March 13, 2003

• Robert Sorlie won the Iditarod in the wee small hours of this morning.  About an hour and a half behind Sorlie, Ramy Brooks got into Nome in second place.

  
  

  This morning on TV I actually heard some ditzy newsie say, “The race is over.”  Far from over, there are still close to fifty mushers on the trail.  The “top ten” update on the morning TV news showed that the bottom of the top ten is just getting to Elim.  This race won’t be over for about three more days.  If I get time to do it, I’ll check on Dee Dee’s progress and report it here before I quit.

  
  

  I have written several times recently about the wind.  It has been raising dust and mild havoc here for weeks.  Yesterday, it turned nasty, reaching hurricane force.  Now, here in southcentral Alaska we have two wildfires burning out of control:  one in Palmer here in the Mat-Su Valley, and another farther south, on the Kenai Peninsula.

  
  

  Last night as I was drifting off to sleep, I was aroused by the late news reporting that Anchorage police were telling people to stay out of the downtown bowl area because of downed trees and power lines, flying debris and glass in the streets.  That situation worsened overnight.

  
  

  Today, the Stevens Anchorage International Airport is closed, first time ever, that airport closed because of weather.  Two post offices in the city are closed due to wind damage and the danger of flying debris. 

  
  

  Here in the Mat-Su Borough, where adults laugh and kids groan with envy at the idea of “snow days” observed in the rest of the country, when kids get out of school because of bad weather, the schools are closed on account of wind.

  
  

  Small isolated power outages all over the region are being “tracked”, they say.  They are keeping track of where the lines are down, warning people to stay away, trying to contain any fires that result, but no one knows when power may be restored.  Until the winds diminish, nobody has any plans to climb standing poles or try to replace the ones that are down.

  
  

  One of the interesting visual effects I can see around here is the high polish the windblown silt and volcanic ash has put on the layer of ice over most of the ground surface.  Our weeks of rain on top of snow resulted in a dense crusty, icy snow cover, and now it shines.

  
  

  Our lights flicker occasionally.  I’m posting this now, before they fail.  They say the winds might worsen today, and are not expected to diminish before tomorrow evening.  Doug stayed up and kept the fire going all night, but the wind keeps sucking the heat out.  Indoor temp now is in the high forties, Fahrenheit.  Once in a while a gust forces smoke down the stovepipe and it puffs out of the stove.  Aack! 

  
  

  My nerves were strung out tight from the pos. ions and the noise and dust and all, even before big stuff started blowing by on the wind.  I’m outta here.  Later, friends.

  • 11:14 am
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