A Year Ago Today

November 11, 2018 = EARTHQUAKE

Thank God it was our day off. By a shear stroke of luck, both Bryan and I were home that day. If we’d been in Anchorage at work, it would have been a whole different story.

It was 8:30 in the morning and I had just gotten started at organizing our CDs, which meant that I had a pile of CDs on the floor around me that I was alphabetizing one at a time and placing them into the cabinet where they go. I don’t remember what Bryan and Mother were doing.  We had only recently moved in to the house and still had a lot of unpacking and organizing left to do.

Suddenly, I started hearing the weirdest sound. It was LOUD and it sounded like huge heavy equipment was running through our house. I looked down the hall into our living room and asked “What’s that sound?” That’s when I realized that Bryan was shouting at me: “GET OVER HERE. NOW!” The sound had been so loud I couldn’t’ hear him. That’s also when I realized that this was an earthquake; a really big one. (Officially a 7.1)

I ran to him and we all huddled under the main beam of the house as far away from all the windows as we could get. I had my arms around Mother, and Bryan had his arms around the both of us. Both Mother and I were crying/whimpering while Bryan was shouting obscenities (yeah, that’s what he does when he’s frightened). The whole house shook so bad we could barely stand up. There was glass breaking, pictures falling, pottery shattering, and all the while that NOISE was so loud we could barely hear each other.

It only lasted a few minutes, but it felt like hours. By the time it was over, everybody was shaking. I had to sit on the floor; my legs just wouldn’t hold me. Mother wanted to start picking things up right away (that’s her way of dealing with fright) but we made her sit still for a while until we knew for sure it was over.

Within perhaps 5 minutes the second one hit; thankfully not quite as bad. I don’t remember exactly how many aftershocks hit right away, but eventually we felt safe enough to take stock of the damage. That’s when I saw that all the bottles in our “bar” had crashed to the floor, but thankfully only two actually broke. Mother’s Mexican Pottery fell off the hearth, one of them shattering to a thousand pieces. Pictures were knocked off and frames got broken. All my books walked to the edge of the shelving, but thankfully did not fall. My favorite tea mug got broken but I was eventually able to glue it back together and still use it, albeit gingerly. Mostly it was just little things like that. Nothing structural other than nails popped out of the gypsum board. We were really lucky.

I’m ashamed to say, it actually took me a while to realize that all three cats were nowhere to be found. Another search through the house located Bailey and Naldo – but we could not find Viktor. We searched again more thoroughly but still could not find him. It took a good 4 hours to finally find him hiding in Mother’s shower, and the poor guy was just petrified. He was so scared his eyes were the size of quarters and he was trembling. I put him in our bedroom with the lights turned off, thinking that would be the most comforting place for him. He promptly crawled under the blankets on our bed and didn’t come out again for 24 hours - and then only because he had to pee.  Naldo was pretty scared, too, but she didn’t react quite so bad. She just wanted to be held all weekend long – which is highly unusual for her. She normally doesn’t want to be touched, let alone held.

We began the process of putting things back in place and cleaning up the wreckage, making sure to thoroughly investigate every part of the house both inside and out. Our TV was on all day so we could keep an eye on the news and see how bad it was. There are at least 5 overpasses between Palmer and Anchorage and all of them were compromised, so traffic was pretty much ground to a halt for the foreseeable future. Again, I’m so glad we were home that day: we weren’t able to get to work again until Tuesday, 5 days later!

A quick text to all of my siblings found them all shaken (pun intended) but no bodily harm. Julie was perhaps the worst emotionally (understandably so) but Heather and Reed got the worst damage to their home. We all pulled together and helped out as needed – like family should.

That’s Just Weird

So I have this friend; let’s call her *Sheila (subtle shout-out to my Australian friends, there).

One day, Sheila meets *John Doe and starts dating. They date for a good 6 months or so before breaking up and going their separate ways. No drama, just life.

Fast forward about 15 years or so, and you find Sheila at a crafting retreat where she meets *Jane Doe – who coincidentally enough, is married to John Doe!

