Beth's brothers were in town for a bit over a week. As predicted, several hijinks ensued. Here's the evidence:

The first stop of the trip was Homer, Alaska. Allegedly it's the halibut capital of the world, but we didn't even see one.

We camped out on the Homer spit, which is basically a 4-mile long sandbar covered head-to-toe in tacky tourist crap, which is just what you'd want if you had a really unique geological feature in a gorgeous setting. We camped on the beach next to the road and next to some rather amorous neighbors who failed to show proper vocal restraint. Bella was, needless to say, intrigued. There were eagles, seals and sea otters, though.

On the way down to Homer the weather was beautiful and we could see across Cook Inlet for some of the clearest views of Mt. Redoubt and Mt Iliamna that I've ever had. Very gorgeous.

In the AM, after a quick boot check by Beth and Ian (results: success!), we were told that we couldn't go on our planned bear-viewing and flightseeing adventure. Although this was technically the point of our trip to Homer, I'd say we did a beautiful job of transitioning to Plan B: eat a giant breakfast and then hike it off.
This was the destination of our hike: a beautiful lake at the toe of a glacier, complete with icebergs. The scenery was gorgeous and the weather was the best we've had in weeks. Unfortunately, Beth's only footwear was her Xtra-Tuffs. They're not exactly ideal for a 5-mile hike, but she's a trooper.
I just love this picture of our friend Louis with his beard and deadpan expression on the one hand, and his foofy drink in a cat mug on the other. Trying out Bloody Marys made with different flavors of vodka (bacon, salmon, pepper) was one of the main activities for the rest of the week. They were all delicious. Since I had to work while Beth and her brothers were going off on their adventures during the week, they were very good at making sure that once I got home I had one of these (or a beer or glass of wine) in hand as soon as possible.

This classy shot was taken after Ian decided to see our classiness (we were having our second bottle of Eric's-birthday-related champagne) and raise it with a pack of fake moustaches. Well played.
Ian did the better of the two Wilson boys when it came to wildlife. Here he is with a nice rainbow trout that he caught.

And here's a moose that Beth and Ian saw wandering around in a busy intersection near our house. I think Ian saw so many moose that he got bored with them. For Andrew we had to go on a special moose-finding mission after Ian had left just so he could see one. We were successful, though, and found him a big bull moose with huge velvety antlers.

Well, there you have it: a photo journal which chronicles 2 or 3 of the many many more things that happened while Beth's brothers were in town. Hope you enjoyed!

Impending Vacation

There's probably other ways to define a vacation, but if you go with "missing multiple days of work to go someplace and have fun" then I'm a week from going on my first vacation since... well, since before I had a job to take a vacation from. I find that I am beginning to look forward to this thing.

Dew

Back when I started this thing, one of the major goals was to answer the types of questions that a person might come up with at a bar, while on a bike, or at least during a non-biking interval of a cross-country bike trip. Questions of the “the hell / anyway” variety, one of which came up recently on my dad’s blog: How the hell does dew form anyway?

Well first of all, what (the hell) is dew (anyway)? Simply put, dew is just water droplets that form on exposed objects that have cooled to temperatures below the aptly-named “dew point –“ the temperature at which the relative humidity of air would be 100%.

(The difference between dew and fog is that the water droplets in fog remain suspended in the air [while the difference between fog and mist has to do with density, where fog is the denser of the two {and the difference between mist and haze is dependent on relative humidity, with mist occurring at >95% humidity and haze under drier conditions}])

Calm weather and a lack of moisture in the upper atmosphere generally contribute to dew formation by enhancing radiative cooling at ground level. In some cases, however, where the moisture that forms dew comes from the atmosphere, a very small amount of atmospheric turbulence is needed to replenish moisture at the ground and sustain dew formation. Wet soil is also a major source of water vapor, especially since the ground can remain significantly warmer even at shallow depths than at the surface. As water vapor moves up from the warmer subsurface to the cooler surface, the dew that forms is said to be produced by distillation (yum!).

Technically speaking, it is dew that forms on cold glasses, be they of the “pint” or the “eye” varieties, when they are exposed to warm, moist air. Interestingly (but not really), pint glasses are then said to be “frosted” (a type of dew), while the more generic term “condensation” is generally used for eye glasses. Guttation – which is basically how plants pee – should probably not be confused with dew.

What if...

...I told you I was doing research for an easement on a trail from my cubicle to the end of the internet? Would that make how I spend my time more acceptable?

Wilson boys headed for Alaska – hijinks expected

In a stunning turn of events it appears that the Wilson siblings not only stand on the verge of tying the Moore/Monte siblings in terms of total Alaskan visits 2-2, but are also poised to take a commanding 2-1 lead in the number of individual siblings to visit the 49th state. Observers have noted, however, that neither Wilson brother is expected to be accompanied by a spouse or significant other, thus missing a crucial chance to gain an advantage in the primary tie-breaker should both clans eventually tally the same number of visits and/or visitors. Progeny are not to be considered in the event that a tie-breaker is needed, as the risk of an inter-family arms race in the form of rampant childbearing was deemed too great.

The visit will kick off with a weekend in Homer, Alaska, including a bear-viewing and flightseeing tour to nearby Katmai National Park. Later in the week Beth, her brothers and BFE Chris will backpack into the Talkeetna Mountains and visit the wreckage of a B-29 bomber that crashed on a glacier over 50 years ago. On top of those two events are plans for a joint 30th birthday celebration for myself and Ian, the possibility of additional hiking, gold panning and all sorts of other uniquely Alaskan activities. Along the way, I expect beer to be consumed, hijinks to ensue and a good time to be had by all.

window/house fixing pictures

Here are a couple of the pictures Beth took during the window replacement and front-of-house rebuild:

First, our house is like an onion. So many layers!

