tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102685802011-04-21T19:35:33.837-08:00Life in the largest city of the Last Frontier.61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1142616967529262172006-03-17T08:27:00.001-09:002006-03-17T08:41:42.706-09:00

Okay, so I've been ignoring my blog for several months. Actually most of the winter... I suppose I just needed something shocking or exciting enough to get me back into writing.Well, yesterday that thing finally happened. The branch bank in the Fred Meyer department store just a few blocks from my house was robbed at gunpoint and the suspect chased down and shot by the police. The fact that a

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1130782778991592512005-10-31T07:38:00.000-09:002005-10-31T19:52:43.803-09:00

For the past few years, I've been telling folks about portable electric fences to keep bears away from tents and food here in Alaska. I'm no great Alaskan hunting guide or anything, but I had heard Tom Smith, a USGS bear researcher promoting them when I first moved here. I also grew up on a farm and have lots of experience with electric fences and livestock. Most Alaskans are surprised to learn

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1130781226138959632005-10-31T07:30:00.000-09:002005-10-31T08:53:48.056-09:00

Woke up Sunday morning to our first real dusting of snow for the season. Got about 1/2 inch around town. Not enough to fully cover the grass, but enough to make the roofs and streets look white. It's been cold enough for the past several weeks that it looks like this snow is gonna stay with us. Too bad we didn't get more. All this dusting does is make the streets slick, but we can't ski,

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1129790249051712622005-10-19T22:31:00.000-08:002005-10-19T22:37:29.056-08:00

Since the last post, the wind died down, but has now picked up again. It's blowing pretty hard, but not as bad as the other night. Because the wind is out of the south, the weather is relatively warm right now, well above average for this time of the year.It was so warm that I went for a bike ride this evening. I haven't done much riding lately and it was good to get out and work these stiff

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1129607676574274072005-10-17T19:45:00.000-08:002005-10-17T19:54:36.580-08:00

Although I lived through several "real" huricanes when I lived in Florida, we still get a taste of hurricane weather here in Anchorage. About twice per year, we have a huge windstorm with tropical storm or even hurricane force winds.Tonight, we're having gusts that I estimate at 50 mph and this is forecast to go on all night. I've already seen several shingles in front yards on my street. I

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1129314279398719552005-10-14T07:17:00.000-08:002005-10-14T10:24:39.406-08:00

Well, I took most of the summer off from this blog, but I guess I've got to get back to it now. Two nights ago, I saw the first few snowflakes on my windshield as I drove across town. Not enough to stick to anything, but it was definitely snow.The days have gotten a lot shorter, too. It's fairly dark when I drive to work at 8 am. It's still light when I head home at about 6 pm, but that's

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1128651551561394872005-10-06T18:15:00.000-08:002005-10-06T18:19:11.566-08:00

Yes, I'm still alive. I was too busy having fun this summer to spend any time with the blog. I apologize if any of my readers thought that I'd finally met one moose too many. Not so. I expertly avoided them all summer... Well, I avoided them mostly by luck. In addition to the moose incident described below, I must have gotten within 20 feet of an additional 5 or 6 moose this summer. The

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1117089013939907752005-05-25T21:22:00.000-08:002005-05-25T22:32:57.710-08:00

As a means of getting in shape this summer and losing a few pounds, I've been riding my bicycle quite a lot. I generally ride on one of the many paved trails that crisscross Anchorage. These trails are one of the hidden jewels of Anchorage and make it the most bike-friendly place I've ever lived.The most famous of our trails is the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail that runs from Kincaid Park at the

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1114672183164123692005-05-02T21:07:00.000-08:002005-05-02T21:08:43.743-08:00

Spring is a time of relief for most Alaskans. We've survived winter without freezing to death and without getting crazy from cabin fever. Once the weather warms up, we're just happy to sit outside and enjoy the sun. The sidewalks and trails are croweded lately with folks working off those winter pounds and watching everything turn green. Only 4 weeks ago, there was snow on the ground and I went

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1115018885764355802005-05-01T23:28:00.000-08:002005-05-01T23:34:05.883-08:00

Today was a very typical spring day in Anchorage. 50° F and a light rain. While at softball practice, we had two young moose standing at the edge of the field watching us play. An eagle was soaring overhead and the days are getting pretty long.I took the following shot just a few moments ago looking north out my back window at 11 pm. The sky would have been brighter, but it's mostly cloudy

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1114844399510438202005-04-29T22:39:00.000-08:002005-04-29T22:59:59.510-08:00

