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...

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...

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=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=B0yGvypBwyA  Informer - Snow I know this is a weird song choice but whenever I hear "snow" I automatically thing of this cheesey song from around Middle School (maybe high school). I just learned that Snow was from Canada, you can't make this stuff up. I wonder if he was a bastard like Jon Snow... I mean I know Jon is actually Aegon and not a bastard but bastards of the North were given the last name "Snow". Sorry for my trip into Game of Thrones. Anyways, it snowed on Saturday, October 21st! It was chilly in the morning and I had already planned to change the tire tires out and while I was at it change out the air filter, cabin air filter, and wipers. While I was at it I was going to change the brake pads. Well, that was the plan... the auto parts store gave me a power steering motor instead of an engine air filter (I knew that thing felt too heavy) and Kendall Toyota gave me the wrong size brake pads. On my way to e...

Ice, Ice, Baby - Vanilla Ice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE  I am so behind on blog posts. I have been super busy at work and to be honest the last thing I think of doing on home is hopping back on another computer, just seems a lot like work. We had a week straight of ice. It was pretty cold, one day it was down to 8 and had a few days that didn't get higher than 21. It made all the rain water freeze into ice. So, Gracen (and the other neighborhood kids for that matter) started throwing ice on to the street to watch it shatter. I has all fine with the cold and ice but I had to use a work vehicle and had to scrape the windows and heat the thing up. The inside of the windows had water streaming off them once they started to warm up, so I had to clean them off. All of this told me, snow is coming soon and I planned to switch my tires on Saturday morning. As far as dressing for the cold, I wore my base layers and they worked really well but being wool ...

To everything (turn, turn, turn) There is a season (turn, turn, turn) And a time to every purpose, under heaven A time to be born, a time to die A time to plant, a time to reap A time to kill, a time to heal A time to laugh, a time to weep A time to gain, a time to lose A time to rend, a time to sew A time for love, a time for hate A time for peace, I swear it's not too late Turn! Turn! Turn! - The Byrds   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4ga_M5Zdn4 Whenever I think of the seasons changing I think of this song. I surprised first of all that it was not sung by the Beatles. I knew it came from the Bible, Ecclesiastes. I was also surprised to learn that the song was written by Pete Seeger. We are approaching the end of Fall. I arrived at the end of Winter in March and have almost seen the whole cycle of seasons. I was pleasantly surprised to experience Spring. I realized it was Spring by two things that  occurred. First the snow on the mountains receded ...

Someday I Suppose - Mighty Mighty Bosstones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmOmAuhAQbE There was a girl and I don't know her name either She gave me love and I swore I'd never leave her If I did I'd come back someday and find her Maybe I will I should write down a reminder One day! One day who knows Someday I suppose There was a verse that I was gonna write I haven't yet But there's still a chance I might An open book That I still want to close I'll find the time Someday I suppose A place and time, I want to be and spend a storyline That's happy in the end If you've never watched the old 90's music videos for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones... stop what you are doing right now and watch, such a nostalgia trip! Growing up a Bosstones fan when I think plaid, I think of them first. I've watched plaid in different fashions since high school but in Alaska I've had a explosion of plaid. I bought some Carhartt flannel at Val...

Here Comes the Rain Again by The Eurythmics https://youtu.be/TzFnYcIqj6I When Lorrie came in June it rained for almost a week straight. Rain came and went but August was one of the wettest in recent Alaska history. We had several weeks where rain was spotty and not that bad. But now it has been rainy for three days. 4th Floor Loussac Library Here comes the rain again... It's funny I thought I'd enjoy living in Seattle or another rainy city but it gets annoying fast. I don't mind the grey and lack of sun so much but I'm not a fan of getting wet especially from 40 degree rain. Lorrie calls the rain here "fake rain" because it is light and misty and not that big drops, torrential downpour that we have in Florida. The other thing that we miss (sort of) is we don't have thunderstorms like we did in "the Lightning capital of the world" Tampa. I know it's not rain but I took this picture Monday 10/2/17 and I really like it Lots of peo...

My Friend by Jimi Hendrix  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpI1on_ixvU When I had found a place for my family to live and I started looking for furniture. Lorrie told me that my oldest son James wanted a bunk bed or loft bed. I looked through Craigslist ads and found a beautiful looking loft bed with a chest of drawers. I sent an e-mail I received an immediate reply. I went over and looked at the bed and furniture and met a very very friendly and talkative guy named Tony. I explained that I would need to rent a truck and he said he could help me with his truck. He invited me to come over to a BBQ. After we moved the bed a week or so later I went to one of Tony's infamous BBQs. Tony does all kinds of BBQ meat: tri-tip steak, fish, shrimp, pork, hamburgers, and all kinds of veggies. I stayed in touch with him and went on a hike with him and his family and some other friends to Archangel Falls near Hatcher Pass. Hiking, especially a difficult hike like this was, is a bo...