Girls of Summer

The cuteness herein needs no explanation.

Rocking Fourth in Central, AK

My folks came to visit this summer, as did Bob's. We had a lot of fun showing them around the Fairbanks area. Bob had the great idea of heading up to the hamlet of Central for the Fourth of July. This is a tiny community that really puts on a good show, come Independence Day. We brought my parents, a couple of friends, and the dogs, piled into two cars and drove a couple hours up the Steese Highway, just short of the Yukon River. We stayed in the local roadhouse, which is a couple of trailers welded together. Mom was really insistent on getting a room with a door, which took a few tries. If we'd all been so picky, we probably would have been out of luck. The roadhouse was a great staging ground for all of our detailed plans that day: watching the parade (8 minutes) and siting in lawnchairs drinking beer/walking dogs/smoking/eating chips (14 hours). A good time was had by all. Highlights below include Mom, Dad, man with large cucumbers, man wearing Native mask driving WWII motorcycle covered in Crown Royal felt bags, wiener dog.

Summer review: let's start with fireweed

Fireweed is a ubiquitous plant in Alaska. That doesn't make it any less gorgeous. I mean, WOW. The flowers are kind of like popsicles in the lower 48; they perfectly embody summertime.

Here are some pictures that I took in early July on the Steese Highway, about 50 miles north of Fairbanks.














The plant digs disturbed areas, particularly burned ones which is how it got its name. Though the blossoms are so bright, they can make a hillside look alight. A large part of this area suffered forest fires about four years ago.

Here is a picture of Bob taking a nap in the sun. I think this is at Eagle Summit on the Steese. Kinda evokes the Sound of Music. Maybe a couple days after they started walking out of Austria. I seem to remember Eagle-sized mosquitoes on that afternoon, but they don't seem to bother him.

Summer is No Time to Be Blogging in AK

Really, it's just too darn nice out to stay indoors. This might have been a best-ever summer. Beautiful warm days in Fairbanks, not too much rain and no fire. There's a lot to catch up on, so I guess I'll start in our own backyard. There is state-owned land next to our yard and an extensive trail system. This is where we ski in the winter and walk the dogs in the summer. The forest is beautiful, as you can see. The horsetail grows about 18 inches tall and the birch leaves fall and get caught in it like a spiderweb.

It's been a bumper crop of mushrooms this year, too. They went crazy during early August when we had a couple of weeks of rain. No one could convince Bob to go mushroom hunting, though. He steered clear of the wild 'shroom casserole at the company picnic; that's one of those things which could go really well, or really poorly. No reports of poisoning, so the cook must have known what she was doing. I'm sorry I missed taking a picture of the fluorescent orange slime mold we had on a couple of tree stumps near the house; it was a sight to behold.

In other exciting AK news, I shot my first squirrel about thirty feet up in a tree. These little guys have been eating all of the insulation in our roof. I figured the bullet wouldn't put out someone's window if I shot the squirrel from below. Sure enough I hit the bugger and it fell from the tree and hit the ground with a thug. I looked down to reload the airgun and that dangnabit squirrel limped away into a spider hole! I spent half an hour looking for him, hoping to put him out of his misery. Unfortunately, he probably died of lead poisoning sometime thereafter. You'll be glad that I'm posting a picture of horsetail here instead of dead squirrel. Bob shot another one today, which still had insulation in its mouth. We're not hateful people, but insulation is serious business here in AK.

End of winter project season

Okay, I only really finished one project this winter. But it was a major coup. I sewed a slip cover for Bob's couch. I bought seven yards of red duck canvas. I used about 6.90 of it. The only remaining scraps are on the coffee table to the left of the couch. I didn't use a pattern, so this was a pretty good guess.


And let me tell you, this couch gets some serious mileage! So far the cover has held up famously. Here are the regular customers. They seem fairly pleased with the product.

Getting an Alaska Suntan

Well, I headed up to Toolik Lake last week for the annual spring snow surveys. Lots of fun! This was my first experience with snow machines...and hopefully my last experience with snow for the year. Fairbanks has already been catapulted into spring. Even the mud is drying up around our house and we are anticipating an early fire season.

Here is a picture of me in the Kuparuk basin on the North Slope of AK. Probably near Imnavait creek, as this is where we spent much of the week.

Here's Sveta taking a break in a snow pit. This is how we take density samples. We cut a core with a sharp cutter at the bottom of a plastic tube and then put it in a ziplock. Then we take it back to the lab to weigh it and calculate the density.
This is also in the Kuparuk basin, with the Brooks Range in the distance.

Next, Amy is posing with her bear repellent. I'm pretty happy with pepper spray so far, but Annie Oakley here prefers the 44 magnum. We didn't mess with Amy. Though a veteran Alaskan, this was some of her first field work. I think she's got a knack for it though and that we'll be seeing more of her out in the trenches.














We saw plenty of caribou walking around. They would walk in lines like migrating birds: it probably saves them energy moving through the crusty snow. They would lie down and melt big holes in the snow that might be four feet across and a couple feet deep. These patches were to be avoided with the snowmachine, I learned quickly.


