ARIZONA TO ALASKA

SITTING IN PHOENIX

Posted by: joealaska, 29 04, 2012 14:03 GMT

FINALLY escaped the tentacles of Dutch Harbor Saturday morning, leaving at 9 AM.. That plane only had 31 passengers on a 33 seat plane. Must have been a weight issue. Many people were left behind who would have paid a premium for one of those.

My Anchorage to Seattle flight left little time to make the next connection, about 15 minutes. But I did it with no major incidents.

I was surprised when I got on that flight to Phoenix. The plane could hold over 160 people, but there were only 28 on board. We had 4 flight attendants so it was like first class for everyone. There was no dragging of the beverage cart up and down the aisle, they just walked around and took our orders. I was very hungry, so I had the chicken fettucini, which was actually pretty good.

The second round of drinks was on the house.

When the plane took off at sunset, I was given a perfect view of Mount Rainier, heavily covered in snow. Took several pics, hope they came out. I also took a few of the big volcano on Akutan as I was leaving Dutch.

I hit Phoenix at 10 PM, and was flying out next morning at 7:30. So I got a nearby room, knowing I still would get very little sleep. It was in a bad area of Phoenix, although the hotel was OK. I took a short walk to a convenience store for a snack, and was happy I did so unshot.

This morning I sit about to board a Southwest flight to Albuquerque. Arriving at 9:40, there is only so much daylight to golf. I told CASA to hit the ATM for cash. No more 4 party out of state checks that will require a couple of favorable court decisions to be cashable... like last time.

Hoping to have a nice dinner with his family tonight. Then another short night of sleep as I pick up the rental first thing Monday.

Then, I cruise.

A

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OH LORD, STUCK IN OLD DUTCH HARBOR AGAIN

Posted by: joealaska, 28 04, 2012 06:21 GMT

Just because I have confirmed tickets, and just because the weather seems fine, it means NOTHING.

I went to the airport Thursday around 2:15 PM to check in for my 4:15 flight. They were closing down the place. My flight was cancelled due to “weather”. Must have been weather elsewhere, as DUTCH was pretty nice. Some wind, but nothing unusual. Later I found out the wind WAS unusual in that it was coming across the runway, versus the typical direction of down or up it.

Early flights had been delayed and eventually cancelled. By the end of the day there were a LOT of people on standby.

Last night was a BEAUTIFUL evening. Warm, calm, sunny. It was ironic I was enjoying it while it was the reason I was still in town. Kids were out running around the Haystack hillside playing with their dogs. I opened up the windows.

I was told to be back at the airport at 7:30 AM.

Wednesday I had scrambled to get an earlier flight out of Dutch. I was unable to get to Albuquerque with the change, but I was able to get to Phoenix. It cost an additional $228. Then I still had to get to Albuquerque. $200 more for a Southwest flight. Finally I had to change the rental car deal to coordinate with the change.

Now it was all screwed up

I was there at the airport first thing. Me and a hundred other people. I had to wait around until 11AM when they told me to come back at 2:30. Meanwhile it had turned into a working vacation, as I was on the phone a lot. Hard to turn it off as I was still in town.

The airport was packed with pissed off folk, and we were all put on the back burner while the regularly scheduled flights went out. I had heard there would be a couple of extra flights added to handle all us standbys, but no sir.

I went back at 2:30 and waited until 5. I was led to believe I would get out, but it did not happen. So I remain here, having thrown out a decent amount of perishable food that now would be of use.

Will go back tomorrow at 8 AM, hoping to catch the 9AM departure. That will give Casa and myself most of one day to golf. Not as much time as I was hoping, but still should be able to make some money. Monday AM I pick up the rental and hit the road.

Hopefully.

Meanwhile today was just a perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky, which is RARE. The best day of the year. It was 48 degrees at one point.

The newspaper came out today. Many people are upset at the vandalism on the Russian Church. It is a National Monument, so there are federal charges that could be involved.

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AND IF SHE'S A DUNCE I AM STUPID AT ONCE, I'M FLEXIBLE

Posted by: joealaska, 26 04, 2012 05:38 GMT

Martin Mull...

I talked with the boss today and he was OK with me leaving early. So I depart in less than 24 hours, Thursday afternoon. Will be kicking the ass of casa Friday afternoon at Isleta.

This adds three days of cruise time, more GREAT PLAIN time. Storm watching.

Albuquerque to Louisville. Simple math. Mapquest for beginners.

HOW MANY MILES TO LOUISVILLE? Make a guess.

Show me you know me.

Gotta pack.

