DancingWithHerbs

2007-09-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

THE AMERICAN FARMER..................

I drove to work the back way today. I guess I better explain that term for you city folks. Around here the back way means off the main roads, through the country, on the country roads.

It was just beautiful. In this part of Texas a person can see for miles and miles and miles, until the horizon meets the earth. What I saw was field after field of cotton, maize and an occasional pasture with cattle grazing or tank with steam raising off the surface. It is just beautiful and it all represents the hard work and sweat of the American farmer.

My destination each morning is Roby, Texas. Home of the "Roby Millionaires" (lottery winners), the American farmer, and the Roby Rural Health Clinic. I know I am getting close when I start to pass tractors and combines instead of cars.

I've been back in Texas, from Alaska for almost 3 months. I started working at the Roby Clinic the first of July and I really love my job. I feel honored to provide health care for these proud, hard working families. When I took the assignment in Alaska I thought I would be contributing by providing care to the Native population but what I found was a huge well oiled, well financed machine. The money in the Native Alaska Coporations is significant and they have wisely invested in health care. I loved caring for the elders and found them to be very much like my farmers-a proud but quiet and courteous people. However, my experience with the middle age and younger Natives was not the same. Many, not all but enough to accurately generalize, had a chip on their shoulder and felt they were "owed my education and health care by you white people who took my land." Now this is a strange statement from a person whose land has never been occupied and who are still living in their ancestorial villages and collecting up to $56,000 a year (without working) from their Native Corportion. I have worked in health care since I was 16 and have never been cussed or verbally abused until I worked at the Alaska Native Medical Center PCC. I was treated with a great deal of disrespect by even my teenaged patients. This was not just my experience, the other travelers and full time providers complained constantly about the abusive way in which we were treated and the refusal of the organization to intervene or allow us to address the issue.

But, enough of that. I am mentioning this just to point out the vast difference in my experience here in Roby. First of all, I am filling a need here that far surpasses the need in Alaska, at least in Anchorage. There is a shortage of providers and a a shortage of money out here in the rural areas. At Roby we have three grants that allows us to provide care free or at reduced cost to the patient. For the most part our patients are very grateful for the opportunity to recieve health care that they would not be able to afford without these services. Now this isn't to say we don't have our bad apples, we do...everyone does...but it's the rare bad apple rather than an apple cart going to rot.

Let me tell you about my patients-this is a composite and does not discribe specifically any one person so as to protect privacy:

There is the 20 year old that comes in for his wellness exam wearing combat boots and covered with tats answering "yes, mam" and "no, mam" , a big smile that never leaves his face and wishing everyone a good day on the way out. He may look like a "bad ass" but he leaves me with a smile on my face and feeling a little more chipper than when he arrived.

There is the middle age farmer, weathered and at risk for skin cancer, who comes in at the urging of family because the stress has finally worn him down. The drought has almost driven him out of business, now we have lots of rain and a bumper crop- a bumper crop which may mean lower prices because of the abundance of cotton. He leaves making me feel a little angry at a system that doesn't pay a man for his hard work and sweat and is slowly making the family farm a thing of the past because they can't compete with big business farming.

Then comes the teenage girl wearing her FFA jacket who is having trouble with her allergies since she's back in ag class and mucking out the pig barn. Again it's "yes mam" and "no mam"....I can't imagine her calling me a
f-ing bitch like the 17 year old in Anchorage that I dreaded seeing every time her name was on my schedule. She leaves making me feel a lot better about leaving our world in the hands of today's young people.

There's the illegal farm worker who is living on $10 a week so he can send the rest of his money back to Mexico where he is supporting an extended family of wife, children and parents. He is proudly working at a job many people in the US would consider "menial" and making a salary we would consider well below the poverty level. However, he is proud to have a job and is almost rich in his home country. And, whatever your politics, he is providing labor to the family farmer who could not afford more costly labor. He comes to the clinic when everything he knows to do has failed-for the most part, you know he really needs health care if he walks in the door.

I consider myself honored to be providing care for these folks-yet, they treat me like I am something special. Little do they know-they are the ones that make this country what it is!

I guess I had to travel thousands of miles to realize where I belong! To see the beauty in the West Texas landscape and in Her people...yep, I'm glad to be home!

2007-09-13T06:40:00.000-07:00

Zane is growing up! And changing so much! This is a picture of him in his tummy tubby-he's almost 2 months old (will be on Sept 19)!

2007-09-12T18:15:00.000-07:00

West Texas sunset!
I have been fortunate to live in Alaska, visit New Zealand and the rain forests of Central America, but I don't believe there is anything as beautiful as a West Texas sunset!!
This evening I took the back way (ie, through the country) from my sister's house to my house. It was between 7:30 and 8:00-just in time for one of Mother Nature's spectacular shows! I couldn't take my eyes off the sky (resulting in a near miss with a bull calf in the road!). Even though I've lived in West Texas my entire life, I still found my heart pounding in awe!
For those of you who don't know what I am talking about I am going to try to describe our sunsets-Texans will realize how futile the attempt is and recognize at once that I didn't do it justice at all.
As I turn onto the back road heading west I look across the miles of flat cotton fields to the mountains (ok, hills to most people). The huge sun hanging above the mountains and fields outlines the rows and rows and rows of windmills slowly turning in the breeze. The sun is just a huge, giant pinkish-orange ball. As it begins to set the western sky turns pink and turquoise. Then as the sun sinks out of sight the few clouds above it glow a silvery color and the mountains become a one dimensional purple drawing on the horizon topped by the barely visible silver outline of the windmills. The entire western sky is now a swirl of pinks, blues and oranges in various intensity from the remaining golden orange where the sun disappeared.
There is no way to describe the colors other then to say they have life...to say they glow or to say they shine just does not do justice. I can only say they are alive!
Maybe some day I will post a picture but I have never seen a photo by anyone-famous or not-that approaches the actual glory of a West Texas sunset!

2007-09-06T18:28:00.000-07:00

I think my son, Brandon, is a wonderful writer. I try not to be a nagging mother but if there is anything I would love to nag him about it is writing. He is articulate, humorous, and informative at the least. Here is a piece he published in a on-line newsletter for stay at home fathers. I point it out not just to brag about how talented my son is...but isn't he wonderfully talented?...but to help bring to consciousness the old, outdated stereotypes we still have about fathering. As a woman who parented alone, I really didn't give much thought to a father's role in the family. I had a great dad but it's different looking at things from the child's point of view. However, I just spent 2 weeks with Brandon, Mindy and my new grandson, Zane. It was sure a new experience. Brandon is so involved in a active, day to day, minute to minute way-not just a sometime baby sitter or a consultant on the big decisions. I am proud of him and Mindy and of the way they are parenting my little Zane grand baby. Check out DIY Father for Brandon's thoughts on the media's treatment of stay at home dads.

2007-08-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Home again!

Here I am, returned to reality! What a let down! Not that I don't like my life here but I sure miss my grandbaby and kids and the beauty of New Zealand...not to mention the cool weather!

I took tons of pictures. Warning: you might want to view the pictures and just look at the ones you want to rather than running the slide show-unless you have tons of time and want to see lots of pictures of my beautiful grandson! There are pictures of the trip to the beach and the trip to the botanical gardens as well as a walk I took around Brandon and Mindy's neighborhood. Then there are lots and lots of pictures of Zane!

2007-08-26T03:58:00.001-07:00

Friday we went to the botanical gardens....it was just beautiful. Here is a picture of the magnolia area. I have tons of pictures of the plants and birds and even more tons of the grandbaby! I'll post when I get home. I took this picture of Brandon and Mindy which I think is one of my favorite. Don't they look like happy young parents!

Of course, Zane was cute and wonderful as always. He slept the entire time we were at the gardens.

2007-08-23T15:03:00.000-07:00

Visiting Zane.....here I am in New Zealand and it seems the only sight I care to see is one little Kiwi!
Zane is so cute. He is smiling and cooing and I just can't get enough of him!
I've been present for his last midwife visit, his first Plunkett nurse visit, and his visit to the cranial osteopath...all very interesting. Some people pay money to go to another country to check out their health care system!
I find the most interesting difference is that the person is the keeper of their own medical records. So the kids have a book that is their medical record. Whatever provider sees Zane, for example, writes in his book. There is a carbon and they take the carbon leaving the book and the original note in the medical record with the "patient." I love the concept but I am afraid I would be in trouble for having lost mine!

This is Zane being bathed in his Tummy Tubby. He loves it. I think he feels very safe in this tubby. He smiles and splashes. The manufacturer says you can bath baby in this until they are 18 months old....we figure about six months. The web sites all show babies up to six months-there are no pictures of 18 month old babies. I think that is because they would all be crawling out or jumping up and down. Although it is very stable. There is a rubber ring on the bottom that stabilizes it. Granna was a little nervous at first but Mum and Dad did such a good job that Granna and Zane both settled down and enjoyed the bath time.

Zane with Mum and Daddy. Such good parents...he is just thriving under their love and care! Granna is so lucky to be in New Zealand visiting!

2007-08-22T02:03:00.001-07:00

Visit to the beach on the west side of the island....
On Sunday we went to the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day and the beach was just breath taking. I took lots of pictures which I will publish when I get home, however I have included a couple here to give you and idea of how beautiful it is!

2007-08-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

IN NEW ZEALAND.....

I am in New Zealand visiting Brandon, Mindy and Zane. The trip was longer then I expected it to be! I had a flight out of Abilene that was to leave at 2:20pm and actually left after 5:00pm. They rebooked my flight from DFW to LAX....and assured me I would make it just fine. The flight boarded 20 minutes before we arrived in Dallas so I am not at all sure how that was to happen-predictably, I missed the flight.
Once at the gate in Dallas one person thought I could make the flight from LAX to Auckland if I took the next flight out of DFW to LAX and one didn't (that person was right-there was no way I would have made that flight!).
I decided if there was any question of not making it out of LA I would just stay in Dallas. My nieces and their families are there so I had someone to impose on rather than being stuck in a motel for 24 hours. It turned out fine-my nephew picked me up at the airport. I had an opportunity to visit with them-it was Kaydon's (my great nephew) first birthday and I hadn't really gotten to know him. He is a real charmer and we had great fun together.
I set out the next day at 5:30 from DFW to LAX-everything went fine. My luggage was in LA and made it on the plane to Auckland-so, even though I didn't have it in Dallas it was there in Auckland.
The flight to Auckland was really good. I had 3 seats to myself with no one behind or in front of me. I rested and napped in every position one can assume in an airplane, including laying down. International flights are great-they really take care of you. Before take off they handed out the little packs with the eye masks, socks, and toothbrush with toothpaste. They passed out the menus and shortly after take off they came around with the food, complete with a selection of wines and beers as well as soft drinks and waters (no charge for aything). Then in about 3 hours they passed out the snack packs with water, cookies and crackers. Throughout the flight they came around with water and juice and once with fresh fruit. About 3 hours before landing they handed out warm, wet towels and then passed breakfast-your choice of a hot or continental breakfast.
During all of this feeding and watering, there is an array of entertainment available. Although reading really wasn't practical. They kept the cabin dark for sleeping and if you turned on your overhead light it was very bright for people around you since it was so far above your head and so bright. There was a screen built in to the seat in front of you (above the tray table) and you could choose movies, radio, CDs, news, games or a picture of a plane flying with speed and time until arrival (Brandon advised NOT checking that but when I did I was shocked to see we only had 4 more hours left).
I checked out the movies-there are about six catagories to chose from...like new releases, family, children, comedy, documentaries and something else. I watched one called In the World of Women (or something like that) that had Meg Ryan...it was so-so. Then later I discovered Happy Feet was available so I started it but didn't get to finish (first thing I'm gonna do on the return). I also played a little solitaire. But, I actually got a good bit of sleep.
Getting my luggage and getting through immigration and customs was a breeze! And the next thing you know there was Brandon! He took me home and Mindy and Zane were waiting at the door.
Mindy looks just great! And Zane is a beautiful baby...and so good. I can't believe! He went to sleep about 11 pm last night and only woke for 2 feedings in the night and slept real late this morning!
Yesterday seems like 2 days since I didn't go to bed! And it was a pretty full day. I went with the kids to take Zane to the osteopath for cranial-sacral therapy. It was suggested because of the long labor and the positioning and all of the head molding. I really liked the osteopath-he had a very gentle energy and was kind with Zane and the kids. He even had Brandon get up on the table and did a treatment on his head so he would know that it didn't hurt Zane.
The midwife came in the evening-she is very nice...obviously likes Brandon and Mindy as people. She was pleased with how Zane is growing-he is over 9 pounds now. I am not sure how much since the whole grams and pounds thing doesn't compute for me. This was her last visit. Now another group starts coming to make visits on the baby-weekly, I think. This is like a visiting nurse thing that New Zealand provides for a certain period of time....maybe a year. Mindy says you have all sorts of things for the first 6 years.
Today we went to the market-grocery store-which is located in the mall. It seemed strange to push your groceries through the mall in the grocery cart! There were a lot of the same products as in America and some different....and some brands that are the same but offer something different. Like Yoplait yogurt-here they have Greek style yogurt which I love but can't find in Abilene and come to find out Yoplait has that style.
We also went to the "herbal pharmacy" for lack of a better word. Zane has a tiny little thrush and the midwife sent them there for some homeopathic drops. It was a fascinating place. There were dried herbs, homeopathic blends, teas, and encapsulated herbs by two companies I am familiar with from the US. And there was the sweetest, gentlest young woman there to help them! I am so pleased with the health care providers that are shepherding Brandon, Mindy and Zane....they have an awesome team of people!
We also visited a regular pharmacy for Ibuprofen for my knee-it comes with codeine....yep, right over the counter-no RX needed. Strange.
Oh, one more thing! The food....I am having a great time trying different. BJ is very adventurous when it comes to food, and he's a good cook. For dinner last night we had steamed veggies with couscous. For lunch we got a rice ball-it was purple rice filled with your choice of fillings and wrapped in a baggie. When it was time to eat it you open the bag, push the rice ball to the opening and then "squeeze and eat, squeeze and eat." Mine was filled with Korean chicken, burdock, pickled cabbage, veggies, and some other stuff I can't remember. It was very good!
For breakfast I had a sliced apple and fish pie (fish with pumpkin in a pastry crust)-very good. And then for lunch today we ate at an Indian place....I had chicken marsala with a yellow curry-very, very good! This afternoon I am sipping on sage and spearmint tea I got at the herbal place....my taste buds are really enjoying this trip.
But, the most fun and the highlight of it all is the chance to sit and hold my grandbaby! The kids are napping and I can't seem to download a pic but will later when BJ can help...

2007-07-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

Zane Micheal Logan arrived July 19 after hours and hours of labor. Poor Mindy labored for 24 hours at home then went to the hospital where they spent roughly another 12 hours trying to have this baby by vaginal delivery but it was not to be! She had a C-section at around 8:43 in the morning of July 19 and this lovely baby became part of our family. I am a very proud grandmother! Mother, father and baby are doing very well! Mindy and Brandon have taken to parenthood like they have done it all their lives-they are just the most wonderful parents!
If you would like to see more pictures (including the first picture which is just a great picture of Mindy and Zane which did not download to this computer for some reason) go to www.boots4walking.blogspot.com.

2007-07-07T10:24:00.001-07:00

I'm back in Texas and as you can see above I am not a grandmother yet. Brandon and Mindy are still waiting for Pickle to make her (ok...or his) appearance.
I arrived in Trent after a rather grueling trip-about 24 hours from turning in my rental to arrival at the farm. After arriving at the Continental counter at the North terminal ( just like my ticket said), I had to transfer to Air Alaska in the South terminal. I left at 10:30 and arrived at 3 am....I waited for 3 hours to board a plane that arrived from Anchorage to pick up passengers going to Houston....is it just me or is there something wrong with this picture? Anyway, I made it to Houston where the plane was delayed and delayed and delayed due to weather. But, the final result is I am at home!!!!
How do I know for sure I am home? Well, one hint is that there was a horned toad in the console in my Jeep...."oh, yeah, honey I rescued him and forgot...could you please go put him near the ant bed on the west side of the medicine wheel?" Another is that I almost ran over a snake on the way out of the drive and was upset that I might have killed him- I backed up and got out to make sure (really dumb, I could have completed the job with that move...oh, it wasn't a rattler). And finally, on the way out of the place today I stopped to see what kind of frog was jumping out of the mud puddle (it was a leopard frog) and am considering putting an obstruction in the road (or maybe a sign saying "frog habitat") so the trucks can't go in that puddle and kill them. Yep, I've made the transition.
However, I don't think I'll ever get over missing my Alaska friends. (I am about as anxious for Benjamin's birth as I am Pickle's and someone better let me know!) You were all so wonderful! I miss you!!!! Thanks for the great last meal and for the pedicure. I taking care not to mess up the cute flower!
I'll post some farm pictures soon...maybe this weekend. Stay in touch!
(PS you were right...it's 88 degrees which everyone else thinks is nice and I am DYING)

2007-07-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

My Last Weekend is Alaska.....and she isn't disappointing me! Jane and I took the longer, 6 hour, Kenai Wildlife Cruise on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, clear and no fog or rain. Jane thought it was too cold and windy and she may have had a point....at least when we went motor boating at 40 knots across the bay. Yep, then it was COLD and WINDY...but, when cruising slowly looking for wildlife or sitting at the face of the tidewater glacier it seems nice. And today it is cool, cloudy and alternating drizzle and rain...a perfect day for sleeping late (which I did) and packing (which I am trying to convince myself to do...any minute now).
But, to back up a little. I want to tell you about the cruise.
Welcome aboard our ship-it was the newest in the Kenai Cruise Line and designed specifically for the long haul out to the tidewater glacier (our trip was 120 sea miles). It looks like a pontoon (however you spell that) boat on the bottom-two big floating things along each side that don't join in the middle (guess I should have gotten a picture). There is a main salon downstairs that houses cafe type booths that are three rows across (two next to the windows and one in the middle-each sitting six in theater type seats). The bar and snack area is in the back of this and there are TV screens throughout that constantly display a map of where we are). Above this is a smaller room with the same type seating-in front of that top area is the captains navigation area. Behind the smaller upstairs salon are seats in rows facing the right and the left of the boat. However, my favorite place was on the lower deck in front of the main salon-the prow. Greatest view!!!! You can see 180 degrees all around the boat-basically the captains view only one level below! That was my hang out for the day!!! Jane stayed up there most of the time even though she was about to freeze to death! Then there were 3 college guys and every now and then some kids would show up for a few minutes, get in trouble by me or the first mate or the captain for jumping up off the deck and leave (to everyone's sigh of relief-there was a rule about no kids on deck without parents but a few parents chose to ignore this and made their kids the responsibility of the crew who had to come up when they were there or the captain who had to stop the boat and tell them to stop jumping).
Now to get a feel for this experience first let me tell you were were MOVING BUTT! This was no leisurely little putt-putt. We were motor boating on a BIG boat-I think I heard 40 knots but I wouldn't know what that means....just that the wind was blowing past my face, my hair was streaming out behind and my ears where flapping in the wind! And boy was it beautiful! OK....and cold (she reluctantly admits).
We were moving so fast in order to get out of the Bay and further into the ocean to some other islands and to a tidewater glacier. First stop was Fox Island to take on provisions.....gotta feed the masses. And those kids (well, young adult workers) loaded that boat so fast I wasn't aware we had acutally docked! Then off we went in search of THE BIG WILD LIFE (that's Anchorage's slogan).
Well, we found it! We found a mother and child Orca (can't remember the name for a baby Orca), porpoises (very entertaining-they charged the boat, circled it, swam around and under it-the captain was not too impressed with them I don't think-he was after the big stuff), Humpbacks, eagles, horned puffin, sea lions, seals, and too many birds to remember all the names.
I did the best I could with pictures so I hope you enjoy them-it was not too easy on a moving boat (sometime moving really, really fast) in open sea with shakey hands! I think the best way to view them is with the slide show because you get full screen-although you will miss my explanations and pithy comments.
I was thrill when I got home and saw some of the pictures-everyone was so excited about seeing the humpback lunge feeding and I was bummed I missed it. I actually somehow caught her on film as she was coming up! Here is what I know about lunge feeding. You will see a lot of birds in a tight knot diving-that means there is a school of fish. Well, the humpback will dive below this and then lunge upward with the mouth open-they then filter the water out and eat the mouth full of fish (and occassional puffin or bird, I suspect) that was in the water. Cool. I learned too much information to put here about whales (like they stay with their mothers and there are transitory and permanent ones and they never, ever mix and don't even eat the same type food even though they are the same type whale and Orcas aren't even whales). And check out the seals-we were moving at a pretty good clip and I wasn't even sure I had a picture of them....I was using both the optical and digital zoom and that is hard without a tripod...anyway I thought maybe I had a picture of a white one and a dirty one but looking at the camera screen it looked like I just had blobs of color without any detail-well, check out what I actually ended up with!
Before I let you go look at the pictures I want to comment on the crew. The captain was awesome! He NEVER stopped with the running commentary! Everything from the wildlife to the history of the area and just about everything in between you would want to know. He had a head set for when he was in his tower and a microphone for when he stepped out on deck to check something out closer-I saw him downstairs at the back bar during dinner and he plugged into a jack on the wall and was still talking! I think he is probably from the area...however, I talked to one of the young men who had to step out on deck for unattended child patrol and he said he was from California and he and hsi girlfriend were here for the just for the summer working for Kenai Cruises. They even have employee housing! What fun would that be!!!! However, he had been warned that people sometime come down and do this, love Alaska so much they don't go back.....hummmm, until middle of the next winter!
Hey, but I did it the other way-I did fall and winter first and now summer....and I sure hate to leave! Jane and I made lists all the way to Seward yesterday of all the things we will miss and all the things we were going to do and never got to! It was very long and I think we just depressed ourselves!!!! We are pretty sure no place will ever hold a candle to Alaska!!! And I am pretty sure I will somehow, someway manage to make a trip back some day!
Well, check out the pictures from the Kenai Wildlife Cruise.

