Operation Fitness for Fear: Today we extended our run to 41 minutes. It was misty out, so that made for a very cool and shady run. It was perfect weather for pushing it a little further than normal. As a result of the extra minutes tagged onto our normal route we were finally able to find the Winner Creek Trail (the trail we failed to find on our July 6th hike). It was a very exciting discovery for us, but I am beginning to think that Tess and I might be pretty easy to impress/please.
We also saw a bear on our run. That’s right, after over two weeks of running this route and anxiously scanning for bear, we finally saw one. It was on the second floor of the house at the top of the hill. It gave me quite a start for a second, and then I realized that it was actually stuffed and just on display. Clearly I haven’t been looking as closely for bear as I thought!
On the return leg of our trip, Tess found a stick that she wanted to carry for a while. Of course, Tess rarely picks out a travel size stick. She usually opts for the biggest stick she can find. You know the kind that is twice as long as she is, with about five knife-like branches sticking out of it that will surely impale her in the belly if she drops it accidentally. And of course she always decides to carry it by one end, instead of in the middle where it would balance perfectly. That way if the opposite end hits the ground at just the right angle she’s sure to either choke herself or give herself a lip/nose piercing. What can I say? She’s obviously not as safety-oriented as her mom. Regardless, Tess was happy as a clam dragging along this weapon for about 50 yards or so, and then she grew tired of it and decided to drop it. Unfortunately, she dropped it right on to the leash, and it got tangled immediately. So, naturally, Tess freaked out a bit and accelerated so that she could get away from it. But, of course, the leash, and therefore the stick, was still tangled, and “chasing” her. This led her to freak out some more and run even faster. All the while I was just getting pulled along for the ride while the wicked stick and its huge tentacles whipped around trying to “Sweep the knee Johnny!” I finally got Tess to stop, untangled the branch and was prepared to start running again, when I realized that Tess was now completely afraid of the “possessed” stick, and all the other sticks around it. There she was, tail between the legs, shaking a little, and suspiciously eyeing any sticks in the vicinity, quite sure that they were going to “get her.” Ah the joys of parenting “Timid Tess.” I spent the next five minutes convincing Tess that she could smell and touch the branches without them “chasing” her. I still couldn’t quite convince her to put one back in her mouth, but at least she wasn’t fearfully dodging all the random branches on the trail the entire way home.
Score at the end of FFF:
Sticks of the forest: 1
Tess: 0
Kate: N/A
Our Adventure for the Day:
In the afternoon, Tess and I went for another walk along the train tracks on the Gird to Bird path. It was a very pleasant walk. Tess found lots of tall grass to run through, which in turn dropped a plethora of grass seed on her back. She looked like she was covered in grass seed confetti. It was adorable. (As I said earlier, apparently I am easy to please). We also saw more berries and berry pickers along the train tracks. I just love the fact that you can harvest so much straight from the land in Alaska. It really does feel like the land of plenty.
Random Observations for the Day:
The large picture windows in my house are quite dangerous for birds. We’ve had a few birds fly in to them over the past couple of weeks. They usually recover and wobble off looking a little ruffled and drunk after the experience, but it is NOT helping Tess’s fear of things attacking her via the sky. There is something fairly disconcerting about napping on the couch and being awoken by a loud “thud” about two feet above your head!
My knees sound like shit. Anytime that I bend them while bearing weight (like my body) they sound like sandpaper rubbing across wood. Thankfully they do not hurt a bit. They just sound horrible. I simply ignore the odd noise and keep running, walking, or bending. And in case there are any doctors out there who just read this and are currently considering commenting about how this is a clear sign that my knees are going to explode in the next two months, please don’t. I don’t want to know what is actually causing this noise. I prefer to be blissfully ignorant about any impending knee explosion.
The clerks at the mercantile are weird about their produce. I know that I have already mentioned the spotty produce selection and the general expense associated with purchasing anything fresh at the mercantile due to the cost of shipping to “remote” locations, however, I’m beginning to think there is a conspiracy about buying anything fresh at the mercantile. If by some chance, you manage to wander into the mercantile on the day that they have been stocked with fresh, albeit expensive, produce you are bound to feel like you are being judged when you bring your fresh cherries, oranges, or grapes up to the register. I could drop 20 bucks on a bottle of Jack Daniels or two six packs of mike’s hard lemonade and the clerks won’t bat an eye. But, if I wander up with 7 dollars worth of cherries, no matter who the clerk is, they always have the same response. First, they put the produce on the scale. Then they wait for the price to show on the display, for the entire line of customers to see, and then, without fail, they suck in a big breath of air through their teeth, look at you with pity in their eyes, shake their head and say something like, “Oh man. That hurts. You sure you don’t want to put some of those back?” The first time it happened I thought, “Oh, that’s nice of him to be concerned, but really, it’s the first fresh fruit I have had all week, I think it’s worth the splurge.” But now, it’s happened about four times, always the same way. And, I’ve seen it happen to anyone else who dares to bring fresh produce up to the register. I think the clerks must be getting bribes from the canned vegetable/fruit people. I don’t have any definitive proof yet, but I’m keeping an eye out!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Day 16, July 14th, Living in Girdwood, AK
Operation Fitness for Fear: We ran much slower today compared to yesterday’s speedy pace. We ended up completing our normal route in 34 minutes and it felt slow. Overall I am ok with that time. I mean, I know it’s impossible to shave minutes off of your run every day. But, I do think that our chances of breaking more records in the future would improve greatly if Tess didn’t poop so much on these runs. Seriously people. She pooped three times today. I know she’s got to feel lighter after that, but carrying that much sh*t around has the opposite effect on me! I suppose it’s possible that Tess sensed my frustration and tried to help speed it up towards the end. She did, uncharacteristically, opt out of the swim in the fountain today, but she got so caught up in her tug of war/cross training that it was still a wash when it came to saving time. Oh well. It’s not really important how fast we ran. What’s most important is that we hauled ourselves out the door and ran. Period.
My Adventure for the Day: I will be the first to confess that we didn’t have a MAJOR adventure today. I was feeling rather mellow, so instead of trekking through, or fishing in, the woods I just opted to take a drive out onto the Kenai Peninsula. It was quite picturesque. There are countless ridges along the highway and the clouds were barely hovering above them. We’ve had a little moisture lately but it was still warm and sunny out so you could literally see the clouds evaporating. They looked like windswept hair, or an upside down rain shower. The fireweed also added to the scenery on the drive. The pink fireweed flowers start on the side of the road and then they slowly crawl up higher and higher onto the ridges. It creates a beautiful contrast when the pink is mixed into the green grass and brush that blankets the hills. And, it seems like every time that I drive this road the patches of pink have spread another five yards up the hills. It’s like a slow moving map illustrating the passage of time.
On the drive I kept passing cars with dip nets and canoes strapped to the top of them. It is making me *really* want a canoe!
I stopped in at a fly shop near Cooper Landing on my way home. While I was there I chatted with the woman behind the counter about the upcoming salmon run. She was very nice, and more importantly, this interaction counts as another step towards my “Trying not to be a complete hermit” certification.
