Oh My!

Sorry about not posting yesterday but I left on a business trip and I traveled all night and then had to work.  So now to the exciting part.  I had a concert scheduled Wednesday night at the park but due to a last minute rainstorm, it got cancelled. It is no fun playing french horn in the thunder, lightening and rain, so it was decided not to play.    Actually, most of us showed up and we were standing around, watching the sky, talking and taking bets on the condert taking place.  About 10 min before the concert was due to start, it started raining.  Softly enough at first to get to the cars but once we got to the car, it began pouring for the next couple hours.

Later in the evening, I had a wonderful experience on my way to the airport.  Actually, I was double blessed on the way in.  The first thing seen was a beautiful rainbow that started over by the mountain ridge and ended by flowing into the transformer station.  Wow, you could see the beginning and the end. I don't see that very often.

In addition, on the right side, I saw a faint second rainbow a little bit closer to me.  It was a double rainbow but not for the full rainbow.  It was just for part of the rainbow.  I loved every second of seeing the rainbow.  Yeah!  I felt loved by the city as I prepared to leave for four days.

Crabby, Crabbing, *Crabbed.

Have you ever been on the beach and noticed small crabs scurrying across the pale sand?    The one's I've seen are usually white and not very big but they love to scurry and when in danger, they bury themselves in sand.  I think I mentioned many months ago that my brothers would capture these and store them in the freezer complete with sand attached to their bodies.  My mother really hated it when they did that because she had to clean all the sand out of the freezer.

Those crabs are not edible and even if they were, I wouldn't eat them!  The crabs most people eat, tend to live further out.  I know you can make crab cakes out of them or eat them in a fancy way such as black pepper crab, crab chowder, crab salad. 

Most of the time I've eaten crab, its been cooked in boiling water, then drenched in plain melted butter so its really messy to eat.  You open the hard protective shell using a nut cracker, those metal ones you find in your misc drawers in the kitchen.  The drawer, you shove stuff in that you don't know where else to put.  The crab is usually hot, perfectly cooked and sooooo mmmmm that it melts in your mouth.

Most people buy the crab at a market, take it home and cook it.  If you are like my brothers and you live in a fishing town,  you just pop your boat, going out and checking your friends crab pots until you've found enough for dinner. 

When I lived on Diomede, crabbing was the big activity in the spring when the daylight got longer and it was warmer but there was still thick ice between Little Diomede and Big Diomede.  Out there, they did'nt use crab pots.  They caught crabs using a twisted rope decorated with large beads!  They tied strands of beads down towards the bottom of the rope.  When the rope was dropped through a hole in the ice, the beads would capture the crabs attention and the crabs would start climbing to rope only to get caught in the area between the strands of rope.

They pulled the rope up out of the hole, plucked the crabs off, threw them in a bucket and when they  caught enough crabs, they went in and cooked them.   Of course, the only real way they served crab with enough butter to have a beautiful mess on you and the table when done.  Talk about a memorable experience!

*Crabbed is a real word.  It means illegible handwriting.

Fishing for ??????

I am still looking for my camera cord.  I think I put it somewhere safe so it might be a while.  In the mean time, I ordered a second cord just in case.  I also ordered it on the theory that I'll find the missing one soon. 

When I was young, I used to fish off the bridge over the canal.  It was a nice place, near the beach.  I don't know the name of the fish but I do know we'd have to put it in a bucket of water for a couple days to clean it out before we could eat it.    I usually used a nice bamboo pole with a length of fishing line with a  hook on the end of it.  The best time to catch fish was in the rain. Dad always made us use cheese as the bait.......LOL.

3 pronged hook being made.

I think I used a reel and rod, one time on a camping trip but I am dangerous with it.  I usually manage to hook people's clothing more than I do getting it in the water.  Out where I am now, folks use a small piece of wood about 18 inches long with a length of string tied to the end of it and a three pronged hook attached to the end.  The idea is you drop the hook into water, move it and hopefully hook fish.

Black Fish Trap.

The fishing pole is only used when you go down to the river.  If you want black fish, you make a trap to catch them.  The idea is that you put the trap in the water and the fish swim in through the opening and cannot get back out.  I do not know any other names for a black fish and its the local name for a type of fish.

