Ah, Memories of Autumns Past

We’re already missing summer around here.

But at least we have our memories. Such as from a few years ago on a sensationally sunny day in early September when Jack and I took a 4-wheeler ride in the mountains around Chena Hot Springs. That year there were striking fall colors and luckily I captured a few images to warm my heart on cold winter days. Hope you are all keeping warm.

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Photos from a past hauling job

Nov2

Here are some miscellaneous photos that Jack took a couple of years back at a marine dock in Valdez. He was there in May of 2012, hauling items for the railroad bridge that’s now finished (although there aren’t tracks leading to or away from it).

The above piece is part of the hammer used to drive pilings into the ground. For bridge foundations in this case.

This is used to put pipe on so it can roll while being welded together.

These are miscellaneous items used on the bridge job.

Another pipe roller.

Jack says this stands on end and the large circular piece drives down into the hole and onto a piling.

This is the hammer that pounds a piling, Jack thinks it’s for 24 inch pipe.

The large circular device in back should be for the large pipe in the far background.

24 inch pipe in back of some other items.

Sheet piling (which gets pounded into the ground to create an embankment) and miscellaneous steel items.

Six foot diameter pipe that most people can walk though without bending over.

More six foot diameter pipe with shipping containers in the background.

I must say this marine yard is a tad more attractive than most, surrounded by beautiful mountains and all!

Have a wonderful day and thanks to those of you who follow this blog and make comments. 🙂

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Jack’s driving the motor home this time…

Oct5

This year Jack took me and the motor home out for a quick weekend hunt. (It was really camping, not hunting, although Jack would have taken a shot if he came across one in an accessible area.) We really wish we had been able to get out a little more over the summer!

There is always next year…

Jack, taking a look

Sport, taking a look

A Western Star truck driving the Dalton Highway with the Trans-Alaska Pipeline in the background. Jack knew who the driver was, of course.

Jack’s wife, Judy (me), and our dog Sport.

Any idea what these are?

Jack on a pipeline access road.

Finally the sun starts to come out!

And we get to see the pipeline in the evening sun.

The beautiful Dalton Highway road sign at 1 mile.

Jack taking a look at the big trucks, but he’s driving a motor home this time…

Here are a few more photos if you are interested.

Have a wonderful autumn everyone!

Yearling Moose

Jun6

Sorry for not posting for such a long time! I often ask Jack to take more photos on the road but he’s too busy trucking! So you’re stuck with a few photos of this lovely young moose chomping on willows.

She was really feasting up a storm on Chena Hot Springs Road yesterday.

She’s stripping the leaves off the willow branches.

And doing a thorough job of it!

I bet you didn’t know Moose could open their mouths that wide! (Just kidding, that’s just her lip I think, but it looks funny.)

Here she is being alert. She is actually quite small for a moose that is without a mother. I’m sure she’s a yearling and probably only about 4 1/2 feet at the shoulder (wild guess!). (Calling her a “she” is also a guess.)

Have a nice day everyone!

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Valdez Avalanche Photos

Jan25

A major avalanche happened very recently along the Richardson Highway, about 20 or so miles from Valdez. Below are photos Jack was able to acquire from a friend – taken by Alyeska (and we hope no copyright has been violated by posting them here).

You can see here where the snow has covered the highway and the river that runs alongside it:

Here is the same thing but farther away.

And the rest are from another angle, showing the pooling of river water that is covering a long stretch of the highway.

So needless to say the Richardson Highway is closed and people who live in Valdez can only get out of the town by water or air. Jack says the snow will be removed by loaders but that sure seems like a dangerous job…!

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Atigun Pass, after an avalanche

Dec25

Merry Christmas everyone!

The below two videos show Jack driving over Atigun Pass through an area of road the state has cleared a tunnel through after an avalanche.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MYzo645ffY

(You might have to click on the 2nd video if it doesn’t come up like the first one.)

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Transportation Art by Christy Hollibone

Nov10

We want to share this great artwork by Alaskan Christy Hollibone. You’ll see Jack on the far right and next to him are truckers Tony (left) and Phil (middle).

We especially like this one too:

To see more of her transportation art and excellent images of trucks, go to the Moments in Time Art Studio webpage.

Happy November to everyone!

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Of Squirrels & Moose Antlers

Sep2

We’ve never heard of this before but there’s a squirrel around here who likes to scrape the tines off of moose antlers!

Several times over the summer we heard a mysterious scraping sound coming from the area where Jack’s moose antlers are stored in the woods. We knew the resident squirrel was up to something and sure enough, when we inspected the antlers a few days ago, the tips were scraped off the tines! Jack says he thinks it’s the squirrel sharpening his teeth and you can actually find a couple of references to this on the internet. (Here is a link to a video of a squirrel sharpening its teeth on some other kind of antlers, in some other part of the country. Our squirrel looks much different, smaller and more orange-red. It could be that the squirrel is getting some kind of nutrient from them too and in the video it almost looks like the squirrel is eating the bits of antler.)

Jack hopes to get a chance to replace the antlers this hunting season!

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End of Summer For Us

Sep2

Hi all! Here is a photo of Jack’s latest project:

He’s been working on that pile for a few weeks. They still need to be split but he’s made good progress.

Jack says he enjoys cutting wood a lot more than the project he had to tackle back in May:

Cutting Sport’s hair. He tried the trimmers but they didn’t work so we whipped out the scissors.

Poor Sport, I know. He was miserable. But the next day he ran around like the world had just been lifted off his shoulders. And later, when we had 90 degrees, though he had surely forgotten about the heavy coat he had in winter, he still seemed grateful. 🙂

Summer was sensational! 80 and even 90 degree weather. It was heavenly.

Hope you all had a terrific summer!

2004, the worst smokey year in Fairbanks history!

Jul11

2004 was the worst summer for smoke in Fairbanks EVER, at least as far as we’re concerned!

The smoke hung around for over 3 weeks. It was rough. Here are before and after photos from that summer:

I shouldn’t have been out taking photos in this stuff! This is the Chena River and the 2 buildings are the Key Bank building and the Springhill Suites Hotel.

Here is another one showing Springhill Suites, which was at the time very new.

Luckily, the past few days have been pretty clear and now we’ve had a downpour or two, so things are looking up for those of us who want the fires to go away!

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