The Ice Cometh....

Compared to last week, this week was far more relaxing and uneventful....

But I did have my first ice storm. Now, I had no idea what an ice storm actually was....basically, it's rain that freezes when it touches down....so every where you look is covered with ice. Akiak is now one giant ice rink.

I'm lucky I have my cleats, so walking around isn't such a scary thing. And the ice storm didn't cause any damage....

except my 4 wheeler is completely frozen and was parked in a puddle, so the tires are now frozen.

I am going to try to defrost it on Wednesday.....fingers crossed!

My week was pretty quiet. I taught, I watched movies....and I slept some. It's been so cold outside (-10 degrees) that I've been staying inside most of the time.

Not every week is full of adventure.....but I can't complain. I have water, power, & heat.....pretty spoiled these days.

And then I have a giant dog who thinks it's a lap dog....Dakota will lay his front legs on my and take up the rest of the love seat....and then instant warmth!!

Dakota stretched out 

I really do enjoy having a big dog. Except that I can't leave anything on the counters, because he can reach them and grab stuff. And what he's not able to reach, my kitty Lola, will help knock stuff off the counter. So basically, my counters have to be cleared up.

I do feel bad about living in such a small space though. There are certain places Dakota has to back out of, instead of just turning himself around. He's so long that if we are both on the bed, and his head is level with my own, his body comes all the way to my knees. And now, his head is at my hip level, so I just have to reach out to pet him.

Well, that's it for this week....I should have more to tell after my thawing out the grizzly (hopefully not too much of an adventure) and my few days off for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Mom ~ Meet Anchorage

The warnings came the day before I was set to leave: a freezing rain was heading towards Bethel. I began to worry if I would be able to meet my mom in Anchorage after all. I even debated trying to fly to Anchorage a day earlier. But I'm not supposed to leave my cats alone in my house for more than 3 days, and I really didn't want to impose on Dakota's sitter one more night.

So I took my chances. There was several other people flying out at the same time, so we decided to charter a plane together to cut down the cost. Which worked out really well. Except that Jeannie had called to see if the bush airline would be willing to fly out earlier, which raises a big flag if you are used to flying in the bush.

Here's the thing: you have to be so flexible to the point of being ready to fly as soon as bush planes are ready. If there's bad weather heading our way, planes will fly as soon as possible to avoid it. Which is great, but you have to be ready for it. Which I was. I planned on being ready 3 hours before my plane was due to pick me up. Sounds excessive, maybe? We left 2 1/2 hours before my plane was due to pick me up. The other people we were flying with were new to the bush this year and were in the middle of breakfast when the call came in. They thought I would still be sleeping.....I wish! It's my 3rd year in the bush, hopefully, I've learned some things.

I made it to Anchorage just fine! My mother and I went to dinner and she got to experience someone bush shopping. It was my first time leaving the bush in 5 months, and my only trip out until summer break. I'm not flying to California for the holidays, which also meant this was the only time I had to shop in person for the holidays. I spent a lot of money. I don't have buyers remorse, but I was trying to save some bucks. Ah well.....hopefully, I can save more the rest of the school year!

Anchorage, Alaska

Thursday night I became very, very ill. I was thinking I had some kind of food poisoning, but I later found out that several of my co-workers were sick at the same time with a stomach bug. But I was sick. And it wasn't fun. But I had my mommy to take care of me.....or walk to the corner market at 5:30 in the morning to get me some meds. Thank you Mom! I was in bad shape.

It's a good thing that my mom really just wanted to hang out with me because Friday, that's all I was good for. We watched movies and just hung out. Finally, I was able to get up and we stopped by Walmart (I needed more medicine & I was the only one driving ~ too slick out) & went out to dinner (I ate soup.)

We were supposed to go on a helicopter tour of some glaciers on Friday, but they had to postpone it due to weather. Thank goodness! I was too sick to go anyways. I finally started feeling better Friday night and I woke up feeling much better on Saturday.

Which was a good thing because the tour place called me to ask if I could come that day. I said "YES!" and so my mother and I headed out to Girdwood, which is about 45 minutes outside of Anchorage.