Netting.

Then there is the net, used for most other types of fish like salmon, cod, halibut, etc.  The guys take out a boat, go over a set of waterways till they get to "their" spot and string the nets across the river.  They leave it for a couple of days before checking on it.

Fishing is an important part of life out where I work.  They fish year round, even when they have to drill holes down through the ice with an auger. 

In about two to three weeks, I'll be out on a camping trip with a bunch of kids.  They will go fishing and I'll get to help cook their catch for dinner.  Nothing better than fresh caught fish cooked over a Coleman stove and eaten in the fresh air.  The outdoor adds flavor to whatever you cook.

WoW! I Didn't Know It Was That Big!

I was going to talk about some of the floats from Saturday's parade but I misplaced my camera cord, so I hope to find that later today. In the meantime, I heard something on the radio about forest fires happening in various places around the country.  They talked about a couple of fires in the lower 48 but they stated the fires in Alaska are the worst of the current fire season.

  They stated that over 5 million acres have burned in Alaska.  5 million acres!   I suddenly realized, I had no real idea how big an area 5 million acres is.  Do you?  I understand that its a huge number and all but what does it mean when expressed in a way I can comprehend.  The announcer went on to say that it was about the size of Massachusetts. 

That still didn't quite give me a real idea of size so  I did a quick conversion of acres to square miles and found out its an area of just over 7,800 square miles that  has burned so far.  That is just under three times the distance from New York City to Los Angeles, or almost three one way trips between the two cities.  That gives me a better idea because I've driven from the west coast to the east coast and back several times. 

Yes, I know a square mile is not the same as the miles calculated on the road but if you laid the square miles end to end and drove through the middle of it, its close.

Whoops!

The dress I word

I played my French Horn yesterday with the community band in the Golden Days parade.  I'll have pictures of some of the entries tomorrow.  We had a choice of dressing in costume or wearing our usual band shirts.  Since I have a selection of historical gowns from that time period, I selected on with a narrow skirt so I didn't take a ton of room on the float. The french horns were squished between the trombones and the tubas!

More on that tomorrow.  After the parade, I popped over to the Farmers Market in my costume because I had not eaten breakfast before heading over to the parade.  Since the Farmers Market is right next door to the heater repair people, I popped over to see if my Monitor was cleaned and ready.  A Monitor is a heater that is widely used in Alaska.


I was there with a male family member because I don't heave those things easily.  As we got up to the desk and gave the name, his cell phone rang.  The other guy at the desk, grinned and hung up.  Apparently they were calling to let me know the heater was ready for pick up.  His phone number was left because I tend to keep my phone turned off.

We all had a big laugh over that.  Then the guy I was with asked me if I wanted to go bring the pick up truck around.  I looked at him, gestured at my outfit and said no.  Have you ever tried to drive a 23 foot manual shift pickup truck in a street length skirt with petty coat underneath? (I've driven a VW manual shift in a skirt and petticoat and ended up with it all bunched up at the waist while trying to shift around it.)   He and the guys at the desk, so he went to get the truck while I paid the bill.  By the way, while the guys loaded the heater, I opened a truck door, stepped in and actually changed into shorts and a T-shirt so I could be more comfortable.

Save Me!

I don't know how many of you read gardening books but I do.  I own and have read a ton of them.  One piece of advice given when you want to start a new raised bed: "Lay cardboard or thick plastic on the ground."  Its supposed to smother the weeds and keep your new bed weed free!

I don't think it works because I have raspberries, birch, aspen and fireweed that has pushed their way through all barriers and are threatening to take over my raised bed.  I don't know how it happened! I have been invaded and I am loosing the battle in that area.  I may not have put enough plastic down when I built the raised bed.

Yeah, one raised bed!  I used to have three but I took two down when I gave up the battle to the plants that took it over.  I am about ready to give up on the third one.

I swear, the raspberry plants were the first to inch their way up to the surface of the bed.  They pushed and strained their way up through three feet of dirt.  I'd pull the plants out, time after time but they would not give up.  Then I'd find either birch or aspen seedlings showing themselves between the stubborn raspberries.  So now I'm pulling birch and aspen seedlings with the raspberries. 

