The fabulous weather continues and we have been having record high temps. We were outdoors pretty much all weekend. Here are some pictures from our trip out to the glacier Sunday evening. The kids just had to go wading and then some...
The weather has been too nice to blog. Record high temps have us all out side playing in the sunshine. Wish you were here!
July is a crazy month around here. We start off with Zman's birthday (Happy Birthday sweetie!) followed by the 4th of July craziness. My brother D's birthday is also on the 4th so we get double the fun and then we have a couple of days until Princess's birthday rolls around. Then it's the annual pack up everything, including the kitchen sink, and head down to Oregon for some quality shopping time... hum, I mean quality time with Zman's family of course. We seem to lump everything together in our family as we have similar craziness from mid-December through mid-January. I guess it's better than having something every weekend all year long... if I can survive the crunch, I get some down time in August.
The 4th is a BIG deal in Our Town and the festivities start around 4:30pm on the 3rd and run straight through all day on the 4th. Fireworks are set off at Midnight on the 3rd downtown and we always hang out at my mom's house all evening and then walk across the street to the beach to watch the show at 11:45 pm (I'm a wimp for standing out in the rain all night) This year we left Zboy home with my Uncle, figuring that trying to keep him up until the show, and then dealing with the aftermath the next day, just wouldn't be worth the trouble... Plenty of time for fireworks in the future. I didn't bring the camera this year, but they were the same as last year and I was board about 15 minutes in and ready to leave to beat the traffic. Unfortunately, the girls were REALLY into it this time around, so we stayed throughout the whole thing and only some strategic parking on Zman's part saved us from the inevitable traffic jam.
We were home by 1am and in bed by, oh, about 1:02am. The next day, or later that same day, we headed back downtown for the big parade. 
Our Town turns this into one big street fair with vendors selling food and games for the kids. We have OUR spot, right in front of my office, where we sit every year but we got such a late start this year that it was already taken when we got there and we had to make due with a hard curb instead of a grassy knoll. Oh well! Zboy loved all the people and ran up and down the street waving a everyone. (This was fine as long as no one waved back, as soon as they did he'd have to run and hide behind my legs.) He also stole his sister's flag and had a grand time marching up and down the street waving it as if he were the entire parade himeself.
Then came the parade! It always starts with huge firetrucks (Ruck! Ruck!) and police cars with lights (CAR! CAR!)
and from then on the parade had his FULL attention. My favorite part was when the firemen threw candy to the kids and Zboy really got into chasing the candy, picking it up, and throwing it back at them! I laughed so hard I could barely breath. The poor kid will never live that down when he's older! He did, eventually, discover the yumminess of a random jolly-rancher, that he opened all by himself, and I think I spent the whole time he was sucking on it waiting anxiously for him to choke and me having to do the Heimlich Manuver on him... 
Luckily, all was well! Even finding out that the stuff they were throwing was, in fact, candy didn't stop my little guy from pitching it back at the poor parade participants, much to the amusement of all those around us. (You see that little scrunchy spot between between my eyes there? That's going to be a permante wrinkle in no time if my kids have any say the matter... and they work hard at it!) It's amazing to think that at this time last year we were still waiting to go to court to offically be this boy's family and now, this year, he watched the parade from my arms as a new American Citizen.
...cruise ship season that is. Today the very first ship of the season cruised in and now we get to spend the next 5 months dodging starry-eyed tourists, listening to the fleets of float planes flying by, watching the flocks of helicopters, and answering some very, very stupid questions.
Standing on the docks:
Tourist (just off cruise ship) - "So, how far above sea level are we here?"
Local (looking over edge of dock) - "Well, looks to be about 12 feet."
Can you tell from my last post that I'm really getting tired of the snow? I know, I know... people who live in Alaska shouldn't throw stones complain about the weather... but you know what? Enough is enough. I'm done with snow for a while. Bring on the sunshine and temperatures over 40 degrees. I don't ask for much but at some point, if I don't get a little warm weather, I'm going to snap and run off to Hawaii with my kids. Hell, I may just do that anyway because I'm sick to death of sitting around in the dark!
