Inktrails from Alaska

First Snowfall 2006

Okay, so it goes like this, first frost, Sept. 25. First snowfall, Sept. 29.

Welcome to Bizarro Weather Land!

We usually don't get the first snowfall until well into October. And usually it melts and so on a few times before it really sticks around. So to get at least 6 inches of snow overnight is so very strange. I suppose decades ago it wasn't so strange, but honestly, this has been a weird year for weather in Alaska. While everyone in the Lower 48 was roasting in the heat, we had rain most of the summer. Usually that means we've gotten most of our precipitation already so it will be a much less snowy winter. But noooOOOOOooooo! Inquiring minds want to know if we are going to have a giant snow load this year! If this is any indication....everyone get your generators up and ready for operation....

On the other hand, there isn't any way to know at all what kind of a winter this will be. The weather has gone crazy. This stuff could actually melt off, and is melting off as I type. Still. I'll keep you posted.

It's SNOWING

Just looked out the window and yep, it's snowing.

Good bye Fall, hello Winter.

It won't stick, but that doesn't mean much.

First Frost 2006

If you click on this picture of my car you can see the sparkles on the windshield and the frosty leaves on the trunk.

Yes, there have been other places around here that have had frosts already, but this is the first for my neighborhood this year. Amazingly enough, my potted begonias, which are still blooming their heads off, were unaffected. I brought them inside, which is going to confuse the heck out of them, since they'd been slowly acclimating to the cooler temperatures.
Yesterday I took the truck over to Scott's and we used the crane to pick up one end at a time and put on the snow tires. It's better by far to do it before the snow comes! I'm so spoiled. He has air tools. I also changed the oil. In case any of you have a older Nissan truck: ain't that oil filter a bitch and a half to get in? Holy moses! I'm still worried we didn't get it screwed in tight enough. The old one was leaking and now I know why.

This is at the top of the driveway. Last night there was a surreal sunset with red and purple devilish light on the bottom of a huge bank of clouds in the northwest. I thought for sure I'd wake up to rain, so imagine my joy at this crystal blue sky!

Avast, Ye Mangy Curs!

Tomorrow is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

An' I be lookin' forward t'this day all year! Despite the fact that I get my Yosemite Sam mixed up with my Long John Silver so that my pirate has a tendency to say, "Arrr, ye lily-livered rapscallion, ye'll be fish food afore ye know it!"

Before ye be settin' sail tomorrow, feast yer eyes on yon video! (It's HILARIOUS!)
How to Talk Like a Pirate

Potential piratical phrases for offices can be found here. So far my favorites are:

"I'll be keelhaulin' the next one of ye what leaves ye filthy Tupperware in the break room sink!"

"Me cell phone fell deep into Davy Jones' locker Nobody flush... I'll go get me hook."

"Arrr! I've arrr!anged for Arrr!lene in arrr!chives to send up that arrr!ticle on arrr!bitration."

"Ye bent my ear with yer lubberly questions WITHOUT tryin a reboot first? Arrr! It's the plank for you, ye mangy cur... and thank ye for calling Microsoft Tech Support!"

For many more be sure to visit the site.

Tomorrow I'm going to see if I can get my students to talk like a pirate with me...

"Whar be yer lesson book, matey? Arrr, and which tune'll ye be playin' first?"

"Avast! Pull yer bow straight or ye'll be soundin' like yon ungreased anchor chain!"

"Billions of blistering barnacles! Do that agin, ye whoreson bilgewater, and ye'll be makin' the acquaintance of my hook!"

Or maybe not. Somehow the pirate attitude isn't conducive to my usual positive teaching methods....

If ye be needin' help, yon Pirate Translator will be fixin' ye up!

Get your Pirate Name here: Pirate Quiz
I'm Black Jenny Flint according to them. Arrrr, this be the best o' th' lot!

If ye don't take a fancy to that'un, try here: Froggynet Pirate Name Generator
I'm Buckaneer (sic) Elizabeth the Tarred Beard.
BEARD???

For another try at a Pirate Name, go here: Taranaki Pirate Festival Name Generator
I'm Mad Scourge Flint. What's with this Flint business? At least in this one I'm not bearded.

So have fun on Talk Like a Pirate Day! Try not to get your Blackbeard mixed up with your Godfather and ye'll be fine, matey!

Birches and Aspens in September

PeTA: People Euthanizing Thousands of Animals

There is a trial going on in Ahoskie, North Carolina. Two PeTA employees are charged with animal cruelty, possession of controlled substances, and illegally disposing of dead animals.

Last year, PeTA contracted with several shelters and veterinarians to find homes for animals. They drove up in a van, and started loading up to 22 animals. When asked how they were going to drive back to Virginia (where the PeTA headquarters is) with so many animals, the shelter people were told that they were "sedating" the animals prior to the trip.

Then the two PeTA employees injected and killed every single animal they'd been entrusted with (supposedly to find them new homes) IN THE PARKING LOTS OF THE SHELTER THEY'D JUST TAKEN THE ANIMALS FROM.

They then drove to a grocery store and dumped the bodies in the dumpster.

BEWARE! PeTA believes that owning a pet is "cruelty" to animals!
PeTA believes that service dogs, seeing-eye dogs, and all other working dogs are being "exploited" and are better off DEAD.

A 2003 New Yorker profile included PETA top dog Ingrid Newkirk's story of how she became involved in animal rights after a shelter put down stray kittens she brought there. So she went to work for an animal shelter in the 1970s, where, she explained, "I would go to work early, before anyone got there, and I would just kill the animals myself. Because I couldn't stand to let them go through (other workers abusing the animals.) I must have killed a thousand of them, sometimes dozens every day."
--excerpted from Debra Saunders SF Chronicle article, Here:
Better Dead Than Fed

Killing the animal is the only response that Ingrid Newkirk, head of PeTA, has to any problem.

http://www.petakillsanimals.com/

http://www.nokillnow.com/PETAIngridNewkirkResign.htm

You probably didn't know PeTA was a toxic organization, but now you do. Please donate to your local shelter, if you wish to help animals. Don't help PeTA continue its animal holocaust.

Blue Sky, Yellow Leaves and Trucks

The rain finally quit and we are left with eye-piercing blue skies and golden birches and aspens.

Last Sunday I spent quite a bit of time outside. It was a nice warm 65°F.

Scott and I drove around looking for HOME FOR SALE signs. I'm going to buy a house as soon as I find one. I have had it with renting and giving money away to someone else.

We had no luck finding anything reasonably priced, though we did find out where rich people are building their half-million dollar mansions.

However we had a great day outdoors.

Back at Scott's yard the old trucks just seemed to be lining up for pretty photos.

I love that Texaco truck. It looks just like the Tonka toys you used to be able to buy at the gas station.

The 1955 White was shy.

Unlike Scott, who, as the Truck Doctor, wasn't shy at all.