Harley & OCC

You'll be happy to know that so far... no eruption. "Seismicity levels have risen", but for now, Mt. Redoubt is behaving itself. It is a gloriously beautiful day in Anchorage, so we went out and hit the town. We ran some errands, and then ended up at the House of Harley. They have a motorcycle from Orange County Choppers on display. The boys from OCC built this chopper to celebrate 50 years of statehood for Alaska. The bike is being raffled off to raise money for the Children's Hospital at Providence, Alaska. The tickets are $100, and they are only selling 10,000. Do the math, and you'll see what a nice donation it is! If you want more information, here is the link. http://harleydavidsonraffles.com/2009/03/occ-chopper-raffle/ The bike is absolutely beautiful. The pictures don't do it justice. My only complaint is that I didn't know the fellows from OCC were here in December to present the bike to the hospital. I had a chance to meet Mikey and didn't??? I'm seriously bummed.

The names of all of the Governors of Alaska are engraved on the wheels. I thought that was a nice touch.

The tank was beautiful, too. Sorry I didn't get a better picture of it, but the lights put a glare on it no matter which way I turned.

The whole time Russ, Jess and I were looking at the OCC chopper and other bikes at Harley, Brandon was checking out something totally different. He loves motorcycles like his Dad, but his preferences are a little different. He has his eye on this little Buell beauty. He even asked me to take his picture with it. If anyone wants to buy him a little something for Easter, he'd like one of these. Only make sure it's green with white trim. He's a young man who knows what he likes.

The Volcano Saga Continues

No, this is not a current picture. It was taken on April 21, 1990, by R. Clucas. This was the last time that Mt. Redoubt erupted. I'm just sharing a little piece of Alaskan history. It's a beautiful picture, even if it was a scary event. Apparently the volcano erupted over a period of several weeks, and coated Anchorage with a layer of ash. On the other hand, this picture of Mt. Redoubt was taken two days ago by Cyrus Read of the AVO/USGS. It shows the muddy flow coming down the north side. Activity is still high. It's just a matter of waiting at this point. After considering that we might be trapped in this house for several days (with the kids!!), I went to the Commissary and stocked up on food. And a bottle of wine. (I'm not an idiot!)

Snow In The Forecast

I think Gretchen has been doing some voodoo or something, because she is sending her snow our way. Last night, the forecast said an inch or so was all that was expected. This morning, they are sending out warnings of 4-8 inches. It's another one of those cases of "Be careful what you wish for..." Russ and I were talking about the weather this past weekend, and I said I wish it would either drop another foot of snow so we could get out and go sledding, or just let it all melt. (This in between stuff is driving me crazy.) Maybe they are wrong. I'll just peek out the window and see...Nope. It's begun. Soon it will be a winter wonderland once more.

On to other subjects. If you are following our Redoubt volcano saga, reports now say that it is not a question of if it will erupt, but a question of when. It could be hours, or days, but it is definitely going to happen. Keep in mind, we don't do things quietly in Alaska. We go all out. Here is part of the article:

"If history is a guide, Redoubt should erupt in style, geologists say. Unlike volcanoes in Hawaii, which tend to ooze out slow-rolling lava, volcanoes in Alaska -- Redoubt included -- usually erupt explosively, shooting ash nearly eight miles high.
That's because the gas that's trying to escape the volcano gets blocked, either by a lava dome or thick, syrupy magma -- characteristic of the highly viscous material in Alaska volcanoes -- which increases the power below, AVO geologist Jennifer Adleman said."


Personally, I think the snow and volcano are all part of a bigger plot to keep me inside the house, cleaning and not shopping. What kind of connections does my husband have, for goodness sake? No telling. After all, his picture is hanging in the Pentagon.

We're Still Here...

We're still here and not covered with ash, so it's a good day. Things are still active, though. The Alaska Volcano Observatory is fixing a web cam about 5 miles from the Redoubt summit crater today, so they can monitor the activity. Until that is up and running, they have redirected the web cam near Mt. Spurr toward Redoubt. If you are interested, here is the link to that web cam. http://www.avo.alaska.edu/webcam/webcam.php?cam=Redoubt%20-%20CI Enjoy. (Unless it erupts, and then you can run screaming into the street. No, wait. That would be me.)

