Election eve, election morning in Wasilla - my search for a single Scott McAdams sign among a plethora of Joe Millers; sadly, the day begins very badly for someone

As election eve electioneering in Wasilla is aimed primarily at motorists driving by in cars, I decided that I would shoot my pictures of Wasilla electioneering entirely from the car. I would do it at dusk, and in the early AM, before dawn, to match the times when commuters would be pouring back into and leaving the valley to get back and forth from jobs in Anchorage.

I actually intended to start a little bit earlier than I did, but just as I was getting ready to go, Jimmy, my good black cat, did something on my desk that caused my computer screen to suddenly go black, then light back up just long enough for me to see error messages flashing all over the place as hard-drive icons mysteriously disappeared. Then the screen went dark again.

I could not get the monitor to come back up, so I had to shut everything down and start over again. It took 15 or 20 minutes, but finally my screen came back up, all my hard drives signed back on and so I got in the car and drove towards downtown Wasilla - if there is any place in Wasilla that can accurately be described as, "downtown."

I don't think there is - but there is an often frenetically busy area, where the Parks Highway runs through the midst of malls, stores, kiosks, fast food joints and various other enterprises, so that is what I refer to when I speak of "downtown Wasilla."

Here I am, on Lucille Street, headed towards downtown Wasilla, at dusk.

Then I was on the highway and it was busy. I had to stop at a red light, alongside this truck. 

I had hoped to get a red light at this corner, because I knew that is where the heaviest action would be, but I didn't. It was green. Up ahead, I saw a preponderance of Joe Miller signs. That's pretty much how it is in Wasilla - lots of Joe Miller signs.

In fact, it looked to me like Joe Miller had this corner all to himself... but wait... there in the shadows... the dark sign that hardly anyone can see or read... Harry Crawford! The Democratic candidate up against Don Young for the House!

This has been both a noisy and a quiet election. There has been so much noise surrounding the Senatorial race that all the other contests have seemed quiet, almost like they weren't happening.

It is an unusual thing to describe any race that Don Young is in as quiet, but, the House race has been pretty quiet.

And so has the race for Governor. These other races have been so quiet that has been a challenge for House, Gubernatorial, and, for hell's sake - local - candidates to capture the people's attention with everyone focused on McAdams........... Murkowski and ........................................................................................................................................................................................ Miller.

(Listed in order of my personal preference)

It's a fact, though, that here in Wasilla, Joe Miller dominates. Don't ask me why. 

As far as I can recall, one person was denied liberty in this election: Tony Hopfinger. 

And yet somehow, we must all live together. As Jon Stewart said, we build and share the same roads, where we all yield to each other in our turn. We do this everyday.

These are my neighbors. I disagree with them profoundly and believe that if they prove to be successful today, we, they and I, will all pay the price together.

Despite all that, we've all got to get along and not shoot each other.

In Alaska, we pretty much all have guns, you know - conservatives and liberals alike.

And, despite all the scare whipped up by those who would cynically use the fears of others for their political advantage, nobody in the Obama administration has made the slightest effort to take our guns away.

And we all fly the same flag. 

This had nothing to do with the electioneering. The officer was pursuing a speeder. I was not speeding. I was sitting at a red light, waiting for it to change so that I could turn left.

Some say that she is a moderate and that we should vote for her to stop Joe Miller. Once, I did see her as a moderate and I liked her. And I still like her. I have met her a few times and talked to her and she is a very likable person.

But I'm voting for Scott McAdams.

For one thing, I invested a great deal of faith and money in a health insurance company that turned out to be opposed to my health care. A couple of years ago, my doctor found some conditions in me that, if not watched closely, could easily turn to cancer and kill me. To insure that this would not happen, I was told that I would need to have certain procedures done every year.

If I could do this, then I should be okay.

And what did my insurance company do? They jacked up my rates and jacked up my rates until I could no longer pay them. Now I have no insurance but I do have preexisting conditions. The only thing that I can do is hope that I soon make a big financial score and can pay for these procedures out of pocket - as I am a year behind right now - or I can just hang on and hope that I make it okay without these procedures for another four years, until the Health Care bill kicks fully in.

Yet, she opposed that bill, and despite the lies that she accurately accuses Joe Miller of telling about her, tried to repeal it. She has promised to try again, should she win. 

She has actively voted against my health care - potentially against my life. In her promise to try again, she has made it clear that she would take even my four-year hope away from me.

I have many friends whom I love and respect who are voting for her - some of them just to stop Joe Miller.

But I am voting for my life - and the lives of others who either can't get health insurance or find that their insurance companies oppose their health care. 

