Chaos Leaves Town

The show has begun…and when I got a few minutes, I wandered out and got a few shots of the ice carvings. The competition started on Feb. 24th so we had to have the cameras up and running by then. With 30 cameras, that means a lot of computer work for me getting the system running because we end up with 4 networks in the building. DSL is linked to all the office and email (the machines used by the carvers and staff) computers, then there is a T-1 network for uploading pictures, then there is a WebCam network that’s internal only so we can access and adjust the cameras and radio equipment locally, and finally, there is an internal working network for the two cameras that act as web servers. These separations of the various networks protect the system from external attack by hackers or bad guys.

Then we have to physically move the cameras around the park on big stands that support the cameras 12 feet off the ground. Reason for that is we have to shot toward the south, were the sun is most of the day, so the downward angle of the camera housing prevents the sun from blotching the pictures…most of the time. We dragged the camera stands out into the park the night before the opening and got them all running by morning when the carvers went to work. The ice is already there ready for them.

In other areas of the park, the Chinese carvers that come each year have made lots of slides for kids, and a few other large incidental sculptures. Like the main stage that BP is paying for this year. Word is that they ponied up $75,000 for the rights to have their name plastered all over the event. If you go look at the web site… www.icealaska.com you’ll find their logo.

Here are some pictures:

The BP stage...

A front view of the stage.

Some of the volunteers who have passed away but left their mark on the event.

New meaning to the term 'Cold call'.

Down the road a way to the first competition piece. Several days later the keys the birds are fighting over fell to the ground and broke.

Here's another shot of them.

Kind of a double helix sort of design.

Something...

I really like this one.

Here's a side angle shot.

Here's a shot of one of the camera stands we have to lug around.

Didn't know what to make of this one.

Very cool.

OK, that’s enough for today, I’ve got to get up to the Ice Park and work the cameras. Talk at you later.

I’ve been working hard at the Ice Park getting the web cameras all ready for the ice carving competiton at the park. One of the things I did last year was to design and build a circuit that would control an antenna rotation device so I could have ‘panning’ of a camera. This year I designed and built another control circuit that would give me a ’tilt’ function. So now I can pan and tilt the camera that is centered on the ‘BP World Ice Art Championships of 2009’ stage. You can visit that camera and control the zoom feature (that was already there when I designed the tilt and pan feature) at: http://12.12.107.3:8000 , this addy only works while the show is open from the end of Feb. until the end of March, but if it’s running, hope you enjoy watching us zip around the area. The show starts on Feb. 24th so this camera will have lots to watch from then until the end of the show on March 22nd. Up until then, you’ll see the volunteers running around getting the place ready. Go here: http://www.icealaska.com to see all sorts of stuff about the ice carving competition and soon all the other 30 webcams will be up an running and pointed towards the many ice sculptures the artists will be feverishly creating within their time limits.

A week ago and then a couple days ago I wandered around the park and got some shots of the preparations we’re making getting ready for the show. Down on the pond they were harvesting some ice…

Must have ice for an ice carving competition.

The heavy equipment is put into action, it's lifting a 2 ton block of ice...

It was as cold and darkish as these pictures suggest...A week later the weather has improved...

Work being done on one of the incidental pieces...

A kid's slide.

Kids love these things.

Off in the distance, beautiful ice ready for carving, soon there will be hundreds of carvers chiseling away at it...

Huge blocks of 'Diamond of the Arctic' ice...

Another kids slide...

Here a team of Chinese carvers work on the large kiddy slides...

I went down to help harvest ice (for once)...

We try to not fall in the pond.

A close up of the chain saw assembly designed just for this task.

Once the blocks are cut, the loader has to pull them out of the pond without falling in!

Stirring those ice cubes around so they don't refreeze in place.

bp's cathedral like center stage.

Here's a big toy, huh?

That's my baby up there on the pole. Then that white box below the camera houses the circuitry for both the pan and tilt functions.

One of the loaders & I get into a staring contest.

One of the extending boom forked loaders. I use to work for Hyster so I love this big stuff. Although it's a Cat.

That’s all for today. As the show progresses I’ll have lots more pictures to put up of the carvings…and that’s the reason I stayed here another year.

After two weeks of -40°F weather here in Fairbanks, and several weeks of below zero temps, the news reports talked about a Chinook coming in that would raise the local temp up to as high as 45°F.  So day before yesterday (Jan. 14th) I got out the ladder and climbed up on top of my RV to try to shovel the snow off. Snow weighs 3-20 lbs per per cubic foot depending on moisture content and I estimated my relatively dry snow at 6 lbs/cu ft. That can change rapidly if it starts raining. And I didn’t want it to melt on top of the roof either. Melting could cause several leaks and staining inside the RV. Rain could raise the weight to 20lbs per cubic foot! Wet show on the roof would be around 13,500 extra pounds up there. Not really what it’s designed for. Just the dry snow was adding approximately 4000 pounds.

