Snowzilla in Alaska

For days I've been reading about this giant snowman---up in the only state bigger than Texas, known as Alaska---that's been dubbed "Snowzilla". Supposedly appearing overnight, with no one taking credit for rolling the balls to make the man.

Snowzilla has appeared the last 3 years in the Anchorage front yard of a junk dealer named Billy Powers. Billy claims to know nothing about Snowzilla. However he seems quite smitten with this year's mystery Snowman, asking a reporter if he'd "seen him." And telling the reporter that "he's handsome." He being the Snowman, not the reporter. Maybe the reporter is also handsome, I don't know, that wasn't part of the story.

Each year, when Snowzilla appears, he's bigger, and apparently, more handsome, than the year before. This year he has grown to being 25 feet tall.

Due to all the Alaskans wanting a personal look at Snowzilla, it creates a serious traffic jam.

This year the city said Snowzilla was a public nuisance and a safety hazard, due to being so big he could become an avalanche. A cease and desist order was issued and tacked to Power's door.

City officials said Snowzilla increased traffic to the point of being dangerous and that Snowzilla, itself, was unsafe. Due that avalanche danger, I suppose.

Anchorage's Mayor, Mark Begich, issued a statement saying the city stands behind its moves to take down Snowzilla, saying, "This property owner has repeatedly ignored city attempts to find ways to accommodate his desire to build a giant snowman without affecting the quiet, residential quality of the neighborhood. This is a neighborhood of small homes on small lots connected by small streets. It can't support the volume of traffic and revelers that are interested in Snowzilla."

The mayor's office claims that for 13 years Powers has been running an illegal junk and salvage operation from his home in violation of land use codes. And that he owes Anchorage more than $100,000 in fines and other charges.

Powers claims it is the city that is the problem, not him. That he's jumped through every goofy hoop they've sent him, that he's never been confrontational, that some of the city's charges are unfounded and just plain outrageous.

The city says it will take no further action against Powers. Til after Christmas.

Meanwhile, here at my location in Fort Worth, no snow, not freezing and no chance of a White Christmas tomorrow.

Home Zone Phone

I had very helpful, pleasant phone time with one of my favorite bright lights, from my old home zone, this morning.

It's a mind clearing thing to talk to someone who has observed the same phenomena, as I have, to find you both perceive the phenomena in the same way. This leads me to believe that others who have observed the same phenomena have likely come to similar conclusions.

People up in my old home zone are trying to dig out from the worst winter storm in a long long time. The old home zoner I talked to this morning is snowbound until the big thaw comes. The big thaw may start up there today. That's when it gets nasty.

I remember losing my downspouts during a big thaw. They came down with a huge crash. Awhile later, as the thaw progressed, there was an explosive noise followed by the sound of water. A pipe that I did not realize was frozen, with the freeze causing the pipe to crack, began spewing water at high velocity when it thawed.

This was inside the house, in the basement, but outside the heated part of the house, sort of an exercise room, storage room combo. It was fairly easy to get the water shut off and the pipe isolated. After the disaster passed, I put in a shut off valve in the ceiling so the water to those pipes could be cut off during a freeze.

By the way, that's a small part of the Skagit Valley in the photo. One of the most beautiful spots on the planet. If you've never seen it, make plans. But not in the winter. Aim for spring so you can see all the flowers, like tulips, in bloom.

Alan Young, GMC Dealer Closed Down

In the first instance, besides Washington Mutual failing, of myself actually seeing an example of the economic meltdown, today's news brought word of another business, with which I had done business, failing.

The Alan Young GMC dealership in North Richland Hills was shut down on Monday after General Motors Acceptance Corporation cut Alan Young's credit, stopping him from being able to buy and finance cars from GMC.

Alan Young is the first dealer in the Fort Worth, Tarrant County zone to go under since cars sales dropped hugely following the Wall Street Meltdown.

