If I get started on one of these letters and then get interrupted, it takes sometimes days or even weeks to get back to it. I started writing this on 2/11 and it is now 2/15. So, that means that the first part is dated and I either have to take the time and effort to change it, or just let you suffer through it.
Oh well, misery loves company.
Friday 2/11/05
Greetings,
Ahh, I cannot extol enough the virtues of walking to work at 24 below. The air is clear, clean, and crisp enough to tear up the airways. At least the cold makes the multiple feet of snow we have gotten in the last week harder and easier to walk on. Of course the down side is I left my insulated overalls at work yesterday when I left and I walked to work this morning with just my jeans over my legs. I just cannot understand why my legs itch all the time.
We have had an unusual amount of snow this last week literally measuring in feet. No, it wasn't a blizzard this time, it was just snow falling straight down. It's beautiful out there with everything now turned into soft snow sculptures. Imagine snow piling as high as it can onto every surface with no wind to disturb it. Patty's snowmachine is now literally a work of art with snow mounded a little over three feet high on top of the machine. It is light and fluffy and easy to brush off but why disturb the perfection of nature until we have to?
We returned from Anchorage last Sunday night late as usual due to Alaska Air's usual lack of punctuality. We got in around 9pm and were met by Cathy and Gary with their snowmachines and sled. They piled all our baggage consisting of two bags of clothes and four bags of purchases onto their sled while Patty and I opted for two slots in a cab. I say slots because it was a mini van with a passenger seating capacity of 5 and he did not leave the airport until all the seats were filled. No matter, we still had more room than on the plane. When we got home Gary and Cathy already had our bags in the apartment. Now I don't want to say they did all this for us just because we had a bag of McDonald's burgers with us. But, as soon as we all got into the apartment I looked up and Cathy had her face stuffed with a cold burger and was attempting to grin with wilted lettuce sticking out of both sides of her mouth.
Yes, once again we had four bags full of purchases we had checked and flew in with us, two boxes we mailed USPS, and two boxes and a large bucket crammed full we shipped air cargo. It sounds like a lot and it is really but it's not all groceries however. We also bought things like boxes of sparkplugs for all the machines at a savings of dollars per plug, snowmachine parts, kitchen utensils, clothes, a new fishing pole, lures, hair color-uh, of course not for Patty uh-for a friend, yea that's it! and goodness knows what else.
Originally we were scheduled to travel down later in February for the Fur Rondy and Iditarod but we moved our plans so Patty could go down and see a Cardiologist. The Cardiologist spent quite a bit of time with us and reviewed Patty's old records which we had brought with us. She did an EKG and a thorough exam and oral history. She doesn't feel there is much to be concerned about and really, that is kind of the way I felt about the episode. It turns out that in the past when Patty had the episodes of rapid heartbeat, she had some episodes of Atrial Fibrillation then too. So this is really nothing new. It is something to be aware of but not unduly alarmed about. The doc took Patty off the blood thinners and now she's taking a regular Aspirin a day instead of a baby one.
We did have fun this trip. We didn't spend the whole time either shopping or working on the house although we did do a bit of that. Christy was working weekends while we were there and after bringing her in to work Saturday and Sunday mornings at 6:45 (once passing a huge moose not three blocks from the hospital) we had the rest of the week together. We decided to take a drive down to Homer which is supposedly the Halibut fishing capital of the state. Homer is located a bit over 200 miles from the house and sits at the end of the Seward Highway which starts just about 3 miles from the house. The Seward highway travels down one of the most, if not THE most scenic drives in the state. This road travels down the Kenai Peninsula along Turnagain Arm for a while then passes through mountains and up through a pass until it forks with one leg going on to Seward and the other through Soldotna and on to Homer. The drive passes a number of areas that warn of avalanche hazards and to not stop in those areas. For once however, the whole time we were down in Anchorage or on the Kenai the weather was clear and beautiful. It was cold for Anchorage with the temps in the mornings at zero or a few degrees below. The clear weather and the temps staying well below freezing actually make driving safer. The sun helps evaporate the ice coating the highway that is constantly being assaulted by tires while the well below freezing temps prevents the hazard of black ice. Black ice forms when the temps are going above then below freezing after a layer of ice has been deposited on the roadway. The freezing and melting cycle creates an unbelievably slick surface that makes just walking on it extremely hazardous. We now have studded tires on the truck which make traveling safer. Studded tires? Yep, the tires have little points of metal sticking out of the tread at intervals on both sides of the tire that come into contact with the road. Ice grips for the tires. They make a world of difference although common sense and safe driving are still essential. (Common sense? That leaves me out-----------Hah! beat you to it!) These tires have to be removed from May to October as they do tear up the highways. So you do have to have two sets of tires but hey, they last twice as long right?
We have made part of the drive in the fall before and it was beautiful. In the winter it is indescribable. First the drive down Turnagain Arm where the tide rushes in and out each day so either there is water as far as the mountains on the other side or mud flats. During winter the cycle of water flowing over the flats then the exposure of the flats to freezing temperatures create jagged chunks of ice haphazardly jumbled about on the shallower parts. It is a unique sight. The drive then continues through a mountain pass before dropping down into valleys surrounded by peaks. After the fork, the road follows the Kenai river where folks from all over flock each summer for the world famous salmon runs. It then crosses into gently rolling wooded areas. Pass Soldotna the road travels down the Cook Inlet with a fabulous mountain range and volcano visible across the inlet.