When I was almost home, traffic suddenly ground to a halt. Because of the fact that most roads in Alaska have only one lane going in each direction, almost any accident or construction zone leads to incredible delays. Today’s accident was no exception. I sat in that line of cars for about 20 minutes at a dead stop, while I waited for my turn to move. But the silver lining of that wait was that over the course of those 20 minutes I got to watch the tide rolling in. I feel like I can’t take enough pictures of that view. There’s something so cool about seeing a mile wide section of mud flats glistening in the sun one second and then completely covered with water 20 minutes later. The hazy ridges on both sides of the mud flats frame the picture just perfectly. Really. It’s a view that is hard to top.
Wildlife/Unique Sightings:
Bald Eagles: 3
My Purple Tacoma: Today’s drive was also awesome because it took me through a wet construction site. What does that mean? It means that my purple truck is now solid grey. So cool! Why is that cool? Well. I have an obnoxiously purple truck. I didn’t pick the color, but the truck was the vehicle of my dreams on all other fronts so I bought it. I say it’s an obnoxious color choice for me, because 1) I don’t love purple (but Heidi does. Hey Heidi!) and 2) Purple is the color of my people (the gays). Don’t get me wrong, I love the gays and I am proud to be one, but really . . . have you seen me lately? I look like a big ol lesbian. I do *not* need a rainbow sticker on my truck, nor do I need a purple truck to make something that is very obvious, even more obvious. That truck screams, “I’m GAY would you like to date me!?!” Again, there’s nothing wrong with that message, I just prefer to let my stylish short hair and Carharts do the talking instead of the truck. Now, the plus side of the color is that it is a fairly deep purple, so when Jo is dirty she looks almost black (yes I call my truck Jo – like Jo from the Facts of Life). So, I typically keep Jo pretty dirty, because black truck = cool lesbian. Purple truck = slightly obnoxious lesbian. An important side note, my Dad (who is the best and such a sweet guy), loves to have very clean cars. I know that it drives him crazy when I pull up to their house in a dirty truck. How do I know this? I know this because as soon as I head off to take a nap or chat with my mom he’s down there washing the truck. And he’s not just washing it, he’s waxing it. Seriously. If I step away for 45 minutes, 95% of the time I will come back to find a truck that is so bright and shiny that the purple can be seen from a mile away. It’s such a sweet gesture, but so not the direction that I want to go with the color. I suppose that I could just bite the bullet and tell my Dad that I like it better when Jo is dirty. But he is right. Cars do run better when they are clean. So, I am sure that I will be scrubbing off the construction grey and waxing that purple paint till Jo gleams before I head back to the lower 48. However until then I am really enjoying my grey truck. It’s so. . . Alaskan!
My Adventure for the Day: I will be the first to confess that we didn’t have a MAJOR adventure today. I was feeling rather mellow, so instead of trekking through, or fishing in, the woods I just opted to take a drive out onto the Kenai Peninsula. It was quite picturesque. There are countless ridges along the highway and the clouds were barely hovering above them. We’ve had a little moisture lately but it was still warm and sunny out so you could literally see the clouds evaporating. They looked like windswept hair, or an upside down rain shower. The fireweed also added to the scenery on the drive. The pink fireweed flowers start on the side of the road and then they slowly crawl up higher and higher onto the ridges. It creates a beautiful contrast when the pink is mixed into the green grass and brush that blankets the hills. And, it seems like every time that I drive this road the patches of pink have spread another five yards up the hills. It’s like a slow moving map illustrating the passage of time.
On the drive I kept passing cars with dip nets and canoes strapped to the top of them. It is making me *really* want a canoe!
I stopped in at a fly shop near Cooper Landing on my way home. While I was there I chatted with the woman behind the counter about the upcoming salmon run. She was very nice, and more importantly, this interaction counts as another step towards my “Trying not to be a complete hermit” certification.
When I was almost home, traffic suddenly ground to a halt. Because of the fact that most roads in Alaska have only one lane going in each direction, almost any accident or construction zone leads to incredible delays. Today’s accident was no exception. I sat in that line of cars for about 20 minutes at a dead stop, while I waited for my turn to move. But the silver lining of that wait was that over the course of those 20 minutes I got to watch the tide rolling in. I feel like I can’t take enough pictures of that view. There’s something so cool about seeing a mile wide section of mud flats glistening in the sun one second and then completely covered with water 20 minutes later. The hazy ridges on both sides of the mud flats frame the picture just perfectly. Really. It’s a view that is hard to top.
Wildlife/Unique Sightings:
Bald Eagles: 3
My Purple Tacoma: Today’s drive was also awesome because it took me through a wet construction site. What does that mean? It means that my purple truck is now solid grey. So cool! Why is that cool? Well. I have an obnoxiously purple truck. I didn’t pick the color, but the truck was the vehicle of my dreams on all other fronts so I bought it. I say it’s an obnoxious color choice for me, because 1) I don’t love purple (but Heidi does. Hey Heidi!) and 2) Purple is the color of my people (the gays). Don’t get me wrong, I love the gays and I am proud to be one, but really . . . have you seen me lately? I look like a big ol lesbian. I do *not* need a rainbow sticker on my truck, nor do I need a purple truck to make something that is very obvious, even more obvious. That truck screams, “I’m GAY would you like to date me!?!” Again, there’s nothing wrong with that message, I just prefer to let my stylish short hair and Carharts do the talking instead of the truck. Now, the plus side of the color is that it is a fairly deep purple, so when Jo is dirty she looks almost black (yes I call my truck Jo – like Jo from the Facts of Life). So, I typically keep Jo pretty dirty, because black truck = cool lesbian. Purple truck = slightly obnoxious lesbian. An important side note, my Dad (who is the best and such a sweet guy), loves to have very clean cars. I know that it drives him crazy when I pull up to their house in a dirty truck. How do I know this? I know this because as soon as I head off to take a nap or chat with my mom he’s down there washing the truck. And he’s not just washing it, he’s waxing it. Seriously. If I step away for 45 minutes, 95% of the time I will come back to find a truck that is so bright and shiny that the purple can be seen from a mile away. It’s such a sweet gesture, but so not the direction that I want to go with the color. I suppose that I could just bite the bullet and tell my Dad that I like it better when Jo is dirty. But he is right. Cars do run better when they are clean. So, I am sure that I will be scrubbing off the construction grey and waxing that purple paint till Jo gleams before I head back to the lower 48. However until then I am really enjoying my grey truck. It’s so. . . Alaskan!
Friday, July 31, 2009
Day 15, July 13th, Living in Girdwood, AK
Operation Fitness for Fear: Today we shaved three minutes off of our normal running time. We ended up running the typical loop in 32:30. I was quite pleased. I was also quite pleased to see that a local gave us a smile and a truck wave as we were running. I think we’re beginning to pass as residents of Girdwood. Tess, was also pleased on our run, but for a different reason. All this time, when we run through wooded areas or come around a bend, I yell “Tess leave it” as a way to (hopefully) warn any bears or moose that we are coming up the path. I did this because I didn’t want to seem like a tourist yelling “hey bear.” However I recognize that it’s not really nice to yell at Tess and act like she’s doing something wrong when she is not. So, today I had an epiphany. Instead of yelling “Tess, leave it,” I started yelling “Good Dog Tess. Good Dog.” It seems simple enough; I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. Regardless, Tess has now gone from thinking that she can’t smell anything on the run, to thinking that she’s the most amazing dog on the planet. (And, we’re still warding off the bears and moose). Everybody wins!