Then throw in a sprinkling of fireweeds in the mess.  I have fought these plants in my last bed for the past six or seven years.  A couple of those birch got hold of the bed and I am not going to get those suckers out of there easily!  I think I'm going to have to take the bed apart and reassemble else where with a thick thick layer of both plastic and cardboard.  Then I'm going to line the bed with plastic and staple it to the sides because I think some of plants snuck in up the side and spread that way!

I realize life is a great teacher but darn it, life could have given me a break on my garden!  Couldn't it?

Safaris

My sister went on a safari to Africa a few years ago.  She had such a good time and she came back with stories of all sorts of things that happened to her.  She had us in stitches.  Would I like to go sometime?  Yes, someday but in the meantime, I'll continue going on my photo safaris to various places.

I looked up the word safari and it is defined as  an expedition to observe or hunt animals especially in Africa.  Since I'm on the other side of the world, a zoo is as close as I'll get right now but you know what?  I love spending hours at the zoo, checking out everything
.
I stand in front of cages, read signs, hope I can spot the animals who are hidden in the shade and watch them from behind the safety of a fence. 

If I want to visit Africa, the zoo has an African section with  elephants, giraffe's, zebra's, birds, hippos, rhino's and all sorts of other creatures. 

If I want to go birdwatching, there is a great bird section filled with birds I'll never get a chance to see in the wild.  That is a reason, I love zoos. 

Years ago, I was at a ren faire that had elephants.  One of the elephants was a character who had a sweet tooth.  He loved peppermint candy so much, he'd even eat it with the wrapper on.  I was with someone who had a piece of peppermint candy in his shirt pocket and the next thing he knew, the elephant's trunk came over his shoulder, slid into his pocket, stole the candy and popped it in the elephant's mouth!  Talk about surprise.

Scored!

I don't know if you are aware but I live in the middle of the boondocks of Alaska.  That means the closest real store is 2.5 hours away by air.  I got into the habit of liking fruit smoothies but made with either almond milk or fruit juice.  I hate the recipes that call for water as it adds no flavor.  The only fruit I get out there on a semi-regular basis are apples, oranges, and bananas assuming that none get frozen when the boxes are on the airstrip at 40 below.

So I've been thinking of how I can get a better variety of fruits and such out to my place so I can still enjoy these drinks.  One way is to use those little cups you buy to put in a kits lunch.  Those you can get with all sorts of fruits in a bit of juice and they are relatively light or at least much lighter than the tins of fruit that serve 2 to 4 people.

Now I have to figure out what to do about greens.  Frozen veggies are not something you easily find out there and when you do, it might be corn on the cob or those veggies with sauces already on them.  Neither is really good for a nutritional drink.  So my only choice is to go with canned veggies or order some in from the closest city and hope they get to me in relatively good shape.

  I've been checking places on line and did you know you can get containers of greens in the health food section????  I didn't.  They are dried and can easily be added to my drinks to increase nutrition.

But the best thing over all is that a place in Washington state that has a branch in Alaska will send me fresh fruits and veggies either weekly or bi-weekly and they have 5 sizes I can choose from.  I usually choose the largest box and order it every two weeks because it knocks the weekly cost to less than the box for a single person.

In addition, I love veggies and a vegetarian who is trying to cut back on dairy but I don't think I"ll manage that fully.  Yeah, I have my fruits, veggies and blended drinks taken care of for the next year.  I am soooo happy about that.  I scored!

Golden Days

I bet you are wondering what I mean when I say Golden Days.  No it is not a celebration for the over 65 crowd!  It is the celebration of the discovery of gold in the area by Felix Pedro which lead to the founding of the city of Fairbanks, Alaska.

Most places have some sort of celebration that is unique to them.  For some its tossing pumpkins, on others its preparing asparagus in 87 different ways to share with people but for Fairbanks, its celebrating the discovery of gold back at the turn of the century because this is what caused Fairbanks was founded in 1901.

If you wonder why the place is not named Felixtown, its because the city was named after a popular congressman of the time. The celebration began in 1952 and has grown into a week long celebration with parades, runs, barbeques, a street fair, dances, a rubber ducky run and all sorts of other things including the mobile jail!

