FUR RONDY . . . . The Winner

Shark Bait is the work of the Three Dudes from Anchorage. Again the attention to detail was great. . . . the diver is caught in a turn over the shark and huge sea turtle.

Fur Rondy has been an annual event in Anchorage for many years. In addition to the snow sculpting competition there are sled dog races, snow shoe baseball, multi Tribal gathering and sale of many of their fine crafts, outhouse races, carnival and many other events. This year the new event was running of the raindeer.

Decision re: Chicken and Egg

Which did come first the chicken or the egg. These four judges are trying to decide. The team did an excellent job with the faces (picture does not do justice to the work).

FUR RONDY, Anchorage, AK 2008

One of the events in the Rondy is snow sculpting. From blocks of snow 8' x8' x8' the teams do their things. There is no theme and anything is acceptable unless it is offensive to the public. This one was the work of a Christain group.

Idle snow machines

On the morning of Feb. 18 we woke to icy conditions (low last night was 15 degrees). No need for these snow machines. We use them for grooming trails and hauling firewood out to the yurts and cabin we rent for overnight camping. The parking lot was an ice rink so it was get out the ice cleats to go for the newspaper.

Fourth Breakup this Winter

Last night it started snowing before the Astronomy Fundraiser Dinner and continued through the night. On Feb 17 as we were driving back from Church it was still snowing (total 4.5 inches) and everything was beautiful. Paul groomed the trails last night and people were out skiing. About 1 pm Paul was out on this deck removing snow and said he heard the winds start up very high out of Prince William Sound. About 3 PM we had gust to 44 mph. With the shinook winds the temperatures rose to a high of 43 and the snow was melting fast.

Birdfeeder

We keep the oiled sunflower seeds in two of these feeders. There are a number of birds that like the one located at the edge of our deck including the Redpoll, Pine Grosbeak, Bohemiam Waxwing, Chickadee and the Black-billed Magpie (which is a much larger scavanger bird and will keep the other birds away when he comes around). The second feeder is nearer the Center but there are a couple large trees near it and a resident squirrel that thinks this feeder is his. He keeps so many birds away that we only have to fill this one about every third time.

Pine Grosbeak (male)

This beautiful red bird is a male pine grosbeak and frequent the birdfeeders around the center.