Day 7, July 5th, Living in Girdwood, AK

Does It Ever Get Dark: A couple of people have asked me if it ever gets dark here, and up until last night I haven’t been able to answer yes or no to that question because I am asleep by the time that it *might* be getting dark. Well, last night, due to a lot of hydrating after the hike, I woke up at 1am and discovered the answer to this question. The answer, at least in July, is “No.” The sky does seem to change from light blue to a darker blue (kind of like the sky would look before a big thunderstorm in Colorado), but it doesn’t appear to ever get pitch black. Again, this is in July. I will update you again in August, as long as my pain in the butt, I mean *challenging,* deal closes in Q3.

My Adventure for the Day: Today was a pretty mellow day. Tess and I slept in. These 5am work days have really made me appreciate the mornings that I can sleep in until 7 or 8am. After a nice breakfast, I left Tess at home (don’t worry, she’s still plenty tuckered out from our hike yesterday) and I meandered down to Forest Fair. Forest Fair is the annual fair held in Girdwood over the 4th of July weekend. Since Girdwood is a *bit* like Boulder, this led to the inevitable mix of tourists, locals, and hippies all gathering in the forest near the Girdwood city park. After I photographed a picture of the Girdwood mini-golf course, which was a bunch of cups buried in the ground with mulch barriers and logs strewn about, I headed into the throng of people milling around the booths. The booths had everything from funnel cake to pottery; tie dyed cloth, knit goods, wildlife photographs, and woodworking, honey, and hula hoops. Aside from the fresh food, almost all of the booths contained items that most of the artists probably made during the dark and cold Alaskan winter months. I picked up a jar of creamed bee pollen by accident (I thought it was creamed honey). Most people know that I have a tiny honey addiction. Well, when I got home, my initial reaction to the pollen was, “hmm. I’m not sure I should have spent money on that.” It has the consistency of runny peanut butter and almost a green tinge to it. I know. I am not making it sound very appealing. However, after a few more samplings, I can tell you that I have changed my tune. It grows on you. As a matter of fact, I am currently experiencing a small, but significant, love affair with creamed bee pollen. Get some today!

Operation DILIH: Of course, because we had an off day from Operation Fitness for Fear, Tess still hadn’t pooped by the time that I got back from Forest Fair. I know this is because she is not so secretly trying to get me to run her every day, despite my firm belief in incorporating rest days into our training regimen. Instead of giving into her bullying I stood my ground, and was a lazy SOB. Sure enough, at 5pm, she finally gave in and dropped it like it was hot. Still, you have to admire her dedication to Operation FFF.

Training Tess: I am beginning to think that I should train Tess, who is a hound dog, how to track. However, since I don’t have a book on that, today I opted to train her on the fine art of “no sticks in the house.” We don’t have a garage in Boulder, but we do here. And in that garage, Tess found a stick. Now, in the afternoons, I tend to open the door between the garage and the house because the garage is cooler than the house and lately the house has been wicked hot. So, sure enough, yesterday afternoon, Tess comes sauntering into the house, sits down on the baby blue carpet and starts munching on that stick. Adorable, but dirty. I picked the stick up, said, “No sticks in the house,” and carried it back to the garage. Five minutes later Tess trotted back inside the house with it. I picked it up again and took it back out to the garage saying, “no sticks in the house,” while she looked at me like I was drunk. Finally, after we repeated this process four times, Tess demonstrated what a pure genius she is. She plopped down, in the garage, right next to the door to the house, and chewed on that stick until it was mulch. Good dog! Mommy is so proud!

Eating like a Dude: The eating like a dude streak continues. Today I had pizza from the pizza place down the street. Over-priced, but delicious. Oh, and you know I dipped that crust in creamed bee pollen!

Wildlife Sightings:
Bald Eagle: 1
Shoeless Hippies with Dreads: 7