Thursday, February 23, 2006
Mother Nature’s Wardrobe Malfunction!
Remember Parkay’s commercials that warned us that "It's Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature?" Wham! Bam! Everyone who tried to do so got zapped—fried by Mother Nature to a golden crisp about like a chicken fried steak. Remember the Super Bowl’s wardrobe malfunction? Well, what happens when you combine the two?
Take Alaska. Exit Glacier and Portage Glacier have retreated a remarkable distance in the last few years. Those who stop on the road to Whittier to see Portage Glacier are in for a major disappointment. The Visitors Center which used to be just an arms throw away from the mountain of ice, now sits on an icy lake with the glacier so far away that you can barely see it if you squint hard enough. Same thing with Exit down at Seward. The map shows a lengthy retreat over the years—becoming much more pronounced the last couple of years. If you want to get to the glacier, you need to ask directions and have a good pair of hiking boots. At Juneau the Mendenhall Glacier is still prominent but it too is no longer available for in-your-face viewing. It seems that Mother Nature does not want to show off her goodies anymore.
But wait. Things are getting worse. The Iditarod is having trouble finding snow and not just for the ceremonial start in Anchorage. The actual race starts at Wasilla—normally. But if Mother Nature does not cooperate, then it moves up the road to Willow. Care to guess how often that happens? The last three years running. The Shaktoolik to Nome portion of the Iron Dog forced the motorized units to take wide detours to avoid open water or thin ice. Half the teams bailed out early. It is no fun racing Arctic Cats over boulders or thin ice or no ice in 50-degree temperature. The same problems confront the Yukon Quest Mushers. Re-routing or bad trails. One solution would be to drop historical references to Iditarod and have a Tour de Alaska (Tour de France) type race. Different routes every year. Another solution is to move everything back several weeks. Please note that the snowmobile trails at Chugach State Park at Upper Huffman never opened this year due to a lack of snow. The worst solution for the mushers would be to equip the sleds with bicycle tires—it would be much easier on the dogs. If it gets much worse the mushers will have to wear shorts.
Mother Nature has been testing others as well. The Snow of Kilimanjaro is no more. It is kaput! Maui is running out of sand. Florida has been zapped as well. Why do all the snowbirds come to Florida? The Sun and the Beaches! But wait! Mother Nature zapped the beaches. For the last year you could kiss all those romantic beach walks at New Smyrna Beach and many other places as well goodbye along with your sweetheart. The ocean surf came right up to the sea wall. You could look or jump in but you could not walk the beach. The city fathers in Volusia County decided to fight back. They brought in engineers, heavy equipment and dredging experts and set them to work. For the last month they have been pumping sand onto the beach in a colossal 15-inch pipe. The sand comes from what will soon be an ex-island in the intercostal waterway. Backhoes and Dozers pile up a berm to hold the ex-island one grain at a time. When the sand comes gushing out it is deposited while the water rushes down a long runway back to the sea. The backhoes scoop up the sand in their bucket to create artificial dunes. The dozer then levels everything out. One month into the project they have re-nourished 2 ½ miles of beach. They are now halfway finished. Rubbernecking is now the favorite pastime of all those snowbirds. And for me? Fried just like a chicken fried steak.
Remember Parkay’s commercials that warned us that "It's Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature?" Wham! Bam! Everyone who tried to do so got zapped—fried by Mother Nature to a golden crisp about like a chicken fried steak. Remember the Super Bowl’s wardrobe malfunction? Well, what happens when you combine the two?
Take Alaska. Exit Glacier and Portage Glacier have retreated a remarkable distance in the last few years. Those who stop on the road to Whittier to see Portage Glacier are in for a major disappointment. The Visitors Center which used to be just an arms throw away from the mountain of ice, now sits on an icy lake with the glacier so far away that you can barely see it if you squint hard enough. Same thing with Exit down at Seward. The map shows a lengthy retreat over the years—becoming much more pronounced the last couple of years. If you want to get to the glacier, you need to ask directions and have a good pair of hiking boots. At Juneau the Mendenhall Glacier is still prominent but it too is no longer available for in-your-face viewing. It seems that Mother Nature does not want to show off her goodies anymore.
But wait. Things are getting worse. The Iditarod is having trouble finding snow and not just for the ceremonial start in Anchorage. The actual race starts at Wasilla—normally. But if Mother Nature does not cooperate, then it moves up the road to Willow. Care to guess how often that happens? The last three years running. The Shaktoolik to Nome portion of the Iron Dog forced the motorized units to take wide detours to avoid open water or thin ice. Half the teams bailed out early. It is no fun racing Arctic Cats over boulders or thin ice or no ice in 50-degree temperature. The same problems confront the Yukon Quest Mushers. Re-routing or bad trails. One solution would be to drop historical references to Iditarod and have a Tour de Alaska (Tour de France) type race. Different routes every year. Another solution is to move everything back several weeks. Please note that the snowmobile trails at Chugach State Park at Upper Huffman never opened this year due to a lack of snow. The worst solution for the mushers would be to equip the sleds with bicycle tires—it would be much easier on the dogs. If it gets much worse the mushers will have to wear shorts.
Mother Nature has been testing others as well. The Snow of Kilimanjaro is no more. It is kaput! Maui is running out of sand. Florida has been zapped as well. Why do all the snowbirds come to Florida? The Sun and the Beaches! But wait! Mother Nature zapped the beaches. For the last year you could kiss all those romantic beach walks at New Smyrna Beach and many other places as well goodbye along with your sweetheart. The ocean surf came right up to the sea wall. You could look or jump in but you could not walk the beach. The city fathers in Volusia County decided to fight back. They brought in engineers, heavy equipment and dredging experts and set them to work. For the last month they have been pumping sand onto the beach in a colossal 15-inch pipe. The sand comes from what will soon be an ex-island in the intercostal waterway. Backhoes and Dozers pile up a berm to hold the ex-island one grain at a time. When the sand comes gushing out it is deposited while the water rushes down a long runway back to the sea. The backhoes scoop up the sand in their bucket to create artificial dunes. The dozer then levels everything out. One month into the project they have re-nourished 2 ½ miles of beach. They are now halfway finished. Rubbernecking is now the favorite pastime of all those snowbirds. And for me? Fried just like a chicken fried steak.
