As you may know, for years I have been hoping to get to a college hockey game up here. We have three major universities in the U.P.: Michigan Tech, Northern Michigan and Lake Superior State. We live fairly close (2 hours away; relatively close, anyway) from both Tech and NMU, but I never made the trip. Either I was too tired from the week's work or the weather was iffy (both places get lots of snow each winter) or else I just decided to stay home. Sometimes all three. The full season would end before I fully realized that another season has gotten past me.
But not this year.
The team visiting Northern Michigan is from the school where by friend B works. While waiting for that night's high school basketball scores, I saw the TV report of the Friday night Alaska-NMU game, and the lightbulb switched on. Why not? I had a lighter-than-normal workload that weekend. The weather was going to be decent.
Why not, indeed?
My wife opted to stay home: We had driven to Iron Mountain the day before, and she doesn't like to travel that much, especially when it's cold. But I called my son David, and he was interested. He had never seen a hockey game in person before, and he likes new experiences, too. Early last Saturday afternoon, we got in the car and started driving to Marquette. The camera went along, of course.
The sun was out and the roads were mostly bare, though more snow was evident as we got closer to Marquette, like on this rocky outcropping along the road ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-Snowyrock-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
In Marquette, as David checked out a used games place, I was more interested in the huge piles of snow in the parking lot. This is not the kind of thing you get from a pickup truck with a plow attachment ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-snowpiles-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
We made a few fast shopping stops, got an early supper and then headed for the Berry Events Center on the Northern Michigan campus ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-outside-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
Here's what it looks like on the inside ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-inside-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
Our seats were two rows up from the glass, near the goal line at one end of the ice. I thought I'd have to stand up most of the night to get my pictures. But I got to see plenty of action right from my seat ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-NMUattack-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
Sometimes I was nice and close to the action. Crunch!
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-closeaction-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
But when the action went into the opposite end, beyond the Alaska team bench, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-Otherend-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
I had fun with the camera. It was the first time I had seen a hockey game that was not played by little kids for many years--over 20, in fact. As luck would have it, of the four goals scored in regulation time, three took place at the other end of the ice. But late in the second period, Alaska scored at my end ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-AKgoal-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
There was no scoring in the third period. Not that the teams weren't trying. Here, NMU is on the attack ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-NMUshot-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
And here, an Alaska player is firing a shot at the Wildcats net. This would have been a great shot if the glass hadn't been distorting the view. You see the Alaska player cranking it, the NMU defenseman going down to block it and a Nanooks player trying to screen the Northern Michigan goaltender (blocking his view of the shot) ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-AKcranks-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
But there was no scoring in the third period. The teams played a five-minute overtime--no goals. That meant a shootout. Here is the winning goal, scored by an NMU player. If you're looking for the puck, check out the net ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-Shootout-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
And all the NMU players were happy that it was there ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Hockey-WinGoal-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
From there, we went home. Didn't see a single snowflake all day, and the roads were good. We got home about 11:45 p.m. I had a good time, and I think there is more college hockey in my future.
Maybe next year.
****
Before I close this, I want to write about our "wonderful" winter weather.
By some coincidence, as the U.S. has been enduring some really crappy snow and ice storms, the Weather Channel has been promoting "Why I like winter."
It's been a loooooong winter here in the Upper Midwest. Seems that it's lasted forever. We really haven't gotten that cold (for us) this winter--nothing colder than about -23F (-30C)--but it sure hasn't let upon us very much. We have had a lot of subzero weather in January (and December, for that matter), and we sure could use a warmup.
I checked our weather records the other day. We have been below freezing [I]continuously[/I], 24/7, all through January. In December, we topped freezing on three days--as high as 43 on Dec. 28. Our heat wave. In early November, we had some mild weather. As warm as 66. But after Nov. 8, we never hit 40 again.So it's been a long time.
It's a rough winter amid tough times. The news has had reports about many major corporations laying off thousands and thousands of people. Even little firms, like the one that used to employ the husband of my friend S. He lost his job recently.
Yeah, it's been a loooooong winter. We're waiting for the times to get better. It can't happen soon enough.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
50 facts about the new prez
This is something I squirreled away back in November. It's about our new president. I've written about him before. But this is different.
Right after the election, the Telegraph newspaper's website in England printed "50 Facts You Might Not Know" about Barack Obama. I knew a few of these, but not that many.
How about you? Let's see ...
[QUOTE]He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics.
He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball.
