I just made the final payment on my expedition – I’m getting excited!
Earthwatch only requires a down payment of $300 to hold your space on an expedition, with the remainder of the costs due 120 days prior to the actual date. I always make sure I have all the money in a bank before I even sign up for one, so my current unemployment situation didn’t impact my ability to go.
I got my ticket all paid for back in January, so that is taken care of. I also got all the hotels booked that I’ll need – both in London and in Nairobi - so that’s all taken care of. The only things left to do is apply for a special visa to get out of Kenya, get my inoculations up to date, and finish filling out all the paperwork.
The visa is a special one, over and above your regular passport, that is required in order to leave Kenya. It costs $50 and is only good for 6 months, so I need to time it just right. I’ll send the paperwork off to Washington D.C. about 6 weeks prior to my expedition, and hope they only take maybe 4 weeks to process them. That will ensure that I have enough time on it, should the worst happen and I get stuck there for whatever reason.
Since I have traveled out of the country twice before, there really are only two diseases I’m not covered for yet: Yellow Fever and Malaria. The first one will be a shot (maybe two or three?) so I’ll do that about 2 months prior to my expedition, just incase I get a reaction to it. The second one is typically pills that you start taking a week prior to leaving and on thru a month after you return. At least, that’s what I did for my Costa Rica trip – but I think I read somewhere that the malaria in Africa is resistant to certain types of drugs, so it might be a different medication that I need. We’ll see…
The paperwork is partially filled out. Earthwatch has 4 different forms they need for each volunteer: the first one is a personal profile, to let them know who you are and why you chose to go on that particular expedition. The second one is a health questionnaire that lets them know your general health and what special attention you might need. The third one is the travel form that gives them all your flight information so they know when to expect you and how to get hold of you if you’re late. The final one is a liability release – this is field work, after all, and accidents do happen.
It’s the third one is the one that’s holding me up. It has to be signed off by a medical doctor - which requires a physical examination – which in turn requires an actual doctor’s appointment. Since I have no job, I have no insurance. I was really hoping that I would have found a job by now, but since it hasn’t happened yet, and since most places have a 90-day waiting period before insurance kicks in, it looks like I’ll have to pay for it myself.
And the inoculations, too – come to think of it. Perhaps I could combine the two? Get my physical AND my shots all at the same time… I’ll have to think about that.
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Monday, July 06, 2009
I Hate It When That Happens!
We had another Family Hike yesterday – up at the Eagle River Nature Center. It was a gorgeous day, with clear blue skies and lots of sun (read: it was excruciatingly hot). The group was small – just Mother, Trish, and myself – but we had fun anyway.
It didn’t quite go as planned, however. We were supposed to have hiked the Dew Mound Trail – a 6 mile loop that heads out to a small lake and loops back around to the nature center again. Unfortunately the cow parsnip had grown so fast and so thick the volunteers at the center hadn’t been able to clear it off the trail yet, so we decided to be safe and simply hike a different trail. We really didn’t want to risk anybody having a bad reaction to it – a trip to the hospital does NOT sound like fun.
The trail we actually did hike is the Albert Loop Trail – a smaller 3 mile loop that takes you out to the beaver ponds and past the river. There is a lot of bear activity out at the nature center on a regular basis, and that day in particular they had just spotted a black bear not 10 minutes prior to our arrival – so we had to be extra careful. If it’s not one thing, it’s another! Hiking in Alaska can be an adventure… but that’s why we love it.
As I said, the day was gorgeous – the company was great – and all in all we had a good hike.
When I got home, I downloaded my memory card onto my computer (all 70 photos) just like I always do. I put them into a temporary folder, then deleted them off the memory card and reformatted it for the next hike.
Once that was taken care of, I went to the temporary folder and copied all the photos out of it and into the Hiking files, where I keep all my pictures. Then I went back to the temporary folder and started weeding thru the pictures, picking out the six best shots. I deleted the ones I didn’t want, made a PDF of the ones I did want, and uploaded the files onto my facebook page.
I am always very careful to delete files I don’t need, and to keep my recycle bin empty as much as possible, so when everything was taken care of and I had it all set up the way I wanted it – I deleted the temp file, emptied the trash can, and cleaned everything off.
Then I went back to my Hiking folder to look at the pictures one more time = only to realize they weren’t there!
All 70 photos were gone!
Apparently what I had done without realizing it was – rather of copying and pasting them into the folder, I created a short-cut instead. So, all those files in my Hiking folder was simply a link back to the temporary folder WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS!
I hate it when that happens…
It didn’t quite go as planned, however. We were supposed to have hiked the Dew Mound Trail – a 6 mile loop that heads out to a small lake and loops back around to the nature center again. Unfortunately the cow parsnip had grown so fast and so thick the volunteers at the center hadn’t been able to clear it off the trail yet, so we decided to be safe and simply hike a different trail. We really didn’t want to risk anybody having a bad reaction to it – a trip to the hospital does NOT sound like fun.
The trail we actually did hike is the Albert Loop Trail – a smaller 3 mile loop that takes you out to the beaver ponds and past the river. There is a lot of bear activity out at the nature center on a regular basis, and that day in particular they had just spotted a black bear not 10 minutes prior to our arrival – so we had to be extra careful. If it’s not one thing, it’s another! Hiking in Alaska can be an adventure… but that’s why we love it.
As I said, the day was gorgeous – the company was great – and all in all we had a good hike.
When I got home, I downloaded my memory card onto my computer (all 70 photos) just like I always do. I put them into a temporary folder, then deleted them off the memory card and reformatted it for the next hike.
Once that was taken care of, I went to the temporary folder and copied all the photos out of it and into the Hiking files, where I keep all my pictures. Then I went back to the temporary folder and started weeding thru the pictures, picking out the six best shots. I deleted the ones I didn’t want, made a PDF of the ones I did want, and uploaded the files onto my facebook page.
I am always very careful to delete files I don’t need, and to keep my recycle bin empty as much as possible, so when everything was taken care of and I had it all set up the way I wanted it – I deleted the temp file, emptied the trash can, and cleaned everything off.
Then I went back to my Hiking folder to look at the pictures one more time = only to realize they weren’t there!
All 70 photos were gone!
Apparently what I had done without realizing it was – rather of copying and pasting them into the folder, I created a short-cut instead. So, all those files in my Hiking folder was simply a link back to the temporary folder WHICH NO LONGER EXISTS!
I hate it when that happens…
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Cat Sitting
My friend Elizabeth went out of town (out of state, actually) for a long weekend, so asked me to take care of her cats for her while she was gone. I was happy to accept, and even got paid for doing it (this was a surprise – I didn’t really expect that).
She has three cats: Thumbelina, Lumpy, and Moesha. All three of these cats are about five times bigger than my two combined! I’m always amazed at the size of normal cats…one of the draw-backs to having tiny girls, I guess.
Anyway, Lumpy is a gorgeous long haired grey cat. He’s a Norwegian Forest Cat, I think – he has papers, but since he was adopted from a homeless shelter, they got lost somewhere. He is a very sweet cat; friendly and loves to play with a feather on a string. He does have a few issues with the potty, so I had to clean up after him. Thankfully, he wasn’t as bad as my Alien – the clean up was just a matter of picking up the poop from the floor next to his potty.
Moesha is a mutt-cat. I honestly never even saw her: she hid out behind a pile of clothing in the closet the whole time I was there. I did see the occasional ear poking out, so I think she’s a chocolate brown colored cat. Elizabeth assured me that was normal behavior for her, so I wasn’t too worried. I did check on her each day to make sure she was still there, but other than that I didn’t have much interaction with her.
Thumbelina was the problem child. Contrary to what you might expect from a cat named Thumbelina, this girl is HUGE. I’ve never really seen a cat quite that large. Her name comes from the fact that she has extra digits on each paw – two thumbs for each foot. She is all nice and lovey-dovey to her owner… quite a different story for every other person on the planet. And unfortunately she’s the one who had to have medication administered each day.