If you are ever in the area, and want an incredible adventure, please check out Alpine Air Alaska! They were super friendly, knowledgable, and I think reasonable. They offer helicopter tours and in the summer: dog sledding! Our pilot flew us through the valley and past two glaciers (one with a spectacular ice cave!) and then we went looking for moose and passed a bald eagle flying by us. It landed in a tree by the helicopter. We flew around a mountain, over mud flats, and back to Girdwood. Our pilot knew so much about geology, I was able to learn more about how glaciers change the landscape.

And flying in a helicopter beats a bush plane any day! You just lift off the ground! And it was so smooth, even in the rain there was no turbulence. It was small, but I was surrounded by windows, so I didn't feel inclosed at all. It was incredible, simply incredible. I highly recommend it!

My Mother & I 

Inside of the Helicopter

Heading towards the glaciers

The Valley

More of the Valley

My 1st Glacier

The Ice Cave

Top of the Glacier

More of the Glacier

Coming up to the 2nd Glacier

Loved the blue color

The glacier has pushed the rocks it took off the surrounding mountains into a new formation.

Jagged Edges of Ice

The lake created by the receding glacier

Two moose

At the top of the tree is a bald eagle

Loved the color in the river

Mud Flats

Heading back to Girdwood

After the helicopter tour, we headed to the mall. There was a pair of Superman shoes I had wanted to buy. Also, I hadn't been to a mall for awhile. I stopped at a beauty salon and got my haircut by a professional. She wasn't my hair stylist, but she was okay. She wanted to know why I had cut my hair myself, sigh, I just said it was a long story and I emotionally distraught. I stopped by a calendar store and picked out my calendars for the next year. I had wanted a calendar of Iceland, but I figured I could buy that one online. (I found out later ~ wrong! They don't make one.)

I was getting very worn out. My mom stopped and got a chair massage (my mom's addicted to massages by the way.) while I rested. We had a couple more stops, Walmart again to buy a new suitcase and a tote to pack all this stuff up and then I really wanted a nap.

But now it was time to pack:

We were hoping to go to a movie at some point in the trip, but it was not meant to be. I didn't finish packing until around midnight. But we did watch some fun movies on HBO, so that was nice.

We woke up early and drove to the airport. My mom was leaving a couple of hours before I was, but I didn't mind hanging out with her. I won't be seeing her again for quite some time. When we got to the airport the sun was just beginning to rise (at 8:30 a.m):

It was a good trip, despite my getting sick. I was glad to see my mom & spend some time with her, but I was also glad to get home to my furbabies!! Dakota seemed glad to see me and my kitties cuddled with me and slept on me last night. I'm glad to be home safe & sound!

Okay, I did bite it on the boardwalk in front of my house......but despite a swollen knee and icy conditions, I'm glad to be back home. (My alarm went off awfully early this morning though!!)

And for the record: Dakota has already shredded one of his new toys. Fantastic.....

Musings on a Cold Sunday...

There's a -2 degree wind chill today, but there hasn't been much snow yet.

It's supposed to start snowing on Thursday, the same day I am leaving for Anchorage to spend the weekend with my mother. I hope the weather doesn't interfere with my plans. My mom and I are supposed to take a helicopter glacier tour on Friday (it's supposed to snow that day too.)

So fingers crossed the weather won't mess with my trip. As long as I am able to leave and come back on time, then it doesn't matter. I'll have a good time seeing my mom & spending a girl's weekend with her.

Dakota was supposed to come with me, however last weekend I discovered that he no longer fits into his XL dog crate. Alaska Airlines does not fly dogs bigger than a XL. So, I could try to shove him in a crate and maybe they'd let me but it's not worth finding out in Anchorage that I can't get him home. So, he's staying in Akiak. Which will be better for him anyways. My baby boy is claustrophobic. So my sticking him in a tiny enclosed crate most of the weekend wouldn't be very fun for him.

