River magic...

As I posted earlier (Busted 6/13/10), several close calls on the Delta River at Black Rapids prompted Mike and I to find a better way to survey the river.

This year we finally got Richard (the doppler wizard) to bring down an acoustical doppler meter. These meters use a sonar-like application for depth and velocity, and GPS for position.

We had hoped to get a high flow measurement this summer. These are the most useful for determining flood discharge, but are the most difficult and dangerous to survey. Scheduling didn't work out any earlier, so we settled for surveying the comparatively lower flows that occur in the fall. The doppler worked great and we we able to survey multiple cross sections in less than half the time it previously took. Since we didn't have to stretch a cable across the river, it was also a lot safer.

The next day we surveyed the upper Delta River. Unfortunately, the doppler's control module failed, so we had to survey the traditional way (attaching the boat to a cable stretched across the river and using a mechanical meter to measure flow). Hopefully by next year, we'll be able to use the doppler at both sites.

In addition...

Been planning to put an addition on the workshop for awhile, but something always seemed to get in the way. Finally got started on it this summer.

  

Figured it would only take a few weeks but it took a month just to frame it in and get the roof on.

Good thing, cause it snowed a couple of inches right after the roof was done. Timings everything I suppose.

Tomorrow I'll pick up the doors and then it'll be closed in before the snow sticks around for the rest of winter.

9/23/13. Got the doors on just before the second snow storm of the year. Hopefully this will soon melt off, as there's always lot's to do before winter settles in for good.

Too much hot air?

Until we had some rain a few days ago, we went over three weeks with no precipitation and near record warmth. What makes this unusual is that mid July to mid August is normally the wettest part of the year. According to the weather bureau, we'd expect to get, on the average, several inches of rain. So far, we've had less than half that much this year, so this could be one of the driest (and warmest) summers on record.
My theory is that it's caused by all the politicians bloviating about oil taxes. We were bombarded during the past legislature about how high taxes have reduced north slope oil activity and would be death of Alaska's cash cow unless significant reductions were made. Of course they ignored the fact that cheap oil shale in the lower forty-eight has made arctic oil exploration a marginal proposition. After the tax cut was passed (by a single vote in the state senate), a citizen's petition was started to repeal the law. This effort culminated successfully in late July amidst much political posturing on both sides as to the dire consequences of repeal. All this political rhetoric created so much hot air that rain clouds were diverted from Fairbanks and Anchorage, as both cities had a warmer and drier July than normal. Here's a weather bureau radar image during this time showing the storm clouds surrounding the now infamous Fairbanks hot air sucker hole.

But the real suckers are the ones who voted for these clowns. Too much hot air? Get rid of the lame politicians.

It's all behind me now...

As the years go by, it seems harder to do stuff that was once so easy, you seldom thought about it. One thing that's become a problem is to simply turn my neck around to see what's behind me. The result is often backing the tractor into trees, dog houses, or whatever else is behind me. There's even a pile of cork screwed dog posts from my poorly executed backups while clearing snow from the yard.
I finally decided to install some mirrors on the tractor this winter after several near misses while plowing the road. The neighbors think the most prudent way to pass the tractor is to accelerate and see how fast they can whiz by. Obviously, there's no point in waiting until I actually see them and wave them on.
As usual, it took several months to plan and execute the plan. John Deere had nothing that would mount directly on the tractor, so had to weld up the mounting brackets, but now painted green with the mirrors installed, it almost looks like a factory job (at least from a distance).

Garden Update:  Andy thought the garden photo (Garden's in, 6/2/13) looked like some communal plot in the Gobi desert. I on the other hand thought it a rather artistic composition, as sunlight streamed through the white blossoms of the choke cherry, reflecting on the vibrant green and yellow of the JD tractor. Whatever. Here's a photo of the garden near the end of July:

Blueberries!...

Hadn't gone blueberry picking in ages. Andy occasionally went, especially when I was working out at Nome Creek. But after our neighbors raved about how good the berries were in the valley behind the house, we figured it was time to go. We sure picked a great day to take a hike, as it was near 85° F, humid and real buggy. But we got several quarts of blueberries in a little over an hour of picking, so it worked out well. Along with the strawberries and raspberries from the garden, we should have enough berries for the winter.

More on the great blueberry season at:  http://www.newsminer.com/features/food/fairbanks-is-in-the-middle-of-a-berry-bonanza/article_08abddc6-f988-11e2-8e7b-0019bb30f31a.html

Fire and rain...

Like the James Taylor song says, "I've seen fire and I've seen rain". In this case, it was a wildfire started by the army in late June when they cleverly conducted a live fire exercise during very hot and dry (red flag) conditions. The fire prompted an evacuation order for portions of Chena Hot Springs Rd. Fortunately, several well timed rainstorms slowed the fire and allowed the state and federal fire service to contain the blaze.

Read about it here:
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3468/
Some photos at:
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/slideshow/photos-alaska-wildfire-season-blazes-forward

Rotary roar...

