Warm, then more snow; move

We had a wonderful chinook wind blow in late last week and temperatures at my house reached 45 degrees. It was great. The snow melted and we enjoyed being outdoors. It was a tease, as this morning the ground is once again covered with the white stuff.

Buddy loves going out into it, but he doesn't like to stay long. His feet must be very sensitive to wet, as he hates going out into the rain, and he alternates holding his front paws off the floor when he comes back in. But he buries his face into the snow and ends up with a little snow beard. I had a tough time getting him to hold still and most of the snow fell off, but here's a little glimpse of his icy chin.

He's really not showing his teeth, that's a little bit of the ice and snow. When he first came in, his whole nose was white. He's a little camera shy - I always have to scramble to get good shots of him.

I'm dreading this coming week. One of my least favorite things to do is move, and we have to move the office (again). We did it just three years ago and they told us then that would be the last time. I should know better. Of course, our staff has quadrupled in size, so a larger space will be nice. I just hate the part of getting there.

I am a crier. I cry at sentimental things, at patriotic songs, at pride in my loved ones (even cried the first time I watched my daughter play the drums in her first-ever school band concert in 4th grade). I love to cry at movies. I went with a friend yesterday to see "Nights in Rodanthe," from the Nicholas Sparks book. I've read several of his books, including "The Notebook," and found myself in tears as I read. I was prepared to cry at this movie, and certainly was not disappointed. Tears poured out of my eyes at several points in the movie, but at least I didn't embarrass myself by crying out loud (that's happened at other movies). It was definitely a "chick flick," and the audience was small, with just two or three men watching. Richard Gere and Diane Lane play well together, and I enjoyed watching them.

While we were out before the movie we hit Barnes and Noble (possibly my favorite store) and I picked up a cookbook with potluck recipes. It had a recipe for taco pasta, which I changed a little and adapted to my personal taste (I very much dislike olives) today. It was easy, quick and delicious. I will definitely make it again. There are other recipes in the book that look very good and easy as well. It was on sale for under $10, and I think it will be well worth it.

Have a good week everyone. I plan to get a flu shot tomorrow, then do nothing for the rest of the day.

It's here

This was the view out my door at 5:30 this morning. Though we had some flurries yesterday, nothing was sticking. I wonder if this will stay - it's bright and sunny now at 10:30 a.m. But I guess I have to face the fact that summer is over and winter is just about here. I am SO NOT READY for it.

I do have a few things to keep me busy this winter. I've let my genealogy research fall by the wayside over the past few years, with a super small staff at work and increased workload, a serious illness that landed me in the hospital for a week and another month off work and a lot of bills that insurance simply didn't cover. I can find some stuff at free websites, but I'm at the level now where I need to get into some of the subscription sites to do further research and they are not easy on the budget. But I have a couple of brick walls I really need to crack - so it'll be back to a lot of surfing genealogy sites and laying out some $$$. I think just one simple link of father-to-son will regenerate my excitement and get me really motivated. These three guys have been stopping points for a long time - it's like someone just dropped them on my doorstep in the middle of the night with no note.

I will also be doing research on some travel for a trip I'm planning this spring - maybe March. I need to go back to PA to visit my family. I've reached a point where I hate flying. Physically I can't run through airports any more, flights are always late and I've missed more than one connection due to the delay of the one I'm on. I can feel my blood pressure rising just setting foot into an airport. So - I've been looking into Amtrak. I can fly to Seattle, then take the train to PA. It will give me an opportunity to visit my grandchildren in Spokane (if scheduled properly, at no additional cost for the en route stop) and enjoy a leisurely trip, with 2-4 hour layovers for train changes in Chicago and Pittsburgh. I love train travel - it's far more comfortable than a plane and the scenery is spectular. I plan to try the sports mode on my camera to see if I can get some photos from the train as we pass through various parts of the country, including the Columbia Gorge, Glacier National Park and other sights. Another big plus is the cost - it's about half the price of a plane ticket from Seattle to Harrisburg. I am really excited about it, and will keep you informed of how plans firm up.

The other thing I want to do this winter is try some of the recipes I see on the Food Network. I love watching some of the cooks prepare healthy delicious-sounding meals. I've seen a few dishes that sound wonderful - and look so easy (and quick - a MUST in my book) to prepare.

Those of you in the Lower 48, enjoy your autumn. I'm starting to settle in for winter.

Finally - back to the computer

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I updated this thing. I've been busy at work and at home.

Since my last post, I celebrated a birthday - a milestone that offers more senior discounts, etc. My friend bought me a wall hanging that is absolutely gorgeous. I saw it at the Knotty Shop and was immediately drawn to it. She drove back there the next week and bought it for me. It's a stainless steel oval shape, polished and shellacked, with a high sheen. Welded to it are two spruce trees, painted like the Northern lights. The 3-D effect is great. I absolutely love it. I hung it on the wall near my computer desk. There's a small lamp beneath it providing light on it, and it really looks beautiful. See the photo below.

