Buckle Up

Technically, Beth and I were part of a car accident this morning. In reality, we were the third car in a two-car collision. But one of the cars was a pickup truck with a toolbox in the bed. When it got hit the toolbox went flying, hit the pavement, cracked open and sent a variety of different sized wrenches and sockets skittering in our direction, several of which may have bounced into our front wheels and bumper. So really, in every sense but the police report, we were not actually in the accident.

We were at an intersection, waiting in the left-turn lane for the light to change. The way the light cycle goes, all the cross-street traffic has a green light, then the cars on the left get a red light so the cars on the right can turn left towards Beth and I, and then the light changes and we get our green light. Well, the light went red for the cars coming from the left and the cars from the right, where there are two left turn lanes, got their green turn arrow. Beth and I always pay attention to this because it’s a really long light but this means that it’s almost our turn. Anyway, a Subaru coming from the left never stopped. Maybe it never even hit the brakes, because the first sign of danger from my perspective wasn’t skidding or screeching tires but a loud crunch. Then my attention was on the debris coming our way, so by the time I looked at the cars themselves they were totally stopped and it was almost like we had happened upon an accident that had already occurred, not like one took place right in front of us.

Anyway, it feels strange that my first reaction wasn’t to check on the drivers but to clear enough space for other cars to get by. I guess I looked at the two drivers in their cars and saw that they were looking around and didn’t seem to be in agony, but I did a 10 second sweep of the lane before it even occurred to me that I should worry about the drivers first. By that time, the driver of the truck (who got hit) was getting out of his vehicle, apparently unhurt. I walked over to the Subaru, where another passer-by was talking to the driver and opened the passenger door to ask if she was okay, which she was, although she was badly shaken. Then the driver of the pickup and I cleared more of his things from the road while Beth called 911 and pulled our car across the intersection to park it as far out of the way as possible. I was only thinking of us as witnesses until the 911 dispatcher told Beth that since our car was hit by debris we were involved in the accident and should stick around.

I waited in our car with Beth until a police officer arrived. It took twenty minutes, which seemed pretty ridiculous for an accident at a busy intersection near downtown right at the beginning of rush hour. At that point Beth and I walked back over, spoke briefly to the officer to tell him why we were even there, and then waited while he rechecked the two drivers. And then waited while he was on the radio. And then waited while he started his paperwork. And waited. And waited. Not very pleasant in 8 degree weather, although it’s been below zero almost every other day for the past couple of weeks. Finally a second officer arrived and eventually he made his way over to us, got our contact information, asked a couple of questions and told us we could go.

So that’s the story of my commute this morning, but here are some random thoughts that go along with it:

• We were driving because Beth was up most of the night last night for work, communicating with a drilling team on the North Slope that’s putting in a new well.
  
• The driver of the pickup was remarkably nice for having been put in such an unpleasant situation. After the initial shock and surprise, during which he may have asked me why I didn’t stop, he was most interested in making sure the other driver was okay and thanking Beth and I for our help.
  
• I’m really glad nobody was seriously hurt, and it’s almost completely for a whole host of selfish reasons, and that makes me feel bad.
  
• I wonder if daylight savings time could be partly to blame for this. When the accident happened the sky was just beginning to pick up shades of blue, but it was definitely still dark out. An hour later it was full daylight and visibility was obviously much better.
  
• Actually, the driver of the Subaru probably needed something other than better lighting. It’s not like she didn’t see a moose at the side of the road until it darted out at the last second. She missed 3-4 stoplights at that one intersection and two lines of cars, that’s 4 lines of headlights, turning in front of her.
  
• No airbags went off. I’m not surprised about the truck since it was hit in the rear wheel and the main impact went into the bed, not the cab. But the Subaru hit the truck head on and had pretty serious damage to its front end. Maybe because the back of the truck was lighter the Subaru was partly spared by spinning the truck? Maybe the driver of the Subaru had disabled her airbags, since she appeared to have a pretty small stature? Maybe she hit the brakes enough that she had already slowed down more than it appeared before she hit the truck?
  
• The police officer wanted to know if Beth and I were wearing seatbelts when the ratchet wrench socket hit our bumper as we travelled at zero miles per hour. We were.
  
• 4 people, 4 seatbelts, zero injuries. Even if you take Beth and I out of that equation, 2-2-0 are pretty good numbers. Buckle up!

Winter in Alaska (part 1 of...)

Alaska is a pretty unique place year-round. I mean, the fact that the sun is up past bedtime for like 4 straight months in the summer takes some getting used to. But most people can deal with the idea of some extra sunshine and that’s why it’s the winter in Alaska that really sets the place apart. Since I mentioned daylight already, lets start there.

Sunrise today was at 10:08 AM and sunset will be at 3:40 PM. During the 5 hours, 32 minutes and 4 seconds that the sun will be in the sky*, it will make it 5.7° above the horizon. This means that at noon a 5’9” tall person will have a shadow 57 feet long, and that to get out of the shadow of a 50 foot tall tree you would have to stand over 500 feet from its base. Given that there are plenty of trees everywhere, this means that at ground level there is basically no such thing as direct sunlight. The good news here is that we’re not missing much. Sunny conditions this time of year produce up to about 15 W/m2 of solar radiation, compared to nearly 500 W/m2 in a place like Washington, DC. But then again, don’t forget how reflective snow is. With snow on the ground you can actually see in the woods at night and during the day it can be positively blinding. And we’ve got that going for almost 5 more months.

high noon in the Alaskan winter

So it’s dark and it’s snowy, but what’s it like outside? Well, here’s the current 7-day forecast for Anchorage:

You’ll notice that there’s no snow in the forecast – at least falling snow, since the blowing and drifting varieties make a couple of appearances – which isn’t that atypical. We’re on the dry side of the mountains here in Anchorage, with an average annual snowfall of about 70”, spread out over about 6 months. Not that were a desert, but that averages out to the equivalent of around 1” of water a month.

