Interesting Things Seen While Driving in Palmer

Just a few random things I’ve seen lately that seem worthy of note:

There’s this guy who rides his bicycle all over town. That, in itself, is not exactly noteworthy - because there are a lot of bicyclers in town. But this guy – he rides his bicycle while singing and playing a guitar! He’s quite good, too.

Then the other day I saw a car with a sunroof. Again, not exactly noteworthy on its own – but this one had a rather large husky with his head sticking up out of the open sunroof. He was perfectly centered in the car, and his was like, “oh, I’m driving down the road watching the world go by.” It was so cute.

And finally today up by the high school I saw two teenagers taking their caribou for a walk. Yes, you read that correctly: they each had a caribou on a leash with a halter, and they were on the bike path just taking a stroll. I thought to myself, “Only in Alaska!”

Bowling!

Mother has been talking about how much fun going bowling is and how much she wanted to go again – so finally I took the hint and organized a Bowling Party. I invited the whole family to join us, knowing full well that not everyone would be able to. The final tally was Me, Bryan, Mother, Lisa and her friend Josh. That made for a very fun afternoon! We rented two lanes side by side, so it was Me, Bryan and Mother on lane 17 against Lisa and Josh on lane 18.

Bryan blew us all out of the running with a very strong pitch (is it a pitch when you’re bowling? I don’t know the proper terminology) with Mother following closely and with me trailing along behind… way, way, WAY behind. The scoreboard that keeps track of everybody’s score also clocks how fast the bowling ball travels down the lane: sometimes Bryan’s ball went over 20 mph! I was doing good if mine went over 10 mph…

We worried about mother’s balance and coordination, but she did really good. Her thumb is all swollen today, and she has new bruises up and down her arm – but she had such a good time, she’s talking about going again! Maybe more of the family can join us this time.

Talkeetna is Amazing!

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve lived here or how many times you’ve seen her, Denali never fails to elicit such awe and excitement! This weekend didn’t start out very good, weather-wise – but by Sunday, we got the full view right outside our front door!

The cabin we rented this time was right on the Susitna River. Such a gorgeous locations – I’m sure it’s really nice in the summertime! We just might have to go back when the fish are running. Inside the cabin was warm & toasty, with a gas fireplace and a small kitchenette. They said there was a grille and a picnic table outside, but it was buried under 4 feet of snow – so we just made do with the electric skillet and crock pot for our meals.

Bryan worked on his fly tying, getting ready for Pike season. I (as usual) worked on some cards and got caught up on my letter writing. I realize this is just a repeat of the last fifteen weekend get-aways, but honestly we look forward to them so much and thoroughly enjoy our time together. I would prefer to have had my kittens with me, but they did just fine at home with Grandma.

And since you can’t go to Talkeetna and NOT go to the local brewery, we of course went TWICE! Once for lunch at the Brewery itself, and a second time at the Brewpub downtown for dinner. We were pleasantly surprised when we walked into the main brewery; they’ve really spruced up the place since our last visit. They even have a wood-fired pizza oven now!  I opted for a kale salad and a blueberry mojito, while Bryan had a bowl of chili and a flight of their tasty beer.

Did I Say That Out Loud?

Back in my younger days I had not yet learned to think before I speak, so more often than not my mouth would get me in to trouble. Thankfully I have (finally) learned to keep my thoughts to myself – but here are a few examples of me putting my foot in my mouth:

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One time when I worked at the pipeline, I headed upstairs to talk to the engineer who’s drawing I was working on at the time. When I got there, he was telling a story to his buddies about the horseback riding he and his wife had done that weekend, commenting on how sore he was today. I opened my mouth and said, “Well, now you know how us women feel all the time.”

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Another time, I was sitting at the dinner table at our company’s Christmas party, talking to the President of the company – and I proceeded to tell him that “I go home and play with my Thing every night.” What he didn’t know was that Thing was the name of my cat.

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And finally, there is the time where I was having issues with my annual PAP smear so kept having to go back in to the doctor’s office to get yet another one done. One day during all of this, I happened to go to lunch with some friends of mine at a local Thai restaurant. Right as we were walking in, my doctor was walking out with a bunch of his friends. He said something like, “Oh! Imagine running in to you here!” and I said, “Well, at least I get to keep my clothes on this time.”

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Feel free to share your stories in the comments below!

Migraines, Doctors, and Tests

After a good 10 years (if not more) of avoiding the issue entirely, I finally broke down and went to my doctor to talk about my migraines. They are getting worse, and it worries my mother too much. 

Rather than just giving me a bunch of pills to try, this doctor is taking a rather new approach: she is basically going back to the very beginning and running all the tests again to see if there is an underlying cause that has been missed all these years.

The first thing she did was order a barrage of blood test. Not your normal cholesterol and blood sugar tests,  but more in-depth ones that aren’t normally run. She also noticed that I have a heart murmur, so – since a heart murmur could indicate a hole in the heart, and that may in turn cause headaches, she sent me to a specialist to have an Ultrasound and a Push Test done.

The Ultrasound was no biggie at all – pretty much exactly what pregnant women get all the time. They took all kinds of pictures from all different positions and did not find anything. The Push Test, however, was a whole different story. They hook you up to an IV with just your basic saline solution, then they take a big needle and push really hard and fast, agitating the solution until it bubbles, and then they force all those bubble into your veins leading to your heart. Trust me, it’s no fun at all. But, at the end of the day, they determined that I do not have a hole in my heart – or at least, not one that is big enough to cause any problems.

