The Goldering-Gunde Marine Biology Research Station

The research station where I got to stay for my 7^th Earthwatch Expedition was a very nice place. The layout was basically a duplex, with volunteers on one side and Scientists on the other side. There was only one other volunteer (for a total of two, including myself) so we each got our own room.

The scientists were all great people - I enjoyed getting to know each one of them. Adam was the station manager; Cory was his assistant manager; Alison, Tamara, Cara, Juan and Anna were biologists working with the turtles. There was a maid and two gate-guards as well, but I did not catch their names.

The other volunteer was Ute, from Canada. She was a Veterinary doctor who worked on horses back home. She had an unending sense of curiosity and wanted to know about everything. She and I spent a lot of time just chatting about this & that, and even got to spend some time together after the expedition ended.

The Pipe House Hostel

I had two days and three nights to myself on my vacation in Costa Rica so I booked a room at The Pipe House Hostel – I figured it could either be a colossal flop or a really cool place to stay.

Turns out, it was a really cool place to stay!

Felipe, the owner, was very friendly and helpful. The “room” was comfortable and had just enough room for all my stuff. And the shared spaces were all clean and tidy – and very comfortable.

I first arrived at 10:00 pm, so basically just crashed in my room. The next day, however, I got to do a bit of exploring around the gated compound. There were a handful of other people there as well, so I said hello to them. I found Felipe working on things in the back, so was able to pay up with him and arrange for a Farm Tour the next day. He gave me suggestions for lunch and directions on how to get there.

Most of that first day was spent on the beach, just a short two-minute walk from the compound. It truly is a beautiful beach, and quite popular with the surfers -many of whom would happily give lessons to newbies if need be.

Walking the beach that day, I actually ran in to one of the scientists that I’d be working with in a few days, so I arranged with her for them to come pick up the donations I had brought them, and ended up having dinner with them all that night.

The following day was my Farm Tour, a very interesting experience. It was a 100-acre farm with 250 head of cattle. The owner of the farm did speak some English, thankfully (because my Spanish really sucks). I got to milk a cow, feed the chickens, watch the baby piglets with their mamma, ride an old wooden cart pulled by two very large oxen around part of the farm, and then ride a horse around the other part of the farm. All in all, it was quite the day.

The next day was my check-out day, so took my time packing everything back up then just hung out in the communal area waiting for the scientists to pick me up for lunch.

Stewart's Sister

There were both pros and cons to growing up as Stewart’s Sister. Here are a couple stories that illustrate both sides of that coin.

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One time Mother and I were on our way home from Wasilla when we came across the scene of a recent accident on the road. Apparently somebody had hit a moose and then just drove off, leaving the poor thing on the side of the road. Somebody else then come along and saw that it was still alive but injured, so had parked their vehicle in such a way to protect it from getting hit again. When we stopped to see if any assistance was needed, they asked us to contact the State Troopers to come take care of the situation.

So, we drove on in to Palmer and headed straight to the Troopers Office. I went in to talk to the lady at the front desk and explained the situation. She was very nice and friendly, taking out the proper form to fill it out for me. She began by asking my name, but when I told her who I was she stopped and put her pen down and said with a frown, “Oh. You’re Stewart’s sister.”

“Yes.” I replied, not sure what that had to do with anything.

She picked her pen back up and said “So, how fast were you going when you hit the moose?”

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Another time I was driving to work one morning when a car came out of nowhere and slammed into me, T-boning me from the right side and completely wrecking both vehicles. It all happened so fast it took me several minutes to comprehend what had happened.

The cops came to assess the situation and ending up giving her the citation. They then called a couple tow trucks and made sure we were both taken care of. I was beat up pretty good, but thankfully did not require an ambulance.

The tow truck driver eventually came and hooked my car up and let me sit up front with him in his cab as he drove back to Palmer. On the way, he asked my name for his records. When I told him, he said “Oh! You’re Stewart’s Sister!”

And then he just went off, saying over and over again, “You tell him I’m giving you this tow for free, okay? You tell him! This is a $95.00 tow, but I’m giving it to you for FREE. Just make sure you tell him!”

The Countdown is On!

Just 13 days left before my trip and I’m super excited!