His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili
His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini.
He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, "Dreams From My Father."
He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed.
He has read every Harry Potter book.
He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ail.
He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream.
His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars.
He ate dog meat, snake meat and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia.
He can speak Spanish.
While on the campaign trail, he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead.
His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea.
He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't.
He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia.
He can bench press an impressive 200 pounds.
He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name.
His favourite book is "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville.
He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived.
His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy.
He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books.
His favourite films are "Casablanca" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck.
He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.
His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees.
He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film "Do The Right Thing" on their first date.
He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker.
He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol.
He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician.
As a teenager, he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine.
His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7.)
He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside.
He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal.
His house in Chicago has four fireplaces.
Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita.
He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry.
He uses an Apple Mac laptop.
He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300.
He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits.
He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes.
He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13).
His favourite fictional television programmes are "Mash" and "The Wire."
He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers.
He was nicknamed "Bar" by his late grandmother.
He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds.
His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso.
His speciality as a cook is chili.
He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins."
He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life.
His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government.
[/QUOTE]
Is that 50? I wasn't counting.
Right after the election, the Telegraph newspaper's website in England printed "50 Facts You Might Not Know" about Barack Obama. I knew a few of these, but not that many.
How about you? Let's see ...
[QUOTE]He collects Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian comics.
He was known as "O'Bomber" at high school for his skill at basketball.
His name means "one who is blessed" in Swahili
His favourite meal is wife Michelle's shrimp linguini.
He won a Grammy in 2006 for the audio version of his memoir, "Dreams From My Father."
He is left-handed – the sixth post-war president to be left-handed.
He has read every Harry Potter book.
He owns a set of red boxing gloves autographed by Muhammad Ail.
He worked in a Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop as a teenager and now can't stand ice cream.
His favourite snacks are chocolate-peanut protein bars.
He ate dog meat, snake meat and roasted grasshopper while living in Indonesia.
He can speak Spanish.
While on the campaign trail, he refused to watch CNN and had sports channels on instead.
His favourite drink is black forest berry iced tea.
He promised Michelle he would quit smoking before running for president – he didn't.
He kept a pet ape called Tata while in Indonesia.
He can bench press an impressive 200 pounds.
He was known as Barry until university when he asked to be addressed by his full name.
His favourite book is "Moby Dick" by Herman Melville.
He visited Wokingham, Berks, in 1996 for the stag party of his half-sister's fiancé, but left when a stripper arrived.
His desk in his Senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy.
He and Michelle made $4.2 million (£2.7 million) last year, with much coming from sales of his books.
His favourite films are "Casablanca" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
He carries a tiny Madonna and child statue and a bracelet belonging to a soldier in Iraq for good luck.
He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.
His favourite music includes Miles Davis, Bob Dylan, Bach and The Fugees.
He took Michelle to see the Spike Lee film "Do The Right Thing" on their first date.
He enjoys playing Scrabble and poker.
He doesn't drink coffee and rarely drinks alcohol.
He would have liked to have been an architect if he were not a politician.
As a teenager, he took drugs including marijuana and cocaine.
His daughters' ambitions are to go to Yale before becoming an actress (Malia, 10) and to sing and dance (Sasha, 7.)
He hates the youth trend for trousers which sag beneath the backside.
He repaid his student loan only four years ago after signing his book deal.
His house in Chicago has four fireplaces.
Daughter Malia's godmother is Jesse Jackson's daughter Santita.
He says his worst habit is constantly checking his BlackBerry.
He uses an Apple Mac laptop.
He drives a Ford Escape Hybrid, having ditched his gas-guzzling Chrysler 300.
He wears $1,500 (£952) Hart Schaffner Marx suits.
He owns four identical pairs of black size 11 shoes.
He has his hair cut once a week by his Chicago barber, Zariff, who charges $21 (£13).
His favourite fictional television programmes are "Mash" and "The Wire."
He was given the code name "Renegade" by his Secret Service handlers.
He was nicknamed "Bar" by his late grandmother.
He plans to install a basketball court in the White House grounds.
His favourite artist is Pablo Picasso.
His speciality as a cook is chili.
He has said many of his friends in Indonesia were "street urchins."
He keeps on his desk a carving of a wooden hand holding an egg, a Kenyan symbol of the fragility of life.
His late father was a senior economist for the Kenyan government.
