Weathergirl Aboveground Update

Well, the weather continues to be weirdly warm. Right now it is 47 F, which is 34 degrees warmer than Allentown Pa, and only 8 degrees cooler than Florida, where members of my family (who enjoy taunting me about the weather) live. They can still taunt me about how there are no Rita's Ice Cream stands up here, however. :)
Anyway, this has caused vehicular havoc. The side roads are mainly ice with water running over them. Tragically, the FREEZE art in the park melted before I could go look at it again. However, I think I will get another crack at it next year - it was generally well received. I still don't know about the ice heads on poles, though.

We're Havin' a Heat Wave

A tropical heatwave!
And just like that - it's toasty warm! I believe the freezing air that spent a couple of weeks with us so recently is visiting the lower 48. So now, ironically, Pennsylvania is colder than it is here in Anchorage! Yesterday we were all saying how after the cold "snap", 15 degrees felt so nice and warm. Then this morning, it was above freezing! Weird for this time of year, and actually a hazard. See, up to this morning, everything was frozen down good and solid, and everything was sanded and gravelled so it wasn't too slick to drive or walk. However, when you have a layer of water on top of the ice... Well, the schools were closed and the police were asking people to stay at home and avoid non-essential travel.
Now, everything shuts down in PA pretty much every time it might snow, but I don't believe that has happened here yet. Anyway, if the schools closed every time it snowed, the kids wouldn't get any book-larnin' at all. So people just kind of deal with everything. Oh, when it gets supercold people may cut short out some of their outside activities, but by and large people just go about their business.
The next climactic excitement on the schedule is high (like 100 miles and hour high) winds in parts of the area tonight. If anything dramatic happens, I'll let you know!

FREEZE!

And we did.

Despite the cold, we went downtown yesterday to experience the art project that is FREEZE. Not much was finished. The installations were supposed to be opened to the public - which I foolishly took to mean they would be done and ready to go. And indeed some of them were.

This installation, for example, was finished, and served the purpose of making you feel coldness and winter. As we walked down the crevasse between the walls of snow, we joked that the they should have put lines marking out "January" "February" and things like "Is it ever going to be warm?" on the walls. It really did recreate the feeling of trudging through a long, cold winter.

Other installations were done, but incomprehensible. The snowball thing, for example. What snowballs are traditionally good for, of course, is throwing at people or things. Is that what we were supposed to do with these snowballs? If so, I bet the ones with the LEDs in them would really hurt. So probably not. Although a lot of people were talking about throwing them, no one did while I was there. Also, this installation. Those are ice in the form of human heads. On poles. One tries to sense the artists' intent. Winter is a cruel despot? Secretly a test to see if you are a sociopath? I understand they also light up at night, which must be quite an eerie thing to see.

I apologize in advance to the angry art fans (Hi dance belt guy!) - I am making light of what was surely a big undertaking. Visit the page here http://freezeproject.org/alaska/installations/ to see the plans and what they were really thinking.

Then there were other installations that were just not finished, like the catapult, which was a shame. Who doesn't like catapults? Also, the big block of ice with the cars in it, which appeared to be mostly finished but experiencing technical difficulties. The kids sure loved it though. For some reason, the ice was covered with little kids trying to see through to the cars.

The first thing we saw upon entering the exhibit area was the long ice table thing lined up toward where the sun was shining when Alaska became a state, or something like that. It was this installation that needed the 99 people with candles (of earlier post fame). As it turned out, I didn't need to sign up. I was shanghai'd into performance art! Well, maybe that is a strong term. We were walking by, and a sort of bossy lady held out a candle to me, and said "We need a few more people to be part of this. Here." Damn my automatic eye-contact! I said "Sure" and took the candle, then stood there. Pretty much everyone else clustered around the art was as confused as I was, except for one drunk or rowdy lady who kept yelling "Come On! " It's possible she was part of the artistic experience. In my own private world, I am pretending that she was. I think she symbolized Alaska's desire to be part of the US. Drunk and/or rowdy, yes, but generally positive and "in the moment". Anyway, at some point the crowd found out that the dark stuff in the middle of the table had ethanol in it, and we were warned not to get the candles near it when we lit them. As soon as we were told that, everyone immediately wanted to throw lit matches on the table. I am still astounded that no one did. I am sure in the planning stages this whole thing was organized and the candles got lit in a picturesque way. What actually happened was that were all extremely cold, and getting dangerously bored, so everyone started just lighting their candles. Why? Because when the candles got lit, then we could leave. Then we all looked around and tried to find someone to tell us what to do with the things. There did not appear to be anyone in charge, so we had no idea. Some people stuck their candles in nearby snow piles. Some people walked away with them. I put mine out and tried to find the artist to give it back, kind of like you find your host and thank them before leaving a party. Could not find anyone, but there was a pile of candles near the far end, so I chucked mine on the pile and went my way.

Our big complaint was that there was no place to warm up. We would have stayed longer, but it was FREEZing out, and I could no longer feel my toes in spite of vigorous layering. All in all though, a good time was had by us, and we plan to go back later and see if some of the kinks are shaken out a bit. Once again, say FREEZE!

Moose sightings!

We've seen quite a few more moose lately, possibly because the cold has really set in, possibly just because of luck. Last night on our way home there were two walking down the street, but we could not stop for pictures because there was a bit of traffic. "Damn the luck!" we said.