By that time the results from the blood test had come in, so I got a phone call from my doctor to go over the results of that. There were some surprises, actually. Apparently I have the Epstein-Barr virus in me (it either causes or is caused by Mono, which I had as a child): it’s not active, thankfully, but it is there.

More surprising, however, is that I am apparently Gluten Intolerant! She recommended a gluten-free diet from now on, so I am dealing with that now. How to adjust my diet to avoid all forms of gluten, and what I can and cannot eat anymore. Bryan is – as always – very supportive and is actively helping me find new ways of cooking some of our favorites meals.

Yet another result of the blood test is a bit more alarming. There is a marker in the blood: the name has lots of letters in it that mean absolutely nothing to me, but normal levels are anywhere between 5 and 60 = mine are at 226!  She told me that there is a distinct possibility that I have a tumor in my Pituitary Gland, so now I get to have an MRI scan to see if there is one. If there is, I will have to have it removed (yup: brain surgery). On the bright side, the doctor doing it is my Neurosurgeon, Dr. Kralick. I like him.

I am also on a waiting list to see an Endocrinologist in Anchorage – just in case the MRI actually does turn up something worrisome. Not sure what to expect from that, but it will certainly be interesting, whatever it is.

And today I gave yet more blood for even more tests. I guess my doctor is leaving no stone unturned in her search for why my head hurts so much.

Weekend Get-Away in Girdwood

The Weekend Get-Away for March took us back to Girdwood for another Skiing Trip. And yes, he actually got to ski this time!

The place we rented was nice – not somewhere I’d want to live exactly, but for what we do it was perfect.

Bryan cooked us a special meal: steak for him and portobello mushrooms for me.

He hit the slopes all day Friday, while I got to watch movies and play with paper.

The only thing missing was my kittens!

My Brother, The Hero

As most of you know, Palmer got hit by a major wind storm a few months ago, with winds gusting up to 91 miles per hour and temperatures dropping down to well below zero. All of this went on for a good 3 days, knocking trees down and causing considerable damage to houses and businesses.

My brother Reed is a lineman for the Electric company. He and his coworkers worked around the clock the entire time, and for a week afterwards, trying to keep the power going. Can you imagine climbing a pole 20 feet up in 91 mph winds and -45 temps all while working with hot electrical wires! They worked 24/7, taking quick power naps in their trucks and then heading back out in the storm again.

The Mayor of the Mat-Su Borough recognized their efforts as being above the call of duty and awarded them with a certificate of appreciation. Well Deserved, if you ask me!

These photos were not taken in the actual storm, but they do give you an idea as to who my brother is.

 

The California Condor

One of the coolest things I got to see while at the Grand Canyon was not one but TWO of the California Condors!

 

These birds are extremely endangered, with only 500 left in the world. The Grand Canyon is home to around 100 of them, and I got to see TWO of them!

 

Of course, these photos are about as bad as you can get… But it’s the best I could do.

The Riders and Their Mules

Joyce and her mule J-1

Becky and her mule Cuco (pronounced Koo-Koh)

Ruth and her mule Sansa

The three of us!

Love That Mule!

 The mule I got to ride down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon was named Sansa. She was the greatest mule EVER! I loved Sansa. She was feisty and tried to sneak a snack all the time (they’re not supposed to eat on the job). But all I ever had to do was tug on the reins a bit and she’d behave again.  The following pictures are from our lunch break the first day: I went over to say hello and she took the opportunity to scratch her head all over me. Thankfully the girl who offered to take a picture got it all on film.

The Grand Canyon!

I recently had the opportunity to go on such an amazing journey! Thank you so much to Becky and Debbie and Joyce for allowing me to tag along. It was truly awesome. We rode the Mules down the Grand Canyon!

We got to the canyon Thursday afternoon. After checking in to our hotel (the Bright Angel Lodge) and dropping off our gear at the mule barn (it went down ahead of us to greet us at the bottom) we had time to explore a little bit, so we decided to go to the Mather Point Overlook. The canyon is truly a Grand place, that is for sure. What spectacular views!

After a good night’s sleep, we met up with our mules and headed on down the canyon. Unfortunately, Debbie decided not to join us, so it was just Becky, Joyce, and me. We really missed Debbie’s company, but her health just would not have enjoyed the trip.

The Bright Angel Trailhead is at elevation 6,840 ft. – after about 4 hours in the saddle, we stopped at Indian Gardens (elevation 3,800 ft.) for a break and a bite of lunch. Two hours later, we finally landed at Phantom Ranch (elevation 2,470 ft.). We were quite saddle sore and sweaty, but certainly happy to get there.

Our cabin at the ranch was cozy: two bunk beds and a tiny bathroom with just enough room for a toilet (and that’s it). The food they served was good with very generous portions. No chance of anybody going hungry down there.

Temperatures down at the bottom were averaging around 94 degrees, so we decided to do our hiking early the next morning in an attempt to avoid the worst of the heat. We chose a nice little hike called The River Walk that took us across one bridge and along the trail that the mules took, then looped us back around to another bridge and back to our campsite.

Sunday morning put us back in the saddle on the same mules we rode in on: I rode Sansa, Joyce rode on J-1, and Becky rode on cuco (pronounced Koo-Koh). The ride up was not quite as rough as the one going down; but we were still quite happy to arrive back up at the rim and to meet back up with our lost companion.

To celebrate our fabulous ride, we treated ourselves to dinner at the famous El To Var restaurant! Good Food, Good Conversations, and a Great Vacation!