Ice Skating and Northern Lights

To those of you who read my previous blog post about the onset of winter (you can see it here), it may seem as if the only components of an Alaskan winter are coldness, darkness, and overcastness. Though these all do seem to occur quite often, there are bright spots. Here are a couple of great winter activities that we were able to experience this weekend.

I was pumped on Saturday to read in the paper that the city-managed ice-skating rinks and ponds were ready and open for public use. Ice thickness is over 13 inches, allowing the city to clear and hot mop numerous ponds and rinks. 

all the skates and cross-country skiing boots in our "Adventure Closet"

Growing up in Kansas, we are lucky if even have a few days of decent ice every winter. As such, it is a big deal when good ice does occur. The call goes out and everyone drops what he or she was doing to come play hockey! Here in Anchorage, it is going to be a privilege to have numerous maintained venues for skating all winter long!

When we tried to go skating on Saturday, however, we returned a little disappointed. Though much of the lower 48 is currently experiencing frigid winter weather, here in Anchorage, the temperature was in the mid 30s. Though the ice was certainly thick enough, its top layer was too soft to do any quality skating. We resigned ourselves to the fact that we had to wait to come back at a later, colder time.

Marlene skating on a pond near our house. There is also a skating oval adjacent to this pond for those that appreciate speed-skating.

Luckily, today (Sunday) – with temperatures just slightly below freezing – a couple of us headed out again and found skate-able ice! It was great fun to get back on ice and it whet my appetite for the many hours of skating and hockey I am sure will be enjoyed this winter!

Another exciting winter activity presented itself on Saturday at 10:50 pm in the form of a phone call from my host dad. He informed me that from his property thirty minutes or so out of Anchorage, he could see the aurora borealis, or northern lights. Though our house was socked in with a thick, pea-soup fog, my host dad stood several hundred feet higher, with clear views of the night sky. Our whole unit piled in the van and headed off in search of northern lights – the first for many of us including me.

the Aurora Forecast from the Alaska Geophysical Institute. If this is what a "4" on the scale looks like, I want to see a "9"!

northern lights

Emerging from the fog half an hour later, we were greeted with a subtle yet incredible display of northern lights. I was informed that this display was pretty weak in Alaskan terms, but for someone who has never seen such phenomena, it was awesome! We arrived back home at 2:00 in the morning a little tired but definitely excited. As we enter into prime aurora viewing season, I look forward to seeing more displays of this captivating and awe-inspiring occurrence. 

Winter is Here!

I start out warm. Emerging from the unit house on bike, I am wearing wool socks, winter boots, long underwear, pants, two jackets, glove liners, mittens, balaclava, neck gaiter, and ear warmer. There are still two hours before the sun rises and the temperature here is hovering around 0 degrees Fahrenheit. As I bike to work, it continues to get colder. Where I work at the Bureau of Land Management is the coldest place in Anchorage (not an exaggeration – the weather station here is consistently the coldest of the 17 stations reporting to NOAA) As a result, by the time I reach work, it is -16 degrees, and what I think is the coldest locale I have ever been in. Though my hands and toes are a little numb, and my legs are tingling and feeling a little uncomfortable, it is exciting to be out in such a temperature. I can feel my breath condensing and then freezing on my eyelashes and my snot begins to freeze a little.

Ice forming form my breath - on my neck gaiter, eyelashes, helmet, etc...

Winter began for me with the first major snow fall a week and a half ago. As the flakes began to come down on a Sunday afternoon, my unit mates and I rushed outside and soon were pelting each other with snowballs. The five inches or so of snow was and still is beautiful, but it also presented issues for transportation and commuting. For these three months here in Anchorage, I have been biking to work each day. After the snow, it took several days for sidewalks to be cleared, and even then, some were filled back in with plowed snow, or made otherwise unride-able by big chunks of ice and snow flung from the road. Unfortunately, the nearest bus stop from my work is over a mile – therefore, my solution has been a combination of biking and busing: I bike to the bus stop, catch a bus that I ride for about 3 miles, and then bike another mile and a half in to work.

just before heading off to work

waiting at the bus stop

The onset of winter has meant a few changes at work. Most outdoor work has ceased, unless very important. Snow plowing is the primary objective on mornings after it snows – this ordeal usually begins at 4:00 am in order to have the BLM facility cleared by the time employees arrive. Luckily, I do not take part in these early-morning festivities, instead enjoying several more hours of sleep! I have had an opportunity to operate the plow truck, however – a fun experience – and I think that I have more responsibilities with plowing in the future.