I started by clearing a space off near my bathrooms skylight to get a feel for the amount of work that might be involved. Then, when I determined the snow would be easily shoveled I moved to the rear of the RV and set the ladder up next to the RV’s access ladder for support. Climbing up in the middle of the RV helped me keep my balance as the snow was very slippery. Falling twelve feet to the ground, even snow covered, wasn’t something I wanted to do while I was working alone. I did have sense enough to carry my cell phone with me.

Here’s what it looked like after an hour of clearing:

Two feet of snow and several feet left to clean off...

Looking back at what's already been done. Twelve feet more behind me to go.

Looking back toward the front of the RV.

A shot of the cabin roof. The snow is about two feet deep.

The next day, I woke up to 20°F and all during the day it kept climbing until it did reach that promised 45°F. The trees around the area have completely shed their loads of snow off the branches. Looks like spring around here. The reports have informed us that the few days of Chinook we’re getting now will be replaced by more ‘normal’ temps here in town of -20°F.  I’d be happy if it didn’t snow.

As the year came to a close, the weather here in Fairbanks was hovering around -25°F every day, often dipping lower. So, in order to be safe, I tend to stay home or just take short trips. But one night a week or two ago I wandered into the Big I and everyone was in a good mood, so I took some pictures.

Andi working hard...

Striking a pose...Andi has worked as a model. She's both winking and flipping the bird. This gurl is multi-talented. She is also well traveled and has been to many places in Europe I'd like to visit. All in all, she's very interesting, personable, and fun to talk with.

Sisters Taffy (Catherine) & Jen hanging out in Big I on their day off...they're fun to hang with too.

Got to meet and visit with Jen's boyfriend Hunter. Good guy.

Back in Nov. I took a nice gal to see a live presentation of ‘The Most happy Fella’ by the local Light Opera theater. She is picture shy so would not let me take any pictures of her. The play was well performed with many professional performances by locals. We enjoyed the play allot and had a really good time.

Around this time the luck with my car ran out and I broke off the start key in the ignition. Cost me $90 for a locksmith to remove the broken part and make a couple new keys. Of course it happened Friday night around 6pm so I wasn’t able to go shopping or anything until I could call the locksmith on Monday. Over the weekend had two mechanic friends over to try to get it out without success.

On Dec. 28th, I started to head off downtown and discovered that one of my tires was nearly flat. So I pulled out my handy tire pump and pumped it up to 35lbs. That quickly leaked out so I blocked the car up with a handy log and started to remove the tire so I could put on the donut. But when I tried to pull the wheel off the car, it wouldn’t budge. Figuring it was frozen on the car, I set up an electric heater and tried again a couple hours later. Still wouldn’t budge. Gave up for the night and tried again the next day. Nothing. So I called a tire shop and they told me to just wack on the back side of the tire with a 2-4 pound hammer. That worked and I installed the donut tire. Anyway, while I was out there working, I took some pictures of the job and of the snow. Oh, and a picture of the frost that accumulates on the cabin when the heater is operating.

It is -40°F out!

The heater trying to warm the wheel...

My front yard.

The ice fog from my furnace.

My RV all snowed in for the winter.

Two nights ago, Jan. 3rd, I went down to the Big I to watch a football game. Around 3 hours later, when I went to leave, the car would crank, but wouldn’t start. I’ve had a friend look at it and he thinks that the timing belt froze and broke. So now, I’m home trying to arrange for a repair. This won’t be cheap. We’re in a cold snap that is suppose to hang on for days and it’s not easy to keep your car running. I know 4 people that have had to have their car worked on in the last week or two.

We’ve had lots of snow and cold temps but now it’s settled down to a routine so I don’t notice the cold much. I keep the cabin at 64°F while I’m here and set it at 54°F at night while I sleep under an electric blanket. But if I have to get up, I’m use to the cold so it hardly fazes me.

Saturday evening, I went out to start the car and got…nothing. The dash lights came on but the engine wouldn’t turn over. So I grabbed my meter and started testing and found that the battery was dead, even though it had spent the night plugged into a float battery charger. Most people either use a float charger, or a battery heater and keep it plugged in throughout the winter when it dips below around -10°F. When I bought the car it came with a oil pan heater, and a radiator heater. I added the battery float charger.

The next day I got prepared with my charger/starter but tried starting it before I hooked anything up and it turned right over and started. Still, I thought that the symptoms mean that the battery had gone bad, especially since it’s a Die Hard and they often have intermittent problems like this (from my experience), so off I went to the store for a new battery. Up here they kind of have you over a barrel with batteries so I paid the $60 asked for what would be a $34 battery down in Oregon. Anyway, that little problem is taken care of so I shouldn’t have any more starting problems for a while.