She has a colon problem and gets her medicine smeared into her ear once a day (the ear provides quick access to blood vessels, allowing the meds to be absorbed into her system quickly and painlessly). Elizabeth showed me how to do it, so nice and easy.
Quite a different story when I tried it. Thumbelina turned into the Cat from Hell in about two seconds flat.
My first day, I attempted to do it on my own. I had a towel and threw it over her, then tackled her with the entire weight of my body. I actually had her down and immobilized, but couldn’t reach the meds so had to let her go. There was no second chance. Thumbelina was hissing, spitting, growling, howling, and running. And I have to admit, I was shaking. She can be pretty intimidating…
I let her calm down for about an hour, then went downstairs to the café and got reinforcements. Once again, a towel thrown over the cat – this time with somebody else holding her down – allowed me to very quickly smear the meds in her hear. In about 2 minutes it was done, and we left Thumbelina to recover on her own.
The following three days, I brought my roommate to help me. We managed to get her each time with minimal stress for all involved. Thumbelina managed to wound both of us, but not too badly. I think everybody involved was very happy when Elizabeth came home!
She has three cats: Thumbelina, Lumpy, and Moesha. All three of these cats are about five times bigger than my two combined! I’m always amazed at the size of normal cats…one of the draw-backs to having tiny girls, I guess.
Anyway, Lumpy is a gorgeous long haired grey cat. He’s a Norwegian Forest Cat, I think – he has papers, but since he was adopted from a homeless shelter, they got lost somewhere. He is a very sweet cat; friendly and loves to play with a feather on a string. He does have a few issues with the potty, so I had to clean up after him. Thankfully, he wasn’t as bad as my Alien – the clean up was just a matter of picking up the poop from the floor next to his potty.
Moesha is a mutt-cat. I honestly never even saw her: she hid out behind a pile of clothing in the closet the whole time I was there. I did see the occasional ear poking out, so I think she’s a chocolate brown colored cat. Elizabeth assured me that was normal behavior for her, so I wasn’t too worried. I did check on her each day to make sure she was still there, but other than that I didn’t have much interaction with her.
Thumbelina was the problem child. Contrary to what you might expect from a cat named Thumbelina, this girl is HUGE. I’ve never really seen a cat quite that large. Her name comes from the fact that she has extra digits on each paw – two thumbs for each foot. She is all nice and lovey-dovey to her owner… quite a different story for every other person on the planet. And unfortunately she’s the one who had to have medication administered each day.
She has a colon problem and gets her medicine smeared into her ear once a day (the ear provides quick access to blood vessels, allowing the meds to be absorbed into her system quickly and painlessly). Elizabeth showed me how to do it, so nice and easy.
Quite a different story when I tried it. Thumbelina turned into the Cat from Hell in about two seconds flat.
My first day, I attempted to do it on my own. I had a towel and threw it over her, then tackled her with the entire weight of my body. I actually had her down and immobilized, but couldn’t reach the meds so had to let her go. There was no second chance. Thumbelina was hissing, spitting, growling, howling, and running. And I have to admit, I was shaking. She can be pretty intimidating…
I let her calm down for about an hour, then went downstairs to the café and got reinforcements. Once again, a towel thrown over the cat – this time with somebody else holding her down – allowed me to very quickly smear the meds in her hear. In about 2 minutes it was done, and we left Thumbelina to recover on her own.
The following three days, I brought my roommate to help me. We managed to get her each time with minimal stress for all involved. Thumbelina managed to wound both of us, but not too badly. I think everybody involved was very happy when Elizabeth came home!
Living with a Roommate
I’m happy to report that having a roommate again, after over 20 years of living alone, has not been as bad as I feared it would be. I lucked out, I think…Trish turned out to be a very nice girl.
She’s younger than I am – about the age my niece Katy is – and is definitely a night owl. If she had her “dream schedule” she would stay up each night till probably 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, then sleep in each day till 1:00 in the afternoon. Me, I’m in bed by 10:00 and up by 6:30 usually.
Her work schedule is not so flexible, however – although it is a rotating one. Some weeks she’s on the 1-10 shift, then she’s on the 9-6 shift, then the 6-3, the 8-5, and then back to the 1-10 shift. It’s all very confusing but she has a schedule printed out that she follows, so she always knows when to set her alarm each morning. I rarely even see her more than a few minutes a day during the week.
Our weekends have been quite fun, though. She’s really interested in seeing as much of the state as she can during her short time here, so I’ve been taking her out hiking all over the place. She joins in on our Family Hiking Series, so has been to the Coastal Trail, the Power Line Pass Trail, the Matanuska River Trail, and will go with us this Sunday to the Dew Mound Trail out in Eagle River. I’ve also taken her to Winner Creek, which is one of my favorite trails out in Girdwood. In the few weeks left to her, she’ll go with us on several other hikes as well, including up to Hatcher’s Pass and out to the South Fork Eagle River (two more of my favorites).
Mother kindly invited us out to dinner at the farm, so the other day we took off right after work. It was a nice sunny day, so the farm with beautiful with all the flowers and gardens growing. The chickens were out and about, but the turkeys were busy setting on their nests so we didn’t get to see them. We even got to meet the burros, although I couldn’t get them to talk to us. Mother fixed a special meal for Trish featuring moose meat and halibut filets, along with home-grown salad (picked right there from her garden), yams, corn on the cob, yogurt & berries, and cinnamon rolls. We ate so much it hurt…
Our best weekend yet was when we got to go to Seward for a cruise out in the fjords! We drove out to Seward Friday after work, getting to our hotel by 8:30 that night. We boarded the boat Saturday morning and headed out by 10:00. We got to see all sorts of animals: humpback whales, orcas, porpoises, sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, and birds of ALL kinds. We even got to see a HUGE hunk of the Aialik Glacier fall off into the ocean (captain said it was bigger than 3 houses), creating a wave over 100’ tall. On the way back in to harbor we got to stop off at Fox Island for an all-you-can-eat dinner of prime rib, salmon, and king crab! The next morning we had about 2 hours to spend at the Sea Life Center. Admittedly, that’s not nearly enough time – but at least she got to see it, and did some shopping at the gift shop for some souvenirs.
Hopefully, she’ll go home at the end of the month with some good memories of her time here. Maybe even she’ll come back some day!
She’s younger than I am – about the age my niece Katy is – and is definitely a night owl. If she had her “dream schedule” she would stay up each night till probably 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning, then sleep in each day till 1:00 in the afternoon. Me, I’m in bed by 10:00 and up by 6:30 usually.
Her work schedule is not so flexible, however – although it is a rotating one. Some weeks she’s on the 1-10 shift, then she’s on the 9-6 shift, then the 6-3, the 8-5, and then back to the 1-10 shift. It’s all very confusing but she has a schedule printed out that she follows, so she always knows when to set her alarm each morning. I rarely even see her more than a few minutes a day during the week.
Our weekends have been quite fun, though. She’s really interested in seeing as much of the state as she can during her short time here, so I’ve been taking her out hiking all over the place. She joins in on our Family Hiking Series, so has been to the Coastal Trail, the Power Line Pass Trail, the Matanuska River Trail, and will go with us this Sunday to the Dew Mound Trail out in Eagle River. I’ve also taken her to Winner Creek, which is one of my favorite trails out in Girdwood. In the few weeks left to her, she’ll go with us on several other hikes as well, including up to Hatcher’s Pass and out to the South Fork Eagle River (two more of my favorites).
