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/

Autumn leaves...

Most years, the autumn leaves are long gone by the end of September. This year, while some of the trees have shed their leaves, others are still green or are in some shade of yellow/orange in early October.

It's hard to tell if this is really unusual (a sure sign of global warming?) or I'm just noticing something that doesn't mean much (like always). While they do keep records on when the leaves first appear in the spring; it's referred to as green-up and usually occurs in mid-May when the hills around town turn green, there's no record for fall.

I think they should note the date when the leaves finally lose their color and are mostly gone. Call it brown-down, the day in autumn when enough leaves have fallen that the hills turn brown.

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