I feel a bit sorry for the 55 employees who have lost their jobs. But not all that badly. Because among those 55 are likely Alan Young mechanics who incompetently "fixed" my van on more than one occasion.

Alan Young had to replace the fan control switch for the heater/AC 3 times. Alan Young fixed something to do with the fuel pump, only to have it fail again within a short time, with Alan Young not assuming responsibility for making the repair. Alan Young messed up my transmission and then tried to claim it was already like that.

I complained to GMC about the Alan Young dealership. I do not believe it was an "honest" shop. An employee of Alan Young's told me that there were a lot of problems with repairs.

I really am not a fan of the auto maker bailout.

Freezing Rain Pain in Fort Worth & Wal-Mart Carolers

The photo is what the Tandy Hills will likely look like by morning. Freezing Rain is predicted to start falling after midnight, lasting til a couple hours past daybreak. By morning we could be totally ice-covered here.

It is my least favorite Texas weather thing. I experienced my first Texas Ice Storm within the first week of moving here. We had gone to the Stockyards for lunch, wearing no jackets because it was warm to us who were used to cold northwest type weather.

We came out of a restaurant, the now deceased Riscky Rita's, to find the temperature had plummeted by a lot of degrees. As in it felt like it was freezing. By early evening it was 15. We didn't know what to do with the pool, or the outside water valves.

By morning an ice storm had coated everything with several inches of ice. You went outside at great risk.

On a totally different note. I just got back from my Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. As soon as I opened my vehicle's door I heard loud Christmas music. As I got closer to the source I saw it was live carolers. A group of maybe 12. Led by an old Santa-looking guy. They had a pickup with hay in the back and some sort of keyboard. It was an all-white group of carolers singing in a mostly African-America neighborhood.

Somehow the scene evoked the new spirit in America, at least what I hope is the new spirit. That we are all one, all in it together and all here to help each other. Or maybe the carolers were simply lost. They were packing up and leaving by the time I left the store.

Second Day of Winter in Cold Fort Worth

The low today was 26. It is now almost 5 and 30. As in 5 the time, 30 the temp. The high today was 31. It's been another cold, gray day in Dirty Ol' Town.

That's the view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony at about 3 this afternoon.

I forgot to mention, it's windy. Currently the Wind Chill Factor is making it feel like 20 out there.

I could have it worse. This morning I was writing a card to send my aunt up in Potholes, Washington. That's in eastern Washington near the Columbia River. I looked up her current temperature. It was 6 at 9 this morning. With a lot of snow.

Despite the frigid Arctic climate I did my usual hike around the Tandy Hills, today, a little after noon. I'd already been out and about and thought I was dressed warm enough. I wasn't. I didn't have a "hoodie" on, so there was some serious skin exposure in the neck zone. I did not hike as long as I usually do.

Tomorrow the sun is supposed to make a slight appearance with the high being 60. And no freezing. I hope I'm not disappointed by an incorrect forecast.

UPDATE: WeatherBug just went off with a National Weather Service Warning that freezing rain will start falling early Tuesday morning, continuing til 10am. That sounds like an Ice Storm. I don't like Ice Storms.

Leaving Texas To Go Houseboating on Lake Powell

That's me being the Captain of a Lake Powell Houseboat way back in 1994. I was not totally enamored of houseboating. But the scenery more than made up for being in a trailer that floats. Actually, it was more the being in close quarters with marginal personality types that wore on my nerves and made the boat float less pleasurable than it could have been.

You can read all about that ordeal, which I came to call Hell Houseboat, here.

I Captained another Lake Powell Houseboat expedition in 1998. Three of the crew were the same as the previous float. It was the same time of year, but everything seemed different. The boat was ready to be retired, the lake was like it was at flood stage. We took off from Bullfrog Basin Marina in a rainstorm that produced boat rocking squalls. That was fun. Rain is very rare there, so seeing waterfalls flowing over the canyon walls was cool.

On the 1998 float the water was murky. And cold. On the 1994 float the water was crystal clear and warm. And the lake was about 20 feet lower. Both floats occured in early October.

