Gearing Up

Gearing up for a big 3-day hiking/camping trip this weekend:

1. Tent – set it up in the craft room to make sure all the pieces & parts are there, and that we know how it’s done properly.

2. Sleeping bag/pad - inflate the pads to make sure there are no holes. Lay out the bags to air out and clean up a bit.

3. Food – lay everything out to make sure we have all meals accounted for, including snacks and drinks.

4. Bear Protection – confirm that all smelly items fit into the proper canisters. Make sure everybody knows how to use the pepper spray. Make sure the gun has bullets and that each person knows how to use it.

5. Bug repellant – make sure the aerosol spray can actually works, and that we have a lotion-type back up, just in case.

6. Boots – ensure boots are still in good order and that they still fit, then clean off old mud and apply new water-proofing.

7. Packs – make sure all gear & clothing fits comfortably in our packs. Distribute weight proportionately between the two of us.

8. Clothing – choose light weight clothing with just enough insulation, bare minimum amount of personal gear, warmth without too much bulk

9. PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) – designate a family member as Emergency Contact, ensure the DeLorme inReach unit works properly and notifications are sent to the proper person.

10. Lodging – make reservations for small cabin just outside of Homer for the night before our hike, so we can start off fresh and well rested.

11. Water Taxi – make reservations for the water taxi to take us across the bay to Halibut Cove, and then pick us up again two days later.

12. Electronics – ensure that all electronics are charged up and that extra batteries are included (kindle, phones, cameras, GPS & PLB, etc…)

13. Kittens – make sure babysitter knows what to do, where food is, and how much they get. Make sure their water fountain is clean and full of fresh water. Make sure litter box is full and clean, with paper bags for scooped poop.

Have I missed anything? 

Why yes, yes I did forget something.

14. Toiletries – medications, first aid kit, toothbrush & paste, TP & trowel, etc…

Noel’s Artwork

A couple months ago Noel asked me to make some artwork for her salon; she’s remodeling her Waxing Room with a Beach Theme. It’s taken me a while, but I finally got them done!

This first one I did is basically just a flat collage of paper-cuttings. I got a pack of coordinating papers from Graphic 45, cut out some pieces that she and I chose based on her plan for the room, and then glued them all down. The frame is a simple shiny black (by request) and the whole thing measures a foot square. I like it – but more importantly, so does Noel.

the first one 

This second one was considerably harder. It’s more of a Shadow-Box type of thing, with a lot of depth to it. Again I used coordinating paper by Graphic 45, but also some real shells and “netting” to make it a bit more interesting. My favorite embellishment, however, are the crabs! Can you see them? I found those at my favorite on-line crafting store called A Cherry On Top, but I bet you could find them pretty much anyplace that sells stickers by Jolees.

the second one 

It took some creative fumbling at first, but I eventually got it looking the way I imagined it. All in all, I had so much fun with these I might just make some to sell – who knows!

Birthday Crab!

For my birthday this year, Bryan got me a 10-pound box of King Crab Legs from Catch 49, a company who “provides delicious high-quality wild seafood responsibly-harvested by Alaska's small boat fishermen” - sort of like a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) but for seafood. When you buy from Catch 49, you’re buying direct from an Alaskan Fisherman.

Last night around 6:00 we cooked up about half of it, and then sat down and proceeded to feast on legs & claws. Oh my gosh: it was so good! I had forgotten how painful it can be, though. King Crabs have sharp, pointy little spines all up and down their legs: each time you try to crack one open, it’s trying to crack YOU open as well. Given that they are a salt-water animal, an open wound on your hand can give quite the sting. But there’s no stopping! You power through the pain and just keep on eating.

the remains of our dinner!

Dip that meat in a mixture of melted butter and lemon and pop that baby in your mouth. There truly is nothing better.

Except maybe chocolate cake.

Maybe.

I'm Finally Me Again!

Finally, I’m starting to feel more like myself again. Boy, that migraine was a brutal one! But it seems to be over now, so I can get on with my life. There’s quite a bit going on right now, too.

First: Bryan has a dental appointment today. Normally that’s not exactly a note-worthy event. But for Bryan, who is deathly afraid of dental work, it’s a huge issue. He has to be sedated for it, which means I get the joy of driving him home when he’s drugged out of his gourde. I’ve done it now three times already. The first time, he made a few nonsensical announcements (once he shouted “KLUNK! very loudly) but mostly just slept. The second time, he tried to dance in his cowboy boots on the way to the car, but again promptly fell asleep once he got sat down. The third time, it took a good half hour to wake him up once I got us home. I thought I’d have to leave him in the garage for the night almost! He’s too heavy for me to carry. I’ll let you know how this fourth time goes.