Back in early October, I went to an art show that was billed as an invitational of sorts. Only 64 artists were invited to come up with pieces for the show as it’s billed as the 64th Parallel Contemporary Juried Fine Art Exhibit. I had not taken my camera but took pictures of some of the works with my phone camera. Enjoy!

My favorite piece...

Something about the '30's I believe...

The meaning of this piece below was a little obscure to me, but it did have a $4800 price tag so it must be art, right?

Not sure what this was about...

Another mountain in Alaska...

A nice water color, but boring...

Landscape...

I see it but don't believe it...

Brooding...

Blood sport...

On a swing...

Every once in a while I take a picture that I really like for one reason or another. Usually they are pictures of landscapes. But this profile is an exceptional shot of a beautiful woman who I admire a great deal…

Profile

This profile reminds me of a statuette I saw many years ago as part of the simply amazing ‘King Tut’ exhibit that toured the USofA. Can’t remember who the statuette represented, Queen Nefertiti or the goddess Selkhet perhaps?

The subject, of course is enchanting. There are many reasons I like this (modified) shot, but I’ll leave it to the viewer to make their own decisions. Here’s the original.

Here’s a couple other pictures I took recently that I really like, too. There are taken from an upper floor of the hospital on the Army base here in Fairbanks.

Snow snake...

Reflection of Sunset on mountaintop...

Then there is the river.

River flow.

Snow tree.

I’m just about a month late with these pictures but you know how these things go, don’tcha? When I came into my favorite bar about four nights before Halloween someone did mention that there was going to be a costume contest but I immediately forgot about it so didn’t bring my good camera. These pictures were taken with my phone camera…it doesn’t have a flash.

Becky calling someone...

Andi goofing off...

Terri & Brenna

Andi again...

Not sure of the spelling...Sharena?

Brenna...

And then there is Jennifer.

I thought I’d show you Jen’s tat. It’s really a work of art. But notice in the shot above that the artist had not finished the work. She had started it in Vegas (last year?) and went back around Halloween to have it finished. The portrait is of her teenage son, who failed to survive a snow machine accident.

Finished portrait...

When she returned from Vegas, this was the finished tat. The inscription reads, “Loved & Missed with a Grief Beyond All Tears”. It was still itchy so she wore this backless outfit.

Jen's front side...

One thing about Jen, she’s one of those women that has an amazing ability to dress herself. She’s always wearing the most attractive outfits. Can’t wait to see what new outfits she brought back.

It’s around -20°F outside today so I decided to stay in. Lately, that has been our overnight low. Now it’s become our daytime high. Brrrr. But the time at the computer today helped get some things done.

Let’s backtrack a bit to August when Jackie was here. One of the trips we took was on the paddle wheel boat. It’s a two hour cruise down and back up the river. First you see a bunch of fancy houses alongside the river, then there was a float plane that landed right next to the boat and later took off for us. Then we stopped at Susan Butchers ranch, where her husband gave us a demonstration of how strong the sled dogs were by hooking them up to a 4-wheeler weighing around 600 lbs and having them run a circuit. They were traveling around 20 MPH pulling that weight, without a problem. A little further down the river and a plane with huge tires for landing on soft ground took off & landed on a sand bar. After we turned around and started heading back up the river the boat stopped at a Athabaskan native village reproduction typical of the way river villages were built at the turn of the 20th century. We disembarked and went to demonstrations of native sewing, boat building, lodge construction, dog training, etc. scattered around the grounds. After all that we re-boarded the boat and opposite from where the boat was moored, there was a fish filleting demonstration by an native women before we left. Interesting because of her skill at slicing and dicing that fish to get it ready for the drying racks in under a minute.

The paddle wheel

The Chena River right there at the docks before we left on the cruise...

The crowd waits to board...

Off we go, standing at the bow.

Sister boat. We have now turned around and are heading downstream.

Just cruisin'

A float plane takes off for us.

Then lands. All the while chattering to us via a radio link and amplifier system.

And then another take off.

One of the nice homes along the river.

This is where the boat turns around and heads back upstream.

But first, a tundra plane takes off from a sand bar nearby.

Then it lands and bounces all over for a while.

Then we head back up river and stop, then disembark at the village.

We sit while the native girls explain what furs are used for what garment.

Here's a bark house. This style was only used in the summer villages.

Typical hand made boat of the area.

There was a herd of caribou at the site, this guy was relaxing.

Another example of building styles. Caribou skin tepee.

They had a small garden with giant vegetables.

Trading post.

A typical food cache with some furs hanging from it.

One of the native girls giving us a talk about the fur preparation.

Then we head back to Fairbanks.

The paddle whirling away.

After we get back home.