There’s a lot still to be done, however:

Finish gathering up all my gear

Make sure I have everything I need

Go shopping for the items I’m lacking

Try on all the clothing to make sure it all fits

Make sure it all fits in my one suitcase

Get paperwork organized

Make sure Bryan & Mother each have a copy of my paperwork

Organize the donations received and make a list

Right now I have a pile of stuff upstairs in the storage room. Each night, when I think of something new, I run it upstairs right then so I don’t forget. When it comes closer in to time to actually go, then I’ll worry about packing.

Two of my coworkers have said they would donate items to the research station. One has already given me $200.00 to go purchase what they need, so I sent an email to Earthwatch to make sure I get the right things. I believe the second guy is going to give me items he already has and doesn’t need any more. And I’ll probably purchase a few things myself to add to the pile, like (or course) chocolate!

I’ll probably end up with my suitcase and a box to check, and a tote bag & my daypack as carry-on. Unless I can fit my daypack in my suitcase – that would be better.

1st Blood Draw

Viktor gave blood for the first time a few weekends ago. I’m only just now getting around to writing about it because I’ve been down with a rather persistent head cold. But he did so well: he was a Champ - I was the nervous one.

His appointment was at 3:00, so around 2:30 I bundled him up in his crate with his hot water bottle and a blanket (don’t judge me: it’s cold out there) and headed off down the road to the vet’s office. We checked in and waited perhaps 5 minutes before a vet tech came out to explain the process to me one more time, and then took him on back to the procedure room.

So then I had to occupy myself somehow for almost 2 hours before I could pick him back up and take him home. I sat at a café and tried to eat lunch and went to a few stores to browse the isles, but really all I did was worry about my boy.

He basically slept through it all. They gave him some sleepy medicine and shaved his neck to expose his jugular vein. The blood draw went quickly and without any problems.

When I finally was able to pick him up, the vet tech explained that he was still a little loopy from the medication they’d given to relax him but that he should be back to normal within 24 hours. At the moment, he was “extremely affectionate” she said, laughing. Most cats get hyperactive from the meds – but apparently Viktor is an “I love you” drunk! (sorta like my brother, come to think of it)

His scrawny little neck is all bare now, but the hair will grow back. Probably just in time for him to give again. I wonder if he might end up permanently bald because of all this?

Migraine Attack

Well, I had a lovely experience the other day – and I’m being very sarcastic here. It was not lovely at all.

I woke up around 3:30 in the morning with a severe migraine, so I went upstairs into the craft room to try and sit it out. There’s a chair up there that is relatively comfortable which allows me to “sleep” sitting up, but by 4:30 it was just getting worse.

I went back downstairs then, and told Bryan I needed help. I had him go get my medication for me and monitor me while I took it; it was the first time I’d ever had it and didn’t know what to expect. Sadly it didn’t do a thing, so by 5:30 I had him take me to the emergency room.

The drive over there was a short one, thank god, but it was excruciatingly painful. All those lights coming at me like knives stabbing me in the eyes. I had my hands covering as much of my face as they could the entire way. The lights in the E.R. waiting room weren’t much better, but at least they were stationary and not flying at me.

The wait wasn’t very long at all before a nurse led us back to a curtained-off area and got me set up on the bed. Then a different nurse came in and got me hooked me up to an I.V. bag and containing a cocktail of 3 drugs. I don’t remember exactly what they were; I know one of them was a form of Benadryl, and the other two started with a T and an R. I do know it was VERY uncomfortable and did not make me feel any better at all – at least, not at first.

It took about 2 hours before I eventually felt well enough to go back home again, around 8:30 or so. Once there, I basically slept the rest of the day on the couch.

It was kind of cute: my kittens were very worried about me. Viktor kept coming to check on me, putting his little paw on my face each time. Naldo can’t handle stress, so she pretty much left the room entirely – but I knew she was worried anyway.

I haven’t received the bill yet – that’s a joy left for another day.

The Taste of Talkeetna

Our Talkeetna Weekend Get-Away just happened to coincide with this year’s Taste of Talkeetna – so of course we bought tickets. We had such a great time will definitely be doing this again next year!

The cabin we stayed at was super cute: tiny, but exactly big enough for the four of us. Viktor & Naldo were so excited, exploring the entire place all night long (oh joy). I brought my card-making while Bryan worked on his computer stuff. They even gave us a hand made refrigerator magnet as a Thank You gift for choosing their cabin to stay at!