Operation Drop It Like It Is Hot: Yes. Tess is still confused about when she needs to poop. She still seems to think that she should hold it in until we go on a run, and deposit it only when we are on FFF. What this means is that anytime we go for a run I have to have at least three poop bags with me. That’s a lot of poop people! I am not amused, but I supposed I should be happy that at least she’s going instead of just holding it in until she explodes.
Growing Food Obsession: There is really only one “grocery store” in town, and it’s the Crow Creek Mercantile. It carries all the essentials: produce, liquor, paper, fishing hooks, rope, meat, canned goods, People Magazines that are 2 weeks behind, etc... But, the mercantile isn’t very big. It’s about 1,000 square feet, tops. The small space and the fact that the produce and fresh items are only restocked on a weekly or monthly basis results in a general lack of variety. Depending on what day you go, you can either find a fully stocked meat and produce section, or a couple of packages of brown meat and wilted lettuce labeled with “on sale for a dollar” signs. My sister Heather (Aloha Heather!!!), the ultimate bargain hunter, would love that. I, on the other hand, can’t bring myself to even walk down the “fresh” isle when it is in such a depleted state. And here’s the thing, I haven’t figured out which day is the “fresh/restocking” day at the mercantile so every time I go in there it could be a hit or miss shopping adventure. The only thing that seems to be consistent is their supply of canned green beans. Regardless of when I go to the mercantile, there always seems to be about 20 cans of green beans to choose from. And although I am sure that the nutritional value of a can of green beans is nil, I still buy them. Truth be told, I’m getting a little obsessed. I have had about 10 cans to date. I don’t know what to do about it. I can’t seem to stop eating them. I crave it fortnightly!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPMS6tGOACo
Our Adventure for the Day: This afternoon we took an hour long walk on the Iditarod trail. We headed south on the section of the trail that runs off of Crow Creek road. There was a nice breeze (so no mosquitoes), and the sun was shining, but the tree cover kept us cool. This was another hike where it was more about enjoying the forest foliage than the mountain views. The path that we took was covered with mini pine cones, tree roots and pine needles. It was quite bumpy and uneven. Every few minutes I would marvel at the fact that dog sleds travel over this trail in the winter, but I supposed the snow levels out the terrain quite a bit. To the left and the right of the trail there were giant leaves (that look like rhubarb leaves), various wild flowers that like shade, ferns, and fallen trees mixed in with evergreens (that were still standing). Wherever a tree had fallen, some sun would pour in through the gap in the branches overhead, making the forest floor look like the pattern created when you shine a flashlight through a paper snowflake. But the coolest thing about this hike was the incredible amount of moss that covered everything. There was moss climbing up the trees that were still living, but I was even more impressed with the moss that blanketed everything on the forest floor. If a tree had fallen, there was moss covering it as it decayed. If there was a rock next to the trail, it had moss crawling up the side of it. The moss dipped and turned and flowed over anything that stayed still for too long. The entire forest looked like a messy but totally cool room where someone just tipped all the furniture over, threw a huge green shag carpet over everything and then left it that way for 50 years. It was really quite uniquely beautiful.
The Little Voice in My Head: Right before I head out on one of these adventures I typically text someone where I am going and how long I expect to be gone. I do this just in case something happens, so that people know where to start looking for me. I normally think of it as just a safety precaution, but on the hike today I was actually pretty glad I had let my friend Hope (one of my safety monitors) know where I was going because I felt a little nervous during this hike for some reason. Don’t get me wrong, I still had a great time and I thought the trail was gorgeous. It’s just that we didn’t run into anyone else on the trail, it was eerily quiet, there was a fair amount of bear and moose scat on the trail, and most of the path was through relatively dense forest, which means I couldn’t see very far in front of me. Tess only added to my trepidation by compulsively smelling any bear scat that we found, and then pulling me forward, with her ears perked up and alert. It can be a little disconcerting when it’s quite clear that your dog is tracking something and wants to pull you closer to it, instead of away from it (which would be the safer option – and my preference for that matter). And of course, it is even harder to stay the “let’s have an adventure” course, when the little voice in your head is whispering “It’s ok to chicken out. Why don’t you just go back to the bachelor pad, crack open a Mike’s Hard Lemonade, heat up a can of green beans, and be a sloth?” Obviously I ignored the voice; we survived and ended up having plenty of fun despite my nervousness. However, I will be the first to admit that for the entire time we were on the trail, every 30 seconds, I alternated between yelling “hey bear” and whistling “I wish I was in
U Dig It: Right when it was time to turn around on the hike and start heading back to the truck, my stomach started rumbling. Having an upset stomach on a hike is less than ideal, and it’s even worse when you have a lot of distance to cover before you can get back to your car. But Tess and I managed to muscle through it, with a few stops on the way back. Luckily I had my “U Dig It” collapsible metal shovel with me on this trek. (Plastic shovels are useless by the way). I am sure you can read between the lines and deduce what was going on during those stops. I am also sure, once again, that we looked like quite a pair with me hiding in the bushes, whistling
Wildlife/Unique Sightings:
Para-gliders: 2
Fallen Tree Victims in the Moss Assault: 3, 562 (approximately)
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Day 14, July 12th, Living in Girdwood, AK
Morning Activities and Observations:
After a solid night’s sleep at our campsite, Tess and I woke up and made some breakfast. Tess had her standard fare, and I made some pancakes. Unfortunately, despite all the camping gear that I brought, I overlooked packing the syrup. So, I had to use brown sugar instead. And I’ve got to tell you, it wasn’t that bad. They were quite tasty as a matter of fact.
While I was cooking breakfast, Tess made herself comfortable around camp. And when I say “she made herself comfortable,” I really mean: “She kept herself busy by attempting to destroy the camp.” First she sniffed some flowers. That was innocent enough. Then she started digging up the flowers. Once she got tired of doing that, she tried digging up some tree roots. When she was unsuccessful in her attempt at tree transplanting, she tried climbing up on the picnic table to help out with the cooking. I guess since the table was outside she thought that was acceptable behavior. And when I shooed her away from the picnic table, she topped it all off by tangling her tie out cable up in the tent pegs. Of course this led to the tent fly coming loose, getting twisted up in her tie out cable and “chasing her” around camp. I swear, she’s like a living, breathing, version of Pluto. Got to love her.
As we were packing up the camp, a couple of guys, who looked like they were in their 70’s, came over to the water pump. It took them quite a bit of pumping to get the water going, and when it finally started flowing, one guy started washing his hands while the other guy kept pumping. By the time he was done washing his hands, the guy pumping looked like he might pass out, but instead of calling it quits and giving his friend a break, the hand washer decided to wash as much of his body as he could. The next thing you know, he’s washing his hair. Then his shirt comes off, and then he strips down to a Speedo with his little pot belly hanging out over it. And the whole time this is going on, his friend, the pumper, looks like he’s about to have a heart attack. When Mr. Clean finally stopped washing himself, I thought, “Ok, now it’s the other guy’s turn.” But no, they just walk back off to their trailer again. The pumper doesn’t even get to wash his hands. Now that’s true, self-sacrificing friendship. Either that, or maybe the washer smelled REALLY bad and the pumper decided it was worth risking a coronary to help get him clean.