Mother kindly invited us out to dinner at the farm, so the other day we took off right after work. It was a nice sunny day, so the farm with beautiful with all the flowers and gardens growing. The chickens were out and about, but the turkeys were busy setting on their nests so we didn’t get to see them. We even got to meet the burros, although I couldn’t get them to talk to us. Mother fixed a special meal for Trish featuring moose meat and halibut filets, along with home-grown salad (picked right there from her garden), yams, corn on the cob, yogurt & berries, and cinnamon rolls. We ate so much it hurt…
Our best weekend yet was when we got to go to Seward for a cruise out in the fjords! We drove out to Seward Friday after work, getting to our hotel by 8:30 that night. We boarded the boat Saturday morning and headed out by 10:00. We got to see all sorts of animals: humpback whales, orcas, porpoises, sea lions, harbor seals, sea otters, and birds of ALL kinds. We even got to see a HUGE hunk of the Aialik Glacier fall off into the ocean (captain said it was bigger than 3 houses), creating a wave over 100’ tall. On the way back in to harbor we got to stop off at Fox Island for an all-you-can-eat dinner of prime rib, salmon, and king crab! The next morning we had about 2 hours to spend at the Sea Life Center. Admittedly, that’s not nearly enough time – but at least she got to see it, and did some shopping at the gift shop for some souvenirs.
Hopefully, she’ll go home at the end of the month with some good memories of her time here. Maybe even she’ll come back some day!
Green Building Council Update
My biggest task as chair of the CRGBC-AK group (Cascadia Region Green Building Council – Alaska Branch) has been to ensure that meeting notices get out to everybody.
I am rather anal and obsessively tidy so this is relatively easy for me. I created a template for both the meeting announcements and the meeting minutes: I simply fill out the pertinent items each time and have it ready to go in a flash. The announcement goes out a week before the meetings, with a reminder email going out the day before. The meeting minutes go out the day after the meeting (or as soon as I get them written up, depending on my schedule).
Creating the distribution list is an on-going thing. I got the main list consisting of actual paid members from our director and have been adding names to it on a regular basis. Eventually, I’ll have the whole group on one list. From that we can start recruiting more actual paid members and generate more activity in general.
Of course, having meeting announcements and minutes is only part of the program: you also need speakers for each meeting. So I’ve been working on our schedule, too. I’ve got speakers lined up through November, and have sent out an email asking for input from the group as to what/who they might like to have as a guest speaker.
I have a lunch meeting next week to hopefully line up another one!
Speaking of lunch meetings, I had one just last week with our Events Coordinator, brain-storming over ways to get people more interested in our group. We got some good ideas going, and hope to have an event each month. I believe the event for July is going to be a group hike followed by a pot-luck cook-out. This will be a good way to get people outside and talking together: sort of a social gathering more than an actual learning event. Later on we’ll work on things like panel discussions, workshops and the like.
Four times a year, the Cascadia Region has a teleconference meeting for all the branch chairs; I got to participate in my first one last week. There were a lot of people on the line from Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska! We all talked about things that were going on in each branch; what works well, what needs worked one, and what is being planned for the future. It was really enlightening being part of this phone call, I must say. It gave me a lot of ideas to pass on to our Events Coordinator and to our Membership Coordinator, too.
All in all, it’s going pretty well so far. Let’s hope I can keep the momentum going…
And if you’re at all interested in Energy Efficiency and finding a better way = feel free to join us. We meet on the third Tuesday of each month, from noon to 1:00.
We’d love to see you there!
I am rather anal and obsessively tidy so this is relatively easy for me. I created a template for both the meeting announcements and the meeting minutes: I simply fill out the pertinent items each time and have it ready to go in a flash. The announcement goes out a week before the meetings, with a reminder email going out the day before. The meeting minutes go out the day after the meeting (or as soon as I get them written up, depending on my schedule).
Creating the distribution list is an on-going thing. I got the main list consisting of actual paid members from our director and have been adding names to it on a regular basis. Eventually, I’ll have the whole group on one list. From that we can start recruiting more actual paid members and generate more activity in general.
Of course, having meeting announcements and minutes is only part of the program: you also need speakers for each meeting. So I’ve been working on our schedule, too. I’ve got speakers lined up through November, and have sent out an email asking for input from the group as to what/who they might like to have as a guest speaker.
I have a lunch meeting next week to hopefully line up another one!
Speaking of lunch meetings, I had one just last week with our Events Coordinator, brain-storming over ways to get people more interested in our group. We got some good ideas going, and hope to have an event each month. I believe the event for July is going to be a group hike followed by a pot-luck cook-out. This will be a good way to get people outside and talking together: sort of a social gathering more than an actual learning event. Later on we’ll work on things like panel discussions, workshops and the like.
Four times a year, the Cascadia Region has a teleconference meeting for all the branch chairs; I got to participate in my first one last week. There were a lot of people on the line from Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska! We all talked about things that were going on in each branch; what works well, what needs worked one, and what is being planned for the future. It was really enlightening being part of this phone call, I must say. It gave me a lot of ideas to pass on to our Events Coordinator and to our Membership Coordinator, too.
All in all, it’s going pretty well so far. Let’s hope I can keep the momentum going…
And if you’re at all interested in Energy Efficiency and finding a better way = feel free to join us. We meet on the third Tuesday of each month, from noon to 1:00.
We’d love to see you there!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Lots Going On in My Life
My own life is pretty busy lately too. Once again, I’ll offer up a brief recap of all the goings on for you.
Family Hiking
Our Family Hiking season is in full swing, finally. I do enjoy hiking – especially with family and friends. Our last hike, however, wasn’t so much fun. We met down at the Pt. Woronzof parking lot and headed off on the coastal trail towards Kincaid Park. Normally, this is one of my favorite stretches on the coastal trail: it’s away from downtown, so you don’t have to walk past people’s back yards, or deal with parking lots every 10 feet. Instead, you get the ocean on one side of the trail and the forest on the other side = both spectacular in their own rights. This time of year, and this year in particular, the mosquitoes are just woken up from their winter hibernation – and they are HUNGRY. It was bad at first, and just kept on getting worse the farther into the woods we went. By the time we finally decided to turn around and head back to the car, we were almost running to get away from the nasty little beasts. I had to laugh: my sister-in-law wanted me to take a picture of one of the mile markers for her. I had to snap a shot as fast as humanly (and technologically) possible just to avoid loosing a pint of blood. I hope that shot was worth the sacrifice I made to get it!
Our next hike is going to be much better. It’s up in the mountains, so the bugs wont be as bad (they don’t really like high winds, and it’s typically windy up there) – and at this time of summer the trail should be cleared of all the snow & ice. Last year, we tried it a bit too early and had to make our way thought drifts of snow that were up to my hips! I’ll let you know how it goes later one…
Bird TLC
As I mentioned in my previous posting, I gave a tour at the zoo to a friend who volunteers at Bird TLC a few weeks ago – and she returned the favor by giving me a tour of Bird TLC! I’ve never been there before, so this was quite a treat for me. It’s rather an industrial sort of building; not very impressive from the outside. Once you get inside, though, you start to see all the work they manage to do in there. It’s really quite something! They take in injured and orphaned birds from all over the state and nurse them back to health so they can be rehabilitated and released back out into the wilds, where they belong. Unfortunately, some birds that come into their establishment can never be re-released. That’s how the zoo gets all of their birds: the ones who couldn’t live by themselves. I got to see a lot of really cool birds on my tour: a nest of tiny little chickadee hatchlings, some older not-quite-flighted-yet magpie chicks, a red-tailed hawk recovering from a car accident, a tub full of baby ducklings of various breeds, several bald eagles out back who are too injured to ever be released, and one bird who was seriously injured laying flat out on its back all bundled up in bandages (I don’t know what kind of bird that was – but it was big enough to have been an eagle).
Seward with Mother
Mother decided that she wanted to take a drive out to Seward the other day, so she invited me to go with her. Her excuse was to look at some property she found for sale, but honestly she just likes Seward. Any excuse will do! And I was quite happy to go along, too. We took off about 10:00 from my house and got to the Summit Lake Lodge just in time for a late lunch. From there, it was just a short way to Seward, so we were able to check in to our hotel by 2:00. Once we got all our stuff stored away, we headed out to the lake that’s just on the outskirts of town. There’s a boardwalk that goes around part of the lake, and a footpath that completes the loop. We’d never been on that trail before, so it was quite fun for us. We saw a lot of wildflowers, interesting houses, HUGE rocks, and the cutest little creek that ambles by a park bench. Dinner that night was at a Chinese place we’d never tried before: I have to say I wasn’t overly impressed. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that good either.