These clucking ptarmigans were taking a stroll next to Toolik Lake just as the evening fog was rolling in. They are very elegant looking but sound like chickens with hiccups. I was making a heckofa lot of noise stalking them in my snowshoes, but they only strolled a little bit faster and looked for shelter under this shrub. In about three weeks the snow will have melted away here and they will loose their white feathers in favor of brown tundra-colored ones. Pretty smart for a slow bird!

Hell is cold

Well, last week I had a pretty strange adventure taking snow samples up on the Alaska Prudhoe bay oilfields. I think the pictures tell the story best. The temps on our work days were in the -30s F, with the windchill. Not too bad for up there in February.

This picture is the Deadhorse airfield with blowing snow and temps of -50s F, with windchill. Our operations would have ceased if temps dropped below -60F. In the range of -40 to -60, work can go on outside, so long as workers get frequent breaks.


In the picture I'm wearing four pairs of socks, five hats, and six layers over my upstairs. The coveralls stayed up better when I put on the belt. The boots are a military surplus called "bunny boots"; good to -40F or colder...




Here my coworkers are drilling into a lake used for water supply. The ice is about a meter thick and we took water chemistry measurements to make sure the fish could live happily at the bottom.


Here's a frozen North Slope river on the plane ride home. So good to get home to Fairbanks safe and sound!



Many, many pictures from this trip can be found here:

A little more Xmas

Here are another couple of Christmas picts. Bob looking inquisitively at a boot on a fencepost and Bob's parently relaxing in the kitchen after a long day of present-opening. I'll admit shamefully that I have very few pictures from the xmas bonanza. I'll do better next year, I hope.

Winter in Fbx

Well, here are some highlights during a lot of cold, dark days. Mooses. Cool frost. Decking Matilda out in polarfleece.

Fall Field work

Given my recent New York Times coverage, I thought I'd post some picts from my fall fieldwork back in New York. Here's a shot my collaborator Allan took as we were scoping out a potential second site. I'm up on Stormking Mountain, overlooking the Hudson River and Connecticut. We didn't end up using this ridgetop station, but the view was fab. Notice the fashionable use of fluorescent clothing. It was hunging season in the forest while I was there. Not wanting to look uncool while I was working, I'm sporting an American Appearal scoopneck and some fingerless gloves by my hipster friend Dancing Anne.

And here's Bambi's daddy. Not clear what was going on here, but he's taking a breather at the old Stone House. The deer hunt helps the forest grow big and strong--it's still recovering from it's 19th century deforestation.



This is some of the new equipment I installed at the new site. The giant steel plates measure the weight of snow in the (imagine) snow pack.

The moon rising over my Stone House station was a common site the week I was there. I did much of my work after dark with a headlamp, Fairbanks style.

Hello 2007

Well, it's just been darn cold this week. But still a magical winterland. I guess. I think -15 might be my cutoff for skiing. It's just unpleasant below that. And the dogs start to get cold skijoring below -20 or so. Because we've been down in the -40s and -30s all week, that means some quality time inside. As you can see, Matilda is surrendering to winter, too. Five or six months of hibernation sound good.

Old stomping grounds

Following San Fran, Bob and I flew to Denver and drove to WY and NE to visit family. A wonderful time was had by all, I think. And it sure was great to breathe some fresh Prairie air. I miss the ol' place. Here are a couple of photos from western Nebraska: one of a soddie rebuilt in the 1960s and one of us near Chimney Rock. Last time I was here the tower was taller. Mom relayed a story that some kids shot the top off with a rifle. Figures.


Bob's mom got installed as the new minister out in Guernsey and Ft. Laramie. We got our church in for the year and were completely bathed in sweets and baked goods by the congregation. I felt like my mom must have felt growing up as the minister's kid in Scottsbluff, a few miles down the road. Highlights included a couple banjo performances by Bob's father, Mary Ellen and I propping up the choir, Uncle Bill's Christmas suit, and his dog Princess' jingle bells. Next, we headed to Lincoln and enjoyed a couple days with my family. The highlight there was seeing Grandpa and my brother battle it out with a robotic dinosaur and remote-controlled helicopter, respectively.

end of 2006

Well, it's been a while since I updated, but stop blowin' yo horns. This lady is busy. December brought a whirlwind of moving and travel. Bob and I and the three puppies moved into a new house with running water and an inside toilet. You'll have the check Bob's blog for photos of the new place. I was back in NY doing field work in November, so Bob started the move without me. Both of our cabins had serious mold problems so it was time to take the plunge. Of course the pipes froze before we even moved in, but that's par for the course here in Fbx.


In mid-December, we headed to San Fran for the American Geophysical Union meeting, the annual pow-wow for all earth scientists. The atmosphere was particularly gloomy, I thought. Lots of rain and lots of depressed scientists with proposal rejections. Times are tight in the science budgets these days. Still, the highlight was seeing friends and eating burritos, as our Abby can attest to.