Understandably, Sheila freaks out a little bit. I mean, how weird is that? (“OMG! I kissed your husband!”)

Thankfully, Jane is the type of person who sees the humor in the situation, and understands that the whole thing happened before John even knew Jane existed.

Jane is really nice and Sheila becomes good friends with her. They’ve even been on double dates: John & Jane Doe with Sheila and her mate *Oliver.

Still, how weird is that?

* Names have been changed to protect the innocent!

Catch The Cat

I have a morning routine (no surprise there) each day.

I use the bathroom first, then give it to Bryan. While he’s in the shower I make the bed, get dressed, clean the litter box, and brush my teeth. Then I go to the kitchen and prepare our lunches & put away last night’s dishes.

         

By that time, Bryan is typically done and we’re ready to go to work, so I call the kittens back in to their room, open up the blinds so they can watch the birds, and give them a snack for being such good kids.

HOWEVER

Lately, Viktor has been running from me when I try to herd them back into the room! He doesn’t want to go back to bed – he wants to stay up and play. Mother doesn’t like to have them out unsupervised, though, so he really does need to go back in to the bedroom.

Silly boy: we were 10 minutes late this morning because I had to play Catch the Cat.

Little Stinker…

Family: Lauren

Lauren was a special girl, right from the start: sweet, kind, loving and very smart. She has a subtle, wicked sense of humor, too! Sometimes you have to think about it before you realize she just made a joke.

I remember holding her in my arms while sitting in church during the Sunday sermon. We’d be giggling and cracking jokes with each other until her mother “yelled” at us in sign language from up in the choir loft. My signing isn’t that good, but I can at least get us both in trouble!

Another memory of mine is when we all went down to Los Angeles for our friend Lisa’s wedding. Lauren was 4 years old at the time; her sister was 6. Their mother was in the wedding so spent a lot of time prior to the event with the wedding party, planning and practicing – which meant I spent most of my time babysitting the girls. One day in particular I was not feeling very good and was quite snippy with the girls. Later that evening, the entire wedding party and all their families were out in the parking lot arguing over where to go for dinner. I had enough so walked away from the crowd and sat down at a secluded park bench.

Lauren walked over, sat down next to me, and quietly asked, “Are you in time out?”

“I need it, don’t I?” I sighed.

She just put her little arm around me and sat there in silence with me.

My all time favorite memory of her as a little girl, however, is having her walk beside me holding my hand. She would look up at me and say, “Aunt Ruthie, are you so happy?”

And I would look down at her and say, “Yes, Lauren. I am so happy.”

Family: Katy

I got to spend a lot of time with Katy and her sister Lauren while they were growing up. Every year I would spend Christmas Eve at their house so their parents could go to Midnight Mass. Christmas morning Noel would send the girls in to wake me up so they could open their gifts. I would always pretend to be asleep and thought it was so funny because the girls would just stand there as if they were afraid to touch me. And yet they were so eager to open their gifts they could barely contain themselves. Eventually I would take pity on them and get up to join the family.

Katy was always very direct and not afraid to speak her mind. Conversations with her were always interesting: she had no qualms about letting you know she disagreed with you. She was open to new ideas, but sometimes had to think things through on her own first. She’d get that look on her face that let you know the wheels were turning inside. She’s an adult now but she still gets that look sometimes!

I remember one day she came to visit me; she was perhaps 5 years old at the time. The first thing she said to me was, “You’re my mother’s sister!” Apparently she was just figuring out the whole family structure.

“Yes, I am.” I replied, taking her coat to hang up in the closet.

She got even more excited, saying “And you’re the LITTLE sister!”

“Yes, I am!” I laughed because I’m about 3 inches taller than Noel.

“AND YOU CAN TALK!!” she was really amazed at this because her sister, at age 3, was still NOT talking. She had no idea that little sisters could.

“Oh, honey!” I cried, “Lauren will talk someday, really she will. We just have to give her some time to figure things out.”

Family: Robin

Robin was just the sweetest little boy EVER! He still is a sweetheart, but now he’s a Navy Seal – and quite honestly that’s a little bit intimidating.