Earthquakes, Ice and Volcanoes...Oh My!

We didn't want you guys to get too bored, so we have added another imminent natural disaster to our forecast. You guessed it...one of our volcanoes is getting ready to erupt. Namely, Redoubt Volcano. Here is a map so you can see where it is in relation to Anchorage. Now here is the official warning on Redoubt:

"Seismicity remains well above background levels. Beginning at 00:58 AST (9:58 UTC) this morning, nearly continuous volcanic tremor was recorded at stations near Redoubt's summit, prompting AVO to raise the Aviation Color Code to ORANGE and the Alert Level to WATCH at 02:09 AST (11:09 UTC). Seismicity began to decline at about 05:30 AST (14:30 UTC) this morning, but remains elevated as of this writing.The current activity at Redoubt could be precursory to an eruption, perhaps within hours to days. A further increase in seismicity is expected to accompany an eruption. Staff are currently monitoring the volcano 24 hours a day."

Translation for you Southerners:

"WATCH OUT! THAT SUCKER'S GONNA BLOW!"

If you are interested in getting more information, please feel free to check out their site.
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/

Ice Fishing on Jewel Lake

In case you were wondering, the earthquake yesterday was a magnitude of 5.73 ML. What do you do after an earthquake in Alaska? Why walk out on a frozen lake and going ice fishing, of course! We went out to Jewel Lake yesterday so Brandon could try ice fishing. We tried to do it last year, but the weather and timing just never agreed. Jewel Lake is a pretty lake south of Anchorage, just west of the Dimond Mall. They have a man made beach there, and it's a hot spot during the summer months. The city decided to host free ice fishing this weekend to get the crowds out and about. They did a great job. They pre-drilled fishing holes for everyone, had people walking around offering bait and assistance, and provided all of the gear. It was well below freezing and windy out on the lake, so Russ did the tough part like baiting the hook and anything else that required taking gloves off. The hardest part was getting the bait to go down into the icy water. Think of trying to get a piece of shrimp to sink down to the bottom of a cup of half melted slushy (or icee). It's no easy feat.

It was a very interesting experience. You could tell where the schools of fish were traveling under the ice by where the excited cries of the kids were heard. It wasn't too long before Brandon caught a fish. I'm sure he is smiling under there somewhere. They provided bags, too, so you could take your fish home to eat, but we passed and donated our fish to a neighboring angler. We still have a lot of salmon in the freezer, and the thought of filleting a bunch of little fish wasn't that appealing.

On to more fishing.

Not only did the city provide free fishing, but they also held drawings the whole afternoon, and gave out great prizes. They had a big warming tent set up as well, and provided the frozen fishermen/women with hot chocolate, coffee, popcorn and donuts. Anchorage is definitely a family friendly city, and does a great job of providing year round entertainment. It started snowing again, and we were ready to head home and warm up.

Back to base and a warm couch and funny movie. Hope you enjoyed your Saturday as well.

Earthquake

We had an earthquake this morning. 9:09 am, to be exact. They don't know the magnitude right now. The center of it was in Cook Inlet, 158 miles Southwest of Anchorage. We've had quite a few earthquakes since we've lived up here, but this is only the second one that I've felt. I was sitting in a chair upstairs, and suddenly the house started swaying. Then I could hear the faint rattling of things on the dresser. I could feel myself moving slightly back and forth. It's kind of a strange feeling. I was wondering what someone was doing to make the house shake so much (probably my kids), and then I realized that it was an earthquake. The whole thing lasted less than a minute. Very cool. Russ says earthquakes are not cool, because they can do so much damage, but this one was minor, and that makes it cool. When the kids are older, they will not remember that they have been through hurricanes, tornadoes, water spouts, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. I guess that's a good thing. It means none of them has had a damaging effect on our family. If you asked the kids what they remember of the hurricanes we experienced in Florida, and they will tell you we had a great weekend in Disney World. (If you have to evacuate, why not make a vacation out of it.) Such is life. Hope your day is disaster free.