[/QUOTE]
Is that 50? I wasn't counting.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
A beautiful day
I got up this morning and looked out the bedroom window. Time: 7:01 a.m. What a beautiful day!
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/12009sunrise-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
The sun just peeking above the horizon. The sky was already blue. The crescent moon was hanging in the south, visible between the icicles hanging from the eaves. The thermometer on the front porch may have read 0F, but no matter. This, Jan. 20, 2009, would be a beautiful day.
I went to work as the crowd swelled in Washington, D.C. Our basketball team had won a big game last night, and I had to get caught up on the other scores and write part of the story. The coach from our other team would probably be calling--if he wanted to talk, I would be there.
But I also had the live stream from CNN on my computer, and as the start of the ceremony neared, I was debating whether to go home (just a block away) to watch it there or to watch it in the office.
It was a hard call. I have been looking forward to this day so much and for so long. Back on the day after the 2004 election, I wrote a friend: "I wore black today," I started.
Over two years ago, I saw my first Bush countdown clock, showing how much time remained--900-some days, X hours, X minutes, X seconds at that point--in the Bush presidency. I almost put one on my blog. It seemed like forever.
At about the same time, I did order a black plastic wristband. It read "I did not vote 4 Bush." I put a picture of it on my blog ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/2004-05%20pix/Armband8-05.jpg[/IMG]
I wore it for a while.
The 2008 campaign started fairly early in 2007. It lasted forever and a day. The long journey--about as long as Frodo's in "Lord of the Rings"--ended last Nov. 4.
One wait ended. Another began, the 2 1/2 months to Inauguration Day. That also seemed to last forever, what with the financial crisis and stock market struggles. Why can't it just be over?
On Tuesday, the wait was over, and a new day began. Today is the day. Sure, I wish I was in Washington. But I can't. I'm here. So I'll watch it here.
The thing to remember now is patience. The change most of us have prayed for will not happen right away. But it will come. Our country took the wrong turn eight years ago, and anyone who has missed an exit on the freeway knows how difficult and time-consuming it is to get to where we should have gone in the first place.
Or, think of it like our beastly cold weather we dealt with last week. Several days of 24-hour-a-day subzero weather. It finally ended, Not that spring is here yet. Spring is still a long way off. But we're a little closer to it now.
Patience. Spring will come. Better times will come. Our generation's FDR is moving into the White House, in the midst of a national crisis much like FDR stepped into in 1933, "The only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself," he told our country.
It was a historic day at a crisis point for our nation. Today is another historic day, being watched just as closely all over the world. As someone who rarely takes a day off work, I think it's time to leave, go home and listen closely to what Barack Obama has to tell me.
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/12009sunrise-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
The sun just peeking above the horizon. The sky was already blue. The crescent moon was hanging in the south, visible between the icicles hanging from the eaves. The thermometer on the front porch may have read 0F, but no matter. This, Jan. 20, 2009, would be a beautiful day.
I went to work as the crowd swelled in Washington, D.C. Our basketball team had won a big game last night, and I had to get caught up on the other scores and write part of the story. The coach from our other team would probably be calling--if he wanted to talk, I would be there.
But I also had the live stream from CNN on my computer, and as the start of the ceremony neared, I was debating whether to go home (just a block away) to watch it there or to watch it in the office.
It was a hard call. I have been looking forward to this day so much and for so long. Back on the day after the 2004 election, I wrote a friend: "I wore black today," I started.
Over two years ago, I saw my first Bush countdown clock, showing how much time remained--900-some days, X hours, X minutes, X seconds at that point--in the Bush presidency. I almost put one on my blog. It seemed like forever.
At about the same time, I did order a black plastic wristband. It read "I did not vote 4 Bush." I put a picture of it on my blog ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/2004-05%20pix/Armband8-05.jpg[/IMG]
I wore it for a while.
The 2008 campaign started fairly early in 2007. It lasted forever and a day. The long journey--about as long as Frodo's in "Lord of the Rings"--ended last Nov. 4.
One wait ended. Another began, the 2 1/2 months to Inauguration Day. That also seemed to last forever, what with the financial crisis and stock market struggles. Why can't it just be over?
On Tuesday, the wait was over, and a new day began. Today is the day. Sure, I wish I was in Washington. But I can't. I'm here. So I'll watch it here.
The thing to remember now is patience. The change most of us have prayed for will not happen right away. But it will come. Our country took the wrong turn eight years ago, and anyone who has missed an exit on the freeway knows how difficult and time-consuming it is to get to where we should have gone in the first place.