Early to bed means early to rise: we got checked out of the hotel and made our way to Exit Glacier for a nice stroll there. Again, we tried a few trails that we’d never been on before, so it was fun too. I had to laugh: at one point we came across these three girls walking up towards the trail from the river bed. They were barefoot – which is impressive since it’s cold and rocky – and one of the girls called out to us, saying “Whatever you do, don’t go wading in the river: it’s Cold!” I laughed and said “Well, yeah - it’s a glacier river!” A guy behind us just about fell over, he was laughing so hard. He thought it was so funny they hadn’t realized a glacier river would actually be cold! Some things you just have to experience yourself to understand.
We headed on home from Exit Glacier with me driving while Mother napped. At Summit Lake Lodge, we stopped for a brief snack (Mother made chocolate cookies for the trip), switched places at the wheel, and headed on back to Anchorage.
And yes, we did look at property while in Seward: turns out the property listed in the newspaper add was being rented out to a family who had no idea the property was posted for sale! We may have inadvertently stirred up a hornets nest, there.
Eklutna Flats with Lorna
In preparation for my up-coming Africa trip, I am practicing my photography skills as much as possible in order to be Africa-worthy once I get there! My friend Lorna, herself a published photographer with several books under her belt, has been quite helpful in that endeavor (Thank You Lorna!) and took me out to the flats just outside of town a while back. The wild Iris were just beginning to open up, and the Choclate Lilies were everywhere – as was a flower called False Soloman’s Seal, a very pretty little white one with a leaf pattern that was fascinating to me. We had a great time wandering thru the fields, ending up out at the river delta where it meets the ocean. It was a bright and sunny day – not the best conditions for taking photos, but I wasn’t complaining – and best of all the bugs were not up yet, so we weren’t plagued by bloodsuckers to the point of going insane trying to avoid them. We got some really nice shots, too!
Job Hunting
My job hunt continues; nothing promising yet – but a few with potential. The worst shock of the week was getting a letter from the state telling me that my unemployment had run out. Thankfully, I qualified for extended benefits or I would really be in trouble!
Roommate
Trish and I are getting along great – partially because she’s gone most of the time, but also because she is a nice person. She’s only here for a few months, so wants to get out as much as possible to see the sights. We’ve been going out on little hikes, just the two of us, as well as joining in on the Family Hikes. This weekend, we’re heading out to Seward for a cruise out in the Kenai Fjords (yay!) and next week we’re hoping to take the train from Whittier to Fairbanks.
Family Hiking
Our Family Hiking season is in full swing, finally. I do enjoy hiking – especially with family and friends. Our last hike, however, wasn’t so much fun. We met down at the Pt. Woronzof parking lot and headed off on the coastal trail towards Kincaid Park. Normally, this is one of my favorite stretches on the coastal trail: it’s away from downtown, so you don’t have to walk past people’s back yards, or deal with parking lots every 10 feet. Instead, you get the ocean on one side of the trail and the forest on the other side = both spectacular in their own rights. This time of year, and this year in particular, the mosquitoes are just woken up from their winter hibernation – and they are HUNGRY. It was bad at first, and just kept on getting worse the farther into the woods we went. By the time we finally decided to turn around and head back to the car, we were almost running to get away from the nasty little beasts. I had to laugh: my sister-in-law wanted me to take a picture of one of the mile markers for her. I had to snap a shot as fast as humanly (and technologically) possible just to avoid loosing a pint of blood. I hope that shot was worth the sacrifice I made to get it!
Our next hike is going to be much better. It’s up in the mountains, so the bugs wont be as bad (they don’t really like high winds, and it’s typically windy up there) – and at this time of summer the trail should be cleared of all the snow & ice. Last year, we tried it a bit too early and had to make our way thought drifts of snow that were up to my hips! I’ll let you know how it goes later one…
Bird TLC
As I mentioned in my previous posting, I gave a tour at the zoo to a friend who volunteers at Bird TLC a few weeks ago – and she returned the favor by giving me a tour of Bird TLC! I’ve never been there before, so this was quite a treat for me. It’s rather an industrial sort of building; not very impressive from the outside. Once you get inside, though, you start to see all the work they manage to do in there. It’s really quite something! They take in injured and orphaned birds from all over the state and nurse them back to health so they can be rehabilitated and released back out into the wilds, where they belong. Unfortunately, some birds that come into their establishment can never be re-released. That’s how the zoo gets all of their birds: the ones who couldn’t live by themselves. I got to see a lot of really cool birds on my tour: a nest of tiny little chickadee hatchlings, some older not-quite-flighted-yet magpie chicks, a red-tailed hawk recovering from a car accident, a tub full of baby ducklings of various breeds, several bald eagles out back who are too injured to ever be released, and one bird who was seriously injured laying flat out on its back all bundled up in bandages (I don’t know what kind of bird that was – but it was big enough to have been an eagle).
Seward with Mother
Mother decided that she wanted to take a drive out to Seward the other day, so she invited me to go with her. Her excuse was to look at some property she found for sale, but honestly she just likes Seward. Any excuse will do! And I was quite happy to go along, too. We took off about 10:00 from my house and got to the Summit Lake Lodge just in time for a late lunch. From there, it was just a short way to Seward, so we were able to check in to our hotel by 2:00. Once we got all our stuff stored away, we headed out to the lake that’s just on the outskirts of town. There’s a boardwalk that goes around part of the lake, and a footpath that completes the loop. We’d never been on that trail before, so it was quite fun for us. We saw a lot of wildflowers, interesting houses, HUGE rocks, and the cutest little creek that ambles by a park bench. Dinner that night was at a Chinese place we’d never tried before: I have to say I wasn’t overly impressed. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t that good either.
Early to bed means early to rise: we got checked out of the hotel and made our way to Exit Glacier for a nice stroll there. Again, we tried a few trails that we’d never been on before, so it was fun too. I had to laugh: at one point we came across these three girls walking up towards the trail from the river bed. They were barefoot – which is impressive since it’s cold and rocky – and one of the girls called out to us, saying “Whatever you do, don’t go wading in the river: it’s Cold!” I laughed and said “Well, yeah - it’s a glacier river!” A guy behind us just about fell over, he was laughing so hard. He thought it was so funny they hadn’t realized a glacier river would actually be cold! Some things you just have to experience yourself to understand.
We headed on home from Exit Glacier with me driving while Mother napped. At Summit Lake Lodge, we stopped for a brief snack (Mother made chocolate cookies for the trip), switched places at the wheel, and headed on back to Anchorage.
And yes, we did look at property while in Seward: turns out the property listed in the newspaper add was being rented out to a family who had no idea the property was posted for sale! We may have inadvertently stirred up a hornets nest, there.
Eklutna Flats with Lorna
In preparation for my up-coming Africa trip, I am practicing my photography skills as much as possible in order to be Africa-worthy once I get there! My friend Lorna, herself a published photographer with several books under her belt, has been quite helpful in that endeavor (Thank You Lorna!) and took me out to the flats just outside of town a while back. The wild Iris were just beginning to open up, and the Choclate Lilies were everywhere – as was a flower called False Soloman’s Seal, a very pretty little white one with a leaf pattern that was fascinating to me. We had a great time wandering thru the fields, ending up out at the river delta where it meets the ocean. It was a bright and sunny day – not the best conditions for taking photos, but I wasn’t complaining – and best of all the bugs were not up yet, so we weren’t plagued by bloodsuckers to the point of going insane trying to avoid them. We got some really nice shots, too!
Job Hunting
My job hunt continues; nothing promising yet – but a few with potential. The worst shock of the week was getting a letter from the state telling me that my unemployment had run out. Thankfully, I qualified for extended benefits or I would really be in trouble!