On the way back from work, the last rays of sun strike the Chugach Mountains. Biking is much easier on when the sidewalks are cleared (as in this image)!

I’ve noticed how relative temperature really is. Sure, -50 will always feel cold no matter who you are, but I’m really starting to build a new frame of reference than what I had back in Kansas. There, it was cold when it was in the 20s. Getting down in the teens was really cold! Fast forward to the current; -16 sets the benchmark for what is cold and later in the afternoon while biking home, 0 degrees feels pretty nice. Anything above 20 degrees would be downright balmy! And I’m sure my frame of reference will be shifted even further yet, as we really move into the cold months and I possibly venture into the interior of Alaska and it’s frigid temperatures.

"Pogies" - insulated overmitts that fit onto the handlebars of a bike. They are hand made in Alaska and all the bike commuters seems to use them. I just got them from work recently and haven't had much time to test them out, but they sure do keep your hands warm!

The amount of darkness has also been a change from the Kansas winters I’m used to. Today in Anchorage, the sun rose at 9:25 am and set at 4:06 pm. And we will continue to lose daylight every day until the winter solstice, a month away. There are flipsides to the short days however; it’s exhilarating to bike home from work with sunset’s colors blossoming across the sky or slowly fading into darkness. Also, with the sun setting so early, I often have much more time in the evening than I think (“Oh, it’s only 5:30? It feels like 8:00!”).

With all that darkness, lights are important. Here are the lights I currently have on my bike, with plans to add more!

There are many things I look forward to doing this winter season. Cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, seeing northern lights, and spending a night or two at a public use cabin are just several things on the list.

It might be cold, dark, and long. But I’m excited for what winter has to hold!

full moon rising

Photography in Service Adventure

Kincaid Beach, Sunrise

 The past several years, photography (predominately of the natural world) has been a growing interest for me. It has steadily developed into a passion of mine; something that to which I have devoted many hours reading about, looking at, and, of course, actually making photographs. I was excited about what the nature photography prospects might be up in Anchorage. Having been in Anchorage for over two months, I have found time to spend out in God’s wonderful Alaskan creation doing photography, even in spite of the numerous other commitments, activities, and experiences that we have going on. Alaska has no shortage of the beautiful outdoors, and our unit has spent a good amount of time out in it, hiking, backpacking, biking, or otherwise.

My favorite place to photography near the house is at Kincaid Park, a large park about 7 miles from the house with plenty of bike and ski trails as well as access to a beach. We have made a number of trips down to this beach at sunrise or sunset to observe the changing light, weather, and landscape. Sometimes these trips are impromptu – a seemingly compulsive response to the vibrant sunset light beginning to blossom in the sky. Other times, it’s more of a planned endeavor. As can be seen in the photo below, I am in the process of trying to make a photo I have in my mind’s eye: the setting moon at sunset over a certain mountain. (fun fact: the moon only sets with the sun when it’s a new moon; it therefore might be quite hard to actually make the image described above. But we’ll try!)

Redoubt Mountain, Sunset I

Below is a selection of photographs I have made thus far in Alaska. I hope you enjoy them – comments and feedback are always welcome!

Redoubt Mountain, Sunset II

Redoubt Mountain, Sunset III

Star Trails and Mountain

Kincaid Beach, Sunrise

Voluntary Service and the Shutdown

Today marks the last day of the partial federal government shutdown, of which I’m sure all of you have heard about and many have felt firsthand in some respect. Beginning October 1, after Congress was unable to come to any sort of agreement and pass a budget, many aspects of the government were shut down and employees placed on furlough. That included the Bureau of Land Management, where I volunteer (or did before the shutdown…). I last stepped foot onto the Bureau of Land Management facility on the first of October for a brief all-employee meeting before biking home, making a brief stop along the way at a donut shop for a delicious maple bacon-topped donut to commemorate the shutdown.