He was very much in to his food as a little one, which for a baby means breast milk. My sister is not the most well-endowed woman in our family and Robin would stare longingly (embarrassingly) at other women’s breasts as they walked by because they were so much bigger than his mothers.

I used to read stories to him, specifically “The Mitten” by Jan Brett. 

His favorite part of that story was where the Bear gives a big SNEEZE, and he would sit there in my lap with his eye getting wider and wider, quivering with excitement, the closer I got to it - until I would finally say “Ah… Ah… Ah-CHOO!!!” and he would jump out of my lap and just laugh and laugh.

Happenstance!

I just happened to be poking around the Events section of Facebook when I came across an event at our local comic book store. I’m not really in to comic books – just never could get in to them – but what caught my eye was the name of a local author: Sean Schubert. He’s apparently going to be there this Saturday signing his Alaskan Undead Apocalypse series (all 5 books!). I’m actually pretty excited about that!!

My partner and I stumbled onto this series a few years ago, and had such fun reading them. We really aren’t “in” to Zombies and such, but this series is set right here in Anchorage. You can actually follow the characters around on a map as they travel from Providence Hospital to the Fred Meyers on the corner, all across town and into the neighboring cities as well.

I’m planning to buy all 5 books and have Sean sign them all. I have them on my Kindle right now, but they’re so much fun I need to have them on my bookshelf too!

Call it my PFD purchase for the year.

I'm Half The Person I Used To Be

Back in May of 2017 I found myself at the store looking at the racks of jeans for sale. The ones I had one were way too tight and I realized I would have to get the next size up. But the ones I had on were already a size 16 and I really did not want to buy a size 18. I just didn’t. So, right then and there, I vowed to lose weight and get back down to the size 8 that I used to be.

Based by my past experiences, I knew that the most reliable way for me to attain my goal was to join Weight Watchers – so the very next day I drove to the University Mall and signed myself up. I didn’t tell anybody, not even my partner, because I just wanted to get comfortable with the idea first.

Eventually I did confess to my partner that I had joined. He was surprised, but supportive. So supportive, in fact, that he joined with me! “It’s not going to work for me, “ he said “but that’s not why I’m doing it. I’m doing it to support your efforts, that’s all.”

Jump forward two years, and you’ll find us both with a combined weight loss of very close to 100 pounds! It DOES work, and it did for him just as much as it did for me! We both go to the weekly workshops and each have our phones loaded with the WW Ap.

It has completely changed the way we eat: both of us are a lot more aware of portion sizes and sneaky snacks. We eat way more vegetables than ever before, and have almost worn out our Spiralizer. Our freezer is full of salmon & chicken breasts, and we even allow ourselves the occasional treat now and then (maybe a donut for me and a steak for him).

I still have a ways to go before I reach my official goal, but I’m very happy with the results so far, and can easily see myself sticking to this program for the rest of my life.

Family: Gareth

Gareth was next in line, and was almost a month late in being born. His mother was understandably worn out and more than ready to give birth – also very tired of the whole town asking her when that new baby was going to arrive.

One night she was putting the girls to bed when Tara said, “Momma, I sure can’t wait for that new baby to get here. “ Kelly agreed that she, too, could not wait. Then Tara said, “But you know – I sure will miss Laurel.” 

She thought she had to give up the old baby in order to get the new one!! Too funny…

Once the new baby finally did arrive, he was just as uniquely amazing as the first two were. He was very much a boy, and would ride his tricycle full speed into the side of the house, over and over again, simply because it was fun.

He “fell” out of a tree once (Tara may or may not have had a hand in that little incident) and broke his collar bone. One hour after he got home from the hospital, he was back up in the tree again.

I asked him, “Doesn’t that hurt?” and he looked at me as if that was the most ludicrous thing he’d ever heard, snorted a quick “no” at me, and went back to playing up in the tree.

Family: Laurel

Laurel was second born of the Pollock clan, and for some reason she came with a very distinct Southern Belle accent. I have no idea where that came from, but she held on to it for a couple years as I recall.

She would latch on to a word that she thought sounded interesting, and would repeat it a thousand times a day just for the joy of saying it.

