Sings of early spring: cop stop, indoor cats, college studies, bike rider, water in the road - the study of the young writer that will break hearts

I decided to look around, and see if I could spot the signs of early spring in Wasilla and nearby environs. The first thing that I saw was this police car parked behind the little red car that had been driven by a driver who was undoubtedly feeling pretty uncomfortable right then.

This was a sure sign of spring - a driver being pulled over by a traffic cop.

True, you see cops pulling drivers over in the winter, fall and summer as well as spring, but the difference is the rotting snow in the background.

When you see a car pulled over by a cop and there is rotting snow in the background, then you can be pretty certain it is springtime.

One of these days soon, I must bite the bullet and replace this cracked windshield before I get pulled over, too.

As soon as I do replace it, the new one will be struck by a flying stone and will get cracked, too.

I hate it when new windshields get cracked.

Of course, when you spot a cat sitting inside its people's apartment looking just like this, then you know for certain it is spring.

So here is Junipurr, a cat of spring.

Wait a minute. I took these pictures one week ago today at Lisa and Bryce's apartment after I had photographed the Lady Whalers winning the state championship and the young Barrow scientists competing in the Alaska Science and Engineering Fair. I just didn't have the chance to post them until now.

Last Saturday was the 19th - one full day before spring

My bad. These are not spring shots at all.

But they sure look like spring. Here is Zed. Zed is very hard to photograph in Lisa's apartment because it is always pretty dark in there and his fur is so black. Plus, he is shy. If he figures out you are photographing him, he will hide.

But I am a determined, dedicated and resourceful photographer, so naturally I succeeded in taking his photo.

I didn't even look, either. I shot it with my eyes closed. I knew where he was, so I didn't need to open my eyes. I was too tired to open my eyes.

Here is Lisa, studying hard on spring break, and Bryce, playing video games.

Now I am back to yesterday, when I spotted this cyclist pedalling up Church Road.

I had just been to Metro Cafe, where I shot:

Through the Window Metro Study, #5,187: Carmen and two old friends who were surprised to meet each other in Metro Cafe.

This is the story:

When the young woman to the side of Carmen entered Metro Cafe yesterday, she was not thinking anything at all about the man on Carmen's other side. Same thing with him. Although they had know each other years ago and had worked together at Pedro Bay, they were not thinking of each other at all. They had not even seen each other in three to four years, so why would they be thinking about each other?

And then they saw each other, and recognized each other.

And it all happened in Metro Cafe.

I had them tell me their names and, because I have learned that I often forget names that I am certain I will remember, I pulled out my iPhone, turned on the recorder and had them speak into it and tell me their names. This way, I would not forget and because I would not forget, I had no real need to remember, because the memory was right there in my iPhone.

So, just now, I pulled my iPhone out to pull up my memory of their names.

And the whole recording was gone. I don't know what happened to it. It was just gone.

Ha! Can you deny that a pair of mated mallards strolling through a Wasilla parking lot is a sure sign of spring?

And how about young love? Hence we have:

Study of the Young Writer, Shoshana, #1: with her boyfriend, Justin - the study to break the hearts of of my young, single, male readers...

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Following The King's Speech, Jobe stands ready to walk

I did, indeed, break away from this desk, grab Margie, drive to town and go to the movie. We didn't even have to pay, because Melanie had given us a gift card to Century 21 in Anchorage for Christmas, so finally we used part of it. We saw, The Kings Speech, which I rather enjoyed.

Afterward, we headed to Jake and Lavina's. I knew that if Jobe had taken his first steps, we would have heard about. As we had heard no such thing, I hoped that he might take his first steps during our short visit.

Even though he cannot yet walk, he came out to greet us before we reached the door. Kalib observed from inside the front room.

Margie had grown almost desperate to see her grandsons again. Soon, she had Jobe on her lap, hugging and cuddling him.

Jobe noticed his grandpa.

Kalib ate jello with a spoon.

Then he stood on his dad's leg and did some cussing.

Actually, he didn't cuss. I just wanted to add a little drama to the scene.

I would have let you think so, but then I would have gotten in trouble with the female members of the family.

The males would all have been proud.

Kalib with his mom. She is cussing at him!

I JOKES! I JOKES!

I think I am in trouble now, anyway - even though I have clarified things.

Jobe spots Melanie coming and cusses at her.

Then Kalib and Melanie spot a neighbor carrying her baby to the car to go a nearby restaurant, where they will dine on raise\in and cucumber soup, with olives.

They do not cuss at her, because it is not polite to cuss at innocent neighbors.