Second: Mother is having a fence built on our new property to separate us from our neighbors out back. At first, I was not too happy about that; I thought the back yard was just fine the way it is. But now that I’ve seen the fence posts – which got installed a few days ago so they could cure in their bed of concrete – and have a better idea of how it will look, I’m thinking maybe it won’t be so bad. The final pieces of the fence are being installed today, so by the time I get home it should all be done. There was a brief moment of upset this morning, however, when Mother thought that Bryan’s truck was left in the way of the fence company’s access to our back yard. We had already left for work in my car, so she was not able to move it. A few phone calls between her and Bryan, and apparently all is well after all.

Third: plans for my Catio are coming along nicely! I’m so excited to have one finally, and I’m sure that Viktor & Naldo will love it. Right now, when Mother wants the cats outside, she has to put them in these tiny 3-foot square cages. They do well enough out there in them, but it will be nice to give them room to jump and play – plus they can come and go at their own pleasure. Bryan has researched all the different ways to build catios, and is finally ready to jump in and begin. He’s even blocked off the weekend for the task!

Fourth: I traded my old kindle in for a new one. Amazon sent out an email telling me about their trade-in program where I could get a percentage off the new one based on the condition of the old one. My old one was in good condition still, so I ended up with about $67.00 off my new one! I was so excited when it finally came (I had to send the old one in first, so was without for a good month); I quickly loaded my books onto it and started to read. And it promptly lost its charge over night! That should NOT have happened, but it was easily cured by simply charging it back up. THEN – for some bizarre reason, it lost all my books! I have no idea why – and now am gun-shy about it, only loading two or three books at a time in case it decides to dump them all again. I have organized my “cloud” storage such that I can easily tell which books are to be read –vs- which ones are done, but it’s still a hassle – and I can’t help but wonder why I gave up a perfectly good kindle for this new one that doesn’t even work.

Today is not a good day.

To be honest, however, neither was yesterday. This darned migraine just will not ease up.

I’m so exhausted my eyeballs hurt, my brain is trying to wade through waist-deep molasses, and what little math skills I had the day before are completely gone.

On the plus side, however, I get to nap with my Viktor and play fishy with my Naldo. That is always a good thing!

And once I feel better, I can start in on my stack of new books to read: Bryan gave me four of them!

One Good Dog, by Susan Wilson

Women Talking, by Miriam Toews

The Binding, by Bridget Collins

The Adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, by Andrea Wulf

That last one will be a tough read because it’s like reading a comic book – which I am not particularly fond of. But the subject matter is totally fascinating, so I’m hoping it will be okay.

Which one do I read first?

Hello Again! I'm Back...

I’ve been meaning to revive this blog for quite some time now; my birthday just seemed like a good day to begin. Not that I have all that much to say at first – but at the very least, this will get me going.

But first: a brief update on my life.

I moved back to Palmer finally! It only took me - what, 25 years or so? Let me tell you, it feels great. I love being back home where my family is and where I can “drop by” anytime I feel like it. The house we’re in is actually Mother’s new house; Bryan and I moved in with her. The plan is to save up for our own property while at the same time helping her out with things. It’s a win-win for both of us!

We’re still working in Anchorage, however, which means commuting each day. It’s not ideal, by any means, but it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Bryan and I work very close by each other, so we are able to carpool. Eventually, my goal is to quit and get a job in Palmer – and Bryan will somehow magically convince his employer that he can work for home, maybe going in to the office just one or two days a week.

My house in Anchorage is rented out to 3 young people. They’re paying their rent on time and seem to be good renters. I will keep that going until we buy a place, then will sell to use the equity to pay down on the new place. Or maybe I keep on renting it to generate a monthly income. Who knows…

Thing and Djuna both passed away a few years ago; Djuna from kidney failure and Thing from cancer. I saved up my money and got myself two kittens from Arkansas (there just are not any Devon breeders up here to buy locally from) so now am happily sharing my home with Viktor and Naldo, brother and sister. They are the cutest kittens ever! I say kittens, but honestly their 2 years old now. I think that qualifies as at least Teenagers.

Mother has her cat as well; Bailey is a grumpy old guy who is quite overweight. It took some time integrating them all, but they seem to get along quite well now. Bailey seems to purposely seek the kittens out and will sit with his tail strategically placed so as to entice them in to playing with it so he can whop them a good one.

A Much Needed Retreat

The timing could not have been better from a mental point of view; my sweet little Djuna had only just passed away and I was still very sad. From a financial point of view, however, it was not so good. It was another $300.00 added to my credit card bill after all. But, it was so nice to retreat from the world for a while and leave all my troubles at home.

Bryan drove me out to Wasilla Thursday night after work. I had packed everything up the day before so I was ready to go almost as soon as I got home from work. It was hard leaving my Thing, however – she is not taking Djuna’s death very well at all. Bryan offered to stay at my house to keep her company while I was gone, so I felt better about that.

Once we got to the Pioneer Ridge Bed & Breakfast, Bryan helped me haul everything in and get set up in my room and at my table. He got the grand tour of the place since he’d never been there – and then headed on back home, leaving me to my crafting overdose.