Only Scott McAdams has said he would work with the basic strengths of the bill, tweak out the weaknesses, and strive to improve, not to kill, weaken, or defund, it.

I will vote for Scott McAdams. I will vote for my life.

And for those who protest "higher taxes" - even though the health care bill is primarily a private industry plan, consider this:

Over the course of the time that I carried my insurance, I spent somewhere between $100,000 and $150,000 in premiums. I got very little back for that. I was prescribed medications for various things - but my insurance company never bought me a single pill. I spent hundreds of dollars a month, out of pocket. They never covered any routine care, and, besides what I paid them, I paid tens of thousands of dollars out of pocket for the medical care that my insurance always found a way to deny me.

What if, instead of into the pockets of an insurance company that saw my health care only as obstacle to their profits, I had paid that money, even as a tax, into a federal insurance plan that would actually cover my health care, help me, and when problems arise, be there for me, rather than to seek to find a way not to pay and even to force me out?

Right now, our health insurance practices are absurd. Up until you qualify for Medicare, insurance companies - perhaps not all, but certainly those such as mine - keep looking for ways to deny you help. If you hang on and survive in good health until you are 65, then they will likely pocket the money that you spent with them and then turn you over to Medicare, where a whole new set of tax dollars will now have to pay up your care.

Wouldn't it be better to have all the premiums that you spent over the decades, either out of your own pocket or your employer's, to be there for your care health care, once you turn 65, rather then to go to enrich CEO's and shareholders who never cared about you, anyway?

So I will vote for Scott McAdams.

But where are his signs?

I did not see a single one.

Just a flood of Joe Miller, and a spattering of Lisa Murkowski.

Well, enough of that. I did not mean to get carried away like that. I did not mean to politic. I was just going to matter-of-factly say: here are the signs, vote as you will. My anger got the best of me. Now, I will let readers enjoy looking at the signs.

I get a chuckle out of this one.

So that was last night. This is this morning. I decided that on election morning, I would have breakfast at Mat-Su Valley Family Restaurant, then shoot a few more election day pictures from the car.

Here I am, at Family, where, as seen in their reflection upon the window, Connie takes an order.

As I sat there eating and sipping, a big number of emergency vehicles came by, lights flashing, sirens whining but quickly going silent. I knew that the accident had to be close by, that someone's day had gotten off to a bad start.

A very bad start. It happened very close to where I had been eating. I am back in my car, now, but still in the parking lot in front of Family Restaurant.

A terrible start. I hope not as terrible as it looks.

I hope they found success in their mission.

Just down the road, sign wavers had returned - two, at least. Both for Joe Miller. It was about 8:30 AM. Maybe other sign wavers were just waiting for daylight.

Please note the "Luv" charge on the one sign. That's the thing. It is a lie. Lisa Murkowski stood as a thorn in Obama's side. She showed him no love at all.

But you know what? When it comes to so much of campaigning, and certainly with this campaign, truth means nothing. It is an alien concept.

Wait... what is that just beyond them... just beyond the Harry Crawford sign? Is it a Scott McAdams sign?

I turn around in the Target parking lot, so I can go back and have a better look.

Yes, it is! It is a Scott McAdams sign!

I still didn't see any for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ethan Berkowitz or his running mate, my friend of three decades, Diane Benson.

I love this valley, I love Wasilla, but, sometimes, it can feel like a very lonely place.

Now I am driving down Lucille Street, headed back home. The 9:00 AM hour is drawing nigh.

I pass by Metro Cafe, where people, Republican, Democrat, Independent and indifferent, are getting their morning coffee.

I will stop by this afternoon.

I could have pulled in to vote, but I will wait until later in the day. Then I will come back here to Tanaina Elementary with Margie and we will cast our ballots.

I continue on, towards home, and see a boy waiting for a school bus.

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Arctic people join Larry Aiken in Anchorage to celebrate his birthday and wish him many more; I drive home through snow, atop ice

Yesterday was Larry Aiken's 56th birthday. In the early evening, I drove to Anchorage for the party. As recently noted, Larry has come down from Barrow to get his cancer treated.

We gathered around for pie and cake. Celebrants filled their cups with lemonade and Pepsi and then made a toast to Larry on his birthday - a toast for long life and many more birthdays.

There were others who came and went during the course of the party, but these are those who were present with Larry when I took this group picture: Charlie, Candace, Lloyd, James (who had come down from Anaktuvuk Pass for eye surgery), Martha, Art and Harley.

Everybody sang happy birthday.

Then there was another toast.