We also had a deployment ceremony for the soldiers who are deploying to Iraq. We had 54 media reps - reporters, cameramen, producers, sound guys, etc. - attending, and since media relations is a big part of my job, it was a huge task. We're accustomed to our local reporters, anywhere from 3-6 people, so 54 was a lot to deal with. It went well, I presume all were happy since there were no complaints I'm aware of.

Now that the ceremony is over and things are returning to normal, we're spending the year-end money, with trips to Office Max and other places, visits to websites and e-mails to the Contracting folks to get the supplies and equipment we need. Since my office staff is growing to 8 people (up from 2 in May), we need quite a few items. I just have a few more things to buy, then will end that portion of the crunch.

With the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, I'll be diving straight into appraisals for the staff who've been on board since May. That's only 2 people, but I also need to do a self-assessment for this past year and a performance plan for next year on myself. It seems the paperwork is never-ending.

In addition to all that, meetings are piling up like the leaves in my yard. The good thing is, I now have more staff to take over some of the duties I used to do, and that leaves me time for the papers and the meetings.

We've tried to get out every weekend to enjoy the last bit of summer. I think it's over now. For the first time this fall my thermometer hit 32 degrees this morning. My flowers are still blooming beautifully, but the leaves are almost all off the birch trees in the yard. I'm glad I live in town, in a neighborhood that's not as cold as other places in the area.

local color

I went to Murphy Dome and Ester Dome yesterday with two friends. Though it's still nice and green at Salcha (see yesterday's post) and here in town, the colors on the two hills were vibrant. It was a nice sunny day, and the views were spectacular. The fall colors are beautiful, but are also a reminder that it won't be long before summer is truly over and we'll be heading into winter.

Here are some of the photos.

local wanderings

Now that the rain has stopped (it rained every day for 2 weeks), we've been trying to get the most of what's left of summer. It's been in the low 40s at night here in town, but a very pleasant mid-60s during the days. It's been sunny and gorgeous - perfect weather.





Work has been keeping me busy, with new staff coming on (one two weeks ago and another on Sept. 2), ceremonies and media on top of the routine everyday stuff. I scheduled leave from Weds.-today, but have stopped in the office every single day. But it's a satisfying job, with something new happening every day. I haven't been bored since I started in this job 21 years ago. I do, however, look forward very much to my time off.



Since I'm not taking an extended trip anywhere this year, my friend and I have been taking day (or shorter) trips on the weekends, just enjoying the local scenery and the sun. We stop somewhere for breakfast, then maybe hit the local farmers' market. After that, we end up where ever the wheels take us.





Last weekend we headed down the highway to Salcha, to the Knotty Shop, a great little gift shop about 25 miles down the road. They carry a number of very nice items, much of it made locally. But more than that, they carry some great ice cream flavors. We rarely buy anything more than an ice cream cone apiece, though I will do some Christmas shopping there on occasion.





After eating our cones, we drove a little farther down to a rest area on the Salcha River. There were a lot of boat trailers and vehicles there, indicating that a lot of folks were out on the river. But we didn't see a single person. I took this photo there - it was peaceful and serene. I could have stayed all day.

We're planning to visit either Chena Hot Springs or Murphy Dome this weekend. Both are short drives of less than an hour with great scenery along the way. Much of my pleasure in living here is visiting these places at different times of the year. The colors are so different and sometimes it seems we're in a whole new place.

That's it for this week. I'm going to enjoy a long weekend and (maybe) do a little more closet cleaning. Happy Labor Day.

Buddy, fair,

I've been staying pretty busy lately (sometimes I've managed to stay busy doing nothing:)) and haven't been as active online as I like.

My zucchini plants didn't produce a lot of veggies, but they were delicious! I think they're about done for the season now. There were two little ones out there, but both were rotten on the ends.

I am pleased to report that Buddy is really coming around. I am absolutely certain that he was mistreated before someone dumped him at the animal shelter. When he first came home with me, he flinched every time I reached over to pet him. A couple of times, he low crawled away and cowered. He now trusts me and apparently has learned that I will not hurt him. With other people, though, he still has a long way to go. When we went to the Arctic Circle last month, I asked a friend to stop in and let the dog out. My friend came by the house the day before the trip (he had met Buddy a couple of times before that, as well) and spent several hours playing with and petting Buddy. However, when he came into the house without me there, Buddy backed off, barking and trembling. He couldn't be enticed with either treats or the leash. My friend stayed a few minutes, but left then after deciding he didn't want to traumatize the dog further. It makes me very angry to think that someone can mistreat a little dog so badly. I am so grateful that I found him. He is now playing with toys - loves tug of war. He's not afraid when they squeak any more - in fact, he will bite them continuously right on the little squeaky thing if I don't immediately grab an end to play with him. Popcorn in the microwave no longer scares him, and when I say "come here," he no longer cowers, but runs over, knowing there's treat or pat on the head in store. Last week there was a young moose and Buddy "scared" him off at an amble. Right now he's having a conversation with a raven in the spruce tree in our yard. The raven, however, will not be frightened by this little dog.