For the first time in years, there was an air show in town. We  haven't been to one since they had a B-17 here quite awhile ago. Since we didn't have any plans for July 4, it seemed like a good time to go. The theme this year was a celebration of 100 years of aviation in Alaska, so most of the planes were from the 20's, 30's and 40's. And what a sound they made with their rotary engines as they did low fly-overs.
The Beech Staggerwing is a biplane from 30's, so called because the top wing is staggered back of the bottom wing. A very advanced plane for it's time, it did a most impressive fly by.

Another interesting plane was the 1929 Travel Air. While it didn't participate in the flying, it was an immaculate restoration that really gave an impression of what aviation was like in it's so called golden age.

The painting of father time on the cowling is a reminder of what happens in life; what was state of the art yesterday becomes a vintage antique tomorrow.

Rollin' on a river...

Some friends of ours bought a used river boat last year, so now with a new engine installed, took a bunch of us out for a cruise. The Tanana River had been near flood stage earlier in the week, so there should have been plenty of water for getting down river. Unfortunately, being a glacier fed stream, the river is braided and the water is quite silty from the glacial runoff. Finding the main channel was problematic, as many of the gravel bars were still under water. After grounding a few times in the shallow water, we found the deeper channel and motored a fair ways downstream to an open gravel bar. Following a few beers and some beach games, we had an excellent meal with no bugs to ruin our little party. A good time was had by all.

High water on the Delta...

Went down to Black Rapids to do some survey work on the Delta River. My friend Mike from Glenallen met me there (Busted...6/13/10). The river looked pretty high, due to the late breakup this year, so we decided to try the upstream survey first. The channel above Phelan Creek is a lot wider, so the water's less turbulent (fewer standing waves) to navigate. We had to find a new place to launch the boat, since the channel had shifted and filled in the old spot, but then we made it up to the gaging site, completed the survey and returned with no problems. Here's an older photo of the Delta R. upstream (as I cleverly forgot my camera).

The most interesting thing occurred afterwards when we were driving the highway towards Paxson. The headwaters of the Gulkana River were in flood stage and had washed out the bridge to the state's fish hatchery. What was normally a tranquil little stream was a raging river (Mike took these pictures).

The next day, the rivers continued to rise to the point that it wasn't safe to launch the boat, so we surveyed what we could from the shore and moved on; discretion being the better part of valor, we'll get'er done next time.

Here's a link to an article about the washout at the fish hatchery:  http://www.newsminer.com/news/local_news/gulkana-hatchery-still-standing-after-river-floods/article_f560fdc0-d7de-11e2-ba16-001a4bcf6878.html

Garden's in...

After a cold April and early May foreshadowed another ice age, the weather took a radical turn so that the last week of May was one of the warmest on record. Not only did the snow disappear, the ground thawed enough to rototill this week and we started planting the garden.

Go figure, one week it's still winter and the next it's summer; you really never know what's going to happen with the weather up here.

More about the crazy May weather from the Alaska Climate Research Center:  http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/node/477

Haulin' in the wood...

As I've written earlier (Iron Dog, 4/19/09), when the dog runs are over, it's time to haul in fire wood. There's always more trees falling down along (or over) the dog trail, so this is the time of year to buck the trees up and haul the wood back. Usually it's a race to finish before all the snow disappears in late April.

But the interesting thing this year is how much snow is still around. While there's over two feet on the ground now, the photo from last year shows almost no snow at the same time a year ago.

Global warming? It could be we're headed for another ice age.
Updated May 10. It got up to 60°F yesterday, so that's a good sign, but there's still a foot and a half of snow on the ground. The weather forecast is for cooler with a chance of rain or snow tomorrow. Looks like we might not be planting the garden until July.

Flyin' off the handle...

My neighbor Bert's been planning to build a cabin near a remote airstrip in the foothills of the Alaska Range. Occasionally, he'd call and ask for help and I'd spend a little time over at his place or ride down the road with him to help stock pile the building materials. After he finished moving all the materials out to the cabin site by snow machine, he wanted to fly out to there, so asked if I would to go along . While I'd flown in small planes doing resource surveys years ago, it would be the first time out with Bert. He had completely rebuilt his plane, a Cessna 170, several years ago and it's in immaculate condition. It's set up with a ski conversion for winter flying, since the remote airstrip isn't plowed.
The trip over was uneventful and he made a fine landing on the snow covered runway. After a short time looking at his building site, he asked if I wanted to see anything in particular. Maybe a quick tour of the mountains nearby?

That certainly made the return flight interesting. We flew up a nearby creek, over a low divide and then down a river valley through several narrow canyons. Pretty spectacular.

Once out over the flats, he asked if I'd ever flown a plane. When I said I hadn't, he asked if I wanted to try.  He then gave me a quick lesson and let me take the controls. Terrified, well almost, but it was pretty amazing, after years of flying in small planes, I'd finally gotten the handle on how to fly one, even if only for a few minutes. Thanks Bert!