Fairbanks Alaska winter weather (-35 reasons not to live there)

Ever think you want to live in Fairbanks, Alaska in the winter? I thought about it, and almost started to create a website for people to donate money to "Make me live in Fairbanks, Alaska", but at this point I'm glad I didn't. As this image shows, I can think of -35 reasons I'm glad I don't live in Fairbanks in the winter:

Wasilla, Alaska weather - Winds up to 80 mph

Wasilla, Alaska weather - December 15, 2010 - High winds: Driving back from Acnhorage, Alaska this afternoon, it was all I could do to keep my car in my lane as I got back to Wasilla. High winds with speeds up to 80 mph were peeling the snow off the local mountains and sand-blasting the town. At some points the road disappeared almost entirely, and I had to slow down to a crawl to make sure I didn't rear-end anyone who might be in front of me.

Wasilla, Alaska weather - December, 2010 - High winds land tree

Wasilla, Alaska weather - December, 2010 - Winds of up to 80 mph last night landed a large tree in our parking lot. (Yes, that thing that looks like an ice-skating rink is our parking lot.)

Wasilla, Alaska weather - December 15, 2010 - Can't see road (high winds)

Wasilla, Alaska weather - December 15, 2010 - Driving back to Wasilla, Alaska this afternoon, at some points the road disappeared almost entirely, and I had to slow down to a crawl to make sure I didn't rear-end anyone who might be in front of me.

Wasilla, Alaska weather - December 15, 2010 - High winds

Wasilla, Alaska weather - December 15, 2010 - High winds: Driving back from Acnhorage, Alaska this afternoon, it was all I could do to keep my car in my lane as I got back to Alaska. High winds with speeds up to 80 mph were peeling the snow off the local mountains and sand-blasting Wasilla.

Sarah Palin's Alaska - Killing a moose

I live in Alaska, but I very rarely agree with anything Sarah Palin does, outside of her fighting against big business trying to run the state of Alaska. That being said, this Huffington Post article criticizing Ms. Palin for killing a moose on her "Sarah Palin's Alaska" television series is the most ridiculous piece of crap I've read in a long time.

Military vacation deals - Seward, Alaska military resort

Earlier today I ran into a couple of people from the United States military, and with my background in the DoD, we had some nice conversations. Beyond that, we talked a little bit about military vacations, and then talked about the wonderful military vacation facility in Seward, Alaska.

Ravens in Wasilla, Alaska

Ravens in Alaska: I'm not sure where the ravens in Alaska go to in the summer, but in the winter months I see them everywhere: Anchorage, Wasilla, Palmer, Talkeetna, Seward, etc. If there's ever a major sports team in Alaska, an obvious nickname for the team would be "Ravens".

Here are a couple of pictures of the ravens in Alaska. First, three ravens surrounding one of my neighbor's cars:

Alaska judge throws out Joe Miller lawsuit

Alaska judge throws out Joe Miller senate lawsuit: NPR and other news outlets are reporting that an Alaska judge has thrown out Joe Miller's lawsuit regarding the recent Alaska senate race, specifically his loss to write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski, and the manner in which the Murkowski write-in ballots were accepted.

In one extremely critical statement, the judge states:

Wasilla, Alaska Hatcher Pass mountain - December 5, 2010

Here's a view of a mountain in the Hatcher Pass mountain range, as seen from Wasilla, Alaska on December 5, 2010.

Alaska sunrise - Sun at 1:20pm, December 5, 2010

This is a photo of where the sun was at its "peak" height in the sky today, December 5, 2010, at around 1:20pm. As you can see, it's not very high in the sky at all.

Alaska - snowy and icy local road

Here's a photo of a local road in Wasilla, Alaska in December, 2010. As you can see, the road is covered in snow, with ice under the snow, and this is the way the road will stay until March, or even April of 2011.

December 5th - 10:40am sunrise

I'm just in the process of getting back to writing again after my recent gallbladder-removal surgery and subsequent recovery, and the most interesting thing to report (besides the fact I can eat again) is that the sun just rose here in Wasilla, Alaska at 10am. While the following photo isn't from this morning, this will give you some idea of what it looks like, even as we now approach 11:30am:

Murkowski defeats Miller as write-in candidate

Sorry, I've been a little busy the last few days (getting ready for a surgery in Anchorage, Alaska on Friday to remove my gallbladder), but while I was gone, Lisa Murkowski was officially named the winner of the Alaska senate race. Her write-in campaign managed to defeat Joe Miller by about 2,000 votes.

Single digits, high winds, library books due

Well, other than being here, nothing describes our current weather quite like a photo, in this case an image of our local weather report:

Single digit temperatures and winds of 40 to 65 mph sounds pretty cold to me. Indeed, the "free heat" that comes with this apartment couldn't keep up with the cold this morning, and I had to bundle up just to get out of bed.

Murkowski v Miller election update

Monday evening, November, 15, 2010: If you count contested ballots in the Murkowski v Miller Alaska senate race, Ms. Murkowski is now ahead by one vote. Not counting those contested ballots, she trails Mr. Miller by, er ... some amount ... sorry, I'm too lazy to do the math tonight.

Three moose, more snow

When I went outside to take the garbage out two days ago, I happened to walk into a scene of three moose sneaking through my neighbor's back yard:

The Miller v Murkowski write-in ballot counting continues

Dateline Sunday, November 14, 2010, Juneau, Alaska. (Okay, I'm really in Wasilla, just wishing I was in Juneau.) The counting of write-in ballots for Lisa Murkowski and Joe Miller (and presumably other people, including "Gwen") continues.

Here are the Miller/Murkowski write-in ballot latest updates:

Joe Miller filing lawsuits in Alaska Senator campaign

Sigh, I'm very disappointed in humanity to read that Joe Miller has already filed one lawsuit in regards to the Alaska senate race in his campaign against Lisa Murkowski. While the Murkowski write-in ballots are still being counted, he has already filed one lawsuit because the campaign officials are allowing minor misspellings of "Murkowski", and he intends to file a second lawsuit to order state officials to hand over to his campaign voter rolls so they can be compared against the ballots (according to reports).

Living with a squirrel, in a cabin

I was just reminded that way back in the summer of 2007, when I moved to Alaska for the first time, I ended up living in a small cabin in Talkeetna, Alaska. I didn't know it when I moved in, but I quickly learned that this cabin came with a squirrel, who I quickly learned was one of the most 'human' animals I have ever met. We spent most days of that summer together, and thanks to a friend back home, I started corresponding with a group of 3rd-grade students in Kentucky about our relationship.