Of course, I was there too and I took this picture to reflect my presence - us, gathered together in lightness and warmth in defiance of the cold dark beyond the window.

Yet, even beyond the window there was warmth. We went out. A light, wet, snow was falling. We gathered around the fire. Larry spoke about how much the warmth and support of his friends meant to him now. He has felt fear, and has shed tears. He will feel more fear and shed more tears, yet in friendship and love he finds courage and faith.

Although we could not hear it here, we all knew that in Barrow, many people were calling in to KBRW's daily "Birthday Program" to wish Larry a happy one.

Martha took my camera away from me so that she could take some pictures that included me. So here is the one that I like the best - me, Larry and Art.

I think I will post it as my Facebook Profile picture for awhile.

The drive home was a bit nerve-wracking. The rain that had begun in the afternoon had now turned to snow. The temperature stood right at freezing. The highway was slick and dangerous. Some drivers, apparently new to this place and this kind of thing, creapt along at 10 mph. Others, overconfident, proud and impatient, weaved and shot their way through the traffic in their big four-wheel drive vehicles at 60 plus - until finally the flow just bogged down to an unpassable 40.

These are the ones that you most often see turned over at the side of the road - big, four-wheel drive vehicles driven by people who do not understand that the laws of physics also apply to them.

Fortunately, I saw no bad mishaps on this drive home.

For a Thursday night, the traffic seemed pretty heavy to me. I wondered why? Sarah Palin had thrown a rally in Anchorage for Joe Miller. I wondered if that might be the reason - thousands of Palin/Miller supporters streaming back into the valley after a rousing rally for Joe Miller.

But no... according to news reports, only 300 to 400 people attended - and that includes the Anchorage people as well as the valley.

So that wasn't it.

Maybe the traffic just seemed heavy, because weather conditions caused drivers to bunch up.

It took longer than usual, but finally I was in Wasilla, where the snowfall greatly eased. Then I was on Brockton, approaching the very dark corner ahead. Fortunately, I have good headlights. They cut through the darkness before me and showed me the way to the warmth and light of home.

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Skateboarder gets caught in the snow - and other scenes from a hopeful but rather minor and insignificant fall

It snowed a little bit yesterday. Not much, and today it appears to mostly be melting in the searing, unseasonable, 40 degree heat, but it was enough to give me a little hope.

Perhaps this guy can soon trade his skateboard in for a pair of skis.

I know, it doesn't look like it, but it is snowing in this picture. The temperature is 33 degrees. If you could see the full-size version of this, the cross that marks Grotto Iona would be clearly visible at the end of the visible part of road, by the west-bound car. You can somewhat make the cross out in the slideshow version, but to get the full impact, you need to see the full-rez version, which, unfortunately, I can't put in this blog.

By the time I reached this trail 10 minutes later, it was beginning to stick.

Our back yard.

The people who live in this house got cold, so they built a big fire outside and opened up the garage door to let the heat come in and circulate through the house. Personally, I can think of more efficient ways to heat a home.

Shrock Road.

Corner Study.

Then I drive over the Little Su, where Rex, Ama and I hung out just the day before.

They say this is a La Nina year and that the La Nina is the strongest that it has ever been since the mid-50's. La Nina years are supposed to be cold. They are the years that the cold Arctic air masses that come from the north completely overpower the warm flow that comes up from the south, off the Pacific.

So far, though, it is warm - very warm for this time of year.

Even so, the frogs have buried themselves in the mud where they will remain frozen until breakup.

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The bite of winter, coming on - Update, 1:01 AM, Monday: Violet is her name

Originally posted at 4:58 PM, Sunday, September 26.

The wind was tearing when I drove out of Wasilla Friday afternoon, gusts slamming so hard into the car that at times it felt like we were going to be blown off the road. Worse yet, it had whipped up the powdered-sugar fine glacier dust and filled the air with it, irritating my throat and lungs and, judging by his little cough, Jobe's too. Our valley trees had been stripped of much of their fall color. The air felt cold, too, the way it does just before winter sets in. Margie dropped me off at the airport and soon my flight was being hammered and buffeted as it climbed through the turbulence roiling off the mountains, but at altitude, the air was smooth. As we descended into Fairbanks, we again encountered turbulence so strong as to cause the stewardess to be lifted from the floor and me to fear for her safety. I had an hour-and-half layover in Fairbanks, extended by delay into two-and-half hours. In the wintertime, when we drop into Fairbanks from South Central, we expect the temperature to be colder there. In the summer, we expect it to be warmer. The weather my last two stops in Fairbanks, the most recent just two weeks ago, had been very warm. But on this day, as I walked back to the plane and took this picture, I was struck by the cold bite in the wind. Winter must be coming on.