Spring officially arrived yesterday at 12:01 p.m. That's the time that the frozen Tanana River moved in the small central Alaskan town of Nenana. This is an event that is eagerly awaited by thousands of Alaskans each year.You see, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars riding on the fate of the Nenana ice. Years ago, the bored residents of Nenana began to place bets on what day and time the

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1114669040120835882005-04-27T21:19:00.000-08:002005-04-29T22:32:26.223-08:00

One of the most famous events in Alaska is the annual Iditarod sled dog race. This race is billed as "The Last Great Race" and is intended to honor the heroic effort to deliver serum to Nome during a diptheria epidemic in 1925. The Iditarod is one of the toughest races on earth, but it has also become one of the best marketing efforts on earth.The race was conceived back in 1967 as a way to

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1114665222221209982005-04-27T20:54:00.000-08:002005-04-27T21:17:56.796-08:00

Wow, I've been away from this blogging thing for a long time... Guess I'd better get busy with catching up on some old posts before summer gets into full swing. Today it was about 65° F which is practically summer. The only hint that it's not fully summer is that the grass and trees are still a bit brown. But my grass is starting to green up a little and the trees in the yard have small leaf buds

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1113240454407688992005-04-11T09:23:00.000-08:002005-04-11T09:27:34.406-08:00

Just a quick post to let folks know that this blog hasn't been abandoned. I've just been really busy for the past month or so. Two weeks were taken up by relatives visiting and I was out of town for one week. I'll also be out of town for much of this coming week.But don't worry. I've got lots of good posts swirling around in my head going all the way back to the Iditarod in early March. I'll

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1109570986961755612005-02-27T21:09:00.000-09:002005-02-28T12:50:29.176-09:00

On Saturday, the girls and I had the privilege of traveling to Wasilla to visit the Iditarod Race headquarters and a local musher. We went as part of the girls' scout troop and our group consisted of about 25 little girls and six parents.The Iditarod headquarters is located off of Knik-Goose Bay Road about two miles south of Wasilla. The building is a log cabin that sits back off the road about

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1109403195269011142005-02-25T22:21:00.000-09:002005-02-25T22:33:15.270-09:00

Well, the Yukon Quest dog sled race was won Thursday by Lance Mackey. His victory is a truly inspirational story. You see, Lance is a cancer survivor. Several years ago he had cancer surgery on his neck and several lymph nodes were removed along with his saliva glands. He now must carry water with him everywhere he goes to keep his mouth wet.In spite of these difficulties, he still competes in

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1109399780576197562005-02-25T21:36:00.000-09:002005-02-25T21:52:21.886-09:00

Every year about this time, my office sponsors an outdoor ice skating party. The party is held at Westchester Lagoon which is a small lake that the city maintains for skating. They plow the snow off with a truck and hot-mop the skating surface once per week. There are trails all across the lake and it's a really great place to skate. Because of the small amount of snow we've had, they've

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1109317536311247472005-02-24T22:43:00.000-09:002005-02-24T23:05:21.903-09:00

It's Fur Rondy time again and we are right smack dab in the middle of this annual winter festival. Fur Rendezvous originally started back in the 1930s as a carnival with a fur auction, but has now become an excuse for the entire city of Anchorage to go out and play in the snow. We've still got the fur auction, but we also have dozens (hundreds?) other events including snowshoe softball, snow

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1108621135095954562005-02-16T21:03:00.000-09:002005-02-16T21:51:07.863-09:00

Today Anchorage experienced one of those events that helps make Alaska what it is. We had an earthquake that got everyone's attention. This one was centered north of Anchorage near Wasilla at a depth of about 20 miles (that's pretty shallow) and had a magnitude of about 4.7. The first jolt at 9:35 was enough to wiggle my computer monitor. The subsequent swaying convinced me to push my chair back

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1108620206990843702005-02-16T21:00:00.000-09:002005-02-16T23:06:14.140-09:00

It's that time of year, when Alaskans go tearing off into the wilderness to prove that they can race thousands of miles across this State and survive. Two of the most extreme of these races are currently underway: The Yukon Quest sled dog race and the Iron Dog snow machine race.Most folks have heard of the Iditarod sled dog race. It is covered by the international media and contestants come from

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1108056319802429042005-02-16T20:00:00.000-09:002005-02-16T21:51:49.146-09:00

Wow. It's been a busy past week. Sorry I didn't get any posts up for a while. I'll make up for that with several posts tonight.First, Anchorage is generally assumed to have an extraordinary cost of living. Before moving here, I always assumed that everything in Alaska would cost 10 times what it costs in the lower 48. However, Anchorage has a cost of living that is slightly less than most of the

