Good stuff...

Saw this story about Bag Balm on the internet news. It certainly struck a chord, since years ago, when I moved to Alaska, I had never heard of it. During that first winter here, I began to get skin cracks on my finger tips. They took forever to heal and nothing seemed to help. Then one day I picked up a hitchhiker and during our conversation, he told me that he sometimes worked as a cement finisher and that Bag Balm was really great for cracked skin. Well since then I've not only used it for skin cracks, I found it'll cure just about anything from chapped lips to inflamed 'roids. Like I always says, some people use vaseline or chap stick, but I prefer duh udder one.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100131/ap_on_re_us/us_bag_balm;_ylt=AltjrPHhh8QtaagYNnqi5hWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNmaW44ZGJvBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAwMTMxL3VzX2JhZ19iYWxtBGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDNARwb3MDMQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA3N0aWNreXNtZWxseQ--

Parties over...

December seems like one big party. In spite of so little daylight, officially 3 hours 41 minutes on the solstice, there's much to enjoy this month. My friend Mike and I have our birthdays during the first week, so that's a great excuse for a party. There's usually a few work related parties mid month and then comes the neighborhood Christmas eve pot luck dinner and white elephant gift exchange, always a hoot. The next day we usually have Christmas dinner with friends, then another neighborhood party on New Year's eve. This year it was at our house and quite a few people showed up, since it was a relatively balmy -20° F. Last year it was near -40 and only a hardy few ventured out. Today was kind of a let down from all the parties, but now we're up to 4 hours of daylight, so spring's just around the corner.

On the sled again...

Finally got to running dogs on a sled after using a 4 wheeler for the past few months (Dog Drivin' Oct 23). It reminded me of that Willy Nelson song where he says "just can't wait to get on the road again and bein' with my friends."

Don't get me wrong, using a 4 wheeler is great in the fall. I used to run dogs on an old motorcycle, what's called a rolling chassis: frame, wheels, forks, handelbars and seat. It was great when the roads were dry, but it was totally out of control on gravel roads when it was wet or there were leaves and frost. The 4 wheeler was a huge improvement, but a sled is still the way to go.

We got about a half of foot of snow last week and I've been working on the trail ever since, shoveling snow on the bad spots and then dragging it with the SkiDoo. Andy came out with me the other day and we shoveled snow for quite a while. The run today was far from perfect, really rough and cobby in parts, but the smooth sections more than made up for it. Nothing that a little more snow wouldn't cure, but until then, we'll keep shoveling and doing our usual snow dance and hope for the best.

Climate change...

There's been a lot of talk lately about the truthfulness of the climate change theories. Don't know that much about it, but after thirty years of doing field surveys and running dogs in Alaska, I do know that winters start later, there's a lot less snow, and spring seems to arrive earlier than when I first moved here in 1976. It seems like a prudent person might take the time to actually research the problem, rather than just criticize the proponents as a bunch of greenie, socialist, hippies. More information at UAF's Geophysical Institute: http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/ClimTrends/Change/TempChange.html

(Cartoon's from Frozen Grin: http://frozengrin.blogspot.com/).

Nailin' Palin...

I'll likely never read Sarah Plain's new book. But I've read a few of the reviews. So far, the funniest one is at a site called GIN AND TACOS:

http://www.ginandtacos.com/2009/11/17/going-rogue/

A brief excerpt:

"If you are in a hurry, here is the succinct version of this review: Going Rogue is shit. It is groundbreaking in its banality and disregard for facts... The book is less a biography than an elaborate press release... a methodical re-imagining of her entire political career replete with more excuses than a Cleveland Browns post-game press conference. Palin has never done anything wrong. The public have merely been led to believe that she is a dangerously stupid, erratic narcissist. Going Rogue is all about setting that record straight, offering a wildly implausible excuse for every crash and bang in her train wreck of a political career."

Whoever writes this is pretty funny.

Hydro splitter...

I enjoy splitting wood. There's a real satisfaction to creating a freshly split pile and it's pretty good exercise too. But the feeling's not always shared by my increasingly arthritic joints. Since every few years we try to do something new with the tractor, we decided to try out a hydraulic log splitter. I had postponed hooking it up to the tractor all summer, since I had a lot of projects to finish. But after we got a few of inches of snow last week, I figured I'd better get to it. Had to get a couple of hydraulic couplings to match the tractor fittings, which had always been a hassle in the past, but this time they had the right ones in stock and was able to hook it up the next day. Not only does it work great, it splits just fine with the tractor running at near idle, so it's relatively quit too. Now I just need to find a way to stack it hydraulically.