There were only 5 people there that early, and thankfully my friend Tammy was one of those people. She and I sat across from each other so we could chat while doing our craft work; she does actual scrapbooking while I make my cards. Friday afternoon saw most everybody else arriving, bringing the total attendance up to around 12 people (give or take a few who came and went).

My typical day at a scrapbooking retreat is: I get up at 6 and make my first cup of tea and then sit down at my table and start crafting. Eventually everybody else wanders in and joins me, but since they typically don’t go to bed until the wee hours of the morning, it’s usually a bit later. Lunch is typically served around noon, which I eat at my table. We all continue to do our crafting while gossiping about whatever comes to mind and listing to music. Dinner is served around 6:00 or so, which I eat at my table while others actually gather at a communal dinner table away from their projects. Eventually, around 10:00, I head on back to my room to go to bed, only to repeat the process the next day. Once in a while somebody suggests a walk outside to stretch our legs, but for the most part I spend my time making cards. And I love it!

This time, my total card count came to 42. I came home with only 32 however, since I actually sold 10 of them there at the retreat. 

My Little June Bug

We took her to the vet on Saturday: a new one she hadn’t seen yet. Dr. Coyne is so VERY nice: she spent a good hour talking to us about all the options available, and was sincerely caring and concerned for Djuna’s health. She was also taken by how sweet Djuna is, and made several comments to that effect.

Here is a quote off the website for The Pet Stop:

Dr. Kathryn Coyne received her veterinary degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She practiced in New York for a year before moving to Alaska. Her special interests include emergency medicine, pain management, endocrine and infectious diseases, and working with pet owners to manage behavioral issues that affect quality of life and the human-animal bond.

Basically, Djuna’s potassium levels are alarmingly low. Dr. Coyne recommended adding it to her IV bag to replenish what her kidneys are losing.

Also of great concern is her heart. Apparently a cat’s normal heart rate is around 200 beats per minute – Djuna’s was about 60 beats per minute! Dr. Coyne did say that the low levels of potassium were most likely the cause and the added amounts in her IV bag should help bring that back up.

Djuna’s lack of appetite is to the critical point: she simply does not want to eat anymore. The doctor gave me some anti-nausea meds in case that was the issue, and I’m continuing with the vitamin B12 shots. Sedating her and inserting a feeding tube was briefly discussed: just long enough for me to say “No”.

And, last but certainly not least, my little June Bug is severely dehydrated:  she’s no longer eating so is no longer getting that extra boost of liquids that I have been putting into her food. This means that her IV treatments have been increased to every day rather than just twice a week. I have to admit, this is taking a toll on both of us. Djuna hates it and I hate having to make her do it.

That all took place on Saturday; it’s Tuesday now, and she still has not eaten but maybe a bite or two. I have her set up on my bed with an electric blanket and wooly babies blanket over the top of her. She is happiest when she’s with me and still wants to be held if I’m at home. Bryan is a fair second choice, but if she sees me, she starts crying until I hold her.

I’m sorry I have no good news – it’s only a matter of time now, I think.

Sigh.

Summer Hiking Schedule

I got inspired last weekend: not only was the weather just absolutely gorgeous (don’t look now, but I do believe that summer might actually BE HERE!) but we got to attend a talk up at the Eagle River Nature Center on Sunday on Hiking in Alaska! 

The speaker was Susan Beeman Sommer, a freelance writer and editor for the Alaska Magazine.

She has a blog documenting her hikes: True North Alaska

She has her own website, as well: Alaska Writer

She showed pictures from a few of her favorite hikes that she’s been on these past few years. She talked about how to plan for the hike, what gear to bring, and even how to determine when you should just turn around and go home. From the sounds of it, she goes on a lot of hikes and is a pretty hard core hiker. Kind of like what I would LIKE to be, but sadly am not.

Best of all, she totally motivated me to create our schedule for the summer. I scaled back considerably this year, though. Last year I put way too many hikes on the calendar and ended up doing barely half of them. This year I’m being more realistic and have only 7 hikes planned – always allowing for more, should the mood strike us, of course.

So here’s the plan:

May 28-29: Caines Head Trail

April 11: Hilltop trail System

June 17-18: Spencer Whistle Stop

July 9-10: Byers Lake

July 31: South Fork Eagle River

August 7: Reed Lake up in Hatcher Pass

August 12-14: Blueberry Picking up at Denali

The more observant of you have no doubt noticed that several of these have multiple dates listed. We will be camping out on those hikes; either car camping or packing the tent in and finding a spot somewhere along the trail.

It’s going to be a great summer!

Writing a Blog

It’s actually a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Not that choosing a topic is all that difficult; life is full of stories if you know how to spot them. 

The hard part is starting the story. How in the world to you begin? Quite literally, what are the first words to be used? I struggle with that every time.

My strategy, for the most part, involves just diving in and typing whatever comes to mind. More often than not, I have to go back and edit what I’ve said.

I look for grammatical errors, typos, and duplicate words – that sort of thing. I don’t normally use a thesaurus, relying mainly on my own vocabulary – but once in a while I will check it to see if it comes up with a better word.

