Imminent Explosion!

This is a picture of Redoubt Volcano, which is not quite 200 miles away from Seward, AK. This was taken in 1989, the last time Redoubt had a large explosion. Seward received a few inches of ash from this explosion We've been on eruption watch for about a week now, and even had a small earthquake when the watch started. If it does explode, there is a chance ash will reach Seward, but it's a small chance. It would be exciting! We'd have to wear masks ad HAZMAT suits all over town for a while. I'm supposed to be going to some villages around the Redoubt area next month for some educational outreach programs--wouldn't that be amazing to watch the volcano explode from the air?!? Wish me luck. 

A fair amount of time has passed since my last post, and the lives of the Barenjager family have stayed fairly uneventful. We did have quite an enjoyable jaunt in the forest last weekend during some heavy snowfall. It was quite beautiful. We hiked back to Vogt lake a few miles outside of town. Tyler had his gun out the entire time porcupine hunting. No signs of porcupines, although we did see plenty of coyote tracks. We found cute little shrew tracks leading to a little shrew den, too. Fishing the lake was slightly productive--Tyler caught one rainbow trout, I didn't get any bites. We did have Tyler lassoed around his belly with a long line of rope much like a five year old overactive child. It was, of course, for his safety. He was the ice tester, so he'd go out onto the ice first and I'd stay towards the snowy shore holding the rope just incase he fell in. We were hiked about a mile and a half in, so it was a good thing the ice was about a foot thick--no chance of falling in once we knew that. We also collected some lichen (rock tripe in particular), boiled and ate it. It had really no flavor whatsoever, but neither of us had ever tried lichen before, so it was at least a new adventure. Natives, especially eskimo, apparently ate it quite a bit. 

We also took a nighttime road trip with our friends Sara and Chad to find the Northern Lights. We're not quite sure if we saw them low on the horizon, or saw some sort of orange glow from a man-made object in a place where there should not have been a man made object. Hopefully, before the winter's over, we'll have another chance to try. We went about 13 miles outside of town on a clear night with no moon. The stars were gorgeous. I was suprised how much the snow glowed just from the starlight. Low on the horizon, between two low mountaintops, was a distinct orange glow, much like you would get from a distant city. However, the closest city was about 130 miles away, so it couldn't have been the city. We like to assume the glow actually was space plasma hitting the earth's atmosphere, giving us the duller version of the Northern Lights. Our goal is to make it farther north on a vacation next winter to enjoy them more properly. We're a little too far south in Seward. 

The sun is coming back to us more and more--Thank you solstice! I can feel spring on its way. I think soon I'll be able to actually FEEL the sun again! During the winter, the sun is so low on the horizon that it provides light, but you can't feel any warmth from it. It hits your eyes at this funny low angle, too, that can make objects prism sometimes. It's quite interesting. 

Our Barenjager Update is now complete. Have a pleasant week! And we'd be more than excited to get an email update from anybody, letting us know how our friends and family are doing! We do miss home from time to time :o). 

steinmetzer@live.com