Moving

is never done without some difficulty.  And I should know as I have done it frequently.  However, this move is more convoluted and has more unusual complications than normal. In a "normal" move, professional movers would come and pack your things and drive them to your new home.  Or, if you are a do-it-yourselfer, you may do your own the packing.  That didn't happen for us.  When Steve moved from WI to AK in the fall of 2009, he loaded the Suburban from stem to stern with his belongings and promptly moved into a two bedroom apt.  The apt. was furnished and had lots of storage space.  He was easily able to store his belongings and those items that weren't supplied, he went out and replenished.  A year later when he got ready to move from Juneau to Anchorage, he again packed the Suburban, noticing that along the way the space left in the truck had somehow diminished.  He somehow managed to fill every possible space, even the passenger side, from roof to floorboard.  And considering the size of this truck, that's no easy feat.

When Jake and I moved, we filled our suitcases with necessary items, and boxed and shipped some other things.  We moved into a very small three bedroom house with hardly any storage.  The house has minimal furnishings, and we had just about settled into it and gotten everything into it's place when Steve brought home the fully loaded Suburban.  Hmmmmmm........ where to put everything? 

The drive from Haines, AK thru Canada and back to Anchorage took about 2 full days.  Steve said the road was horrible, not much more than a snow and ice covered mule path.  The road had horrific frost- heave causing so much bouncing and banging that he fully expected to see truck parts littering the road behind him when he looked in the rear view mirror.  One thing he had thought of beforehand was that he wouldn't be able to drive through Canada with all the guns in the car, so with every business trip Steve brought back a few more guns on the plane. He did still have ammo in the car, and maybe that confused the Canadian customs guys because they unpacked the entire truck, took some clips with them and than packed the car back up.  I don't know how long this took, and really haven't asked many questions because I don't think it was the best of memories. Anyway, the rest of the trip was (thankfully) uneventful.  Steve did get me some pictures, so here are some of the views, although I can't tell you where they are along the trip.

To me it looks beautiful, but desolate.

When Steve arrived home, it was like moving day all over again with boxes piled everywhere.  Our little house with even littler storage space is swamped with items.  And boxes.  Boxes are piled everywhere.  Finding storage for all of these items makes us face an issue we have been dancing around; what kind of furniture do we buy, and what do we need most?  Neither Steve nor I want to put a lot of money into furniture.  We don't know how long we will be here, and neither of us really want to move furniture if and when the time comes for us to leave Alaska.  We also don't want really really cheap items.  So we have been browsing Craigs list and looking around, and in general ignoring the situation.  At least until this weekend when we were forced to do something.  A trip to Target provided us with the beginnings of some storage and organization.  It's amazing what a few shelves can do.  In addition, it also gives us more time to keep looking for something else.  

One thing we realized we will need is curtains.  Half the windows in the house don't have curtains (not uncommon judging by the neighbors empty windows) and some of the others just have sheers.  This will soon become problematic, because we are all ready at 10+ hours of daylight.  It is dark by 7 PM, but in a few more months I think sleep will become problematic if we don't cover the windows.  I will admit that it is very nice in the morning to see the light breaking over the mountains on my way into work.  It isn't daylight yet, but the mountains are a deep purple color and the night sky above them is giving way to lighter and lighter shades of blue.  On clear days, there is a fabulous pink in the sky that gets reflected in the snow at sunrise, much the same way it does at sunset.  One clear evening on my drive home I could have sworn I saw a very faint patch of rainbow in the sky, but when I got out of the car and looked, I could no longer see it.  Steve said it is the ice fog in the atmosphere that reflects the colors.  It sounds plausible to me... all I know is that it was very pretty to see.

One of the drives I make once a week is to a small hospital about 40 miles outside of Anchorage.  They have a different weather pattern, and I love the drive because it is so beautiful.  If you were a patient in this hospital, this would be your view...