Roommate
Trish and I are getting along great – partially because she’s gone most of the time, but also because she is a nice person. She’s only here for a few months, so wants to get out as much as possible to see the sights. We’ve been going out on little hikes, just the two of us, as well as joining in on the Family Hikes. This weekend, we’re heading out to Seward for a cruise out in the Kenai Fjords (yay!) and next week we’re hoping to take the train from Whittier to Fairbanks.
Lots Going On at The Alaska Zoo
I’ve been slightly remiss in my blogging duties, so I’ll try to do a brief recap here of all the goings on at the zoo lately. I had thought it would slow down since school is out and there are no more field trips to deal with, but this month seems to be just as frantic as last month - just in a different way.
Tuesday Night at The Zoo
This is one of my favorite events here at the zoo: we have lectures each Tuesday night throughout the summer months highlighting a different zoo animal, giving people a chance to meet the zookeepers and ask any questions they might have. We try to have that animal on hand – if at all possible – so they can see it up close. We sometimes even have guest speakers come from outside to give the talks: our kick-off lecture this season was by Dr. David Kenny V.M.D., the Field Veterinarian for the Conservation Biology Department of the Denver Zoological Foundation. This one was of particular interest to me since he is part of the team working on the Mongolia project I got to join in on last year. Check out our website for more information on the TNATZ program!
http://www.alaskazoo.org/tnazfnaz.htm
Guided Encounters
I’ve done several Guided Encounters this month. This is a special tour that groups or individuals actually pay for, so I always try to give them their money’s worth. I get to take them behind the scenes at the Polar Bear Exhibit, which is always fun. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, the polar bears will come over to check us out: this gives people an up-close encounter with an incredibly awesome animal.
One of the funnest groups I’ve had in a long time was a troop of Girl Scouts from Kodiak. There were about 10 little girls, age 10-12, along with their 4 chaperones and their troop leader. We had such a great time together; they even sang to me at the end of the tour! I’ve never been sung to before…
Just the other day I got to do one for a class from The Imaginarium consisting of about 8 little 5-year olds and their 2 teachers. They were a fun group too – but Oh My Gosh! What a handful 5-year olds can be. William was the cutest, and of course he was the one who got into trouble the most. I was very impressed with how his teachers dealt with him.
Other Tours
A couple years ago, I took a Nature Writing Workshop with a local author and about 12 other people. We met once a week for 12 weeks and critiqued each other’s writing, learning a lot in the process. One of the ladies I met in the class happens to volunteer at Bird TLC, a group the zoo works very closely with. She contacted me a few weeks ago wanting to take me up on my offer of a guided tour at the zoo. I was very happy to take her and her husband around: she had worked with our Stellar’s Jay in his time of convalescence, so I made sure she got to meet him again.
Last week I happened to be in the right place at the right time and got the opportunity to give a Golf Cart Tour! Our zoo sits on about 25 acres of dirt & gravel paths, so we have a (very old) golf cart that we can offer to patrons who have difficulty getting around. It has to be arranged ahead of time, and I’m thinking there might be a fee involved – but it is available if anybody really needs it. The gentleman who requested it this time was a very nice man who was recovering from lower-back surgery and had never been to the zoo before. Pat Lampi, the director of the zoo, had planned on giving him the tour – but since I happened to show up at the admittance building at just the right time, I volunteered to give it instead and let Pat get back to work. I love golf cart tours! Golf carts just so much fun to drive: it’s like riding bumper cars. Thankfully, my guests (the man and his wife) had as much fun as I did, and didn’t mind the occasional mishaps with the cart.
Animal Updates
Spring in Alaska means there are lots going on with the animals. Moose are giving birth all over town, which unfortunately means lot of orphans: Moose –vs- Car = Orphan. We have 6 of them in the infirmary right now. Baby moose are just the cutest little things but require a lot of hands-on attention when orphaned. They get bottle fed about 6 times a day and typically drink up to 3 gallons of formula each day per baby. This means hours and hours of mixing formula!
Our own musk ox gave birth just three days ago! He/She is a rambunctious little one already, testing out wobbly legs by running real fast and bumping in to things. Apparently turning corners is not as easy as one might think! Mom gets a little concerned whenever her baby gets too far away from her, but one growl sends it right back underneath her, safely tucked between her legs. We don’t know what the sex is yet: it’s a little difficult to tell right off the bat and there’s no way we’re getting in there to look. Mother is WAY too protective for us to attempt that.
The two bear cubs that came to us last fall have finally been moved into their new exhibit. The Bear Cub Den took a bit of prep work to be safe for them, but finally they’re in there and are enjoying the great outdoors. The old elephant house was the perfect place for them when they first arrived: it gave us easy access to them to monitor their health & progress (they were severely underweight and malnourished) but nothing beats clean fresh air and actual dirt to play in!
We got some sad news this past week, too, unfortunately. Sally, our female river otter, died very unexpectedly. A necropsy (an autopsy performed on an animal) revealed that she died of heart failure brought on by renal failure. Sally was brought to us about 5-6 years ago as a tiny little pup who was barely alive. She required months of tube feeding: a tube stuck down into her stomach through which food was given to her. She pulled though and turned in to a lovely young lady, just a joy to watch as she expertly maneuvered her way around the pool of water with her mate Turbo. She will be greatly missed.
Tuesday Night at The Zoo
This is one of my favorite events here at the zoo: we have lectures each Tuesday night throughout the summer months highlighting a different zoo animal, giving people a chance to meet the zookeepers and ask any questions they might have. We try to have that animal on hand – if at all possible – so they can see it up close. We sometimes even have guest speakers come from outside to give the talks: our kick-off lecture this season was by Dr. David Kenny V.M.D., the Field Veterinarian for the Conservation Biology Department of the Denver Zoological Foundation. This one was of particular interest to me since he is part of the team working on the Mongolia project I got to join in on last year. Check out our website for more information on the TNATZ program!
http://www.alaskazoo.org/tnazfnaz.htm
Guided Encounters
I’ve done several Guided Encounters this month. This is a special tour that groups or individuals actually pay for, so I always try to give them their money’s worth. I get to take them behind the scenes at the Polar Bear Exhibit, which is always fun. Sometimes, if we’re lucky, the polar bears will come over to check us out: this gives people an up-close encounter with an incredibly awesome animal.
One of the funnest groups I’ve had in a long time was a troop of Girl Scouts from Kodiak. There were about 10 little girls, age 10-12, along with their 4 chaperones and their troop leader. We had such a great time together; they even sang to me at the end of the tour! I’ve never been sung to before…
Just the other day I got to do one for a class from The Imaginarium consisting of about 8 little 5-year olds and their 2 teachers. They were a fun group too – but Oh My Gosh! What a handful 5-year olds can be. William was the cutest, and of course he was the one who got into trouble the most. I was very impressed with how his teachers dealt with him.
Other Tours
A couple years ago, I took a Nature Writing Workshop with a local author and about 12 other people. We met once a week for 12 weeks and critiqued each other’s writing, learning a lot in the process. One of the ladies I met in the class happens to volunteer at Bird TLC, a group the zoo works very closely with. She contacted me a few weeks ago wanting to take me up on my offer of a guided tour at the zoo. I was very happy to take her and her husband around: she had worked with our Stellar’s Jay in his time of convalescence, so I made sure she got to meet him again.
Last week I happened to be in the right place at the right time and got the opportunity to give a Golf Cart Tour! Our zoo sits on about 25 acres of dirt & gravel paths, so we have a (very old) golf cart that we can offer to patrons who have difficulty getting around. It has to be arranged ahead of time, and I’m thinking there might be a fee involved – but it is available if anybody really needs it. The gentleman who requested it this time was a very nice man who was recovering from lower-back surgery and had never been to the zoo before. Pat Lampi, the director of the zoo, had planned on giving him the tour – but since I happened to show up at the admittance building at just the right time, I volunteered to give it instead and let Pat get back to work. I love golf cart tours! Golf carts just so much fun to drive: it’s like riding bumper cars. Thankfully, my guests (the man and his wife) had as much fun as I did, and didn’t mind the occasional mishaps with the cart.
