the glorious cold

We are on the front side of a cold snap, up here in the interior of Alaska. It’s just starting to get cold, with temperatures this morning in downtown Fairbanks hovering right around 30 below Fahrenheit.
The weather forecasters are threatening us with an extended cold spell, indicating temperatures should drop into the negative 40’s in [...]

Read Full Post »

the virgin mary, snow, and plastic flowers

I’ve been walking to and from work downtown recently, depending on when I go relative to kids going to school or my wife going to work.
Today I rolled out of bed while everybody else was sleeping in, taking off to work in one of those beautiful mid-winter mornings in Fairbanks. New snow had blanketed [...]

Read Full Post »

First we had Bushisms, now we have Palinguage

In one of my earlier posts I laughingly suggested it couldn’t get any worse that George W. Bush.  I was mistaken.
Palinguage

Read Full Post »

Unitarian Universalism- peaceful, but not passive

Last night, I attended a vigil at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Fairbanks for the victims of the Sunday shooting at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville. As of this afternoon, two victims of that tragedy have died, four remain hospitalized and two have been released.

We met in the somber grey of [...]

Read Full Post »

tagged

Last week, or sometime in the semi-recent past, I was tagged by Jules- otherwise known as the, excuse me, a UU Deist in Texas.  I’ve never been tagged before, so am trying this on for size.  Basically, the rules are:
“FYI – you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, [...]

Read Full Post »

Alaska vernacular- a blog of its own

A week or two ago, as describe in Alaska Vernacular (a glossary), I decided to start adding “Alaskana” words to my blog, with definitions. I like being able to link to the word from my other posts, without providing a definition of what I am talking about. After some consideration about my blog’s [...]

Read Full Post »

dipnetting

The act of taking a 2-3 foot diameter net, on the end of a 10-15 foot pole, attaching a dip to the end of the pole opposite the net, wherein said dip inserts the net end into a raging, dangerous river while perilously perched on rocks hanging from the side of a canyon, hoping to [...]

Read Full Post »

Alaskan folk wisdom, or don’t eat the yellow snow

My mind has taken a turn towards Alaska today, and what our geographic location contributes towards making us culturally unique. I think living here requires a certain amount of humor and fortitude, both of which combine for some useful nuggets of wisdom.
I’d like to start this post with a few of my own nuggets [...]

Read Full Post »

Alaska vernacular (a glossary)

I find in my writings on Alaska life, that I am constantly clarifying my writing with definitions for ‘Alaska’ terminology. It is a wonderful thing about living here, or anywhere, that a local vocabulary develops. A vernacular, by any account. Its fun, creative, and at least a little bit exclusionary.
I can’t speak for everyone, but [...]

Read Full Post »

greenup

Greenup is that brief period of time, sometime in May, that all the trees turn green (commonly called spring in the lower 48). This time varies, usually starting in early May in south Alaska and getting a little later as you move north. Literally overnight, we go from the brown world of mud, [...]

Read Full Post »