Or, think of it like our beastly cold weather we dealt with last week. Several days of 24-hour-a-day subzero weather. It finally ended, Not that spring is here yet. Spring is still a long way off. But we're a little closer to it now.
Patience. Spring will come. Better times will come. Our generation's FDR is moving into the White House, in the midst of a national crisis much like FDR stepped into in 1933, "The only thing we have to fear is ... fear itself," he told our country.
It was a historic day at a crisis point for our nation. Today is another historic day, being watched just as closely all over the world. As someone who rarely takes a day off work, I think it's time to leave, go home and listen closely to what Barack Obama has to tell me.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Serious cold from "the last frontier"
I don't know how snoopy/curious you are about such things, but have you ever looked into the "cold case" at your local grocery store? That's the big freezer where they store things like frozen veggies, frozen pizzas and ice cream, keeping them nice and cold before you put them in your shopping cart.
At our local store, there's a digital thermometer inside. At times I look. It usually reads something like -10 F.
Tuesday morning, when I looked at our thermometer, it read -7F. Yes, it's January, and another cold front has moved into our area. It was +7 when I went to bed Monday night, but the front was just moving in.
On Tuesday night, I was at another game. It was -6 when I went to the game. On the trip home, about 8:30 p.m., the car's thermometer got down to -21F. We got to -26 just before midnight. It was up to -15 when I got up Wednesday morning.
But our cold is peanuts compared to other places. How would you like to be in Grand Forks, N.D.? They were in the -30s Tuesday morning. One of my blog friends lives there. They "warmed up" to -16 that afternoon. Sounds balmy. Right now (I just checked), it's -23F.
But if you want balmy, there's only one place you can go: Alaska.
That's where one of my friends lives, the one I refer to as B. She and her husband are a poly couple who live in the Fairbanks area. Yes, Fairbanks, in the middle of the Alaskan interior. Over the last few weeks, it got rather nippy up there. Always an interesting topic, so I have been asking B what it's like to be in Alaska when it gets really, really, really, really cold.
Both B and her husband, I should explain, are originally from Ohio and first came to Alaska courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, which has a few bases there. After he retired, they moved back to Alaska.
Around Christmas, while their kids were visiting, the cold started getting real. "We continued to have mild temps until later this afternoon," she wrote at the time, "when the temps started dropping. We are down to about 12 below and are expected to hit 35 to 40 below by morning." That was the day after they went to a nearby hot spring to take their visitors for a nice outdoor soak. "It is quite the novelty when entertaining visitors in winter."
On Dec. 30, they woke up to -45. "Looks like we may see -50 tonight and another few days of really cold temps. By Tuesday, it should be a balmy low of -28 and high of -18. At least these are manageable temps. The cars hate the cold temps lower than -30's."
When they visited friends on New Year's Eve, "The temp was -50 degrees, so we kept the car plugged in at our friends' and started it to let run for about 15 minutes every couple of hours. When we left, shortly after midnight, the tires had gone square on the bottom so we bounced slowly down the road until the rubber softened a bit and rounded out. It is a very weird feeling! That generally doesn't happen until the temps hit -40 or so.
"We are still hovering around -38, but that is much easier on the cars than the -50 stuff. It is advised that we plug in the cars when the temps get below 20 degrees, as it helps with the air pollution if the engines are a tad bit warmer when starting. It is imperative once the temps dip below -25 or so unless engines are started and let to run every couple of hours throughout the day. "
Many people in Alaska get timers they switch on a few hours before they need to get going, and they have automatic starters so they can start cars from inside a house or office.
B works in Fairbanks, about a 20-mile drive from her home. "In this kind of weather it is horrid. I will have to leave about 1/2 hour earlier than usual, as the drive will be at about 20 miles an hour! Visibility goes down to about nil at times like this, which makes it very slow going. You can't really see cars in front of you." That is because of a phenomenon known as ice fog.
Around that time, The Weather Channel showed a picture of a sign in Fairbanks that showed a temperature of -62. No, said B. They had visited a friend that night for dinner and had seen the sign themselves--the friend called the weather station and learned it was just -39.
"When we headed home, it showed the same temp of -62F and it was still -39F at the airport. When we got home, our temp was -52F"--where they live, their temperature is usually 10 to 15 degrees colder than Fairbanks.
