Vote No on 1?

The commercial airwaves, TV and radio, have been bombarded for the last year or so with ads paid for by the oil companies to vote no on ballot proposition 1. This is the citizen initiative to to repeal the latest revision of the oil tax law, known as SB 21. While I'm no expert on taxes, or anything else for that matter, my impression of how this law was passed was the all too usual legislative procedure. A bunch of lobbyist's, in this case for the oil companies, descend on Juneau and spend as much money as possible trying to influence the vote.

It's interesting to note that the bill only passed by a single vote in the state senate and that two senators who worked for the oil companies were allowed to vote for it. And our fine governor, a former lobbyist for the oil companies himself, was quick to sign it into law. It's kind of ironic that the tax law that SB 21 replaces, termed ACES, was championed by our former half term governor who hailed it as a major improvement in Alaska tax policy. Perhaps if she'd stayed governor for more than two years, this whole tax fiasco could've been avoided. Despite my inherent dislike for anything associated with Palin, it's unlikely I'll vote no on 1. More information from Alaska Dispatch at:

http://www.adn.com/article/20140714/oil-tax-debate-revolves-around-dueling-statistics-and-how-they-should-be

Another opinion:  http://www.adn.com/article/20140726/lack-information-reason-enough-repeal-so-called-oil-tax-reform

(You'll have to copy and paste into your browser.)

Summer vacation?

Took a trip  down to Seattle for the past couple of weeks. Stayed in fine hotel suite:

With a grand view of the waterfront and stadiums. In fact, one highlight of the trip was watching the fireworks at Safeco field.

Of course heading out for the day was sometimes a challenge:

Summer vacation? Not so much. Last fall I found out I had "moderate to severe arthritis" in both hips. The right one was quite bothersome by the end of the winter. Surprisingly so, since I'd thought running dogs, cutting firewood, and driving the old Ski Doo would improve things.
After some research, I decided on hip resurfacing rather than a complete replacement. It's slightly less invasive, so the recovery times expected to be a lot shorter. Since it's not done in Fairbanks, we had to got outside for the procedure. Andy filled in as the ever faithful nurse and now we're back in Fairbanks again, looking forward to a fine summer. More info on hip resurfacing at:  http://www.surfacehippy.info

Another spring...

Last year at this time, I was still hauling in wood (Haulin' in wood, 5/1/13). Now the snow is mostly gone and we're getting ready for summer:

A year ago, things were a little different:

While the depth of the snow pack and the temperatures were pretty much the same these last two winters, the warming that started in mid April this year was markedly different from last year's. Now the snow is almost gone and the forecast is looking like the warming trend from the last decade is back again.

Spring trip...

Every spring my friend Bill and I try to find a new place to visit, but that didn't happen this year. After a day trip into the Chena River Rec. Area earlier this winter, we wound up going back to a cabin there for an over night trip.

We had heard some horror stories about how bad the overflow ice was on the trail in previous years, but there wasn't so much this time. Dogs ran great and we made it in and out without any problems. I only dumped the sled once on a particularly elusive curve.

All things considered, it was a pretty good trip to end the season on.

Ides of March (again)…

Unless you remember that rock band from the early '70’s whose lead singer, Jim Peterik, came from my hometown, most would think of the Ides of March from Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, set during the Roman new year’s celebration (Ides of March, 3/16/13). In Alaska, the Ides come during the best part of winter, when the sun is high enough to warm things up, but not so warm as to ruin the snow pack for outdoor activities.

What makes this photo of the dogs the other day a little unusual, is it was snowing.  March actually has the lowest precipitation of any month up here, so it’s rare to get much snowfall. It was snowing lightly when I took the photo, but really started coming down on the way back. The tracks coming out of the dog yard were pretty much covered when we returned. Great weather so far this March, it almost doesn’t get any better than this. Party on.

Busy trails...

Years ago when there were half a dozen dog teams training in the valley behind our place, there wasn't a day gone by that I didn't pass another team out there. Now there's only one other musher who runs his dogs regularly and I seldom see him, since we apparently run on different schedules. So you can imagine my surprise when I ran into four teams and a snow machine yesterday after not seeing anyone out there all winter.

Had a tangle with the first team, so had a brief conversation with the musher. Sounds like teams from the Two Rivers area have discovered the trails in this valley. That's alright I guess, but it'd sure be nice if they helped out on trail maintenance once in a while. The dogs made clean passes on the other three teams and the ski doo, so maybe the younger dogs have finally learned how to pass. While it's nice to meet new people, it's a lot nicer when the dogs don't get tangled up, they just trot on by.