On Saturday, the celebration kicks off with a parade that runs from Carlson Center, along the river, through downtown to the other side where it ends on Airport way,  a few miles away.  The parade has marching military bands, bands on floats, various groups attired in turn of the century gear,  ladies of the evening on foot and on roller skates, and of course the Alaskan equivalent of the Beverly Hillbilly's car.

This parade even has a review stand in the downtown area, not too far past the Greek restaurant.  The review  stand  has the announcer who lets everyone know which group is passing by because one of the tele stations is recording the parade to show the next day.

I've actually been in the parade over the past few years.  I usually play french horn with the community band who do not march.  They ride on a trailer and play music such as downtown, Hogans Heros, etc.  Nice bouncy tunes the audience likes.  I don't know if I'll do it this year as I've got so much to do in the next couple weeks.

Mail delivery by what???????

I had already started writing my entry for today when low and behold, the radio had a really awesome piece on package delivery in Switzerland.   The Swiss Postal Service is working with a company in California to test out having drones deliver packages.  Yes you read that right,  Drones!

The idea is that you have a landing pad located somewhere safe for the drone to land and deliver the package.  The drone actually has a cargo container that contains the package.  Once the drone lands, the recipient opens the container and removes the cargo before the drone takes off again. 

The Swiss Postal System is not looking at the drones to deliver all packages because the drone's cargo hold is only large enough to carry two apples.  Due to the terrain, there are three situations the postal service is interested in using drones.

First, many places can easily be cut off from the rest of the world due to the snow covered terrain.  A drone would allow people to receive items of immediate need.

Second, people who live in isolated areas could receive their regularly scheduled medications.

Third, drones could act as medical couriers such as carrying lab samples.

They stated that this type of delivery would not become a reality till 2020 but in the meantime they are testing the system out to see how well it would work.  I assume they will test the drones out in all sorts of conditions to see if they work in snowstorms with cold winds, rain, etc.

I am geeky enough to think this is absolutely cool.

Age of the Geek!

Summers are a time of exploration for me.  I live in a place where there is no television signal so I spend summers checking out various shows when I'm visiting my parents or in a hotel.  I usually purchase seasons of shows on DVDs that I like.  I base my choices on what I find interesting over the summer.

I found some really cool shows this summer.

First, there was Battle Bots, a cool show on one of the major channels. It was great being able to see specially designed robots fighting each other in a three minute round with refs.  I saw male and female, young and old all competing for the honor of #1.  No I don't know who is going to win because I'm back home but the episodes I saw riveted my attention.  I think this show is going to increase peoples interest in building robots.  

I've actually have been checking out making robots myself simply because it looks like fun.


Then there is the pretty female IT genus in The Arrow.  Felicity who is not always the most socially adapt, can hack into anything and find information but seldom left the confines of her computer room.  I saw the episode where she was thrilled the day she got shot so she'd have a scar, just like everyone else.  She finally felt like she belonged.  I really love the way her character has grown over the past couple of seasons.  Yes  I got both seasons and watched them over a three day period.  Yeah!

I also caught the new Flash and there is a strong female science type character.  She is someone who is most comfortable doing her job but not as socially apt as others. The lead male is quiet and has not been able to tell the girl he worships from afar that he loves her.

Ohhhh then there is the series Scorpion with some very talented people who help solve crimes but need a "normal" person to keep them grounded.  I love the way some have trouble relating to others.  Yes, I do know folks like that.  I know many whose idea of a conversation is not what people normally discuss.

Finally, my all time fave is ABBY from NCIS.  I love the female goth character who loves her area, hates anyone who comes in to her space and has been known to lock people in or out of her lab.  She does not wear "normal" clothing, has tats and is brilliant! 

Keep those geeks rolling!

Scored!!!!!!

I popped over to the Farmers Market yesterday and had a great time exploring all the offerings.  The day started off overcast with the sun trying to peak out from among the clouds but in the end, the sun lost the battle and it rained off and on all day.