It was a little overcast on the drive home, but I didn’t mind it too much. The clouds hung low on the ridges that we drove by and you could practically see the moisture and mist in the air. The air was so still that the lakes we passed were just like mirrors, perfectly reflecting the mountains above in their dark greenish-blue waters.
As we were passing through the gorgeous town of Cooper’s Landing I saw a rowing trailer parked by the side of the road. Now that’s a crew team I’d come out of retirement to join.
When we got home to Girdwood, we stopped by the Tourist Trap (the gift shop) and poked around for a few minutes. The store had a book called “Walking with my dog, Jane.” It’s about this guy who hikes along the Alaskan Pipeline for an entire summer with his dog. It makes Operation Fitness for Fear seem like child’s play!
Operation Trying Not to be a Complete Hermit:
A guy said hi to me at the campsite bathroom today. He actually said it to me in a different language, but I got the gist of what he was trying to say.
Given the fact that the bathroom conversation was essentially the only human contact that I had had all day long, I decided that tonight would be the night to break down and go to the local bar, Chair 5. I wasn’t going to go out of my way to introduce myself to people, but I thought it would be a good idea to be around humans and increase my odds of a face to face conversation. When I got to Chair 5, the restaurant section was already completely full so they sat me at the bar. I did my best to look like a local as I ordered some food and a cider. Within a few minutes, a couple of girls sat down next to me and started planning the details for an upcoming wedding (not to one another; to a guy). After a while one of them commented that my hair smelled good (but she also compared it to grape Gatorade, so I’m not exactly sure how to take that compliment). Regardless, that gave me an opening, so as I ate my dinner, I chatted with them a bit, and I observed a couple of things.
1) Alaskan women can drink a ton of booze and still hold normal conversations. (I was very impressed).
2) Roasted pig is apparently a common meal to serve at weddings in Girdwood.
I wouldn’t say that tonight's bar adventure was amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but I did successfully complete Operation Trying Not to be a Complete Hermit. So thumbs up all around.
Wildlife/Unique Sightings:
Motorcycle with a side car: 1
Women with what appear to be incredibly high tolerances: 3
Old, but clean guy in a Speedo: 1
After a solid night’s sleep at our campsite, Tess and I woke up and made some breakfast. Tess had her standard fare, and I made some pancakes. Unfortunately, despite all the camping gear that I brought, I overlooked packing the syrup. So, I had to use brown sugar instead. And I’ve got to tell you, it wasn’t that bad. They were quite tasty as a matter of fact.
While I was cooking breakfast, Tess made herself comfortable around camp. And when I say “she made herself comfortable,” I really mean: “She kept herself busy by attempting to destroy the camp.” First she sniffed some flowers. That was innocent enough. Then she started digging up the flowers. Once she got tired of doing that, she tried digging up some tree roots. When she was unsuccessful in her attempt at tree transplanting, she tried climbing up on the picnic table to help out with the cooking. I guess since the table was outside she thought that was acceptable behavior. And when I shooed her away from the picnic table, she topped it all off by tangling her tie out cable up in the tent pegs. Of course this led to the tent fly coming loose, getting twisted up in her tie out cable and “chasing her” around camp. I swear, she’s like a living, breathing, version of Pluto. Got to love her.
As we were packing up the camp, a couple of guys, who looked like they were in their 70’s, came over to the water pump. It took them quite a bit of pumping to get the water going, and when it finally started flowing, one guy started washing his hands while the other guy kept pumping. By the time he was done washing his hands, the guy pumping looked like he might pass out, but instead of calling it quits and giving his friend a break, the hand washer decided to wash as much of his body as he could. The next thing you know, he’s washing his hair. Then his shirt comes off, and then he strips down to a Speedo with his little pot belly hanging out over it. And the whole time this is going on, his friend, the pumper, looks like he’s about to have a heart attack. When Mr. Clean finally stopped washing himself, I thought, “Ok, now it’s the other guy’s turn.” But no, they just walk back off to their trailer again. The pumper doesn’t even get to wash his hands. Now that’s true, self-sacrificing friendship. Either that, or maybe the washer smelled REALLY bad and the pumper decided it was worth risking a coronary to help get him clean.
It was a little overcast on the drive home, but I didn’t mind it too much. The clouds hung low on the ridges that we drove by and you could practically see the moisture and mist in the air. The air was so still that the lakes we passed were just like mirrors, perfectly reflecting the mountains above in their dark greenish-blue waters.
As we were passing through the gorgeous town of Cooper’s Landing I saw a rowing trailer parked by the side of the road. Now that’s a crew team I’d come out of retirement to join.
When we got home to Girdwood, we stopped by the Tourist Trap (the gift shop) and poked around for a few minutes. The store had a book called “Walking with my dog, Jane.” It’s about this guy who hikes along the Alaskan Pipeline for an entire summer with his dog. It makes Operation Fitness for Fear seem like child’s play!
Operation Trying Not to be a Complete Hermit:
A guy said hi to me at the campsite bathroom today. He actually said it to me in a different language, but I got the gist of what he was trying to say.
Given the fact that the bathroom conversation was essentially the only human contact that I had had all day long, I decided that tonight would be the night to break down and go to the local bar, Chair 5. I wasn’t going to go out of my way to introduce myself to people, but I thought it would be a good idea to be around humans and increase my odds of a face to face conversation. When I got to Chair 5, the restaurant section was already completely full so they sat me at the bar. I did my best to look like a local as I ordered some food and a cider. Within a few minutes, a couple of girls sat down next to me and started planning the details for an upcoming wedding (not to one another; to a guy). After a while one of them commented that my hair smelled good (but she also compared it to grape Gatorade, so I’m not exactly sure how to take that compliment). Regardless, that gave me an opening, so as I ate my dinner, I chatted with them a bit, and I observed a couple of things.
1) Alaskan women can drink a ton of booze and still hold normal conversations. (I was very impressed).
2) Roasted pig is apparently a common meal to serve at weddings in Girdwood.
I wouldn’t say that tonight's bar adventure was amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but I did successfully complete Operation Trying Not to be a Complete Hermit. So thumbs up all around.
Wildlife/Unique Sightings:
Motorcycle with a side car: 1
Women with what appear to be incredibly high tolerances: 3
Old, but clean guy in a Speedo: 1
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Day 13, July 11th, Living in Girdwood, AK
Morning Activities: This morning Tess and I slept in until about 8am, then I woke up and made some lovely strawberry pancakes while she chewed on a plastic bottle. I think she’s trying to tell me that she wants more food for breakfast, but I am choosing to ignore her attempts to overeat. After breakfast we packed up the truck for an overnight “car camping” trip and headed out to the Kenai Peninsula for an adventure.
Notes on the Drive:
Most of the drivers in Alaska are, as you would expect, from Alaska, however, once and a while I will pass a car from out of state. When that happens, I feel a certain camaraderie with the driver. Sometimes the license plates are just from Washington (which is not all that impressive to me). Or sometimes the license plates are from places like Florida or New York (those impress me because it means they drove even further than I did to get here). But, today we passed two RV’s, in a caravan, from Colorado. My People!!! I sped up and got in front of them so that they could see my license plate was from CO as well. I even secretly wished that I had some sort of flashing neon blue lights that I could switch on to illuminate my license plate. In the end, I’m not sure if they even noticed that I was from Colorado, but I, for one, know that I felt like hugging them!
