Anchorage Update
 

 

Dan
April 08

4/3/2008

Received the following email today from a friend at BP:

 

 

  • The bears are coming out of hibernation now and are starting to look for food in Anchorage, particularly if you live in Muldoon, around Bicentennial Park, on the Hillside or near coastal wildlife corridors along Turnagain Arm. The neighborhoods are bear magnets where homes are at the edge of the woods and bears find food in pet dishes, bird feeders and trash cans.
  • Homeowners, put your trash out one hour before pick-up.  You can lease a bear-resistant container for $5 per month.This is cheap compared to penalties for leaving out trash that attracts bears. City fines range from $50 to $600; state fines are $110.
    See article at: http://www.bearsaver.com/adn.htm
  • Check your yard and area before sending the kids out to play.
  • If you spot a bear in your area, call your neighbors and let them know.
  • Always be "bear aware" when on trails. At trailheads look for posted signs about recent bear activity. Watch ahead for bears or for tracks. Don’t surprise bears. Make plenty of noise when traveling.
  • Almost all bear charges are "bluff charges". DO NOT RUN! Running may trigger an instinctive reaction to "chase".

Read more here!!
www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/safety/bears.htm

 

4/5/2008

Not sure if any of you read my journal entry from March 30th where I sort of minimized the harshness of the Alaskan climate, but I am eating a little crow today.  We have almost a foot of snow on the ground right now and it is supposed to continue snowing pretty heavy throughout the night into tomorrow.  If that is the case, then this will be the biggest snow storm that we have gotten since we have been here.

 

The kids and I went to the Great Alaskan Sportsman Show today at the Sullivan Arena. We had fun.  There were more lures, boats, and fishing charter companies than I thought existed in the entire world.  I bought a book called "Alaska Happens" which was written by Rick Rydell, a political radio talk show host here in Anchorage who I listen to every morning.  It is filled with stories of his hunting and outdoor Alaskan adventures.  I am looking forward to reading it.

4/6/2008

We took a trip today to Seward, Alaska.  Seward is on the southern coast of the Kenai Peninsula.  It is about a two hour drive from where we live.  The scenery from our home to Seward is literally unbelievably beautiful.  The scenery in Seward is unbelievably beautiful.

 

We visited the Alaska Sea Life Center in Seward.  This is an aquarium that is really aimed at helping the sea life in the Seward area to thrive.  They rescue and rehabilitate sea life and reintroduce them back into their natural habitats.  With all of the natural beauty around Seward, you would think that it is not worth it to go inside to see an aquarium.  This is by far the best aquarium that I have ever been to.  Definitely worth the visit.

 

Also, I am just blown away by the beauty of this state.  If any of you are contemplating accepting our invitation to visit, please come.  Yes, it is a selfish invitation.  We want to see you.  We miss you.  But, you will not regret coming here.  I guarantee that most of you reading this have never seen anything as beautiful as what Alaska has to offer ... everywhere you look.

 

Check out the pictures ...

 

Click here to see pictures of Seward

 

Click here to see the Sea Life Center

 

Click here to see all of the photo albums

4/9/2008

More snow today.  We received about 18 inches on Saturday and Sunday and then another 5 inches today.  Yep ... that's right ... almost two feet of fresh snow on the ground in the middle of April.  I know most people would die at the thought of that, but I love it!

 

Andrew received an award at school today.  The award is called the R.O.C.C. award (Recognition of Christian Character).  Each month the teachers select a student from their class that exhibited behavior that is most like the characteristic that they learned about that month.  This month was Godliness.  So, Andrew received the ROCC award for Godliness.

 

We took Andrew out for dinner to celebrate and we invited a friend from work.  His name is Dave and he is from the U.K.  We had a great time talking about the cultural differences between the U.S. and the U.K.