Okay - time to get serious now. Learning to walk is serious stuff.

Next, I lay down on the floor between Jobe and the TV. I hoped Jobe might take his first steps, so that I could photograph the moment.

He stood, did not step, and then plopped down on his butt.

But he got right back up and stood again. Melanie came dashing over, excited to see where this action might lead.

Oh, boy! He is standing good! Will he walk?

He is contemplating it. I know he can do it. He's just got to decide he's going to and then he will.

"Go kid, go! Walk!" Muzzy give him some nose encouragement.

But he doesn't walk. He again plops down on his butt, crawls to his Aunt Melanie, stands up using her leg for support and turns to watch the TV, on which the movie "Up" is playing. Melanie covers his eyes. She thinks he watchs too much TV and does not approve.

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Kivgiq 2011: Six frames of Tikigaq women dancers

I hate to ask for more patience - a lot more patience - once again, but I am going to, because I now have a new plan on how to go about completing my posting of Kivgiq. I have changed the plan for two reasons. First, when I originally decided that I would post massive amounts of pictures here, I did not think that I was going to be able to dedicate a whole Uiñiq magazine to this Kivgiq. I thought that I would have just a few pages of Kivgiq in the Uiñiq that I am working on right now, so I would not be able to include many pictures at all.

I wanted people to be able to see the pictures, so I thought, "well, I'll just put them on the blog."

Now, while it is not yet absolutely certain, it looks like I will likely get to do a Kivgiq Uiñiq.

When people open that Uiñiq and look at the pictures, I want them to be seeing most of the images for the first time. But if all the pictures that wind up in the magazine appear in this blog first, there will no surprises.

So I thought, "well, I will do a serious edit and I will put the best ones aside for Uiñiq and fill this blog with second, third, fourth and fifth best and then Uiñiq can still be fresh."

But now I don't want all the best that appear here to just be second best, at best.

Plus, for me to figure out which is best and second best is more work than probably just about anyone imagines.

Right now, after having devoted several days to doing my first and second edits of Kivgiq, I have created a working pool of 2000 images to draw from.

But that's still a lot to boil down into first and seconds and thirds and when I sat down this morning with those 2000 working pool pictures in my editor to pick out 30 or 40 to post today, I thought, "how am I going to do it, without spending every minute of this day working on it?"

I have my Lightroom editor so that it shows six decent-sized thumbnail images at a time.

So, when I sat down at my computer and looked at my editor, six of the 2000 images in the working pool showed on my screen.

I suddenly decided that I would just post those six images and save the rest until I can get my Uiñiq done.

So here they are, the six images of the 2000 in the working pool that were on my screen when I sat down: women of the great Tikigaq Dance Group of Point Hope.

I did use one of them earlier, but I am keeping it as part of the six.

When I make Uiñiq magazine, there are always many, many, pictures that I want to use and that I know people would like to see, but I just can't fit them all in. So, as I work on Uiñiq, I will organize all these images into various categories. Then, after Uiñiq comes out and people get a chance to see it, I will do some more postings that will include both images from Uiñiq and the images that I could not fit in but that I know people will want to see.

Maybe by then, I can pick up some good animation techniques, so that I can do some sequences where one image flows into the next to create the effect of motion but not to look like video. Maybe I can find some good sound recordings and add a little bit of sound, too, so that people unfamiliar with the music can hear the beauty and power of it.

Then there is another factor in my decision. There is simply no way around it. I am exhausted right now. I have hit the wall, big time. I am always a hard worker, but in the past few months I have responded to certain situations by going into overdrive, by essentially working on one thing or another from the time I get up to the time I go to bed, often with only a few hours of very poor sleep separating those times.

Now, my work has become a blur to me. I can't see my own work. I look at it but it and my eyes focus on it and it is right there but it is a blur and I can't see it. I need to look away from it, for a short while, in order to see it again.

So, after I post this, I am going to drop everything, grab my wife, take her to town, go see a movie and buy something good to eat.

That is what I am going to do.

I will yet do justice to Kivgiq 2011, but just in a different manner and on a different time frame than I had originally envisioned.

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Study of the young writer, Shoshana; my first bike ride of spring; whales spotted off Barrow - Kivgiq whaling dance

Study of the young writer Shoshana, # 3 Million even: After an anonymous blog reader bought me an Americano and pastry at Metro Cafe, Shoshana finds a chocolate frosted biscotti.

If Metro Cafe runs out of fresh cinnamon rolls, then I will sometimes go for a biscotti. And the fact is, the chocolate-covered almond biscotis are damn good.

