The Battle over the Little Green Men (Updated)

by Robin; photos by Leslie

We walk every day on a loop road near our house called Charlijo.  It's got a huge meadow, so it is a change-up from the forest that surrounds us.  It's a lovely walk, with views of the Alaska range and lots of sun.

The only negative is that this one house has these ugly little green plastic men placed on the road to encourage driving slowly (for the children and pets they don't seem to have).  It's a dirt road.  People drive slowly here naturally.  But, these people really want to make damn sure they do.

Here they are! Aren't they amazingly ugly?

Many days on our walks, the little green men were laying on the ground.  Since it is a fairly windless area, it looked like someone probably intentionally hit them or pushed them down. So they would go down, then up, then down, then up.  We found the battle amusing and, frankly, were hoping someone just stole the things.  (I swear we haven't touched them.)

(added 5/23: Leslie saw the wind knock one down, so now we know that any gust could do it.  Therefore, it could be an entirely natural phenomenon.) 

One day we showed up and the people had scattered rocks around the little men as some sort of discouragement.  Do you think that will stop the wind?

So here are the rocks...even farther out in the road than the men are.

Frankly, the rocks really, really made me want to sneak out in the dead of night and steal those suckers.  But, alas, there is no dead of night in Alaska in May.  Maybe someone will do them in during the dark of winter? I can only hope so for the others who live on that road.

(Update May 27: The little green men, it turns out, are creating problems in other neighborhoods like this one. Thanks, Larry, for the link!  And, in chatting with a neighbor about them, they said the owners claim that someone was driving too fast in the neighborhood and rocks were being kicked up on their lawn.  The problem with that becomes this:  why do you put more and bigger rocks for the offending driver to hurl your way? )

No one would get away with these things in Santa Cruz, that is for sure.

Alaskans are such liars

More than one person told me that they hated April due to the breakup, during which mud and slush allegedly fill the landscape. They said that, really, there was no spring--just this horrible period between winter and summer. If you google "breakup Fairbanks," you will find this sort of quote:

"Browns and grays dominate the landscape, the snow that stays around is dirty, and mud reigns."

"Wee-Hoo! Breakup! Mud, slush, and bbq!"

"April is a month of waiting, as winter sports come to an end and summer activities are blocked by melt and mud."

"We like our break ups long, slow, and hard in Alaska.  Usually at least 4 weeks, longer if we can drag it out."

"...the resultant sea of mud is called breakup."

Give me a break!

Announcing some updates

We have updated three posts.  First, we updated the post about the Nenana Ice Classic with the winner's information.  It's a great story, particularly for those who love science.

Next, we keep meeting people (i.e. celebrities or quasi-celebrities)!  So we updated that post, too.

And lastly, I updated the post about the Alaskan preposition with photos (by Leslie of course) to illustrate.

The last of the snow

There isn't much snow left, but Ziggy takes full advantage of what there is. 

Celebrating Alaska’s Bounty

(by Leslie)
 

When I saw an ad in the Fairbanks paper for the end-of-the-year dinner presented by the UAF Culinary Arts Department students, I quickly called up to get reservations for Robin and me. Having gone through the culinary arts program at Cabrillo College in Aptos, California, I know what a great deal these sorts of dinners are.

This $100-a-plate meal, the ad said, was called “Celebrating Alaska’s Bounty,” and would consist of eight courses, using wherever possible sustainable, locally sourced ingredients. And, I learned when I called, it would include wine-pairings as well.

table setting, with the amuse bouche

deviled picked egg with bairdi (aka snow) crab

The Prepositions of Alaska (updated May 15th with photos)

Text my Robin; photos by Leslie

Fairbank folks mark the change of the seasons by a series of two-word catch phrases, each using a preposition. I find these rather enchanting, given we have no such thing in California.

We have just experienced breakup.

Our street the day it began breaking up with Leslie's sis Laura in the background