Questions about Alaska (Kenai, Barrow, Hope: how much, houses, buy) - (AK) - City-Data Forum

Yoshi · 10-26-2007, 06:25 PM

1) During winter how do you stop your pipes from freezing up and cracking?

2) How regularly do you get bears poking around outside?
- How do you get rid of them?

3) Is it nessecery to own a gun?
- Do most people?
- - Is it a usual sight to see people with a gun in the street?
- - - How do you know they are not going to go rob the bank or something with it?

4) How do you manage not so skid off the road?

5) How much of an issue is getting fresh fruit and vegetables during winter?

6) If you fell into a lake during winter are you likely to die?

7) If you ran around naked in your garden during winter would you need to go to the hospital? (sorry for the odd questions but I have no idea how cold certain temperatures are if you get what I mean)

8) If someone you had never met before saw you fall face down on the ground are they most likely to help you up/ask if you are ok, ignore you, laugh in your face or run from the bear which by this point would be trying to eat you?

9) Do most people hunt their own meat or buy it?
- Dont people catch diseases from eating untreated meat?

10) Do you get all of the normal TV channels?

11) Do you have shopping malls selling designer wear or old men making dear skin coats? (Again sorry but I just dont know if Alaskla is more simular to Mexico City or to a camp of Igloos filled with Inuits =/)

12) Is a car more usefull or a snowmobile or a 4x4 with chained wheels?

warptman · 10-26-2007, 06:29 PM

Dee Dee Deeeeeee

warptman · 10-26-2007, 06:33 PM

1. theres no running water in Alaska.
2. we have pet bears here, we keep em tied up outside the houses.
3. Everyone owns guns, after all, we do have a tourist season.
4. our dog teams have positraction
5. we have indoor gardens in our sod houses
6. we are used to the cold water in lakes in the winter.
7. read number six
8. they just walk right by, figure they just got out of the bar
9. again, thats something we are used to, raw meat...we are carnivorous
10. tv? what is tv?
11. deer skin? we have moose and caribou skin clothing here and seal gut rain gear
12. car? what is a car? 4 wheeler? you mean what we use in the summer that the dogs pull?

Yoshi · 10-26-2007, 06:47 PM

I was being serious actually, considering it as a possible place I could live, but If I cant ask questions that I need to know then I will never if it would suit me or not. Yes some of my questions are very ignorant but I need to know and I guessed it would be easyer to ask locals than search through endless pages of information, maybe you dont realize it but you are level to Siberia in closeness to the north pole and there they do have nomadic people more than town. I dont mean to be condecending to people living there but these are serious questions that I need answers for. While i'm on a roll I have 2 more questions

13) Do you have anytimes of year containing 24 hour daylight or 24 hour darkness?
14) Do you frequently see the Aurora (Northern Lights)?

Xa'at · 10-26-2007, 07:16 PM

As much as I am in total agreement with warpt about answers, I'll try to be good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

1) During winter how do you stop your pipes from freezing up and cracking?

I don't know. They just stay unfrozen, most of the time. Unless we lose power and house starts to get too cold. I'm thinking it's magic.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

2) How regularly do you get bears poking around outside?
- How do you get rid of them?

Depends on where you are. It is always something to be aware of. As for getting rid of them, we don't. We wait inside until they are gone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

3) Is it nessecery to own a gun?

No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

- Do most people?

No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

- - Is it a usual sight to see people with a gun in the street?

No.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

- - - How do you know they are not going to go rob the bank or something with it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

4) How do you manage not so skid off the road?

We learn to drive properly. Also, we keep our tires in good condition, buy four wheel drive cars, and use all season tires... all season.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

5) How much of an issue is getting fresh fruit and vegetables during winter?

You can always get them, but in winter it becomes a question of how much you are willing to pay.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

6) If you fell into a lake during winter are you likely to die?