4/18/2008

Rhonda and I attended the Grace Christian School (The kids' school) charity auction.  This is an incredible event.  It starts with a silent auction from 5:00 to 7:30.  Then a formal dinner follows ($55.00 per person).  There were 60 tables with 8 people at each table.  A live auction takes place during dinner.  I am guessing that they raised a half million throughout the night.

 

They had donation cards on the table.  They encouraged people to make a donations during dinner.  Then they had students pick up the donation cards in the middle of dinner.  They added up the donations that were made and they totaled $136,000.  Remember ... that is just the total of the donations made during dinner.  This does not include the funds raised by the dinner itself or the silent auction, or the live auction.

 

Here are a couple of example of auction items that were sold at the live auction:

Chocolate éclair cake - $450.00

New York Rangers jersey signed by Scotty Gomez (he is from Alaska) - $2,100.00

Two parking spaces close to the front entrance of the school for one year - $5,250.00 each

 

We have a little bit to learn about fund raising at Faith Christian Academy.

4/19/2008

The thermometer in my truck hit 50 degrees today for the first time since we left Pennsylvania!  Woo Hoo!  Spring is coming!

 

We invited our neighbors who live behind us for dinner last night.  Turns out they are Christians and their son attends Grace Christian School.  We had a really nice time getting to know them.

4/22/2008

You have heard of a "prayer chain", right?  You know, someone learns of a need from a friend or family member and calls a few people to ask for prayer, then those few people call a few people to ask for prayer, and so on .... Up in Alaska, they have a "bear chain".  One of the neighbors sees a bear in the 'hood and he calls a couple of neighbors and they call a couple of neighbors and so on ....

 

We received our first call tonight.  A black bear was spotted on our neighbor's property across the street tonight at around 7:00.  They called us as soon as we got home from Danny's spring concert.  The neighbor reassured us to not get too worried.  We are going to see them all summer.

 

Of course, our other neighbor behind us who came for dinner on Saturday night told us that a black bear tried to break into their house last summer.  Right ... I will not get too worried.  Define "too worried".

 

I have been thinking about another story that actually took place a couple of weeks ago.  We took a drive out to Seward which is about 115 miles away from our house.  This event sort of helps me to understand how a normal every day event can turn bad real fast in Alaska.  I knew that we were low on gas before we left for Seward.  I just thought that we would get gas as soon as we left on our way out of Anchorage.  Well ... I forgot to stop when we left.  OK ... no big deal ... I will stop along the way to Seward.  I found out that once you pass Girdwood (which is about 20 miles south of us) that you do not see another gas station, or rest stop, or restaurant, or anything except wilderness until you get to Seward.  OK ... once I realized that we would not see anything until we got to Seward, I just thought, "No big deal, we can always call for help if we run out of gas."  Once you get about 40 miles south of Anchorage, there is no cell service.  "Well ... I think I can make it to Seward," I thought.  I did, in fact make it to Seward and except for the fact that I had to pay well over $4 per gallon for gas, the whole thing turned out be no big deal.  But, again, just a mistake here and mistake there, and all of a sudden you find yourself (and your family in this case) out in the wilderness in 25 degree weather with no way to call for help.

 

On the positive side ... spring is spectacular in Alaska!  Even though we love the beauty of the snow in winter, this place perks up even more when you are outside in the bright sunshine with just a t-shirt on enjoying the fresh air.  By the way, you have no idea how warm 50 degrees can feel until after you have survived a winter in Alaska.

4/27/2008

We got almost 2 feet of snow on Friday (the 25th).  Definitely an interesting experience.  That much snow so quickly, so late into April.  It is melting really fast though.  We have sunlight from about 5 in the morning until about 11 at night.  And with the temps in the mid forties, that snow melts fast!

 

Saw a moose this morning.  That by itself is not really noteworthy.  We see them all the time.  However, I noticed that their antlers are just starting to grow.  They fall off in the fall and then grow again in the spring.  The one we saw today was starting to sprout his antlers.