Although the calendar says spring

the official term for the season here is "break-up".  The weather is gray and over the past few weeks there has been hardly any precipitation.  The weather has edged into the 50's letting most of the snow melt but the temperature at night slips back to the 30's.  I think the only reason the temperature is rising is because we now have about 16 hours of sunlight daily.  When I get up in the morning around 5:30 its light out.  Not bright sunshiny, but that early morning twilight. And when I go to bed at 10:30, it's twilight.  It won't be to much longer before there isn't very much darkness in-between the two.  And then, the decrease to darkness is probably just about as dramatic.  I also heard that fall starts in August... lets hope its the end of August.

We received an invitation from Jake's school for an award ceremony.  He didn't know he was to receive an award, so not only was our appearance at school a surprise to him, but so was the whole ceremony.  The ceremony was for Academic Achievenment Awards handed out to students from each department.  These awards have a lot to do with enthusiasm and leadership capabilities.  Jake received his for Concert Band.  Pretty good for a kid who has only been in school since the beginning of December.

The weekend before Easter was really the first nice weekend we had experienced.  The sun was shining and the temp rose into the mid 50's.  It seemed that everyone in town was outside.  The sidewalks were loaded with bikers and runners.  Actually, there were people who looked like they were runners all over the place.  They were walking all over the place, even into the REI store.  Maybe they just meant to look like they were runners!

I decided to take Rosey and Riley out to Kincaid Park for a walk.

The trails had lots of people on them, lots of mud and lots of moose poop.  I guess even the moose would rather be on the trails then breaking through the bush.  I haven't seen as many moose lately.  Except for the one that was pulling up the landscaping around the hospital today.  You can also see moose damage on many of the young saplings.  The moose tear all the bark off, girdling the trees.  The aspen planted in front of work have all been ravaged by hungry moose.  And since everything is still brown, no green in sight, bark must be about all they have to eat.

Back to the walk... this park is HUGE and has great trails.  I didn't really go on much of a walk due to the mud, but I did get a few photos.

Recently, I had two things happen within a very short time of each other that while they were unrelated, they created a connection in my mind.

The first thing was one of those commercials for kids in 3rd world countries where they ask you to contribute money to provide a better life for them; build them schools, provide healthcare.  The second was meeting a patient from the little town of Savoonga on St. Lawrence island.  St. Lawrence island sits in the Bering Sea, about 36 miles away from the Russian coastline.  Savoonga has approx. 650 people in town, the majority (98%) is Native.  The first language for many of the population is Yupik, not English.  About 32 homes haul their water and still use "honeypots".  Unemployment is about 11.5% and there isn't much hope for economic growth. Reindeer are a major influence on the island, and many people come to go birding.  Hard to believe this is still a part of the United States.

Tomorrow, we fly on a little plane down to Soldotna.  It's about a 30 minute flight which is much bettter than the 3 hour drive.  It's also the next closest hospital to Anchorage, after Mat-Su.  And Mat-Su is 40 miles out of town, CPH is much farther then that! I hope that I get some good pice

Until next week.

Miss me?

Well, I wasn't ignoring the blog or any of my readers (faithful or unfaithful), rather we ran into another Alaska quirk.  It seems that we buy internet service, and although you would think we have unlimited internet access, we don't.  Or we do, but you have to pay for it.  See, we purchase so much internet (and I don't know how much, but it's alot) at one rate but if we use it all up then we have to pay a much much higher rate.  And it's not like the internet gets turned off, you can still use it.  So we have to keep checking our usage online and if it looks like we are getting close to our limit, we stop using it.  Now imagine one teen-age boy on spring break with a bit too much time on his hand and lots of ways to use the internet... yeah, you get the picture.

Anyway, its a new month and I am back!  Not that I have all that much to share.  We have settled into a routine of work and school.  I know where the stores are, and the names of some of the streets. I know where the hospitals I have to travel to are and where to park.  I think I have even figured out where most of the units I need to go to are.  I have learned names of people, streets, stores and physicians that I have never laid my eyes on.  All in all I think that is progress.