Not being an option to stay at home and mind my own business while I was furloughed, I looked to another option for voluntary service. I decided to go and volunteer at the service placements at which my unit mates volunteered. During the past two weeks, I have volunteered predominately at the Downtown Soup Kitchen and also at the Children’s Lunchbox (a program that prepares lunches for school children and other food for weekends). It has been a joy to see where and with whom my unit mates work on a daily basis.

The serving line at the Downtown Soup Kitchen

The Downtown Soup Kitchen, where I have spent most of my days “off” from work, serves lunch to anywhere from 200 to almost 600 people a day. My work there has involved everything from de-boning turkeys to serving clients bread, soup, and a sandwich to reorganizing the walk-in freezer. Over a time period of only a couple weeks, this place has become like home to me. Coming from the Bureau of Land Management, a very solitary job, to the Soup Kitchen, where there are always people to talk and interact with, has been great. Whether through conversations while slicing torta bread for sandwiches to talking with clients, I have truly enjoyed the opportunity to interact with people and build a whole number of new relationships. I have been made very welcome and the work feels rewarding and life-giving. Another aspect I have enjoyed is the faith emphasis that the Soup Kitchen brings to their mission. While the Bureau of Land Management is a government agency and as a result has no faith component, at the Soup Kitchen, there is a strong emphasis on showing God’s love to all through serving soup. Devotions and prayer are a regular part of the day. In a less organized setting, I have enjoyed having conversations on faith and life matters with a Soup Kitchen employee as we do food pickups at local grocery stores.

A couple of the prep tables in the kitchen

With the government finally back up and running, it is a little sad in some ways to leave the Downtown Soup Kitchen. While I know that there will be plenty of work to do at the Bureau of Land Management, I will miss the people that I have built relationships with at the Soup Kitchen, and the experiences that I have had. In any case, I am grateful for this opportunity to experience another way of serving others and showing God’s love.

On a side note, my last day at the Soup Kitchen, a TV News crew came in for a story about furloughed government workers being affected by the shutdown and how they are responding. Here’s the short article and video from Anchorage Channel 11 News: http://www.ktva.com/home/top-stories/Furloughed-workers-spend-time-volunteering-228121181.html

A Week in Food

Of all the aspects of living in community, perhaps one of the most integral is food. Food brings us together, whether over supper, sharing a snack, or through... One example that comes to mind is the spontaneous conversations that occur here in the unit, usually late at night, usually in the kitchen, and usually with some sort of snack that is being created and eaten. Kitchens, for some reason, seem to be the perfect place for the most important talks, or “Kitchen Conversations” as dubbed by those of us in the unit house.

In any case, food is a central part of daily life, and this past week, I had the privilege of heading up culinary operations here at the unit house. As a unit, we try to eat five meals together every week: Sunday breakfast and Tuesday through Friday supper. There are two people who handle cooking each week. One of these two is head chef and decides the menu and generally directs cooking. The other, given the title of “sous-chef”, assists in the effort. The following week, the sous-chef becomes head chef, the head chef no longer has to cook, and another person comes on to fill the sous-chef’s role.

My first role this past week as head chef was deciding on a menu. Back home, I really haven’t done much cooking – the occasional batch of cookies, biscuits, and the like and very infrequently a simple meal. So I was excited to try my hand at the creation of something that I really enjoy consuming. In the process, I’m trying to abide by several mantras:

·    Try to make things based on what’s on hand

·    If in doubt, make something from More-With-Less (Extending the Table and Simply in Season if still stumped)

·    Healthy

·    Delicious

With these in mind, my leader Renee (sous-chef for the week) and I set off to the grocery store. The simple life that we’re trying to live while in Service Adventure means that we’re allotted $100 per week to feed five people. It can be hard to get all the staples and still have enough for fresh fruits and vegetables and other healthy and delicious items. This week, we were lucky. We had enough flour, sugar, and other essentials in the cupboard so as to free up funds for things like feta and fresh spinach, cilantro, and tomatoes.