This photo, from the Fairbanks newspaper's website, shows some local officers documenting the occasion ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/62belowsign.jpg[/IMG]
She told me about January 1989, when the all-time coldest reading for Fairbanks was set: -69.
"Yes, we were here then, too. Most of the month was bitter cold, and the schools finally closed as parents were keeping their kids home. In a crazy sort of way, everyone hopes we see a new record low so we can tell about that too!"
I asked her about the ice fog. "The ice fog is caused by an inversion phenomena taking place when the cold, cold air holds all the motor exhaust close to the earth and won't let it dissipate into the atmosphere. You really start to notice it around -30 or so. No sign of it when it is even 5-10 degrees warmer.
"The ice fog is actually vapor and not liquid, so it does not freeze on the windshield. It can leave a bit of a filmlike substance on the windshield. As it doesn't freeze on the windshield, you don't have to worry about stopping and scraping. It is just dangerous, as when it is really bad it is difficult to see the taillights of the car in front, which makes it easy to run up onto someone."
You see ice fog in the -62F photo above. Here is another look, from a photo shown on The Weather Channel ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Fairbk-Icefog-1-09-1.jpg[/IMG]
See what she means?
Another problem she mentioned, one I have noticed when it is below zero here, is ice forming on the inside windows of the car from people breathing. The defroster can take care of the windshield, but the side windows can get frosted up pretty quickly.
Where I live, I don't plug in my car. Some people in the U.P. have engine heaters--I don't. It doesn't get that cold that often, and I only live a short distance from my office--I can always walk.
Up in Alaska, though, it's different.
"Any place of business is going to have plug-ins for employees," B wrote. "Stores do not have them for customers, but sometimes you can find them and use them if not filled up. My office has a parking lot full of them, which is probably why I have to pay $220 a year for a parking decal." ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Alaska-Icefog-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
B said her car is equipped with "an engine block heater, an oil pan heater, a transmission heater, a battery blanket and a trickle charger. All those are plugged into a junction box which has a heavy duty extension cord on it that sticks out the front end of the car" ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Alaska-CarPluggedIn-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
"I have a license plate surround that has space to wrap an extension cord around it so I have it handy each morning when I need it. It keeps everything neat and tidy and I know exactly where the cord is when I need it." It also has a light--so if the outlet isn't working, she will know right away ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Alaska-Platesurround-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
What does the well-dressed Alaskan wear when it's so cold? "To head out in the morning, I wear a polar fleece jacket with a parka over it and I wrap a very, very long scarf around my neck a few times to keep warm. I wear a pair of polar fleece gloves inside a pair of leather gloves, and I wear snow boots made in Canada. I have a heavier pair of boots I carry in my car in the event I would have to walk for any great distance. Let's hope that never happens."
A few days ago, she reported "We were back down to -46F this morning and the fog was in full bloom. It was all I could do to not call in sick. I was sick all right ... sick of the ice fog and traveling in this weather!!"
I asked her about one more aspect of life in Alaska: the northern lights. She replied:
"There is never a time when I feel more humble or insignificant as when I am standing in my yard or on the road and watching the northern lights as they swirl across the sky. They are magnificent, breath-taking and always a pleasure to happen upon without notice ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/aurora.jpg[/IMG]
"It is as if the heavens come alive. Green is the most common color, but often times they are filled with blue, pink and red. It is a magnificent display, to say the least. Sometimes, they appear as a still streak or two in the sky and other times they are dancing back and forth. We see them most often when we are driving [home from Fairbanks]. There are no street lights along the highway except at the overpasses, which makes viewing a delight.
"Some people do not realize that the northern lights are above the earth all the time. It is only when the conditions are right that they can be seen. The intensity of them has something to do with sunspot activity. The best time of the year to see them is around the equinoxes, or equinoces, if you prefer.
"We have a natural hot spring, which is located about 60 miles outside of Fairbanks. The Japanese come over in droves during the winter months with the intention of procreating under the northern lights. There is some sort of blessing that accompanies this ritual."
***
Update: As I get ready to post this, it's -9 here. In Fairbanks, the cold wave is over: The temperature stands at +34F.
You know, it's been some time since we've had +34 here.
At our local store, there's a digital thermometer inside. At times I look. It usually reads something like -10 F.
Tuesday morning, when I looked at our thermometer, it read -7F. Yes, it's January, and another cold front has moved into our area. It was +7 when I went to bed Monday night, but the front was just moving in.