2007-06-26T22:48:00.001-07:00

SUNSET AT THE NORTH POLE: This is the sun setting in the North Pole with the moon at it's lowest point (seen huge above the setting sun). Isn't that about the most beautiful thing you have ever seen?

2007-06-25T13:25:00.000-07:00

A Story for Kaeli....
I am posting this story about a musher from Alaska for my neice, Kaeli. She has become interested in what she calls the "pure sport" of mushing and especially the "last great race," the Iditarod. Kaeli says she had rather read about mushers then the latest antics of the NFL or NBA players, many of which are unfortunately illegal.
Well, Kaeli, I hate to tell you that this musher broke the law....yes, Tim Osmar broke through the barricade to get to his family's homes in Caribou Hill to fight the wildfire and save the homes. Unfortunately, in the process shattering his ankle and breaking his leg.
Tim Osmar finished 34th this year but you may remember him most for being the musher that acted as a "visual interpreter" for blind musher, Rachel Scdoris, in 2006. He helped her finish the race!
This story is pure Alaska and an example of the strength of character and individuality that I love in the people of this state! Boy, am I gonna miss Alaska!

2007-06-25T08:48:00.001-07:00

Sunday was a pretty busy day-I really am trying to cram every minute full of Alaska. I joined my friend, Kathy, for a trip to the Alaska Botanical Garden. This weekend was their Fair and the place was hopping. We had a great day and my camera got a work out on the plants-check out the picture of the Blue Himalayan Poppy, I think it turned out beautifully.
After the Fair we went back to Kathy's. She has a beautiful garden! Somehow it did not get in the pictures but I will be posting it soon. I want you to see what can be done in the yard up here! Wow, she has huge bleeding heart, the blue poppies, roses, iris-and rocks to die for! I know it is a lot of work but WOW!
I am sure I overstayed my welcome but Kathy was a wonderful host. While I was there Lea Ann called (she was a traveler also who has taken a permanent job here) to see if I wanted to go to Girdwood and eat at the Double Muskie. .....and, surprise, surprise she lives across the street and two houses down from Kathy.
So about 6:30 we headed down Turnagin Arm (I've previously posted tons of pictures of that beautiful drive) to Girdwood and the famed Double Musky Inn (check out their cookbook). The food lived up to it's reputation-I had salmon with an orange glaze and mango salsa and LeaAnn had a game hen marinated in Tabasco. We ended with strawberry and blueberry cream pies that were very wonderful!
After dinner we drove into Girdwood and looked at the famous bakery-we were too full to do any more than look at the building. I have made two trips past Girdwood (I didn't realize there was a town further up the mountain that I was missing) and both times stopped at what I thought was the famous bakery. I was very disappointed-now I know why, that wasn't the famous bakery!
We ended the evening at the very beautiful and very exclusive Alyaska Resort with a trip up the tram to the top of the mountain. There is a restaurant up there called Seven Glaciers and the view is wonderful but the prices will knock your glasses off! Since it was almost 9:30 the young lady at the tram ticket counter just gave us a pair of tickets for dinner and the tram-we promised her we were just going to ride up and look around so we wouldn't use the dinner tickets. The tram ride was beautiful and the view from the top was beautiful but Alaska is incredibly majestic that I must be getting immune to it-we agreed it probably wasn't worth the price of the tickets.
We drove back to Anchorage, seeing two moose on the side of the rode en route, where LeaAnn topped my day off by giving me fresh spinach from her deck garden! A very nice day indeed!

2007-06-23T19:03:00.002-07:00

Important information for responsible dog ownership....I want you to be well informed :-)
Click on the picture to enlarge so you get all the important information about dog poop!

2007-06-23T13:34:00.000-07:00

PUT ON YOUR GLASSES!!!!
Bummer, I just ruined the last of my rose essential oil (very pricey stuff)! I just had about 100 drops left so I decided to dilute it in fractionated coconut oil to make it last longer. So, I went to the bottles of oil, I realized when I started surveying the labels I didn't have my glasses on...but, oh well, if I hold the bottle way off I can sort of figure out what it says. So, I found the one that said "fractionated coconut oil." I took it to the counter and started to drip it into the rose oil bottle when I noted an unmistakable waft of insect repellent!!!
(interruption for a call from my very pregnant daughter-in-law...I'll be a grandma before long!)
Anyway, I took another waft and recognized (with horror!) the oil I was dripping into the rose oil-it was lemon eucalyptus! EEEK! Now, I like lemon eucalyptus...when I am blending an insect repellent or pouring a health lodge but NOT with a very expensive rose oil!!!! It smells like insect repellent and is impossible to cover in a blend!!!!!
I ruined the last of my lovely rose oil because I didn't put on my glasses! I am going now to get a chain to wear the stupid things around my neck-and as soon as I get back to Texas I'm gonna buy a lottery ticket...if I win I'm getting the surgery to fix old eyes!

2007-06-21T22:29:00.001-07:00

DAIRY QUEEN COMES TO ANCHORAGE!!!
I promised I'd never step into a DQ after my tenure on the wagon train when I ate at every grasy spoon DQ in every back water place in Texas and thought it was a treat....but, I guess I just don't know GOOD. People are going crazy! Apparently there is only one Dairy Queen in Alaska and it is about 3 or 4 hours away. No more, Anchorage has a Dairy Queen-I will NOT be standing in line for 30 minutes, even for my fav...a Tropical Blizzard.

2007-06-21T20:59:00.000-07:00

Wishing you a Happy Summer Solstice from the LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN!
The photo above is the sun setting and rising on the solstice in 1997. Is that beautiful enough for you???

2007-06-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

RETURN TO TEXAS.............

It can be a little difficult to shake information loose from CompHealth, but, right now it looks like I will fly out of Anchorage at 10:30pm on July 5 and arrive in Abilene on July 6 at 4:30 pm. I am looking forward to coming home but leaving Alaska in July is difficult. If I had it to do over again I would plan to be here the summer and leave at the end of February-everyone wants to leave Alaska at the end of February....even those who love Alaska, love the winter and winter sports!

2007-06-16T21:47:00.000-07:00

ANCHORAGE WALK ABOUT:

With no trip planned for this weekend, I decided to head back downtown. Anchorage is really beautiful in the summer. Flowers everywhere! Planted in neat beds and hanging in baskets all along the streets-hundreds of hanging baskets.

And, of course, the frequent sighting of very tacky salmon art!

Included in this web album link is the solstice festival. The pictures were taken in the exact location of the ice sculptures and ice rink I posted in the winter. Amazing what changes a few months and the melting of snow brings!

2007-06-13T12:09:00.000-07:00

THAT WHALE IS HOW OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-06-12T13:00:00.000-07:00

I ran across a couple of articles I want to share with you.
This is very practical information about the little things you can do-that cost little or nothing-to transform your lifestyle into one of a more vibrant, healthy lifestyle. This is part one and part two-I think you will find at least a handful of things that you can incorporate into your life easily.
Remember, your health is your responsibility and you have the power to heal yourself. If you need more knowledge find a practitioner to partner with you in providing the information you need-never relinquish your life to someone else, even if their name starts with Dr. or ends with FNP. Take charge!

2007-06-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

The Fjordland Ship-Kenai Cruises

On Saturday fellow locum tenens, Jane, and I got up early to catch a train from Anchorage to Seward where we were to embark on a tour of Resurrection Bay for what was billed as a wildlife cruise (great cruise, false advertising-no wild life).
I guess airline travel and train travel have some commonalities-we had to arrive an hour early for the train....at the early, but sunny (summer in Alaska-it's sunny all the time) time of 5:30am....oh, yes, picture ID required.
It was a rocky start-Jane called-she'd overslept, so I ran to the train station a little later than the lady at Kenai Tours insisted we needed to be there. And, with Murphy's Law in operation, the parking machine would not take my $10. In fact, it initially ate the damn thing. By the time I coaxed it out of the machine there was a line of folks who had also ignored the tour directors admonishments about arrival time. In a desperate attempt to get me out of their way I was offered any number of crisper $10 bills in exchange for my sad Jackson. However, none worked and the crowded grew larger and more desperate for me to move on-however, being Alaska, everyone remained kind. In retrospect, I believe if I had continued to shove the rejected bills into the machine someone would have eventually paid my parking....but, I try to be as nice as the people I encounter here so I moved out of the way. What to do? I exchanged the rejected $10 for a nice crisp $5 and five nice crisp $1 bills that the gift shop attendant was kind enough to provide-after searching here entire cash drawer for stiff money! Next time I take the debit card!
I took my place at the back of a very long but very rapidly moving line. When it was my turn I explained Jane's predicament to the ticket taker lady and got the surprise of my life-these are not trained by the same people that train the airline ticket takers!!! She was very sympathetic, so hoping Jane would make it on time, it would be such a disappointment to miss the train ride, etc, etc. So, well, we'll just issue her boarding pass for the trip up and back and hold them at the counter in hopes Jane makes it!!! Hello! Customer service award time!!!
Jane tells me that when she ran through the door hoping to see the train still on the track the ticket lady called her over with a, "you must be Jane-I have your boarding pass." So imagine my surprise when my traveling partner showed up in the seat next to me!
Four paragraphs and we haven't left the train station yet-better go grab a cup of that good green tea and get comfy this was a great day!
Now, I have to have a say about train travel-after traveling twice by train in my life I feel qualified to say that I believe our society started going to the dogs when we stopped traveling by train. I am sure if we still used the rail system for a major form of travel the crime rate would be lower and we would all be kinder neighbors!
I LOVED IT! I am going to try to do more. Yes, I hear you saying...."but it takes so long." Yep, it does...but maybe we ought to slow down a little bit.
The pace is slow. You get a chance to observe and talk to the people around you. People are nice to each other on the train! When I traveled from Arizona to Texas with no money and no food, people fed me! And it never entered my mind that they might poison me!
There is more room and you aren't crammed up elbow to elbow with the next person-I wonder if that enforced intimacy on the airplane results in people pulling inward and ignoring the person who is elbow to elbow, hip to hip and knee to knee with you...or is it the difficulty in carrying on a conversation over the roar of engines.
The seats were so roomy and there was-are you sitting down-plenty of LEG ROOM and even a foot prop! I was in heaven...even if I didn't spend much room in my seat what with the bistro car and the dining car and the domed observation car to explore.
There was a lovely couple with a beautiful, happy, content baby....and our car B hostess who just graduated from high school and passed around her flora and fauna book and her photo album she made as a project to get this job. And we all looked at her scrapbook just like she was our favorite grandchild.
I won't go on anymore about the dining car and the bistro car and the domed viewing car and the nice roomy bathroom because I have to get to the real reason the take this particular train-
I am still breathless over the scenery!!! This is supposed to be the third most beautiful train ride in the US-I can't even imagine something more beautiful!
OK...now we'll leave the station!
Shortly after we left Anchorage we rode alongside the sea on Turnagin Arm-the road is along the water and the railroad track is somehow built between the road and the water-you are right at the water's edge. I spotted a bald eagle-well, Jane probably spotted it and pointed it out to me...I'm not good at the spotting part. And then another....and another...and another. I lost count at about 15 and we just kept seeing them! The tide was out and they were landing at the tide pools fishing, I guess.
On we went, up the mountains, along the water, past huge glaciers, around and around spiraling hairpin curves, between cuts in the mountain so close you could reach out and touch the plants, and past waterfall after waterfall.....and then when you didn't think it could get more beautiful....through a series of 5 tunnels alongside a drop away gorge with a river rushing down it.
And coming home there was even more in store! The train moved incredibly slow coming back-especially at certain areas. Especially areas were we could look down the mountain into marshy, bushy areas. Those are the areas where wildlife is spotted and the train conductor was more interested in having us see bear and moose than in getting back to Anchorage post haste! And we did!!! I was in the domed observation car when the lady in front of me yelled excitedly-"it's a bear!" "Isn't it?" Sure enough, everyone ran to the right of the train-lucky me, that's where I was sitting, and confirmed her sighting. Yes, it was a big black bear. He ambled to the edge of the brush and stood up looking back in the direction of the train. I got one blurry picture but I won't be deleting it-if you look really close you can see a big black dot-that's the bear!
Shortly after that I saw two baby moose-or is that meese-in a river down below. Being less confident than the other lady-I whispered, "moose." The man behind me-obviously a tourist-declared they were caribou. However, having lived in the big city of Anchorage I know moose! Sure enough we soon spotted the mom grazing in the thicket alongside the river-the babies went running to her! With me snapping off pictures as quickly as I could-try focusing at running moose 200 yard below you while on a moving train! Even if it slowed down-the train, not the moose...although they slowed down as soon as they got to mama-she couldn't be bothered with a train even if she noticed us.
Eventually, we got to Seward. It takes about 5 hours by train and about 2.5 by car....but, you couldn't see all this wonderful stuff!
There we boarded the Fjordland cruise boat for a day in Resurrection Bay. We headed out about an hour to Fox Island where we disembarked for a lunch of salmon and a 20 minute presentation by our Park Ranger/biologist, Colleen. I have a picture of her wearing her "welcome aboard hat." She changes to a cap after we are underway as the hat would blow off...she explained there are rules about which hat she wears when....stupid!
On the way out of the slip we saw fishing boats-commercial and for rent-a research vessel and a big coast guard ship. (At the end of the trip when we got off our boat we saw a fishing boat which had just docked with a huge shark on the floor!) Just outside of the boat dock area the coast guard were conducting some type of exercises with a helicopter-who was, at one point, carrying something hooked by a long rope....interesting.
We passed an area where three glaciers were almost coming together! And enjoyed more beautiful scenery. There was one small crisis. There were some really nice people on board from Seward-they own an automotive repair place. Their children were down from Texas ("he met some girl from Texas, followed here there, married her and never came home" Mama explained and they were bound for Fox Island to stay the weekend). Anyway, Colleen noticed smoke-she and the crew were always looking around with binoculars for something to point out to us tourists. As it turned out the smoke was something burning at these people's house. Via cell phone they were able to determine it was a car and I guess get it put out because when our boat driver offered to take them back they declined. It was obvious that Colleen, these Sewardites and the boat driver were all acquainted-which one would expect of locals in a very small town ("a town of about 4,000 which swells to 50,000 on July 4). I'm thinking you'd have to ban together to survive the summer influx of tourists!
At Fox Island we had a so-so meal of salmon, rice, salad and desert and headed back out for a final 4 hours of touring-and looking for whales. They escaped our eagle eyes this day! But, we did see Rocky Mountain sheep which are shaggier then the Dahl and don't have the beautiful curved horns. There was a family-mom, dad and baby.
On the way to Fox Island we saw a sea otter and puffin. We continued to see puffin flying over head and in the water during the cruise. But, the best sighting was while my camera was jammed (I also ran out of batteries before we got to Fox Island, even though I started with fresh ones...fortunately, they were available for a mere $1.50 a battery.) There was a puffin in a crevice in some rocks (how the boat driver spotted him I'll never know)....so he pulled up to the edge of the cliffs so we could see it...when we got closer we could see the head of another one sitting in the crevice peeking out....the one we originally spotted very pointedly turned his back to us but neither on made a move to fly off. I was wondering if we were going to hit the cliff-I bet there wasn't two feet between us and the cliff. I really was wishing my camera was working-not just for the great chance to photograph the puffin but because I was on the upper deck and the picture of the prow of the boat up against the cliff would have been great!
Due to camera malfunction, you also won't see the Stellar Sea lions sunning themselves on the rocks or the cliffs that were alive with birds! You'll have to take it from me that it was awesome. On one rock there was a big, big bull!
But, the most beautiful, most majestic, most special moment came when we entered spiral cove. There are huge finger-like projections of rock coming up out of the water topped with trees and vegetation. They are arranged in a spiral like grouping and our boat driver took us in among them, at times barely scrapping between them. We were all gasping and at times almost silent in awe!!! I could go back just for that.....I used my rapid fire setting to get a series of pictures of the waves raising and falling against the rocks-look for that when you look at the pictures.
It was some day!!!! As for the pictures-you may get tired of looking at them. I realized when I reviewed them this morning that there are lots of pictures of mountains, water, mountains and water, etc. But, when you are there it is so beautiful and I am constantly trying, unsuccessfully to capture the beauty and the majesty! I fall short every time but I keep trying! Oh, how I wish you were all here to see it yourself....this is the most beautiful place on earth.
On the way home last night Jane wondered if anyplace else will every seem beautiful again after being here....I'm not sure. Right now it is simply impossible to believe there is another place on earth this beautiful. I will be leaving on July 3 and it is with mixed feelings....I will miss Alaska!
On another note-Shawna and Tony....I was thinking about you yesterday. I wish I would have been in Abilene for your wedding but I know it was wonderful and I'm so happy for both of you!!
Ok....here is the link for the pictures-I saved it to last so you had to struggle through the whole long story!

2007-06-08T20:37:00.001-07:00

UNAVAILABLE ON SATURDAY.................
Yep, I'll be gone all day today, Saturday the ninth of June! I am taking the train from Anchorage to Seward and then a cruise out of Seward in Resurrection Bay. If you look at the map above you will see Seward right above the label that says "Southcentral." The train trip from Anchorage (north of Seward) is said to be one of the three most beautiful train rides in America.....sometime you even see beluga whales!
We (my friend, Jane, is going also) are taking a Kenai Fjords 5 hour cruise-we cruise an hour out to Fox Island where we are served a salmon lunch and explore the island for an hour then we get back on the boat and cruise for 4 more hours (this is billed as the "wildlife cruise"). I think this is a real bargain at $79, including lunch....but, it is even a bigger bargain when you work for Southcentral Foundation and get a 30% discount.
Anyway, we leave at 5:45 am and return at 10:30 pm-give or take. Long day.
Saturday night I will download the pictures (it takes forever anymore!) and Sunday I will have them on the blog!
Bon Voyage!