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TAG

Posted by: joealaska, 25 04, 2012 06:40 GMT

The last couple of days, especially evenings, we have had wind and rain. The MELT has been ongoing. My driveway is completely clear of snow. First time since New Years. The 20 foot pile of plowed snow at the end of my driveway has melted to an 8 foot pilette. The deep piles will be here for awhile, but large areas of the shallow stuff is gone. Brown ground.

Now the saturated earth is falling apart. The road to the top of Haystack has many rocks and huge chunks of sod in the roadway. Today I took a cruise out Captains Bay Road. On one of those turns right by up-and-down-cliffs one BIG boulder and a bunch of rocks had just fallen down when I passed by. The mess covered one full lane. I called for help, but was the second to do so. A front loader was sent out to clear it all.

There was a crime wave in Dutch two days ago. Vandals. NOT the middle ages guys, just some local punks. We were a victim. Our warehouse was tagged with spray paint. As well as our wing truck (MICHELIN) and some container vans at our dock. A slap of paint on our warehouse wall would fix the worst of it. Our windows were easily cleaned, as well as the wing truck. I was not inclined to call the cops until our friend at the company next door let me know her new company truck was also a target.

OH yeah, we are getting a new wing truck. It will be the ONLY new wing truck around. All the others are falling apart, like big yellow.

When I called the police I found out it was all more wide-spread. Including the Russian Church. I do not think there are gangs here, but evidently we have our share of idiots. I admit, there was a golden age where I was an idiot. One day I may tell you about the carload of pumpkins we all pilfered and how we disposed of them. Safely, yet productively.

Gnu Guy is back as of today. He was able to meet my sister CYBER in Boise just a couple days ago. Now I hear OGAL and HOMER will be meeting. Good stuff.

OGAL, by the time you get here it will be light until midnight.

6 days from right now I will be heading to LA.

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SNOW MELT

Posted by: joealaska, 21 04, 2012 07:02 GMT

It was possibly the best day weather-wise today for 2012. Calm and sunny. 38 degrees. I will take it. The snow is melting, although that does not mean it will not DUMP tomorrow.

Dutchie is enlivened, very interested in heading outside again. Even Fat Fluffer has gone out TWICE! This a rarity.

A recent article in the local newspaper said we had 126 inches of snow this year. Not sure how that number was arrived at. How can you measure horizontal snow, the majority of what we get? There is no science. I have a gauge, and I choose not to even use it when I see the conditions. Oh sure, I could give you a number... The same article agrees with me that it will be June 1st or so before I can head out Summer Bay Road OR head up the Overland pass.

The cruise ship Crystal Serenity was the first cruise ship of the season for us. It came through over Easter weekend. They had been through warmer climates, and were finally glad to see some snow.

EXTREMELY glad.

The snow IS melting. The roads are clear, but there are still large piles everywhere. (Of snow.)

Today I took my annual road cruise up above Westward Seafoods to check out the snow situation. The PLOW GUYS were only partially done. I am not sure how they find the road up there. There are a couple of stakes, but it seems hit or miss. With 4 to 15 feet of snow to plow. I took some video I will post on youtube, hope it does the situation justice.

VACATION is just a bit over a week away. I brought out the suitcase for early packing. Dutchie was sleeping on it in 10 minutes. CATS!

Last night there were two foxes at my porch looking for food. It got a bit ugly, a rarity. They were starting to fight over the food. Not what I wanted. I ended up throwing it out over a large area, where they were not fighting over one pile.

Tonight I set up the tripod on the north facing porch and took a time lapse movie of the sunset. Also to be posted soon.

The local paper today gave credit to the fox / eagle / cat video lady about her video. They published her name.

It is now light here until 11 PM.

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WINGING IT

Posted by: joealaska, 18 04, 2012 05:26 GMT

Woke up today with planes buzzing the duplex. A bunch of them, the parade continued all day. Normally we get four flights a day, more are scheduled in the season. We are not in the season. Not sure why all the planes are coming in. I guess it was close to 10 that came in today.

Last week we had the captain of one of the smaller boats in our office. He was ecstatic that the ice had receded from St. Paul in The Pribilof Islands. That is the northern port than can take an offload of fish or crab. It has been icebound for most of the season. A tug went up and acted as an icebreaker for the boats. But it got stuck. FINALLY about 10 days ago the ice broke, and everyone jumped to head north. Many crews had flown south for the weather to break. The boats were tied up out my west window at the new small boat harbor. Northwestern was there, but a few days ago I saw them heading out around Amaknak Island, which has Ballyhoo on it. He may have been going around to the Trident Dock, or heading north, not sure.

I noticed Time Bandit on the radar in St Paul just a couple days ago. Still fishing, and Deadliest Catch has started...