We've stayed busy at work, with just under 200 soldiers returning from Iraq (yeah!) last week. My office is growing. There were two of us until June, when we hired a third. By the end of September, there will be six of us, with two more to be hired after that. I won't know how to act with so many people!

I visited the Tanana Valley State Fair with two friends last Saturday. The theme was "Pirates of the Carrots and Beans." (I LOVE those themes - they're almost always really bad puns, but they always make me laugh.) It rained the entire week, which is typical, but we managed to visit at a time when there wasn't a single drop. It started raining after we got home. I was a little disappointed in the food I chose this year - overcooked halibut. I guess from now on instead of trying a new food booth, I'll stick with the tried and true. The funnel cake (minus the powdered sugar) was great as always, though.


Flowers at the Fair and triplets born at the fair!



I wanted to buy a pottery casserole dish to replace one that cracked after 10 years, but she doesn't make that style much any more. She did take my e-mail address and I'm thinking she will make one for me. This lady is at the fair every year and I love her pottery. I normally pick up something from her booth. I'm thinking 10 years is a pretty good record, since I used that casserole all the time.

The last few days have been absolutely beautiful - sunny and warm. It's such a great change from the two+ weeks of rain we had. Today my friend Mae and I decided to go for a drive. We had breakfast, then went to Ester and drove around there. Next we stopped at the Large Animal Research Farm at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, then out to Goldstream Valley. We stopped in Fox to visit my daughter and granddaughter, then on to Chatanika. The scenery was great, but I was a little distressed to see that the ground cover is beginning to change to the deep red of autumn already in some spots. I really like the way the shadows and sunlight played on the Chatanika Valley.





I'm planning to make the most of the next few weeks until fall sets in. Happy summer.

Arctic Circle

I took several days off work last week to eat up some use-or-lose time and attend to various things. Buddy and I both visited our doctors and came out with clean bills of health. Buddy's stitches from his second surgery are now gone and he's released from the doctor's care. My annual physical went well, with the doctor (and me) happy.

Saturday I checked another “must see” off my list when I took a trip up the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle.

Known to long-time Alaskans as the Haul Road, the Dalton Highway starts about 84 miles north of Fairbanks and ends at Deadhorse just a few miles from Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean.

The road was built in five months in 1974 to accommodate the trucks hauling supplies and equipment to facilitate construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Access to the Haul Road was limited until 1994, when it was opened for public use.

The Arctic Circle Wayside, our destination, is maintained by the Bureau of Land Management and is located at Mile 115 of the Dalton.

The road was bumpy and at times dusty despite the “scattered showers” we encountered. There were numerous curves and even more hills. Traffic was lighter than I expected, but we did encounter several personal autos and semis, as well as a few bicyclists and motorcyclists. Roadside litter, surprisingly and pleasingly, was minimal.

Knowing the road was unpaved and not easy on vehicles, my traveling buddy and I opted to let someone else do the driving. We signed up for a tour offered by an agency on the Army post where we both work. We joined our driver Jay and eight other passengers, all of whom are either new to Alaska or visiting. Not only did this save our cars from a possible beating, it afforded us the opportunity to sit back and watch the scenery go by. And go by it did.

This is not your run-of-the-mill drive through boring wilderness. The landscape seemed to change every couple of miles.

We drove through boreal forests, with white spruce, alder, willow and birch trees crowding the side of the road. Around the next curve, the trees disappeared and we were treated to a view of flat (or it appeared flat) tundra with just a few small bushes or trees scattered haphazardly. The next curve revealed spindly, misshapen black spruce trying to survive in the permafrost. The pipeline was visible for much of the trip. And mountains – everywhere we looked, there were mountains on all sides of us.

North of the Yukon River bridge, we were awed by huge fuschia patches of fireweed, signaling regrowth of areas damaged by wildfires several years ago. Just 17 or so miles before the Arctic Circle Wayside, we came to Finger Rock, a large granite rock that resembles a finger pointing toward Fairbanks. Other rocks dot the immediate area, with small arctic plants pushing their way up through the ground.

Nearly every traveler making this trip wants his photo taken next to the Arctic Circle sign. There’s a viewing stand to look out at the mountains of the Brooks Range with a couple of interpretive signs explaining a little about the area.

Every book and website I checked out promised great wildlife viewing on the trip. We could see moose, caribou, bears, fox, marmots and more, they said. I saw eight ravens, one squirrel, one gray jay, one white-crowned sparrow and lots of mosquitos and flies. Disappointing as that may have been, the trip itself was in the excellent category.