Eventually, I have something “good enough” for posting. Not by any means perfect, but good enough.

What are some of your tips for a good story? How do you deal with the opening statement? Do you have any advice for an aspiring writer?

Scary Stuff

I’ve made a few decisions lately that are more than a little bit scary.

The first one is that Bryan and I are going to live together. Now, I have not lived with another person (my brief disastrous stint with a roommate doesn’t really count) for well over 30 years, so this is no small decision – but I think it’s a good one. If anybody can put up with me, it would be him. It remains to be seen whether I can put up with him!

The second one is that he and I are going to build our own house! These plans are a lot more fun since it involves me getting to design our Dream House complete with a Craft Room for me and a Shop/Garage for him.

In order to make these two plans work, we’ve come up with The Plan.

Step One: He has to sell the house he’s currently in.

        This involves a lot of remodeling and fixing up, as it is not in very good shape right now. Tentatively I’m giving him until fall of this year, 2016.

Step Two: He will move in with me in my current house.

        The money that he has been putting in to his house payments will be put instead into a bank account to be used as a down payment on the Dream House. I will continue to make payments on my house as usual with no change for either of us on money going out. A year or so will give us a fairly hefty down payment for the new house.

Step Three: We then start looking for property.

        Okay, I admit it: we’re already looking at property. We want more than 5 acres of wooded property with a creek running though it, preferably out in the valley. We’ve found some really nice plots up Buffalo Mine Road and off of Fishhook, just to name a few.

Step Four: We start building our Dream House

        By this time, we’ll have the plans nailed down (Hahahaha!) and will have an idea as to how it will set on the property. We want it to be as “off the grid” as possible, with solar panels, in-floor heating, the whole works. I’m hoping to be in the house by the by mid 2018, assuming all goes well (which it never does).

Step Five: We figure out the job situation

        I would very much like to quit working entirely or at the very least get a part-time job in Palmer; if I rent out my house in Anchorage that would provide a monthly income for me. Bryan is hoping to be able to work from home as well, with perhaps a drive in to the office once or twice a week.

Step Six: He gets his woodshop up and running to build all the furnishings

        He said he’s always wanted a Wood Shop, so I’m taking him at his word. I’ve got a list (of course I do) of all the bookshelves, cabinetry, tables, dressers, shelving, and whatnot for him to build. We can save quite a bit of money off the price of the house this way, and he gets to make things for me!

So. That’s The Plan… as I said to begin with, it’s scary stuff!

Yeah, He's a Keeper

I have two daily calendars (one is a Book a Day and the other is a Cat a Day) that I sometimes get a little bit behind on tearing off pages. This morning, I was catching up on this very important duty when I found the notes that Bryan left for me.

The first one was on the Book a Day page and said “Did you see the note in the cat calendar? No? You might want to take a look.”

When I went to the cat calendar, I found this note: “Happy Valentine’s Day! There just so happens to be a little something in the closet behind your chair in the library…”

Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever? 

He somehow manages to not only give me a Valentine’s Day gift when he’s half way around the world (literally, he’s in Australia right now) but he did it by getting into a closet that requires moving furniture into the middle of the room – all without me knowing about it in my own house.

The heart-shaped box was waiting for me in the closet, just like he said it would be. It’s big, too = about the size of an old-fashioned hat box. Inside are all sorts of goodies from my new favorite store, LUSH.

I got the following items: 

     Sex Bomb

     Tisty Toasty

     The Kiss Lip Scrub

     Ro’s Argan Body Conditioner

     Love and Light Hand Cream

     Soft Coeur Massage Bar

     Roses All the Way Soap

Animals I have known

Animals I’ve had in my life:

Thing & Djuna = my current cats.

The Alien, Floyd, Mildred and Gracie = all cats.

Ssadi = a corn snake

Grendle = a leopard gecko

Shakespeare = a Chinese Box Turtle

Athos, Aramis, and Porthos = frogs

Chaeron = an iguana

A multitude of mice (all dinner for the snake)

While living with my family, we had:

Honey, a cat, plus Wookie, Winnifred, and 4 other kittens

Pookey, originally named Ebony = a cat

Patches = a feral cat we “tamed” who promptly had 5 kittens under my bed

Jacob, Albert, Buster, Mamma Dog, Little Dog, Sasquatch, Puppy, Rabbit, Sam, Ninianne, and various other dogs

William, George, and Martha = rats

Teddy = a hamster

Numerous fish

Katie and various other rabbits

Thomas, Winchester, Shoshone, Baby, and various other horses

Jiminy the burrow

About half a dozen pigs

The same number of cows

Dozens of chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, peacocks, and guinea hens

Possibly six (if not more) goats

I seem to recall a few sheep in the mix, too

How many animals did you grow up with?

Djuna: my little girl

My resolution to write at least one blog posting per week has not exactly been kept: I only got 3 written last month. That’s not bad, but I can do better. With that thought in mind, I figured it would be a good time to talk about my little girl, Djuna.