Also, her mother decided that she would not have bangs – so had to somehow keep the hair out of her face until it got long enough on its own. She did this by creating a little pony tail right at her forehead which made the 2” of hair stick out like a Unicorn’s horn!

I can still picture her running around town with her pony tail on her forehead saying “Radish. Radish. Radish. Radish. Radish. Radish. Radish. Radish.” All with her cute little southern-belle accent.

Family: Tara

Tara is my oldest niece, and was born with the most amazing mind. I loved watching her grow up and discover the world, trying to figure things out and determine her place in the scheme of things.

You know how kids are always asking question: Why is the sky blue? How does an airplane stay up in the air? What makes a coke fizzy? How many bees live in that nest up there?

Each time she would ask me something like that, I would turn the table on her and ask, “Well, what do you think?” and she would always reply with some long complicated explanation that made perfect sense even to me. She was rarely ever correct, but her replies always sounded amazingly logical.

As most kids do, she had some difficulty pronouncing some letters as she learned the English language, and to this day I quote her often saying “Tometimes I do, and Tometimes I don’t.”

Family: a Series

I’ve been thinking about creating a post about my nieces and nephews for a long time now. I never had any kids of my own but was lucky enough to have siblings who provided me with 8 wonderful nieces & nephews, and I want to introduce them to the world. 

I originally thought to write just one post comprised of a brief paragraph about each one. Then I thought perhaps I should break it apart and do one for each family group. Now I’m leaning towards one post for each kid. There’s so much to say about each one, it’s only fair that I give them the room they deserve. But how do I organize the posts? Do I do it chronologically by age? Or do I do it by family?

You see my dilemma. Feel free to chime in and offer up some advice, if you feel so moved. Until then, however, I think I’m going to just dive in and start typing.

I believe I shall start with Tara!

Stay tuned...

Apples, Apples, Apples!

I got a text the other day from my sister Noel.

“Soooo. Apples may appear on your doorstep. Just sayin.”

I’m thinking a client of hers was a little over-generous! But she was right – apples DID appear on my doorstep. Thankfully only two boxes.

Ha! “Only” 

Just what does one DO with two boxes of apples, each one of which weighs at least 40 pounds?

Why, one makes Apples Sauce! And Apple Butter! And Apple Pie Filling!

We must have canned apples for three days solid… and we still lost about a quarter of the apples by not getting to them soon enough (they spoil right quickly, it seems).

Our pantry is now overstuffed with jars of apples.

It’s a happy thing.

Damn, I Did It AGAIN!!

Apparently I didn’t learn the first time: I had to go and do it again not two weeks later!

This time it was potentially a lot worse, too. I was driving to work this morning and had just passed the last Eagle River exit when I happened to glance down and actually look at my gas gauge. It was dangerously low; like just this side of empty.

Immediately panic set in: I still had at least 20 miles to go before the next gas station, and I was absolutely positive I wouldn’t make it. I kept going through all the possible ways to handle the situation: who should I call? Should I attempt to walk to a nearby station (in the dark and in the rain)? Should I just sit there and wait for “somebody” to rescue me?

Mind you: my “go-to” rescuer is off hunting out beyond Fairbanks for the next 5 days - so he’s not an option.

And two years ago, I would have called my big brother – but that’s no longer an option, either.

By the time I managed to coast in to the first gas station I came to on Muldoon I was literally shaking, I was so upset with myself. The only thing that helped a little bit was knowing that last time I had made it 387 miles, and I only had 380 miles on the odometer this time.

I totally blame the move to Palmer on this new bad habit of mine. When I lived in Anchorage I knew exactly how far I could go on a single tank, and thought nothing of going for days with my “empty” light on. But now I’m in a whole new situation: I don’t know where all the gas stations are and have no idea how far apart my destinations are. Supposedly one day I will learn all that and will once again be unconcerned about trivial things like gas gauges – but for now I really need to learn to pay more attention!

387

That's how many miles my little car can get on one tank of gas.

I know this because I coasted in to the gas station tonight, running on fumes. I had forgotten to get gas in Anchorage and didn't realize it until I hit Palmer. Thank goodness the gas station is down hill from Anchorage!

