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| Sign at The Mad Hatcher (Hatcher Pass, Alaska.) |
We have lots of high places to fall from, animals that will eat or kick your ass just for shits and giggles, rivers that will seemingly reach into your boat and drown you beneath it, and weather that will coax you out of doors with sunshine only to rip your body heat away with freezing rain and wind just as soon as you are a mile or more away from your automobile.
And then there's the people. The whole state is like a giant penal colony with no bars separating you from the inmates.
We have some of the highest rates of suicide, alcohol abuse, drug use, and gun violence in the country.
But then again the place is so damn beautiful. I mean the mountains are just sparkling in the morning light, and the sky is this gorgeous shade of blue.
I hear birds outside my window singing to the dawn, and is that the smell of pine and chimney smoke wafting through the window?
What was I saying before?
Oh never mind. I have to grab my car keys and head off to the local national park for a quick hike. The sun is up, so I will leave my jacket at home, after all what can go wrong?
Where we live on Lake Michigan, there are no lifeguards at the beaches in the summer. The reason -- liability issues. The city does not want anyone to sue if someone drowns. Last season, there were quite a few deaths in the region because of cold water temperatures (called "dry drowning") and rip currents. When we first moved here (ten years ago), all of the beaches had lifeguards in the summer. Then they were eliminated - to save money, not lives.
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
The focus needs to be on teaching parents and caretakers to watch their kids, At my local pool, the moms have saved more kids than the teenage guards. The Jersey shore gards aren't even looking at the water 99%of the time. Instead of fear of suing, they should get qualified lifeguards and boat spotters.and swimmers know to to do at own risk, so no risk of suing if everyone did their job but nature was stronger.
DeleteToo funny . . . .And watch out for bears!
ReplyDeleteI remember when all playgrounds were covered in cement. Man did we all get bloodied. Our teachers even used to let us play with mercury in the seventies. Amazing that we all aren't dead.
O/T One of Sarah's endorsements (crazy Annette Bosworth who equated people who got food stamps with wild animals) and who was running for the senate from South Dakota-- just got herself arrested for election fraud. Great pick, Sarah.
Yes, Gryphen wrote about Bosworth back in 2013. He had her number back then. Palin curse strikes again?
Deletehttp://theimmoralminority.blogspot.com/2013/07/south-dakota-gubernatorial-candidate.html
I,too, remember playing with mercury in the 6thgrade!! My teacher had a test tube full of the stuff!! We'd play with it and inevitably some little spheres would escape and , I imagine, turn to gas which we breathed all year. Live and learn. As a nurse I laugh to myself when people freaked out when a parent reports a broken mercury thermometer! Call the hazmat team!!
DeleteOoops---don't think Palin endorsed Bosworth, just took a photo with her and got some buzz going for her. Or some laughs. . . .
ReplyDeleteLove this!
ReplyDeleteYou're so freakin' awesome!!! Have fun out there!
ReplyDeleteYes, Alaska IS nice. I've been there twice. I never saw the stars twinkle so brightly and clearly since.
ReplyDeleteBut, there are lots of beauty in the lower 48, as there are wild animals and big fish.
The ONE thing that rreally stood out it that I found MANY Alaskans just odd. Especially the men. Sorry Gryph. Maybe the ones I met were cold, lonely, depressed, had been bitten by an animal, were on drugs etc..And Alaska attracts our lower 48 weirdos. I know a gridtin family that moved their for the Alaska fund you get each year..As soon as their kids turned 18 and I guess could get their own money, they came back and are in Chicago.
I wonder why you are not overrun with Quiverfulls up there. They seem like they'd be into the free money
We had a colder winter and more snow than you. I want some $$ lol!!
Consider our resident deviant Joe MIller.
DeleteSome people up here are either "hiding out" from the law, family or civilization, or have come to start over...b/c their lives in the lower 48 were a mess. And the ones born and raised (and have never left) are like anyone raised in a limited environment. That said, I've lived elsewhere, could live anywhere now, and I love AK; weather, crazies and dangers and all. Gryph's description is spot on: it's easy to die up here.