With shopping complete and a nicely stocked fridge, the cooking commenced. For Sunday breakfast, Renee made a nice egg casserole. The following day, I kicked things off with a batch of granola. 

granola

Our first actual supper was the next night. Soaking a pot of beans overnight, we cooked up some rice and beans. Toppings included lettuce, tomato, sour cream, cheese, and a fresh salsa I whipped up which included some smoked habañeros. The salsa wasn’t quite hot enough, though – and I made a mental note to rectify the lack of heat later in the week. I also tried my hand at making churros – though a relative failiure, they were still quite tasty and a good finish to a good meal.

Rice and beans with colorful and delicious toppings

salsa!

Wednesday night, we hosted the weekly church Bible study at our house. On the menu was a very copious quantity of curried carrot soup, cheese biscuits, and assorted fruit crisp for dessert. The kitchen was filled with appetizing aromas of bubbling soup and baked goods.

We have been fortunate to receive some food from our service placements and other sources. The commute home from work is sometimes complicated by having to carry baguettes, bananas, or homemade salmon hot dogs. This week, we received a big bag of carrots from a church member’s garden, potatoes and half a cabbage my work supervisor’s garden, fruit, a pastry, and more.

Things I brought home one day from work 

Thursday night meant beef and spinach lasagna, multi-bean salad, and garlic bread.

lasagna

garlic bread about to go into the oven

Friday night was pizza night! That meant making pizza dough, a red sauce, and a white sauce from scratch. Our different pizzas are as follows:

·    “Supreme” (red sauce) with mushrooms, green pepper, onion, ground beeft, and cheese

·    “taco pizza” (red sauce) with left-over beans, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, garlic, oregano, habañero peppers, and cheese (This pizza was moderately to severely very hot due to a possibly excessive amount of habañero. Nonetheless, it was enjoyed by the hot-food lovers in the house)

·    white sauce with spinach, tomatoes, feta, garlic, basil, oregano (there was also a variation of this with red sauce and mozzarella instead of feta)

·    dessert pizza with peaches, cinnamon, and crumbles made with butter, flour, and sugar

preparing toppings for pizzas

Long story short, we ate well and I also really enjoyed cooking. It does take up a lot of time, but it’s fun to be creative, solve problems, not always follow recipes, and make delicious and healthy food. I look forward to the next time I’m cooking. Until then, it’ll be nice to relax and enjoy other’s cooking! Thanks for staying in touch and reading the blog – I still appreciate all your prayers, letters, emails, and other forms of communication. And if anyone has any recipe suggestions that are good for those on a budget, I’d love to hear them!

Crow Pass Traverse Attempt

The area where we camped - near Crow Pass in the Chugach Mountains

It was an ambitious and exciting plan – our unit would hike the 24 mile Crow Pass Traverse. Considered to be one of the best hikes in the Chugach Mountains, we chose this as our first group-backpacking trip of the service term. The five of us, hoping that we had not bit off more than we could chew, set out from Anchorage on Friday after work, arriving at the trailhead at about 6:30 in the evening. Our goal was to hike 5 miles that evening (the first several miles are the only continuous uphill section of the whole traverse – the rest is more or less a gentle downward slope) and then camp. We planned to hike a good ways the following day, and finish up Sunday morning in time to catch a ride to church.

Our camp site

Of course, things don’t always go as planned – especially in the outdoors. For starters, it was the first time backpacking for two in our group, and a 24-mile hike isn’t maybe the best way to introduce someone to hiking. It started to get dark less than a couple hours out on the trail, and we decided to set up camp after about three miles near a scenic lake and imposing mountain peaks on both sides (actually, it would have been hard to find a place along the way that wasn’t scenic and surrounded by rugged, beautiful mountains). Then it got cold – low 20s and windy. We were definitely on a “winter” hike, even though it was mid-September. While I was moving, it was easy to stay warm, but while cooking, setting up the tent, or other stationary activities, hands and feet became numb fairly quickly, even with what has been appropriate clothing at least for Kansas winters.