Dog drivin' again...

Been running dogs on the 4 wheeler since it started to cool down in mid September. We got 3-4 inches of snow towards the end of the month and winter looked promising, but then it warmed up and all the snow melted in early October. That was fine for finishing summer projects, but not so much for dog training. Now it looks like running dogs with negligible snow will continue for the for seeable future.

Blue Moon...

No, not in Fairbanks, but for someone unlucky, or maybe a little stupid, it was a very blue moon:

A German man mooning at railway staff in a departing train got his trousers caught in a carriage door and ended up being dragged half naked along the platform, out of the station and onto the tracks.

The 22-year-old journalism student shoved his backside against the window of a low-slung double-decker train when staff forced him off in Lauenbrueck for traveling without a ticket, a spokesman for police in the northern city of Bremen said.

"It's a miracle he wasn't badly hurt," the spokesman said on Monday. "This sort of thing can end up killing you."

Instead, dangling by his trousers, the man got pulled along for about 200 meters, all the while managing to keep his legs away from the wheels of the train.

The ordeal ended when a passenger pulled the emergency brake. Rescues services were called in, causing rail services between Bremen and Hamburg to be suspended for over an hour, delaying 23 trains.

The man -- unharmed except for cuts and bruises -- now faces charges of dangerous interference in rail transport, insulting the train staff, and may face sizeable a compensation claim for the delays he caused, police said.

"He was full of remorse when I talked to him," the spokesman said. "And he advised others not to try the same thing."

http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE59B4FM20091012

Timber moves...

Finally got around to moving the timbers (Timber 2...Sept 9). First had to weld up a pair of bucket forks to pick up the long timber to get it down to garage. Then was able to roll it into place on some snow machine dollies. Made some slings out of webbing and picked it up off of the floor with a couple of come-alongs attached to the wall. Then got the vertical timbers into place with a handyman jack. Had to do some last minute cutting, as one timber was a little long, but everything went remarkably well and the handyman only bit my hand once. I meant to take a series of photos as the beams were raised, but with the euphoria of the erection, forgot.

The weather has been really mild, in the fifties this past week. Maybe I'll have time to finish a few more summer projects. It's always a little amazing how much work you can get done when you know it soon will be snowing and possibly below zero in the next few weeks.

Last trip on the Delta...

Went down to the Delta River to do some survey work with my friend Mike. I go there several times a year (Flight time... April 3). The weather was awful, wet, sloppy snow on the way down, the wind blowing like crazy, and lots of cars in the ditches. As Mike always says: "It doesn't get any better than this."

After I got there and met Mike , we launched the boat OK, as yet there was no ice in the river, but then the steering was frozen up. In trying to free it, the gears or whatever broke. So we had to drive back to Glennallen, where Mike works, and get a different boat. By the time we got back, it was getting dark, so we spent the night at a small cabin nearby. The next morning was clear and cold, about 20 F, and it made for a chilly boat ride. But we were able to get to both survey sites without too much trouble and finish the work in spite of the bad weather.

This will probably be my last survey trip on the Delta. Mike had been looking to move on for a while and he will soon be leaving Alaska to start his new job. We worked together for over ten years and I never found any one who worked as hard or was easier to get along with than Mike. My wife thought we were like twin brothers with different mothers.

Mojo...

Here's a new blog I've been following, http://they-call-me-mojo.blogspot.com/. One thing they do, besides make you laugh, is think. Here's their latest quote: Do not worry if others do not understand you. Instead worry if you do not understand others. -----Confucius

I think whoever writes this is pretty funny.

Timber 2...

Back in June I got started again on last year's timber framing project (Timber... June 21). It's almost finished now and looks like it's going to turn out fine. Always some concern starting a new project, especially when you haven't done anything like it (in this case, making timbers and notches) for over twenty years. After the picture was taken, I marked and cut the final notches, then gave the timbers a light coat of varnish to seal the wood. Now all we have to do is get the framework upright inside the garage...