Why the dark you ask? Well, all this fun, heavy, wet, spring snow started a catastrophic avalanche that took out all the power transmission lines from our hydro electric dam to town. This means that until the power company can get them fixed, 3 months at least, our whole town is being powered by diesel generators. Anyone looked at the cost of gas these days? They are hiking our electricity rates by 500% to cover the cost. Yeah, FIVE HUNDRED PERCENT! We went from 11 cents a kilowatt to over 50 cents. Our bill just jumped from $200 a month to over $1000.
See...I can afford to go to Hawaii, as long as I shut off all power to my house while I'm gone.
When I moved to Alaska, 8 years ago, I had never driven in snow. We moved up here from Oregon in February and got a crash course, literally, in winter driving. I think I was towed out of more snow berms that winter than everyone else in Alaska, combined. I won't even mention Zman's little guard-rail insident...
The weather here can be brutal. It's quite common that it will snow, then rain, then freeze, causing what I like to call the car-skating effect. Here is a little taste of what I mean.
Today
Mostly cloudy. Locally breezy. Highs around 13. Northeast wind 15 to 25 mph. Strongest winds out of interior passes.
Tonight
Mostly cloudy. Lows 9 below zero ranging to 3 above zero. East wind 15 to 20 mph. Wind chill to 35 below zero late.
Wednesday
Partly cloudy. Breezy. Highs around 15. East wind 25 mph. Wind chill to 30 below zero in the morning.
Wednesday Night
Mostly clear. Breezy. Lows 2 to 10. East wind 25 mph. Wind chill to 20 below zero.
Thursday
Mostly sunny...Breezy. Highs around 19. East wind 15 to 25 mph. Wind chill to 20 below.
but not quite!
We had lovely sunny fall weather here today so we decided to pack up our new stroller, and the kiddos, and head out to one of our favorite trails that edges on some breathtaking wetlands. We didn't see much wild life today, only a couple of falcons and a bald eagle, but the views were amazing.
Zman and I decided that we must not get out as much as we need to since the baby has been home because Princess spent 80% of the time running ahead of us and shouting "I'm Free!!" and "Liberty!" at the top of her lungs. We played in the water for a while and climbed around on an huge old log. Smiley protested greatly when we wouldn't let him play on the ground and eat the rocks and pebbles. He spent almost all of his time out of the stroller trying to throw himself out of our arms. I bet we are really going to have fun on this walk next spring when he's mobile.
Cookie waffled between wanting to be the baby hang out with mom and wanting to be big and run with her sister. On the way back both girls engaged in a rousing game of imaginary baseball; hitting home runs and running the bases all the way back to the car. I know they'll both sleep well tonight!
Here are some pictures of our day. Sorry the picture quality sucks, my camera is having issues so these were all taken with Zman's cell phone camera. It gets the job done I guess. I'm getting a new camera as an early Christmas/Birthday gift so if anyone has a recommendation for a high quality compact digital camera (that won't break our already strained bank account) please let me know! I still owe you Halloween pictures but those are all on my camera so until I can dig out my card reader they'll just have to wait.
I know it's fall when the kids start cycling through strange illnesses on a bi-weekly basis. This week's special was a high fever with a side of headache. The fever came and went but headache stuck around for the duration. As far as childhood illnesses go it was mild. No vomiting, no spots, no snot. Of course as a conscientious mommy (read - spastic hypochondriac)the high fever with headache had me on the watch for meningitis and I annoyed my children endlessly by asking if they has stiff necks... Luckily the baby didn't get this one and I'm crossing my fingers that it stays that way. We have enough to deal with with trying to keep his asthma under control right now.
On to other things...
Today is trash day at our house and like all good Alaskans we don't out our garbage out until at least 7 am on the morning of pickup to avoid having bears come shmorgusboard on our trashy leftovers. This morning Zman took the garbage to the curb at 7:45 am and the trash truck came at 8:15 am. This is what happened in between...