I started with a great fresh cup of tea from the tea stand and ordered a banana crepe with whipped cream and caramel rum sauce all over it.  Talk about a decadent beginning to the day.  Yum!  The person I was with wanted some fresh made green chili and cheese tamales but the stand only does those on Wednesdays so he settled on a vegetable taco with a homemade corn tortilla.  One of these days I"m going to learn to make real corn tortillas instead of having to buy them at the store.

We finally got to the part of the season where veggies are becoming available.  For instance, I found the usual broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radishes, beets, swiss chard, carrots, lettuce, onions and garlic but this time, I found some beautiful tomatoes that looked so juicy and red, just perfect to go with the lettuce I'm growing in my garden.  The tomatoes I bought, one was orange while the other was a deep red with a light band around the top and both smelled so good!


Then at the booth on the corner, I found some beautifully deep purple oriental eggplants.  So many people dislike eggplant but I discovered when you cook it up with broth, coconut milk, soy sauce, a bit of sugar and roasted chili paste, you end up with a fantastic dish.  I made it for some coworkers and served it with rice and they really enjoyed it.  My coworkers are definitely meat eaters and not as much into veggies but they tried it and complemented me on the dish.

Finally at one other place I found some crisp early green beans that I"ll steam up with a few herbs and just enjoy the succulent taste.  The owner also had some wonderful looking zucchini that I picked up.   I realize some of you are wondering about why I'm ecstatic about this but its the middle of Alaska where its not warm enough to plant outside till late May or early June and the first frosts hit by the end of August.  Many of these vegetables are grown in green houses and if it does not get warm enough, we don't get a wide selection of veggies.

I can tell you right now, I don't usually see eggplant being grown up here.  One year, I remember someone from North Pole grew corn and sold the produce for $1.00 an ear.  Yes, you saw that right, $1.00 an ear.  I know that is high but when you know the corn was picked that morning, so its fresh and juicy you are wanting it.  Yes, people are willing to pay $1.00 per ear up here.

You know, later in the summer, there will be a variety of winter squash but I have never seen anyone grow melons of any sort!  I bet most people refuse to grow them because the season is too short and they can be rather temperamental.
I bought enough vegetables to create some awesome dishes this week.  My mouth waters at the thought.

Jurassic World, the movie.

I finally got around to seeing Jurassic World with friends. Only a handful were in attendance.  It was either too early for most movie goers or the movie has been at the theater long enough that everyone wanting to see it has already been there.

Let me say, yes there are some whoops-es in the movie.  One of the folks I went with is a geologist and he caught a comment that was wrong but for the most part he was able to suspend belief enough to really enjoy the movie.

I decided before I went to shut down my scientific mind so I could enjoy the movie more.   So let me say, I really enjoyed the movie.  I loved the creepy bad guys and how they got their due.  I loved the head scientific guy's attitude showing he looked at "the greater good".  I especially loved the kudos to the original Jarassic Park movies.

This movie also showed characters growing.  The aunt who went from the corporate troubleshooter to a female Rambo.  The evolution of a teenage boy who lived in his own digital world and flirted with females to someone who could rebuild an engine and think under pressure.


If Jurassic World really existed, would I go?  Yeah I would.   Imagine being able to see ancient life forms.  Even if they are genetically modified by filling in some of the missing genetic material, they are still cool but dangerous.  The reality is we don't know if the material used to fill in the missing genetic bits for Jurassic Park/World would change the animals.  I heard that 80 percent of human DNA is not human which leads to the the question of how similar is the DNA between the modified dinosaurs and real dinosaurs.

So yes, I'd go visit Jurassic World but only after it had been in operation for a year or two so all the kinks are worked out.   Dinosaurs rock!

Pluto part 2

Yeah, I'm kind of focused on the new information on Pluto.  I remember growing up and learning it was a planet and then when they changed it, I got a bit upset.  Now that the science community is getting all this data from the New horizons, perhaps they will change its status back to that of a planet.

There are like four things I found really interesting when I read the updated news reports.
1.  There are mountains on Pluto.  Actually it is more like mountain ranges but still they are mountains and even more impressive is that the mountains appear to be made of ice.   Not a methane ice but an ice made of real water! These mountains are all located near the equator of Pluto.  I would never have thought of mountains made of ice.  These mountains are about the same height as the Rocky Mountains.  That is neat. 

