We had a super busy family day. Our Saturdays start with soccer camp in the morning for both boys. However, this morning, Ben was too tired to play soccer. Susanna took Will to soccer, and I took Ben to run errands with me (i.e. pick up lumber for the boat project).
While Susanna and Will were out, I helped Ben get fitted on Will’s old (okay, until today, current) bike and watched as he rode up and down the road a couple of times to check the fit. I was also able to move some cherry lumber to the workshop loft. I plan to build some more furniture later this summer and want to get the lumber a little more dried out. I’ll have to move some oak up tomorrow.
The afternoon brought more kids. Two of the neighbor kids came over as well as one of Will’s friends from school. I spent the afternoon turning a couple of large pieces of plywood into smaller and hopefully boat-shaped pieces of plywood – interrupted to make several play knives/daggers/swords for the kids.
I’m tired. I think I will take a long hot shower tonight and be not too far behind the boys in going to bed.
We had a busy day. I would write all about it, but I’m too tired to spend enough effort to make a long post make sense. Or at least get the post to what passes as making sense (to me). So I’ll keep this short (which I’m sure Susanna is thankful for) plus post some pictures from today.
The boys had soccer practice this morning. I got to sit and watch, so I’m not as tired as they are. They spent most of the afternoon playing basketball. Or make-believe Pokemon with the basketball. I don’t think I’m making sense. But I don’t think they did either, so I’m not too worried. Anyway, it was some sort of game somewhat resembling basketball, but different.
Will pushing Michael on our walk down the street. He needed a snack and a break from his brother.
Will got in trouble last night for complaining too much about helping clean up the kitchen. So he got to make and clean up all of lunch. He was upset at first because all he knew how to make was peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. And he is sick of them because that is what he makes every day for lunch at school. So I showed him how to make grilled cheese sandwiches. He made all but the first sandwich. With almost no help (though with supervision). Now he can make two things in the kitchen. He only burned himself once (a little bit). On the same hand that he had cut at breakfast trying to slice a loaf of bread (again a small injury). Yes, learning to cook can be painful. Just wait until he learns home repair.
Susanna and I cleaned the patio after lunch, cleaning off two years worth of leaves and fighting back the encroaching yard. It was much-needed. I had a chance to start sanding the bottom of the boat in preparation for painting. We are switching the bottom from blue to green.
Tonight we get to babysit Michael. It was a surprise (to me). Susanna had agreed a month ago, but we all had forgotten about it. Luckily we had no major pans (other than enjoy the nice weather). I actually got Will to help me take Michael for a walk down the road. Will even went to the neighbor’s house to borrow a stroller. We are finishing the night with two very tired adults, two exhausted and sleeping Curtis boys, and one not quite ready to sleep toddler.
The rain mostly stopped. The temperature outside is in the 50s. It almost feels like spring. I think the whole family is enjoying the warmer weather and being able to be outside. It is good to see the everyone enjoying the day.
Ben is over at a friend’s house this afternoon (I’m assuming he is having fun – he always does). Will has a friend over and they are having fun, though I’m pretty sure they got their shoes soaking wet trying to explore the stream/river in the back yard. Susanna is starting a puzzle after working on lesson plans for next week for most of the afternoon. The dogs can finally spend most of the day outside, and I can time in the workshop (without having to blast the heater).
Tucker helping me in the workshop. Photo by Susanna.Will and Shane taking a break from playing to let me take a picture.Progress on the second nightstand.
The stream behind the barn flooding out the bottom of the chicken coop.
I like the rain. But enough already. The seasonal stream in the backyard has turned into a seasonal river in the backyard. At least the rain is slowing down for now.
A quick walk around the yard (in the very squishy mud) finds our stream overflowing its banks. Not that there were really any defined banks. Hopefully it doesn’t erode too much from under the back of the garage.
The water has flooded under the workshop. Luckily the only things stored on the ground there are the canoe (and it should be okay), some aluminum ladders, and a pile of not-very nice lumber. Though there may be some sapele and cedar on the bottom of that stack. Oh well.