On Tuesday night, I was at another game. It was -6 when I went to the game. On the trip home, about 8:30 p.m., the car's thermometer got down to -21F. We got to -26 just before midnight. It was up to -15 when I got up Wednesday morning.
But our cold is peanuts compared to other places. How would you like to be in Grand Forks, N.D.? They were in the -30s Tuesday morning. One of my blog friends lives there. They "warmed up" to -16 that afternoon. Sounds balmy. Right now (I just checked), it's -23F.
But if you want balmy, there's only one place you can go: Alaska.
That's where one of my friends lives, the one I refer to as B. She and her husband are a poly couple who live in the Fairbanks area. Yes, Fairbanks, in the middle of the Alaskan interior. Over the last few weeks, it got rather nippy up there. Always an interesting topic, so I have been asking B what it's like to be in Alaska when it gets really, really, really, really cold.
Both B and her husband, I should explain, are originally from Ohio and first came to Alaska courtesy of the U.S. Air Force, which has a few bases there. After he retired, they moved back to Alaska.
Around Christmas, while their kids were visiting, the cold started getting real. "We continued to have mild temps until later this afternoon," she wrote at the time, "when the temps started dropping. We are down to about 12 below and are expected to hit 35 to 40 below by morning." That was the day after they went to a nearby hot spring to take their visitors for a nice outdoor soak. "It is quite the novelty when entertaining visitors in winter."
On Dec. 30, they woke up to -45. "Looks like we may see -50 tonight and another few days of really cold temps. By Tuesday, it should be a balmy low of -28 and high of -18. At least these are manageable temps. The cars hate the cold temps lower than -30's."
When they visited friends on New Year's Eve, "The temp was -50 degrees, so we kept the car plugged in at our friends' and started it to let run for about 15 minutes every couple of hours. When we left, shortly after midnight, the tires had gone square on the bottom so we bounced slowly down the road until the rubber softened a bit and rounded out. It is a very weird feeling! That generally doesn't happen until the temps hit -40 or so.
"We are still hovering around -38, but that is much easier on the cars than the -50 stuff. It is advised that we plug in the cars when the temps get below 20 degrees, as it helps with the air pollution if the engines are a tad bit warmer when starting. It is imperative once the temps dip below -25 or so unless engines are started and let to run every couple of hours throughout the day. "
Many people in Alaska get timers they switch on a few hours before they need to get going, and they have automatic starters so they can start cars from inside a house or office.
B works in Fairbanks, about a 20-mile drive from her home. "In this kind of weather it is horrid. I will have to leave about 1/2 hour earlier than usual, as the drive will be at about 20 miles an hour! Visibility goes down to about nil at times like this, which makes it very slow going. You can't really see cars in front of you." That is because of a phenomenon known as ice fog.
Around that time, The Weather Channel showed a picture of a sign in Fairbanks that showed a temperature of -62. No, said B. They had visited a friend that night for dinner and had seen the sign themselves--the friend called the weather station and learned it was just -39.
"When we headed home, it showed the same temp of -62F and it was still -39F at the airport. When we got home, our temp was -52F"--where they live, their temperature is usually 10 to 15 degrees colder than Fairbanks.
This photo, from the Fairbanks newspaper's website, shows some local officers documenting the occasion ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/62belowsign.jpg[/IMG]
She told me about January 1989, when the all-time coldest reading for Fairbanks was set: -69.
"Yes, we were here then, too. Most of the month was bitter cold, and the schools finally closed as parents were keeping their kids home. In a crazy sort of way, everyone hopes we see a new record low so we can tell about that too!"
I asked her about the ice fog. "The ice fog is caused by an inversion phenomena taking place when the cold, cold air holds all the motor exhaust close to the earth and won't let it dissipate into the atmosphere. You really start to notice it around -30 or so. No sign of it when it is even 5-10 degrees warmer.
"The ice fog is actually vapor and not liquid, so it does not freeze on the windshield. It can leave a bit of a filmlike substance on the windshield. As it doesn't freeze on the windshield, you don't have to worry about stopping and scraping. It is just dangerous, as when it is really bad it is difficult to see the taillights of the car in front, which makes it easy to run up onto someone."
You see ice fog in the -62F photo above. Here is another look, from a photo shown on The Weather Channel ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Fairbk-Icefog-1-09-1.jpg[/IMG]
See what she means?
Another problem she mentioned, one I have noticed when it is below zero here, is ice forming on the inside windows of the car from people breathing. The defroster can take care of the windshield, but the side windows can get frosted up pretty quickly.