2007-06-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

More about the return to Trent:

As I alluded to in the last blog, I am returning home to a permanent job! I was recently contacted by Roby Rural Health Clinic in regards to an opening in their clinic. My friend, Cheryl, had been the provider there since we both left Rolling Plains in Sweetwater about 2004. I have filled in for her on occasion so I am familiar with the staff, the clinic and the community.

Anyway, Cheryl had the opportunity to move over to Rotan and do more inpatient and ER work-which is a real strength of hers and a real weakness of mine. So, with that came the opening at the Roby Clinic and Cathy was kind enough to remember me and call to see if I was interested!

I was thrilled to get the opportunity to work in this clinic and today we confirmed that I will start on July 9! I couldn't be happier!!!

I work Monday through Thursday and a half day Friday which is perfect. That allows me a half day Friday and all day Saturday to be in Abilene for my complementary practice. I will be doing Shamanic Touch, Reiki, Maya Abdominal Massage-integrating herbs and aromatherapy.

So, if you need a provider call and make an appointment-I have you covered!

2007-06-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

HATCHER PASS

2007-06-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

GREEN TEA: THE WONDER HERB

I am departing somewhat from my usual report on the wonders of Alaska to report on the wonders of GREEN TEA.

Mom called me yesterday to report that she had almost reached her goal weight and all she had done different was start drinking 4 cups of green tea a day. Now, I know my Mom and I suspect she had been indulging in a few more goodies-you see, she loves to cook for people and her sister has moved in. I expected she would cook for Peg and she cooks some great desserts! So, I'm thinking "hummm, there must be something to this green tea thing."

So, I started doing a little research, as I sipped my cup of green tea. In fact, green tea in full of antioxidants-something I was already aware of....and it apparently helps with weight gain by boosting the metabolism. But, here are a few other little benefits to this great herb (and I can provide the research studies to any Doubting Thomas's out there).

Green tea may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer (the fourth leading cause of cancer death in women and my worse nightmare as a provider because it is so hard to diagnose before it spreads). The more green tea the greater the reduction. Studies show women who drink two cups a day were 46% less likely to develop the disease.

Green tea appears to boost memory function (hummm, I pour myself a second cup of green tea as I read this). A Japanese study of over 1,000 Japan elders shows that as their consumption of green tea increased their risk of cognitive deterioration decreased-those who had two cups a day had a whopping 54% lower risk!

Another recent study showed that gargling with green tea might help prevent flu...in the study I looked at there was an 8 percent difference in elderly nursing home clients who gargled with green tea as opposed to those who gargled with a placebo. And these elders had all received the flu shot.

There is another study that looks at longevity. This study has followed 40,500 people for over 11 years (a very nice study number and design). Green tea had reduced death in that time period by 5% in men and 31% in women...not that death is something to be forever avoided but the real issue is that it seemed to lower risk of all forms of disease and was most effective in prevention of stroke. And in this study we are talking about 3-4 cups of green tea a day.

WOW! A powerhouse in a cup! Just remember it also packs a goodly dose of caffeine so I would avoid it after mid afternoon (I say as I pour my third cup, this has a blend of spearmint, lemon verbena and lemon grass and is the tastiest medicine I have ever taken!). I absolutely DO NOT suggest decaffeinated due to the chemical process that it goes through to remove the caffeine.

Unfortunately, the FDA has not kept up with current research where green tea is concerned. Does this surprise anyone? Green tea would not contribute to the fat pockets of their buddies, the pharmaceutical companies, and the FDA only uses the words "gold standard research" when it benefits their friends.

Anyway, I digress and it's best I don't take that turn in the road.......

Last May they rejected a petition to display the herb's health benefits on the packaging. However, I don't see that as a major problem. We are all thinking adult people ultimately responsible for our own health and it's our job to learn what is and isn't good for us....and by the way we better not depend on the FDA for that...look at the drugs they approved for market that had to be removed due to the horrible side effects and even death that resulted.

Opppps....I think I am starting to turn down that road and I have other things to do today besides educate you about the FDA.

So with that I leave you to your cuppa tea. I do have one other piece of information. I am going home to a permanent job which will allow be a day and a half to spend in my own complementary practice. Perhaps this blog will change over time from a focus on Alaska to a focus on health education in the arena of things traditional and good for us.

However, we aren't there yet and today I go off with my friend, Jane, to explore more of Alaska. Pictures forthcoming!

2007-05-29T09:02:00.001-07:00

MEMORIAL WEEKEND TRIP TO FAIRBANKS......
I went to Fairbanks at the invitation of my friend, Karen. I had a wonderful time. The only problem was it was just too short a visit (I'm not sure my hosts share that feeling :-)
I drove down on the Glen Highway and the Richardson Highway. It was a 10 hour trip-part of the time was spent stopping to admire beautiful interior Alaska and taking pictures.
I had a wonderful day on Sunday visiting with Karen and meeting Deborah. It was great to talk herbs and such.
Karen's friend Jeff has a German Shepherd that looks so much like my Dustin!
Karen and Jeff put me up in a cozy camper that reminded me of my wagon when I traveled with Vision Quest and lived in a cover wagon. I had the first full night's sleep I've had in forever! Wonderful!
I returned home on Monday via the Park's Highway-just seven hours this time. Of course, it was raining and there was less to photograph. Besides that the road is straighter and easier to drive-but also much, much busier!
I would love to spend more time telling you about my great trip but it took forever for the pictures to download and I have to get to work!! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

2007-05-25T19:05:00.000-07:00

Kudos to Fred Myers and Kudos the patrons of the Alaska Zoo.....

Fred Myers has taken a step forward in recycling! Brandon and I have talked about the system they have in New Zealand. They have $.99 recycle bags at the check out counter for you to purchase and they charge you if you use a plastic bag from the store. I have wanted to use recycle bags but the ones I have found at the check outs in US are $5.99 to $9.99. Today I walked into Fred Myers and there at the entrance were these great $.99 reusable bags!!! And to add to that, they take $.05 off you bill if you bring your own bag. Kudos to Fred Myers!!!!

Kudos to Friends of Maggie and patrons of the Alaska Zoo. Maggie is a lone female African elephant who lives at the Alaska Zoo in a very stinky, very small cage. (I went in since there is a viewing area inside-it was horrible!) Anyway, Maggie has gotten down twice in a week and has required the fire department and cranes to get her up again. The vets can find nothing wrong with her. Friends of Maggie and enlightened patrons of the Alaska Zoo are fighting to have her removed to a better environment (although I'm not sure any zoo is a great place for a big animal like an elephant). Alaska is certainly not environmentally similar to Africa and as the web site says "elephant feet are not made for snow." There is a lot of concern that she won't survive another winter....and aside from that she is alone and spends 5 months of the year confined in a small cement cage and that is not right!

Check out the Friends of Maggie web site-there are several tabs and I think you'll find some of the information really interesting. However, I have to warn you that this is sad and inhumane stuff. which cause tears to come to my eyes! The Friends of Maggie have been trying to have her moved for years but the board of the zoo has refused. This in spite of four different appropriate placements that have been located by the FOM, agreeing to take her at no charge! Even in the midst of all this drama articles in the ADN quote board members who are reluctant to vote to move Maggie! Shame on them!!!

Brandon, I think you know a little something about the controversy over elephants and zoos....I know we had a very enlightening conversation once about this topic that certainly raised my awareness!

On a happier note, I am driving up to Fairbanks this weekend...leaving Saturday and returning Monday. It's a long trip-6 or 7 hours. I met a friend who is an herbalist and traditional healer, her name is Karen. Karen has a group of spiritual sisters in Fairbanks and she wants me to come up and meet them. I am looking forward to it. I am driving up on the Parks Highway and back on the Richardson Highway (or visa versa). I'm taking my camera so no telling how long it will take me to get there!!! Check my blog to see the pictures and here the story!

Happy Memorial Day-I bet there's going to be chicken wings and potato salad and hot tubbing in Trent-wish I was gonna be there!!!

2007-05-18T00:38:00.000-07:00

STREET SWEEPERS...........

It's after 11:30 and finally almost dark. The western sky is still light but it's deep dusk...enough to finally be dark in my condo.

I am up 2 hours past my bedtime. To be fair there are a number of reasons, including a phone call to my son to assure myself that, despite last night's dream, I don't have to worry about day care and another pair of jeans for school. He assured me he is all grown up and doesn't need day care and has enough jeans and isn't starting school for another month-what a relief!

The main target for my insomniac frustration-or maybe desperation-is my nemesis, the street sweeper. While I appreciate Anchorage's commitment to a beautiful city, I am at a loss about the need to obsessively groom the streets. At first I thought it was to wash off the salt, or whatever they use on the ice (actually, I don't really remember them using anything). But, it continues on and on and on. I don't know how often they wash my street but it's way to often for my sleep patterns....it seems like a couple of times a week! For sure any winter related sludge is long gone!

Now, please feel free to weigh in on this conversation, but I don't really remember the streets in Texas being embarrassingly dirty and I don't remember seeing any washing and sweeping going on. I'll admit I may have been asleep while it was happening since they seem to wash these things while people are suppose to be asleep (at least if you listen to all of the pharmaceutical ads about the need for 7-8 hours of sleep a night). In fact, I was driving on these same streets today and they did not look like they needed a sweep and mop job!

In fact, at risk of offending any Alaskans that might stumble onto this posting, all of these efforts and money could be better spent cleaning up the incredible amount of trash on the streets, in the ditches, along side the highways. I drove to Palmer and back this weekend and was horrified and astounded by the trash on the side of the roads-I can't even describe it....it was just solid trash all down the road. Imagine blue bonnets and primrose flowers along the Texas highways and replace that image with trash and white plastic grocery bags and you've got a handle on the extent of the problem.

Actually, maybe I've just made a point. Maybe we don't sweep and wash our streets in Trent because it would be a crime to waste that much water washing a street for crying out loud! Not to mention the gasoline needed to fuel these huge noise makers.

Now you come to the reason for my hostility. The things sound like a jet sitting on a tarmac with the engine running waiting to take off. At times the noise fades a little and then it sounds like the jet is coming into my condo-depending on where the machine is as it moves up and down the street! And with no air conditioning the street noise is constant anyway (maybe that's another reason I never heard these things in Texas, we have air conditioning!)

Oh, well.....I still love Alaska but I think they need to get real with the street washing already! Pack those water and gas guzzlers up and move the crews out to pick up the tons of trash laying around town and along the highways. THAT would actually make a difference!

Ahhhh...the sound of cars speeding by and sirens blaring. Silence to my ears-the street sweeper has gone to clean up some other unacceptable dirty street! Time to go to sleep-this will be a novelty, going to bed when it's dark outside. In fact, it seems weird for it to be dark in my apartment-I think this is the first time I've been in the dark for at least a couple of weeks!

Night, Night!

2007-05-13T18:09:00.000-07:00

MUSK OX FARM AND MOTHER'S DAY:
What a great Mother's Day-well, the best you can have when your child is on the other side of the planet and you mother is half way between this side and the other side!
My soul sister, Kathy, and her lovely (and very patient) daughter, Yarrow, invited me to join them for Mother's Day.....and what a day it was!
We started out at one of my favorite breakfast places and I pulled out all the stops! After all it's Mother's Day! I've always been curious about the "breakfast pastry sampler" (they have great baked stuff there!)....so I ordered it....after all it's Mother's Day. Oh, my gosh!!!! There were four slices of banana bread, two slices of lemon-blueberry pound cake, four slices of sticky bun, and a blueberry muffin cut in two. They were ALL to die for delicious (I know I had them all...after all it's Mother's Day). Thanks, Yarrow, for treating me to Mother's Day breakfast!
From there we drove (or to be more correct, Yarrow drove and Kathy and I rode) to Palmer to the Musk Ox Farm. Mothers got in free and we got tickets for drawings every 30 minutes (while we were there they drew two numbers-the one right before mine and one 4 numbers after mine-oh, well). The Farm didn't have any tours today because there were so many people...after all it's Mother's Day.
But, we got to walk out to the pens. In one pen were the big boys-the bulls. They are in a pen together now but in August they are moved into the harem pens-each guy has a harem of about 15 females-for breeding. Gestation is eight months so the babies are born in April-we saw four babies. When we first got there it was nap time for the mothers and babies but before we left they woke up and started stirring around. Their pen was farther away so we didn't get as good a look at them as we did the big guys. Also down the way we could see the pen for the yearlings. The pen we were closest to had the big boys and the BIG daddy of them all was in that pen. He was not happy about all the people being so close to his women and babies! He would pace around the corner of the pen and up and down the fence line-he would roar and carry on. Once he climbed up on the fence (I just am not fast enough with the camera for those great moments!). Of course, the bulls come into rut in August but they have a "false rut" in April so that could explain some of his behavior. Anyway, we are not considered a threat by these great creatures as long as we are at eye level (thus the warning not to kneel near the fences). They are predated by arctic wolves so standing upright at eye level we just don't look like a wolf! I am providing a link to more information about Musk Ox Farm....very interesting!
In addition to the Musk Ox to look at they had the BBQ grill going and were selling hamburgers or hot dogs-and at a BARGAIN price! Three dollars for a hot dog or hamburger (and if you couldn't make up your mind they guy at the grill sometimes just put one of each on your plate!), chips, Granma's brand cookies and a drink....this is a real deal anywhere but in Alaska it is an unbelievable real deal (I paid $13 yesterday for 3 corn critters and 3 pieces of halibut)!! What was really nice was that it had the feeling of a family cook out (ok, it's not LB's chicken wings but then again nothing competes with that!)....the picnic tables were all around, the music was playing and the guy was flipping the burgers and dogs off the grill onto the plate. Well, Kathy and I just couldn't turn down the hot dog-there's nothing like a hot dog outside and after all it's Mother's Day....yes, I know we just had breakfast but it's Mother's Day.....and the chips and cookie come with the meal so what can you do?
After our outing at the Musk Ox Farm we drove up the Glenn Allen Highway a ways to a lovely little lake and stretched our legs. The road runs along the Matanuska (spelling is questionable) River.....you may have noticed pictures of this river in my fall ramblings....a really beautiful drive.
Then we stopped back in Palmer at a really cool cafe Yarrow had heard about-gee, I can't remember the name...something about Blues! Anyway, we had a great black bean soup with homemade bread and a fresh baked sweet....it was really good! Yes, I know we just had breakfast and that hot dog (but we didn't eat the cookie and chips yet) but we had been out in the fresh air walking around looking at Musk Ox and that works up an appetite! And after all-it's Mother's Day.
We ended the day at the labyrinth on Tudor and Lake Otis Road in Anchorage....a nice peaceful place.
I was dropped off at my apartment and presented with a lovely dream catcher! A really, really great Mother's Day (ok...I'm gonna throw away the Granma's cookie I got at the Musk Ox Farm even if there are starving children in Africa but just don't even mention throwing away the Lay's potatoe chips...I haven't eaten any of those in recent history and I intend on sitting down with some tea-it's Mother's Day, I may even have a third Diet Pepsi!- and eating them one at a time! It's a small bag!!!)
Follow this link to see pictures of the day.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

2007-05-10T16:14:00.000-07:00

SUNSHINE AND WHALES:

The sun is shining more and more here in Alaska. It is daylight when I get up at 5am and when I go to sleep as late as 11pm! I'll have to stay up late on the weekend to see dark night time and stars!

It's spring whaling time in Barrow-they have a quota of 22 whales and have already killed 4 (I'm sorry the politically correct word is "harvested"). I have provided this link to the ADN-there are a few interesting pictures in the photo gallery are of whales being harvested and of the women preparing the whale for feasting!

I am very excited about the upcoming weekend. It is the opening of the Anchorage Downtown Market and Festival! It's over 7 acres with 300 vendors and has FREE entertainment and not free food! It ought to be good for some free entertainment and people watching! I dont' think the cruise ships hit until May 15 but I might be wrong...so there might be less people to watch but that will change soon!

Check out the whale pictures! I will take my camera to the market this weekend!

2007-05-06T16:21:00.000-07:00

A VISIT TO THE ALASKA ZOO
Click on the link above to see the pictures of my visit to the Alaska Zoo.
I have discovered there is a definite uncomfortable feeling to wasting this beautiful spring by vegging in the house. I'm not sure but I think it's guilt.....to be here among all of the beauty and waste it by not getting out there enjoying Alaska's "big, wild life."
However, I have been short on motivation. Jane and I had planned to go to Homer this weekend but both ended up being a little short on the money side so we decided to drive up to Denali Park but Jane backed out as we were getting ready to go...my desire to make that trip went with her.
So, today I got up and convinced myself I HAD to DO something. I debated driving to Whittier but wasn't sure for what....
Anyway, I ended up going to the zoo and seeing the wild life behind bars. Rather pathetic but there you are....better than sitting in the apartment.
The zoo was ok. Not wonderful, but ok. The Abilene Zoo (nice zoo lousy home page) is such a nice small zoo that I tend to be under impressed by other zoos. But, this was ok.

2007-05-02T23:06:00.000-07:00

Rhythm of Life in Alaska in the Spring: Things have changed around here....Spring is in the air. There are people everywhere-I don't mean the tourist, they don't seem to have arrived yet. But, people walking, on bikes, skates, etc. I mean, Alaskans are an outdoorsy group anyway...walking and biking in the dead dark of winter...but the numbers have exploded! And everywhere you look are RVs-I mean the BIG suckers....with people washing them. I walked Jane's dogs one block and counted 4! But, the funniest thing I have seen is this pickup truck pulling a HUGE boat-one of the ones with the enclosed cabin in the front and the deck in the back-like a mini yacht. Anyway, here was this truck pulling this big ole boat through this residential area of nothing but cul-d-sacs. It was twisting and turning along the roads which were crowded with RVs and trailers sitting on the streets and in the drives-I had to hold my breath while I watched. Couldn't even imagine where he was going with that thing!
And the construction-my heavens! Buildings are springing up like daffodils! There is a hotel next to my favorite book store that was an empty parking lot when I left the end of March-now it is a building-a whole building. Of course it is still wood without the siding or whatever on it but it has walls, windows, roof, etc and it's really, really big. There was nothing-nada-there at the end of March.
I guess all of this activity can be attributed to the warm weather (realtive-it's 44 now but got up to 53 today)....that and the day light. Sun up today was around 5 and sundown around 10:30...so, of course, there is light on either side of those times. That is contrasted with a sunup of around 7 and a sundown around 8:30 in Texas. That makes less that 6 hours of dark....a person can get a lot of working and playing down with all that daylight. I had a patient tell me that the best time of day in June and July is 7pm to midnight! YIKES....I guess it is a good thing I don't sleep much at night!
Planning a trip to Denali Park this weekend so if I actually make it you can expect some pictures!
The street sweepers have finally moved on so I'm gonna close the shades and curtains and pretend like it's dark outside!
Glad to hear the family in Texas did not blow away with the bad weather and tornadoes!
'NIGHT!