DeleteAs for the Permanent Fund Dividend - it doesn't take long to figure out that heating/electric bills of a grand a month offsets the whopping PFD. I call it the bribe we're paid to live in this frozen hell. But we're in the midst of the most beautiful Spring/Summer in 20 years...so we're reveling in it, partly b/c we know it shall not always be thus.
By your description Gryphen,the really truly ugly part of Alaska is..........just like everywhere else.......the humans......
ReplyDeleteTrue, but the typical nut job Alaskan is not in the necessarily quirky Northern Exposure type. Meth is on steroids in some small towns. There are truly on- edge people among us and they usually have made their way north because they didn’t fit in down there.
DeleteThe problem with moving to Alaska is all of a sudden these misfits find themselves in small communities of people and then they stand out more. So, they either dig in, straighten up or leave. As to the permanent fund? It is a drop in the bucket needed to live here. It is REALLY expensive to live in Alaska and I imagine if you have a quiver full of kids you would be exceptionally pinched to manage. The dividend usually averages about $1000 each year and the year Palin upped the amount was truly amazing. It was one of the highest amounts to begin with ($2000) and then she added $1200 ostensibly to offset the high cost of fuel. She announced the giveaway in July 2008. Curious, huh? Nobody called her out on that. (This is why it was so interesting for Alaskans to learn about when she was really considered for VP) Since then the dividend has been between about $800 and the last few years a little more than $1000.
How else would she be popular?
DeleteSo true. Surrounding me is some achingly beautiful wilderness and in my little neighborhood is all manner of socially unacceptable behavior. It is hard to tune it out and keep perspective sometimes. A good walkabout helps clear the mind.
ReplyDeleteIn the petition it states that 80-90% of Target customers are women. The Open Carry groups target family-friendly stores and restaurants which many find intimidating. It’s simply another “Look at me!” moment with careless disregard for those around them.
ReplyDeleteThe guy in the middle of the picture looks like he thinks he’s on a SWAT team and just rescued a package of Oreos. Or maybe he subdued the cookies when he thought they were going to open fire on him. Women shop at Target. Open Carry gun activists use these stores for publicity.
The baby aisle.
http://freakoutnation.com/2014/06/05/offtarget-images-how-open-carry-groups-in-texas-shop-for-oreos/
New Orleans man who wanted to start armed citizen patrols booked on stalking charge
DeleteA Metairie, Louisiana man who has been planning to form an armed citizens’ group called the French Quarter Minutemen to patrol the historical section of the downtown area, was booked into Orleans Parish Prison late on Wednesday night on one count of stalking, according to The New Orleans Advocate. An arrest warrant was issued for 37-year-old Aaron Jordan on a felony stalking charge in relation to harassing letters he allegedly sent to a a relative of Judge Paul Sens.
http://freakoutnation.com/2014/06/05/new-orleans-man-who-wanted-to-start-armed-citizen-patrols-booked-on-stalking-charge/
Someone Left A Loaded Gun In The Toy Aisle Of Target
DeleteA Target employee found a loaded handgun in the toy aisle of a South Carolina store last week, just days before activists began petitioning the retailer to ban firearms from its stores.
The gun, loaded with live ammunition, was found sitting atop a superhero Playskool toy box at a Myrtle Beach store last Friday
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/05/target-guns_n_5453164.html
The only difference between Alaska and any other place is the amount of uninhabited land. You're acting like this stuff doesn't happen other places, or other places don't have nature.
ReplyDeleteI lived outside as a child, in the mountains and woods. From age 5, I'd go on solo hikes and with friends and there were times when we feared we were lost. I look back on such times and think, HOW did I survive that hike?
But then again, that is childhood. I grew up in Vermont.
Just be careful and don't fall off of the monkey bars! We got places like that here too, so naner nane naners!!!
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