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Working for Transportation Solutions
In the news…
Our city Manager, Tim Dillon (also chairman of the Alaska Municipal League’s Transportation committee) was quoted in this article in the Homer News, regarding the Tusty’s, once again, delayed return to service for Seldovia.
Please click here or on the image to the left, to go directly to the Homer News and read the entire article about the Assembly meeting concerning coastal community transportation – serious issues that affect our waterfront/off-the-road-system communities.
Thanks Tim for speaking on our behalf and keeping Seldovia’s needs in the forefront of the minds of the state’s decision makers! Since being without the Tustumena since November of 2012, we have truly felt the negative impact of the lack of service to Seldovia. Thankfully, our dock is big enough, and port – deep enough to welcome the Kennicott, or we would have been completely without service like many other communities on the route.
Being Prepared
by Dan Nelson
As residents of the Kenai Peninsula, we know that disasters can happen at any time. September is National Preparedness Month, and it is a good time to prepare yourself and those in your care for emergencies and disasters. In just the past week we have seen disasters in Colorado as the result of flooding, which we saw locally here last fall. Combine that with volcanoes, earthquakes, and winter weather and we have a high likelihood of experiencing emergencies here on the Kenai.
Communities like Seldovia that are off the road system have additional considerations because of the logistics of receiving supplies and a smaller resource pool of responders to draw from. Police, fire and rescue may not always be able to reach you quickly in an emergency or disaster. The most important step you can take in helping your local responders is being able to take care of yourself and those in your care; the more people who are prepared, the quicker the community will recover.
Borough Mayor Mike Navarre recently proclaimed September as Disaster Preparedness Month on the Kenai Peninsula. We would encourage everyone to Continue Reading
Thyme on the Boardwalk – End of Summer Sale
by Suzie Stranik
Hi everyone, just to let you know I am having a one day storewide sale Saturday, Sept 14th from 10am to 5pm. Everything at Thyme is 25% off! Think ahead for Christmas or adding to your perennial garden. After Sat I will be planting my nursery stock in the city gardens.
Hope to see you, Suzie
Thoughts To Ponder… The Science of Happiness
by Jenny Chissus
I had to share this – happiness, is not just a choice, but it is determined by what we focus on and how we appreciate who we are now, and how grateful we are for all the great people we are surrounded by each day, the beautiful city we live in, the health of our families, etc.
Enjoy this video by SoulPancake – so good!
Who or what are YOU grateful for? Write a letter…below is mine.
I am grateful that we have had the wonderful opportunity to raise our family in the community of Seldovia.
LOVE COASTAL LIVING: Living in Fairbanks, I always knew that it wasn’t a long-term situation. I have always been a “water baby” in the sense that I appreciate being close to the ocean, and rarely feel “right” when far from the water and salty sea air, and my husband feels the same. Growing up on Bainbridge Island, with the Puget Sound at our front yard, building sand and seaweed castles with my friends, digging up gouey ducks and the annual spring time “putting out the raft” for our swimming Continue Reading
News on the Tustumena
received by the City of Seldovia – September 9
Dear Elected Official,
Work on the Tustumena is continuing at Seward Ship’s Drydock. Replacement of undersize plate is proceeding, along with other welding, painting, insulating, and electrical work. The planned launch date is still September 20, with sea trials and other in-water work to take place the remainder of September and the beginning of October. AMHS is currently in the process of revising online schedules to reflect the Kennicott, in place of the Tustumena, operating in Southwest Alaska from October 1-15. Travelers with existing reservations will be rebooked in the next two days, and online booking of the Kennicott will be available soon after.
Additionally, the department is soliciting proposals from professional naval architect firms for the design of the Tustumena replacement vessel. We should have the design firm beginning preliminary design work later this year and look forward to working with the communities to help us develop the features that meet their needs.
Commissioner Patrick Kemp
Department of Transportation & Public Facilities
Meet the Seldovia Author: Janice Wyland
by Shirley Hurley
11,318 Feet; a Climax in My Life
A book signing held September 7th at the Hurley residence was a great success according to Janice Wyland (or otherwise known to local friends as “Jan”). Seventeen community residents attended and everyone received a personal signed copy of Jan’s first book containing stories depicting her life as a child growing up in the remote mining town of Climax in the Colorado Rockies.
Climax was the sight of the world’s largest molybdenum mine and except for the carved hillside of the mining sight, it would appear as any other high Alpine winter resort. The name was derived because it climaxed the efforts of the Colorado and Southern Railway (now Burlington) to fling a branch line over the continental divide. It was America’s loftiest post office and Colorado’s richest mining camp, supplying three quarters of the world’s supply. During WWII, the FBI closed Climax to all but fingerprinted residents and trusted visitors. The town was also selected in 1940 as the site of the High Altitude Observatory operated jointly by Harvard University and the University of Colorado under the supervision of the Air Force and Navy.
Children born in Climax were the only members of the community who were entirely comfortable in the thick atmosphere. Even old-timers sometimes suffered from mountain sickness. In 1965 the residential houses were all transported to the town of Leadville, leaving only the mining buildings standing.
Here are a few interesting facts about living the “High Life”:
- Water boils at 190 instead of 212 degrees.
- It takes 7 minutes to boil a 3 minute egg.
- 45 minutes to boil corn on the cob
- 1 and ½ hour to boil potatoes.
- The air is so thin that cakes and hot breads rise too quickly and then collapse into inedible gluey messes unless fat, sugar and baking powder is reduced according to a mathematical formula. However, the home brewing of beer is actually aided by the altitude. Home brew at sea level takes 8 days to mature, but in Climax only 4 days. The air pressure, however, is so great it takes skill to uncap a bottle of the home-brew without half of it hitting the ceiling.
Today, Climax, atop Fremont Pass near the ski and mining villages of Copper Mountain and Leadville, Colorado, is considered a ghost town. However, on May 10, 2012 after a seventeen year closure, the Climax mine was reopened and has resumed shipment of molybdenum.
If you are in Seldovia, give Jan a call at 234-7462 to purchase an autographed copy for only $8.00!
It is also available here on Amazon!
Seldovia Time