2007-04-28T08:50:00.000-07:00

MOOSE TOOTH!
No I didn't find one....I ate one. Well, that is not exactly true. I finally had pizza from the famed Moosetooth, "the best pizza in Alaska." This time that claim is actually true (ok, I haven't eaten pizza over ALL of Alaska but it's have to be really, really good to beat this).
We had the backpacker pizza (I have no idea why it is named that). It's covered with basil (and unfortunately basil in Alaska has little flavor) and then topped with artichoke heart, feta cheese, garlic and other goodies I can't remember right now. I expected, with a name like backpacker pizza, it would have nuts and berries....this was just delicious (and I don't think it was just because I have been eating Weight Watcher TV dinners for a week).
Along with this paragon of the pizza world was a fab salad-one that I can actually make myself! It was made of spinach with dried cranberries, pink grapefruit and walnuts topped with raspberry vinegarette. WONDERFUL!!!!
I took Jane to the airport last night at 10:30 and it was still daylight-the sun sat around 9:30. I could still see the mountains in the background at 11:00pm. The sun was up when I got out of bed at 5:30. I am staying at her place with her dogs and it was blessedly quite-best sleep I've had in two weeks!!!
Well, I am working today so off I go.....going to the Whole Life Expo tomorrow and then back to work!
Have a good weekend!

2007-04-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

The challenge of sleeping in Alaska....it is daylight right now in Anchorage (9:15 pm). The sun is setting. However, I have discovered that the challenge to sleeping in Anchorage is not the daylight it is the NOISE!!!!
I have to keep the windows open (no air conditioner). However, as write this the street sweepers are cleaning the street!!!! At 9:00pm!!!! Usually it is the bus stop below my window with the buses stopping to pick up the people and then starting and going again! But, the street cleaning at 9pm that is the killer!
However, it is beautiful!!!! And warm-today was great in the mid 50s with a nice breeze. No tornadoes here!

2007-04-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

BREAK UP.....

I set out to go to the zoo thinking I knew where it was-apparently not. So, instead I went downtown to see what the inlet looks like during break up. I took these pictures at Cook inlet-in my on-line albums I have pictures of this view during fall, winter and spring. In a few months I'll add summer!
Spring has come to Alaska-or should I say Anchorage. While I was puttering around downtown I saw tons of people walking and bike riding, including a couple on a mountain bike for two. The grounds of businesses and apartments are being groomed and parking lots and streets washed. I even saw a truck with a big spray of water shooting out the side and onto the sidewalks-yep, in Anchorage we even wash our sidewalks.
Actually, when the snow melts things are pretty nasty! There is even a day for people to pick up dog poop off of the trails! I am not planning to volunteer for that.
I wonder how much of this is preparation for the influx of tourist I have been warned starts in May?

2007-04-23T12:10:00.000-07:00

ON LEMONS AND LEMONADE......
Sometime life hands me lemons and I just insist on sucking on them instead of making lemonade. Today was such a day. Despite all my positive thinking, law of attracting and candle lighting things just don't seem to be working out like I had planned! So, I was really sucking on those lemons! Then, while searching for $4 I thought I'd lost (forgot I spent it!), I found $20 in the dryer! Next I started to throw away some trash and noticed one of the things was a coupon that said "Congratulations on Living Healthy" (or something like that)....then under that it said "$10 off the next $10 purchase"...of what??? It was from Carrs which was where I was headed so I took it with me. The check out guy had never seen it but when he scanned the coupon it subtracted $10 off my purchase!!! So for a mere $8.39 I got a loaf of Orowheat Light Bread (that alone is $3.99-isn't that crazy!), 3 Smart Ones dinners, 5 cartons of yogurt and a bag of frozen veggies!!!! AND I threw my accumulated change in the thing that takes change and gives money and it added up to $35!!!! WOW! So, I guess I'll make some lemonade today and go to the zoo after all-earlier I was in much to sour of a mood to go and have FUN!

2007-04-22T18:29:00.000-07:00

EXCITING NEWS FROM TEXAS.......My friend, Corky, is almost 78 years old and today he made a hole in one!!!!!
Congratulations Corky!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-04-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

HOME IN ALASKA.....These are pictures of my new home, at least for a couple of months or so, in Anchorage. I really love this new apartment. It is bright and cheerful and I love the colors and decor. It is very comfy! I tend to spend most of the time in the bedroom because my computer is there and there is a second TV. Really, I could live permanently in this apartment without changing a thing and be very happy!
I have a three day weekend and no plans-what a waste! Today I started the day at a Weight Watchers meeting and then walked downtown with Jane to eat at our favorite restaurant-The Downtown Cafe. We split an order of their wonderful sourdough blueberry pancakes and reindeer sausage. Then we walked to a store to look at a wallet for Jane. It was a store for shoes and purses. I saw several pair of Mindy shoes-one was a pair of 2 or 3 inch heels that were red with pink grosgrain ribbon trim around the edges and a matching pink bow. And a very interesting pair of red ones I am totally incapable of explaining!
We then walked back to the apartment and rested a while before heading out to the women's expo which was huge but a bummer. Lots and lots of booths of people selling stuff-no arts and crafts and nothing with an Alaska flavor.
I can't decide what to do with the rest of my weekend-except it will not involve a lot of walking! I thought about going to the zoo on Monday but it costs $10.00 here....that is very expensive! Something will come up fun! Right now I am taking my tired legs to bed!!!! I found several books in a closet here, one is by an author I really used to like and there are a couple of romances...so, that's tonight's big plan! Night-Night

2007-04-20T23:07:00.000-07:00

HAPPY EARTH DAY.....

I spent some time this morning before I went to work thinking about Earth Day and my impact on our great Mother. Then this evening when I got home ABC had a really nice special "Earth Day 2007." This really got me to thinking about what kind of foot print I am leaving!

I consider myself an "environmentalist" and I certainly think I am aware of Earth as a living, sentient "being"....the Mother of all. However, I realize that while I give great lip service to conservation and caring for the Earth I am not walking my talk. I had to do some soul searching about this and realized it was due to several factors, primarily laziness and a sense that it is too late anyway so why bother (probably the most dangerous factor!).

So, tonight I am committing to making some changes! I challenge you to join me and let's begin the process of turning things around!! It is not too late!!!

I gathered some interesting factoids today that I'd like to share. First, Americans make up 5% of the world population but we consume 25% of the world's energy! Secondly, and I am very proud of this fact, Texas is leading the nation in the use of green energy! Not only do we have the largest windmill farm (they said in Abilene, Texas but the film was shot at Wingate), but we have more houses powered by green energy than any other state!!

I have made a list of changes I am going to start making-these are really little things that don't make much difference in my life but make an appreciable impact on the environment-especially if you join me!

-Turn off the tap while brushing my teeth (saving about 8 gallons of water a day)
-Choose reusable over disposable. Dishtowels over paper towels (and if a paper towel is needed for some unknown reason buy recycled). Glasses and mugs over Styrofoam cups
-Decrease showers by just 5 minutes. In my case I need to reduce the shower by 10 minutes. I'm also going to reduce tub baths to only once a week (sorry, I can't give them up altogether)
-As my light bulbs burn out I am going to replace them with those funky looking curly ones.
-Replace plastic bags with cloth
-The huge number of Diet Pepsi cans I throw away have been a concern for a while. I am going to switch to 3 liter bottles (question which is worse the cans or the plastic-I actually think the plastic is but I would generate less plastic than cans). I AM going to switch from Diet Pepsi to water-eventually.
-Speaking of water. I am going to stop using those little 16 ounce bottles of water. Here in Alaska I like the water out of the faucet and at work we have a water dispenser I can use over water bottles. In Trent we can go back to buying water in the refillable 5 gallon bottles. Think of the plastic bottles that could be saved!
-The last one is the change I most need to make but just can't right away. My next car will be fuel efficient...no 18 mile to the gallon SUV. I can't promise I won't buy a SUV but I will buy a fuel efficient one!

There is one more change I would like to encourage you to consider. Go to www.powertochoose.org. The energy companies are listed there and you can see which ones use green energy. If you can make a change (we have Taylor Electric Coop and have no choice!) send a message to the utility companies and choose one that uses the largest percentage of green energy. For example, if you live in the Abilene are that would be Green Mountain. At least take a look at the option-if it won't cost you more why not. Even if it is a little more think of the impact you can make on the environment!!!!

Do you have any ideas to add to my list? I'm all for adding other changes!

Happy Earth Day!
-

2007-04-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

BACK IN ALASKA....

I'm back in Alaska at least for a while-until the first of August.

I flew out of Abilene this trip and thought it was great not to have to go to Dallas....and I am sure Mike was glad not to have to make that trip. However, it was rather a grueling day. I had a 2 or so hour flight from Abilene to Houston. Then I had to trek across terminal B at George Bush Airport toting the laptop from hell!! The timing was good-I had just enough time to grab a sandwich.

The next leg of the trip was from Houston to Minneapolis (sp?)...that was about 3 hours. I arrived with just enough time to rush from gate A to C (much longer than it sounds-thank goodness for moving sidewalks)...toting the laptop from hell! The plane from Minneapolis to Anchorage was huge! And it was a good thing because it was full! I had been lucky with aisle seats until this flight where I was consigned to a middle seat for about 81/2 hours! It was a long and miserable flight-probably just training for the New Zealand trip.

However, once I got here everything was smooth sailing. I got a new, really cute bright blue Chrysler (sp?) Sebring. I drove straight to the condo since, of course, this time I know where things are! Nancy was there and let me in-I have a really cute little apt on the third floor of building 1. It is bright and cheery....the walls and woodwork are all painted white. The floor plan is real open. The livingroom is smaller than the last one but the kitchen is open to the livingroom....and, get this, there are glass french doors from the livingroom to the bedroom. The closet is mirrored and all the closets are fitted with organizers. I have a tv in the livingroom and in the bedroom and I even have a desk for the laptop from hell. It is just real cute and real cheerful! (It also helps to arrive during the daylight-it didn't get dark until 10pm...oh, and the snow is all melted!)

I'm pretty tired so I am making this short (well, for me it's short) but I have to say it was amazing flying in-for at least 3 hours we flew over nothing but snow covered mountains. It looked like a topo map! There was no sign of man until we saw the landing strip at Valdez and then we got to Anchorage and saw the one and only highway-it is amazing to see all of this land and just this one lone highway. It brings home the fact that there are still areas that are uninhabited, and perhaps uninhabitable.

I have the windows open and a cool breeze is blowing in-I went to the store without a coat and noticed no one else had one on either. Somehow 48 here is alot warmer than 48 in Texas!

Here is a picture of my wonderful son and his adorable pregnant wife-I really enjoyed seeing them while I was home....I am soooo glad that they made it from New Zealand at the same time I was there!

2007-03-28T05:12:00.000-07:00

WHERE ON EARTH IS CYNDI???

I am not sure I have updated my plans for the near future. A number of months ago I extended my contract in Alaska from March 30 to August 1. Then I got a call about a job back in Snyder where I used to work...they seemed interested and I was homesick and thought coming home would be a great idea. However, even though I have them the deadline date I would have to give notice I did not get a return e-mail from the CEO or call from the clinic director for over a month-yesterday to be exact. Right now I have no prospects in Abilene, at least in the alleopathic feild and there still seems to be too much fear about money for me to open my alternative practice.

So, that doesn't tell you a thing about where I am now does it? I am in Texas-specifically at the farm in Trent, I will be here 3 weeks. My husband, who hates to clean and likes to have all manner of stuff out where he can see it and find it....bless his heart, he rented a storage and cleaned the house out of stuff that he realizes he doesn't need on a daily basis. He cleaned the house so when I got home the floors were washed, the towels and linens clean (and dried on the clothes line-I am blessed to be home!), the potties were clean and the kitchen was clean-what a wonderful suprise that was!

My Welcome Party at the Airport
My first stop off Air Alaska was in Dallas and I was picked up by this lovely crew! My neices and their children, Staci, big sister and her son Kaydon who is 8 months old. Ashley, baby sister and her daughter, Julianna, age 22 months.
Kaydon is the most laid back baby with a constant huge smile which just really sets off those big blue eyes and dimples! This one is a love bug!
Jules, what to say about the sunshine to misquote someone else. She is so smart-maybe even smarter than Brandon-I am not saying for sure! She already speaks in sentences of 3 or more words (and has a vocabulary that includes Spanish and American Sign Language.!! And she uses proper pronouns. If I "jules do you want to go...." She answers with "I" want to go. Besides being smart she is Miss Personality. She stole the dance by getting on the dance floor with the first note and staying to the last. She danced alone, she lead little boys around the dance floor and she found one ole cowboy that made her day by dancing with her and letting her wear his cowboy hat during the dance. She is all about music.

I got to Trent via Dallas and San Antonio. My beautiful neices and their exhausted babies picked me up at the airport. I spent the evening and night with them and then hauled myself into the car they indicated and headed to San Antonio for the wedding of my nephew, Rusty, and his beautiful bride, Kaeli.

Kaeli was a beautiful bride and she
organized a beautiful and fun wedding.

Rusty is the big boy. I couldn't find a pic of just him or of him and Kaeli in all 136 pictures I took. Here he is with his big sister, Staci, and his future fishing buddy, Kaydon.

The weekend was a lot of fun. My sister did a great job of organizing the rehearsal dinner in a big town she isn't familiar with....we had Mexican food at a resturant on the River Walk, which was beautiful as always. She had arranged for taxi vans to pick everyone up before and after every event (well, you know, the wedding and the rehearsal dinner). No worry about traffic in a town that has gone crazy with the Sweet Sixteen Playoffs....and no worry if you have a glass of wine or a beer. She's great at organizing things. I saw lots of friends and family....a couple of guys that have been friend's with my brother-in-law since they were in 3rd grade. They were Rusty's fishing buddies when he was younger so he looked up their addresses and invited them and they came!
After the rehearsal dinner we went down to the River Walk to Durty Nelly's-an Irish piano bar. It was lots of fun! It got a little rowdy with all the different schools wanting their school fight song played and someone else upping the dip to get theirs played. However, I think the piano player got rich!
My nephew is very romantic (tongue is firmly in cheek). He had his dad put money in to play the Texas Tech Red Raider song. But, they had to wait until he went out and got her and gathered all the buddies together. But, when it finally happened Rusty was standing up there with Kaeli....and he told the piano player they were getting married so the piano guy played one of the real raunchy songs.
My sister, Debbie, did a great job organizing her part of the deal and I believe it is the easiest wedding we've ever been involved in -maybe because we are the groom's family or maybe because someone was working hard and wondering why we weren't helping? As you can tell, her prefered job at this point in her life is grammie (or as Jules says, Goomie).

Mother met me at the hotel and shared a room (even though I snore-isn't that nice). Then the next part of my trip home from San Antonio to Trent was driving Mom's car is some pretty heavy rain. Home at last at around 5pm Sunday.

Monday I spent some time with little Julsey, who came home with Gommie....visited with my Mom and ran into Abilene to stop in my best friend's new shop. I had helped paint and stuff but was gone before she moved in. Cassy's is just beautiful-I think she's found a perfect place to have her shop and do spirit's work.

Mike worked Monday but is off Tuesday through Saturday. We decided to say we were going on vacation out of town but not go. It's cheaper this way and neither one of us wanted to shop or do the tourist thing-we just want some time together. By saying we are out of town and not answering the phone we hope it will prevent him being called in to work. By the way, my cell phone is dead and I have misplaced the charger so getting a new one that will fit will be an ordeal on this phone. If anyone needs to reach us before Saturday you can call and leave a message on the machine.

Alaska friends, this one is for you. It has been in the mid to upper 70s down to the mid to lower 60s since I got home- today and tomorrow the temps are supposed to be 82 and 75 respectively. It has also been raining-which in this country is a blessing. It is so dry we take any and all rain we can get...but, the spring rain will be especially good for the wildflowers and other stuff. The road from Dallas to San Antonio was green-green fields, green grass, green trees. And lots of blue bonnets and yellow flowers along the road side. Here the mesquite are just now blooming-until they bloom you have to be prepared for another freeze-once the mesquite bloom you are home free (there are exceptions to all rules but this hold 95% of the time.

I haven't gotten a chance to walk up on the top of the property to see if there are any wildflowers here yet. I've promised a picture if they are out.

So, my plans are to spend until Saturday with my hubby. My kids get in from New Zealand on Thursday and the neices will be called into service again to fetch them. That will not be a problem-my son grew up very close to his cousins, they were the sisters and brother he never had....and his wife is the grade school friend of my neices and nephew. I think they are really looking forward to spending some time with them!

Saturday is the baby shower for my daughter-in-law combined with a wedding shower for her best friend.

Over the next two weeks I have promised to take my mom and my sister's mother-in-law t0 a house on Grandbury where my sister is babysitting for two weeks. We'll just spend a day or two in the lap of luxury on the lake!

I also told my friend, Shawna, that I could help her at her wonderful show, Cassy's. I don't know if I will mind the shop while she gets some things done or if I will provide labor for some of the projects-whatever....I'm available.

The last weekend before I fly out on Monday, I am helping at a Wholistic Rodeo. I am helping Shawna and she gave me a really hard job-helping Ted Andrews with his book signing. Yes, as in the REAL Ted Andrews!!!

Then I guess I'll go back to Alaska until August. I will be moving back into Corporate housing-which is nice. I just was going moment by moment there for a while and didn't know what I was going to be doing so I couldn't leave my landlady in that kind of lurch-so, I just gave up my room and will move back to the Condo's (probably).

August I am starting the month off at the Gathering of Circles and then go to New Zealand to meet my new grandbaby of an undetermined sex (except angles told me it was a girl). That is too exciting for words!!!!

So that is my life as it stands today at 8:54am-who knows what the next 2 hours might bring....but, I like to have a plan even if I just KNOW it will be chincked away until it is totally unrecognizable,

2007-03-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

WEDDING PICTUR ES ....now they should be there.

2007-03-26T16:10:00.000-07:00

REHEARSAL DINNER PICTURES....the wedding pictures did not download so I have to do it again.

2007-03-18T20:18:00.000-07:00

I-DID-A-RIDE......