Depends. Am I hypothetically wearing a lifejacket?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

7) If you ran around naked in your garden during winter would you need to go to the hospital? (sorry for the odd questions but I have no idea how cold certain temperatures are if you get what I mean)

Um... yes? I don't have any personal experience with this. Ahem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

8) If someone you had never met before saw you fall face down on the ground are they most likely to help you up/ask if you are ok, ignore you, laugh in your face or run from the bear which by this point would be trying to eat you?

Help you up. Who do you think we are?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

9) Do most people hunt their own meat or buy it?

We hunt it, going on hunting/gathering trips to Freddies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

- Dont people catch diseases from eating untreated meat?

Yes, when rats are running all over it. Otherwise, no.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

10) Do you get all of the normal TV channels?

Also the UA Channel.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

11) Do you have shopping malls selling designer wear or old men making dear skin coats? (Again sorry but I just dont know if Alaskla is more simular to Mexico City or to a camp of Igloos filled with Inuits =/)

I'll compromise: shopping malls in ingloos. Seriously, we have malls, although in a lot of cases they are more like halls. Designer clothing is not exactly commonly sought after, although some people obviously wear it. Most fur stuff is reserved for tourists.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

12) Is a car more usefull or a snowmobile or a 4x4 with chained wheels?

A car. Last I checked, snowmobiles don't have air conditioning or heating (musts for the interior), windshield wipers (don't even think about SE without rain protection), or radios.

Hope this helps...

Xa'at · 10-26-2007, 07:17 PM

Missed two!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

13) Do you have anytimes of year containing 24 hour daylight or 24 hour darkness?

In Barrow, yes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

14) Do you frequently see the Aurora (Northern Lights)?

I've never seen the Northern Lights in Alaska.

Nephler · 10-26-2007, 07:18 PM

First off, where ya from yoshi? It might help to explain why you may not know some of your questions.

I can answer some of them, only because I'm in northern Michigan and we get similar to the Anc and Kenai area's, only lots more snow

1. The pipes have insulation around them to keep from freezing
2. We have bears here, black berry eating bears. We just don't leave food out where they can get to it.
3. Gun laws different here
4. Drive careful...tis funny watching all the idiots driving fast and going in the ditch that are not from around here.
5. Veggies and fruit are similar here to...they are shipped in from down south..not the best.
6. Falling in a lake, well, they are frozen hard, but if you were to fall through, yes, good chance of dieing.
7. We have quite a few Finnish people around here that take a hot sauna and roll in the snow.
8. Hmm, around here they would probably just walk on by. Again, this is Michigan
9. Both
10. Yes, most
11. Yes, both
12. I drive a 4x4, but no chains
13.
14. we do here in the winter....more often in AK

p.s. I/we will be moving to the Kenai area come spring/summer

Metlakatla · 10-26-2007, 07:25 PM

My word...if I were a seething mass of raging hormones today, this thread would be like manna from heaven...as it is, I've already self medicated with Belgian chocolate so the beast is tamed..for now. I'll keep this one in mind though if the effects wear off and I need to release some "pent up energy".

Yoshi, it's such a big state...some of your questions have contradictory answers. I know that farther north I couldn't have run through the garden naked, but let me just try that now, and I'll get back to you.

Yoshi · 10-26-2007, 07:30 PM

Thanks!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xa'at

Help you up. Who do you think we are?

Heh its just that I read in this forum before that people (especially east coast) arn't especially friendly

Also with the gun thing and the bear thing - guns are illegal here and we dont have bears and earlyer I read a thread talking about gun training to fight of the bears and got kinda scared =/

Nephler - I am from the UK

And about there being opposite answers I guess its because I am used to living in such a small country =/ (We could fit our entire country inside Minnesota - bet ya never knew that *nods*)

Xa'at · 10-26-2007, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yoshi

I am from the UK

Oh my, you're British. That would certainly explain some things. You'd be interested to know that despite the horrible reputation that America has globally, we Alaskans are often considered exempt from this. Everyone that I know who travels internationally just tell people they are from Alaska, so people don't get the wrong idea!

Alaska, indeed most of the Northwestern US, is really worlds apart from the rest of the country, and we like that.