Most of the cars that I\we passed on the drive had coolers and dip nets strapped to the top of their roofs. Once again, I was jealous of the dip netter’s inevitable advantage over my attempts to catch red salmon with a fly rod.
We passed through Cooper’s Landing on the way to our campsite. That view is amazing. The water is a crazy turquoise blue, and the river is wide and powerful. So cool. So impressive and intimidating and yet inviting all at once
Our Hiking Adventure for the Day:
After we secured a campsite at a campground near Cooper’s Landing, Tess and I headed off to the Resurrection Pass Trailhead near the Russian River. The hike that we decided to take is a gradual ascent over a pass. The trees are pretty thick, so you don’t get to see as many vast views of mountain ranges as you do on the Johnson Pass Trail. However, I didn’t mind the thick trees because they force you to focus on the forest foliage and the views that are 20 feet in front of you instead of 20 miles away. Fireweed (a tall pink/purple flower) lined the trail, along with ferns, aspens, birch trees, and various patches of wildflowers. There were also a couple of creeks babbling alongside the trail at various points in the hike, and an occasional break in the trees would allow you a short, but beautiful glimpse of the Kenai River winding through the valley below. Tuffs of cotton spun down from the cottonwoods and landed in snow like pillows of white on top of beds of pine needles. But, my favorite part of this trail was rounding a corner to find the sun shining down just right through a dark and shadowy section of evergreens. The contrast was so stark. The dark of the forest reaching 30 feet up, but powerful streams of light beaming down through the branches making the pine needle path almost sparkle. It made me feel like I was witnessing something magical.
When it was time to head back down the path (after about 90 minutes of hiking North), Tess spied a chipmunk and went crazy. These are the moments that I know she wishes she wasn’t firmly attached to her stubborn momma. She would much rather tear down the ravine after that chipmunk, instead of being held hostage by a woman who is absentmindedly snapping pictures of ferns and cotton balls.
Our Campsite:
After we completed our hike, I took Tess back to the campground, hooked her up to a 25ft tie out, and then I sat down to relax and read a book. The first thing that Tess did was head straight to one of the mud flaps on my truck. She started licking it. Since she doesn’t normally do this, I just chuckled and kept reading. However, after about 5 minutes I looked over and Tess was still obsessively licking it. It was only then that I remembered that I had unfortunately clipped a little road kill with my back right tire on our drive today (don’t worry; it was already dead by the time that I hit it). Yeah. Guess which mud flap Tess was licking? N-A-S-T-Y.
Needless to say, after I realized what was going on, I adjusted Tess’s tie out cable so that she couldn’t reach the mud flap anymore and then I went back to reading. Tess, on the other hand, started to play a little game that I like to call “Cleaning up Camp.” Apparently the people who camped at the campsite the night before had steak for dinner. They also decided to just chuck the bones into the various bushes around the campsite instead of throwing them away. 1) That’s just rude. 2) That’s idiotic in bear country. Luckily, Tess was all over clean up duty. She sniffed out anything that smelled remotely tasty over the next 15 minutes. Granted, she started to get a little pissed at me because every time she found a bone or piece of trash I would take it away, but she continued playing the cleanup game anyway. At one point in time, I decided that I would try out her “tracking” abilities and I took one of the bones and chucked it into some thick shoulder high bushes to see how long it would take her to find it. Um yeah. I guess Tess has mad tracking skills after all because she emerged from those bushes with that bone in less than 10 seconds. Seriously. She’s good.
When Tess was finally satisfied with the cleanliness of the campsite she sat down, made some mulch (chewed on a stick for about 10 minutes) and then passed out in the dirt by my feet. It’s always a successful outing when your timid dog is so exhausted by the end of the day that she’s sound asleep and snoring instead of whining in fear about the new surroundings.
The campsite was very pleasant. I made a little beef stroganoff for dinner and Tess had some dog food. There was a little breeze, which meant no mosquitoes, and all of the other campers had very well behaved, and leashed dogs. All in all, it was a perfect evening, with the exception of a brief period when two brothers were pumping water at the water pump next to my campsite. At some point, one of them pinched his finger in the pump and proceeded to scream in the most guttural manner for two minutes straight. Don’t get me wrong. It looked like it hurt, but he was screaming so much that I was about to go over and look for a missing digit on the ground. I think his brother was equally concerned due to the pure volume of noise that was coming out of his injured brother’s mouth. But, when the non-injured brother finally got to take a look at the “injured” finger, and saw that it was just pinched (not even broken), he just dropped his screaming brother’s hand, looked him dead in the eye and said “You are such a baby.” Ah brotherly love. Otherwise known as tough love I suppose. It worked like a charm. The crying stopped instantly and the injured brother started pumping again like nothing had ever happened. Mental note for if/when I have boys: apparently heckling is not only allowed, it is effective.
Wildlife Sightings:
Chipmunk: 1
Bald Eagle: 1
Bones: 6
Road Kill: 1
Water Pumping Baby: 1
Notes on the Drive:
Most of the drivers in Alaska are, as you would expect, from Alaska, however, once and a while I will pass a car from out of state. When that happens, I feel a certain camaraderie with the driver. Sometimes the license plates are just from Washington (which is not all that impressive to me). Or sometimes the license plates are from places like Florida or New York (those impress me because it means they drove even further than I did to get here). But, today we passed two RV’s, in a caravan, from Colorado. My People!!! I sped up and got in front of them so that they could see my license plate was from CO as well. I even secretly wished that I had some sort of flashing neon blue lights that I could switch on to illuminate my license plate. In the end, I’m not sure if they even noticed that I was from Colorado, but I, for one, know that I felt like hugging them!
Most of the cars that I\we passed on the drive had coolers and dip nets strapped to the top of their roofs. Once again, I was jealous of the dip netter’s inevitable advantage over my attempts to catch red salmon with a fly rod.
We passed through Cooper’s Landing on the way to our campsite. That view is amazing. The water is a crazy turquoise blue, and the river is wide and powerful. So cool. So impressive and intimidating and yet inviting all at once
Our Hiking Adventure for the Day:
After we secured a campsite at a campground near Cooper’s Landing, Tess and I headed off to the Resurrection Pass Trailhead near the Russian River. The hike that we decided to take is a gradual ascent over a pass. The trees are pretty thick, so you don’t get to see as many vast views of mountain ranges as you do on the Johnson Pass Trail. However, I didn’t mind the thick trees because they force you to focus on the forest foliage and the views that are 20 feet in front of you instead of 20 miles away. Fireweed (a tall pink/purple flower) lined the trail, along with ferns, aspens, birch trees, and various patches of wildflowers. There were also a couple of creeks babbling alongside the trail at various points in the hike, and an occasional break in the trees would allow you a short, but beautiful glimpse of the Kenai River winding through the valley below. Tuffs of cotton spun down from the cottonwoods and landed in snow like pillows of white on top of beds of pine needles. But, my favorite part of this trail was rounding a corner to find the sun shining down just right through a dark and shadowy section of evergreens. The contrast was so stark. The dark of the forest reaching 30 feet up, but powerful streams of light beaming down through the branches making the pine needle path almost sparkle. It made me feel like I was witnessing something magical.