And a quick trip to the basement… let’s just say that it is much wetter than normal. Luckily nothing should be stored on the floor in the basement. Though I’m sure the cat doesn’t enjoy having to find her way around on the steam pipes to stay dry.
Light meals on the submarine. The supply officer hadn’t ordered enough food for the entire underway, so the meals were rationed. The supply officer wasn’t happy. The XO kept telling him to think of it as a grand adventure, like Shackleton’s trip to the north pole. I don’t think that helped. There was no creamer for the coffee when I arrived, and they ran out of ketchup before I left. However, there was lots of pudding for dessert.
Great meals at the ice camp.
A view of the broken ice from our flight back to Prudhoe Bay
Washing the dishes at the ice camp for my first dinner there.
Teaching the Air Force Colonel that was with Lt. Gen. Handy (Commander Alaska Command – visiting the camp for two days) to play cribbage. And then losing to him. I mean. The Air Force. And new at the game. At least he didn’t skunk me.
The Army Lt. Col. that was with the general telling the submarine crew that he couldn’t spend the night onboard because his wife forbid him to get underway on the submarine.
The three-star general standing on the ice for over three hours to just watch the submarine surface without a warming hut. Did I mention he was a three-star?
The outside “urinal” boxes at the edge of camp. Cold during the day. Even colder at night. With a threat of polar bears. It made one think twice if you could get back to sleep or really needed to pee.
Unheated outhouses. But not for peeing.
Prudhoe Bay. No alcohol. No restaurants. Nothing to do but try to leave.
Will calling me at 3 in the morning. It was 7 here and he was just calling me back.
The XO waking me up at 8am Sunday morning (I had been awake until 2am teaching one of the watchstanders about presetting torpedoes) telling me that “the helicopter will be here in 15 minutes, you need to be packed and on the helicopter.”
No showers at the ice camp.
The totally cool hole in the ice in the command hut. The team melted the hole when they set up the camp. The water beneath the camp was 2 miles deep. I was going to bring water back from the camp, but I forgot. I was more focused on trying to get to Anchorage and not have to spend the night in Prudhoe Bay. Did I mention there was no alcohol at Prudhoe Bay.
Falling off the sled behind the snowmobile on the ride from the airplane to the camp. It was an amusing start to my trip there. At least the chief on the back of the snowmobile thought so.
Not seeing any polar bears. But always wondering when taking a leak at night if that white blur in the distance (in the dark) had been there earlier in the day.
I’m sure I didn’t nearly cover it all…. but enough for the night.
I flew to the ice camp and spent time onboard the USS Hampton during ICEX 2014. Below is the official navy news release about the camp:
From Commander, Submarine Forces Public Affairs
140322-N-RB579-323 ICE CAMP NAUTILUS (March 22, 2014) Sailors aboard the Virginia-class attack submarine USS New Mexico (SSN 779) tie mooring lines after the submarine surfaces through the arctic ice during Ice Exercise (ICEX) 2014. ICEX 2014 is a U.S. Navy exercise highlighting submarine capabilities in an arctic environment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Joshua Davies/Released)
NORFOLK (NNS) — Commander, Submarine Forces (COMSUBFOR) announced an early end to Ice Camp Nautilus on March 23. The ice camp was a temporary structure built and operated especially for Ice Exercise 2014 (ICEX-2014).
Personnel at Ice Camp Nautilus, which is built into the ice floe north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, began a careful breakdown of the camp Sunday.
ICEX-2014 began March 17 and was scheduled to continue through March 30. However, large shifts in wind direction created instabilities in the wind-driven ice floes of the Arctic Ocean, and these changes in the prevailing winds between March 18th and March 20th led to multiple fractures in the ice near the camp. These cracks prevented the use of several airfields used for transporting personnel and equipment to the ice camp. The rapidly changing conditions of the ice, along with extremely low temperatures and poor visibility hampered helicopter operations and made sustaining the runway potentially risky.