Still, I'm pretty proud of my little car: the tank is only 10 gallons, so for it to go that far means I'm getting really good gas mileage!

What kind of car do you drive?
     Mine is a 2012 Nissan Yaris.

What's your gas mileage?
     Mine is apparently 38.7 mpg.

It’s done! It’s Done! It’s Done!

Well, okay – so it’s not completely done; but it is usable finally and the kittens LOVE it!

Right now it has a floor, four walls, a roof and a door – but we still need to work on the floor a bit (add more gravel) and install the levels, platforms, ramps, and other interior items in it, and the door still needs a handle. Since we don’t have anything in it at the moment, we went ahead and moved one of their cat trees outside for them to feel safe on.

 It was so cute when I first opened up the window for them. Naldo marched right out and jumped down off the window ledge, landing in the middle of the gravel. Then she just froze: she’d never been on gravel before, and didn’t know what to do! The look on her face was priceless. She’s gotten used to it by now, but she still walks funny.

Viktor hasn’t set foot in the gravel yet: he maneuvers around on the framing, jumping from one level to the next. Someday, he’ll get brave and come down to the floor – but not today.

It also took both of them a while to understand that they could come and go as they please. I had to show them a couple times, but they eventually got the hang of it. Now I have to call them in for some snuggles: they do come in, but then they go right back out again after a few minutes.

The next big learning curve for them will be navigating the screen door. I’m hanging a magnetic screen across the interior door to their room (located off of our bedroom) because I cannot install a screen across the window any more.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

This Saturday Bryan and I got to attend the First Annual Hunter’s Get Together BBQ down at the Palmer Depot! It’s held by the local chapter of The Safari Club, an national group that advocates for hunter’s (and fisher’s) rights. They had Live Music, Door Prizes, Raffles, a Silent Auction for Gourmet Deserts, and a generous buffet line put on by Smokehouse BBQ.

We didn’t know anybody there, so just randomly chose a table up at the front to sit at. We ended up with a young couple from Willow who were ex-military and super nice. The food was apparently quite good (sorry, BBQ is not my thing) and the music was fantastic. The prizes were cool, too: some of them were quite the catch, like a week for two up at a fishing lodge on Lake Iliamna.

But I have to say, I had the most fun at the silent auction. There’s a little back-story here, first, so you understand where I’m coming from. Back when Bryan and I first started dating, he used to bring me Red Velvet Cupcakes all the time. Like, a lot of them. Finally I had to say, “You know, I don’t really like red velvet cupcakes.” And he was all “What?!? I thought they were your favorite!?!”

So anyway, back to the silent auction: one of the deserts up for sale was (you guessed it) a rather large Red Velvet Cake donated by The Flying Dutchman. I couldn’t help myself: I put Bryan’s name down on it with a price just a few dollars higher than the asking minimum. And wouldn’t you know – HE WON!

The look on his face when they brought it to him was worth it all… even though we now have a very large Red Velvet Cake at home that I really don’t like much.

They've Turned Off The Creek!

My partner and I went on a 3-day camping/hiking trip up to Denali last weekend, and had a great time!

We drove in to the Visitor’s Center, right at the entrance of the park, and left our vehicle there. Then we caught a bus ride about 32 miles in to the Igloo Creek Campground and found the perfect spot to pitch our tent. The next day, we caught another bus further in to the Toklat River, where we hiked downstream a ways until we found an un-named creek that came down off our left. We followed that up a ways to a sweet little valley where we had our lunch – and then leisurely made our way back down to the road to catch another bus back to our tent. The next day we packed everything back up and headed on back home.

I woke up in the early morning hours that first night and had a moment of panic. We had chosen that site because it was right next to the creek, with all the sounds associated with a swiftly moving body of water. But when I woke up, I couldn’t hear a thing: not a bug, not a bird, and not even the creek! That little voice inside my head kept screaming, “They’ve turned off the creek! They’ve turned off the creek!” (there’s not a whole lot of logic to that little voice inside my head, particularly that early in the morning)(and I’m not entirely sure who “they” are)

It honestly took me a good five minutes to come to my senses and roll over. Even after two years, I just don’t seem to be adjusting to the fact that one ear simply doesn’t work anymore, and I really can’t hear a thing out of it!

