Four Dollar Gas

Alaska, the 49th state, becomes the FIRST state to average $4.00 per gallon of gas. I just cannot wrap my mind around this considering:

(1) Alaska is the second-ranked oil-producing State in the nation (after Texas)

(2) They suck oil out of the ground on the North Slope of Alaska...every day...all day (Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope is the highest yielding oil field in the United States, typically producing approximately 400,000 barrels per day)

(3) The largest oil pipeline in the country runs through the entire state (The Trans-Alaska Pipeline can pump up to 2.1 million barrels of crude oil per day, more than any other crude oil pipeline in the United States)

(4) Alaska has six oil refineries, one of which is right here in Fairbanks

In my opinion, the state of Alaska having the highest average gas prices in the country is embarrassing for Alaska and reeks of bad planning and bad politics.


References:
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=AK
http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/sbsavg.asp

Tebetan Flute Player, Culture Brothers, Clucking Blossom 2008

Self-Overturning Outhouses

O.K....so here's something that IT NEVER EVEN OCCURRED TO ME THAT I WOULD EVER NEED TO WORRY ABOUT!!!....yes....I'm totally serious when I use the phrase...SELF- OVERTURNING OUTHOUSES. Yes...that's right..no human or animal flipped this baby over....no way man...it did it all by itself. If you want to figure this one out for yourself, stop reading right now, go get yourself a cup of coffee, or a stiff drink, or your hallucinogenic of choice and make up a bunch of stuff....For those of you still left, see below:

You see folks, when the snow melts up here there is still a layer of permafrost just below the surface of the ground. In a year with lots of snow, and therefore lots of snow melt there seems to be this little problem...if there isn't enough "stuff" in the outhouse bucket..."wink wink"... and the meltwater can't soak into the ground, then the water can come up so fast over the course of a few days that the bucket begins to float on the meltwater, pushing up on the seat in the outhouse. If there is no weight on the seat and no-one is around to notice then the bucket just floats up higher and higher and the whole outhouse frame just tips itself over....

Seriously, I'm not kidding...

Life in Alaska.

Upstairs Windowsill, Morning

Finally...

More Good-ol' Alaskan Local Signage

This Morning on our Windowsill

Clucking Blossom... Dusty Mosh Pit, May 2007

Clucking Blossom 2008 is Coming...May 17th

This shot is of a band (still nameless to me...does anyone know who they are?) from last year's event. Clucking Blossom is an all-ages, all-free, all-community Music, Art, and Activism event taking place at Birch Hill Recreation Center on Saturday May 17, 2008 from noon to midnight. 49 bands are already scheduled to play this year. Good times.

Moose in Dolores' Front Yard

The Dance