Wilderness Blues- Ramblings from the Great Land

  Today is an anniversary for me. It's one that I suppose on the one hand I would rather not be acknowledging, but then again, I guess that I'm quite happy that I can. Thirteen years ago, on February 26, 2000, I was on an airplane that crashed into Lynn Canal. Obviously I survived, so I guess for me at least, that's something to celebrate.   Alaska, because of it's vastness and the fact that so much of the area is roadless, relies heavily on air travel to cover the long distances between villages and towns. I think per capita we have more small planes than any of the other states. Much of the commercial air travel is on small planes- Cessna's and Beaver's and whatever other small types there are. Because there is so much air traffic conducted in these small planes, and since the weather here can be so unpredictable, there seems to be a large number of airplane accidents- probably more than you would read about elsewhere. The nice part is that a good bit o...

   I'm back here at the library again. I'm blessed to be seated at Julian the computer, but for some reason he has the slows today. Years ago there was a commercial for Nestle's Quick- the chocolate powder that you stir into a glass of milk to flavor it. Anyway, it showed these kids moving in slow motion until they had a glass of Quick- it fixed the slows and they moved at super sonic speed. I wish someone would invent some Quick for computers. It's so frustrating to have something brilliant to write about and the computer won't co-operate. I know how I am- I'm apt to forget whatever witty quote I was about to produce if I don't act on it immediately. Blasted slow computers! I wanted to download a few pictures from the inside of my refrigerator for general discussion purposes, but this computer wouldn't do it, so I have to assume it's for the better anyway. No doubt if the EPA or mayor Bloomberg or some other government watchdog were to get a pee...

 I was at a loss as to what to write about today. Several days ago the morning broke bright and sunny so I grabbed my camera hoping to get a shot of Ears Mountain with the fog lifting off the top and the sun highlighting the snow. As it was, by the time I got the camera, the scene had changed so I couldn't get the shot I wanted and I ended up getting a few pictures of some other things. Because the sun has been such a rare occurrence this year, I thought I would document the blue sky over Hill Street, where I live. As you can see, or maybe you can't really see, so I will tell you, like so much of the rest of Hoonah, the houses are an odd collection of tastes and lifestyles. There are white folks and natives and a combination of the two who live here. There are fishemen and a carpenter and social worker and a bookeeper and retired folks and some folks who don't work at all, and I'm not sure if they ever did. How the heck they stay alive is anyone's guess.  There ...

   Well, I'm up here at the library again. It's the only place available to me to continue with the blog posts. It's not ideal. For one thing I'm out of my comfort zone a bit. I never know what I'm going to confront when I come up  here. On occasion I arrive and all eight public use computers are in use. Unfortunately, even though there is a thirty minute use policy here, it's not enforced, so some folks come here when it opens at 1:00 P.M. and don't leave until the end of the day- or so it seems. I really think that the library chairs should have built in electric elements, much like an electric stove. After thirty minutes of one person's bum sitting on the seat, a sensor would turn on the element and it would heat up until it became too uncomfortable for even the most calloused person to remain seated. Then they would be forced to leave the seat and find a refreshing pool of cool water to sit in. Today I came up here and there was a computer open...

    I hate to admit it, but I'm a bit of a news junky. When I first get up in the morning the TV is on and I rotate from Fox to CNN to ABC. Of course almost none of the news is good. Who would watch it if there wasn't something titillating on? For some reason we seem to gravitate to bad news. I don't know why. There is either a freak snowstorm or ice fog or a tornado somewhere in the country. The weather is either too hot or cold or wet or dry or blowy and if none of that is happening in this country, then lets check out the rest of the world. China has smog so bad it's off the charts in one city. If  it's not the weather its a tragedy somewhere- another shooting or a twenty car pile up on a freeway. If that's not what gets you upset there is all the reporting on the debt and deficit and health care law with it's thirteen thousand plus regulations that are going to totally change the way we receive health care. The list is almost endless and I could and ...