However, when Art dropped me off this morning, two moose were just sort of hanging out in front of my workplace...

The snow isn't that deep, they are laying down! (Although this photo would be great to use to fool kids of the future - "Oh the snow got so deep in the winter of '09 that it was up to the moose's bellies! They couldn't even walk, just sort of swim along! And we had to walk uphill to work - both ways!" They wouldn't believe it, though. ) They kind of hung out there for a few hours, and everyone kept going to the windows to look at them. They are great big animals, and pretty peaceable seeming. We would be standing there looking, and they would just kind of turn their heads every once in a while to check out what was going on, and look at us for awhile, then turn back around. Finally, they got enough of the attention, stood up, stretched and wandered off. On their way out, though, they posed picturesquely under the company logo sign hanging on the side of our building! They stayed long enough that several of the braver souls ran out there and got some pictures Yes, we are a real Alaskan outfit - moose go out of their way to provide us with promo pics!

Meanwhile, on the other side of midtown, when Art got to work, there was one hanging out across the street from his work. He took a picture from a window.

He is a little harder to make out, but he's just in from of the tree. Apparently he had some kind of ninja-moose stealth skills or possibly a Romulan cloaking device, as several of Art's coworkers walked right past the thing - within two feet in one case - and never even noticed it. Ghost moose - there may be one right in the room with you!

Or Maybe Not

OK, so the 50th anniversary of statehood. We didn't go. Why? It was -15 F which is very, very cold. And we're lazy. Going by the pictures in the paper, it was pretty nice, but way too cold. According to the weather people, the cold snap we're in right now is among the top 5 for length and coldness in Anchorage. Of course, people from the Interior - where it gets much, much colder - are laughing at us and thinking we're sissies. I guess it's all realtive.
In other coldness news, we aren't the only ones who stayed inside. The US Cross Country Championship is being held here in Anchorage, and they even stayed inside on Saturday and Sunday! When it's too cold for skiers, it's too cold. Apparently the rule say they don't race if it's under 4F or -4F (I forget which, but we didn't see either of those temperatures here all weekend). Also, when I got to work, everyone there had skipped out on everything this weekend too. So I don't have a thrilling firework story to tell you. But, now you know - sometimes it isn't that much tougher in Alaska.

What do we have to be proud of?

Right now, Alaska is kicking off celebrations for two things - we're old and we're cold. (Say it loud and say it proud!)

Allow me to explain.

I. We're Old.

Alaska is in the process of turning 50 - as a state. Obviously, it has been an inhabited area for quite a bit longer, and has existed as a physical and geological entity for even longer . However, 50 years ago today (January 3), it finally and officially became a state. The celebration started before I moved here this past summer, and will probably continue on for quite a bit longer than that. Becoming a state was apparently a lengthy and emotion-fraught ordeal as near as I can tell, so long time residents are pretty excited about it. Except, of course, for the ones who want to secede. The territory had tried for some time to become a state, only to have their application denied several times. Eventually though, it worked out. Congress voted yes in the summer of 1958, and Ike signed the bill into law on 1/3/59. As you can probably tell from the above, I have read many, many articles on the subject in the past few months, but at least I know what all the fuss is about. Although it's interesting to note that if Alaska was a person, he or she wouldn't be eligible for a senior citizen discount. Still though, it's a round number, so let the bells ring out!

The big hootenanny starts tomorrow. Apparently an Alaska stamp is being released tomorrow, then someone is going to light a bonfire, then there's going to be all kinds of carrying on downtown and elsewhere, and then more fireworks. This town loves to have explosions in their town square. I look forward to next month's Valentines Day fireworks :) Of course, this is one of the many things I love about Alaska! Right now we are planning on going to the fireworks tomorrow, but cold may forestall us.

II. We're Cold

The Freeze Arts festival (of earlier post fame) is seriously getting underway about now. Over the next week, teams of artists will be creating "installations" in a park, which will be unveiled to the public next weekend. I plan on going and dragging Art. The organization putting on Freeze was advertising for volunteers to do various things, including "99 people to hold candles as part of an exhibit" that sounded semi-entertaining until I thought about it for more than a minute, then it sounded less so. I will support this art by going to look at it, and trying not to make too much fun. If possible.

How cold is it?

Cold enough that moisture just floating around in the air freezes fast to everything - like trees. Anyway, with any luck at all, there's more ice sculptures and fireworks in my immediate future, and therefor in yours too, gentle reader!

Happy 2009

Happy healthy New Year to everyone!

We had a pretty quiet New Year's Eve. Originally we had planned to go downtown for Anchorage's celebration (theme - Fire and Ice), but it was -15 F, so we decided not to go. I was kind of bummed out, but it was way too cold. At work yesterday a lot of my co-workers were talking about their plans, and a lot of us had planned to go downtown, but everyone agreed it was not going to be fun. I had brought it up, kind of hoping they would have advice on keeping warm, and they did. "Stay home" was basically their advice. Judging from the pictures in the paper today, most people took that advice.
The reason this kind of bummed me out was that I was really looking forward to fireworks. We had them on the 4th of July, but they were kind of lame. It doesn't really get dark at that time of year, so they were kind of lackluster. Up here, winter is the time for good fireworks. And I LOVE fireworks. Love them to pieces, so I was really looking forward to some decorative explosives. However, not willing to lose extremeties for them. Oh well. Maybe there will be some at Fur Rondy!