Comic courtesy of The Curator
Tag Archives: wildlife
New schedule, New route
It’s possible, some readers may have noticed, that I have not been much of a contributor to wordpress lately. Life has strange detours, and in the past year I have taken on a new project that seems to devour time like a humpback whale gulping down krill. This reroute of my world has been fairly drastic, and I have not found a way to include blogging in my time management plan.
The flip side of the same coin, is that I have not found a creative way to bring the new project onto these pages. Maybe I will find a path between the two, but so far that is a trail I have not traveled yet.
This blog originally started out as a travel alert when I drove the old Land Rover down to the Yucatan from Alaska’s North Slope. It eventually morphed into a window to Alaska’s cabin life. I’m not sure where it will go from here, but it seems like it will have to morph once again if it is to continue in some fashion.
Some readers have been dropping in to see what the heck is going on between These Circles from the very first mile, and some have been lured in due to the Fat Bear content. Whichever the case may be, I sincerely appreciate the interest, comments and, in general, simply the interaction. After 13-14 years of posts, I felt a proper explanation was warranted. Time will tell where things go from here. I do have one or two ideas to proceed, but I still need to create the time and find something I want to say.
Thanks for reading.
Cheers
P.S. The image came from one of the Alaska Railroad’s social media sites. I included it here because it is one fine image, and because there is no caboose.
Volcanos & Earthquakes with Tsunami & Emu Warnings
Mount Shishaldin on Unimak Island has been restless for a while. A USCG plane flying by noticed molten lava at the crater last week. Finally, on Friday the volcano erupted with a plume of ash that reached 15,000 feet. By Saturday evening, the eruption had earned a Level Red Warning, which had returned to Orange by Sunday night.
I have not heard of a major disruption to air traffic yet.
Great Sitkin, further out on the Aleutian Chain is also at Warning Level Orange.
Late on Saturday night, a 7.2 magnitude earthquake was recorded 55 miles southwest of Sand Point, Alaska. That triggered a Tsunami Warning from NOAA and the NWS for early Sunday morning. Luckily, waves of only 6″ high were reported, and the warning was cancelled long before I even woke up in the Interior of Alaska.
By Sunday evening, the Alaska Earthquake Center had recorded roughly two dozen aftershocks from the M7.2 quake, the largest at M5.7.
Not to be left out, the city of Anchorage had a gang of emus on the loose. No word on where the emus escaped from. At one point, they were reportedly spotted near the Campbell Airstrip, which I can say from experience, is a great place to start a hike. I also read through the comments on the post, and I must say that not one was remotely helpful on catching a runaway emu.
QOTD
“All over Alaska, moose are sucking in new leaves like whales inhaling plankton.”
—The Juneau Empire
The Tourist Season has begun
With the warmer weather and midnight sun comes the arrival of another summer anomaly: The Tourist. In March and April, we shared the roads with new tour bus drivers, who were learning how to drive while sharing Alaska tidbits over the bus loudspeaker.
Last week, I spotted the first full tour bus in Fairbanks. The bus had traveled the Parks Highway from Denali National Park. The swans, geese and cranes have been here for a few weeks, and now the tourists join the gaggle.
To add insult to injury, for those of us who are accustomed to seeing moose along the roadside, Sunday was National Tourist Day. Where did that celebration come from? Or, is that day, considered a warning? Time to prepare for the inevitable sudden stops for wildlife viewing.
As much as I love having them around, they are still just a moose! Alaska Tip: Pull off the roadway completely before stopping to gawk. The resident behind you will appreciate the effort.
May Day
There is a lot of snow on the ground still. Anywhere from 12-18″ of depth, but the 50F degrees this past weekend has put the melt on. Lots of sun right now too:
Length of day: 16 hrs, 53 mins
Length of visible light: 19 hrs, 17 mins
Today will be 6 mins and 59 secs longer than yesterday.
The beavers have open water in front of their lodge, which happens for two reasons. Their swimming back and forth helps to keep the ice thinner, but there is also a methane release point in the same location, which helps to do the same thing. In fact, the circles of diminished ice in the background, are also methane pockets.
Creative Commons
Circle to Circle is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.Like the Stories & Photos? Help Keep the Rover Rolling.