Ok, these aren't mountains. This is where you can plug in your car at the hospital parking lot.

I know I gave a hint that Fur Rondy was going on.  Well, it is.  I was hoping to be there, but since we had to do something with all of Steve's possessions, coupled with the fact that although it is bright and sunny, the temp with the wind chill is maybe in the teens, I did not make it this weekend.  But never fear - Fur Rondy (an Anchorage outdoor festival) continues this week and into next weekend.  And the event I really want to see takes place next Saturday - so keep your fingers crossed for slightly warmer temperatures!

Until next week!

Samoa

is a group of tropical islands approximately 5,300 miles from Anchorage as the plane flies.  The average temperature is 77 degrees while the average temperature of Anchorage is 55-78 in the summer and in the winter the average is 5-30 degrees. So it is very surprising for me to discover that Anchorage, Alaska is #14 in the US with the highest percentage of Samoans.  Samoans compromise 0.5% of the population here.  Carson, CA is #1 and Honolulu is #2.  I don't know what the draw is to Anchorage, but they are here and sometimes they are even easy to pick out.  I know that I have mentioned several times that there are many different cultures here (the Anchorage School District serves 87 languages), but recently I have had the opportunity to view a Samoan family from afar.  My statements here are very generalized and are in no way meant to be construed as anything but observations - Samoans, culturally prize larger body sizes.  Historically, a large body size was reflective of age, importance, wealth, etc.  Family life is very important and families tend to be large with extended family members living together.  We saw this first-hand with a Samoan patient who had a very large family that came to visit.  Discharge planning was difficult as the patient was going to require extended care and home was a two bedroom apt. filled to the brim with family.  But the family banded together to make it happen.  However, what struck me most, was that the weather at the time was well below zero and many of the men in this family were wearing shorts.  And lightweight coats.  I don't think it was because they couldn't afford anything else because since then I have seen other Samoans wearing the same attire.  These folks just look large and sturdy.  They radiate health and vitality which I guess helps to explain why there are over 30 players in the NFL of Samoan descent and more than 200 guys playing Division I ball. It is such a contrast to see them walk down the street in shorts and light coats when everyone else is in parkas and mukluks.

The weather last week had warmed up producing some rain and melting snow.  It was nice while it lasted, but the temperatures dropped back to the single digits and all that water turned to ice.  My street has a slight slope as it departs from the main road down toward lake level at the other end.  My driveway also has a decline down from the street.  I back my car into the driveway, because I need some running room to get up the hill and out of the driveway.  If I stop because of an oncoming car, I have to back up and start over.  Most of the time it isn't a problem, but with all the icing on the street, getting up the street itself turned into a major escapade. My rental car has a dummy light on the dash that glows yellow and looks just like one of those caution, icy road signs. That dummy light glows frequently as I try to drive up the street.  If I go the other way I start sliding downhill and through the stop. It took two days for the city to come around and put pea gravel down which helped, but then we got 4 inches of snow on top of that.  Actually, the snow wasn't to bad to go through, but I will be glad when I have a four-wheel drive vehicle and not just a front wheel. I don't know what it is exactly, maybe it's because we are in Alaska, maybe it's because we don't pay state taxes, but the city is in no rush to clear snow off the streets.  But when they do, they are pretty efficient! 