When it was time to head back down the path (after about 90 minutes of hiking North), Tess spied a chipmunk and went crazy. These are the moments that I know she wishes she wasn’t firmly attached to her stubborn momma. She would much rather tear down the ravine after that chipmunk, instead of being held hostage by a woman who is absentmindedly snapping pictures of ferns and cotton balls.
Our Campsite:
After we completed our hike, I took Tess back to the campground, hooked her up to a 25ft tie out, and then I sat down to relax and read a book. The first thing that Tess did was head straight to one of the mud flaps on my truck. She started licking it. Since she doesn’t normally do this, I just chuckled and kept reading. However, after about 5 minutes I looked over and Tess was still obsessively licking it. It was only then that I remembered that I had unfortunately clipped a little road kill with my back right tire on our drive today (don’t worry; it was already dead by the time that I hit it). Yeah. Guess which mud flap Tess was licking? N-A-S-T-Y.
Needless to say, after I realized what was going on, I adjusted Tess’s tie out cable so that she couldn’t reach the mud flap anymore and then I went back to reading. Tess, on the other hand, started to play a little game that I like to call “Cleaning up Camp.” Apparently the people who camped at the campsite the night before had steak for dinner. They also decided to just chuck the bones into the various bushes around the campsite instead of throwing them away. 1) That’s just rude. 2) That’s idiotic in bear country. Luckily, Tess was all over clean up duty. She sniffed out anything that smelled remotely tasty over the next 15 minutes. Granted, she started to get a little pissed at me because every time she found a bone or piece of trash I would take it away, but she continued playing the cleanup game anyway. At one point in time, I decided that I would try out her “tracking” abilities and I took one of the bones and chucked it into some thick shoulder high bushes to see how long it would take her to find it. Um yeah. I guess Tess has mad tracking skills after all because she emerged from those bushes with that bone in less than 10 seconds. Seriously. She’s good.
When Tess was finally satisfied with the cleanliness of the campsite she sat down, made some mulch (chewed on a stick for about 10 minutes) and then passed out in the dirt by my feet. It’s always a successful outing when your timid dog is so exhausted by the end of the day that she’s sound asleep and snoring instead of whining in fear about the new surroundings.
The campsite was very pleasant. I made a little beef stroganoff for dinner and Tess had some dog food. There was a little breeze, which meant no mosquitoes, and all of the other campers had very well behaved, and leashed dogs. All in all, it was a perfect evening, with the exception of a brief period when two brothers were pumping water at the water pump next to my campsite. At some point, one of them pinched his finger in the pump and proceeded to scream in the most guttural manner for two minutes straight. Don’t get me wrong. It looked like it hurt, but he was screaming so much that I was about to go over and look for a missing digit on the ground. I think his brother was equally concerned due to the pure volume of noise that was coming out of his injured brother’s mouth. But, when the non-injured brother finally got to take a look at the “injured” finger, and saw that it was just pinched (not even broken), he just dropped his screaming brother’s hand, looked him dead in the eye and said “You are such a baby.” Ah brotherly love. Otherwise known as tough love I suppose. It worked like a charm. The crying stopped instantly and the injured brother started pumping again like nothing had ever happened. Mental note for if/when I have boys: apparently heckling is not only allowed, it is effective.
Wildlife Sightings:
Chipmunk: 1
Bald Eagle: 1
Bones: 6
Road Kill: 1
Water Pumping Baby: 1
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Day 12, July 10th, Living in Girdwood, AK
Tess and the Garage:
Tess loves the garage. As a matter of fact, she may love the garage more than I do. I’d say she spends a good hour a day just walking around on all the different levels of it smelling stuff. Sometimes she runs laps around the truck or up and down the stairs, but mostly she just hangs out in there. At times it feels a bit like she’s a teenager hanging out in her room. If I pop my head in there to check on her she kind of gives me this look like “What? What are you doing here? I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m just hanging out!!! Jeeze Mom. Can’t a kid have a little privacy?!?!” As long as I don’t find her in there doing drugs and having sex with the dog next door it seems innocent enough to me.
Our Salvaged Adventure for the Day:
This Friday I had planned on working until about 1pm and then taking off early for a camping adventure of some sort. Unfortunately, at about 11am, I started feeling really woozy and dizzy. I don’t know if it was something about the way my computer screen was set up, the after effects of drinking crappy Mike’s Hard Lemonade (although I only had one!), or just something that my body was going through, but my head was spinning and I felt like I was going to vomit. So, I pushed the departure time back and just went horizontal on the futon, hoping that the feeling would subside. Tess, always the trusty hound, curled up right next to me and kept me company.
At around 3pm, when I still wasn’t feeling quite right, I decided to postpone the camping trip until tomorrow, cancel OFFF for the day, and keep resting on the couch. By about 5pm, I was feeling a *little* better, but still a pretty off. And, by 6pm, I was a little depressed about the “wasted” day and Tess was ready to explode because she hadn’t pooped yet and she was refusing to go anywhere near the house.
So, I decided that I would take her down to the train tracks for a very easily little stroll in an attempt to get her to DILIH. We got to the train tracks, Tess completed Operation DILIH, and we started to head back to the truck when I remembered the strawberry patch that we had passed earlier in the week. Sure enough, when we strolled over to it, it had clearly been picked through, but there were still plenty of wild strawberries left to enjoy. So, I pulled out a plastic bag and started picking. Tess wasn’t all that helpful, because she tends to step on the berries, but she did have her bear bell on, and that might have helped ward off some bears. It is fairly reasonable to be wary of bears while you are bent over picking through one of their food sources, so I started whistling as well. I did get a couple of mosquito bites while we were picking strawberries, but I didn’t care. I was too giddy about finding this free bounty on the side of the road. I love Alaska!
Tess and I stopped off at the mercantile on the way home and picked up some pancake mix and syrup to go along with our pound of wild berries. Guess who is having strawberry pancakes in the morning?! And all because Tess had to poop!
Man I love my dog! Good girl Tess. Good Girl!
Tess loves the garage. As a matter of fact, she may love the garage more than I do. I’d say she spends a good hour a day just walking around on all the different levels of it smelling stuff. Sometimes she runs laps around the truck or up and down the stairs, but mostly she just hangs out in there. At times it feels a bit like she’s a teenager hanging out in her room. If I pop my head in there to check on her she kind of gives me this look like “What? What are you doing here? I’m not doing anything wrong. I’m just hanging out!!! Jeeze Mom. Can’t a kid have a little privacy?!?!” As long as I don’t find her in there doing drugs and having sex with the dog next door it seems innocent enough to me.
Our Salvaged Adventure for the Day:
This Friday I had planned on working until about 1pm and then taking off early for a camping adventure of some sort. Unfortunately, at about 11am, I started feeling really woozy and dizzy. I don’t know if it was something about the way my computer screen was set up, the after effects of drinking crappy Mike’s Hard Lemonade (although I only had one!), or just something that my body was going through, but my head was spinning and I felt like I was going to vomit. So, I pushed the departure time back and just went horizontal on the futon, hoping that the feeling would subside. Tess, always the trusty hound, curled up right next to me and kept me company.
