Whoah - Where did the summer go?

Lots of travel this June/July - mostly outside (Alaska).   Wracking up the frequent flier miles...

July -
Got down to Culross Passage (boat taxi from Whittier) with some friends for a week of sea kayaking.  Grounded for a day and a half in stormy weather.  I did a happy dance when we finally got out on the water and to celebrate my new bright orange rain bibs (and to stay warm!).

The sun came out - and Tom caught some dinner...

And the sun stayed out!  Amazing view of Nellie Juan glacier!

Salmon were spawning and the eagles were feasting...

Stopped to visit Matt, Nina and Keith Corbett on the way home - A hike up Hatcher Pass...

Late August -
Sure sign of fall - the Sand Hill Cranes and geese are v-ing up and heading south...

Aside from the cranes, amazing flower beds are one of the highlights of August in Fairbanks.  The flowers at the university are especially vibrant...

A sign in the Fred Meyer produce section - the shelves were totally empty.  Talk about food insecurity! Good thing we had a farm share this summer (which is totally awesome!  Three cheers for Maggie Hallam and Cripple Creek Organics!)

Stay tuned for an update on autumn....
Be well...

Wilson Hauling Logs

Wilson loves to carry logs home from our walks!

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

Went paddling with friends on the Dennison Fork of the 40 mile river.  Great weather and lots of fun.

Evening Calm

There was a community information meeting last night on the fire. There were a couple of new fires started in other parts of the state, so they shifted the initial attack crews and put on a Type 2 team.  There are lots of resources devoted to the fire.  The Incident Command Post is at the ski area at the bottom of the hill.  Last night engines were patrolling the roads and one was parked in my neighbors driveway prepared, just in case.

Here's a map of the fire perimeter, as of last night.  The white hatched lines are dozer lines, the black line is where they have hand crews staged.  The red lines are areas where the fire is still not contained.  Our house is on the north side of Monte Verde Road - one of the line that is closest to the fire.  With an up-hill slope of black spruce in between.  The location of the fire start is marked with an X and a circle on the map. We are lucky that the winds were blowing from the south when the fire started!

The fire is very well staffed.  This helicopter is picking up supply loads to drop for the smoke jumpers.

Check out this time-lapse photography of the fire: click here



Back on the home front... the ironwork art for our loft railing arrived today!!  I'm very happy with it :-).

Update

No smoke in the air this morning!  :-)

Today's Daily News Miner Newspaper Article

The crews are staging out of my neighbors yard. I talked with one of  the  crew bosses this morning and he said that they have put engines up to the top of Moose Mt. Road (up to the ski area) and have run water hoses down.   Sounds like they have fire line around about 60% of the fire.

Yesterday there was quite a lot of air traffic.  This was particularly exciting because the helicopters with water buckets were flying directly over our house.  But they were traveling farther and farther away to drop the water.

The aircraft is just starting up again this morning (~11am).  There is a public meeting tonight so we'll get more information then.

Moose Mt Fire Info

Smokey all night.  Fire crews in and out on the road an or neighbor's trail.  Not too much excitement now...

"Incident" website

DNR "News Flash"

Basic Information

Incident Type	Wildfire
Cause	Under Investigation
Date of Origin	Friday May 20th, 2011 approx. 03:31 PM
Location	Near Fairbanks, Alaska
Incident Commander	Blankenship, C

Current Situation

Total Personnel	130
Size	700 acres
Percent Contained	10%
Fuels Involved	Black Spruce, White Spruce, Hardwoods
Fire Behavior	Friday saw extreme fire behavior with 100 foot flames and rapid fire growth. Fire weather is moderating today with slightly humidities and cloud cover, which will help firefighters.
Significant Events	Fire started and grew to 700 acres

Outlook

Planned Actions	Crews will continue to cut dozer and saw lines today. More retardant, scooper, and helicopter work planned.
Growth Potential	Extreme
Terrain Difficulty	Medium

Current Weather

Temperature	66 degrees
Humidity	14%

And a few other photos to keep your mind off the fire...

Who can tell us what this is and where it came from??  Pop??  Lauret??

I got to spend Easter with a 4-year old who took this picture ... Very artistic, if I do say so myself Alexis & Amy!

I went to Seattle in April to give a talk at a meeting.... And get an early dose of spring-time...

Its the...  

This is my favorite sculpture in the Seattle sculpture garden.  

I can't tell if the boulder is advancing by getting up on the cement platform, or by getting off...

As of two weeks ago, paddling season has officially begun...

Yes, those are little icicles dangling in the water...melted I'm sure by now!

The official sign of spring in Fairbanks - when the baby reindeer are born at the University experimental farm...These guys are curled up in little brown balls - born just hours earlier...

Reining deer - not to be confused with bowing oxen...