Sunday, January 12, 2014

So, Why Did I Return to Fairbanks

A humorous note in one of the research labs in the older part of the NARL facility in Barrow. The truth of the matter is most of the thermostats in that building are now non-functional. After someone had left the window open and turned the thermostat way down, the valves were changed to ignore the thermostat and just keep the room too hot. On Saturday, it was a fairly mild -9°F in Barrow with a slight wind.

 

I flew back home to Fairbanks on the Saturday morning flight and this is what I was greeted with. I'm thinking that I should've stayed in Barrow and enjoyed their balmy, coastal weather. It has been getting colder hour by hour throughout the weekend. I still haven't worked on the bike's charging system as the "heated" garage is pretty near freezing even with the heater fan running full blast. I think so much heat is lost each time the garage door is opened that it takes quite a while for the heater to catch up. The forecast is for much nicer temperatures throughout the week.

 

Maybe this is a good reason to return to Fairbanks. The sun actually appears above the horizon making the snowy landscape really bright. I took a walk this morning as it was too cold to take the sidecar rig out especially with a non-functional charging system. This is the view off our back deck looking south. You may notice a couple of moose tracks passing through the back yard.

 

12 comments:

  1. Richard, we've been having a heat wave here. It was +9 yesterday and raining. Now, all I want is a quick freeze so we have endless skating rinks (So Canadian eh?)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Endless skating rinks on the roads in town with a quick freeze. +9! What a change from last week.

      Delete
  2. What a pretty photo! And a beautiful view. Sun on snow is always beautiful and a nice walk has great benefits as well. Riding is fun, but walking is...well, it's walking. Slow and easy and all that quiet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Too cold to ride but it's never too cold to walk. These sunny winter days are my favorites!

      Delete
  3. OK, so you rig up an AC to DC adapter, wear your heated gear and then work in the near freezing temperatures in the garage.....how's that for a plan?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually working on it. To remove the front cover, part of the fairing, the mufflers, exhaust headers, oil cooler are now off but still haven't done any debugging yet… Talon is here for the evening.

      Delete
  4. So, is it possible to go for a back yard walk and simply disappear into the unforgiving, moose infested forest?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is a large street a few hundred yards away but if you cross that then there are several miles of wetlands before you get to anything else. And a fair number of moose in the area.

      Delete
  5. Beautiful sunny view off the deck.

    And you returned home because that is where the heart is, no matter how cold outside, Bridget will keep you warm. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh! That's right, how could I have forgotten that.

      Delete
  6. Richard:

    We used to control the heat with doors and open windows too, but at the office the windows don't open

    While it may be much colder at home, home is where the heart is . . . and also where your Beemer is

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On Saturday, someone left the windows open in the top floor of one of the classroom/office buildings on campus and the sprinklers system went off when the pipes froze. Water was running for over 30 minutes before it was shut off. What a mess. And a reminder that you want to back up your stuff somewhere else besides where your computer is...

      Delete