Morning visitors...

Had visitors yesterday morning. Dogs were barking, but couldn't see anything until I looked out the kitchen window and saw this moose walking down the path from the back door to the driveway. So got the camera out and took some photos of the moose in the driveway.

Assumed it was the cow and that the calf was still behind the house. So opened the back door to look out and there, not 20 ft. away from me, was this huge cow moose. The calf was the one in the driveway. Don't know who was more surprised, but fortunately she bolted away from the house and ran behind the wood piles.  After reuniting with her calf, they both slowly wandered off. Later on I heard the dogs barking again and figured the moose came back, or likely had never really left. So got some photos of the cow this time.

After a while, I got tired of listening to the dogs bark at them, so finally got the moose heading up the driveway by yelling and acting like the boogey man. Just a little excitement to start the day.

Ground Hog Day...

Ground Hog Day's come and gone, and like last year (Global Warming...2/3/13), the hoary marmot's not saying much. But at least the weather's cooled off enough now to run dogs after the second warm, rainy spell this winter. So here's a few photos of todays dog run:

Heading out on the trail across the valley.

Taking a break on the way back home.

Here's a plot of the temperatures so far this winter. There's several -40 cold spells, which are typical, but also a couple of of +40 spells when it rained. Go figure, you'd almost think there was some kind of climate change going on.

Sunshine...

Been trying to get out and go for walks every day, since I can't do much else for exercise until the flipper gets better. While there's only about four hours of sunlight most days in December, the brief time when the sun is at it's apogee, about three degrees above the horizon, can make for some interesting photos. So here's some shots of the high noon sun in Fairbanks...

Across the road in the flats.

Overlooking the old outhouse and sauna.

Mt. Deborah looking down our road.

Alpenglow in the trees behind the workshop.

Back on the runners...

Last fall I had surgery on my elbow to relocate a pinched nerve that was causing numbness and muscle atrophy in my hand (Making the grade 9/3/12). So this fall I went back to the Dr. for a checkup and found out that the effected nerve, like some malevolent worm, had wiggled back into the joint. So they wound up doing surgery again.
Since I had just started running the dogs on the sled (after switching over from the 4-wheeler), I hoped to get some help training while I healed up. Andy, ever the sweetheart, volunteered. While she'd run dogs before, it'd been awhile (Last dog run 5/12/12). But she started taking them out this past weekend and is planning to go out again tomorrow, to the chagrin of our neighbor who was looking forward to finally have the trails to himself for a while. So here's a few photos of Andy from the way back time:

On the runners and flying, with Barney in lead.

Out in the White Mountains, running with two teams.

A triumphant return home, a few years ago.

And finally a run this new year.

Trail Hazards…

The usual trail hazards were in abundance this past week when I got the old Ski Doo running and broke out the sled trail in the valley behind our cabin. There were several spruce trees down across the trail that had to be chain sawed and the usual rough spots required shoveling extra snow to smooth it out. But all things considered, it went surprisingly well and only took an hour or so to cover the three miles to the main trail.

What was unexpected was the dead moose lying there. Whether it just happened to die there or someone dumped it from the main trail (that part of the valley is well traveled by snow machines), it could certainly be a distraction to the dogs. As often happens, the carcass gets scavenged, a magnet for ravens, wolves, foxes, or feral dogs. In time, it likely will be dismembered and it's bones scattered along the trail (White Mtns. 3/4/10).

After it warmed up a bit (It was down to -30 earlier in the week), I took the dogs out on the sled for the first time this winter. I was a little concerned about passing the moose carcass. I could just imagine a pack of wolves hanging around there, snarling as we approached. But as we came around the turn to the main trail, there weren't any scavengers there. The dogs barely noticed it, they just trotted right on by. It turned out to be just another day, training the dogs in Alaska.

The best bar in...

There's a new movie out called the " The best bar in America". It's about a motorcycle trip through the west, apparently to write a book, but it's really about finding enlightenment.

Anyway, it reminded me of a trip I took with my buddy John back in the 70's when we rode our bikes from the midwest out to the Rocky Mtns.

We spent a month or so just cruising around the Colorado Rockies, riding our old British motorcycles from one small town to the next. We met a lot of interesting people and faced some adversities. But in hindsight, it was pretty much fun.
Check out the movie at:  http://www.bestbarinamerica.com/