A Florida Cracker in the Last Frontier

" In Bloom " - Nirvana            https://youtu.be/PbgKEjNBHqM One of the things that I think I really appreciate about living in Anchorage and it applies to other parts of Alaska is that people are really passionate about certain things. One of those things is gardening, and it means that there are lots of gardening groups, clubs, classes, etc. The other thing that it means is that during Summer there are flowers every where. These were in a flower box outside of a small mechanic's shop I went to get a nail out of my tire. This was one of the many cement planters that you can find in front of grocery stores, schools, and many other places. This one was beside the drive thru at Taco Bell. All of these were planted around the outside of the library I work at by volunteers. Everytime I walk by this side of the building I stop and look at them for a while because of all their vibrant colors and the interesting arrangements. In Flor...

Good Enough For Grandad by The Squirrel Nut Zippers When I was in my Junior year of high school I took a class called Theory of Knowledge (I was in the International Baccalaureate Program). Another student in that class, Kara Durand, mentioned a band called Squirrel Nut Zippers. I borrowed one of their CDs from the public library and loved the big band instruments: trumpet, trombone, saxophone (which I played). The Summer between my Junior and Senior year of high school I visited my maternal grandparents in Belleville, IL (a small town outside of St. Louis). They and my Uncle Mark actually liked most of the songs. They were giving my sister betsy their old copper color 1982 Toyota Corolla. One of the things we did was take the car and get a new stereo system so we could play CDs. I drove that car from Illinois back to Florida with no air conditioning but we were playing all of the Squirrel Nut Zippers CDs that I bought used at Vinyl Fever in South Tampa. When I was in colle...

A Winter's Tale by Queen Winter has been a mix of rain, snow, and ice. We've had some 30's and 40's which people here consider warm for this time of year but we've also had some mornings of -10. I have been in the habit of wearing my ice cleats when I walk to the bus stop. I did that after some close calls. There are some days that the snow plows scrape the street to almost a hockey rink smoothness and depending on the hockey rink smoother. I took cross country ski lessons and I see why so many people quit. It is really physically demanding and it works some muscles that you don't work by running or doing other activities. I like being out in nature, learning, trying something new. So, I'm going to keep trying. I think Gracen would like the Little Nordic skiers but it's too late in the season for this year. I bought ice skates for the boys and myself and I got them sharpened but we haven't made it out to skate. In Alaska, we h...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLfCnGVeL4 - The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkle The version from Disturbed is really really good!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4 I meant to write this a long time ago during the Winter Solstice back on December 21st. Back when I lived in Florida, the Winter and Summer Solstice didn't mean a whole lot to me. The length of the day and night aren't all that different. Here in Alaska there is a huge change. The Winter Solstice is the when we have our darkest day. It meant that the sun came up around 11am and went back down around 3pm. If there is cloud cover like in this picture taken at noon on 12/21/2017 you can't really tell it's daytime. After the solstice the days start to get longer and here you can really tell. We average an additional 4 to 5 minutes of daylight until the Summer Solstice when it will be day even at night. I love how the light shifts and looks different throughout the year. How th...

