  The dogs won't need booties.  I can clean the back yard of dog poop and shovel the deck - all in relative comfort.   Sometimes the larger world of dog sled races, northern lights, and crystalline beauty is no match for cherished creature comforts.

Every One Need a Few Days LIke Today

29 January 2012
3:47 PM

Sunrise at	9:47 AM	in direction	134°	Southeast
Sunset at	4:22 PM	in direction	226°	Southwest

Duration of day: 6 hours, 34 minutes (6 minutes, 37 seconds longer than yesterday)


I haven't done much of anything today.  I started the day by checking on the status of two favorite mushers, Aliy Zirkle and Ryne Olson, who were running the Don Bowers Memorial 300 Race as training runs.  Then I played a computer game, Jewel Quest - Sleepless Star, and managed to get past a board that had stumped me for days.

My mother lives in our downstairs studio apartment and is elderly.  She needs assistance with everything now, so I started her day by going down and giving her a shower.  Gary brought down her breakfast and I sat and watched TV with her for an hour or so.  She will undoubtedly go to bed early again tonight, but I will make sure she has dinner and is all comfortable so she can crawl under the covers any time she wants.

Then I checked on the race results.  Aliy was in, but Ryne was still out.  I played the same computer game until 3:00 then started dinner because I want the meat for tacos to simmer in the spices.  I am also cooking black beans that I spiced up a bit.

Then I once again checked on Ryne's status and she was in.  Cutter, a dog that Teresa and I sponsor completed the race, but had become sore and was in the dog bag on the sled when they came over the finish line.  He had problems with feet swelling in the past, so I imagine it was more of the same.  His sons, however, still youngsters, did great.

I took Mom some soup just now, since she ate a late breakfast.  She will most likely go to bed by 6:30 pm, so I will check on her again around 6:00 pm.  She is in light weight sweats that she can wear to bed, so I won't make her change although I will help her with toilet.

That's it.  That's all I have done all day and glad of it!

Yukon Quest Vet Checks

28 January 2012
5:49 PM

Sunrise at	9:50 AM	in direction	135°	Southeast
Sunset at	4:18 PM	in direction	225°	Southwest

Duration of day: 6 hours, 28 minutes (6 minutes, 36 seconds longer than yesterday)

The State of Alaska has formalized its process for the Yukon Quest accounting of dog transport across borders.  I don't think this applies to all races, but I am not sure.  Each race has a mandatory vet check before the race so it's possible that the State of Alaska is recording details of all race teams for the prevention of disease and doing that because of how many animals are transported in close quarters.  But, since we don't have to do this type of paper work for dog shows unless we travel by plane or into Canada, I assume all of this record keeping is because the animals are crossing international borders.

At a minimum, each team crosses the border twice. Those living in Canada transport dogs to the start in Fairbanks and then across the border between Eagle, Alaska and Dawson City, YK.  When associated with the race, the race organizers must keep clear documentation on each animal and the musher keeps one copy in the sled while handlers keep one in the truck.

The drawback of this process is that it is manual.  Although I expected to scribe for the vet while the vet was doing a doggy physical, I actually spent my day writing out the following details for each dog member of a racing team:
A typical entry would be:

Species	Color/Breed	Age	Sex	Name	Microchip #	Rabies Manufacturer	Rabies Vaccine Serial #	Date of Rabies Vaccination	Other Vaccinations
K9	Gray/white	4	M	Spooky		Merial	121556A	10/21/2009	DH2PP

The order of the columns is exactly as I printed them, which made no sense to me since the first thing anyone ever enters on a scrap of information for the dog is the name, then sex, and finally age.  I found I often was entering details about the dog from right to left since that was the order in which I found information.

Assistant Director, Frog, and volunteers coping with paper work

There were 18 teams that came in for the vet check, most with 16 dogs to a team ... my arm and shoulder hurt from writing in cramped spaces, often very rapidly while needing it to be legible.  But I got to meet more Alaskan mushers I've read about during races:  Lance Mackey ( 4 time Iditarod champion and only racer to win both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod in the same year),  Jake Berkowitz (up-and-comer), Kristy Berington (another up-and-comer), Trent Herbst (teacher turned musher) and Kurt Reich from Colorado.  Others I have had the opportunity to meet before also were there:  Mike and Sue Ellis (fastest Siberian team),  Brent Sass (top YQ contender), and the Russian/Norwegian trio that - as I've said before - are adding some interest to the race.