Animal Updates
Spring in Alaska means there are lots going on with the animals. Moose are giving birth all over town, which unfortunately means lot of orphans: Moose –vs- Car = Orphan. We have 6 of them in the infirmary right now. Baby moose are just the cutest little things but require a lot of hands-on attention when orphaned. They get bottle fed about 6 times a day and typically drink up to 3 gallons of formula each day per baby. This means hours and hours of mixing formula!
Our own musk ox gave birth just three days ago! He/She is a rambunctious little one already, testing out wobbly legs by running real fast and bumping in to things. Apparently turning corners is not as easy as one might think! Mom gets a little concerned whenever her baby gets too far away from her, but one growl sends it right back underneath her, safely tucked between her legs. We don’t know what the sex is yet: it’s a little difficult to tell right off the bat and there’s no way we’re getting in there to look. Mother is WAY too protective for us to attempt that.
The two bear cubs that came to us last fall have finally been moved into their new exhibit. The Bear Cub Den took a bit of prep work to be safe for them, but finally they’re in there and are enjoying the great outdoors. The old elephant house was the perfect place for them when they first arrived: it gave us easy access to them to monitor their health & progress (they were severely underweight and malnourished) but nothing beats clean fresh air and actual dirt to play in!
We got some sad news this past week, too, unfortunately. Sally, our female river otter, died very unexpectedly. A necropsy (an autopsy performed on an animal) revealed that she died of heart failure brought on by renal failure. Sally was brought to us about 5-6 years ago as a tiny little pup who was barely alive. She required months of tube feeding: a tube stuck down into her stomach through which food was given to her. She pulled though and turned in to a lovely young lady, just a joy to watch as she expertly maneuvered her way around the pool of water with her mate Turbo. She will be greatly missed.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Hike with My Roommate, Trish
For Trish’s first day in Alaska, I took her up to the Eagle River Nature Center for a hike! That is one of my favorite places to go and I thought it would be a good introduction to our beautiful state for her: she loved it!
The center was offering one of their free programs that day, titled SPRING WILDFLOWER WALK: naturalist UTE OLSSON will lead a search for the Calypso orchid, wild violets and other early Alaskan spring wildflowers along the Albert Loop trail (3 miles roundtrip). I really like Ute Olsson and know that she is very knowledgeable about this kind of thing, so I thought it would be a really interesting one to attend.
Unfortunately, a whole lot of other people thought the same thing. There were perhaps 35-40 people bunching around Ute trying to hear what she was saying and to see what she was pointing at. Trish and I decided that just wasn’t what we came for, so we ditched the group and headed out on our own.
Back in Anchorage it was overcast and chilly, with spurts of rain off and on – so Trish and I had dressed in sweaters and raingear. In Eagle River, however, it was a bright, clear, sunny day with just the slightest breeze to refresh you as you hike along the trails. It was gorgeous out: we were so happy to be there, even if we did have to peel a layer or two off as we went along. And of course, once again, I forgot to bring my water bottle.
I’m not very familiar with the Albert Loop Trail, but it’s well marked so we had no problems finding our way. It has several boardwalks built out over the water, giving access to some spectacular views along the way. The mud had, for the most part, dried up allowing for easy walking. We even came across a couple of Blue Jays playing in the bushes alongside the trail.
Our hike also gave me an opportunity to practice up on my plant-identification skills, although I had forgotten to bring my books with me so there were some I just couldn’t remember. Trish was polite enough to be interested in everything – and had lots of questions of her own to ask. Before we knew it, we were back at the main center and found that two hours had passed!
Funny: Trish kept saying “The air smells different – I can’t quite figure out what it is.” I thought maybe it was just a whole new ecosystem, with all new plants, animals, and even soil that made things smell so different to her. She thought perhaps it was the remoteness of it all (not so much pollution in the air). Regardless, she loves the smell and kept taking in deep breaths and looking about her with a smile on her face.
The center was offering one of their free programs that day, titled SPRING WILDFLOWER WALK: naturalist UTE OLSSON will lead a search for the Calypso orchid, wild violets and other early Alaskan spring wildflowers along the Albert Loop trail (3 miles roundtrip). I really like Ute Olsson and know that she is very knowledgeable about this kind of thing, so I thought it would be a really interesting one to attend.
Unfortunately, a whole lot of other people thought the same thing. There were perhaps 35-40 people bunching around Ute trying to hear what she was saying and to see what she was pointing at. Trish and I decided that just wasn’t what we came for, so we ditched the group and headed out on our own.
Back in Anchorage it was overcast and chilly, with spurts of rain off and on – so Trish and I had dressed in sweaters and raingear. In Eagle River, however, it was a bright, clear, sunny day with just the slightest breeze to refresh you as you hike along the trails. It was gorgeous out: we were so happy to be there, even if we did have to peel a layer or two off as we went along. And of course, once again, I forgot to bring my water bottle.
I’m not very familiar with the Albert Loop Trail, but it’s well marked so we had no problems finding our way. It has several boardwalks built out over the water, giving access to some spectacular views along the way. The mud had, for the most part, dried up allowing for easy walking. We even came across a couple of Blue Jays playing in the bushes alongside the trail.
Our hike also gave me an opportunity to practice up on my plant-identification skills, although I had forgotten to bring my books with me so there were some I just couldn’t remember. Trish was polite enough to be interested in everything – and had lots of questions of her own to ask. Before we knew it, we were back at the main center and found that two hours had passed!
Funny: Trish kept saying “The air smells different – I can’t quite figure out what it is.” I thought maybe it was just a whole new ecosystem, with all new plants, animals, and even soil that made things smell so different to her. She thought perhaps it was the remoteness of it all (not so much pollution in the air). Regardless, she loves the smell and kept taking in deep breaths and looking about her with a smile on her face.
Discovery Tours are Back!
This is my favorite kind of tour to give at the zoo: it’s offered every day from Noon to 2:00 and costs $20 (this includes entrance to the zoo). For that, you get a guided tour of the zoo, behind-the-scenes visits with both the polar bears and the tigers, and all the information I can think of about both animals AND plants, as well as some personal history of my life in Alaska. It’s open to anybody who signs up for it and you don’t need to make reservations: just show up, pay the fee, and off we go!
It took a bit of study to prepare for it, I have to admit. Prior to its conception, I barely knew a thing about plants. The education director for the zoo printed out a few pages of information on a handful of plants that can be found at the zoo, so I at least had that to begin with. But I love to learn new things, so took it upon myself to find out more.
The Eagle River Nature Center offers free programs to the public pretty much every Sunday throughout the year on various subjects, some of which were happily on the native plant life in the area. I attended a few of them - with my camera, clipboard, notepad, and pen in hand – and ended up getting to know the presenter well enough to ask him for one-on-one help.
Let’s call him The Plant Guy.
The Plant Guy was very knowledgeable about native plant species and took me on several hikes around the area, answering all my “What’s this one?” questions and giving me all the information he had on them. He even agreed to come with me to the zoo and led an informal training session with our tour guides. He also happened to be the president of the Alaska Native Plant Society group and invited me to several of their outings, introducing me to Verna Pratt (a local native plant HERO) and giving me all sorts of new contacts for more information.
On top of all that I did some research on my own: taking an on-line botany class, buying several native plant guides for the area, and scouring the local newspaper for articles on plants, gardening, and the fight against invasive species.
All in all, I discovered a love for plants that I didn’t know I had. They are truly fascinating creatures, and it has made my hiking all the more wonderful by opening a whole new landscape to my vision.