As most of you know, Djuna is a Devon Rex cat who is 13 years old. About 4 years ago, she was diagnosed with Kidney Failure, but then proceeded to surprise everybody (the vet included) by doing just fine, thank you very much. I even dared hope they were wrong and she was going to live forever.

Sadly I was being overly optimistic.

About two weeks ago, she got really sick again and had to spend four days in the hospital at Pet Emergency Treatment. Those people are so nice; they immediately fell in love with Djuna (as they should) and took such good care of her. I saw continued improvement each time I went to visit her, so that by the time I got to take her home again her blood work showed amazing progress!

When they do blood work on a cat (well, on anybody, actually) with the purpose of checking their kidney functions, they look for three things: the Blood Urine Nitrogen (BUN) levels, the Creatinine (CREA) levels, and the Phosphorous (PHOS) levels.

For a cat:

Normal BUN should be from 16 to 36

Normal CREA should be from .08 to .24

Normal PHOS should be from 3.1 to 7.5

When I originally took her to the hospital on the 16^th:

Her BUN was at 211

Her CREA was 7.0

Her PHOS was at 19.5

When I brought her home on the 19^th:

Her BUN had come down to 85

Her CREA was down to 4.8

For some reason they didn’t look at the PHOS

When I took her to the vet’s on the 29^th:

Her BUN was at 61

Her CREA was at 4.1

Her PHOS was at 7.0

Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that she will not last much longer. When pressed for a prediction, the vet said it was a matter of months, not years. I am helping to prolong her life by giving her a bi-weekly treatment of IV fluids with several other medications injected into the bag while she’s hooked up to it.

She hates her treatments, by the way, and so do I. I can’t do them without help, and Bryan has been wonderful in being there to hold her while I administer her treatments. Unfortunately Bryan is going away for a month, so I have had to scramble to find somebody else willing to help me; Lauren would gladly help out but does not handle needles well at all, so thankfully my neighbor across the way has agreed to help.

I will keep a close eye on her to insure “quality of life” is as good as it can be, and will not let her suffer unduly – but am very grateful that I get some more time with her as she is a sweetie pie.

Plastics: the Never Ending Story

I am inspired on this next posting by my friend Jan, who lives in London and just recently got back from an All-Girls Scientific Expedition on board the SV Sea Dragon which sailed across the South Atlantic Ocean from Senegal to Brazil via Ascension Island to study plastics in the ocean. I got to thinking about my own contributions to the plastic problem, and am trying to find ways to reduce my usage.

Take a look around you: what do you see? How can you change things around you so that there is less waste?

Here’s what I see:

I get up in the morning and go to brush my teeth – using a plastic toothbrush with paste out of a plastic tube.

I take a shower to wash my hair using shampoo and conditioner out of plastic bottles.

I brush my hair (or comb it) using a plastic brush & comb set.

Heck, even the shower curtain is plastic – as is the toilet seat, the outlet covers, and god knows what else.

Right there, I can eliminate plenty.

I am now using shampoo bars and toothy tabs from Lush, and am looking for a good wooden brush/comb set as well as toothbrushes made of bamboo. I hope to find a shower curtain that is durable yet NOT plastic. Sadly I can’t do a thing about the building materials in my bathroom, so will just have to make sure that my own house is built as “naturally” as possible.

And that was only one room/one event in my life! How much more can I change for the better? How about in the kitchen?

I bought pouches made of nylon in three different sizes to be used instead of zip-loc baggies. They’re washable in either the washing machine or in the dish washer (or in my case, by hand) and they will last a lot longer than their plastic counterparts. As an added bonus, they come in cute fanciful patterns to liven up your day!

There are – of course – the reusable bags that fold up into tiny packages that are used at the grocery store instead of the plastic bags they hand out by the gazillion.  That one is basically a no-brainer, and there’s no reason AT ALL why everyone on the planet would choose not to use them.

What are your recommendations?

Ringing In The New Year

So, how did you all celebrate the New Year?

I had a fabulous weekend, myself. Bryan and I drove up north almost to Delta Junction and stayed at The Lodge at Black Rapids.  Oh my goodness – what a beautiful place that was! I highly recommend it.

The Lodge at Black Rapids

The weather was somewhat less than desirable, however. In fact, the wind blew pretty much the entire time we were there. We had hoped to get out and do some hiking, but only managed a small foray down to the old lodge to see if we could see the in-resident ghost.

We did not see the ghost, but we did get to see the progress they are making on restoring it. One day soon, they hope to hold musical events there, perhaps open a small coffee shop and/or a touristy-type store. They work on it piece by piece as they get the funding, so it will be a slow progress – but they are at least making the attempt.

The lodge itself is a stunning piece of artwork. The logs were all hand cut by a group of high-schoolers who were attending a class on how to build a log cabin. They used wooden pegs instead of nails, even! And for the shingles, they managed to use pieces of slate rock, each one nailed on by two copper nails so they wouldn’t stain the rocks over time.