Our movie selections went on a Johnny Depp theme this time, with all four of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies as well as “From Hell”, “Chocolate”, “The Libertine”, “The 9^th Gate”, “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” and "The Legend of Sleepy Hallow". Basically, I just grabbed every movie I had that starred Johnny Depp (except for the Harry Potter one). I will admit, however, that Bryan got a little tired of Johnny – regardless of how good an actor he is. Thankfully, our host had several movies to choose from, so we augmented our repertoire with “Predator” and “Constantine”

Food was the easiest part of this particular Weekend Get-Away; we only had one dinner and two breakfasts to worry about. And of course, one of those breakfasts was at the Roadhouse – because you can’t stay in Talkeetna and NOT eat at the Roadhouse!

But the Taste truly was the highlight of our weekend!

Our first stop of the evening was at the Flying Squirrel Bakery Café, where they fed us a Reuben Slider for him and a Chocolate Croissant for me. We were able to order tea or coffee as well, or purchase a more “adult” beverage if we so chose – but we stuck with the tea & coffee, knowing the harder stuff was still to come.

Next on the menu was a stop at the Latitude 62, an old favorite hangout of my mother’s. This was an actual sit-down at a table setting, with a dinner plate loaded with food. They served a generous hunk of prime rib wrapped around a large spear of asparagus, a dollop of mashed potatoes and a finger of toast. Bryan and I immediately exchanged the meat & asparagus (I don’t like meat – he doesn’t like asparagus) and happily dug in.

From there we headed on over to the Denali Brewpub where we all stood around the bon fire outside and sipped on Hot Chocolate or indulged in a Blueberry Mojito (made with their own Hopshine hop infused vodka, local mint, Alaskan blueberries and fresh lime). We just happened to catch the owner of the establishment there, who was telling a story about one of his chickens who hitchhiked a ride in to town one day and ended up at the bar, sitting up on one of the stools. Too funny! The weather that night could not have been nicer, but still it was very pleasant to warm up by the fire.

Eventually, we ambled over to the next stop at Mountain High Pizza Pie where they served us a small plate with a home-made meatball, some falafel on a dollop of hummus, and a tiny bread bowl filled with warm spinach dip. Oh my goodness – by this time we were quite full already, but just could not stop eating regardless. The food was so good!

We knew we were in trouble, however, because our next stop was at the Talkeetna Roadhouse - and we all know how good their food is! They did not disappoint us: we got to choose between a plate full of various sweet treats, like Moose Droppings, Pecan Clouds, Ginger Molasses, and Lemon Poppyseed - or a plate full of savory treats, like a Mini Mushroom Swiss Quiche, Broccoli Salad, Macaroni-n-cheese, and a Rudy-in-a-Parka. Since there are two of us, we got one of each and then ate off each other’s plate.

We ended our journey at The Fairview Inn with a drink to help settle our over-stuffed tummies. Bryan had a Russian Noggen (vodka, kahlua, and egg nog) while I opted for The Bill (absolute raspberry and cranberry juice with a splash of ameretto).

Yeah… we’re definitely doing this again next year!

Cat Napping

Lisa, a very good friend of mine, has this cat named Tommy. Tommy is a huge, orange, fluffy tomcat who is mostly an indoor cat. Sometimes, however, he manages to get out – which he did a few months back. He was missing for almost a week, and Lisa & her family were frantically searching for him. They had posters out and everything.

One day, Lisa got a call from a friend saying they had just seen Tommy sitting on their neighbor’s porch – so Lisa ran out of her office, jumped in her car, and went speeding off to get him. She pulled up to the address she’d been given, ran up to the porch and grabbed her cat, then sped off to her own house and basically just threw him inside. Then she raced off back to work with just enough time to make it to a meeting she had.

When she got home later that night, her family was very perplexed. Apparently – THAT WAS NOT TOMMY! She had just kidnapped some stranger's cat! She was so embarrassed she made her husband take the cat back to its rightful owner.

Tommy came home on his own a few days later, no worse for wear.

The Actual Anniversary

I have to admit something here: I was wrong about the date of last year’s Earthquake. It happened on the 30^th of November, not the 11^th. I don’t know where I got the idea it happened earlier = just got my numbers mixed up, I guess. That means that TODAY is the anniversary, not a few weeks ago.