Alaskan snowplow



As I have stated before, we have a truck in Juneau that we have been trying to get to Anchorage, but as there are no roads out of Juneau we have been at the mercy of the ferry schedule, passports, time frames, etc but the time finally came and Steve flew from Anchorage to Juneau (around 569 miles apart, about a 2 hour flight) last Monday.  The original plan was for him to take the Wednesday ferry (this past Wednesday) and be back home by now.  Well, nothing ever goes as planned so Steve is still in Juneau, hoping to get the ferry tomorrow.  This past week he took the car to the dealership, (I think there is only one in Juneau) to get some servicing done prior to his trip.  The Suburban in 16 years old and has been sitting outside since October.  According to Steve, the car is packed from top to bottom with his belongings that were in his apartment in Juneau.  One of the things the dealership told him they did was put air in all the tires, including the spare.  The spare in this car is under the floor in the back of the car.  They admitted they didn't unpack the car, and told Steve he was wrong about where the spare was, that it was actually under the undercarriage of the car.  Hmmmm - it must be invisible. That didn't inspire a lot of faith in the quailty of workmanship.  The next day, the day before the ferry was to leave, the truck stopped working requiring a tow back to the same garage.  They are the only game in town, so the options aren't just limited, they are nonexistent.  The truck required some new parts and of course, being as isolated as Juneau is, they weren't available. (It is a constant theme in Alaska - something just isn't available and has to be shipped from the lower 48).  The parts have now arrived and been installed and Steve grudgingly admitted the fuel pump must have been needed because it seems to be running better than it was in fall.  Just keep your fingers crossed that was all the work that was required as it is about a 2 day drive from Haines, Alaska (where the ferry docks) through Canada back to Anchorage.  Steve said its snowing like crazy now in Juneau, although in Anchorage it is bright and sunny, albeit only 4 degrees out.

That's what's happening this week.  Sorry there aren't many good pictures, but not only have we had poor weather conditions, Jake and I have both had some viral something.  In fact, Jake missed 2.5 days of school, and this is a 4 day weekend - so he got himself a nice winter break, even if he spent most of it on the couch. 

Until next week!

Tights

are something I usually associate with baby girls, with ruffles and frills covering their well-padded  and diapered bottoms.  I think of them in white, usually worn with a Christmas or maybe an Easter Dress. Then there are tights worn by a slightly older child along with her shiny patent leather mary-jane shoes.  Maybe they are more colorful, but still holiday themed with candy canes or holly berries embroidered in contrasting thread.  Therefore, it came as a surprise to me to find myself standing in front of a display of tights at my local Target store (yes, we have a Target!) and buying not just one, but 3 pairs of tights.  They are basic, a couple of black pairs, but the grey pair is slightly fancier and actually called "sweater tights".  And while I only bought some simple ones, they were also available in pink and teal, lacy and non-lacy. Even argyle. I am thinking there is at least two more months of winter left here before spring comes around so I think that I will get lots of use out of how ever many pairs of tights I purchase.  Me.  Wearing tights with a skirt.  I never would have imagined myself as the tights-wearing type and especially not at the age of <cough cough> 50.

I think that winter is going to last at least until April because the community rec program offers learn to ski lessons beginning in the middle of March.  To me, that's a pretty good inidcator that the cold weather is still going to be here.  After that, it would be nice to think that warmer weather will start to prevail.  Well, I guess it will get warmer here, but not as warm as I might like.  There was a discussion held at work the other day about summer temperatures and how they hover between 65-70 degrees.  I expressed that I was glad there weren't going to be days into the 100's as that is too hot for me, but I wouldn't mind temperatures hovering in the 70's.  I was told to go to Fairbanks because in the summer the temperatures there get to be 95.  I am scratching my head over this one because Fairbanks is the same place where it currently hits -40 F.  Welcome to Alaska, the land of extremes.

Our weather got a little warm and a little rainy in the beginning of the week. The temperature actually got to be about 40 degrees and the rain washed away some of the ice that was on the road.  I was glad of that because some parts of the street had ruts in them formed by the ice and when I would drive my little car down the street I would rock from one side of the street to the other - making me feel as if I had lost all control of the car and that I was going to crash into the car in the next lane. Just about the time panic would set in the ruts would run me back to the shoulder and just as suddenly they were gone.  At least the problem was gone for a couple of days but then the temperatures dropped and everything iced over.  Yesterday I think we topped out at about 15 degrees and today was slightly warmer.  Some of the people I work with are heading to or coming from, Hawaiian vacations.  I would be lying if I said that a tropical vacation didn't sound good right about now.