Today Jane and I drove to Sterling for a dog sled ride (click link above for pics). We went to Mitch Seavy's Ididaride Kennels. Mitch and his family are Iditarod mushers, in fact, Mitch won the 2004 Race and placed 9th this year. One of his son's was, and still is, the youngest musher to ever run and finish the Iditarod.
Today there was only James and Kristin on the property along with about 170 dogs (minus Mitch's A team who were still in Nome-actually we met them on the road back when we were on our way home). With everyone else still in Nome it was very quite at the kennel and we had a lot of undivided attention from Kristin, our musher, and James, a dog trainer who is learning to mush.
But first, the trip down. It was about 2 hours to Sterling south down the Seward Highway along the Turnagin arm and onto the Kenai Peninsula, one of the best fishing spots in the whole world (just ask anyone in Alaska). Anyway, the first site to be seen (no trip pictures) was the water at the Turnagin Arm (I think that is the Gulf of Alaska). It was frozen into these huge blocks of black ice that were sticking up out of the frozen water (the effect of freeze and thaw). It looked very surreal! And on the cliff side of the road were these wonderful waterfalls that were frozen into massive greenish-white...well, frozen waterfalls for lack of a better discription. In the fall when I posted pictures from this trip there were Dahl sheep...no sheep this time but there was a huge moose standing on the edge of the cliff high above the highway grazing and watching the cars go by...what a sight he was!!
As we drove onto the Kenai the first thing you saw were dozens and dozens of snow machines being driven everywhere. Forget the wilderness of Alaska....there was hardly a mountain along this entire stretch that didn't have the snow marked with snow machine tracks. Imagine a massive range of mountains with lines drawn in the snow in spiraling and circling patterns. It was beautiful but disturbing.
As for fishing...oh, yes...the temperature may range from -4 to 12 depending on whether you were in a valley or mountain but the fishermen were out. On the way down we saw two people sitting on the ice along side the road....as we got closer we realized they were ice fishing. But the guy that gets the prize was the fly fisherman who had walked out past the ice and was standing thigh deep in the water happily casting in sub zero weather!
On the way back the temperature was up around 20-23 and it was very nice. We saw a few more people fishing. The most interesting place was the side of the road where 3 people were standing on the ground fishing next to a guy who was in the water with waders on and right down a little bit....maybe a hundred yards...on the ice was another guy sitting on a stool on the ice fishing. Something for everyone!
I was very, very excited this trip to see three bald eagles sitting in trees-two were in trees across the Kenai river and very easy to see and the third was sitting in a tree beside the road.
What a treat!
Finally we arrived at the Ididaride Kennels of Mitch Seavy. Everyone was gone (they were in Nome, of course) except for Kristin and James. They live above the work shop, along with another young woman, and work for the kennel. Kristin is an Outward Bound teacher and an expedition musher (I didn't ask what that exactly was) who came for the winter to learn more about racing. James is a dog trainer who is learning to mush. They told us to come at 1 pm since it would take them from 8 until 1 to feed all the dogs and do the other chores.
We got a chance to cuddle the most adorable 6 week old big baby Malamute and then we got a tour of the kennel. They have about 170 dogs (I forgot the exact number)...they feed 150 pounds of kibble a day and (I think I have this right) 30-40 pounds each of meat and fish. That is lots of food!!!! And you know what that produces....lots of poop to scoop!!!
They have 3 or 4 pens with the youngest dogs-they were around 12-16 weeks (we went in one and were accosted by a liter of 16 week old children all wanting attention NOW). Then the pups advance to the yard where they are steaked out to start harness training. Next to that bunch are the retired dogs and then on down are the yearlings (some making up our team). Apparently retired dogs still have jobs-they may be used for breeding or they may baby sit (I did not make that up) the younger dogs in a yard where they are turned out. Some like Pearl, who was our lead dog today, teach the younger dogs how to do their jobs.
There was a section where Mitch's 24 A team dogs were, 16 made the cut and had gone for the Iditarod (one was back, a female who was injured and they hurried her back since she was in heat and they had hoped to get her bred). The ones who didn't make the cut were hanging out...and other dogs that are currently racing dogs were also around the place-I just didn't figure that out among all the dogs.
There was also a couple of pens for females in heat, a breeding pen and a whelping pen with a pregnant mama close to delivery. One of the females in heat was a Lance Makey dog-since he won her life had changed and she would probably be bred! She is a much more valuable woman today then she was a couple of weeks ago!!
James harnessed up the dogs for us while Kristin told us how to ride the whip sled....when you turn right you shift your weight to the left but your body to the right...also when going down a hill you have to use your break or you will run into her (what a trusting soul). I took the first turn on the whip sled. I started out pretty well...I was a little worried about my left knee which has been really painful and pretty unstable the last week. So, I would break with the left so I didn't have to support my weight on it...that's just not intuitive for me though. I want to break with my right...and I did one time...not a good idea. My left knee gave and I turned the sled over and fell onto the trail...falling, of course, on the dad-gum (not the real word I would use but this is a family blog!) knees. HOW EMBARRASSING!!! But, I got back up and mushed on-after all I didn't have to go 1000 miles on a broken leg like that one guy in the Iditarod! I did better after that...actually I pretty much got the hang of it. Of course, we were on straight, flat trails after that and it is pretty easy to get the hang of standing on two boards and holding on to a rail. You would think.....however, after a while (don't know how long but the ride was two hours and I think I did about half on the whip sled) my feet and calves sort of started to cramp up....but, I thought about the guy with the broken leg and went on-besides it was so much FUN!!!! But, I knew I had to call a stop when my legs started to shake like jello!!! One fall off of the sled was enough for this trip.
So, I got in the sled and Jane got the whip sled. Now, I originally thought this was what I wanted to do...just sit and be pulled. However, I have to tell you the most fun spot is not in the sled it is behind the sled!!!
I did get to see the dogs-I couldn't really see them well from the whip sled because Kristin was in front of me (thank goodness). I was able to appreciate the different ways the dogs pulled, see the one who was pulling her weight but really wasn't pulling with the others. Could see Pearl's leadership and how it shaped the team. And notice how dogs that were harnessed together would communicate with each other at times....like one dog slowed down to poop (they do that while running) and the other reached over and sort of nipped him to get him going again. That was real interesting!
We had one little time when Pearl decided she wanted to go one way when Kristen was telling her to go the other. When Kristen couldn't get her to go straight she stopped the sled, dug this metal "anchor" into the snow and told Jane to push on her break with both feet while she got off to correct Pearl. Hummm, I'm sitting there thinking, "ok, if they take off they won't go very fast, Jane can push on the break and that little Kristin is in good shape...she'll run up and jump on the sled...yep, we'll be fine...sure we will." Later I learned Jane was having a similiar conversation with herself. But, all was well....Pearl got the point and Kristin got back on the sled and off we went....with a bunch of tired one year olds who wanted to go HOME.
They gave us a good ride. At the end we petted each one and thanked them-which they actually seemed to enjoy, they really love to be petted. However, I hope they got an extra treat!
As for Jane and I, we went back to Suzie's Cafe and snacked ourselves with some Fruits of the Forrest pie (to die for!) and headed home...tired and smelling like dogs but really satisfied with our experience as mushers. I could learn to enjoy that sport!!!
Oh, I forgot Buddy....I just have to mention Buddy. He is the most beautiful Malamute that is sort of a pet/mascot. Not a sled dog! However, James has taught Buddy to be a musher. He "drives" his own little sled, and sometimes he sits in it so other dogs can pull him!! He is a real lover!!! Sweet, beautiful and smart! BUDDY!!!

2007-03-16T13:41:00.000-07:00

WINDING DOWN THE IDITAROD REPORTING....I'll be winding down my reporting on the Iditarod tomorrow. As I was looking over the last of the article that I might want to share with you I came across this report. Beth Bragg is editoralizing her frustration over the lack of reporting of Lance Mackey's victory in the lower 48.

When I lived in El Paso I used to say it was a great place to live if you thought of it as part of New Mexico but a big frustration if you thought of it as part of Texas bacause it was so far away from "Texas." Multiply that by a thousand when you think of Alaska in relation to the United States! Just for example, I was placing an order the other day and the shipping was $4.99 until I put my Alaska address in-then it went up to $22.99-more than the actual cost of the item! If the web site says "free shipping" and you enter an Alaska address you quickly learn that does not apply to Alaska. On-line shopping is not very practical up here. That is just an example. Today's gripe...

By the way, Clint Warnake pulled into Nome in position 34 and Cindy Galena is out of Elim.

2007-03-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

The senior Mackey won his sixth Iditarod (wearing bib 13) in a photo finish. He was in another tight race trying to get to Nome for the finish....he didn't make it but the story is an interesting one.
Two more dogs have died for a total of 3 this year.

2007-03-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

THE STORY OF ZORRO....This is a picture of Zorro, the dog Mackey had to drop in White Mountain. An article from the ADN talks about how this stud dog built Mackey's kennel. Seven of the eight dogs that finished the race were sired by this dog.
He was breathing harder than the other dogs at the White Mountain checkpoint so the vet took checked him and decided he probably had pneumonia-later confirmed. He is currently being treated and somewhat improved although he is not out of the woods. Good article!

I'm ready to go home to Texas. It is minus 5 this morning and my Southern soul tells me it ought to be Spring. I've had enough cold! One last grand experience. I am going on a dog sled ride this Sunday in Seward!!

2007-03-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

LANCE MACKEY, CANCER SURVIVOR:

Not much has been made, or I missed it, until now about Mackey's bout with cancer. In this article it talks about his drive to run the Iditarod in spite of his cancer. I hadn't heard in the past why he scratched that one race....well, it was because he had a feeding tube under his pants and couldn't keep the liquid feeding supplement from freezing!
He reminds me of my friend Pat who showed up late for my neice, Staci's, graduation. When we went back to Mom's for a celebration she called me into the bathroom to show me the chest tube under her dress!!! She was late because she blew a lung and had to go to the hospital-she refused to be admitted and insisted on the chest tube connected to a portable suction device so she could go to the graduation!! She was an inspiration as is Lance Mackey.
Take time to read this article for a little taste of inspiration (and Kaeli, it addresses the issue of sponsers somewhat). There is a slide show at this link also-164 pictures (maybe more of the Iditarod than you want to see and unfortunately in no order at all).

2007-03-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

This may be the most excited winner in Iditarod history.....

2007-03-13T22:36:00.000-07:00

MACKEY WINS IDITAROD!!!!

At 8:08 pm Alaska time Lance Mackey won the 2007 Iditarod accomplishing a feat thought until now to be impossible: a back to back run (not to mention win) of the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod.

Clint and Cindy are still at place 40 and 41. Clint is out of Unalakleet and Cindy is out of Kaltag.
The last place musher left Ophir at mile 443 (600 miles from the finish line) and didn't make it to Iditarod at mile 533. Trail sweepers found him at a place called Don's Cabin and are taking him to some place a plane can land and take him out-obviously he is scratching. Reports are that there is nothing seriously wrong (hey, I would consider being lost in some of the wildest part of the trail something WAYYY wrong!).

I still plan on writing a blog about the communities from Iditarod to Nome (the last half of the race) and a blog on Susan Butcher. Probably this weekend. For now I am celebrating Lance Mackey's win!

2007-03-13T18:24:00.000-07:00

Mackey and his team out of White Mountain

MACKEY HAS A THREE HOUR LEAD OUT OF WHITE MOUNTAIN!!!

He's running with 8 dogs at this point. He had to send his stud dog, the one who helped him build his kennel, back to Anchorage with pneumonia. One of his other dogs was tired so he dropped him also. But, if disaster doesn't strike, Mackey will win that pickup truck he is so excited about tonight. Paul Gebhardt is about 3 hours behind.

2007-03-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

I just spent 3 hours writing an update to the Iditarod blog and lost it all!!! I updated each checkpoint, wrote an entry on Susan Butcher, updated the location of the 3 mushers I am following and added a footnote to the story of the dog that died....and lost it all!! This is the second time the second time this week I've lost a blog...and both were long!
I don't have time to rewrite the whole thing so I'll just say:
Mackey is in White Mountain and is expected to push for Nome as soon as his mandatory 8 hour rest is over, passing under the burled arch at about 7pm. He has a commanding lead but anything can happen.
Clint is still on the trail in position 40 and Cindy in position 43.
The Alaska Daily News has good information. The official site is useless except for the map and the standings.

2007-03-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE IDITAROD

I have been really caught up in the race and rooting for Lance Mackey as well as keeping up with our own personal mushers (Mackey is in number one and Clint and Cindy in 41 and 42). However, I am learning that there is another side to the excitment of the race. It's the loss of the dogs. Apparently every year some of the dogs die. Last year 6 died. The first dog to die this year was one of Karen Ramstead's dog-a six year old female who died seven hours after making it to the checkpoint. A necratopsy will be performed but as I understand it the usual cause of death is exhaustion or pneumonia.

This occurs even though there are vets at the checkpoints who are checking the dogs, calculating their calorie needs and making sure they are getting the meals and snackings that they need to meet these needs. Obviously this is a rough race for the dogs. As I understand some of them just stop running and they are unharnessed and put in the sled to the next checkpoint where they are dropped. They are flown back to Anchorage where handlers from that team care for them. But, I think some of these dogs just have such a drive to run that they run themselves into the ground...at least I prefer to believe that over the possibility that the mushers might be pushing them too hard. I heard one musher say that when the dog is through running he stops and there is nothing you can do but drop him....I just wonder if some dogs refuse to stop. Is their breeding such that they will run until they drop? Watching the dogs at the start there is no doubt that these dogs live to run!

Karen Ramstead scratched to go home and be with her family to mourn the loss of Snickers. This really makes me think she cared for this dog, as the mushers I've heard talk all seem to. I feel sad for her and her family! What a tragedy, what a loss!

Mackey's dogs are on their second 1,000 mile run in two months and I was worried it was one of his dogs that died. But, in this interview with the Alaska Daily News he says his dogs are doing well and are getting excited because they know if they win they will be riding in a new pick-up (his is very old). He is down to 14 having dropped 2 but that is really pretty good-I think there are teams with a lot less than that.

As things are going now, the winner is expected into Nome before dawn on Wednesday morning. I will catch up the trail and checkpoints tomorrow since I don't go in to work until noon...hope you enjoy a little Alaksa geography. Watch the official website and the Alaska Daily News website for the latest-I really think the ADN has more news than the "official" website.

2007-03-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

ALASKAN "SUMMER" NIGHTS

It may take more to get used to the summer nights in Alaska than it did the winter. I didn't notice the winter darkness all that much, except on weekends. It was dark when I went to work and dark when I came home....but so is it in Texas in the winter. However, these sunny nights might be different. With daylight savings time, it is now 8:30 and the sun isn't even on the horizon....looks like it will be close to 9 when it sets. And it's only mid March!! Getting to bed may be a real challenge....and getting up at 5 to go to water aerobics an even bigger challenge!!!!

2007-03-10T12:32:00.000-08:00

ONE TOUGH (OR IS IT CRAZY) DUDE...

I am packing today so I don't know if time will allow me to catch up with the mushers. I do know that Clint and Cindy are hanging in at about the same places they have been.....and this article about this musher from Wisconsin caught my eye....don't know if he is committed or should be committed. Yep, he is running the Iditarod with a broken leg!!

2007-03-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

IDITAROD UPDATE:
There was a moment of worry on the trail earlier today. Deborah Bicknell, a 61 year old rookie, was lost for a period of time today. She was located during an aerial search after having taken a wrong trail. As you may have read some of the trail markers had been blown away and there was worry that mushers might get lost. Some of the mushers were traveling in groups with the rookies following the veterans. I am not sure what happened to Ms. Bicknell but I heard one musher say that at one time he could not see his lead dog at the front of his team due to blizzard conditions.

I have learned that several of the front runners, including King, Bushner, Barron and Steer took their 24 hour rests at Nikolia, McGrath or Taketna. Mackey will take his today in Iditarod.

Clint and Cindy are in position 41 and 42 respectively.

A little trivia. A reporter asked one musher how he entertained himself on the trail between checkpoints. He said he was listening to his iPod and singing to his dogs. Technology meets tradition!!!

Today was beautiful here-sun shining and mild temps. When I left work it was 26 there....it was 17 at the house. We are having 12 plus hours of sun daily now. The sun was up when I left the gym at 7:15 and it is now 6:15 and it isn't near setting. I think I will like this!

2007-03-08T13:16:00.000-08:00

Pictures of Cindy at the Nikolia checkpoint are posted on the day four pictures on the Alaska Daily News. (Go to the link and below the picture about halfway down the list of features you will see a link for the day 4 photos).

2007-03-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

MACKEY REACHES IDITAROD!

Clint and Cindy are at postion 37 and 39 respectively!!! They are both mentioned in an article in today's Alaska Daily News.

2007-03-07T20:58:00.000-08:00

WINDS, TOO LITTLE SNOW, POOR VISIBILITY AND INJURIES PROVE THE IDITAROD ISN'T FOR SISSIES OR COUCH POTATOES!!!!!

It sounds wicked out there. But, our mushers are hanging in there with Clint holding position 42 and Cindy at position 47. The mushers will start to stop for their required 24 hour rest periods so the position they are in will not mean as much for a while. Then they will all start to charge toward Nome and it will matter lots!
It seems that the times of the leaders are very fast this year and there is a chance that the record will be broken....maybe even by the guy that set it!
Currently Cindy is in Nikolai. This is an Athabascan villiage located 40 air miles east of McGrath. It has a population of 104 and is at mile 352 on the trail.
Clint is out of Nikolai on his way to McGrath, at mile 400 with a population of 423. McGrath is at the confluence of the Kuskokwim and Takotna rivers, it has a small, full-service airport, stores, a resturant and is the hub of the Iditarod School District. The first musher into McGrath gets the Spirit of Alaska Award from PenAir.
Between Clint and the front runners is the Village of Takotna (ta-COT-na), population 50 at mile 418. This Athabascan village is one of the favorite checkpoints and where many mushers take their 24 hour layover (no, I don't know why-I think I would stay at McGrath???)
After Takotna is Ophir. The top six are out of Ophir (OH-fur) and to my knowledge no one has taken the 24 hour layover. Ophir is a ghost town at mile 443 and is named for a nearby creek that supported placer mining. The name is a reference to the biblical Ophir thought to be the source of King Solomon's gold.
They are a little over half way to Iditarod at mile 533, the official halfway point on the southern trail. It is now a ghost town but was once a bustling community of over 10,000.
We still have halfway to go but we'll wait here for the group.

By the way, it is snowing in Alaska! I love Alaska when it snows!!!

PS....Is anyone out there?????

2007-03-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

UPDATE:
Our guys are hanging in there! Warnke has moved up to 50 in spite of the cold, wind and poor visiblity and Cindy is holding on the position 42! YEAHHHHH!!!!!

2007-03-06T11:01:00.000-08:00

DEE DEE JENROWE SCRATCHES!
I just spent an hour providing my usual insightful and witty commentary on the Iditarod only to have the whole thing lost in the strange and mysterious world of the internet!
So, I am out of time. I will quickly update some of the big stuff and provide some links...things are happening fast on the trail!
Dee Dee Jenrowe scratched at Rainy Pass after breaking a finger and injuring her hand. This is a big shock as she is a favorite among fans and a top contender. With the loss of Dee Dee and Swingley, the top ten positions are open to anyone (of course, aren't they always!).
Last night Jeff Holt scratched at Finger Lake...he was nearing the checkpoint when he "experienced a sharp pain, extreme discomfort and passed out." He is being evaluated in Anchorage.
From the time I lost my blog until I checked the sites to rewrite this one two more mushers have scratched!! They are being blasted with 80 mph winds with wind chills at minus 55!
Lance Mackey, my pick, is in the lead at Nikolai one but he has broken a sled runner so things are dicey! Lance has an interesting story which I will update you on, along with information on the checkpoints, later.
Check the list of top ten mushers on the official site: Conventional wisdom has it that the winner is among the first ten to check in at Rhome (rome).
Our mushers are hanging in there: Cindy is at 42 and Carl has fallen back to 69. But, they are still in the race and they are winners no matter where they finish! There are no losers in the Iditarod-in fact, the last musher to drive under the burl arch at Nome gets an award. It is called the Golden Lantern.
Gotta go to work....and it is my late night. I'll be watching the race and our mushers from work. If you want to keep up you can go to the official Iditarod site or to the Alaska Daily News (which updated it's coverage while I was losing my witty, insightful blog). I actually think the ADN has better coverage unless you pay to be an "insider" on the official site...which I haven't done yet by may before Nome. The photo gallery is good and if you look under day one photos there is a picture of our musher, Cindy, driving her dogs down the starting shoot at Willow.

2007-03-05T20:30:00.000-08:00

LATE BREAKING NEWS FROM THE TRAIL: Doug Swingley of Lincoln, Mt scratched at Rainy Pass due to injuries. He dislocated his thumb and possibly fractured some ribs and was concerned he would be unable to care for his team on the trail. What a heartbreak!!! It takes about $21,000 dollars to prepare to run the Iditarod, what a disappointment to have to scratch so early!!!! I don't know about you but my heart goes out to Doug-he is a four time Iditarod Champion.

2007-03-05T19:42:00.000-08:00

Cindy Gallea and Clint Warnake are out of Finger Lakes:

I want to introduce you to another musher-Cindy Gallea. Why Cindy? Well, she is a 55 year old woman who has been a nurse practitioner for 16 years!!! She grew up on a farm in Minnesota and began mushing in 1987. She moved to Montana in 1990 to mush dogs, enjoy the beauty of the state and for work. A graduate of St Olaf with a BS in Nursing in 1973 and from the University of Washinton with a MS in Nursing in 1990.
I loved her stats!!! I graduated with my BS in 1976 (four years later)-we both graduated with a BS in a time when most nurses were diploma trained. I seem to be consistently lagging behind her by about 3-4 years. She graduated with her MS in 1990 and I graduated in 1994. And she is 3 years older than me. So, I decided we need to follow this NP's progress and cheer her from the sidelines...or computer desk.
I signed on to check on our mushers and discovered that they are doing very well!!! Cindy is at position 34 and Chris is right behind her in 35!!! Good job guys!!!