2.  It turns out that Pluto does not have as many craters as they expected being so far out and in the Kupier Belt where there are a bunch of space debris that .  Now from my point of view, they looked at a section of Pluto that had no craters so is this representative of the whole planet or is it just an outlier?  Scientists stated that there should be more craters due to the amount of space debris activity in the area.
 

3.  The biggest surprise I got had to do with the fact that Pluto has 5 known moons.  I admit, I haven't been paying as much attention as I should but that is sooo neat to find out that Pluto has that many moons instead of just Charon.

4.  NASA thinks that Pluto may still be geologically active!  Imagine, a planet that small and that far out that has sections that are geologically quite young, maybe less than 100 million years old.  Remember they think the solar system is 4.5 billion years old.  

I plan to listen to Science Friday later today to see if they are going to discuss Pluto.  

Pluto

If you have read the news, you will notice that the New Horizons space craft just got to Pluto and has been taking real pictures. The space craft left the earth in 2006, just a few months before Pluto was demoted from planet to a smaller body due to the third classification criteria.

At its closet point, the space craft is just 7,800 miles away from Pluto.  That is close enough to get some really awesome pictures of the planet and to see things we've never seen before.  Just think, Pluto was discovered in 1930 and the children of the man who discovered Pluto were their for the first pictures.

Even from the few pictures they've received, they've discovered new things.  For instance, they discovered the bright part of the planet is actually heart shaped with one side being more bluish, the other side more yellowish and a distinct divider in the middle.

In addition, the space craft has sent back information on Pluto's chemical make up and temperature ratings.  It seems that Pluto has five distinct areas of terrain and the surface is pot marked from a bunch of impacts.   There appears to be evidence in these early days that Pluto may actually be a real planet even if has the same surface area as Russia.

This is soo cool. This is awesome that  we can determine so much from the various pictures being sent back by the space craft.  I can hardly wait for more new discoveries concerning Pluto

Moment of Fame

I am down visiting my parents again so my posting will be as regular as I can get to the library because my mother is still on dial-up and a very old computer.  I was reading the Sunday edition of the local newspaper and an article in it caught my interest.

The article spoke of countries that are talking about redoing drinking laws and other things because of the need for many visitors to do something over the top while they video tape themselves in the hopes of having the "next" viral hit on You Tube.

Apparently in their pursuit of fame, visitors have damaged statues and buildings or performed a drunken dive off a balcony into the swimming pool below.  Unfortunately, the statues they've damaged are often times cultural icons and to me this is a huge form of disrespect.

In regard to diving off balconies into swimming pools, these people obviously are either too drunk to care or don't care that they could end up seriously injured or dead!

I realize society has been evolving into a very self oriented group who must take selfies all over the place.  I was walking through a mall the other day and watched two young girls who stopped every couple of feet to take pictures of themselves.  I think they had over 100 pictures by the time they got to the store they were going to. 

At a block party event, I was almost run over several times by people who were making selfie videos of themselves and were walking backwards.  They used those new selfie sticks that hold your mobile device so you can get a bigger frame and more background.

Anyway you slice it, when this self absorption goes from something harmless to a desire to continually do more and more outrageous things that cause damage and disrespect the culture all for their 2 minutes of fame until the next entry in the viral community comes along.  This has gone too far.  Just for the record, I don't do selfies and hate them.

Fireworks and July 4th

July 4th in Alaska is not celebrated in quite the same way as most places do.  Yes, in a small town just outside of Fairbanks, there is a parade consisting of small entries that might resemble things from an earlier age.  There are no High School marching bands, no pretty cheerleaders, no floats in the traditional sense.  There was a small wheel barrow brigade decorated in noxious weeds to show people plants they needed to eradicate.  There are usually representatives from the 5 or 6 recognized political parties.

There are prizes given out by judges who can be bribed if offered a local beer or other treat.  Come evening, there are no fireworks.  There is a simple reason for that.  If it doesn't get dark, it is hard to fully appreciate the colors.  Fireworks are saved till New Years Eve.  If you prefer a more traditional parade, Golden Days has it and that parade has the marching bands, roller blades, fire trucks, various ethnic groups, etc.  that is due to happen in a couple of weeks.