Where I live, I don't plug in my car. Some people in the U.P. have engine heaters--I don't. It doesn't get that cold that often, and I only live a short distance from my office--I can always walk.
Up in Alaska, though, it's different.
"Any place of business is going to have plug-ins for employees," B wrote. "Stores do not have them for customers, but sometimes you can find them and use them if not filled up. My office has a parking lot full of them, which is probably why I have to pay $220 a year for a parking decal." ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Alaska-Icefog-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
B said her car is equipped with "an engine block heater, an oil pan heater, a transmission heater, a battery blanket and a trickle charger. All those are plugged into a junction box which has a heavy duty extension cord on it that sticks out the front end of the car" ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Alaska-CarPluggedIn-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
"I have a license plate surround that has space to wrap an extension cord around it so I have it handy each morning when I need it. It keeps everything neat and tidy and I know exactly where the cord is when I need it." It also has a light--so if the outlet isn't working, she will know right away ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/Alaska-Platesurround-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
What does the well-dressed Alaskan wear when it's so cold? "To head out in the morning, I wear a polar fleece jacket with a parka over it and I wrap a very, very long scarf around my neck a few times to keep warm. I wear a pair of polar fleece gloves inside a pair of leather gloves, and I wear snow boots made in Canada. I have a heavier pair of boots I carry in my car in the event I would have to walk for any great distance. Let's hope that never happens."
A few days ago, she reported "We were back down to -46F this morning and the fog was in full bloom. It was all I could do to not call in sick. I was sick all right ... sick of the ice fog and traveling in this weather!!"
I asked her about one more aspect of life in Alaska: the northern lights. She replied:
"There is never a time when I feel more humble or insignificant as when I am standing in my yard or on the road and watching the northern lights as they swirl across the sky. They are magnificent, breath-taking and always a pleasure to happen upon without notice ...
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/aurora.jpg[/IMG]
"It is as if the heavens come alive. Green is the most common color, but often times they are filled with blue, pink and red. It is a magnificent display, to say the least. Sometimes, they appear as a still streak or two in the sky and other times they are dancing back and forth. We see them most often when we are driving [home from Fairbanks]. There are no street lights along the highway except at the overpasses, which makes viewing a delight.
"Some people do not realize that the northern lights are above the earth all the time. It is only when the conditions are right that they can be seen. The intensity of them has something to do with sunspot activity. The best time of the year to see them is around the equinoxes, or equinoces, if you prefer.
"We have a natural hot spring, which is located about 60 miles outside of Fairbanks. The Japanese come over in droves during the winter months with the intention of procreating under the northern lights. There is some sort of blessing that accompanies this ritual."
***
Update: As I get ready to post this, it's -9 here. In Fairbanks, the cold wave is over: The temperature stands at +34F.
You know, it's been some time since we've had +34 here.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
True colors
I musta been a good guy last year, after all.
My birthday went practically unnoticed by those around me (though several of my efx2 and Vox friends remembered! Thank you!). And my wife and I had agreed among ourselves not to exchange Christmas presents this year. But a mysterious box arrived at my house on the second day of 2009. I had not ordered it. Neither had my wife. Or anyone else in the family.
It's not that I didn't know something was coming and that it had to do with the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. I had gotten a hint ... but just a hint ... from the sender. Now it had arrived. I got the scissors, opened the box, got past some airbags and a card and finally arrived at something black. And red.
Within moments, it was out of the box--and on my body. A black jacket with red sleeves and the Red Wings logo proudly in front and back. If you couldn't recognize it, "Red Wings" was spelled out under the logo on the back.
So cool. Such a nice gift. But would it fit? Only one way to find out. I picked it up, stuck an arm in the right sleeve, stuck an arm in the other sleeve, realized to my satisfaction that I was not trying to put it on upside down or inside out. I pulled it over my chest and snapped up the snaps. It fit just right.
I read the card. It was very moving. The kind of words you don't hear from everyone. I don't, anyway.
Of course, I had to get some pictures of my new prize. My wife took these shots behind the house.
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/RWjacket-front-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/RWjacket-back-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
How cool is that?
It came from a close friend of mine; we became friends about three years ago via our blogs. Like me, she is a devoted Detroit Red Wings fan. Unlike me, she lives in California. Unlike me, she doesn't have cable and can't watch any hockey games at home. No satellite dish, either. That's the way it is for her.