A little information about Finger Lake: This check point is at mile 194-less than 1,000 to go now!! It has a population of 2-Kirsten and Carl Dixon who run this checkpoint on the eastern fringe of the Alaska Range.

I thought I'd tell you a little bit about some of the behind the scenes stuff (did you know that it takes 1,800 volunteers to put this race on?). Specifically I thought I'd talk about 2 of the big sponsors and their special projects. Of course, this is highly commercialized and the sponsors get lots of exposure but they do some really good stuff. Alaska Airlines is involved in all sorts of facets of the race from the start to the finish, however, their primary focus is the canine athletes. They sponsor 35 vets who come from all over the world to provide prerace physicals and work along the trail to ensure the safety and health of the dogs. They transport supplies, dog food, dog "booties" and kennels. Their pilots serve in the "Idiarod Air Force" which is an elite group of bush pilots who volunteer to fly vets, supplies, and volunteers to remote checkpoints along the trail that can only be reached by light craft. A group of their employees volunteer as the "Dog Squad." They work around the clock to assist the mushers' teams at the race finish, making sure the "real heroes" of the race have a comfortable ride back to Anchorage. And finally, they present the "coveted" Leonhard Seppala Humanitarian Award to the musher who takes the best care of his or her dogs through the course of the race. According to what I have read this is voted on by the trail vets and considered to be among the highest honors an Iditarod musher can receive (this is according to the info provided by Alaska Airlines....I suspect it is somewhere below actually winning the race...but, I think it is wonderful that the care of the animals is recognized).

Next is Wells Fargo's Teacher on the Trail project (this is a great link for teachers: lesson plans, teaching resources, curriculum information, etc). This year's winner is Florida educator, Kim Slade. During the race she will fly to checkpoints with the Iditarod Air Force. Her observations and experiences will be recorded in her daily journal on the Iditarod's website allowing students, teachers and fans to learn from her experiences. A feature of her website include the project, "One Small Square" which is a tool teachers can use in the classroom for various educational activities.

Well, that is enough for one blog....I don't want to give away all my information at once. I'll end with this final trivia:

More adventurers have climbed Mount Everest than have finished the Iditarod over the last 34 years.

2007-03-05T10:04:00.000-08:00

CLINT WARNKE-FAIRBANKS, ALASKA

I found out the musher in the pictures I took is Clint Warnke from Fairbanks. He is 36, born in Alberta and raised in Saskatchewan, Canada. He started mushing in 1977 and ran his first Iditarod in 2001. Clint ran the 2003 Iditarod and won the Most Improved Musher Award. In the summer of 2004 he moved to Alaska. This year Clint is running his own young dog team and works with the Veterinary Educational team, which teaches children in South Carolina about northern breed sled dogs and the Iditarod.

Today Clint is in position 69. He has checked in at Skwentna and his next check point is Finger Lake. His time en route is 3 hours and his average speed is 11mph.

Clint has passed the check point at Knik, mile 63, population 7,049 and home of Joe Redington, Sr. "Father of the Iditarod." Mr Redington is a fascinating character. He finished the Iditarod in 5th place when he was 71 and was in the midst of preparing to run again when he died at the age of 82-check out the link on this Alaskan character. The Musher's Hall of Fame is located here. This is also where the wilderness race trail begins.

At mile 115, our musher and his team of dogs passed through Yenta Station, population 8. This is a roadhouse-checkpoint in the Susitna Valley.

His last check point as of this writing was Skwentna, population 11, near the confluence of the Yentana and the Skwentana rivers.

I think it is alot more fun to keep up with the race if you are watching a musher....so I am cheering Clint on from the sidelines! I will be posting his position and following his progress on the blog.

GOOD LUCK, CLINT.....MUSH ON!!!!!

2007-03-03T15:31:00.000-08:00

IDITAROD 2007.....THE LAST GREAT RACE

The morning started early, for a Saturday. I woke up at 7 to prepare for my first Iditarod-watching from the sidelines, of course.
I started with the first layer-you know, undies like normal people wear. Then, because I am in Alaska, another layer followed-the silk long johns...including breeches, top and silk sock liners. Next, clothes...turtle neck shirt and cords. A little something extra, a fleece vest.
And now the wool socks, however, before the wool socks I have to attach the feet warmers to the silk sock liners. Pulling on the "fur" lined boots without disrupting the foot warmers can be a little dicey. Now, outer wear......my huge fake fur coat (I have been mistaken for a polar bear more than once), glove liners, gloves, and a pair of ear muffs. I had already put hand warmers in all my pockets-the ones in my vest and the ones in my coat. I wish I had pockets in my pants....with the blood circulating close to the surface in the groin area they would be a nice addition! I guess I am ready.
I had prepared my camera by placing a foot warmer in one of the side pockets and putting the camera in a plastic bag in the camera bag-you don't want the camera to warm up to fast because condensation will develop (very bad). However, if I don't keep it warm the batteries stop working. So, all ready!!!
My friends pick me up and off we go to the 2007 Ceremonial Start of the Iditarod!!!! Forgot the camera..........again! Fortunately, Gary (one of the traveling Nurse Practitioner's husband) remembered his! He took plenty of pictures and promises to send some my way....I'll post them.
Anyway, I really wasn't expecting the numbers of people that were in downtown Anchorage for the event. I guess I was surprised because Fur Rondy was so small and poorly attended. This was huge...thousands of people! A real party atmosphere with people everywhere, vendors selling all sorts of furs and trickets on the sidewalks and dogs barking, whining and howling to go! I heard a man standing next to me comment that this was like Mardi Gras. I've never been to Mardi Gras but I can't imagine anything any less like Mardi Gras than the Iditarod!!
We ate at the Downtown Diner and watched the dogs then went to find a place to watch the race. Except that was easier said then done. We finally walked far enough that it was a little less crowded and stood behind some shorter people. But one was a BIG man and he insisted we stand in front of him so we could see better! Thank you very much!!! I gave him a pair of my hand warmers in exchange for the good view.
We watched for maybe an hour and started to get cold from standing still. Also we felt a little bad because all this time Lea Anne was lost and her husband had gone to look for her....then she showed up without him...then she went to look for him then he showed up without her. Jane and I just stood in the very front watching the race! When we got cold we decided to go find them (notice we waited until we got cold)....but, by some miracle (added by my big white coat which stands out like a sore thumb among all the dead animals) we all got together in one place!
Enough cold! We needed a little break so we went into the boat tour place and acted very, very interested in the tours (which start in May so it was a little hard to be real interested)...asked all sorts of questions until we were warm again....and then off we went in search of the snow sculptures.
A very long walk actually....which made me feel much better about the blueberry sourdough pancakes with extra crispy bacon I had for breakfast. Across the street, through the carnival and down a long sloping hill. I discovered something I didn't know....I can't walk down hill on an incline because I have "pre-patellar syndrome" (when you are with a bunch of midlevels you always have some on the minute help with diagnosis). That sounds very official but what it means is that it hurts like hell to walk with your foot pointed downhill so you have to do this funny side ways walk and everyone has to wait and wait and wait for you to catch up (getting old ain't for sissies, sweetheart!). But, we made it and got a chance to look at the snow sculptures....beautiful but sort of pitted from the horrific winds of the last two days.
Oh, did I mention there was just a little breeze and it was 7 above-very nice!
Out of sympathy for me, I think, Lea Anne suggested we go to the Ulu Factory. I was glad to sit awhile-and besides I needed a case for my ulu. I got my case, a cup of hot chocolate and went back outside where I sat in the sun in a great chair and dozed until Lea Anne finished buying her $70 bowl. I think Gary was sorry we stopped at the ulu factory.
Back to the main part of town (this time via these two huge staircases that go up from one street to the other). I watched more dogs leave from the starting line while Lea Anne and Jane went to the Furrier to unbuy the fur coats I pressured them into buying last weekend-I was not allowed to go in with them. But, even still it was scarey how long it took them to unbuy those coats....Gary was outside with me and he began to pace and eventually went in "see what was going on."
Then it was off the opposite direction in town to see the ice sculptures (I've posted pictures of them before). I had seen them but no one else had-I'm glad I saw the sculptures earlier because they are pretty damaged and melted (I like them better than the snow sculptures). With that we headed back to the car with just a stop for Latte (or, in my case, a Diet Pepsi and oatmeal cookie, which I felt justified in eating since we had walked a long, long, long time and it was-after all-oatmeal!)
So, it sounds like my Iditarod adventure was about over for the day, doesn't it....but, the best was yet to come! When I got home I realized they were racing just at the end of the block so I decided to take the forgotten camera and try to get some pictures! WOW, it was the best place to watch the dogs!!!! No barriers, no fences, no crowds. You just walk right up to the snow they are running on and watch as they pass by you. People are holding their hands out and as the dogs run by the mushers reach out and hi-five them....everyone is shouting out "we love you (insert musher's name)"...."good luck"....the mushers are thanking everyone for coming....the dogs are looking around...looking at you! Once I saw the I-did-a-rider look up at the musher and say "it is so cool that they all know your name."
At one time I shouted out "good luck" and the musher looked at me and said "thank you...thank you so much"...and I snapped his picture at that moment. I think it was one of my three best photos of the day! He was so filled with excitment you can almost see it in the photo and you could really see and feel it in that moment!!!!
That was my Iditarod experience-standing on the corner of Cordova and 11th wishing the teams a good run, listening to the harnesses rattle, and the people shouting and clapping. Talking to each other between teams and sharing the excitment of the "last great race"...that is the moment I got Iditarod fever!!!! If there was any way possible I would be in Nome in 10 days shouting as they pull in!!!!
A comment on the mushers-this is not necessarily a just a young man's sport. I think I heard that the "average" racer is about 50....there has been a contender that was 71....I saw a young athletic looking girl (29) and a woman who looked a lot like me (overweight and over 50). Of course, it's about the dogs. The musher has to bred the dog he or she wants, maintain a healthy kennel of dogs and take good care of them on the trail....that alone is very demanding. I have a tremendous amount of respect for anyone that sets out into the Alaskan Wilderness with 12 dogs and a sled with supplies!!! Be they brave or just plain crazy, they have a special set of skills and an adventurous, independent spirit that has always fascinated me!
Well, I am off for another Fur Rondy event-the Native Crafts sale in the Diamond Mall. I'm gonna leave my camera AND my wallet at home!
Hopefully tomorrow I will get out to Willow to the official start of the Iditarod....if I do I'll try to remember by camera so I can take you all along!!! Stay up to date with what's happening and who's in the lead at www.iditarod.com.

2007-03-03T09:25:00.000-08:00

OFF TO THE IDITAROD......I've got the camera this time!!!! More later with pics if my camera stands up under the cold. It looks like a beautiful day today-the wind was blowing so hard yesterday and the day before that I could hardly stand up....it blew me backward when I was waiting to cross the street downtown last night!!!! But, I see no wind out there today and clear skies! So, I don't care what the actually temp is (she says sitting here dressed in everything she owns with feet warmers glued to her feet and body!)

2007-02-28T13:03:00.000-08:00

HOT AIR BALLOON:
You just never know what you are going to see when you look out the window here at the clinic...moose, skiers, skijorers, dog sleds....and today, two big, bright, colorful hot air balloons floating not 100 yards from the window. Only in Alaska!
Of course, the down side IS the temperature! It is supposed to be 30 below tonight! I can't even imagine that! Yesterday when I came to work it was -3, at noon it was -13 and when I went home it was 11 above. Of course, that was wherever I was when I thought to look at the temperature. There is a huge variation from place to place in the bowl.
There were Northern Lights last night but I missed them! I was tucked in my bed in the basement. Apparently they were low on the horizon and fairly localized to one area...which is, according to my Northern Lights expert, unusual.
I'll stay in touch-if I don't freeze to death tonight!

2007-02-26T21:00:00.000-08:00

FUR RONDY......I went to some fur rondy events on Sunday. I had to work Saturday but I did see some of the dog teams racing across the bridge and down the trail in front of the office (where else but Alaska?).
Check out the site for the history of the event.. also there is a neat web cam. If you check the schedule you can see events on the web cam....4th and D is where it is currently set up and that is where the dog sled races started on Sunday. I think that may be where the Iditarod starts-it would be way cool to watch the dogs and mushers take off from the web cam!!!! All the fun, none of the cold! (If you check out the Iditarod site I think you can watch it from there also-look for me in my big white coat!).
Anyway, we went downtown for breakfast and sat in the window of the cafe and watched the mushers unload their dogs and harness them to the sleds. Then we went and watched some of the teams start (they start at 2 minute intervals).
The dogs get so excited they started howling and whining to get going-when they get harnessed in they will pull against the sled (which is being held back by the musher standing on the break and a snow machine they are hooked to) they are so eager to go some of them have all four feet off the ground...then they pull up to the start and get the countdown...10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...GO and the musher releases from the snow machine and let the dogs go. And boy, do they shoot off the start line!!!
One team was Alaskan Malamutes but the dogs have been bred for speed and other breeds have been introduced...especially hound (which really surprised me). The dogs are like long distance runners-very, very lean! Hardly any look like Huskies or Malamutes.
I also watched the skijoring. This is a sport where the dog is actually harnessed to the skier and he pulls the skier...the skier has to actually ski also! They say any dog that is over 30 pounds can potentially be trained to skijor...lots of people start out with their pets and it is a sport that a lot of people over 50 participate in!!! The funniest thing I've heard is that last year there was a Yorkie entered to skijor (obviously less than 30 pounds)!!!!
German Shorthair Pointers have been introduced as sled dogs and are really popular in skijoring...many of the people that were sking with their dogs also hunted with them...a multipurpose dog for all the seasons of Alaska! RB, I am thinking Hunter might like it up here!
Most of the people up are really rugged and love the outdoors, they also love their dogs...naturally leading to activities where dog and his person work together. In fact, come to think of it, RB, I think you, Kaeli and Hunter would be in heaven!
Well, I have to get ready for tomorrow. I don't have any pictures of the activities (I accidently missed the reindeer races-mostly kids being pulled on sleds) because my camera just couldn't handle the temperatures-I didn't put a warmer in the case which I will do next weekend for the Iditarod and the weekend after that when I go winter fishing in Homer (more on that later).

2007-02-22T22:18:00.000-08:00

Temperature tonight is supposed to be 20 BELOW!!!! We had just a day of snow the last time I blogged and nothing more. I am afraid my love affair with Alaska is becoming somewhat strained. The temperature has fallen into the low single digits to below zero this week but the sun is shining-beautiful outside but who can stand to be out there. I really hate the cold without any snow...and it's in the upper 60s to low 70s in Texas. I am ready to go home-can't wait for the 22nd of March!

2007-02-16T19:50:00.000-08:00

IT"S SNOWING AGAIN!!!!
I am so glad it is finally snowing again! It has snowed all day long in spite of the weather forecast that said scattered snow showers today, light snow tonight and none tomorrow. I am really ready for some snow even though it means slick roads...oh, and just in time the company e-mailed me yesterday that I have to turn my all wheel drive back in for a sedan tomorrow. Oh, well.
I have to say I have some worries about our society. In search of a quick fix since I was tired and didn't have any groceries at the house, I sunk to new lows and went through the drive-in window at McDonald's. (I knew where it was because the otherwise nice view across the lake is ruined by the golden arches shining brightly above it all.) Anyway, I drove up waited a second while the guy in front of me gave his order, pulled up behind him at "the first window", waited just barely long enough for me to get my money out of my pocket, pulled up and paid a very apologetic woman who was "sorry about the wait"....what wait-oh, you mean the 15 seconds? I pulled forward to another attendant who was holding my food out the window (I guess I was supposed to grab it as I drove by without stopping and causing "the wait." I was pondering how we have become a society who can not tolerate any delay in gratification as I pulled out into traffic only to notice the newest Alaska Club (the exclusive chain of workout clubs in Anchorage)...this one is Alaska Club Express! Yes, I have heard the TV ads-they promise to get you in shape with a 30 minute workout as opposed to.....what the hour or so people spend at the fitness club. I used to do that....I really enjoyed it....I had friends that I would work out with...then we might chat....and maybe sit in the hot tub or sauna...and finally gather everything up and return to the real world of jobs and families. And here I thought I was having a good time instead I was wasting tiime!!!! We really need to slow down and taste our food, enjoy our workouts and smell the roses!
Well, that is my rant for the day....gotta work Saturday but plan on posting pics Sunday....
Have a good one!

2007-02-12T16:10:00.000-08:00

House sitting....
It is a beautiful, sunny day here in Anchorage. I am house sitting for a couple of doctors I work with-they have gone to Kona for two weeks-lucky me!
I am in love with the great room-especially the kitchen....and the loft office...and maybe most of all the jacuzzi tub in the master suite!
I am lucky enough to be spending my birthday here...and I am off work. So, I gave myself a little party. I had birthday cake, passion tea (iced) from Starbuck's and some presents-bath stuff and two movies to watch on the humongous TV. My hubby somehow managed to time the arrival of my birthday card for just the right day!
I'm off to the party...Happy Birthday To Me...Happy Birthday To Me....Happy Birthday Dear Me...Happy Birthday To ME!!!!!

2007-02-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

THE WEATHER IS BORRRING:
I am really ready for some snow!!! If this is not the end of winter, and everyone assures me it isn't, then I am ready for some snow! The weather forecast is for the teens at night and the upper 20s to mid 30s in the day. Our only chance of snow is tonight and that is only about an inch. Of course, I have noticed that weather forecasting in Alaska is sort of hit and miss.....but, still I am pretty tired of this weather! I miss the snow!!!

2007-02-04T22:27:00.000-08:00

THE PERFECT DIET-I have discovered the perfect diet. Here is my menu:
Breakfast: Greens and eggs
Midmorning: 1 cup cottage cheese or 1 ounce farmer or mozzarella cheese
Lunch: Meat, beef, chicken or turkey and green beans with dill
Midafternoon: Strawberries or blueberries
Dinner: More beef, chicken and turkey and more greens
Beaverages: Green tea, water, and soda water

Now you may ask, why is that the perfect diet? Here is why: it covers the Adkins diet, the Eating 4 Your Blood Type Diet, The Eat Every 3 Hours Diet, and the PH Balance Diet and the Fasting Diet (after I eat this long enough I will be glad to fast). So, how can you go wrong?

2007-02-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

IT'S A BIG, WILD LIFE.........That's the new logo, or brand, for Anchorage. It's a big, wild life...here I am in Anchorage living a big, wild life!!!!!
Today I went downtown to take pictures of the Children's Ice Sculpture Park. The warm temps last week did some damage to the sculptures but they were still beautiful! At night they have colored lights on them! It's just fabulous but I don't know if I can get good pictures of that.
My camera kept freezing up so I eventually had to stop and go home....my fingers and feet were in agreement with the camera that it was time to call it a day!
Hope you enjoy the pictures!

2007-02-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

THE CHINOOK....The temperature in Anchorage is 48 at 7:30 this morning. It is 33 in Texas with scattered snow. Strange!
Everyone tells me this is a Chinook and not the end of winter. But, there is no high wind...just a light breeze, sunshine and warm weather.