Apparently I sleep on my good ear…

Grow Palmer

Palmer is just the coolest town EVER!

I just found out about a non-profit organization called GROWPALMER who is planting vegetable gardens all along the old railroad tracks here in town. They also have some smaller barrels located along the main street. They fully intend for the general public to help themselves!

You need some lettuce for the burgers you’re grilling tonight? 

          Go take a walk downtown and get some. 

You have a hankering for some steamed collard greens? 

          They have that too! 

They even have plans in motion for a fruit orchard, but that will take time for the trees to mature.

All they ask in return is for you to weed a little bit while you harvest, or maybe water the gardens during a dry spell. And if you like what they are doing, I would ask that you donate to the cause.

Because who doesn’t like fresh veggies!

Catching Up

It’s been a while since my last post; so much for my resolution to post at least once a week! That’s a lot harder than it sounds on paper, let me assure you.

Bryan is still working on the catio. It’s going a lot slower than either of us really wanted – but at least it is progressing. The kittens are going to love it once it’s finished! I’ll have shelves for them at varying levels, connected with ramps and poles for them to climb on and get up high. I ordered a magnetic screen for the door into their room to keep the bugs out of our bedroom. Hopefully they will learn how to go through it (the kittens, that is – not the bugs)

Both Bryan and I love to cook, and he’s adventurous enough to indulge me when I say “Ooo! Let’s try this recipe!” even when it’s for things like pickled avocado or eggplant rollups (neither of which we’ll ever do again). We did make some fermented lemons and fermented salsa the other day that turned out really good, though. Next on our menu is going to be candied jalapenos

Bryan’s girls are up for a visit this week, so he’s been off doing things with them for most of the time. Lindsey came out a few days ago to see the place, and Jessica will come out tomorrow. I invited as many of my own family to join us each time for dinner so the girls would get a chance to meet my side.

We did a great hiking trip recently: a 3-day hiking/camping trip out at China Poot Bay. We drove to Homer Thursday after work, stayed at a cute little B&B in town, then took a water taxi out across the bay to Halibut Cove. We then hiked in about 3 miles up and over a small mountain to get to China Poot Lake – at least, that was our intent. Turns out the trail to the lake was washed out (the creek rerouted itself and obliterated the trail) so we had to turn around and hike back over the mountain to Halibut Cove and pitch our tent there. We had a good weekend anyway, fishing off the docks or going beach combing at the shore.

Yet Another Reason Why I Get Frustrated

Apparently I’m having email issues lately: I’ve not gotten several emails that I know I should have gotten. So today I tried to log on to my GCI account to look at the Junk File, but discovered that I don’t know my password.

I clicked on the “change your password” link and they asked the usual question, and then sent me a special code to change my password.

To my GCI email.

Which I can’t get in to because I don’t know my password.

Yeah…

Typical Conversations With My Kittens

Naldo: MEOW! MEOW! MEOW! MEOW!

Me: What?!?

Naldo: Meow!

Me: Oh, you have a string?

Naldo: Meow

Me: Let me see…

Naldo: Meow

Me: Well, that’s a nice string!

Naldo: Meow

Me: You’re such a lucky girl…

Naldo: Meow

Viktor: CRASH!!!

Me: Viktor! Get down from there.

Viktor: -lays down right where he’s at-

Me: On the floor, Viktor.

Viktor: chirp!

Me: Oh, Viktor… you’re just too damn handsome.

Viktor: chirp!

Kilroy was here

Isn’t it interesting how some people just have this burning NEED to sign their names to things?

Take graffiti for example. Some punk with a spray can paints his name in three foot letters on the side of a bridge, and then is surprised when they get caught and are in trouble for it!

Or my little brother, Reed. When he was younger (maybe 7 years old) he once took a screw driver to the fridge in our kitchen, carving his name on the side. He then tried to convince Mother that “I didn’t do it!”