Our room was on the third floor, so we had a pretty good view of the mountains behind the lodge. Rather a tease, actually, since the wind was blowing so hard we couldn’t get out there. But it was a fine view, none the less. We had access to the common area so I was able to get out my crafting kit that I brought along: we sat and made cards for hours each day! And yes, Bryan made cards right along with me.

The meals were all quite good. Their “cook” is actually a family of three: husband, wife and son. They accommodated my dietary preferences with no problem at all, and were quite happy to do so. Meals were served family style, with all the guests eating together (each on our own table, though) so we all got to know each other fairly well.

For New Year’s Eve, they had planned on serving a five course meal and then heading out to a bonfire out back to shoot off some fireworks – but the weather put a stop to that. Instead we all sat and listened to the live music they had: Hurricane Dave sang songs and played his guitar for several hours. The following evening actually lightened up enough for us to shoot off the fireworks so at least we got to see them even if it was a day later.

All in all, it was a great weekend: one of the best New Year’s ever, I’d say.

Happy New Year 2016!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll no doubt be saying it again sometime in the near future – but I really am going to try to keep my blog going better than I have been. In fact, I’m making it one of my resolutions this year!

Last year’s resolutions were:

     1. Loose as much weight as possible

     2. Cook at least one new recipe each month

     3. Renew contact with lost friendships

     4. Write at least 4 letters a month

The whole weight loss thing wasn’t entirely successful – I don’t think I lost a pound. Mind you, I also did not gain a pound – so it wasn’t a complete failure. I will change things up a bit this time, however, and simply focus on increasing activity levels thereby sneaking in some weight loss without calling attention to it.

The cooking one was great – I loved it so much it’s now a part of my normal routine. I could cheat and make it another resolution again, but honestly it’s what I do anyway. It’s one of the (many) things that Bryan and I enjoy doing together.

Sadly, I completely dropped the ball on renewing lost friendships. I did get to have lunch/tea with Anne a few times, and emailed Corissa once or twice – but that was about it. Oh, and I actually drove out to Meadow Lakes to visit with Rikki, even. But what I really intended was get me back in touch with Lorna – and I chickened out. Part of me is afraid to find out what caused her to disappear out of my life, because I’m suspicious that she may have had an encounter with a certain old boyfriend of mine who had/has a habit of being more than a little bit promiscuous. So, instead of tracking her down and simply asking her, I took the low road and decided that if she really wanted to talk to me she would.

The final resolution from last year was a resounding success. I typically wrote well over four letters a month – sometimes more than 10 letters even! And again, it will continue on into this year simply by default of habit.

So, now that 2016 is eminent I have come up with the following resolutions to focus on:

     1. Increase my step count daily

     2. Create an actual budget - and stick to it

     3. Write at least four blog entries per month (one a week)

     4. Drink at least two glasses of water a day

The budget thing has a story behind it (don’t they all?) and I promise I will delve into that in a future posting. For now, suffice to say that I am planning on buying property and having my own house built within the next few years.

Anybody else making resolutions this year?

Whiskey Wednesday

Suite 100, in South Anchorage, is the place to be on a Wednesday afternoon. Starting at 5:00 and running through to 7:00 each week they have what is called Whiskey Wednesday.

How cool is that? I get to sit and read my book while enjoying a bowl of seafood chowder and tasting some excellent whiskey each week.

This week’s featured whiskey was a Wild Turkey Russell’s Reserve 10-year Bourbon. According to the handout the sales rep gave me “Only a handful of barrels are selected in small batches from the middle section or “center cut” of the rickhouse by Master Distiller, Jimmy Russell and his son, Associate Master Distiller, Eddie Russell. The whiskey ages for a minimum of 10 years in the deepest no.4 char, or alligator charred, barrels for a richer color and deeper flavor.”

The whiskey was okay. Bourbon is not my favorite, exactly, so I don’t think I’ll run out and buy a case of it or anything; but it sure did taste good in the drink they created just for the occasion - a Bourbon Lemon Drop. I’m not sure why they called it a Lemon Drop since it tasted like orange, and even had some Cointreau in it with a slice of orange as a garnish. But – it was in the Lemon Drop glass, and it did have a rim of sugar around it. Regardless, it was good.

The sales lady was nice, and talked to me for a bit about the whiskey. She said she plans to do the Whiskey Wednesday each week all summer long.

Woo-Hoo!

You Just Have To Be Flexible

I had such plans for the weekend’s hike – but you have to roll with the flow, as they say.

Bryan was to have met me at my house at 7:15 but he forgot to set his alarm clock (I did not know that until later that evening) so I went on to the trail head by myself since I was supposed to meet somebody else there at 8:00 and didn’t want to be late. However, when I pulled in to the parking lot there was nobody there. It looked like I was on my own for the hike.