Why am I yapping about houseboating on Lake Powell you are sitting there wondering. Well, the subject came up this weekend with 7 potential floaters all gungho on the idea. I'd be the one planning this, like I always do, and I'm the least gungho. I'm the 8th floater. That's a lot on board.

The Lake Powell Houseboat fleet has been totally upgraded since I last was there. Many of the houseboats have satellite TV. I find this a negative. Lake Powell is so peaceful and quiet. Hearing a TV would be horrible.

Also on the plus side, it is closer to the launching marina, that being Bullfrog Basin, from here, than it was from Washington. It is under a 1000 miles from here to Bullfrog. If I remember right it was about 1,200 miles from my location in Washington to Bullfrog in Utah.

The price has gone up. If I remember right, 3 days of floating and houseboating, last time, cost something like $1,500 for a boat in the 40 foot range. Now it is $2,245 for 3 days on the least expensive boat. It is bigger than the ones we were on before, as in this boat, The Adventurer, sleeps 12 and is 54 feet long. Just the description of The Adventurer's details makes clear this boat has way more features than the ones we'd been on previously.

You can see The Adventurer by clicking here, as well as other houseboats and floating packages.

The Adventurer has 2 state rooms with double beds. 2 gauchos with pullout double beds, 2 lower berths with double beds, cd stereo, a water slide, 2 bathrooms, with showers, an RV size gas stove, 2- 8 cubic foot side by side refrigerator/freezers, an outdoor BBQ grill, a microwave and blender and forced air heat and conditioning.

On the previous houseboat floats we did not have A/C, no stereo, only 1 bathroom, no microwave or blender, no double beds, no separate state rooms. I had to sleep on this awful hard narrow cot like thing. No one else had it any better. I felt like this must be what prison is like.

So, the Lake Powell Houseboats may cost a bit more, now, but you get way more for your buck, or so it seems.

The floaters this time are all fully formed, fully functioning adults with no neurotic issues or temper management problems. As far as I know. You really don't know someone til you travel with them. Or are locked up with them on a houseboat. Or any other prison.

I'm Moving From Fort Worth To Dallas

I mentioned in a blogging, earlier today, that after I had lunch at Costco, went hiking at Lake Grapevine and checked out Gaylord Texan and the Big Balls of Grapevine, I went to Sprouts Farmers Market where something happened that will change my life.

My one longtime reader may remember me mentioning that I cancelled my longtime subscription to the Fort Wort Star-Telegram at the start of the month. I had a lot of issues with that paper. It was constantly shrinking. The ads were getting bigger and more numerous. They raised their rates and shrunk the paper.

When I experienced the Tacoma News Tribune, this past summer, with it also being a McClatchy paper, but one that had not gone bad, like the Star-Telegram had, the News Tribune still had a robust editorial page. Very few ads in the first section. No page after page of full page ads. Way more content.

Now, to be fair, the Tacoma market is a bit, well, uh, more educated than the Fort Worth paper's market, with way more high school and college graduates and a way higher per capita number of book buyers and readers. So, maybe a town gets the paper that matches its readers. I don't know.

So, I walk into Sprouts and this guy started yammering at me, wanting me to sign up for a raffle. I hate being accosted in this manner when entering or leaving a store. It seemed very un-Sprouts-like. Then he said something that had me saying I cancelled my subscription to the Star-Telegram this month. Then I got confused and said, "uh, are you hawking Star-Telegram subscriptions?"

"No. I'm hawking Dallas Morning News subscriptions."

I told him I'd cancelled the Fort Worth paper years ago due to bad delivery, then got the Dallas paper and the delivery was worse, so I cancelled it and went back to the Star-Telegram when they got a new carrier.

So, the deal was, if you paid for a year's subscription you got a big discount plus $85 of Sprouts gift cards. I said, I would not want to pay a year in advance for a paper that might not get delivered on time. So, he then offered me 3 months for $47.25 plus a $20 Sprouts gift card and another $5 gift card just for giving them another chance.