...cold enough for ice in the stream and in our water bottles

Moonset over snow-dusted mountains

Snowing in the morning

We gradually came to the conclusion that at the pace that we had been going, we weren’t going to make it to the end of the 24-mile trail in time to rendezvous with our ride to Church. Also, a river crossing that we would have to make 8 miles down the trail could be too dangerous to cross with the current water levels and at the very least would be moderate to severely un-enjoyable in the cold and later also snowy weather. Our plans were then thus adjusted – we did a little more exploring the next morning and then packed up and headed back the way we came. It was disappointing to turn back for sure – I was really looking forward to the views and experiences that further stretches of the trail was sure to promise. Maybe in hindsight, we shouldn’t have launched into such an ambitious hike with people at different levels of hiking experience. In any case, the short time that we were out in the Alaskan mountains was great. It only whet our appetite for more – several of us have pledged to return and hike the whole traverse next summer when weather conditions might make for a little easier time (others of the group have had their fair share of hiking for a good while!).

The hiking party

A glacier that several of us hiked to in the morning before heading back

Glacial streams bring to mind a barren volcanic landscape

Though we ended up being out in the wilderness for less than 24 hours, I still had time to enjoy some photography and enjoy being out in and seeing the power of the landscape. I’ve often looked up at the mountains from down in the city and wished that we could go hiking or backpacking in them. From the bright moon illuminating a rocky valley to snow swirling around and obscuring an imposing, dark peak above an expansive glacier to watching mountain goats navigate the steep rocky slopes with ease and grave, it felt good to be in land where you don’t quite feel as powerful, strong, or important as you think you are while amongst the comforts of a city or home. 

Work and Such

Finishing up my second week of work today, I’m beginning to get a feel for my job – the service placement where I will spend approximately 40 hours each week. For me, this service placement is at the Bureau of Land Management (others in my unit volunteer at a soup kitchen, a Habitat for Humanity building project, a women’s abuse prevention center, and elsewhere). My position at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is maintenance worker, where I help keep the BLM Anchorage Field Office facility up and running.

The workshop at BLM

My initial impressions of the job weren’t overly enthusiastic. When I originally applied for Service Adventure and listed the BLM as my primary service placement choice, I was envisioning time spent out in the field, doing trail work, grooming ski trails, and engaging in other “outdoorsy” sorts of activities. In fact, previous Service Adventure participants at the BLM worked with Recreation instead of Maintenance – the former being more of the outdoorsy association and the latter being more upkeep of the facility. When I heard that unlike previous Service Adventurers, I would be spending most of my time with Maintenance, I was initially disappointed. I was also nervous, as I haven’t had a whole lot of experience in construction or the operation of heavy machinery, both things that I would be doing. My feelings towards the job have changed a little since then, however.

The mountains which can be seen by stepping out the back door of the shop

Things I like about serving at the BLM:

·    Varied tasks (in the past several days, I’ve: helped install road signs, cleared brush, set the flag to half-mast for 9/11, cleaned, worked on a large sign for the BLM, inspected trails and foot bridges, helped install a swinging door, and more…) Though there will be some things that I do on a routine basis (clear snow in the winter for one), I have chances to do a whole multitude of different jobs and tasks during the year.

·    Learning valuable and practical skills. I hope to come out of this year at the BLM with all sorts of skills that will be beneficial down the road

·    Get to spend time outside in God’s creation. The facility where I work is located on a 730 tract of forested land on the edge of Anchorage. I can see the light and weather changing on the mountains from the door of the shop, and I’ve seen several moose thus far (with hopes to see a few bears, lynx, or other animals).

A typical scene biking to work - overcast and drizzling!

Finally a clear morning to bike to work!

Things I don’t like:

·    It can be hard to feel like you’re serving others. Installing a stop sign, though necessary and potentially interesting, just doesn’t feel as serving-the-least-of-these or disciple-like as, say, serving at a homeless shelter or soup kitchen. Which leads me to the next negative, which is…

·    I wish there was more interaction with other people. A big part of why the placement at BLM might feel a little removed from serving others is because there isn’t much interaction with others. Though I’m introverted — not needing interaction with others 24/7 – I find myself craving the kind of service that brings me into more contact with others. The vast majority of my time at the BLM is spent either working by myself or with one other person.

Both of the two aforementioned items are things that I hope to work with, and hopefully turn into positives or see in a new light. Continued thanks to everyone who is supporting me and the rest of the unit as a whole through prayer, keeping track of our exploits, sending letters or emails, or any other means. 

This has nothing to do directly with work, but to leave you with, another scene from a recent little afternoon hike in the Chugach Range.