The Virginia-class attack submarine USS New Mexico (SSN 779) and the Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Hampton (SSN 767) will continue to gather data and conduct ice-related exercises until they transit out from under the ice.
Submarines have conducted under-ice operations in the Arctic regions in support of inter-fleet transit, training, cooperative allied engagements and operations for more than 50 years. USS Nautilus (SSN 571) made the first submerged transit to the North Pole in 1958. USS Skate (SSN 578) was the first U.S. submarine to surface through arctic ice at the North Pole in March 1959. Since those events, the U.S. Submarine Force has completed more than 120 Arctic exercises with the last being conducted in 2012. The last ice camp was established in 2011. Since 1987, most of these have been conducted in conjunction with Royal Navy submarines.
For more news from Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, visit www.navy.mil/local/sublant/
Last weekend I flew to Anchorage, Alaska and then to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. From Prudhoe Bay we got on a small plane and flew about 150 miles north and landed on the ice. I spent the night on the camp. From the ice camp, I boarded a helicopter to fly out to meet the submarine for what was supposed to be a 10 day underway.
However, late this week, the ice around the camp started to break up a little bit, and the exercise was finished early. When we returned to the camp we could see the huge section of open water where the runway had been before we got underway (the camp had made a second runway when the first was lost). Here are some pictures from the camp:
Ready to board the flight to the ice camp. Cold weather gear and survival kits were required for the flight.
Sunset on the ice (the first night at the camp)
Very Swedish looking fuel drums. The helicopter is in the background.Waiting for the hatch to be cleared of ice before embarking the submarine for testing under the ice.
I started regularly blogging three years ago. Yes I know, I actually started this blog in November of 2010; but, I didn’t post anything between November 2010 and March 2011. I have written 340+ posts in that time, and recently just passed 100,000 written words
It is fun to go back and look at what I have written over the past couple of years. It is nice to see that my posts have gotten no more interesting nor have they stopped jumping around on random topics. But that is ADHD for you. Even though I can’t focus on writing on just one or two topics, I have been able to keep posting in the blog. Even if only one or two people actually read it.
Over the next three years, I will try to write another 100,000 words. I’ll try to post more pictures. I’ll continue to not try to focus on writing on one subject. That would be too boring anyway.
I’m mostly happy with the chicken coop I built last summer. The biggest problem is that I made the entire top a single hinged lid. It is heavy. With 6″ of snow on top of it is really really heavy.
The feeder for the chickens is inside the coop and requires that I lift the lid every week to refill the feed. One option would be to saw the roof in half, and have a left and right side that are easier to lift individually. Or I cold build a new feeder that can be refilled from the outside.
Susanna voted for the second one. She doesn’t like the chickens, and would appreciate being able to care for them without having to hang out with them in the coop.
Today I went to the box store and for less than $20 I picked up 3″ piping and connectors to make a new feeder. It is a simple feeder, with a tube to hold the feed on the outside of the coop and a tray in the coop. Even though you can’t easily tell in the pictures, the tray does have an end – the feeder doesn’t just dump the feed into the coop.
I installed and filled the feeder today. Hopefully the birds won’t stand on it and poop in their own food. But they probably will.
Overall, this was a quick easy project. It may have worked better with 4″ piping (it would have held a lot more food – almost twice as much). Or maybe I could have used a longer section of piping to hold more food.
Coop with the new feeder installed. I probably should paint the feeder to match the rest of the coop. Maybe later this spring.
Watching the Melodifestivalen 2014 finals live from Stockholm
Today was the final for Melodifestivalen 2014 – Sweden’s music competition for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Susanna is a huge fan of the contest.
The time zone difference means that it is a 2pm show local time. We pushed the streaming video to the house TV and the whole family watched. Susanna and Ben both dressed up for the show. Will, Targa, Tucker and I didn’t so much. But we all enjoyed the concert. It helped that the songs we liked did well in the end.