Second: That there in the shadow is the outside of the house, which is in no way airtight. Sorry the guest rooms were so chilly over Christmas, mom, dad and Brigit!

No pictures of the finished product yet. Such a thing is still probably a couple of weeks away.

For the first time since I've been here, we actually had an earthquake last night that was strong enough to shift a picture hanging on our wall. I heard it, but somehow couldn't actually feel it, although Beth and Bella did. Wierd....

Chris wins "best friend ever" award!!!

So when we moved into our house, Beth and I had to wait for the old owners to install new windows in the bedrooms to meet firecode requirements of a 24" opening before they could legally transfer the deed. We actually tried to just have them order the windows, cut holes in the walls (meeting the emergency exit requirement) and leave the rest to us, but to no avail. Anyway, it turns out that in the interest of time they attached the windows to the siding of our house, rather than the house itself. This meant that with the trim off on the inside, you could actually see the inside of our siding through the cracks. No wonder those two rooms were the chilliest in the house last winter!

So yesterday our friend Chris came over to help us with a project of taking out the windows, cutting away the siding, and re-installing the windows properly in their frames. We started work around 9:30 am by pulling off some of the treated wood siding to reveal..... more siding! I can see why this siding was covered up, too, since it was sea-foam green. Anyway, you can chose your own metaphor (tree rings, everlasting gobstopper, 500 hats of Bartholemew Cubbins), but the task was no different, it just involved taking off a second layer of siding. However, as we did this, we revealed that the underlying particle board was soft and crumbly the way you would want the topping of an apple crisp to be, although not how you would want the exterior wall of your house. Suddenly the task grew from "put windows back in holes and screw in" to "rebuild entire front wall of house then you can worry about putting those windows back in, but maybe get used to having those big holes in the front of your house for awhile."

So, while Chris kept working on the siding, Beth and I made a quick trip to Home Depot (where I should probably be having my paychecks direct-deposited) for more supplies and to Burger King for fuel. We had ourselves a nice little lunch break warmed by our backyard fire pit (gotta get rid of that old siding and particle board somehow!) and then it was back to work. The plan was that Chris and I would hold a sheet of plywood up to the house and get it positioned just right, then Beth (from the inside) would trace the window opening on the wood and we would cut it to size. Then out comes the framing nailer and bingo-bango, on to the next sheet. Once we got all of the plywood up, we covered everything with waterproof 1/2 inch foam insulation and taped up all the seams.

I should mention that all day long we were bringing wheelbarrow loads of siding, etc, back to the fire pit and adding more to the fire itself, which kind of made it feel like camping. It was a good reminder of the need to keep working, because until the windows were back in we sorta were camping. Anyway, we'd usually take an extra minute or two on each trip back there to throw a ball for Bella, who was a bit nervous about all of our activity (electrical saws and nailguns especially) not to mention the occasional pop of our neighbors' fireworks, which helped to calm her down and probably did a lot to keepsus calm, too.

So by about 5:15 we had all of the plywood and insulation up and sealed, and getting the windows back in actually went really smoothly. We caulked the edges (no more drafts!), rested the windows in the frames (where they belong!) and just generally attached the things to the structure of the house itself (aka correctly!) instead of the siding (boooooo!). There was still plenty of cleanup to do, indoors and out, but we got through it pretty quickly. All told we we're done right around 7, although without Chris spending 10 hours of his Saturday engaged in hard labor for no compensation, I can imagine that I would be outside still attaching plywood instead of sitting at the computer sipping some coffee.

Then we grilled burgers!

(pictures to follow)

5' 9.25"

I’ve been looking for a good doctor since I moved to Anchorage, so yesterday I had my first appointment with Dr. Kaltenborn. Being a first appointment, there was much medical history to discuss and many measurements to be made. My blood pressure was 114/60 (normal), my pulse was 44 bpm (freakishly athletic (he assumes with no intention of verifying this)) and, most importantly, I’m 5’ 9¼” tall.

Despite the fact that until last year my driver’s license listed me as 5’ 11” (the legacy of an optimistic 16-year-old with a tall father and flipper feet), my official height has been 5’ 8¾“ ever since I reluctantly admitted that I had stopped growing. And to tell the truth, although 5’ 8¾“ was a bit disappointing compared to my dad at 6’ 1” or when thinking about those flipper feet (seriously, I was 5’ tall and 95 pounds soaking wet with size 11 shoes!), once you put my 5’ 1” mother (herself long underestimated at 5’ flat) in the picture I was plenty happy with my height.

But 5’ 9¼“ is a whole new ballgame. That’s right on par with the average American man (5’ 9½“), to say nothing of how it towers over your basic Indonesian (just 5’ 2½“)! Suddenly, the driver’s seat feels too close to the wheel and the top shelf (that’s where grandma keeps the good stuff!) seems more reachable. I just hope I can still cram myself into our Queen-sized bed, that it’s not too expensive to have all of my clothes altered, and that my newly-raised center of gravity doesn’t leave me susceptible to being pushed over by the slightest breeze.

Come to think of it, there may be some trickle-down effects to my newfound stature as well. For instance, Beth finally gets to be 5’ 9” tall, after years of my rejecting that claim as impossible. I mean, I knew I was taller, but who would have thought that I was the one who was wrong here?

Anyway, it’s basically all pretty awesome from my (elevated) perspective. Oh, and to all the tall people out there who are smugly thinking to themselves that this is no big deal: shut up or I’ll punch your knees.