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1107929551080573522005-02-08T20:03:00.000-09:002005-02-08T21:12:31.080-09:00

Well, it finally snowed. Today we received 6 inches of fresh, wet snow. This is the first significant snowfall in Anchorage since December 27, 2004. Nordic skiers across Anchorage are rejoicing. The lack of snow has affected all of the local winter sports. Kincaid Park is one of the best cross country ski facilities in the country, but has had mostly bare ground for the past month. Skiing

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1106874577970475772005-02-03T23:00:00.000-09:002005-02-04T00:07:30.226-09:00

One of the reasons I moved to Alaska was to travel the state and see what Alaska really looks like. We've all seen the pretty brochures put out by the travel industry. Happy tourists, smiling native dancers, whales, bears, icebergs, and all with a perfectly clear blue sky. In fact, much of Alaska is like that for a few weeks in the summer. However, much of Alaska consists of isolated rural

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1107497990876364752005-02-03T21:00:00.000-09:002005-02-03T21:25:44.480-09:00

It's been a rather cold week here in Anchorage. Temps haven't gotten above 10 degrees F for most of the week. One morning it was -8 degrees F when I got up. And we still haven't had any snow. Everytime the subject of cold weather comes up, I always ask my wife, "Aren't you glad you don't live in Fairbanks?" Fairbanks hit -42 degrees last night. Parts of interior Alaska were even colder two

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1106813298294248072005-01-27T22:30:00.000-09:002005-02-03T23:43:12.953-09:00

When people visit Alaska, often one of the first questions they ask is, "Can we see a moose?" I always answer that I've got one tied to a tree out back just for visitors. In fact, it is often nearly that easy to find a moose in Anchorage. The photo to the right was taken along a busy street in the heart of Anchorage. Visitors assume that because moose generally move slowly and look odd that moose

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1106811488859395702005-01-26T22:01:00.000-09:002005-01-27T15:55:38.033-09:00

One of the interesting things about living in Alaska is that the weather keeps us on our toes. Things are constantly changing and this land of extremes always has something new to offer. As we arrived home tonight from an outing, an extremely thick fog was rolling in. This was not your average fog. This was a fog that would do San Francisco or London proud. This fog was so thick for a while that

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1106628453814804132005-01-24T19:28:00.000-09:002005-01-24T19:47:33.813-09:00

I'm not Hank Williams, but upon arriving at work this morning, I did indeed see the light. At 8:00 am, the sky was just beginning to brighten to the east behind the mountains. This is a sure sign that the darkest part of winter is behind us. During the darkest part of the winter, December and January, the sun doesn't rise until about 10:00 am and begins to set around 4:00 pm. That means that

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1106551058730051212005-01-23T22:17:00.000-09:002005-01-23T22:24:49.313-09:00

Apparently all of the snow that Anchorage was supposed to receive has instead fallen several hours north of here in the Susitna River valley. After reading my last entry, my neighbor sent me the following photo of the outhouse at his cabin just north of Talkeetna. My Neighbor's Outhouse At first I was astounded at the amount of snow in the photo. The snow is about five feet deep and my

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1106461097353545702005-01-22T21:18:00.000-09:002005-01-22T21:33:37.226-09:00

It's been a warm, dry winter here in Southcentral Alaska. We've had probably two feet of snow, but we've also had two prolonged warm periods (40° +) that melted all of the snow. Most of Anchorage only has an inch or two of snow right now. That means the conditions are lousy for skiing, but great for skating. We took advantage of the lack of snow to do a little skating on a small pond in a bog

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1106332117042398512005-01-21T07:30:00.000-09:002005-01-21T09:34:45.026-09:00

Well, today's Anchorage Daily News provides a good place to start this blog. Seems that a farmer in Fairbanks shot a moose that charged him near his hay barn. The farmer was fined for illegally feeding the moose under the same law that prohibits feeding bears. A bit of a reach perhaps, but here's the part that most people don't realize: Tom Seaton, a state wildlife biologist, said the threat to

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10268580.post-1106187776892474082005-01-19T17:21:00.000-09:002005-01-24T16:47:03.970-09:00

That's the approximate latitude my home in Anchorage, Alaska. Hence, the name of the blog. This blog will document events and images of life in and around Alaska. I travel to some of the remote parts of Alaska on a periodic basis and will attempt to provide a little of the flavor of some of these places. Alaska is both beautiful and harsh. The people are independent, and at the same time, have a

61 Degrees Northnoreply@blogger.com0