Yup! Princess was late for school because we had to pick up all of our trash of the driveway. *sigh* At least it wasn't the d@mn ravens this time!
Since we live in the land of the midnight sun (well, almost) it's very hard to get enough darkness to enjoy a fireworks display during the summer months. Of course conversely, the fireworks for New Years can be held at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. To combat this little problem our town began the tradition of having its fireworks display at midnight on the 3rd…well, I guess that it's technically the 4th at midnight. This allows enough darkness to see the fireworks although, as you can see from this picture of last years show, it's not totally dark out even then.
We have made it a family tradition to head over to my mom's house at 8pm and hang out there eating good food, watching stupid movies, playing games, and trying desperately to keep the kids awake long enough to see the fireworks. Then at 5 to Midnight we wrap their jammy clad bodies up in warm blankets and run across the street to a great look out point 50 feet above the water with a killer view of all of downtown and the fireworks.
The show usually goes for about 30 minutes and we then immediately run back to our strategically parked cars and head out at top speed to try and beat the other 20 thousand folks who are shortly going to be clogging up the roadways. We get home around 1am and carry the then sleeping children into bed and collapse ourselves only to get up early the next day so we can head downtown again for the parade.
The girls love to watch the parade and collect the 10 tons of saltwater taffy the burly fireman chuck at their heads. I love to cheer for the firemen (and not just because they are burly), the policemen, and the soldiers; I jeer at the politicians I don't like and last year blatantly snubbed the Governor of Alaska. The best part for me is getting to “our spot” early and then walking up and down the parade route socializing with everyone we know. Of course the strategic parking and speedy get away also come into play when the parade is over.
So why, you may ask, are you sitting at home blogging instead of hanging out at mom’s anticipating the fireworks? I’m glad you asked! My friend and co-work decided to move to Colorado last week and somehow I got stuck organizing the parade “float” for our company. Not only did I have to spend the last three days begging tiny people to wear the scary cartoon character costumes, I also had to pull just about everything together from scratch because SOMEONE didn’t leave any notes on ANYTHING. Now I have to drag my lazy butt down there at some ungodly hour to “stage” for the parade.
Now instead of sitting on the sidelines cheering and jeering I get to be cheered – anyone doing any jeering is getting a fist full of taffy in the face at 20 miles an hour! Yes indeed, I get to walk in the parade handing out goodies to children and trying to keep the costume wearers from doing anything inappropriate…
Since I had to suffer I decided to make everyone I know suffer too and now all of my family; brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, uncles, and of course my hubby and children, are all walking in the parade with me. (It sounded like a good idea at the time!) Since they don’t have to be at the staging area until 10am, they get to stay up and watch fireworks, while I, on the other hand, am off to bed as soon as I hit publish.
Wish me luck!
I've been taking advantage of the lovely sunny weather we've been have over the last few days so I haven't had much time for blogging. Hopefully I will have some time tomorrow unless the nice weather holds and then I make no grantees. We haven't had sun here in months and it's finally cracked 40!!
(Photo by Mark Kelley www.markkelley.com )
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It’s official! After the big snow storm yesterday morning we have broken the record for the most snow. The previous record was 194.3 inches way back in the winter of ‘64-’65. The new record set this winter is 195.3 inches. Ok, that is a lot of snow, especially from someone from Oregon’s Willamette Valley were the annual snow fall is something like 3 inches.
Of course just to make things more interesting the big snow storm turned into a big rain storm so we now have 16 feet of snow quickly melting. This is trouble because the ground is still frozen and most of the drains are still covered in ice. (Ice with water on top is very, very slick by the way!) Several streets now look like small rivers and our back yard is a lake…with icebergs in it.
But the best (?) part of rain on top of snow when your town is located at the foot of several large mountains, is the extremely high avalanche danger! They were setting up shelters last night for anyone who wanted to leave their homes and sleep on a gym floor. Yesteday afternoon, almost 1000 feet of road was blocked by a snow slide 21 feet deep. Luckily we haven’t had any avalanches in a residential area yet.