I’m pretty bummed about the mistake, actually. I really wanted my earlier post to be a memorial to the event, posted on the actual anniversary of it. Oh well… I do have some cool graphics to share this time, at least. I borrowed them from the papers this morning.

This first one shows all the aftershocks we’ve had since the big one. This doesn't show all the smaller ones, however (of which we've have thousands) - only the bigger ones.

This second one shows a cross section of the area, illustrating the depth of the aftershocks.

And of course, I can’t have a post about the big earthquake without showing what happened to Nash Road, out in Big Lake. This was by far the most dramatic damage done to our road system.

Global Entry

I travel a bit: not a lot, but a bit. And as everybody knows, part of traveling now-a-days means waiting in line at the Security Check-Points; you and 10,000 other weary travelers.

What a hassle! Take off your shoes & coat. Remove any metal you might have on you. Empty your pockets. Take out any liquids you have in your carry on. Walk through the x-ray scanner thingy. Oops! I forgot my belt! Go back and do it again. Ugh! I got selected for a more thorough bag search AGAIN!

You know the drill.

But did you know you could get PRE checked and there-by avoid all of that hassle? For a small fee of just $100.00 you can get a Pass Card that lasts for 5 years. It’s easy:

Go online to globalentry.gov

Fill out the proper forms

Pay the fee

Get an appointment to go in person to TSA for fingerprinting

And that’s it. You’re done.

For the next five years, you get to go to the head of the line (or to a much smaller line). You don’t have to remove your shoes and all that. And, if you’re coming from a foreign country, the card makes going through customs that much easier, to!

I just signed myself up – so I’ve got some smooth sailing ahead of me for my next Earthwatch Expedition!

Oh, and if you don’t need the international entry, you can go to tsa.gov/precheck instead.

My Boy is a Hero - or will be soon

A couple weeks ago, as I was sitting on the couch snuggling with Viktor, I found a lump tucked down at his groin on the left side. It was quite large (about the size of an egg) and so I got alarmed. What could it be? A tumor? His “guy parts” acting up? An alien about to hatch? He didn’t seem to mind me poking at it, so I assumed it didn’t hurt. A quick call to the vet got us an appointment on Wednesday to take a look at it.

Viktor did so well at the vet that day! He was cheerful and inquisitive, running all over the exam room exploring. When the doctor tried to listen to his heart, all she could hear was him purring. He even showed her how he could open up all their cabinets!

The doctor talked to me about all the things it “could” be, and stated that she didn’t think it was anything to worry about. She said they could take a biopsy and send it in to the lab to confirm it if I liked – which I did. So she picked Viktor up and headed to the back room.

When she brought him back a few minutes later, she praised him (yet again) saying that he was such a good boy. While they were poking him with the needle (multiple times) he just laid there smiling up at them!  He was so good, in fact, the doctor asked if I would consider having him be part of the Blood Doner program for Felines!

Cats have two major blood types: A and B. A is the most common type with most cats in the world falling in to that category. B is much rarer and therefore harder to get. Because Viktor is a Devon Rex, which is a rare breed, they thought there was a good chance that he would be a type B – apparently the rare blood type is most typically found in the rare breeds.

It’s a lot to consider. Viktor would have to be sedated each time because they take the blood from his jugular and they don’t want to harm him in any way. And you all know how horrible you feel after having given blood yourself – do I really want my baby to feel like that every 8 weeks? The doctor listened to all of my fears and answered all of my questions – then sent me home with a pamphlet laying out all the pros & cons of the procedure so I could think about it.

I talked it over with Bryan and Mother, then called the vet back and said we would give it a try. If he gets too stressed out at any time, he can always back out of it.

There’s a lot to the program, actually. First we had to get his blood typed out to see what he is = and guess what?!? He IS a Type B!!! I always knew my baby was special…

Now they are testing his blood for all the things you can possibly test blood for. I should get results back from their lab sometime this week. Then we’ll move on to some more testing: a complete physical examination, chest radiographs, a urinalysis, a fecal exam, and a 1-year flea/tick/heartworm preventative (assuming we need that up here).

He’ll even get his portrait taken to be posted up on their wall.

Oh, and that lump turned out to be nothing but fat. I am relieved, of course, but have to just sadly shake my head over that.

My boy may be a Hero, but apparently he’s a fat Hero.

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…