Getting back to the subject of the tour, I think my guests have fun with it (and me). The first one of the season is always a bit nerve-wracking however. Over the winter, with all the snow & ice, one tends to forget about plants and green stuff – so when summer finally does arrive again, I always worry that I’ve forgotten everything. I typically will go to the zoo with my books for a walkabout on my own, just to reacquaint myself with the plants and try to pick up a few new tidbits to share with my guests. So by the time I actually do a Discovery Tour, with actual paying guests, I feel more confident that I can give them their money’s worth.
My first tour this year was with a local man and his wife, as well as their guest from out of state. Unfortunately, that guest happened to be a Biologist who is moving up here to work with our local Fish & Game people – so that added a whole new level of intimidation on me, because I knew that he knew stuff I didn’t and would spot my mistakes immediately!
Thankfully, though, he was very nice and if I did make any goofs, he didn’t bring them to my attention. He actually asked a lot of really in-depth questions and got me going on some really fascinating subjects. That did make us about half an hour late finishing the tour, but since nobody had any pressing chores waiting to be done, it was ok.
I even managed to put in a plug for our Tuesday Night at the Zoo program, telling them about the speaker who is coming up from the Denver Zoo to present our first one:
“Travel Diaries of a Zoo Vet” – Dr. David Kenny V.M.D. will share animal highlights from his travels conducting research as a Field Veterinarian for the Denver Zoo Conservation Biology Department. Join us for this talk at The Alaska Zoo at 7pm on Tuesday June 2 and help us kick-off our annual "Tuesday Night at the Zoo" summer lecture series. Each Tuesday features a different speaker and topic, sponsored by ConocoPhillips and Anchorage Daily News. Admission rates apply, with no additional charge for attending programs.
It took a bit of study to prepare for it, I have to admit. Prior to its conception, I barely knew a thing about plants. The education director for the zoo printed out a few pages of information on a handful of plants that can be found at the zoo, so I at least had that to begin with. But I love to learn new things, so took it upon myself to find out more.
The Eagle River Nature Center offers free programs to the public pretty much every Sunday throughout the year on various subjects, some of which were happily on the native plant life in the area. I attended a few of them - with my camera, clipboard, notepad, and pen in hand – and ended up getting to know the presenter well enough to ask him for one-on-one help.
Let’s call him The Plant Guy.
The Plant Guy was very knowledgeable about native plant species and took me on several hikes around the area, answering all my “What’s this one?” questions and giving me all the information he had on them. He even agreed to come with me to the zoo and led an informal training session with our tour guides. He also happened to be the president of the Alaska Native Plant Society group and invited me to several of their outings, introducing me to Verna Pratt (a local native plant HERO) and giving me all sorts of new contacts for more information.
On top of all that I did some research on my own: taking an on-line botany class, buying several native plant guides for the area, and scouring the local newspaper for articles on plants, gardening, and the fight against invasive species.
All in all, I discovered a love for plants that I didn’t know I had. They are truly fascinating creatures, and it has made my hiking all the more wonderful by opening a whole new landscape to my vision.
Getting back to the subject of the tour, I think my guests have fun with it (and me). The first one of the season is always a bit nerve-wracking however. Over the winter, with all the snow & ice, one tends to forget about plants and green stuff – so when summer finally does arrive again, I always worry that I’ve forgotten everything. I typically will go to the zoo with my books for a walkabout on my own, just to reacquaint myself with the plants and try to pick up a few new tidbits to share with my guests. So by the time I actually do a Discovery Tour, with actual paying guests, I feel more confident that I can give them their money’s worth.
My first tour this year was with a local man and his wife, as well as their guest from out of state. Unfortunately, that guest happened to be a Biologist who is moving up here to work with our local Fish & Game people – so that added a whole new level of intimidation on me, because I knew that he knew stuff I didn’t and would spot my mistakes immediately!
Thankfully, though, he was very nice and if I did make any goofs, he didn’t bring them to my attention. He actually asked a lot of really in-depth questions and got me going on some really fascinating subjects. That did make us about half an hour late finishing the tour, but since nobody had any pressing chores waiting to be done, it was ok.
I even managed to put in a plug for our Tuesday Night at the Zoo program, telling them about the speaker who is coming up from the Denver Zoo to present our first one:
“Travel Diaries of a Zoo Vet” – Dr. David Kenny V.M.D. will share animal highlights from his travels conducting research as a Field Veterinarian for the Denver Zoo Conservation Biology Department. Join us for this talk at The Alaska Zoo at 7pm on Tuesday June 2 and help us kick-off our annual "Tuesday Night at the Zoo" summer lecture series. Each Tuesday features a different speaker and topic, sponsored by ConocoPhillips and Anchorage Daily News. Admission rates apply, with no additional charge for attending programs.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
I Have a Roommate
I picked her up at the airport last night. So far, she’s nice; we’ll get along fairly well, I think.
Getting ready for her was an ordeal, to say the least. I’ve already told you about the closet issue. That was bad enough, but it pales in comparison to moving the computer – to say nothing of getting the furniture arranged! Talk about an aching back… I may never move again.
Thank God for good friends! Lorna went above and beyond the call of duty, I have to say. I met with her on Wednesday at the Terra Bella Café for some tea and to look at her photographs, and happened to mention that I had no idea how I was going to deal with the computer. She very generously offered to help out.
Little did she know what she was signing up for!
I got most of the small stuff moved ahead of her arrival, so when she did show up all we would have to do was the big stuff. The real bugger turned out to be the desk. I don’t like the desk in the first place but can’t afford a different one at the moment. Taking it apart and putting it back together turned out to be … difficult, to put it mildly.
With some rather impressing body contortions and a few acrobatic moves, we finally did manage to get it put back together. And I must say – it looks rather spiffy in its new corner! She got the computer hooked back up again, and GCI got the internet working again – so I’m up and running.
Then we tackled the furniture.
My sister-in-law had a bed for me to borrow, along with a night stand. The trouble was getting it from Palmer to Anchorage. Both she and my brother are currently down with tonsillitis, and had spent the previous day in the hospital: neither was in any condition to move furniture. My mother had a truck, but it has no top and it was raining pretty heavily (still is, for that matter).
Once again Lorna stepped up to the plate and offered her van.
So, we drove down to my brother’s house to pick up the furniture - only to discover that the bed wouldn’t fit into her van! The four of us did some brainstorming and came up with a plan.
We put the mattress and other smaller stuff into Lorna’s van. We put the frame into my brother’s truck (which also has no top). I drove his truck into Anchorage with Lorna following me in her van, and we put all the furniture into my garage. The following day, Reed drove Heather’s car to work, while Heather hitched a ride with my mother who was coming in to shampoo my carpets. Heather drove their truck home, Mother and I worked on my carpets, and everybody got their cars back.
Whew!
The carpet cleaning went very well, I must say. I had spot cleaned the worst areas with a solution designed specifically for cat urine (poor little Alien didn’t use his potty much) so along with the cleaning solution she had all the stains are now gone. I’m not very happy with the smells, however… I can still smell cat urine. I’m hoping that will dissipate with open windows and a candle.
Moving the furniture was my next battle, and for this I called on my friend Bryan.
That bed frame turned out to be almost more of a hassle that it’s worth! When we picked it up from Heather’s house, she told me “What ever you do, don’t take it a part! The frame is twisted, so getting it put back together again is REALLY difficult.” But when Bryan and I tried to get it up the stairs into the house, it simply wouldn’t fit. We had to take it apart.
That’s when we discovered that not only did we not have the proper tool to get the screws undone (they required an Allen wrench, not a flat or Phillips screw driver) but the screws themselves had been stripped and were darned near impossible to get out. He finally managed somehow, by applying bruit strength I think, and we got it disassembled and up into the room where we found out that it was a BREEZE to get back together! Perhaps having spent all that time as an actual bed got the frame bent back into shape? Regardless, I was very happy about that and was able to get the final touches on her room just in time to go pick her up.
Today, I’m going hiking… and I’m NOT moving ANY furniture!
