The perfect place to live in Alaska (Bethel: fit in, moving)

[warptman]

Imagine listening to that thing flapping in the night.

[Grannysroost]

I wonder if they're dum like June bugs and slam into something (causing small dents) and then rolling around on their back until they come to...just to do it all over...all night...

[jsr5]

Heck I thought you all was special or somthin'. We have them things in Missouri to. I call 'em Golly Whoppers but I'm sure they have an actual real name to. them is the good'uns they eat skeeters. From what I hear they have plenty of eatin' to do.

[jsr5]

Aha found it it was right under my nose in the properties of the picture. Cranefly


DO I git a medal or sumthin' fer figgerin' it out?

[jsr5]

OOps upon looking into it further i see they don't actually eat mosquitos.

What does it eat?

The crane fly is sometimes called "mosquito hawk" or "mosquito lion." Despite this ferocious name, it does not actually eat mosquitoes. Occasionally, its larvae will feed on mosquito larvae. Crane fly larvae mostly feed on roots of forage crops, turf grasses and seedling field crops.
An adult crane fly hardly eats at all. Once in a while, it might lap up a bit of pollen or sugar-rich plant nectar.

[akvarmit]

Originally Posted by warptman

Imagine listening to that thing flapping in the night.

How 'bout the "bzzzzit" of it getting lit up in a bug zapper ?

[warptman]

I have one of those buzzers in my room in the summer. It's amazing how one mosquito can ruin a night's sleep.

[BudinAk]

There is no "perfect" place in Alaska...what is "perfect" depends entirely on what one prefers: one person's utopia is often anothers hell.
That said, let's go on with some general observations: Alaska is such an extremely huge state that there is a wide variation in seasonal climate/temperatures from one side to the other, on any given day. For example, it can be -45 in Fairbanks, -60 in Tok, +15 on the Kenai Peninsula, and +30 in Juneau, all at the same time, same day. If you don't like really cold temperatures, I'd recommend sticking to the coastline communities from South-Eastern Alaska to (and including) the Kenai Peninsula, because the Japanese current flowing through there tends to warm up those areas as far inland as 10-20 miles, or so, from the ocean. (lots of heat in that water!) The closer you are to the ocean, the warmer it will be...even 15-20 miles inland can see a temperature drop of 10 degrees or so, in the winter. The funny thing is, those same colder inland areas are warmer in the summer months...

So....my preference: the "banana belt": includes all of SE Alaska, and coastline of Kenai Peninsula. (I'm in Seward right now, but have lived in Fairbanks, and Anchorage). Fairbanks was just too unbearably cold in the winter, and Anchorage is also too cold. (I saw it go down to -38 in Anchorage one winter...my water pipes froze...no fun!) (and....I saw it go down to -54 in Fairbanks...WAY no fun...the air had a definite "sting" to it...) Last 12 years living in Seward the worst I've seen is -10F....not much fun either, but not nearly as bad...lasted about 1-2 days, then back up to the usual mean average Jan-Feb temp of +10F to +20F...."sorta-kinda" tolerable...

Bud

[lyoness]

Are Seward and Soldotna as rainy as Juneau is normally?

[mal_flisk]

Not really. Seward comes real close in some seasons, but Juneau and SE as a whole get one heck of a lot of rain.