You’ll also see that while the current temperatures are typical – right around the mid-teens – we’re expecting a shot of arctic air tonight through the weekend. Those high temperatures as low as -10° tomorrow are going to be no fun at all. And Bella might have to learn to walk herself if it’s -15° outside the next couple of nights.

So that’s what it’s like here in the winter. Sounds miserable, right? Well, it is and it isn’t. In the next couple of posts I’ll try to explain what its like to live here and why its not actually all that bad.

It begins...

Seasons changing

***Note: this was supposed to be posted at the end of September, but I put it off 'cause I wanted to write the second post about my parents' visit first. Looks like that plan failed, so I'm just going to post this now before it becomes any more dated***

Just like in the spring when it seems that somebody has suddenly flipped the lights on, now it feels like somebody turned them off again. In the past week or so Beth and I have found ourselves biking to work in the dark. It's still light out for the ride home, but by the time dinner is over the sun's nearly set. I guess that's what happens when each day is 6 minutes shorter than the last.

What's more, the weather is following suit. After about 3 straight weeks of beautiful late-summer weather, we got our first frost last Thursday (actually 9/23), and it was a hard one with temps in the mid-20s. Friday was incredibly windy - snapping a 30-40 foot tall birch tree in my backyard in half while my mom and I were out there working. Finally, after a gorgeous Saturday we woke to a few snowflakes while we were camping north of town while it actually snowed steadily in Anchorage for a couple of hours.

For the past few days we've actually had some pretty decent weather in town, but the snow has continued up in the front range and everything above ~4000 feet is looking pretty frosted. It makes a pretty good reminder of all the things that need to get done before the snow starts sticking here in town.

***UPDATE: The first half of this month was really nice: lots of clear frosty nights and sunny days. But the sun doesn't rise until 9AM now, and sunset happens at around 6:30 PM, which doesn't leave much time to get outside after work. It's snowed off and on up in the mountains, but the snowline hasn't gotten any lower than it was for the first snowfall back in late September. It's starting to look like we'll make it to Halloween snow-free. Part of me is happy the snow is holding off, but a part of me is really looking forward to winter settling in.***

Good life, but busy

With apologies to my dissertation, here are some things that have actually happened in the last several weeks:

Back in early September, Beth and I headed back to Michigan for her brother's wedding. It was a lovely ceremony and reception (pretty amazing how many people I knew there) and the hotel had a water park in it! Congratulations to Ian and Frances (and Berkley, too).

While we were there I got a call from the AK Department of Natural Resources, offering me a job. So I accepted it and started work the Monday after I got back. I work in the easements section of the Division of Mining, Land and Water, adjudicating trail applications for the Mat-Su Borough. In English, this means that while there is a large network of trails on state lands throughout the borough (county) north of Anchorage.

And what else has been happening.... oh, right! Beth and I finally closed on our house the last weekend of September. Since then life has been a whirlwind of painting, packing, unpacking, fixing, buying, power tooling, firewooding and flopping lifelessly onto the couch to zone out for a bit at the end of the day while our neighbors watch our every move (curtaining is next on the list). Things are finally starting to settle down now, and although we've still got plenty to do around here its just really nice and already feels like home. I love it (so does Beth, but she's not writing this) and its just really satisfying to live in a place thats mine. It makes it worth it to put this much effort into making the place nice.

The first snowfall of the season is supposed to start any time now - which is almost the latest ever for Anchorage (Nov 15) - and we've got a toasty fire in the fireplace. Dinner's in the oven and I actually spent several hours working on my dissertation today. Beth's almost done making the bed (literally, with wood and power tools, not just putting on sheets.) and we've got a bottle of wine open. Life's pretty good!

Volcano update

Here are some pictures from the eruption of Mt. Redoubt on Monday. Things with the volcano seem to have settled down for now, but thats what they said about a week before the eruption happened, too. I'm just hoping that no ash ends up in Girdwood before Friday, so I can go snowboarding. Anyway, this eruption produced an ash cloud up to 60,000 feet high which led to ashfall over 100 miles away in some places, but fortunately not in Anchorage.

The first picture is from a remote webcam located about 7.5 miles from the summit, and the second was taken by scientists the day after the eruption. Melting snow and ice due to the eruption flooded the Drift River valley, with high water marks on the valley walls showing that floodwaters were up to 8m higher than at the time of the picture. Thats 25 feet!

House??!??

What costs a quarter million dollars and can be destroyed by either of the two previous posts?

Did I hear someone say a new house, because they're right. This is a picture of a house that Beth and I are in the process of bidding on up here in Anchorage. It's not exactly where we want to live, and puts Beth out of walking distance from her job, but its bikeable and has a bus line that comes within about 3 blocks of both home and work. As for the house itself, it's in great shape, has an awesome backyard, a good kitchen, a nice master bedroom, 2 bathrooms, an office, an extra bedroom, another bedroom that will mostly be a gear room, lots of light, a big playroom/ TV room downstairs, a nice living room upstairs, a new back deck and moose prints in the yard.

The idea of a mortgage might scare the shit out of me. But the thought of living in this house the rest of the time I'm in Anchorage sure doesn't.

Before anybody decides that I'm just being a sissy...

On Tuesday, Anchorage tied the record low temperature for January 6 of -18 degrees. This is the only day since I have been here that did not set the record outright.