Mike Ellis with one of his cherished Siberian Huskies

The dog trucks were driven inside the building and dogs loaded out of their individual dog transport kennels onto the vet table.  Once that was complete, they were weighed and put back into the truck.  There was constant mop clean up after trucks left to keep it sanitary and a pleasant work place.

Dog Truck parked and ready to unload onto vet table

Getting dogs to stand comfortably on a scale requires patience and a volunteer that could capture readings quickly (which we had - Lisa Baraff).

Hugh Neff encouraging his dog to stand steady on the scale

These dogs are made for action, not standing still!

Lance Mackey and patient team member while Lisa checks weight

Despite the copious amounts of paper work, we were able to get all racers in and finished before 4:00 pm .. a good day's work.

This and That

27 July 2012
5:55 PM

Sunrise at	9:53 AM	in direction	136°	Southeast
Sunset at	4:15 PM	in direction	225°	Southwest

Duration of day: 6 hours, 21 minutes (6 minutes, 34 seconds longer than yesterday)

Usually, I focus on a particular topic and provide as much detail as I've a mind to about that topic. Today is mostly a what's-happening-around with a couple of photos thrown in for interest.  That's because today things are happening on several topics I've chatted about  .. so here we go.

First two favorite subjects of mine overlap .. my son and dog sled racing.

Lorien/Sled Dog Racing
This week is a training run/race and SP Kennel entered two teams.  The race is small and appeals to those who need more training miles along with rookies who are doing qualifying mid-distance races for the Yukon Quest and Iditarod. Lorien's article is read by himself with audio clips from some of our favorite mushers:  Dallas Seavey, Karen Ramstead, and Aliy Zirkle.  The article on the the Don Bowers Memorial Race is here:  Don Bowers Sled Dog Race gets underway in Willow.  Standings for the race can be found at Current Standings for Don Bowers 200/300.

The Weather
After a week of the temperatures holding in the mid range between -20F and -25 or so, it had dived back to cold, cold weather.  At 11:53 today, -40F was posted at Ft. Wainwright and -36F at the Fairbanks International Airport.  I was becoming aware that while we had been holding at a steady temperature considered somewhat comfortable for Fairbanks winter, we were not edging up at all; edging up could be a sign that the cold weather pattern could break.  But I really, truly did not expect we'd plunge back into -40F or colder temperatures.  Tonight's lows are expected to be -40F to -50F.  Yikes!  On our deck it is -30F and we are putting on booties as well as coats on the Dobies now.  Even Lindy Hop, my daughter's and son-in-law's big husky is not lingering outside.

The Yukon Quest
I am volunteering for the Yukon Quest again this weekend.  Tomorrow I will return to Summit Logistics to assist veteranarians with Vet Checks for rookies who must be checked by the race vets and any veterans who opt to use the YQ vets for their pre-race checks.  Each dog must be approved for running the race and although I have heard about these checks and I know what they are looking for in general, it is my first time actually being there.  I will scribe for a vet .. more on this tomorrow.

Sun Light and Sky Light
The winter sky continues to get brighter and lighter longer.  You can see by what I posted at the top of the today's blog, we are almost gaining 7 minutes of daylight a day now.  One of my plants that has over wintered very well in the past got sickly this year.  I think its roots may have gotten too cold near the window.  I have had to place it near a plant light for over a month now to keep it leafing just enough to photosynthesis and stay alive.  Today the sun light was really wonderful in the house, and it was the first day I turned off the plant light and put it in natural sunlight.  You could almost hear the audible sigh of relief from among the house plants.

Trips to the Outside
Teresa and Jamie are coming home from Hawaii early morning on Sunday (close to midnight).  They are leaving a tropical paradise to return to deep cold.  We are now planning on a trip Outside the second week full week of March.  Hope nothing interferes with that trip!

Two More Photos
I forgot to post the photo of the hillside to the north of campus where it was misty and snowing yesterday.  Here it is:

Snowing on the hills with a suggestion of blue at the top.

And since I was working at home today to keep Mom out of the severe cold, I was able catch the change in sunlight across the yard.  So, here is how I now see midday sun hitting the snow in our yard across the driveway.  When I attempted to take a photo before in this direction, the sun was low in the sky and obscured by trees and buildings at this same time.  This angle of light was too fleeting and narrow.  Now the light stretches from the road to our circular drive.