Getting ready for her was an ordeal, to say the least. I’ve already told you about the closet issue. That was bad enough, but it pales in comparison to moving the computer – to say nothing of getting the furniture arranged! Talk about an aching back… I may never move again.
Thank God for good friends! Lorna went above and beyond the call of duty, I have to say. I met with her on Wednesday at the Terra Bella Café for some tea and to look at her photographs, and happened to mention that I had no idea how I was going to deal with the computer. She very generously offered to help out.
Little did she know what she was signing up for!
I got most of the small stuff moved ahead of her arrival, so when she did show up all we would have to do was the big stuff. The real bugger turned out to be the desk. I don’t like the desk in the first place but can’t afford a different one at the moment. Taking it apart and putting it back together turned out to be … difficult, to put it mildly.
With some rather impressing body contortions and a few acrobatic moves, we finally did manage to get it put back together. And I must say – it looks rather spiffy in its new corner! She got the computer hooked back up again, and GCI got the internet working again – so I’m up and running.
Then we tackled the furniture.
My sister-in-law had a bed for me to borrow, along with a night stand. The trouble was getting it from Palmer to Anchorage. Both she and my brother are currently down with tonsillitis, and had spent the previous day in the hospital: neither was in any condition to move furniture. My mother had a truck, but it has no top and it was raining pretty heavily (still is, for that matter).
Once again Lorna stepped up to the plate and offered her van.
So, we drove down to my brother’s house to pick up the furniture - only to discover that the bed wouldn’t fit into her van! The four of us did some brainstorming and came up with a plan.
We put the mattress and other smaller stuff into Lorna’s van. We put the frame into my brother’s truck (which also has no top). I drove his truck into Anchorage with Lorna following me in her van, and we put all the furniture into my garage. The following day, Reed drove Heather’s car to work, while Heather hitched a ride with my mother who was coming in to shampoo my carpets. Heather drove their truck home, Mother and I worked on my carpets, and everybody got their cars back.
Whew!
The carpet cleaning went very well, I must say. I had spot cleaned the worst areas with a solution designed specifically for cat urine (poor little Alien didn’t use his potty much) so along with the cleaning solution she had all the stains are now gone. I’m not very happy with the smells, however… I can still smell cat urine. I’m hoping that will dissipate with open windows and a candle.
Moving the furniture was my next battle, and for this I called on my friend Bryan.
That bed frame turned out to be almost more of a hassle that it’s worth! When we picked it up from Heather’s house, she told me “What ever you do, don’t take it a part! The frame is twisted, so getting it put back together again is REALLY difficult.” But when Bryan and I tried to get it up the stairs into the house, it simply wouldn’t fit. We had to take it apart.
That’s when we discovered that not only did we not have the proper tool to get the screws undone (they required an Allen wrench, not a flat or Phillips screw driver) but the screws themselves had been stripped and were darned near impossible to get out. He finally managed somehow, by applying bruit strength I think, and we got it disassembled and up into the room where we found out that it was a BREEZE to get back together! Perhaps having spent all that time as an actual bed got the frame bent back into shape? Regardless, I was very happy about that and was able to get the final touches on her room just in time to go pick her up.
Today, I’m going hiking… and I’m NOT moving ANY furniture!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Oh, My Aching Back!
I’ve made a bit of progress today in my attempt to rearrange the house for my new roommate. In fact, I may have done too much – at least, according to my lower back: I’m getting spasms as we speak. Sleep tonight may not be very restful.
I feel good about how much I accomplished, though. I went thru all my clothes and weeded out the ones I haven’t worn in at least a year, and ended up with a pile of clothes on the floor that would have stood taller than me had it not fallen over.
I kept a tally of it as I bagged it all so that I could deduct the donation on my taxes this year. I ended up with 10 dresses, 65 shirts, 25 sweaters, 12 pair of pants, 13 pair of shoes, 10 coats, 1 robe, 1 sleepshirt, and 2 pantsuits.
I took them down to the Alaska Women’s Resource office off Northern Lights Boulevard between C Street and Arctic. If you have women’s clothing you no longer use, please consider giving to them! Talk to Megan at 279-5000 to arrange everything.
Once I got all my clothes weeded out, I organized the closet in my own bedroom in order to fit them all. This entailed cleaning out the dresser that’s in there so that I could use the drawers for clothing rather than for miscellaneous stuff. This also entailed cleaning out the closet in my library so that I could store the miscellaneous stuff there instead. I also had to clean out the coat closet downstairs as well as the entry way where I keep a lot of shoes.
So, by cleaning out one closet (in the spare room) for my roommate, I ended up cleaning out three other closets (my bedroom, the library, and the coat closet downstairs). I also ended up waxing the wood floor in the entry way; might as well, since it was cleaned off anyway.
After taking 7 large bags full of clothing to the Ak. Women’s Resource office and treating myself to lunch at the Middle Way Café, I then decided to face the computer issue.
I called GCI and scheduled an appointment for them to come give me another hook-up downstairs. I worked out somewhat of a plan for how I want to arrange things down there. And I cleaned out the file drawer, throwing away unnecessary paperwork and filing stuff that had been piled up for (I’m embarrassed to say) almost a year now.
I was on a roll by this time, so I gathered together all the CDs scattered all over the house, and from the car as well, and put them back in to their place in the CD cabinet. Then I cleaned the kitchen and got the dishes washed.
The highlight of the day was finding a wooden box stored in the back of one of my closets that I’d forgotten I had. I love wooden boxes (strange, I know – but I do) and this one is just perfect for organizing all my hand-made cards! I think it used to be either from an old library or office or something – it has divider cards in it, labeled with the alphabet, and an adjustable backstop so I can store however many cards I have at the time.
I love it!
I feel good about how much I accomplished, though. I went thru all my clothes and weeded out the ones I haven’t worn in at least a year, and ended up with a pile of clothes on the floor that would have stood taller than me had it not fallen over.
I kept a tally of it as I bagged it all so that I could deduct the donation on my taxes this year. I ended up with 10 dresses, 65 shirts, 25 sweaters, 12 pair of pants, 13 pair of shoes, 10 coats, 1 robe, 1 sleepshirt, and 2 pantsuits.
I took them down to the Alaska Women’s Resource office off Northern Lights Boulevard between C Street and Arctic. If you have women’s clothing you no longer use, please consider giving to them! Talk to Megan at 279-5000 to arrange everything.
Once I got all my clothes weeded out, I organized the closet in my own bedroom in order to fit them all. This entailed cleaning out the dresser that’s in there so that I could use the drawers for clothing rather than for miscellaneous stuff. This also entailed cleaning out the closet in my library so that I could store the miscellaneous stuff there instead. I also had to clean out the coat closet downstairs as well as the entry way where I keep a lot of shoes.
So, by cleaning out one closet (in the spare room) for my roommate, I ended up cleaning out three other closets (my bedroom, the library, and the coat closet downstairs). I also ended up waxing the wood floor in the entry way; might as well, since it was cleaned off anyway.
After taking 7 large bags full of clothing to the Ak. Women’s Resource office and treating myself to lunch at the Middle Way Café, I then decided to face the computer issue.
I called GCI and scheduled an appointment for them to come give me another hook-up downstairs. I worked out somewhat of a plan for how I want to arrange things down there. And I cleaned out the file drawer, throwing away unnecessary paperwork and filing stuff that had been piled up for (I’m embarrassed to say) almost a year now.
I was on a roll by this time, so I gathered together all the CDs scattered all over the house, and from the car as well, and put them back in to their place in the CD cabinet. Then I cleaned the kitchen and got the dishes washed.
The highlight of the day was finding a wooden box stored in the back of one of my closets that I’d forgotten I had. I love wooden boxes (strange, I know – but I do) and this one is just perfect for organizing all my hand-made cards! I think it used to be either from an old library or office or something – it has divider cards in it, labeled with the alphabet, and an adjustable backstop so I can store however many cards I have at the time.
I love it!
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