Now, I know this isn’t a very good picture of Jackie, but on that whole paddle wheel trip, there was so much to see and do that I just did not get around to taking any pictures of her. This is the only one I got.

It’s 10°F outside…so it’s time to show you some pictures of our summer here in Fairbanks.  Every summer there is a raft race down the Chena river through downtown or that starts downtown. Around July 20th. The rules as I remember them were that the rafts had to or were suppose to have a conservation theme.  Since where I live (at the RV park) is so close to the river, I wandered down to the foot bridge and got some pictures of the rafters as they passed under the bridge. Many people naturally threw fruit at the passing rafts trying to splash the rafters. Some of the rafters carried those giant water cannons kids have these days and tried to wet those that threw fruit or those of us on the bridge taking pictures. I spent a couple hours there watching all the creative craft come floating by. I’m not sure any of the rafters really cared whether they won or not because they all seem to be having so much fun and unconcerned about their speed.

The first raft at the bridge...

Note that the weather wasn’t all that great that day even though it was the middle of July. I was wearing a coat as were most of the participants on the rafts. Can’t blame them for that or for some of the wet suits I saw at all since the water never really warms up here in Fairbanks.

Mary & Larry enjoying the race...

Mary works at the campground helping us keep the place clean, Larry has a Phd in education I believe and was working up at UAF.

Group rafting...

Some are not that exciting...

Not exactly the theme but a good effort anyway...

This guy was chugging along on his road bike adapted for the river...

Working hard...

More rafts, note the squirting water...

It does float, just not very fast...

Giving us a squirt...

Rocking Raft Stars...

Great fun. Just wish the weather had been warmer.

It was an exciting night…hanging out in the Big I watching the election returns in what turned out to be the most exciting election in the last 45 years. I confess that I teared up as the projection that Obama would win the presidency flashed up on the screen just after the clock counted down the close of the west coast polls. The electoral count was 333 to 145 or so after California, Washington and Oregon counts were shown. A small cheer arose from the crowd (mostly just me) as it became clear Obama was our new president elect. A couple hours later the count from Alaska came in with McCain cornering 62% of the vote here. Which explains why the people in the bar weren’t all that excited about Obama’s win.

Annie wanted to go over to the Westmark Hotel to continue the non-partisan celebration that was happening there. I was happy to go with her, Ted, and Wally because she is one of the few other liberals that hangs out at the bar. The hotel provided food and a large screen TV. Occasionally, there would be a cheer about some local or state race so I’d wander over to the group standing in front of the big screen and find out what the excitement was about.

Annie gets some vegis in the food line...

Enjoying the food and fun...

One of the few times I could actually see the big screen.

I agree with that...

Not many of these around in this red state.

Wally making a point...

One of the young Obama fans...

Ted making a point...

Annie getting ready to walk home...or getting ready to mug Wally, not sure.

Everyone enjoying themselves...

Now that a couple days have passed since the election, the amazing response from around the world is making news as people from all walks realize what this election means. We have now garnered bucket loads of good will around the world. Especially since the Obama victory was nearly a landslide in individual votes and was a landslide in electoral college voting. The widely hated Bush Doctrine will soon be a thing of the past, thrown on the scrap heap of incredibly bad ideas.

In other news, I spent a couple three hours on Monday past at the base getting my yearly physical. Nothing looks to bad, minor problem here and there but not much to worry about. I really need to start exercising but it’s difficult here with snow on the ground and not being able to shower regularly. Oh, I didn’t tell you about that did I. See, I don’t have city water, and the well the owner tried to put in last year came up empty and she didn’t try this year. Which means I could have water delivered by a water truck ($60 for 600 gallons, I have a 233 gallon tank) but in order to save money and to get the exercise I do from lugging around 40 lb jugs of water, I opt to carry the water myself in 20 liter jugs. Which means I don’t have a full tank most of the time. Then the pipes from the bathroom to the septic tank don’t have much drop so things get caught and then freeze so I get a back up from time to time. It all conspires to make the bathroom a ‘situation’ that I have to deal with far to often and makes me have to take my showers at the campground. It is a hassle but better then having an outhouse…which is what a lot of people here in Fairbanks have to deal with. One of my friends, a bartender at the Big I, also lives in a cabin but she has to deal with going out at -20°F to use her outhouse. No fun.

Anyway, I’m pretty healthy overall but need a serious way to fight my weight right now in order to get my blood pressure down since it’s creeped up a little since I got up here to Fairbanks. That could be the result of the excessive air pollution (lots of wood burning stoves, heaters, & furnaces up here), my lack of exercise, and my diet not having enough vegi’s like I’d like. Much easier in Mexico to get fresh vegi’s. And whenever you go out to eat, the resturants there always bring you a vegi tray before your meal. So I’m thinking of getting some exercise equipment…now if I could only find something free up at the transfer station.