Renda and Healy
Last week, January 19th, the Renda completed delivery of it fuel pay load.  The next day, the USCG Cutter began the process of freeing the Renda from the ice where it had been allowed to freeze in place.    On the 21st they began the trip south.  Yesterday, they'd traveled 230 miles south of Nome, but they had only progressed through half of the ice.  Alaska Dispatch has the most recent update:  Renda: Go Tanker Go.

Guess that covers most of it.

Winter Sky

26 January 2012
7:24 PM

Sunrise at	9:56 AM	in direction	136°	Southeast
Sunset at	4:11 PM	in direction	224°	Southwest

Duration of day: 6 hours, 14 minutes (6 minutes, 30 seconds longer than yesterday)


Since I drove down to Glennallen, I have been trying to capture the moods of the Interior winter sky.  Not being the most expert digital photographer, the results have not been fantastic, but I keep trying.  Then too, we may be past the point where I will capture rosy hues easily.  The rose and violet colors one so often sees in paintings of Alaska are due to the sun's angle being low on the horizon.  And those colors, they aren't exaggerated.

During much of November, December, and January, the angle of the sun is low enough in the sky that colors look like morning for most of the day.  When I checked the sunrise-sunset times for this blog today, my eye caught the statistic that the sun was at its zenith at 1:03 PM (remember how I said our time zone placed noon an hour before midday in winter) and that it's angle was at 7 degrees above the horizon for Fairbanks.  I have no idea what that means in terms of color dispersion through the atmosphere compared to the winter solstice angle of 2 degrees above the horizon.

Even at summer solstice where the twilight lingers for 3 hours while the sun is below the northern horizon, the sun's zenith is no more than 48.6 degrees above the southern horizon.

Our natural horizon to the south in Fairbanks is the Alaska range.  I assumed the "horizon" was not the natural horizon, but instead 7 degrees as if I were looking out across a flat surface to the curve of the earth.  I emailed my uncle (retired Navy) to be sure, because I could find mention of the ideal horizon, but no specific definition of what that meant.  He sent me this link:  Angle of the Sun.

You see, what I have been trying to bend my mind around is how what I see is related to a measurement.  What constitutes a degree in my visual world?  I don't have an answer for that yet either!

Rosy hues or not, I do have some pictures of the winter sky.  I am going to start with some I took earlier this month.  The sun did not rise above the tree tops at our house, but you could see the sun light touching the tops of them as well as the sun through the birch.  At our house, we have tall spruce to the south east, so these are taken south and south west.  The one below is nice for a few reasons.  It shows the soft, soft blue of the Interior horizon sky and how really bright it is, even if the sun is not high in the sky.

Gold and amber across the tree tops

This next one, taken near the same day, reveals the sun peeping through the trees.

Why our house is desirable in mid winter

Then, I've tried to take shots from campus, but I confess, on the best days for color and sky, I didn't have my camera.  Yet, the sky is always interesting, so I took several over the last few weeks.  Today was fun because when I walked there were snow clouds hanging in over the west, north, and north east, but the south was relatively open.  About an hour or so later, all the sky was clear, and then it clouded up again.

Below are two different days of roughly the same skyline.  They were taken near the same time of day and they do seem to reflect the changing colors as the sun's angle increases.  I am facing south east.  The first was about two weeks ago and the second was today.

Mid January

Late January

The first shows the rose and violet colors of deep winter near the horizon, while in the second, the light is more diffuse and the soft blue extends further up the sky and to the north.  Below is a view to the south, but the sun is not shining directly because the I stood just so the sun was behind the building.  That makes for a chance to take wonderful pictures of the southern sky because there is no glare.

And then, I took two photos of sun dogs.  A sun dog is like a rainbow, but it extends vertically instead of in an arch.  Most times, they show white or golden light.  Sun dogs are a phenomena of the arctic and sub-arctic - again due to the low angle of the sun to the south.  These had tinges of color on them like rainbows.  I don't think my camera caught that very well, but you can see the verticality.

Rainbow Sun Dog

The steam from power plant is on the right edge.  I didn't take time to crop them, and looking at it, I decided to include the next, also taken about mid January.  After all, this is about life in Alaska's Interior and providing power in extreme weather is a part of that.

The university power plant sculpts the skyline

Life is good, isn't it?