All Sugared Up!

The kids are all sugared up and back to school today. The creepy crawlies are all packed up and put away. There is a light snow falling, and we are anticipating our Thanksgiving feast. Every year, on this one day, I make cornbread dressing, broccoli cornbread, turkey, pumpkin pie, etc. and we gorge ourselves. Every year, when it's all done, I say "Why do I only make these certain things only for Thanksgiving? I should make them more often." Then I forget about it until next Thanksgiving, and we start all over again. I guess that would be our Thanksgiving tradition. Everyone has to have one, I suppose. Everyone also has their scary Halloween story to share. Here is mine. I went to sleep late on Halloween night. Around 2 am, I woke to a rustling sound. It was at the foot of the bed. Rustle, rustle, quiet. Rustle, rustle, quiet. I got up and checked it out. I snuck around the foot of the bed and peeked. There in the darkness... was Tink, our resident one-year-old troublesome cat. She had stolen one of the attachments to Jess' new hairdryer, and was trying to peel the protective plastic bag away from it. I took it from her, tossed it in the bathroom drawer, and went back to bed. About an hour later, I woke to another rustling sound. This, too, was coming from the foot of the bed. I was a little less cautious this time. Tink was now gnawing on a wadded up dollar bill. (Jess empties her pockets out onto her bathroom counter before bed, and assumes it will all be there in the morning.) Grumbling something about teenagers and stupid cats, I threw it onto Jess' desk and headed back to bed. My husband mumbled something to the effect of "Stop playing with the cat and go to bed." I mumbled something of an appropriate response, and went back to sleep. About 5 am, I woke again. There is a lump under the comforter at the foot of the bed. There is a small, furry creature under the comforter with it's two front legs wrapped around my right calf, claws extended into my skin. I debate for a few seconds on what to do. Pain vs. the need for sleep. Then teeth join the party. I instinctively jerk my leg. Big mistake. Claws and teeth clamp down harder. Then claws and teeth start to work their way up my leg. I am now wide awake, trying to get up without moving my leg. When evil creature reaches my knee, I can now reach her head and shoulders. I grab anything with fur and yank it up and out of the blankets. Husband tells me once again to stop playing with the cat and go to sleep. Ugh! SHE IS NOT EVEN MY CAT! WHY DOES SHE ONLY DO THIS TO ME? I threaten evil fur ball with declawing and deteething, and toss her out of bed. She wanders off to to enjoy a leisurely breakfast before going to sleep. Her work is done.

Sunrise at Six Mile Lake

The sun is rising a little later every day. I went out to Six Mile Lake on the back side of base yesterday morning a little after 9 am. I was planning on taking pictures of the sunrise on the lake, but I got a little distracted. Not far after I went around the flight line, I happened upon a bull moose. It was dark, so the pictures are grainy, but he is a handsome gentleman, just the same.
He had already crossed the road when I got near him, and didn't stick around for very long. He entered the trees and quickly faded away. I continued on my quest for sunrise pictures, but as I approached the lake, this majestic creature was also enjoying the scenery. He was perched high in a tree beside the lake, looking for breakfast. He didn't have any luck while I was there, but maybe things worked out for him later on. The lake was frozen over, so fish were not one of his options. By the time I actually started taking pictures of the lake, the sun had risen. That's OK. It was still beautiful. This is one of my favorite places on base.

Maybe some day soon, I'll start out a little earlier and see if I can get the actual sunrise. It really is beautiful, with it's pinks and purples reflecting off of the mountains.

Happy Halloween.

Sue Henry

If you are interested in reading some great murder mystery novels about Alaska, pick up a book by Sue Henry. She lives here in Anchorage, and has written a great series of books based on the adventures of a local Iditarod musher named Jessie Arnold from Wasilla, AK. The stories all take place here in Alaska, and Ms. Henry is a very descriptive writer. The first in the series is Murder on the Iditarod Trail. I've read the whole series, and they are all definitely a good read. This author also has another series about RV enthusiast Maxie McNabb. She is a feisty older lady who lives in Homer, AK, during the summer, but spends the rest of the year traveling around the lower 48 in her RV with a Dachshund named Stretch. She seems to attract trouble, because she (like her friend Jessie Arnold) is always involved in some murder mystery. I am currently reading The Refuge.

I'm Still Here...Just Hibernating!

Lately, it's been work, work, work, school, work, work, work, school, etc........ I did have a lovely phone chat with Dajana on Friday :0) and that made my week much better. I spent Friday running around trying to catch up on errands (and of course, back to the school again). Friday night, I curled up on the couch with a cup of hot green tea and my fleece moose blanket that Mindy made me, and went on strike. Nothing but watching mind numbing television until I went to bed. Everyone needs that once and a while. The rest of the weekend was filled with trying to clean this much neglected house, and wash a mountain of laundry.

Russ and I took a nice walk through the woods near our house yesterday. Most of the leaves are gone and there is a light dusting of snow on the ground. Just enough to crunch under your feet. It was a great break from the regular hustle and bustle of the week.

26 Glacier Cruise

Since my schedule of late doesn't allow a lot of time to take pictures, I thought I'd share these from a few summers ago. If you ever get the chance, take a boat ride in Alaska. We went on the 26 Glacier Cruise out of Whittier, and it was fantastic. Alaska is one of the few remaining wilderness areas in the United States. The majority of the state can only be seen from a boat or a plane. We were lucky to see quite a lot of wildlife on the cruise. The harbor seals were chilling out on the ice. There were also tons of sea otters swimming around and playing. They were a little more cautious than the seals, and didn't let the boat get too close to them.

Pictures just can't capture the massive size of the glaciers. They made our big boat look like a little toy. Occasionally, part of the glacier calves off and falls into the water. There were big chunks of ice floating all around that had already fallen off.

Between the train and the cruise, it's hard to decide which mode of transportation is my favorite here. They are both fantastic. I will offer this bit of advise, though. As part of the cruise, they haul in a piece of glacial ice out of the water and chop it up. Then they let the passengers each get a little chip and taste it. The passengers loved this, because they could now tell the people back home "I ate part of a glacier in Alaska!" Very impressive... until I got home and checked out my pictures. When I blew up some of the pictures, I noticed that one of the harbor seals was "relieving herself" on the ice. This was not the chunk that people were eating, but who is to say some other seal didn't flavor that one at some point. Just something to think about if someone every offers you a glacier chip in Alaska. Just say no!

Snow & Ice

I was driving home from work Friday afternoon, and hit a patch of ice while turning a corner. I lost traction and started sliding to the left instead of turning to the right. I did my part: I stomped the brake to the floor and went "UGHHHHHHHH!" Apparently I didn't pronounce it right, because I kept sliding and ended up on the curb. Nothing major, no damage done, and I backed up and went on around the corner. In my defence, I was doing a whopping 5 mph at the time. Clearly not my fault. Then I did what every good wife should do. I went home and said, "Can you put my snow tires on the van? I slid into a curb." Big mistake. Now I am the recipient of an instructional speech on how to drive on icy surfaces. It involved percentages, physics and braking vs. turning. I didn't get it all, but nodded when I felt I should of. Apparently I passed the test, and the snow tires went on. Now I am raring to go.

Wind Gusts

We have a "wind advisory" today, warning us that the winds are blowing around 30 miles per hour, with wind gusts at around 85-95 mph. Our instructions are to use caution and care when driving around. In Florida, they would yell "Hurricane!" and tell us to secure our belongings and get out of town! Wimps! :0) In Alaska, it's just a little wind, no biggie. Maybe we should get out the kites.