Amazon This!

Well, as you may know by now there are only two ways to get in or out of Dillingham. One is by boat, and the other by airplane. Necessarily, this means anything you want to ship here - like items from Amazon - have to arrive in like fashion. I have noticed recently that Amazon is becoming more and more selective about what they will, or perhaps more importantly WILL NOT ship to Alaska. 

At first I understood this, because the US Postal Service is the ONLY way any package gets to Dillingham. It stands to reason if the USPS gets uptight about shipping things like explosives, firearms, or alcohol then retailers who sell those goods will not be able to get them to Dillingham. Again, this is perfectly understandable. I have no beef with the retailers, because the USPS sets the rules.

But this :

I mean, what the hell Amazon? Why in the world can't you ship me a friggin' dust mop? Look, there is no post office restriction against mailing dust mops. I checked. It's not made of lead, so it won't cost $100 to ship it. If it is a matter of shipping costs, I would pay a little more for a Prime account and get it here.

It's not just this item. More and more I am finding the goofiest stuff is now verboten for us at Amazon. In fact, I am pretty sure I could get a lead brick shipped here by Amazon. Sure enough. I just checked. I can get a lead brick shipped here - FOR FREE!

So in light of this new information, Amazon, I am again inspired to ask you : what the hell?!

Fur Rondy

So we are in Anchorage so I can attend the ASTE Conference. We didn't know until we got here it was also the Fur Rondy time as well. Fur Rondy is the Fur Rendezvous, which is kinda-sorta like the Muscatine County Fair, Buckskinner's Reunion and Great River Days all wrapped up in one, 10-day party. 

We happened across the start of the Fur Rondy Dog Sled races while coming back to the hotel after lunch. Just like with our dog sled ride, you had best have something big or heavy or a combination of the the two just to stop these champions once you have them in a harness. Until the start, it looks like they anchor down these dogs with a snowmobile they fasten to the sled, which is fastened to the dogs : 

Oh, how they howl, whine, bark and generally create a cacophony to let you know it's time to run. Run! Right freaking now!

Keep in mind that if the dogs want to, they can still MOVE the snowmobile, just not without exerting a great deal of effort. So yeah... basically, you have to drop a boat anchor that would sink an aircraft carrier to keep them from running away.

Winter Greyhounds. I swear that's what they remind me of. They may not be actual Greyhounds, but they have all the grace, and about a billion times the strength, stamina, and motivation of any Greyhound. In short, when it's time for them to run - get the hell out of the way!

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES !

Here is what certain members of my family (who shall remain nameless for the time being) think our bathroom looks like : 

And here is the reality : 

Of course, these could possibly be the same people who thought we were caught up in the BIG EARTHQUAKE that was, in reality, hundreds of miles away. At one in the morning (our time). While we were asleep. That caused a SIX INCH tsunami over in Kenai.

So if you want to know if we actually got hit, use the Alaska Earthquake Information Center. But keep this in mind : 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming, already in progress ...