Sounded like a good deal. So, starting Thursday I'm back in the paper reading business. I'm pretty sure it will get successfully delivered because one of my neighbors gets the Dallas paper.

The Dallas Morning News is more like a real newspaper than the Star-Telegram. It'll be like reading the Seattle P-I or Times or Tacoma Tribune again. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is more like my old hometown newspaper, that being the Skagit Valley Herald. Although the SV Herald has a better editorial page than the Star-Telegram. And way fewer embarrassingly dumb letters to the editor. But then again, once more, Mount Vernon is an area with a much higher educational level and number of readers than Fort Worth.

Unlike the Star-Telegram the SV Herald does not make note of anyone in the news or on TV's connection to Mount Vernon or the valley. When the SV Herald mentions Secretary of Defense Bob Gates it does not use verbiage like, "Secretary of Defense Bob Gates, who has a home on Big Lake in east Mount Vernon, has been asked to stay on by President-elect Obama." Everytime the SV Herald mentions Jim Cavaziel they don't use verbiage like "Mount Vernon's Jim Cavaziel plays Jesus in the new Mel Gibson movie."

When Mount Vernon was named the Best Small Town in the USA by, I think it was Rand McNally, it was a legit award, CNN showed up. But Mount Vernon did not have a citywide celebration. Those of us who lived there wondered if a mistake had been made. Don't get me wrong, Mount Vernon is a great town, but best in the USA?

Fort Worth got named as one of the most Livable Communities in America by some lobbying group in D.C. who used the bogus awards to advance their agenda. Fort Worth acted like the ugly girl suddenly finding herself winning a beauty pageant. In other words we had a city-wide celebration. I told this to a Tacoma city official (Tacoma/Pierce County won the same "award") and he chuckled. I asked if Tacoma had a city-wide celebration. "No", he said, "we politely thanked them. And then ignored it."

So, anyway, come Thursday I'm reading the Dallas Morning News. Please please please let there not be anything in there like "Dallas native Jessica Simpson is rumored to be pregnant with Tony Romo's baby." Or "Dallas native Jessica Simpson being pregnant with Tony Roma's baby is making cities and towns far and wide green with envy over Dallas' good fortune."

Winter Starts with a Freeze in Fort Worth

I was stopped by the city of Fort Worth from making a video of me swimming on the first day of winter. It would have been very cold this morning making that video. I'm probably better off.

So, I went roller blading, instead of swimming, for something aerobic on the first day of winter. It was 30 degrees when I took off from here, around noon, to put on my blades. It's now a balmy 35. The sky is back to our norm here, nice and clear and blue.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I can see one advantage to being hugely obese. The most obese person I used to know was constantly getting heavy duty aerobic exercise. Just getting out the car involved using her arms in a sort of pull-up motion to get the heft swiveled towards the door and then lifted to a walking position.

In one extremely aerobic, sort of amusing and potentially tragic incident we were in a McDonald's and the Big One had it in her head that she wanted to sit on one of the tall stools at the tall table. But she could not get her bulk on that stool. I was mortified as I watched her huff and puff and try harder and harder, so determined to get on that stool.

And then she tried a new maneuver which rang alarm bells instantly. She tried to hold on to the table and use her thicker-than-my-legs arms to pull herself on to the stool in much the same manner in which she pulls herself out of her car. Well, the table quickly began to tremble under the pressure of all that weight pulling on it. I insisted she cease at once, before she pulled the table over on both of us. Would you not think, after such a humiliating moment, that one would not proceed to eat 2 Quarter Pounders with Cheese and a Chocolate Milkshake? And Fries?

How does such a person get on an airplane, I can not help but wonder? I know Southwest Airlines is making the Heftys buy two seats. But that does not get them on the plane. I mean, how do they get down the aisle? It's a balancing act for me, due to the carry-on and laptop. But I'm basically a skinny guy. How does someone with a 4 foot diameter get down an airplane aisle that doesn't seem wider than 3 feet? And how is it fair to the other passengers to have such a dangerous clot in the aisle? It perplexes me.