At around 3pm, when I still wasn’t feeling quite right, I decided to postpone the camping trip until tomorrow, cancel OFFF for the day, and keep resting on the couch. By about 5pm, I was feeling a *little* better, but still a pretty off. And, by 6pm, I was a little depressed about the “wasted” day and Tess was ready to explode because she hadn’t pooped yet and she was refusing to go anywhere near the house.
So, I decided that I would take her down to the train tracks for a very easily little stroll in an attempt to get her to DILIH. We got to the train tracks, Tess completed Operation DILIH, and we started to head back to the truck when I remembered the strawberry patch that we had passed earlier in the week. Sure enough, when we strolled over to it, it had clearly been picked through, but there were still plenty of wild strawberries left to enjoy. So, I pulled out a plastic bag and started picking. Tess wasn’t all that helpful, because she tends to step on the berries, but she did have her bear bell on, and that might have helped ward off some bears. It is fairly reasonable to be wary of bears while you are bent over picking through one of their food sources, so I started whistling as well. I did get a couple of mosquito bites while we were picking strawberries, but I didn’t care. I was too giddy about finding this free bounty on the side of the road. I love Alaska!
Tess and I stopped off at the mercantile on the way home and picked up some pancake mix and syrup to go along with our pound of wild berries. Guess who is having strawberry pancakes in the morning?! And all because Tess had to poop!
Man I love my dog! Good girl Tess. Good Girl!
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Day 11, July 9th, Living in Girdwood, AK
Operation Fitness for Fear: We had another great run today. I am really beginning to enjoy Operation FFF. I will admit I don’t always like the idea of it as I am getting dressed for the run, but once I push through that initial lazy feeling, the run consistently ends up being quite nice. And of course, Tess always loves a chance to get outside. Today on the run we saw a couple of wild purple irises. They were small, but very beautiful and delicate.
We also managed to avoid any dogs on our run. Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs, but Tess is pretty unpredictable around dogs. With some dogs she will cower and be submissive. With other dogs she will bark and snap at them, as if she is warning them to stay away. I am sure this is due mostly to her timid nature. On one hand she wants some other dog to take the lead; on the other hand sometimes she’s so freaked out by her surroundings that she just wants the other dogs to leave her alone. I am sure there is more that I can do to help her on this front, but like all things with Tess, it is a work in progress. In the interim, I do my best to keep an eye out for dogs that we might encounter, so that I can make sure that I have control over Tess. That way, she doesn’t feel like she has to speak (IE bark) for the two of us. Keeping an eye out for dogs in Girdwood is a full time job since a lot of people just let their dogs roam the streets. Luckily, all the dogs that we have encountered so far have been very chill. My guess is that if you are a dog and you spend the majority of your life living in Girdwood, you learn how to recognize the people who want to pet you and the people who want you to leave them alone. Sometimes I feel a little bad for them when it’s raining out or when I think about bears, but for the most part, they seem incredibly happy to be able to just wander around and set their own daily agenda. They can sniff wherever they want. They can hang out wherever they want (One dog just sits outside the mercantile door. Another dog sits in the middle of the road until his owner comes back from work). And inevitably, they can poop wherever they want. Apparently, my front yard is quite popular with the local dogs when it comes to this particular activity. Tess is not amused.
Operation Trying Not to be a Complete Hermit: I have continued my attempts to interact with people a little more. Admittedly, today was a fairly passive attempt, but it bears noting that during Operation FFF, I made eye contact with a few people and they all said “Hi” to me. One of the hellos was from a local. Two hellos were from tourists. And one hello was from a guy who was clearly just focusing on my chest. I can’t say that I blame him. I mean let’s face it; I have quite a large rack. And, despite a couple of sports bras, going on a run with those suckers is going to make an impression on anyone who’s watching.
Observations and Notes from my Work Day in Anchorage:
There are some forest fires burning throughout the state, which is fairly common in Alaska. It’s also to be expected because this is one of the driest summers that they have had in years. The fires do interesting things to the sky. They make everything look a little hazy. They also make the air smell like campfires. I love a nice campfire, so it doesn’t really bother me. As a matter of fact, I enjoy the smell. I just hope the actual fires stay away from the bachelor pad.
I had a conference call with one of my clients today. Unlike the rest of the loudmouths in the public library, I didn’t want to make a lot of noise or take my call in the library, so I took it in my truck. Now, because this is my most problematic customer, I put on my lucky headband while I was talking to them. My headband says “IT’S GOING TO BE FINE” on it. I also tend to pull on my hair when I am talking to this customer, which means my hair is standing straight up while I wear the headband. Yeah. Initially I forgot that I still had it on when I started heading back inside. I’m glad that I caught myself before I actually sat back down in the library. Otherwise, some smart ass (other than me) probably would have blogged about the weirdo they saw in the public library today.
A cute little kid came up to me in the library and held an entire conversation with me while I was trying to work. Sadly, I have no idea what he was saying to me, but it was still adorable. And really, it all helps when it comes to Operation Trying Not to Be a Complete Hermit.
I saw a ton of people with dyed hair in the mall today. I’m not talking about blondes and brunettes. I’m talking about greens and reds and purples and bright blues. I must have missed the memo about this being “dye your hair like a slurpee” day.
I picked up my fishing license today. Wahoo! I don’t know exactly when I will go fishing yet, as we are currently between runs of red salmon, but it’s nice to know that now I can pull my fly rod out anytime I spy a stream that I want to fish on. While I was at the sporting good store getting my fishing license I saw a dip net for sale. Alaskan residents are allowed to use dips nets to catch salmon at certain times during the year. I can’t do this because you have to live here for 12 months first, but seeing that huge net made me a little jealous. It was about five feet in diameter. You essentially walk out into the river while the salmon are running upstream, stick your huge net in the water and pull out a fish. Talk about having an advantage over the salmon (and the fishermen using poles)!
Wildlife/Unique to Alaska Sightings:
Float Plane: 1
Bald Eagles: 3
People with Unnatural Primary Color Hair: 11
Our Adventure for the Day: Today Tess and I took another walk along the Bird to Gird bike path. It was a repeat walk, but I can’t help doing it again since I like it so much. It is full of such great views and it is a nice walk to take if you aren’t feeling overly ambitious. When we got to the start of the walk, which is at the train station, I saw a couple of kids (probably 5-8 years old) sipping soda pop and walking along the railroad tracks. It looked like an old time print ad for Coca-Cola.
I have been trying to notice more birds on these walks. The marshes are full of all kinds of small birds popping in and out as they feed on bugs. There’s also an occasional bald eagle or hawk or sea gull that flies over the tall grass and marshy water scanning for an easy meal. It seems like the bigger birds float and glide while the smaller birds dart around at a much quicker pace. Unfortunately I don’t know any of the names for the smaller birds, but they are fun to watch nevertheless. They are like little dancers, flitting and whisking about, looking so sleek and graceful, all the while, arduously working to find their next meal.
We keep passing these purple thistles. I want the thistles to be some sort of exotic fruit. I don’t know why. It just seems like something that pretty and yet uninviting should be edible.
