Dan
April 08
4/3/2008 |
Received the following email today from a
friend at BP:
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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.
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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
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Check
your yard and area before sending the kids out to play.
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If you
spot a bear in your area, call your neighbors and let
them know.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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