My Week

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This is a short one on my week here in North Pole. Last Saturday we did about a 64 mile snow machine trip to a moose camp on the Tanana River. We went down the Chena River to the Badger Den and then along the dike that keeps the Tanana River out of Fairbanks. Then we left the dike where the Chena River flows into the Tanana then south. Great trip with all that fresh snow.

Sunday me and the misses took a ride to Cantwell, which is just south of Denali,along the Parks Highway, and had lunch there. While we were eating, we noticed a barber chair across from us complete with sink. I asked the owner jokingly when do they cut hair. He said every other Sunday and he was serious. As we talked further, found out his last name was Chase, same as mine. My aunt said he was a shirt tail cousin.

Any ho, found out that he looks forward to the Sunday hair cutting event because it is the only day off he gets. He said labor supply is very short handed, and that includes year round work. Now if you all want to inquire,Email Jim and I will send you the particulars. One thing you would need to ask is where would I live.

So we left Cantwell and came home. Interesting observation is we did 65miles per hour, 104.6 kilometers for my foreign readers, through Denali. Now for those who have not been here, there is a bunch of hotels at the entrance to Denali Park and it is like a small town. In the winter it is completely shut down, even the stop lights are turned off and covered. I didn't see a speed limit nor did I see one person. Reminded me of the movie The Shining. Heres Johnny.

Wednesday we took a drive to Glennallen, which is about 250 miles south of here along the Richardson highway. Beautiful drive through the mountains. Here are two pictures of the many I took. Plan on putting some on cups, dishes, shirts and selling them.

Forgot on Tuesday the Yukon Quest leader came into Fairbanks to complete the toughest dog sled race in the world. Got a video of one team going by our house on Tuesday. Will post the video this afternoon. The video shows the musher riding the sled. Don't let that fool you. You have to be a real athlete to be in the Quest. Most of the time they are running beside the sled.


Well that's it for this week. Thanks to all who voted in what they thought of the Obama stimulus plan. I sent the results to CNN but they ignored it. They say 75% of Americans approve of the plan. Mine said 85% who read this blog disagree with it. Hmmmm! I really don't watch CNN, I prefer FOX for unbiased reporting!!! I just wanted to see what they would do with it. They lived up to my expectations!!!

I also opened my on line perfume store at http://www.chaseproductsonline.com/. I would like any feed back you have. Email Jim

Wind

Hi all. Did you know there is a web site for every thing. There is even one or two or three, etc on jokes about Alaska. Here is a sample on what Alaskans consider computer terms mean.

Alaskan Computer Terms

Log on: Make the wood stove hotter.
Log off: Don't add no more wood.
Monitor: Keep an eye on that wood stove.
Download: Getting the firewood off the truck.
Floppy Disk: What you get from trying to carry too much firewood.
Ram: The thing that splits the firewood.
Hard Drive: Getting home in the winter.
Prompt: "Throw another log on the fire".
Window: What to shut when it's cold outside.
Screen: What to shut during mosquito season.
Byte: What mosquitoes do.
Bit: What the mosquitoes did.

The web site for more of these is here http://www.greatlandofalaska.com/humor/jokes.html

Well this week we got snow and it warmed up. Right now at my place we have received about 5 inches of snow and it is 27 degrees. Did go for a ride Monday, what I used to call presidents day till our current president stepped in ( look at the votes on my poll), to Chena Hot Springs Road, and tomorrow may go for a 60 mile ride to Tanana flats, close to Ester. Remind me to talk about that later

I have mentioned that we don't have much wind here in North Pole or Fairbanks. The highest I have seen it is about 10 miles per hour. We had a little this week and it blew the snow out of the trees causing a near white out condition here.

No wind has its positives and negatives-

Positives- no wind chill. So when it is a -50 it is a -50 and not -50 with -80 wind chill. This is a benefit cause you can dress for the cold. Put your layers on and you dont have to contend with the wind biting through your clothes.

Also you don't have to worry to much about wind storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons etc.

Negatives- Our second summer here there were a lot of forest fires in Alaska. Since Alaska is so large they let the fires burn unless it is endangering a structure. There were so many the smoke came into our area and with no wind, it was like a fog. We couldn't see the river from our house it was so dense. A lot of health concerns at that time.

In the winter it is just as bad. We have emission controls on our vehicles. they have to be inspected when you renew your license plates, every two years. If you don't drive your vehicle during the winter, you need a special stamp. I don't drive the vett for obvious reasons and have a stamp exempting me from emission controls. The dude at the DMV had a sense of humor, wanted to ensure I wasn't going to put a snow plow on the vett. A good read on our condition here is found here

In fact it is so bad here in the winter some people need to go outside ( lower 48), for health concerns. There is talk by the politicians in Fairbanks of banning burning of wood stoves. Hmmmm does that mean they will ban forest fires too?