We passed a lot of bogs, and we managed to avoid going for a swim in any of them. This disappointed Tess a bit, but I was very pleased since it gave us some more opportunities to practice our “Oh crap! !!@#$% stay out of the bog” trick. Lest you start to think that I don’t let Tess have any fun, I did let her take a swim in a creek along the path. Of course, as soon as she jumped into the water, she woke the beasts. And by beasts, I mean the mosquitoes. Luckily, they were slow. I only suffered two bites with the Shoo tags as my only protection.
About five minutes in to the walk, Tess and I spied some wild strawberries by the side of the road. I made a mental note to try a couple on our way out. However, on our return trip I we found that the patch was being picked by the kids with the soda pop and their mom. I didn’t want to crowd them so we just headed home, but you can guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow.
After Our Walk: Tess and I came home to find that the DSL was installed a day early. YEAH! Way to go ACS Alaska! Faster internet has come to the 70’s bachelor pad. We celebrated by watching a couple of episodes of the Tudors on Netflix. Life is good!
We also managed to avoid any dogs on our run. Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs, but Tess is pretty unpredictable around dogs. With some dogs she will cower and be submissive. With other dogs she will bark and snap at them, as if she is warning them to stay away. I am sure this is due mostly to her timid nature. On one hand she wants some other dog to take the lead; on the other hand sometimes she’s so freaked out by her surroundings that she just wants the other dogs to leave her alone. I am sure there is more that I can do to help her on this front, but like all things with Tess, it is a work in progress. In the interim, I do my best to keep an eye out for dogs that we might encounter, so that I can make sure that I have control over Tess. That way, she doesn’t feel like she has to speak (IE bark) for the two of us. Keeping an eye out for dogs in Girdwood is a full time job since a lot of people just let their dogs roam the streets. Luckily, all the dogs that we have encountered so far have been very chill. My guess is that if you are a dog and you spend the majority of your life living in Girdwood, you learn how to recognize the people who want to pet you and the people who want you to leave them alone. Sometimes I feel a little bad for them when it’s raining out or when I think about bears, but for the most part, they seem incredibly happy to be able to just wander around and set their own daily agenda. They can sniff wherever they want. They can hang out wherever they want (One dog just sits outside the mercantile door. Another dog sits in the middle of the road until his owner comes back from work). And inevitably, they can poop wherever they want. Apparently, my front yard is quite popular with the local dogs when it comes to this particular activity. Tess is not amused.
Operation Trying Not to be a Complete Hermit: I have continued my attempts to interact with people a little more. Admittedly, today was a fairly passive attempt, but it bears noting that during Operation FFF, I made eye contact with a few people and they all said “Hi” to me. One of the hellos was from a local. Two hellos were from tourists. And one hello was from a guy who was clearly just focusing on my chest. I can’t say that I blame him. I mean let’s face it; I have quite a large rack. And, despite a couple of sports bras, going on a run with those suckers is going to make an impression on anyone who’s watching.
Observations and Notes from my Work Day in Anchorage:
There are some forest fires burning throughout the state, which is fairly common in Alaska. It’s also to be expected because this is one of the driest summers that they have had in years. The fires do interesting things to the sky. They make everything look a little hazy. They also make the air smell like campfires. I love a nice campfire, so it doesn’t really bother me. As a matter of fact, I enjoy the smell. I just hope the actual fires stay away from the bachelor pad.
I had a conference call with one of my clients today. Unlike the rest of the loudmouths in the public library, I didn’t want to make a lot of noise or take my call in the library, so I took it in my truck. Now, because this is my most problematic customer, I put on my lucky headband while I was talking to them. My headband says “IT’S GOING TO BE FINE” on it. I also tend to pull on my hair when I am talking to this customer, which means my hair is standing straight up while I wear the headband. Yeah. Initially I forgot that I still had it on when I started heading back inside. I’m glad that I caught myself before I actually sat back down in the library. Otherwise, some smart ass (other than me) probably would have blogged about the weirdo they saw in the public library today.
A cute little kid came up to me in the library and held an entire conversation with me while I was trying to work. Sadly, I have no idea what he was saying to me, but it was still adorable. And really, it all helps when it comes to Operation Trying Not to Be a Complete Hermit.
I saw a ton of people with dyed hair in the mall today. I’m not talking about blondes and brunettes. I’m talking about greens and reds and purples and bright blues. I must have missed the memo about this being “dye your hair like a slurpee” day.
I picked up my fishing license today. Wahoo! I don’t know exactly when I will go fishing yet, as we are currently between runs of red salmon, but it’s nice to know that now I can pull my fly rod out anytime I spy a stream that I want to fish on. While I was at the sporting good store getting my fishing license I saw a dip net for sale. Alaskan residents are allowed to use dips nets to catch salmon at certain times during the year. I can’t do this because you have to live here for 12 months first, but seeing that huge net made me a little jealous. It was about five feet in diameter. You essentially walk out into the river while the salmon are running upstream, stick your huge net in the water and pull out a fish. Talk about having an advantage over the salmon (and the fishermen using poles)!
Wildlife/Unique to Alaska Sightings:
Float Plane: 1
Bald Eagles: 3
People with Unnatural Primary Color Hair: 11
Our Adventure for the Day: Today Tess and I took another walk along the Bird to Gird bike path. It was a repeat walk, but I can’t help doing it again since I like it so much. It is full of such great views and it is a nice walk to take if you aren’t feeling overly ambitious. When we got to the start of the walk, which is at the train station, I saw a couple of kids (probably 5-8 years old) sipping soda pop and walking along the railroad tracks. It looked like an old time print ad for Coca-Cola.
I have been trying to notice more birds on these walks. The marshes are full of all kinds of small birds popping in and out as they feed on bugs. There’s also an occasional bald eagle or hawk or sea gull that flies over the tall grass and marshy water scanning for an easy meal. It seems like the bigger birds float and glide while the smaller birds dart around at a much quicker pace. Unfortunately I don’t know any of the names for the smaller birds, but they are fun to watch nevertheless. They are like little dancers, flitting and whisking about, looking so sleek and graceful, all the while, arduously working to find their next meal.
We keep passing these purple thistles. I want the thistles to be some sort of exotic fruit. I don’t know why. It just seems like something that pretty and yet uninviting should be edible.
We passed a lot of bogs, and we managed to avoid going for a swim in any of them. This disappointed Tess a bit, but I was very pleased since it gave us some more opportunities to practice our “Oh crap! !!@#$% stay out of the bog” trick. Lest you start to think that I don’t let Tess have any fun, I did let her take a swim in a creek along the path. Of course, as soon as she jumped into the water, she woke the beasts. And by beasts, I mean the mosquitoes. Luckily, they were slow. I only suffered two bites with the Shoo tags as my only protection.
About five minutes in to the walk, Tess and I spied some wild strawberries by the side of the road. I made a mental note to try a couple on our way out. However, on our return trip I we found that the patch was being picked by the kids with the soda pop and their mom. I didn’t want to crowd them so we just headed home, but you can guess what I’ll be doing tomorrow.
After Our Walk: Tess and I came home to find that the DSL was installed a day early. YEAH! Way to go ACS Alaska! Faster internet has come to the 70’s bachelor pad. We celebrated by watching a couple of episodes of the Tudors on Netflix. Life is good!
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