But then you have people like my sister Noel – she once carved MY NAME into each and every wooden pew at church!!!

She always was the smart one.

Gearing Up: After the Fact

So here’s a review of our gear after having used it for a few days:

1. Tent – I love our tent! It’s so easy to set up and take down. It’s not tall enough to stand up in, but it’s quite roomy and easily fits two people with all their stuff. It even has pockets to put your kindle or phone into so they don’t get lost during the night. The only thing I would add to it would be a hook in the middle of the roof to hang the lantern from.

2. Sleeping bag/pad – our pads were quite comfortable, but man they were noisy! Like, really noisy. Just the slightest movement created a racket loud enough to wake the dead – believe me, I woke up each and every time he moved! Blowing them up and deflating them afterwards was easy enough, although Bryan’s took longer each time. And our sleeping bags were not warm enough; it got downright cold at night, so I ended up curling into a little shivering ball each night. I think that will be the next item on our Upgrade List.

3. Food – we brought the Mountain House type food this time, and it was okay. Not the greatest in the world, but certainly filling. I’m not sure I would buy their Breakfast Bowl again, but the rice & beans was very tasty. For snacks we had Cliff bars and M&Ms – with blueberry pop tarts thrown in for good measure.

3a. Hydration Bladder - I used my new hydration bladder on this trip and love it! Not too happy about the taste (it was supposed to not have any weird taste) but having water right there the whole time I’m hiking really helped my migraine issue. Now I just need to figure out what to do with the nozzle & hose – I just left it dangling but think surely there’s a better way.

4. Bear Protection – those bear-proof canisters are really hard to get into - which is the whole point, I get that - but we probably broke two or three nails each time we tried to get into the darned thing. 

5. Bug repellant – worked like a charm, except for the one place I forgot to apply it = my ankles have about 20 bites a piece on them! In fact, one bite actually created a bruise! I don’t know what critter that came from, but he has quite the bite!

6. Boots – my boots were very comfortable. They have more ankle support than I’m used to, but once I forgot about that, I had no problems at all. I should have worn the liner socks from the very beginning of our journey, however - I did get a little raw at first. But once I put on my layers, it was fine.

7. Packs – my pack rubbed me raw in several places, namely my collar bones and my hips. I have a feeling I just didn’t have all the straps adjusted properly. There’s only like a million straps, so it’s hard to know what to do to adjust the thing. It’s quite roomy, however: I was surprised at how much stuff can be stuffed into it.

8. Clothing – I pretty much wore the same outfit the entire time. I did bring lots of socks, and a change of clothing incase I fell into the lake or something. I should have brought a warmer sweater along – did not expect the cold (like I should have).

9. PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) – we arranged to send the SPOT to my sister Noel each time, and she enjoyed following our journey on the maps. It gave her our exact GPS location so that if need be she could pass that information along to the emergency response people to find us more easily.

10. Lodging – the B&B we stayed at in Homer was a very cozy little place, but not for everybody. It was very cluttered with all kinds of knickknacks everywhere. It was a small place but quite functional, with a very comfy bed. For breakfast the next day, we even got 6 fresh eggs from the chickens out back! Very tasty! Our host gave us all kinds of local information, too – very helpful.

11. Water Taxi – Ashore water taxi was very prompt and helpful. The captain of the boat was a fisherman, so he and Bryan talked fish the whole way. The boat was exactly the kind of boat I’d get if I lived on the water = small but perfect for getting around. I had a hard time not laughing like a maniac the whole way there and back because the ride was so much fun!

12. Electronics – my kindle worked perfectly the whole time, but I probably could have left my phone at home since I never even turned it on. My camera has issues, however: I am not happy with it at the moment, but have no idea how to fix the darned thing. I may have to just toss it and get a new one – which I hate doing. Thankfully Bryan’s camera worked so I was able to take pictures of the place.

13. Kittens – the kittens were so excited when we got home – they missed us! Naldo just kept running around and attacking our ankles as we walked passed her. Viktor was a bit stand-offish at first, but eventually crawled up into my arms to nuzzle my neck for a while.

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.