Cheeseburger in Paradise - Jimmy Buffett Unfortunately I didn't take pictures but maybe I will in the future. Every Friday for the last two months or so I have taken the family to different local burger places in Anchorage. Lorrie had the idea and I had been thinking about it too, list each place and talk about what we liked, didn't like, cost, etc. Tommy's Burgers $$$$ - Lorrie liked the burgers here best. The fries were good. The thing that                                         bothered me were long wait, small cramped restaurant, and by far the most                                         expensive place we went. Hamburger Haven $ - Best value by far. They had the best onion rings and fried okra. The fries                  ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itcMLwMEeMQ  - Jingle Bell Rock by Bobby Helms It's one of the busiest times of the year so I haven't written as much as I wanted to. Last Saturday, I did the Jingle Bell Run at the University of Alaska Anchorage to raise money for the Arthritis Foundation. I wish I had brought the kids because they had Home Depot crafts, Santa, hot cocoa, doughnuts, and much more. One of the employees that I manage, Kathryn was there and it was fun to hang out with her before the race. As a Florida boy I am not versed in the ways of running in Alaska during the late Fall / Winter. I wore my base layers (wool long underwear), running shorts, running shirt, and a hoodie. I did not own any ice cleats, especially ones that are used for running. The blue shoes are mine and as you can see this lovely lady with the long socks has some nice ice cleats. The race started on a slippery ice surface but transitioned quickly to sidewalks with gravel, then c...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX6LmojEWy4 E Street Shuffle - Bruce Springsteen Growing up in Florida the only "shuffle" I knew was the "stingray shuffle". If you don't know when out at Florida beaches it is wise to drag your feet in the sand when walking in the water because if you lift your feet up and step down on a stingray, which can happen during certain times of year, you will get stung. I don't mean like a bee sting it's a huge ugly gash akin to being sliced by a small harpoon. Lately I've been doing a different shuffle. The streets and sidewalks are plowed but covered in ice and light snow. It makes them extremely slippery and some way more than others. I try to walk to the edge of the road or sidewalk is to walk in the plowed snow to keep from slipping but sometimes that's not practical because the snow is really high. So, I've adopted a type of shuffle that is like playing broom hockey on ice. It's like half skating a...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLIppgE45wM Don't Eat the Yellow Snow - Frank Zappa As the temperature reaches the single digits and we have received more snow I have been trying to get the boys outside to do some fun (frozen) activities. We started with sledding, and we are still getting the hang of it. I think we might need to have two (or more). Gracen loves just being pulled around while he sits in the sled. It got me to thinking that we should look for a place that does sleigh rides.  I was thinking just the other day that we need to research how to make a snowman because our snow has been too powdery / dry but I'm sure with a spray bottle or something we could do it. I noticed on my last trip to the park to go sledding that there were little patches of yellow snow near the entrance. I understand that people let their dog pee on the round all the time and I just don't see it but... come on man! What really makes me audibly sigh is when people don't ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKjOOR9sPU&list=RDC4_yFX4cvE8&index=5   - " Sweet Disposition " The Temper Trap Sweet disposition Never too soon Oh, reckless abandon Like no one's watching you A moment a love A dream aloud A kiss a cry Our rights Our wrongs A moment, a love A dream aloud A moment, a love A dream, aloud This is one of my favorite songs. I recently went to Portland, Oregon for a seminar about FCC funding for Library and School internet connectivity (called Erate it is managed by USAC), and when I looked for a Spotify playlist I found one entitled "Portlandia", the first song was this one. I left late Saturday night (1:25 am) and arrived in Portland around 8:30 am. I had a connecting flight in Seattle that was delayed and the plane was not big enough for all the baggage. Guess whose bag was not on the plane... mine. So when I arrived in Seattle and could not find my bag I went to the Alaska Airlines baggage window. The...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpadYhXHgw A Jump Into the Fog - The Wombats I love, Love, LOVE this song and the Wombats. Oh, since 1998 when the did a cover of an Operation Ivy song. It has been very foggy here. We had fog ALL Day for like 5 days. I've never lived in a place where the fog got denser as the day went. On most week days I go to the gym at 5am. On Wednesday I say frozen fog, it's really interesting. It looks like sparkles all over the air. I tried to take pictures but nothing does it justice. It made for a very spooky atmosphere for Halloween. I must say I found Halloween a bit odd here. There were people with porch and drive way lights blazing and they didn't answer their door or hand out candy. Jerks! Halloween had some cute kids and some even wore coats, not my kids which I was proud of. They weren't bothered by 40 degree weather even though they are Florida-born. Pumpkins last longer in this cool, cold, (today) frozen weather. In Florida a...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBecM3CQVD8  Sympathy for the Devil - The Rolling Stones I listened to a bunch of covers of this song(Motorhead, Jane's Addiction, Bon Jovi) to see if one of them was better than the original... NO WAY! Great song, and it was on my soundtrack for an event I recently attended. People that are beer geeks know that there are certain beers that get people to wait in line and pay ridiculous sums of money. One of the types of beer that inspires such craziness is barrel aged barley wine. Anchorage Brewing Company is known for one of the best barrel aged barley wines called "Deal With The Devil". This year they released a box set that had a beautiful wooden box with six different barrel aged varieties. The box set was $300 for six 750ml bottles in a laser etched box, but they have been going for ridiculous sums of money on the secondary market. Each barrel imparts different characteristics and since the product is organic it is kinda a uni...