A Florida Cracker in the Last Frontier

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=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...

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...