One of our customers is in St Paul right now. They placed a food order with us to be put on one of the Coastal Boats. Coastal had been trying for weeks to get in there. Nothing. Finally it looked good. But a few days ago the ice was back. The Coastal Boat gave up and headed elsewhere. Our customer will come to Dutch this week.

I had 4 foxes at the chow porch last night. I was only able to get three in one picture, then NOSEY came out from under the Tahoe to make it a foursome. The grill was in full lighter fluid blaze, and one of them was chowing about three feet away.

Dutchie was out there with them for awhile. She seems pretty happy that the snow is melting and the weather is cat-able.

Two weeks from now I am having barbecue in New Mexico.

Tonight I grill. My famous garlic pepper hot wings. The best there are in the upper northern quarter
of Haystack. (My side of the street).

YESSIREEBOB.

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TURN AWAY THE PAGE

Posted by: joealaska, 16 04, 2012 04:27 GMT

The ALBATROSS is very rare. Golf is in love with BIRD terms.

My personal goal has always been to get one birdie per round. At least back when I was playing a lot. A birdie is one below par. If a hole is a PAR 4, that means you are expected to take two shots to reach the green, and take two putts to get in the hole. If you get it in the hole with one putt, you get a birdie. You could also hit it on the green from the tee with one shot, take two putts, and get that birdie another way. Questions non golfers? Email me.

On a Par 3, you are expected to get on the green with one shot, and take two putts to get in the hole. If you hit that first shot near the hole, and take one putt to finish, THAT is a birdie. If you hit it in the hole on a par 3, a HOLE IN ONE, that is awesome but it is only an eagle. TWO BELOW PAR. An eagle is always that, two below par.

I had a hole in one. It was only 112 yards, but I hit it in the hole in one shot, on the fly. Slam dunk.
My buddy I was playing with was yelling ITS IN THE HOLE before it was.

No doubt any eagle or albatross takes a certain degree of luck. Even the best golfer can only send it on the way, but those last few inches get into the luck area.

An ALBATROSS (or DOUBLE EAGLE) is three below par. It is a hole in one on a Par 4, or a 2 on a Par 5. This recent MASTERS had a guy hit it from 240 yards and put it in the hole on a Par 5.
He took 2 on a par 5. On national TV. In the biggest golf tournament (arguably). They will be talking about that shot a hundred years from now.

Even non-golfers can appreciate the REMARKABLE. I hope. Maybe not.

I have had a couple emails from the lady who had the fox/eagle/cats video. She was asking me about posting on youtube. Maybe I should be asking her. I have told her about this site, hoping she will participate.

We are in the process of another big MELT. Hopefully the last. But I doubt it. It still has snowed, especially yesterday. Our recently cleared roads were again snow covered. But today they cleared again.

Here in Dutch there are little posters in the post office asking for info on any sightings of tsunami debris. Keeping an eye out. (Not literally).

The foxes come and go. Nosey came back, looking bad as ever. I will not post the detailed photos of her nose.

Lots of tornados again. You can be 2 miles from a huge tornado and not know it was there. But if you are hit by it, it is all over. Random luck. That is why they call her MOTHER nature.

Two weeks from tomorrow I am outta here. I want to document the trip more than ever, seeing if I can sell the trip to travel magazines or what ever.

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THE RAREST BIRD, THE ALBATROSS

Posted by: joealaska, 09 04, 2012 06:34 GMT

36 degrees. 40 mph wind. Sleet storm as I write.

It has not snowed for the last couple days, but today there is a very light snow falling. Yesterday we had a strong wind blowing and heavy rain, especially last night. The result is a significant melt of some of the snow piled everywhere. Big brown patches are appearing on the hillsides.

The heavy rain and wind last night did not stop the foxes from showing up for chow. Every night there are three or four who come by. NOSEY had been a regular, but have not seen him for a week or so.

Last night the wind gusted strong enough to suck out the cover that acts as an access port into the roof of my duplex. It is just a square piece of drywall that sits in a square frame. It is not attached, it just sits in a tight frame and has to be pushed up from underneath to open the hole in the laundry room ceiling. Well, that frame it sits in is about 4 inches deep, and fits that door tightly. A couple years ago a similar thing happened. The wind sucked the panel up. As it rose up it got slightly cockeyed and became jammed in the frame. I had to break off a corner just to loosen it up so I could get it out. Same thing last night, it was really stuck. I slept through the whole event. The wind was pretty loud all night, with various things blowing around. I guess it was just another noise as I slept.

Now the sun has come out, the sleet has stopped, and the wind is really whipping.

One thing we do NOT have here is a water shortage. When I saw that picture Dave posted of the California Aqueduct it reminded me of what they did in my old state of Arizona. They also built an aqueduct called the Central Arizona Project. It was 336 miles long from the Colorado River and Lake Havasu through Phoenix and on down to Tucson. The water was elevated 2400 feet by the time it reached the end of the line. It crossed miles of raw desert and lost a LOT of water due to evaporation.