I’m very thankful today that our house isn’t in an avalanche danger area. We did look at several houses that are located right in the evacuation area. Now if we could just keep our house from floating away we’d be set. Yes, we live in the flood zone.
If it’s not one thing, it another!
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I’ve learned a lot of new skills since moving to Alaska. I now know how to fish for salmon and halibut. I know how to cook fresh king crab, not a chore for the faint of heart, and how to keep ravens and bears out of my garbage. I’ve learned to talk to strangers in the grocery store and to not lock my doors. I’ve learned many things in the 7 years we’ve lived here, but probably the one I’m most proud of is my new found ability to drive in just about any weather condition.
Last week for example, we were having some huge snow storms that caused whiteouts… just when I was driving home from work. Can’t see the road? Can’t see the sky? Can’t see the other cars? No problem! I can handle it! Freezing rain, 2 feet of slush, sunny and snowing, I’ve done them all.
What really gets me though are days like today. It’s been snowing and hovering right at freezing. This means that the roads melt and then refreeze. I’ve been in ice rinks less slippery than the roads were this morning. I was slip-sliding all the way to work. I used to panic when my car slid on ice, now I’m so used to it that I simply turn into the slide and take my foot off the gas.
This winter the roads have been a sheet of ice for most of the last 4 months and you’d think that most people around here are also used to driving on it by now. But no, when the roads are wet but not icy, I get stuck behind someone going 35 in a 55, and when the roads are treacherous and I see 4 cars in the ditch (including a big delivery truck) on the way to work, some bozo zooms around me going 65! I did find it extremely ironic when I passed the same bozo 2 miles down the road sitting in the ditch talking on his cell phone.
I was so good; I didn’t even wave and smile… But I thought about it!
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Isn’t that the old saying about the month of March; in like a lion, out like a lamb? Well, March is certainly holding up its end of the bargain this year. I’ve lived in Alaska for 7 years now and I have seen my share of extreme weather, but the last two days take the cake! 
Yesterday I awoke to my radio tell me that we were under a blizzard warning. Now I can see a lot of you shaking your heads and saying, “yes, but its Alaska…what’s unusual about that?” Plenty! We live in the temperate southeast portion of the state and while we usually get over 100 inches of rain a year, blizzards are not something we see often. 60 plus mile an hour winds with freezing, driving snow is a new one for me! I’m really feeling for all of you back east right now.
“In like a lion” can also describe this killer headache I still can't get rid of. It turned into a migraine Wednesday evening and I spent most of the day in bed yesterday wishing I could die, or at least put my head on a shelf for a while until it decided to behave! Luckily I had a second chiropractor appointment this afternoon, so that’s helped a bit. I’m also taking some mega doses of Magnesium and Potassium to help with the muscle cramps in my neck that the doctor definitely thinks is the cause of my problem. I’m hopeful that I won’t have to spend my 3rd weekend in a row miserable with this thing.
I’m ready for this headache to go “out like a lamb” already and I don’t want to wait until the end of March for it to happen!
Here's what we did yesterday.
Since it was a glorious sunny winter day and my head was thankfully feeling much better, the girls and I had a wonderful outdoor adventure. Today the headache is back with a vengeance! I have an appointment with the Chiropractor on Wednesday, and I’m hopeful that she’ll be able to help. I’m also drinking enough water to float a boat…so far it’s not helping with the headache, but I do get to visit the bathroom quite frequently!
I’m off to go moan quietly at my desk and hope that my co-workers take that as a hint to take their piles of paperwork elsewhere!!
At 6:43pm today our dossier left Brussels Belgium. The time zone thing makes my head hurt. Luckily Ethiopia time is easy for us to remember though...it's exactly 12 hours ahead of us here in Alaska. That should make jet lag interesting!
Referral Picture 6/21/07