On arrival to Homer there is a turnout at the top of a hill that affords a view towards the left of Homer spit and to the right and straight ahead a view of the inlet with snow covered mountains beyond. To the far right is a view towards the opening of the inlet with snow covered mountains dotted here and there along the horizon complete with two volcanoes. Homer has become not only a fishing Mecca but an artsy town kind of like an Alaska version of Key West. There were bald eagles soaring here and there and when we drove out onto the spit they were perched on dead trees that had been planted with the roots at the top. I suppose this was done by those artsy folk just so the eagles would have a nouveau roost that would match the artsy theme. We spent the night at some small cabins overlooking Cook Inlet complete with the view I described above. There was a huge hot tub that Patty and I gracefully declined the use of (i.e.: chickened out) as the temps were below zero. Christy and Mike did partake of it and loudly extolled the next morning on how much fun it was sitting there in the boiling water while the dampness in their hair froze.
Tuesday 2/15/05
Darned interruptions............ Now, back to the weather: Since Saturday it has either been snowing with 30-50 mph winds and little or no visibility, or that same 30-50 mph wind has been blowing the existing massive amounts of snow around with the same results-creating little or no visibility. We have to wear goggles when outside to protect the eyes from the sandblast effect of the blowing snow. The combination of goggles and everything being white, along with the fact that with no sun there are no shadows being cast makes seeing dips, drifts, mounds, ruts, etc. next to impossible. These conditions make walking and riding extremely challenging.
I had to laugh the other day because one of the things the cardiologist asked was whether we get any aerobic exercise. (Everyone does right? I mean, anaerobic exercise?) I told Patty that just going outside is aerobic exercise. We dress in layers then waddle outside to either walk to our destination or go through the work, and I mean work, of starting either the 4 wheelers or the snowmachines. Three out of the four machines have electric starters but again, in the cold batteries just do not hold a charge. So they all usually have to be hand cranked using the right combination for that particular machine. Arrival at a destination facilitates reversing at least part of the dressing then redressing process followed by the restart of the machines. This is going to sound strange but sometimes when we get done with the weekend runs we are sore the next day.
Riding or walking when you cannot see drifts or dips as described above can lead to some interesting moments like one that occurred Saturday when we ventured out to the post office and store. Patty was in the lead on her snowmachine and as I watched she hit a drift in the middle of the road. As a bystander I mentally said to myself "she's going to turn over", "no she's not", "yep, she's going to flip", "no she's not", "there she goes", "oops, maybe not". All this in a matter of a couple of seconds as she bounced on the snowmachine looking like a pin ball going back and forth across the roadway on first one ski then the other. As usual after an episode like that I turn to her and ask, "who's idea was it to move here?" God, if looks could kill............
While I'm on that subject, last week I left work early Wednesday to pick up the three containers I had mentioned of assorted groceries and other items we had shipped air cargo. I took my snowmachine and sled to the airport without to much problem and dropped the boxes at the apartment. Where I had parked to unload I either had to unhitch the sled and back out or go up a steep incline to the road. I had made the incline in the past with this machine and figured it would not be a problem. See, I figure I have learned a few tricks as I am constantly it seems being thrown from my "trusty" steed. The incline would tilt the machine to the left so I knelt on the seat with my left knee and leaned far to the right. I didn't just fall off the turnip truck-I learn from my mistakes. But....... I guess I didn't take into account the fact that there was a heck of a lot more snow out there this time. I got almost to the top and my machine, which is not a light one, started sliding sideways. Of course inevitably it fell over throwing me down the hill in the process. Now, picture the little kid from the Christmas movie about the Red Ryder BB gun. You know, the little one that was so bundled up that when he fell down he couldn't get up, all he could do was flail around looking like an upside down turtle? That's what I must have looked like as I floundered in the two foot deep snow at the bottom of the incline as I struggled to get up. This was of course after a snapshot moment as I was sailing through the air. The moment where I actually had the presence of mind to look up at my machine to make sure it wasn't following me down the hill. Now picture this-- I finally struggle to my knees and crawl up the hill just as a truck with two young women stop to see if I need help. I am so out of breath I can hardly talk when one of them grabs the machine and pulls it upright and then adding insult to injury, she yanks the sled which is also on it's side upright. I wheeze something like thank you at them and only hope because I am so bundled up (not to mention covered in snow) they don't know who I am. I delude myself until about 4pm the next day when a coworker told me it was his sister that had helped me up and she told him all she saw was arms and legs flying so she just had to stop and offer help. Once again, why do we live here?
Wednesday 2/16/05
Ok, I'm about to give up on this endeavor. I keep getting pulled away for one reason or another and when I return as mentioned, some of the info I just wrote about is now stale. (And after reading what I have written I realize I have gone off in another direction.)
The wind I mentioned blew itself out by around 3pm yesterday. The sun came out and the mountains across the sound were visible for the first time in days. The temp had risen to the teens above and I just wanted to drop everything, hop on the snowmachine and GO. Maybe spring is coming? I don't know, did Punxatony Phil (the groundhog) see his shadow on February second? We are not always privy to such modern weather forecasting this far north. All we have is NOAA, the one radio station, and the weather channel that last night was touting the however many feet of base at some ski resort. How useful.
This morning the temp had returned to one above and all that powder is now hard on top. Not that we can see the top of a lot of the mountains of snow, some as high as twenty feet. The stars and the Aurora were very much in presence this morning as I walked to work. Also the snow under certain circumstances develops crystals that sparkle like diamonds as you walk. So, I suppose life here does have some redeeming qualities and that will have to suffice as an answer today as to why we actually like it here.
Carlo
PS I'm going to mention a couple of things then shut up. I will attempt finish about the trip to Anchorage in the next letter. Since returning we have been busy trying to catch up at work, we have all started taking an EMT 1 course, and Patty and I have been trying to become more active with the fire department. Hence the interruptions and long intervals between letters. I am sure however the break has been an enjoyment to some.
Take care all
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Last updated:
08/29/05