That’s when I noticed the pile of bear scat in the middle of the parking lot. I went over to inspect it and saw that it was a few hours old. “It’s probably safe enough; that bear is long gone by now.” I said to myself. 

Then I went over to the trail head to read the notices posted there – and found another pile of bear scat. When I inspected this one, I found that it was much fresher. Like, only maybe half an hour old. This one had me a little bit concerned (a lot) but I really wanted to go hiking… so I made myself a compromise: if I see one more pile of scat, I’ll turn around.

Sure enough, not 20 feet in was another pile.

That’s when I decided that maybe I didn’t really want to hike this trail after all, and maybe a drive down the coast was a better idea.

And what a pretty day it was! I pulled over at several scenic overlooks, walked along a few trails by the ocean, and just generally had a nice day out.

Okay, For Real This Time

What I did on my summer vacation!

My flights for this expedition took me from Anchorage to Seattle for a small layover and then on to London for a longer layover where I got to meet up with my friends Jan and Crispin. I had not seen either of them since I was in Africa back in 2009 so I was very happy they were each able to meet me for dinner that night.

The next day I headed on over to Frankfurt where I got to meet up with a long-lost cousin of mine whom I had never met before. We had a wonderful afternoon walking around the old part of town and enjoying a scrumptious late lunch. Both Lis and her partner Bruno were very nice: I’m so happy I got to meet them both.

Finally the next day I made my way to Lanzarote, with a brief layover in Madrid, where I met up with 3 of my fellow Earthwatch volunteers on the same flight I was on. We ended up sharing a taxi to the hotel since we were all going to the same place. Which reminds me: I think I still owe somebody for my share of that cost!

Our official rendezvous was in the Hotel lobby that next morning and that’s where I met the other 3 Earthwatch volunteers. We all gathered together with our gear and waited until Dr. Chris Stevenson and his assistant Ivana Adzic showed up. We had so much gear, however, that they had to make two trips to get us all to the site where we would stay for the next two weeks.

Our home away from home was La Casa de la Caldera, a 250 year old beautifully restored building that combined traditional Canarian architecture with modern facilities. We roomed together two to a suite, each suite having two bedrooms and a kitchen/dining area. There was a courtyard in the center where we gathered for our meals, and a pool out in the back to cool off after a hard day’s work. Our meals were provided for us by a real-live French Gourmet Chef and were quite scrumptious.

The work consisted mainly of mapping out the valley where Chris proposed to base his work. This meant measuring all the “features” we could find: length, width, height, rock content, and GPS location. Ivana and Chris would then enter all that date onto an aerial view of the valley once we got back to the casa each night.

Since we were the first team to work on this project, we encountered a fair amount of obstacles along the way. The logistics of getting down into the valley was just one of them: it took several days before the car rental place could find us a vehicle that could handle the goat trail they call a road, which meant we had to hike in and out each time until then. By the time Team 2 showed up, after our Team 1 had gone home, they had all the problems worked out and it was smooth sailing.

The biggest obstacle, however, was the weather. With temps as high as 110 one day (the hottest on record for that area in over 30 years) and very strong gusts of wind the next (Ivana’s sunglasses actually got blown off her face!) we just had no way of knowing how the work would progress on any given day. I’m told that Team 2 did not encounter the heat problems, but did have their fair share of wind.

I got to have a few days to myself after the expedition ended so did a few touristy type things around the island. My journey home took me from Lanzarote to London to Amsterdam to Minneapolis and finally home.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation

I’m not sure how I’m going to write anything about those 3 weeks I had on vacation last month. How do you verbalize an experience that was indescribable? What words exist that can contain all the emotions felt and lessons learned? I shall have to try, however, as people keep asking “When will you have something up on your blog?” or “How soon will your website be updated so I can see the pictures?”

Thankfully for me – although not so good for anybody else – my website won’t be updated until fall. My brother is my “Computer Geek” and is the one who creates all those fantastic pages for me; but he works all summer long and cannot get to it until construction season comes to an end. This gives me plenty of time to come up with a plan, however: I will have all summer to sift through all 1,480 photos to choose just the right ones and then (somehow) articulate the events corresponding to the pictures. Until then, I get to create both my photo book (to match the photo books I have on all my other Earthwatch Expeditions) as well as a Power-Point Presentation on it.

I haven’t decided if I’ll create my photo book first or my power-point presentation first: either one will help the other, so it doesn’t really matter on that account. I should do the power-point first because I’ll be needing it soon for a presentation that I’m currently scheduling – but I have so much fun creating the book, I might just do it first anyway.

ShutterFly is the program I use for making my photo books. They do a good job and are fairly easy to work with. I’m hoping that my fellow Earthwatch volunteers will let me use a few of their photos for the book, since I don’t have any of myself. People keep telling me I should include myself in my books/presentations/webpages – but I never remember to actually take a picture of myself until after the event is over.

And see there: I’ve managed to write a post about my vacation without having actually said ANYTHING about the vacation! Is that talent, or what?