2007-02-01T19:21:00.000-08:00

WEATHER REPORT:
It is a beautiful day in Alaska. The weather the last week has been moderate (here it is referred to as warm but those of you in the lower 48 would probably not agree). The temperatures have been in the upper 30s to mid 40s! The snow is melting. The roads, at least the main roads, are bascially clear. I even saw holes in the ice at two lakes.
Today I went to work in the day light (sort of) and came home in the daylight! It was just beautiful! I had to go for my routine drug screen (every 6 months) so I left later than usual (missed my 6 am water aerobics class!). It was about 8:30 and the sun was rising behind the mountains-they looked like flat black movie backdrops with fake light shining from behind them! When I came out of the Quest Lab place to go to work it was about 9 and the mountains looked normal with all of the snow and hills and valleys...and the sun was higher so the sky was a baby blue with pink whispy clouds-it was just gorgeous!!!
When I left work it was 4:45 and daylight outside-it was probably around 5:30 or 6 before it got dark! Between the mild weather and the increased daylight I have spring fever....I have been assured that it is NOT Spring! Sure feels like it to me!!!
I discovered that if you want to see pictures and not read all the blah, blah, blah you can go to my web album and see all of the web albums I have published (and future ones too) and just look through them without reading the ongoing verbal diarrhea!
Off to my room in the basement where I have a new book and a new friend! Mike sent me the cutest little red monkey with a sign that says "love you"....it is very soft and cuddley! Not a subsitute for my hubby but a nice gift and soft to prop my book on!

2007-01-28T17:29:00.000-08:00

JOHNNY CASH LIVES.....and he is singing in the Anchorage Folk Festival.
The traveler gang, minus Dave and Kathleen, met at the Village this am for breakfast (gotta try the San Antonio skillet-great, I just have them leave off the eggs and add sour cream, salsa and avacado). Afterward we went to the Junior Native Youth Olympics. We saw the stick tug....a game that historically helped strengthen youth to be able to pull seals and walrus out of the water. Two kids sit face to face with the bottom of their feet together and their legs at about 90 degrees bent. They grasp a stick which is centered over their feet. With the signal to pull they each pull (no jerking or twisting) until one is lifted up off the floor or breaks the grip-s/he is the loser. There were other events but it was a double elimination and there were TONS of little kids-my attention span didn't last long enough to see another event. By, the way one was the leg wrestling contest that I must have played a billion times with my sister (and lost every time).
One reason my attention was distracted was that we were just a block from the auditorium where the Folk Festival was being held! I finally left to go there...dragging Jane with me (Kathleen and Gary had a date with a dog groomer). The talent was not the same caliber of Friday night but there were two that really stand out.
One was a gospel trio featuring Johnny Cash (ok, not the real one). This older man played guitar and sang. Half way through the first song I whispered to Jane, "my gosh, he sounds just like Johnny Cash." I thought I would have to do CPR on her when he started singing the last song-yep, it was "Ring of Fire." She just kept looking at the expression on my face and trying not to laugh! I promise-this man was channeling Johnny Cash! Unfortunately, the woman on fiddle decided to sing one song and she was not June Carter Cash! Jane swears it actually hurt her ears to listen to this woman sing!!!! I wanted to send a note back stage to Johnny that he should go solo!!
The other group I really, really liked was a group that meets on Tuesday night at a local cafe to jam-anyone invited. There were a bunch of them-2 mandolins, two guitars, a banjo, and a wash tub (yes, the galvanized steel kind) bass. One of the guitar players sang and he was just great. This made me think of how folk music started in America. I could just see a bunch of neighbors or friends getting together to play and enjoy music. This group represented to me the roots of the music.
I would have loved to stay longer but I decided I better take care of life business-like buying groceries and doing laundry to start the new week.
The weather is mild-by Alaska standards. Things are mushy. Today was beautiful. We are having more light-it is 4:45 and it is light outside, the sun is just setting. I remember making a note that earlier that the sun was setting at 3:30. It is also getting light earlier but I haven't paid much attention to when the sun is coming up.
So, off to steam some red chard for my weeks breakfast-my new favorite breakfast is steamed chard with a boiled egg sliced on top and a slice of bacon crumbled over. Delicious! Of course, since I preparing them ahead of time (no time when you get up at 5 am to make it to 6 am water aerobic class!) the chard tend to dye the egg a rather unpleasant green-oh, well I used to dye BJ's eggs green to make green eggs and ham!
Have a good week and if you get a chance to see the movie, THE SECRET, watch it-wonderful, live affirming, life changing!!!!

2007-01-27T10:58:00.000-08:00

ANCHORAGE IN THE AOL NEWS.........Well, well, well I was just signing on to discuss the weather a bit when I checked my e-mail and found an article about Anchorage's record snow fall. Everything they say is true but when you are here it just seems like no big deal.
I am glad we finally talked them into changing us to SUVs-actually, I have an AWD (all wheel drive, which is not as large as an SUV but better than a Pontiac G-6). The side street I live on had narrowed down to one lane but last weekend they cleared it back to a whole street and the dump trucks hauled off the snow. I guess that's an advantage to living near downtown.
When I go for a walk on a side walk that has been cleared the snow is between shoulder and elbow deep on each side. That does seem rather amazing to me.
I was going to remark on something someone said to me the other day, "you must just run from one building to another." I got to thinking about that and realized I spend more time outside than I did in Texas in the winter. I guess it is what you get used to-and, the length of the winter. At home you are stuck inside, what-maybe 2-3 months? It's actually a nice break...some introspective downtime.
But, in Alaska if you stayed in during winter you would be stuck indoors for more like 6 months. That is a lot different! From the beginning of my arrival here people urged me to find something I like to do outside during the winter and do it! There is a good awareness that staying indoors leads, not only to weight gain, but to depression.
So, I don't know if it is a matter of that realization or just the nature of the folks who choose to live in "the last frontier" but people spend lots of time outside. When I look out the window at work I always see walkers and skiers on the trail across the street (also moose). At noon we walk around the lake (4 moose yesterday) and there are other walkers and skiers there all the time. People are outdoors in all sorts of weather.
Having said that, I will say that my outerwear has consumed much of my attention and money. Thank goodness for the big coat I got for Christmas in 2005-that has pretty much taken care of winter coat issues. Except for the fact that I need something for the rainy times-I bought a fall coat but it isn't as warm as I'd like. I now own wool caps, mittens (much warmer than gloves) and three different shoes/boots (none I am real happy with-the ones that I like best where given to me by another traveler).
So, one just bundles up and heads out into it-and it is a wonder to behold!!!!
Having said that I have decided against Eagle River today. I think that the highway would be ok but the road into the Nature Center is really windy and sometime steep. Instead I am going to walk downtown and take pictures of the ice sculptures. I didn't even realize they were there until I went to the concert last weekend. So, expect pictures (finally) this weekend.

2007-01-27T00:34:00.000-08:00

THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT: Last weekend I spent a fair chunk of change to go to the symphony and hear the violin and the cello and the harp....this weekend, for free, I heard the fiddle, the base (fiddle) and the (mouth) harp. I also heard the mandolin, the hammer dulcimer, the concertina, the banjo, the guitar and the flute. Guess where I was?
I'll give you another hint-instead of tuxes the musicians wore blue jeans, flannel shirts, hiking boots, the women tended toward long skirts...there was more hair in the pony tails the men wore than there was on top of their heads and the women mostly wore long hair parted in the middle or buns.....Yep, you guessed it:
I was at the 18th annual Anchorage Folk Music Festival!!!!!! It lasts all week with music on stage in the evening and workshops the rest of the time.
Sounds mostly different? One thing was the same-the music was fabulous in both instances.
But, I will admit I really enjoyed the laid back, folksey atmosphere of tonight's venue.
There was no way I could sit still in my seat-I found my feet tapping or my hands clapping all night! And no one cared because they were tapping and clapping too!
We started with an acoustic set-Joe Page and friends. Talk about some fine mandolin playing-there were times when this guys hands were a blur! "Friends" brought along a guitar, steel guitar and the ever present base fiddle.
Lynn Marie and The Wobbly Boy with Dawn Lindsey-now that's a name to fit the group. Actually, Lynn Marie was the central figure and she was a fire ball. Little bitty thing, played the accordion and the piano and belted out music with this voice that should have come from a lumber jack! Interestingly, I heard Dawn Lindsey play last week in the symphony-only there her instrument was a violin and tonight it is called a fiddle. The wobbly boy-that's a long story-but he plays a mean guitar and has a fine singing voice.
We had two dance groups-one was a group of young people doing Irish Dancing along the line of Lord of the Dance. GREAT! The second was a group of, shall we say, mature women who were the Anchortown Cloggers-now these ladies were having themselves on good time!!!
Oh, and I have to mention Midnight Starlight-what beautiful, smooth classic jazz!! And the young woman from the University that sang with them easily moved from a sultry Latin number into a voice that reminded me of the great Ella Fitzgerald!!!
Denise Martin performed with the concertina-I have never seen one played. She made it look like the easiest thing in the world. She has a CD coming out called "Laptop"-a play on the fact the concertina is played with keys on a keyboard and held in the lap. Her busband accompanied her on the guitar for most of the reels she did but one included a fiddle and was really lively.
They both appeared later in the night and she was playing the hammer dulcimer-I had never seen one and thought it was a xylophone (sp?) for a minute.
Lost Riders may have been my favorite if I hadn't have liked them all so well! They were Traditional Bluegrass. A woman with a voice to die for on guitar, a mandolin player/singer, banjo player/singer and, once again, the big base fiddle. This group has been asked to go on tour to entertain the troops in Iraq-those guys are in for a real treat.
There was a couple that usually perform independently-she plays "claw banjo" (I think that's what they called it) and he is a singer/song writer on guitar. However, she has a wonderful voice that sounds like it came right out of someplace like West Virginia!
The guest artists were a group of guys, The Improbabillies-one from New York on the banjo (a rather small, slender guy with New York clothes, streaked purplish/red hair and a deep bass voice that is really startling out of that small body!), the main singer who played the mouth harp and was from somewhere in the lower 48, three guys from Anchorage that played the fiddle, the guitar and, of course, the bass. They were really, really good!
So, it was a great night!!!! A welcome end to a rather grueling week that saw me getting home every night at about 8:30!
So, how's the weather you ask??? I have interesting news-it is NOT snowing. In fact, in addition to being beautiful today it got up into the high 30s. Not, actually, something I am excited about. It melts the upper layer of ice and snow on the sidewalks and roads...turns them to slush and guess what-yep, freezes. Tonight will get back down below freezing and I don't believe it is expected to get above freezing the rest of the week.
But, we are supposed to have another nice day and, depending on the roads, I may go out to Eagle River to the Nature Center....it's time for pictures-don't you think?
I'm off to bed to read the program for the Folk Festival and see what else I may want to attend before it's over!

2007-01-23T10:48:00.000-08:00

Today is my PE shift (I really wish they would use another term...it makes me think of phys ed in school and that gives me a stomach ache, along with all sorts of other automatic anxiety reactions!)....which just means I go in at noon. Actually, I start seeing patients at noon. Here they schedule you per the times you have patients. For example, when I work days I work 8-4:30 which is an 8 hour day with a 30 minute lunch break....but my last patient is scheduled at 4:30 and an unlimited number of patients can be scheduled into that slot. On Friday I had no one in my 4:30 spot but one of the other travelers had 9-I went over and helped so he saw 7 and I saw 2 (we finished at 6:30). I am paid by the hour so I don't much care but the regular providers are salary-I'd hate that! And the pay isn't too good so they end up signing up for the Public Health Core (or something like that-they are the Attorney General's uniformed, noncombatant force) which pays much better.

Somehow there is a lack of understanding that if you have a patient at 4:30 and they arrive on time (they are allowed to be 15 minutes late and we still must see them), they have to be checked in up front and then the nurse must pull them back and do her part ...so by the time the provider sees the patient it will be at least 10 minutes past the 4:30 appointment time (and that is only if all goes well). Then after I see the patient I have to complete the chart (they must be completed same day as there are bar codes on the forms that all have to be checked in before the day can close-I know providers that this would KILL). So in reality, all things working on perfect and the patient only having one problem, able to easily are readily express the problem and requires no diagnostics and is an established patient, the best one can do is get out by 5 or 5:30. But, it seems that the easiest patients never wait until the end of the day to come in....it seems to always be the sickest or the most complex in that time slot! Ideal seems to happen only on some management planning sheet.

Another interesting scheduling issue here is that the patient can reschedule repeatedly throughout the day-I have had patients in my 10 am appointment slot who misses that appointment, reschedules for 1, calls and reschedules for 3, no shows that appointment and is see as at 4:30. That is just an example but, talking to other providers, we all experience patients who appear on our schedule two, three or four times in a day before we actually see them at least two to three times weely...or sometime we don't see them at all. Of course, if you have a busy schedule that blocks numerous appointment times during the day for other patients so they get pushed closer and closer to the end of the day (all patients must be seen on the day they want to be seeen).

Oh, and did I mention that we are expected to run our clinics on time....even though the patient can be 15 minutes late and we only have 2 exam rooms?

This is a very patient oriented system and I am all for that-but, I think there has to be a balance. If I were a full time employee with a family working on salary I wouldn't like this very much....even if you don't have the overbooks you never know when you will so there is not a feeling of control over your life....you never know when you will be home in the evenings. I don't even think it is the number of overbooks or how often they occur-I think it is the potential for it everyday giving one a feeling of lack of control. I read once when I was in management that an employee can handle incredible amounts of stress on the job if they have control over their workload whereas the employee who does not have control over the workload can handle very little. I think this is very true!!

Having said all of that-I would love to be a patient in this system. This is amazing-especially considering it is an IHS facility and they have a reputation for poor service. This is cutting edge health care....health care at it's best!!!

It's too bad other health care systems can't be set up like this. The patient gets great service at no charge for visits, procedures, diagnostics or meds...or anything. OPPPPS.....I guess that would be socialized medicine wouldn't it??? Very patient oriented but not very profitable for the provider-well, we will never see that with the powerful AMA lobby.

I'm glad I will be opening my own practice!!! I hope I can provide compassionate care, that is individulized, and gives the client a feeling that they have been heard and empowered in their own healing journey while providing a comfortable income and a good quality of life for me.

OK...on to another subject.......the Nakai concert. I have reflected on the concert. I have decided that the music was good-probably great. It' s just that I am a Carlos Nakai fan and wanted to hear more of him and less of the orchestra. My issue-not one of the composer or conductor (same person). I think the dancers, both modern and native, were really good (the male modern dancer was not as strong as the female but who am I to comment on a grad from the Julliard school who dances all over the world?). It was a good, probably great, symphony-well worth the money I spent! It was R. Carlos Nakai with the Alaska Symphony Orchestra-which means he was a guest muscian. That is exactly what it was!

Guess what? It is snowing today. Most of the snow had blown off the trees and they were once again just evergreen trees but today they are dressing up in a wonderful coat of white again!!! I really do love the snow!

This is a wonderful house from which to watch this funky, eclectic neighborhood! Even with huge flakes of snow falling the streets are alive with people walking back and forth, going about their business. To and from the bus stop, to and from the grocery store, to and from the corner liquor store, to and from the corner drug salesman, to and from the homeless shelter.

Just in writing the above paragraph a man in a dark coat and cap walked by, kind of slumped in this posture and carrying a backpack....and a 30something woman with the posture of a dancer and a bright red coat with her waist length hair exposed to the wet snow. Wouldn't you love to know their stories?

Last Friday on the corner across from the house was a working girl with a barely there top and a less than miro mini (about 12 inches of clothing from the top of the shirt to the bottom of the skirt) coat open to expose it all...working the street. I feel so for her and wonder what dire circumstances landed her in the streets selling her favors for food or booze or drugs.

This is a unforgiving environment for the homeless....it is not unusual for someone to be found dead. For some reason they didn't make it to a homeless shelter...or passed out from the drugs or booze and froze. The homeless shelters try but there isn't enough room-each person is limited to a certain number of days per month in each shelter so they roam from shelter to shelter and try to stay with someone or find someplace in between to make their nights last the full month. One of the shelters has an inner courtyard and when the temp is below 0 they let people sleep in there. Also I think the neighborhood vans that roam around checking on the homeless call the police if they find someone who is passed out or incapable of getting to a shelter and they are hauled to jail for the night. And then there is Beans soup kitchen-they feed all that they can. But, the alcholism nd drug addiction has created a huge population of homeless souls roaming the streets of Anchorage and it is a sad and pitiful situation. I don't know if it is worse than any other big city-probably not. And I am impressed with the services that are put in place to try to help....it's just such a big problem! When I go to water aerobics in the morning at 5:30 or 5:45 there are more people walking on the streets then there are cars....always, day and night, there are people on the streets. In reflection, looking back to the beginning of this blog it is easier to understand why you would need to allow so much flexibility in scheduling when some of your customers come from this population that is just struggling to survive-to make it to the clinic they have to be sure they can get a bus and that they are back at Beans when the meals are served, and at the shelter so they won't loose their spot-thank goodness they can receive free health care if they are lucky enough to be Native.

Oh, well, I better get ready for work! Hope you have a good day with a warm roof over your head, plenty to eat and people who love you!

2007-01-21T20:56:00.000-08:00

Ok...the jury is out on the Carlos Nakai concert. He was wonderful-what I heard of him. The dancers were great but.......I was left with this feeling that once again the loud techno world (represented by the orchestra) drowned out the quiet nature, based world of indigenous man (represented by the flute). That's all I want to say until I read the story behind the symphony and process the experience.
It's snowing again......

2007-01-19T19:14:00.000-08:00

ANCHORAGE WEEKEND:
There is a lot going on this weekend in Anchorage, including:
The annual Alaska Folk Festival
A Celtic/Irish Festival
Some sort of brewery festival/event
The police dogs demonstration
And so much more I can't remember

And my favorite-the multicultural drumming and dancing at the Alaska Native Hertige Center.

BUT....drum roll, please::::: R. Carlos Nakai is in town!!!!

Saturday he is giving a short demonstration of the native flute at the Native Hertige Center (free). Saturday and Sunday he is in concert with a Navajo Dance group and the Alaska Symphony!!!

When I heard this I almost jumped up and down like a teeny-booper groupie!! I have listened to Carlos Nakai for years and years and have many of his cds (and tapes from the old days). What a thrill to have a chance to hear him perform in person!!!! You can't know how excited I am!!!

I heard this good news from the ladies in my water aerobic class and ran straight to the computer to see if there were tickets available....a few for Saturday night and many for Sunday at 4pm. Well, since I have to work Saturday I decided to take myself to the Sunday performance. It was a bit spendy-the tickets were around $32-37....which, frankly, for Nakai I thought was a real deal!

I AM GOING TO HEAR CARLOS NAKAI....I AM GOING TO HEAR CARLOS NAKAI IN CONCERT....I AM GOING TO HEAR CARLOS NAKAI IN CONCERT!!!!!

I'll tell you how wonderful it was on Sunday!