Last week, I shot a few studies of the young writer that I have not yet had a chance to post. I still will. And when I do, I fear the posting will make some readers feel very sad.

A little after 8:00 PM in the evening, I took my first bike ride of this spring. I don't know what the temperature was, but the puddles that had formed earlier in the 37 degree heat of the day had refrozen. Still, it was warm enough that  I had no need for gloves and was fine in a light jacket.

I enjoyed the ride, but it also caused me to feel very sad. I could not help but think of Soundarya, and how she had looked forward to visiting us here in Alaska, to riding a bike, and to experience snow for the first time.

Naturally, a dog came after me. I wasn't scared of the dog, but I was a little scared for the dog. This is Seldon Road and Seldon Road is a busy road.

I have been hearing reports of bowhead whales being spotted in the lead offshore from Barrow. Pretty early. Every year, a little earlier, it seems. When I was first hanging around on the Arctic Slope, the first sightings usually seemed to come in the last half of April. So maybe it won't be long until whaling starts - depending on what the wind does, what the currents do, what the ice conditions are.

One never actually can predict until it happens.

So here is a "pre-whaling" shot, taken in February at Kivgiq: youth of the Tagiugmiut Dancers of Barrow, performing a whale hunting dance.

No, I did not shoot it in black and white, I shot in color. But I wanted to match it up with some of my old black and white whaling work and so I converted it. When I put it in Uiñiq, it will be color. Truth is, although I do everything in color these days, I still like black and white the best. 

Not everybody understands this.

I can never make digital black and white look as good as film black and white, though.

Maybe this is not quite true. I shot this picture with a slow, 5.6 telephoto lens and to do it I had to push my ISO to 6400. There was no film that held together this well when pushed to ISO 6400. 

Circumstances have pulled me away from my Kivgiq work for awhile, but I am going to open it back up today and so I intend to finally post a final (for now) set of Kivgiq 2011 pictures tomorrow.

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Hopson Middle School scientists study bowhead whales and lava lamps, compare clams to humans, make music with glasses, examine declining permafrost and make tea

Okay - I now have enough information to finalize my post on the young scientists from Barrow's Hopson Middle School who participated in the Alaska Science & Engineering Fair, held at Begich Middle School in Anchorage.

I begin with Molly Adams, who studied the bowhead whale and received an award for her work.

Molly posed the question, "why do bowhead whales float when harpooned?"

She advanced this hypothesis: "I think whales will float when harpooned because water is more dense than the whale. I know this because harpooned whales float. The whalers only put one float on the whale to keep it up when they harpoon it because of all the blubber."

She conducted experiments in which she floated blubber in different mixtures of water mixed with sodium chloride (table salt), baking soda, epsom salt and just plain tap water.

In all these cases, the blubber floated.

Trenton Sovalik likes to watch the mysterious colored globules inside a lava lamp float up, sink, float up, sink and just keep doing it over and over - but he did not why it happened. So he made lava lamps in three bottles to find out.  He mixed oil, water, food coloring and salt together and applied heat to the bottom. 

He determined that when the oil is close to the heat source it expands, becomes less dense and rises to the top. There, it cools, sinks toward the bottom, turning wax-like, then heats up and the process repeats itself.

Emily Brower loves music, so she made her own musical instruments out of bottles. She found that she could control the pitch each bottle would ring at when struck by filling each bottle with a different level of water.

Update: I have just learned that today is Emily's birthday. I don't which birthday, but as soon as I find out, I will add it in. 

Happy birthday, Emily!

Randy Patkotak explored the impacts of global warming on permafrost and discovered that the permafrost is shrinking.

Nicole Anderson's project was "Clams vs. Humans" and she worked off the hypothesis that "the muscles of a clam will be similar to the muscles of a human."

To find out if these was indeed the case, "we used a standard clam and a standard human. We then precided to compare and contrast their muscles."

To accomplish this, it was necessary to engage in a little dissection work, so she had to get out her dissecting knife, scissors and screwdriver and then start cutting and dissecting...

...clams, that is. Nicole dissected clams... to do her study of human muscles, she went to the internet.

Her analysis revealed that "the muscles in a clam and human help them move. The clam and human muscles give them strength. The muscles in the clam and human are strong in the body."

Nicole's conclusion:

"There are similarities and difference between clams and humans. Both have muscles. Humans have over 500 muscles and clams have three main muscles."

Ariana Salamat loves tea and did a study of tea and how sugar dissolves in. I am not certain what all she discovered, but I agree with her - tea is good.

View images as slides (includes high school scientists from yesterday)