The Boreal Herbal Workshop

Taking a 3-day workshop not two days after returning home from vacation was probably not the best idea I’ve ever had. The Canary Islands are 9 hours ahead of us, so I was completely jet-lagged and kept crashing half-way through each day. But it was such a good class, and one that I had been waiting for; I just didn’t factor in the sleep deprivation and time change.

Beverley Gray was awesome, though. She is from Whitehorse and has an herbal shop there called Aroma Borealis. She is “an Herbalist, an Aromatherapist, a Natural-Health Practitioner, a Journalist, and an Award-Winning Natural Health-Product Formulator” At least, that’s what the back of her book says. The book is called The Boreal Herbal and it’s packed full of all kinds of good information. You can buy it online at Amazon.com, if you like – I’ve even found it at Titlewave here in Anchorage.

The workshop started with a lecture on Friday after work. She had a power-point presentation to show some of the different plants she uses as well as some of the actual plants that she had harvested not 30 minutes prior to the talk. She passed those around so we could all taste them (who knew you could eat spruce tips right off the tree?) and talked about all their different uses.

Saturday & Sunday she took us out into the forests for some hands-on lessons where we learned about the plants right there. We harvested a few of them and then headed on in to the classroom to learn how to make medicines with them.

The first thing we made was an infused oil using yarrow, horsetail and fireweed. The oil she used was a grapeseed oil, but you can use a nice olive oil as well. She heated it all up in a double boiler and then bottled it into little vials so that we each got to take one home.

The next thing she made was a salve, again using the grapeseed oil but this time simmering it with some spruce tips. Once it was done she added in some vitamin E oil and the bees wax, then poured it in to tiny little jars so we could each take one home.

On the next day we again went out into the forest for some more hands-on training and harvesting, then headed on back in to the classroom to continue “cooking” starting off with a cream. She used a grapeseed oil that had been infused with devil’s club this time, to which she added rose petals and some usnea (a lichen that grows on spruce trees) and sweetgrass. This all got blended together with the beeswax and vitamin E oil to create the smoothest, most luxurious cream. It was really fascinating to watch happen! Again she poured it in to tiny little jars so we could each take one home.

The final concoction for the workshop was a syrup made with honey, birch syrup, elder flower and brandy. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to use mine for – but it sure does smell good. I’m sure I’ll find a use at some point.

There was over 50 people in the workshop so there were a lot of questions. We all certainly got our money’s worth out because Beverley was more than happy to share all of her knowledge with us.

Bryan and I decided to each of us pick two recipes out of the book to make this summer, so I picked a tincture made with willow, aspen, birch, gentian, high bush cranberry, mint, red clover,  and wild chamomile (to see if that helps my headaches) and a dandelion petal mustard. Bryan wants to make Dandelion Wine and Pine Bark Crackers.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

        

Whiskey Tasting

Bryan and I went to a Scotch Tasting event last night.

It was held at a local hotel that sits right on Lake Hood, one of the biggest float plane airports in the world. We got to watch float planes take off and land all throughout the event, which was really cool. The lake is a pretty one, too, with lots of water birds. There is a trail that wanders around the lake with lots people walking their dogs or hauling gear to/from their planes.

Our host for the event was Dr. Tom Turner who believes it’s his mission in life to guide people towards their own personal discovery and understanding of the spirit. With over a decade in the industry, he enjoys all types of spirits but his heart belongs to whiskey, which is why he considers his role as Master of Whiskey for Diageo (www.diageo.com) the pinnacle of his career.

The event itself was a sit-down affair with 5 different Distiller’s Edition Whiskeys, each paired with a delectable appetizer.

The first course consisted of a cheese plate with a tiny slice of both brie and gouda, some chocolate covered blueberries, and some roasted pecans drizzled with honey; the whiskey was a smooth Glenkinchi.

The second course was a small dollop of Alaskan smoked halibut & salmon pate with shallots, lemon juice, sour cream, and cucumber on a bed of mixed greens; the whiskey was a deep smoky Lagavulin.

The third course offered up two jumbo shrimp with a roasted lemon and a spicy brandy cocktail sauce; the whiskey this time was a nice mellow Dalwhinnie.

The fourth course gave us some garlic hummus with onions, avocado, tomato, and herbs all wrapped up in iceberg lettuce leaves drizzled with chipotle aioli; the whiskey was Oban.

The final course of the evening (the fifth, in case you were keeping track) was a wonderful chocolate mousse with fresh Alaskan berries (strawberries, blueberries and blackberries); the final whiskey was a Talisker.

Tom was a very pleasant host, and very knowledgeable about “his” whiskey. He told stories of each one’s place of origin: how it was made and about the people who inspired it. It seemed to me that he had been to each distillery and had personally met each person who had a hand in the making of them, so his stories were quite entertaining as well as educational.

On our way back to the truck once it was over, I asked Bryan which one would he buy for himself (I had to clarify it was for HIM and not for ME): he chose the Oban. For myself, I think I would buy the Lagavulin.