2007-01-15T16:50:00.000-08:00

Another holiday.....yes, I'm home again. It's another holiday, Martin Luther King I believe. Last pay period I only worked 56 hours! I saw this one coming and offered to work next Saturday for the doctor who had center team clinic so I won't lose the days pay!
I went to the Native Heritage Museum film festival on Saturday-at least part of it. I didn't get there until late due to the bathing suit issue, which I am not going to go into again-we've all suffered enough over that problem! Only to mention I bought TWO suits so I won't be caught suitless again!
Anyway, I got there in time to see a couple of shorts and, most importantly, the film I most wanted to see-Mystic Ball. What a wonderful film!!! Gregg Hamilton was there for the screening and received the only standing ovation of the weekend....and it was well deserved. The film is about the game of chinlone, but it is about much more. It is about friendship, love (not the romantic kind) and how this noncompetitive game brings this to people. I said noncompetitive-not easy as it requires great skill!
The other full length feature movie was at the end of the night (scheduled for 9:45 but the festival was running late) but I decided to stay. There were a couple of shorts between the two, including one that was from New Zealand.
But, the final film was Expiration Date and it was also very, very good! I would recommend it also....but, Mystic Ball was by far my favorite even though it was a documentary and the other film was a movie type movie.
This is one of the real advantages to the city- two days of FREE wonderful films introduced by the film maker who then answered questions and hung around after to just talk about their films!
Well, while in the film mode I am going to sign off and watch the Al Gore film with my landlady, Joanne.
News from Texas is that after two or three days or being confined indoors due to ice the sun appeared briefly today and they were able to slowly crawl out to go to the grocery store or whatever. Mike hasn't worked in three days and is still not sure about what tomorrow will bring-I'm glad he had a few days to enjoy. He had my mouth watering talking about what all he cooked-beans (if you've had his beans you're mouth would be watering now too!) and mince meat pie (if you aren't from the south you might not know what that is and most of us from the south haven't had it since the generation before last stopped fixing it!)....if he's said chocolate chip cookies or apple pie I might be highjacking a plane now! (Oh, I guess I better be careful saying something like that-I might get thrown in jail under the Patriot Act!)
Happy Martin Luther King day!

2007-01-12T21:52:00.000-08:00

Crazy weather....you'd think I was in Texas. The first of the week it was -23 and tonight it is 31! On some of the more heavily traveled roads I actually saw solid yellow and broken white lines tonight (mixed in with slush). There is also a tsunami alert out for much of coastal Alaska...apparently there was an earthquake somewhere in or around Russia which was an 8 on the earthquake scale. This could lead to tsunami in some part of Alaska.
The best laid plans, etc, etc, etc....I didn't finish at work until 7:30, Kathleen has had 10 hours of sleep in the last 72 due to her Urgent Care schedule and Jane passed on waiting for me so we didn't have dinner tonight at our Friday place. I'm really glad, I was just too beat after 11.5 hours of work!
Besides I didn't sleep last night-I was up half the night trying to decide if I was desparate enough to keep the swimsuit I ordered-it arrived yesterday and was just horrible. I didn't want to miss water aerobics because my knees have been absolutely normal until I missed 4 days and the last day they started to hurt again. So, I obsessed: keep the horrible suit, wear the one with the butt worn out, miss aerobics. Finally, I decided to wear the old one and go to aerobics....so, I woke up at 3:30 and couldn't go back to sleep-I guess I was afraid I would miss the class! Good Night!!!! People tell me to watch out for the winter crazies-I don't know if this is what they are talking about but that's pretty crazy!!!
That said-it was heavenly to be back at class!
Tomorrow it is swim suit shopping day-I HATE to shop. Believe it or not it is not that hard to find swim suits in the middle of winter in Alaska-Wall-Mart has them, Fred Myers has them (they just don't have the right size for Goddess sized women). The deal is that tons of people go to Hawaii in the winter-like almost everyone you talk to!
Ok...I've obsessed over the swim suit issue enough. I'm off to my warm bed (well, sort of warm) with a cup of hot tea)!

2007-01-11T21:30:00.000-08:00

A LUNCH TIME WALK ABOUT: If you've been reading the blog you are aware that I have been moaning and groaning about my mid day walks-actually, they are a great break in the day and it is beautiful....but, I do want to get full credit for getting out there in the minus 11 temperature (although today it was more like 12 and I was pulling off my gloves, my hat and unbuttoning by coat).
It was warm enough today to take the camera out-so I took a few pictures. As usual I am disappointed in my inability to capture what I am seeing!
I hope you enjoy the pictures. I am not sure I will be snow shoeing this week so no change of scenery...
The Native Heritage Museum is having the Native Film Festival this weekend and it just sounds to good to pass up. So, right now the plans are:
Friday night-out with the travelers to Sullivans in downtown Anchorage. We love to eat in the bar-the bar menu is cheaper (no food in Alaska is cheap). They have a to die for salad, great beef tips and deserts that I won't even talk about!
Saturday-the Native Film Festival (check out the list of films and their descriptions). Maybe all day there (well, except for my yoga class-can't miss that!)??? This is probably something I'll do by myself although I have met a real nice, real interesting soul sister person, Cathy, that is a case manager in the clinic. She will meet me there for some of the films. We especially want to watch Mystic Ball...supposed to be excellent!
Sunday-a party in Eagle River at some friends of Cathy's. This will be a new experience....it is an olive oil tasting party. Apparently someone has a friend who has added olive trees to her grape vines in her Somona Valley vineyard. She is trying to market her oil so we are all taking our favorite oil and challenging her!

2007-01-11T10:42:00.000-08:00

THE MORNING COMMUTE: The first thing I noticed when I walked out the door this morning was that it was WARMER! I checked the time and temp at the bank and it was 11 degrees!! The second thing I noticed was that the one inch of snow predicted for last night didn't happen-there was a slight dusting of snow on the windshield that was easily brushed off with my handy brusher/scrapper.
On the way to work I was thinking about the things I appreciate about the morning commute in Anchorage and the things I miss about the commute in Texas.
First, I miss line dividers...you know, those solid yellow or broken white things that tell you that you are in the correct place in the road...I really miss those! We sort of take them for granted until they disappear beneath several inches of ice-to reappear, I suppose, in March-April-May ("it depends" according to my handy team in the clinic).
I also miss zipping down the relatively empty highway between Snyder and Trent at 70 miles an hour without worrying about slipping, slidding, or otherwise ending up in a 6 foot snow bank! It took me 60 minutes to commute 60 miles....here it takes me 15 minutes to go the 5 miles to water aerobics at the YMCA....with my knuckles white and my shoulders tense. So much for doing all of my phone calls and catching up with friends on the commute like I did in Texas.
Now, the things I appreciate about the Anchorage commute. You understand that Anchorage is a "big city." What do you notice about big city traffic! Lots of horn honking.....something that you just don't hear in Anchorage. These are without a doubt the nicest, most considerate commuters I have ever driven with! They understand that a blinker means you need to change lanes and they slow down so you CAN!
I imagine that all of the drivers in Anchorage get frustrated with my slow driving...but, in actuality, no one has ever honked or otherwise been rude or impatient. And this is something you don't see commonly-several times I have seen both lanes of traffic backed up for a couple of blocks, slowly creeping up to the light and waiting and waiting and waiting. Then here is a car wanting out of a parking lot. The drivers wait and let the car in-I used to try and avoid these situations, sure I will never get in the traffic-no need to worry, just put your blinker on and in you go! But, here is the real shocker!!! The first time I saw someone trying to cross both lanes to go the opposite direction I thought, "good luck, buddy." I was the one in for the surprise-both lanes of traffic stopped and let the car go through and onto the other side of the road. I have seen this repeated enough times now to know it was not just an accident-it's those Alaska drivers!
Yesterday, however, was the highlight of my "driver watching".....I was waiting in line for the light to change (I think I sat through the light 5 or 6 times before I made it). This little car two lanes over suddenly jumped forward in a strange way so I looked over to see what was up and noticed a truck backing up. I realized that maybe the truck had rear ended the little car so I kept watching (it gets really boring sitting at red lights)....sure enough the lady in the truck got out and then the guy in the car got out. He was laughing! I heard him say, "It's just a little bruise....don't worry about it....have a good evening." All the while laughing. They both got back into their vehicles and moved on....yep, these Alaska drivers are something. You wouldn't see that in Dallas-probably not even in Abilene!
So, enjoy your morning commute-I might be afraid to sip my coffee, change the radio station, or, heaven forbid, use the cell phone....but, I will enjoy sharing the road wtih those Alaskan drivers.

2007-01-09T18:59:00.000-08:00

Went on the noon lunch walk today- 45 minutes in -12 degree temperature! Interesting things happen at that temperature...for example, your eyelashes get a build up of frost and you get beautiful spikey white eyelashes. But, important information: you must not mess with them until they thaw because they will break off....same with the frosty hair!!
Very, very cold here-everyone tells me this is colder than usual for a longer time than usual with more snow then usual-hummmmm. I figure the summer must be really beautiful for people to actually be living here!
I'm thinking of taking my camera tomorrow on the walk because it is so beautiful. But, the camera doesn't work real well at those temps...and 45 minutes is a long time to have it out...so we'll see.
I'm off to my room to read a book Joanne just gave me-Dancing Naked at the Edge of Dawn. Sounds interesting!

2007-01-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

SUN DOG...... Do you know what a sun dog is? Didn't either until today. Beautiful!!! It is a partial rainbow caused by the ice crystals in the air. The one I saw today was like a pillar of color rising from the horizon straight up into the air. I heard that some time there is one on each side of the sun and sometime surrounding the sun. It was really beautiful, so was the sparkling ice crystals moving through the air-like it was snowing glitter. But it is God Awful Cold!!!!! Supposed to be minus 25 tonight....my love affair with Alaska is being challenged!

2007-01-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

I channeled my inner turnip (round, white and living underground) and have returned. I watched 8 mindless comedies, drank heavily (a six pack plus two 20 ounce bottles of diet Pepsi), ate birthday cake (you can buy it by the piece at Fred Myer-don't even have to have a birthday) and peanut M&Ms. Hopefully that stage of my life has passed.
It is cold, very cold. I have provided an interesting weather link. Check out the temps for today and tonight! But, no snow. NORA weather people say sun today but I don't see anything out this window that resembles sun. Of course, it is only 10:13 and sunrise isn't until 10 today-maybe the sun is running behind schedule!
Stay warm!

2007-01-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

The life of a vegetable: Here are some more pictures of snow and my neighborhood. I am imitating a vegetable today and vegetables don't blog so that's all I have to say.

2007-01-06T22:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Saturday.....I am laying low today. Went to yoga class today and then to the great massage place where you lay on these really fabulous massage tables for free...I am going to link you to this site as soon as I find it so you can find a place near you-it's a wonderful experience!
Then I bought a hamburger, the second one I've had since coming to Alaska, and rented some movies. Oh, I also bought a six pack of Diet Pepsi-only a six pack! I am giving in to the urge to become one with all things vegetative. I think it is a premordial urge to hibernate. I have tried to resist but this one weekend I am giving in!!! I have checked out totally mindless, chick flick, romantic comedies and one film with the Dali Lama.
I am going to post some pics also this weekend but they are pretty boring-the neighborhood. All of the others have been at night so I thought I'd post some in the daylight. I haven't been getting out much-it's so cold and I really don't have clothes for this!
But the best thing that has happened this weekend is that laura g. signed on to the blog. What an interesting site! What an adventuresome woman! What awesome photography of Alaska! Check out her site and be sure and click on the list on the right where it says "another cool Alaska adventure" or something like that! Wow!!!
Oh, did I mention that it is snowing?

2007-01-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

IT'S A BIG 'UN...

The bike is almost covered and the cars I've posted before are just big piles in the snow. We had over a foot of snow yesterday! Even the Alaskans are saying this is A LOT of snow!!! The totals for December were almost triple!
Yesterday was the worst day I've had here-the snow was so deep and falling so heavily. I had to go to the dentist at 1:30 and I was actually happy to get to the dentist and crawl into the torture chair (to be fair he was the nicest guy and didn't hurt me at all!)
It was so bad going there-the windshield wipers kept freezing up and then I couldn't see out! And everything was white: the falling snow, the roads, the piles of snow next to the road. Everything just sort of blended together. Then I got stuck trying to turn into the dentist's parking lot. I would have to get out and scrape my rear windshield so I could see well enough to back up....I'd back until I was stuck again and then I'd go forward, then I'd get out and scrape again, then back again, then forward, the out and scrape...until I managed to get out. (It's not actually scraping-it's brushing the snow off because it was falling so fast it would obscure the view out the window that quickly!) I didn't try to get into the parking lot again!!! I parked next door and waded through snow above my ankles to the dentist office. I had wet shoes, wet socks and wet pants....talk about COLD!
After the dentist I decided there was no way I could drive back across town (the dentist turned out to be just a few blocks from the house)....so, I just went home. I was gonna shovel snow but it was so deep it was really not fun-so, Joanne went out to do it. But, luck struck...the workers across the way offered to plow it with their pickup and snow blade if they could park here during the day....DEAL!! They did everything, except where the two cars are parked...not just the drive in and out!
The moon was full last night so I took a walk-it was just beautiful. I took some pictures but it is kind of hard to tell the moon from the snow flakes falling!!! See if you can find the moon!
Anyway, after the walk I discovered the most wonderful food treat!!! It's Brown Cow cream on top chocolate yogurt----it is as good as a fancy resturant desert (and has as many calories!). Oh, but is it to die for!!!!
Today dawned with no snow and intermittent sunshine! It also brought a new car for me!!! We finally convinced the company that we needed 4 wheel drive-YEAH! I am now driving an all wheel drive Equinox-red. Even though I did slide sideways across Tudor (like a really main street) shortly after I picked it up, I think it will be better!
Well, it's off to bed with me-5 am comes really, really quick and I haven't packed my bag!

2007-01-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

GUESS WHAT????
Yep, it's snowing again! We had 32-36 inches of snow in the month of December. It's snowing like crazy now and we are supposed to have a foot of snow today. Then no snow after late afternoon until Saturday but the temps are falling into the VERY COLD range-I'm talking zero to minus 10!!! Wierd-you'd think I was in Alaska!

2007-01-01T10:53:00.000-08:00

2007.....the new year is here! I did see the new year in after all. I had just turned the lights off when I heard Joanne come in so I got up and we had a glass of wine and some to die for chocolate mint cookies while we watched the neighbor set off illegal fireworks!
Yesterday I went down to the lagoon and watched the skaters for a while. I tried skating once when BJ and I lived in Iowa-didn't like it then and don't plan on trying it now. But, it was fun to watch. I especially liked to watch the mother and father teaching the little one to skate-I included a picture but you can't hear their frequent words of encouragement: "you're doing good...that's right...good job." There was a black dog pulling his kids around the ice-I think he was having more fun than the kids. The little girl in red looked like a bright cardinal on the ice-she was accompanied by a grandfatherly looking man who appeared not to be skating but stood near the edge of the ice. She stayed very close, not venturing far from her saft harbor. There were many groups of all ages with their ice hockey equipment playing and talking. And of course the couples skating together and talking together. I missed the group pulling a little one on a bright yellow sled-that was so colorful!
As I took pictures of the skaters there were skiers and walkers and joggers passing by on the coastal trail between me and the lagoon. Alaskans are an outdoor bunch and they don't let a little cold weather slow them down. To prove that I included a picture of the couple with their baby. The babies are bundled up like mad and then enclosed in the stroller. Start 'em young!
Well, I am going to put on some laundry (yep, the mundane chores of life go on even here) and then get out amongst 'em. Just gonna walk today-one day there might be pictures of me skiing or snow shoeing....but, don't expect me on skates, won't happen!

2006-12-31T21:37:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR.....well, ok, it's a little early-at least in AK where it is 8:37. It's 11:37 in Texas as I write this and the evening of January 1 in New Zealand. I am not even real sure what time it is in California-maybe 9:37. We are a spread out bunch!
I kind of went wild earlier this evening-I celebrated the evening with a DIET PEPSI. Oh, my gosh...did it ever taste good! I know I gave those up for a really good reason and I am not going to start the habit again...but, I'll tell you it was bliss. And I had way too much white chocolate cherry bread.
Then I gave myself a good shake and settled back down into being a responsible adult! I called Mike and had a nice long talk with him.
Then I curled up on the couch and watched the most inspiring "movie" I've seen in a very long time....it was The Secret. As they were rolling the credits I heard a noise and ran to the window to see the start of the most beautiful fire works display! It was wonderful! Like you see on TV. The fireworks were continuous and they filled the sky with ever color you can imagine! The timing seemed perfect-at the end of a movie that needed to end with fireworks! (Run, don't walk to your nearest DVD store and get this movie-it can change your life!).
The fireworks here were timed to start at midnight in New York so by 8:30 they were over. A good thing for those of us who won't make it until midnight.
I just finished a nice long chat with Brandon in New Zealand via the wonders of Skype. That is always a pleasure-he has the wisdom of an old soul. I am truly blessed to have such a son!
And that blessing is multiplied by his cute and funny wife and now a new little soul on the way!
Yesterday during my reading the psychic said I had lots of guides around me and they were laughing and joyful....that is how my life feels to me. Full of joy and gratitude for friends, family, the beauty of Mother Earth and the blessings of my path!!!
I am looking forward with such joy and excitment to this New Year of 2007-a new grandbaby, a summer in Alaska, a trip to New Zealand to see the kids and the new baby, and the birthing of my new business!
So, as I sit here looking out the windows of this wonderful old home, watching the people walk by, listening to the cat snore, I am filled with gratitude and am wishing you and yours
A VERY HAPPY, JOYFILLED, NEW YEAR OF 2007-MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS BE REALIZED AND YOUR LIFE FILLED WITH GOOD FOOD, GOOD FRIENDS, AND GOOD TIMES!!!!
(check back tomorrow for pictures of ice skaters at the lagoon)

2006-12-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

Guess What the Weather is Doing??? I
f you guessed snowing you would be right! I am learning the weather people always seem about 48 hours behind on the forecast...they forecasted a blizzard with 8 inch snow fall a couple of days ago but it we've only had scattered flurries. That is until I got out this evening to go to a reading I had scheduled-the blizzard hit while I was on New Seward Highway....very scary, for a time I couldn't see anything! However, with the help and protection of my angels and guides I made it to my destination!!! By the time I finished with my reading it had settled to a slow and steady snow fall!
I am now sitting in this wonderful and cozy house eating reindeer sausage, drinking a little dark ale and chatting with you while I watch the snow. I have a treat waiting for after the sausage-white chocolate cherry bread from the bread bakery!!! Thank goodness they only make it at Christmas!!
I'm brewing a little tea (a Christmas present from Betty!) to go with it.
For those of you who aren't into my woo-woo side you can sign off now-for the rest of you I have to share something from my reading. The psychic said I had lots of guides around me and they were laughing and joyfully sharing in the fun I am having. The snow and the beauty of Alaska has brought me much joy!
The second thing I will share briefly is that I was very much encouraged to move forward with recommittment to my dream to open my own business when I return home. Spirit even named the business in the drive home in the snow-Hygiea Healing Center or The Hygiea Center (not sure which). I had to laugh at the name when it was given to me because that was the name of our student health center at TWU when I was in undergrad school. There is something about my bringing the ancient healing ways together with modern medicine to help people in their journey toward wellness of body, mind and spirit. That is all I got but I was happy with it as a start!
The card portion of the reading indicated this was in the incubation stage and it was suggested that I pick up a book on small business for dummies or something. I did and I am looking forward to studying it! I might even take a course.
Changing subjects-it is just beautiful outside! The snow is so light! You can almost blow it off the car with your breath...and it is so white, it glitters as it lays on the ground under the streetlight.
So, I lift my ale in a toast to all of you...wishing you were here to experience the beauty and grandeur of the last frontier!!! As always I am missing you and sending lots of loving energy your way.

2006-12-28T09:17:00.000-08:00

Gettin' in shape......I woke up again this morning at 5 to go to the YMCA for the water aerobics class. I actually enjoyed today. It's all in the equipment! Yesterday I had to haul everything around in my arms and I was grossed out by the floor...after work yesterday I set out to find a gym bag and some shoes. So, this morning I was all outfitted with my bag I packed last night and my new red crocs. Made everything much easier-I only made one trip to the car and I was ready to go!
Also it might have helped that I started the car ahead so it was warm...and I got in the sauna and warmed up after coming out of the pool...and it was 23 instead of 0 degrees outside. Being warm helps!
Broke my tooth this morning so I had to ask around for the name of a dentist. So, now I have to go to a new, unknown dentist and you know how terrified I am of dentists!!! This is veryyyy, veryyy traumatic....I wish I could fly home and let Dr. Hoffer take care of me!