There was no snow when I arrived in Barrow. When I first became familiar with the town, back when I was producing the original incarnation of Uiñiq magazine, the snow had always set in for good by now, usually about the 20th of the month. Sometimes, I would hear some of the older elders speak of how things had warmed up, how, when they were young, snow and freeze-up would often set in by the end of August. In recent years, it has often not set in until early October. When I woke up Saturday morning, I found that the snow had come.

I walked to Pepe's for breakfast and saw that the moon was up.

Coming home, I walked by the Chukchi Sea of the Arctic Ocean. The water was dark and turbulent. The wind caught tufts of foam and sent it flying by, in delicately frozen tufts.

The Friends of Tuzzy Library had brought me up to talk about doing Gift of the Whale and to show slides from the book. As starting time drew near, the wind was tearing, snow was flying and I wondered if any more than the five or six people who had already gathered when I took this picture through the library window - very near to starting time - would show up.

As it turned out, people did come, pretty close to what would be the full, comfortable, capacity of the library to hold them. We ate a potluck dinner and then I spoke and showed my slides. It was great fun. They gave out door prizes afterward, including a few copies of Gift of the Whale. Anna Jack, here with husband Simmick, won the first copy. She told me that was good, as she had worn her first copy out. Authors like to hear this kind of thing.

This young lady, held in the arms of her father Bryan Thomas, was youngest person to buy a book, which she had me autograph. I feel terrible, as I have forgotten her name. I thought I would remember it after I addressed a book to her, but I didn't. I don't know about this getting older stuff.

Afterward, I stepped outside. The snow had momentarily stopped flying. This is the bowhead skull that sits between the entrance to the Tuzzy Library and the Iñupiat Heritage Center.

As I walked back to the house of Roy Ahmaogak, my host, I heard a knock on a window to the side. I looked and saw the gentleman at right waving, and gesturing for me to come in. I did, and James and Ellen served me tea and ice cream. Thank you, James and Ellen. Thank you, Friends of Tuzzy. Thank you, Barrow. Thank you, Arctic Slope. I just got a call from Melanie. She says it snowed in Anchorage this morning, but didn't stick. Wouldn't it be nice if we got to enjoy a real, old-fashioned, Alaska winter this year? Except that we don't have any firewood. The summer that just ended was just so tight that we weren't able to get any. We had better get some, soon, though.

The update:

As it happened, two hours after I made this post at 4:58 PM, Sunday, Roy Ahmaogak drove me to the Barrow airport, helped me carry my bags into the Alaska Airlines terminal, disappeared and then quickly reappeared to tell me that Bryan and his young daughter whose name I had forgotten were also here at the terminal.

Here they are: Bryan and one year old Violet, whose name I know now and have recorded in my history of the world as I experience it.

Then I was out on the tarmac, walking toward the Alaska Airlines jet that would take me to Anchorage. As I walked toward it, I wondered if, anywhere in this world, there is another land so magnificent, great and wonderful as Alaska.

I do not wish to offend any of my Outisde readers, but, no, I don't think there is.

And lucky me - right here in the midst of it!! Surrounded by it - traveling through it, calling it home - my home, that I still yearn to know so much better than I do.

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Three images from coffee drive: hot dog in puddle; dropping seeds; a small spot of rain

I have no time to blog today, so I'm going to keep it very simple. After I made my 4:00 o'clock run to Metro, I drove home the long way and saw this dog standing in this puddle.

The dog must have been hot - a hot dog who wanted to cool off.

And I drove by this man who appeared to be dropping seeds in a cleared lot. I don't know what kind of seeds. Radishes, perhaps.

Up ahead, I spotted a place where the rain had hit the ground in a small, well defined spot and had left a border on the road. When I drove into the rain spot, it was still sprinkling there - very lightly. Out of curiousity, I turned left down a side road, drove for about two or three hundred yards and came upon a rain border as distinct as this one. I then drove back onto the road you see here, continued on, and drove across the far side border a few hundred yards beyond the top of this little hill.

Now, as for me, I am in a bit of predicament. I feel an urgent need to catch the plane north tomorrow morning, but the resource that will enable me to purchase the ticket has not yet come in and I don't think it is going to in time for me to do that. Plus, I really need to get some new Arctic gear before I leave on this trip. Until I get those resources, I am stuck. I think I will be okay even if I leave as late as Thursday, likely even Friday, but I am growing nervous and would like to get going.

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