I have made plans to go back to WI in June.  It will be a short trip because I only have 2 weeks off and Jake and I are driving back here.  According to mapquest the trip is a little over 3500 miles and takes about 62+ hours.  I am in no rush to make the trip, and want to try and enjoy some of it so I plan on giving us 10 days to make the trip.  That severely limits the amount of time I have to visit with family and friends.  But, I will be grateful for the time I get.

I had a brief conversation with my co-workers husband the other evening.  They had been out skiing all day and had seen bear cubs.  Bear cubs.  That means bears.  For some reason, the moose don't make me too nervous, although I have a healthy respect for them, but the thought of encountering bears makes my stomach knot.  I think it is time to go and get some pepper spray.  A really really BIG can of pepper spray.  Not that I have been doing much outside lately.  Spring is trying valiantly to make an appearance, but winter has still got this town in it's grip.  Actually, I'm not sure it ever really lets go.  Last night someone from Springfield, Ill told me that I will not miss the hot humid days of summer and that I will love the 65 degree days of summer here.  He was serious.  And I heard nothing he said after 65 degrees.  I hope it gets a little warmer then that!

Another thing I have noticed as spring tries to advance is the amount of dust there is in town.  I was driving into town the other day and I could see a cloud of haze hovering over the city like smog.  But it isn't smog, it's dust. All winter long the road crews put gravel down on the roads.  Apparently in the spring they sweep it up and save it so they can place it back down on the roads again.  But now there are clouds of dust everywhere.  This morning, a huge storm was sweeping across the state.  Some areas had blizzard warnings, and here we had wind gusts up to 70 mph.  The dust blowing down the street looked like it was a demonic lifeform - fierce with no real outline, but tangible.  And in your mouth you can taste the dust.  It leaves an unpleasant taste and sensation like you were sucking on chalk.

Steve and Jake have had the opportunity to go trap shooting a few times.  I tag along, just because I can.

The mountain in the distance is called Sleeping Maiden (I think).  Her head is to the left with Jake's gun in the middle of it.





In between the range where the guys are shooting and the mountains in the distance is part of Cook inlet.  This is where it narrows down and becomes boggy. A short distance from here the Knik river flows into the Cook inlet.  I drive over the Knik river on my way out to MatSu hospital.





Cruising along the Cook Inlet heading toward the Knik river.

This is also the time of year when baby mooses start to come along.  I haven't seen them yet, but I am told they start to make their appearance any day now.  We had three moose in the front yard the other day.  I was taking these pictures out Jake's window.  I couldn't get a shot with all of them together.  The moose that is in this picture did not want the other two near her.  I actually saw her ears twirl around before they laid flat on her head and she reared up on her hind legs, kicking her forelegs out at a smaller moose on the other side of the hedge.  That was enough warning to keep them all separate, but I still got a few good shots of her.  I think she looks awfully round for this time of year, maybe she is a hungry mama moose-to-be.





What are you looking at?



The moose on the left is the one that was picking a fight with the smaller moose on the right.  A third moose is out of the frame, but further to the right

A few weeks ago the Anchorage school district presented a choir program where all the high schools participated.  There were 9 schools and they each sang three songs.  I thought the program was well-done and enjoyable.  It was the audience that needed disciplining.  At least some of them.  And why do parents think it is ok to leave when their kids are done singing?  Don't the last acts deserve a full audience too?  On the other hand, if the audience isn't paying attention maybe it is best they leave.  But can't they do it quietly?

Tomorrow I start orienting on the floor.  I don't know what unit I am working on or who my preceptor is.  Basically it is training for another brand new job. Maybe in a few more weeks this will feel comfortable too.  I'll keep you posted.

Until next week - or as long as we have available internet access!