mt redoubt

 Mt redoubt is still spewing her gutz,-(  are volcanoes a him or a her) i dont thing they have sexes. 

 On friday here were a bunch of flights from Seattle that were going to come to Fairbanks but then the wind cleared and the planes landed in Anchorage like they were supposed to.  So life comes and goes in this fair town.

 and the link to the important page looks like this.

 

http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php

 It takes a bit to find you way arround this page. but it has the most current info.  

 for my opinion anyway.

Babys and Things

 My best friend has been large and pregnant for quite some time. ( well 9 months actually) and tomorrow is her due date.

 last night she went into labor and at 12 30 this morning decided a C section was in order. Mitchell Ray arrived at 1 am. 9 lbs 8 oz  and 22 inches long. He was nursing well at 5 .30 pm when I visited. and Amy was well and resting.

 Tomorrow I get  to have Charlotte all day. She is now 21 months and picking up language skills a million miles an hour. The favorite one currently is the correct use of the word " Oh shit"   and even 'Oh shite'   No more swearing in that household. 

 Is my house child prooof? it keeps on changing everytime she comes over.

ice Carving 2009

 the Caribou , and the wolves below were the winners
 the wolves were just pounding to attack, the detail in the carving was  cool, like you could feel yourself watching the hunt....
  Greek mythology, i think is great( surprise)  and Pegasus  is an amazing creature. even in ice.
 Now i am not really an abstract person, i am much more of a  realistic person, but  this is  different and caught my  eye
 and the tortoise  has a baby on her backl

he  ice carving this year was really good. but   i want you to look closely at photo at the bottom, of the thermometer . to see the temp this morning( Sunday) 10 am and it was cold, and their was a wind as well

 then just for your interest  they show you the power of the sun and an ice lens, this piece of wood smelt like it was burning, it stunk. ( i know but it stunk) like horrible burn smell.
 i was cold even with long johns on. its march its supposed to be warm.
 yes I have some patches of frost bite on my checks to prove it was well.

Spring

well just to prove to anyone I do get up early in the morning to see the sunrise this was Monday from the car park at work- vibrant orange,   that will hang out for 15 minutes. It did help that daylight savings  started this last weekend, so I had to get up earlier.   hay it's  a sunrise and Don't see them that often
 last night i found these tracks in my yard ,  i though it was  a dag to start with. but wen i went to look a little closer i found  moose tracks. i guess my trees down the back were tasty. that will save me cutting them down in the spring

  talking of spring....  i saw some black / gray stuff down airport way today , which means that  the sun was melting the snow-  which makes for my definition of spring.

 Will the spring thaw be fast or slow that is the question.   there are always floods some where it just a matter of how much.  but there is lots of snow to melt this year. we can also get snow in late April.

  its been a good week, I have got to go out swimming once a week for the last 3 weeks. it amazing how quickly you feel the benefit of exercise.  am getting out more cause there is more daylight.  12 hours next week.

........ and summer is 8 weeks away

Tikis on the Trail

Ace alaska, part 2

  so I was just looking a the ice alaska  web cam, and I found this  sculpture

http://www.icealaska.com/09/09sb/09sbdaily/09sb08.html

 now the last photo doesn't quite do what you want  but look closely at the other ones to see the kiwis  and the tikis,  .. it's kinda cool

 no i have't got down to take photos. i am more concerneing about all the snow

Shoveling

how much snow does it take to bring Fairbanks to its knees. people were late for work this morning ( not me) and that was before we got the 6 inches during the day. It was 8 inches by the time i got home tonight, that was from the time that Iwent to bed last night
this was the area right in front of the door that i useally keep clear.

i decided not to park in the driveway i figured that shoveling was the name of the game. so I have had my exercise for the day. a bout an hours worth. shoveling, shoveling. yes one had to drive carefully , making sure you maintain momentum

I cant say we are done yet, I think there is another 2 inches for tomrrow , so they say. (For the observant in life, i got an oil delivery today, heating oil is $2.03 a gal. no complaints there.)

Donating Blood

  They called me yesterday,...

 The Blood bank is short of blood ( like usual ) and   I haven't donated for a while, it's  probably 18 months, so  I figured I could. I had great intentions last summer. but you know where they went.

 I used to go to the hospital, but they had questions about how long had I spent in  the UK.

 now they have moved it to the blood bank,  and they've changed their questionnaire. it looks a lot more relaxed. ( no i don't have mad cow disease ) yes I have spent more than 90 days in England.

 Usually there is a wonderful vein in my right arm... usually.  But I was bleeding slow they moved the needle and wriggled it around .... a whole bunch. and still i bled slow.  by the time the 15 minutes was up I was only just over the limit 410 mls when  the limit is 405.     Then they tried to get 5 test tubes of blood for whatever testing,  that just wasn't going to happen.

 But I  have  another arm.  the  veins are very small, so with a smaller needle they tried again.  guess what!   that didn't work either.  

 Back to my right arm they go 1/2 inch above the first hole.  and low and behold it bled just fine.

 we got there, Not sure how long it all took. but I have 3 holes  in me.  i have done my good deed for the day. 

It s just as well i am easy to get along with.

 I have a small bruise in my left arm

 I wonder how big the bruise will be in the morning?

Snow levels

 its been snowing quite a bit the last day or so, we probably got 4 or 5  inches.  i know in some places that snot much but of us here it s quite  a bit. so now i am going to say we have more snow than we did last year. i think my fence is 4 foot high . so i  think we have  30 inches ion the ground. it looks impressive next to my fence anyway. Everything is clean and white.  which it wont be shortly.   Now that it is march, temperatures above freezing are due ..... well when they get here.

 Well everyone has been commenting on my wonderful handbag that I bought in Crete.  so for those of  you that don't live in Fairbanks and want to  see it, I thought a photo was in order.

 the Hondos Center, (JC Penny but more expensive)  had this colour for 150 euros , and the Athens markets had something similar for 50 euros. but when I went out to Crete  to Irakalio.    the markets there had it for 36 ,  and then their were sales so I paid 18 euros.  ( don't buy anything unless its 50 % off)    that about $25.00 ish   It is just' s wonderful colour.