This week we did what so many parents have done, including us, for so many years.  We attended a band concert for Jake.  The concert was very enjoyable, but for me, there were some huge differences between the concert here and the ones that we experienced in Burlington.  As usual, the kids had to be at the concert quite a bit earlier than the start time.  I dropped Jake off and hurried back home so Steve and I could get there in plenty of time to get a seat.  We needn't have worried as the band is quite a bit smaller then the one at BHS and there was lots of seating available.  In fact, another Anchorage HS came so the two schools could play together and there was still lots of seats available. Dimond HS has a swing band of about 20 kids and a concert band, also with about 20 kids.  And the bands don't join to play together.  The guest school was Service HS and they had essentially the same set-up with about the same number of kids.  Since both schools are slightly larger than BHS I really thought they would have larger bands, but maybe it speaks to the success of the music program at BHS.  The other odd thing for me at the concert was not recognizing any of the kids but Jake.  Part of what I enjoyed every year at the school events was watching the kids grow and change over the years.  So many of them I have known since they were in kindergarten and I really missed that. It's surprising the things I discover.

Here is a photo of the band on stage.  I wasn't able to get a picture of Jake playing the tuba.



Dimond HS Band





Combined Dimond and Service HS Bands

Yesterday the three of us went to our favorite Music Store - (hope you are practicing Sue as I learned how to play two chords!) and ran some other errands.  On the way back we drove through Kincaid Park which is at the end of Raspberry Road (the main road we live off of).  We didn't get to far into our exploration but I did get these shots

 

 We are in a parking lot in front of some sort of field.  Maybe soccer? And folks were obviously practicing their cross-country skiing skills. There were lots of trails visible, some of them lighted, and I know the park promotes well-groomed trails.  Whatever that means.  We passed lots of folks cross-country skiing, some of them with their dogs. I think I even got Steve interested in giving it a try.  I know I certainly would like to!  At the edge of the parking lot was a sign with information about trails, facilities, usage, etc and these handy-dandy tidbits of info

Yeah, I think we live in one of these areas of frequent bear-human interactions....

On the way back out of the park we found one of it's inhabitants.  I am still amazed at how well these guys can hide when they are so damn big...



peek-a-boo



see the skier going by in the right hand corner?

the moose is watching the skier go by

As we headed back out of the park we caught a glimpse of something.  The fenced in area belongs to the National Guard

see that brown spot next to the fence?



It's a moose! Sunbathing in 18 degree weather lying in a snowpile!

 Here we are headed back home.  Our road is just about a mile away.  Until next week!

It was

a quiet week in Lake Woebegone.... Oh, wait.  That's someone else's tag line.  However, it was a quiet week here.  I keep thinking that I will be able to go out and explore, but it is dark and cold at night and not very conducive for exploring.  I had hoped to go out to a place called Earthquake Park yesterday.  There was an earthquake back in the 60's that destroyed a fair amount of Anchorage.  Earthquake Park is apparently a commemorative to that moment, but also a decent place to go see Knik Arm which I believe is the name of the bay by Anchorage.  There have been two earthquakes in the past week, however, we haven't felt either of them.  But I wound up working yesterday, and on the way home I stopped at Costco.  I know Costco is packed on the weekend, but I just wanted soda and a couple of other things. So I delved deep inside myself and found a huge piece of patience and waded into the throng.  And a throng it was.  There were so many people you would have thought it was the weekend prior to Christmas.  It was then that the lightbulb went off and I realized they were getting ready to celebrate the other National Holiday - Superbowl.  Yes, even in Anchorage the Superbowl rules.  Part of that is probably because so many people are from somewhere else.  Part of it is probably because we all need something at this time of winter to keep us going.

As I pushed my car through the 2 inches of slush churned up by the cars in the parking lot I got a glimpse of this

Go Pack Go!  All the way from Anchorage!