I wonder what would happen if an obese person tried to roller blade? Just getting on the skates would be a challenge. I had to help an obese person put on her shoes once. It was appalling.

Anyway, below is a very short video of me roller blading at Quanah Parker Park on the first day of winter.

Global Cooling Hits Fort Worth and the Rest of the West

Among my many bad habits is each morning I check the temperature in 5 places using a website called AccuWeather. The 5 temps I look at are Fort Worth, Mount Vernon (my old hometown), Chandler (Phoenix zone where Mom and Dad and Sister are), Tonasket, Washington (home of Tootsie Tonasket) and Tacoma (home of my poodle nephews, Blue and Max).

That's Max in the photo, frolicking in the snow in his backyard.

Yesterday, when I checked AccuWeather, Fort Worth was 60, Mount Vernon 15, Chandler 29, Tonasket -12 and Max's Tacoma town was 21.

Right now at 11, Sunday morning, Fort Worth is now the second coldest on my list, at 24. Brrrr. Mount Vernon has warmed up to 30, Chandler 37, Tonasket a balmy 5 and Mount Vernon is 30.

Here in Fort Worth we went from that high of being in the 60s Saturday morning, to an Arctic Blast coming in from the west, dropping us to 21 for the Sunday morning low. This is the same cold front that has brought record breaking temperatures and a lot of snow to the Pacific Northwest, leaving many people snowbound, including my sister and Blue and Max.

This is the same cold front that brought snow to Las Vegas on Wednesday. That does not happen very often. I have been to Vegas when it is raining. I have been to Vegas when it is 115. I have been to Vegas when it is freezing. But I have never seen snow in Vegas.

On their blog Blue and Max have documented the terror they have been going through courtesy of this storm. The long-suffering poodle's furnace igniter broke, leaving them with only a fireplace and one space heater to keep a big 3-level house warm.

Blue and Max photo documented what the thermometer was saying their inside temperature was. 52 degrees.

Well, my one longtime reader may remember I spent a month with Blue and Max in their house last summer. I believe that the first 2 levels of the house rarely got any warmer than the 50s during my entire stay. The only warm spot in that house was where I was incarcerated, up in the area they called The Tropics.

Anyway, we as a planet really need to start working hard to find a way to stop this Global Cooling Crisis before it's too late and we're all one big iceberg.

The Christmas Big Balls of Grapevine

Yesterday, that day being Saturday, I made my now regular weekly visit to Costco for a free sample lunch en route to going on a hike on one of the trails around Lake Grapevine.

This week the Costco samples weren't quite up to last week's cheese overload, but it was still good. The hike this week was once more the Northshore Trail starting at Rockledge Park. It was perfect mountain biking temperature, so there were a lot of bikers. Few hikers.

The day had started out in the 60s, but a cold front blew in throughout the day, making it in the 50s by noon at Lake Grapevine. And 22 this morning.

The town of Grapevine puts on quite a festive Christmas display. Including pairs of Giant Balls at several intersections along the Grapevine Highway. The pair of Giant Balls in the photo is in front of the Great Wolf Lodge, directly across the street from the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center.

I drove through the Gaylord Texan complex, hoping to get a picture of Santa in his powerboat pulling his Reindeer on skis. But the traffic did not cooperate. I did successfully get a picture of another Santa in a covered wagon being pulled by his Reindeer. I guess it makes sense to have multiple Santas, but the covered wagon Santa is right across the street from the boating Santa. I fear this might confuse small children. I saw no conventional Santas in a sleigh. But I could only see part of the Gaylord Texas complex. It is huge.

After leaving Santa I went to Sprouts Farmers Market for my weekly stocking up of good stuff. Something happened there that will change my life in about 4 days. I'll save that story for another blogging.