So about two years ago the lightbulb flashed on over my head: Why don't I record some of the Red Wings games I watch at home? I have a DVD recorder and it works well. I record the games, burn them onto DVDs and mail them to her from time to time. So ever since then, I have. Along the way, we became close friends. Though I think we were close friends already.
I have been a Red Wings fan since about 1978. That's the year we moved to the U.P. from Milwaukee and I got to see hockey regularly on TV for the very first time. So I tried to watch them every time they were on--even through the infamously bad "40-point season." They reached the conference finals the next year, and they have been playing high quality hockey ever since (with an occasional breakdown early in the playoffs).
When the Wings won the Stanley Cup last spring, I sent along a couple other goodies: a souvenir magazine from Sports Illustrated, a Stanley Cup T-shirt I spotted at K-Mart and a baseball cap with the Red Wings' red and white logo on it. Earlier, I sent her a DVD set of great/memorable Red Wings games from the lats 10 years or so--they have won three Stanley Cups in that time and been near the top nearly every year.
I wrote her. telling her how cool the jacket is and how overwhelmed I am. She wrote back, saying no thanks are needed: It's for all the stuff I have done for her over the last couple years.
Maybe so, but I'm amazed at my good luck anyway. The cool new jacket has to stay on the coat rack inside for a while--midwinter in the U.P. is a little too cool for it. (We had -20F this morning). But in a month or two, when the regular season nears its end and the playoffs start, it will be warmer, and I can wear my true colors.
My birthday went practically unnoticed by those around me (though several of my efx2 and Vox friends remembered! Thank you!). And my wife and I had agreed among ourselves not to exchange Christmas presents this year. But a mysterious box arrived at my house on the second day of 2009. I had not ordered it. Neither had my wife. Or anyone else in the family.
It's not that I didn't know something was coming and that it had to do with the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. I had gotten a hint ... but just a hint ... from the sender. Now it had arrived. I got the scissors, opened the box, got past some airbags and a card and finally arrived at something black. And red.
Within moments, it was out of the box--and on my body. A black jacket with red sleeves and the Red Wings logo proudly in front and back. If you couldn't recognize it, "Red Wings" was spelled out under the logo on the back.
So cool. Such a nice gift. But would it fit? Only one way to find out. I picked it up, stuck an arm in the right sleeve, stuck an arm in the other sleeve, realized to my satisfaction that I was not trying to put it on upside down or inside out. I pulled it over my chest and snapped up the snaps. It fit just right.
I read the card. It was very moving. The kind of words you don't hear from everyone. I don't, anyway.
Of course, I had to get some pictures of my new prize. My wife took these shots behind the house.
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/RWjacket-front-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b289/drdog/RWjacket-back-1-09.jpg[/IMG]
How cool is that?
It came from a close friend of mine; we became friends about three years ago via our blogs. Like me, she is a devoted Detroit Red Wings fan. Unlike me, she lives in California. Unlike me, she doesn't have cable and can't watch any hockey games at home. No satellite dish, either. That's the way it is for her.
So about two years ago the lightbulb flashed on over my head: Why don't I record some of the Red Wings games I watch at home? I have a DVD recorder and it works well. I record the games, burn them onto DVDs and mail them to her from time to time. So ever since then, I have. Along the way, we became close friends. Though I think we were close friends already.
I have been a Red Wings fan since about 1978. That's the year we moved to the U.P. from Milwaukee and I got to see hockey regularly on TV for the very first time. So I tried to watch them every time they were on--even through the infamously bad "40-point season." They reached the conference finals the next year, and they have been playing high quality hockey ever since (with an occasional breakdown early in the playoffs).
When the Wings won the Stanley Cup last spring, I sent along a couple other goodies: a souvenir magazine from Sports Illustrated, a Stanley Cup T-shirt I spotted at K-Mart and a baseball cap with the Red Wings' red and white logo on it. Earlier, I sent her a DVD set of great/memorable Red Wings games from the lats 10 years or so--they have won three Stanley Cups in that time and been near the top nearly every year.
I wrote her. telling her how cool the jacket is and how overwhelmed I am. She wrote back, saying no thanks are needed: It's for all the stuff I have done for her over the last couple years.
Maybe so, but I'm amazed at my good luck anyway. The cool new jacket has to stay on the coat rack inside for a while--midwinter in the U.P. is a little too cool for it. (We had -20F this morning). But in a month or two, when the regular season nears its end and the playoffs start, it will be warmer, and I can wear my true colors.
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