Some other things that I noted this week are really just random thoughts...

There is a public bus system called The People Mover.  They have racks on the front of the bus where you can store your bicycle.  And no matter where you want to go on the bus, they take you to downtown first.

I haven't been to the museum in town yet, but I love to go to the Native Hospital.  They have the most fascinating displays of Native Arts, both historical and new.  Anyone who comes to visit will surely get a tour.  We will start on the 4th floor and work our way down the steps because there are little vignettes built into the walls of the staircase.  Each floor has a wall-length display featuring something like baskets or masks. The displays are beautiful, and they highlight how it is to live or exist in such harsh and unforgiving surroundings.  Actually, the word you hear isn't existence but subsistence. The natives are allowed to live off the land for not only food but also clothing, fuel, housing etc etc.  If you are interested in learning more the best website to go to would be this one http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/subsistence.html.

We are gaining over 5 minutes of daylight a day.  The gain remains more noticeable to me at night, but here is a picture from yesterday at 0930.  A month ago this shot would of still been in the dark but yesterday the sun was up and the snow in the mountains was reflecting the pink of the sky from the sunrise.

The end of sunrise at 0930

 I have been trying to keep my resolve and walking the dogs on a daily basis.  I had a pass yesterday as by the time I got home it was just about 15 degrees out.  Today, we went to breakfast and I decided to go out and walk afterwards.  I wanted to go in the daylight and see what it looks like where we walk.  It is bitter out, and even with my flannel-lined jeans the cold bites at my skin.  The upper half of me fairs better so perhaps I need to wear another layer under my jeans.  I have a mental image of myself bundled up like Ralphie's little brother in the movie a Christmas Story where I am unable to put my arms down or to right myself if I fall down because of all the clothes I have on.  It may just be the price I have to pay to keep warm.

I have noticed here that the air plays tricks with the mountains, or rather the distance of the mountains.  Some days they look like they are rising from the next block and other days they look like they are several hundred miles away.  I don't know if it is the light, or the clarity of the air, or a combination of other factors that creates that allusion. It does make me think about people who travelled here by dogsled and how disillusioned they may have become to realize that something that appeared so close was actually not close at all.  So here are the mountains from my walk this morning.  You can see a couple of tall buildings in the distance.  They are the same buildings I took pictures of last week.

Other than moose, I haven't seen much wildlife up here.  I used to feed the birds in Wisconsin, but haven't hung a feeder here.  The only birds I have seen in Anchorage are chickadees, magpies and ravens.  Ravens are everywhere.  They are bigger and heavier than crows.  They are also louder, bolder and more raucous.  And daring.  They remind me of seagulls at the beach.  Today, there was one in the birch tree in front of the house.  Initially, there was a magpie sitting on the same branch and I would have sworn they were in conversation.  Magpies are striking to look at with their black and white plumage, and their voice has a musical quality to it.  I tried to get a picture of the two together, but my cold fingers wouldn't move fast enough and the magpie flew away before I could snap the photo.  I did get a video of the raven.  You can't see him really well, but I think you can hear him...

Some other things I saw/learned this week:  Our nightly news features dogsled race results even if the race is in Montana. 

In a few weeks it is the start of the Irondog sled race out of Big Lake, about 2 hours from here.  This is apparently a big deal here and probably explains the involvement of the nightly news.

I heard a story about someone who had to be evacuated from their remote village by dogsled because at that time there were no snowmobiles in the area.  Their sled was actually pulled by a sled, tandem sledding.  The gentleman will never be able to return home due to his medical needs and the inability for them to be provided where he lived.  I learn everyday what a challenge it is to discharge someone after hospitalization.  Especially if they can't go home because the options are so few. 

Our hospital has a policy for volcano eruption.  Steve tells me that is not unusual for up here.  Earthquakes and volcanoes, oh my!

I think I will stop here as it is time to watch the Pack and whoever the other team is....

Until next week!