One of the more interesting PBS series I have seen was Cadillac Desert. It covered the expansion of the Western US back in the good old days, and how too many people moved into areas where they ought not. At least where Mother Nature was not prepared to support such numbers. Places like Las Vegas, Phoenix, and LA to name a few.

The series covered all the angles. It covered William Mulhollands role in getting more water into LA as Water Bigwig.

Also covered was the story about The Colorado River and how it was basically divided up so much it stopped the flow at its far end.

I recommend checking it out, even by googling.

Things have really slowed down here, with all the big boats having left town.

I spent Easter Sunday watching The Masters. It was one of the best Masters in recent history. It included one of the greatest shots ever seen in that tournament, or any tournament. Turn on any sports show on TV and you will see it.

BUBBA had no trubba winning it.

Saw a humpback whale swimming below the duplex in the small boat harbor today. Too hard to photo. As I watching the Masters all day I just chilled out at my place. So I did not go out to0 see Crystal Serenity, the cruise ship in town today. Hope they are here in the AM, will document it with photos.

Last week my globe that UK gave me, the 3 foot diameter inflatable, fell from the thread that I used to hang it from my bedroom ceiling. Looks like it snapped. Maybe Dutchie attacked while I was gone. Funny coincidence, I watched the movie ATLAS SHRUGGED PART 1 the next day.

Save your money on that one...

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BANGUN PERKASA STILL IN UNALASKA

Posted by: joealaska, 02 04, 2012 04:18 GMT

Last night we got 6 more inches of snow. Of course, the big wind has creatively piled it up here and there. The huge piles of snow that were created when the plows finally widened the snow covered roads are now smoothed over with a fresh coat. There is a two foot drift around the Tahoe that was not there late last night. And while the wind is picking up NOW at 7 PM local, the sun has exploded above. So it is BLINDING and BLOWING, perfect conditions for taking pictures. I still try, and open the storm door. It almost blows away as I try to grab from the other side. Not that THAT has ever been a problem. I could use some new photos. Today I somehow deleted a lot more photos than what I wanted. Maybe a couple hundred. I save a lot after I put them in my movies. But today something happened that I did not want.

Gone.

I was off today as much as possible. That means staying at home, but on the phone a lot.

Spent time watching a fox on the side of Haystack Hill. He was meandering the steep hillside looking for food, I assume. He spent hours snarfing in the snow with his nose, digging deep for whatever. Finally he would pull his head out and look around, his face covered in snow. I could see it easily from my window, but used binoculars for some good details.

I watched OFFICE SPACE, pretty funny. TPS Reports. Staplers. Flair. Now I watch FROZEN PLANET of Discovery. Good stuff, especially the scenes of hundreds of white Beluga whales using rocks in shallow water to rub against to shed old skin. Been there, done that...

I have a couple of plant pots on my desk where I throw random seeds in and pray something grows. There are a bunch of green things growing, but I have no idea what it is. Until now. Less than 5 inches tall, I have some red and green peppers coming in. Maybe1.5 inches in diameter. Bite size.

BANGUN PERKASA, the RAT BOAT is still here unclaimed. After a worldwide search, authorities have been unable to find an owner of that vessel. They were caught fishing illegally, using a drift net over three miles long. This WALL OF DEATH catches anything and everything as it passes by. It scrapes the water bare.

Nobody knows what to do with the boat. Federal law allows scuttling the vessel far offshore in deep water. It could be a target for Coast Guard gunners in training. But the wording in that law makes it impossible to use. Too many qualifications which cannot be met. Politicians are squabbling.

OH YEAH, the rat issue? Again it was overblown, maybe the government over-reacted. YES, there were rats. 20 of them. Maybe a couple more. Following procedure, the boat was kept offshore and teams were sent out via tugboats daily to eradicate the rat menace. It cost $200,000 for those 20 rats. Do the math. I want to be an exterminator. Add to that fact Dutch Harbor has rats. Plenty of them. It is not like we are protecting virgin territory.

All the details can be seen in my link regarding local news in Dutch...

I did not know BANGUN PERKASA was still here. It is only 140 feet long, not huge. I will get some long overdue pictures tomorrow.

Finally, BIG BLUE is poised to pounce. Sorry Kansas, not talking about you. Louisville played a great game dressed in their Cardinal Orange. But the better team won. Kansas surprised Ohio State at the very end, the most important time for surprises.

Kentucky will win the battle between two of the biggest names in college basketball. KY by 10.

DAVE!! Watch the game.

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