But I still needed him to get his rabies shot. Which meant a last minute trip to Bethel on Monday. Bush planes don't care if the dog is a bit too tall for his crate. And with the vet being in town this week, it was go time!

So I know Dakota is big, but sometimes I forget how huge he is to other people. Once I got him out of the bush plane, the bush pilot asked if he could take a picture with Dakota and the plane. And then when I was walking him on the tarmac, men stopped what they were doing to watch us. Guys from the loading areas came to the doorway to watch. It was quite funny to me. And when we were waiting in the airport, Dakota sat next to me in the chairs.....and was taller than me. People paid him a lot of attention.

I did get a lecture from the vet though. When Dakota was so sick the last time, he was becoming dehydrated, so I shot water into his mouth and made him drink it. So now he hates the syringe. Well, the vet tried to give him some dewormer and Dakota backed away. I told him he doesn't like that. The vet asked me if I had read any dog training books, and did I trim his nails? I said yes on both accounts. So he told me to grab Dakota by the face and shake him until he submits to my dominance. Funny, the Dog Whisperer never mentioned that method.

So I was going to try to make Dakota take his medicine. Dakota snapped at the syringe. And then I thought about it.....Would I like anything shoved down my throat? Oh no!

So if Dakota hates taking medicine from a syringe and that's the worst thing about Dakota, life will go on. I mix his meds with chicken and he eats every bite. I don't need to traumatize the dog in the process. He minds very well. Sometimes that vet is cool and other times, he irritates me. But as he's the only vet in Bethel, what can I do?

So, last Friday was a horrible roller coaster of emotions. I hope I never have to relive a night like that one again. I'll give you the short version: basically, on my way to the Fall Festival (I was dressed up as Thing 1 from Dr. Suess) I was told a very near and dear friend had been in a horrible accident. I freaked out and went home. Then I was told that my friend had died. I felt so disconnected and my gut kept saying "This is wrong! This is wrong!" and my head said, "This is denial!!"

So in my grief, I decided to honor my friend's memory in a traditional native way. I cut my hair. Okay, I chopped my hair. 5-6 inches....gone. My hair was really long too. It was halfway down my back, the longest it's ever been.

Who cares about my hair, though. My friend was dead, right? Well, after 15 minutes of me cutting my hair, I got a phone call.....whoops! He's not dead after all. In fact, he's going to be okay after all. He's recovering.

So, yay! My friend's not dead! That's good. But I chopped off my hair! When I was able to talk to my friend, I told him not to die anytime soon, I didn't have any extra hair to cut in his honor. I didn't tell anyone in California that I had chopped my hair....and I didn't tell many people here why. So now everyone knows. And I'm slightly embarrassed about it. I don't like wearing my heart on my sleeve much less on my head for all to see. I just wanted to honor him. He's been like a rock for me while I've been here.

As far as my class is going, I've been struggling with the motivation. It seems that there is always something I'd rather be doing than my homework. And having internet issues interferes with my schoolwork. Honestly, life interferes with my schoolwork. So I am looking very hard if this is something I truly want to pursue right now.

I've actually been thinking about writing more. I've been thinking about turning my adventures here into something more.  So, maybe that's something I'd rather spend my time doing. I don't know, I'll have to feel it out.

And I miss reading for fun. I haven't been reading for pleasure as much, but I've started up again. I saw on one blog they have a monthly inbox/outbox of books. I like that idea, so I'm gonna steal it!

Inbox (new books on my shelf this month): Promised (Birthmarked #3) by Caragh M. O'Brien, Dies the Fire (Emberverse #1) by S.M. Stirling, Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult, Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead

Outbox (books I've read this month):

*The Royal Mess (Alaskan Royal Family #3) by MaryJanice Davidson ~ book that takes a "what if the U.S. never bought Alaska from Russia?" It's a silly romance book but fun. It doesn't take itself too seriously and sometimes that's just what I'm looking for in a series!

*To You We Shall Return: Lessons about Our Planet from the Lakota by Joseph M. Marshall III ~ He writes a history of how native people have used the Earth and what the Earth has given us. It's a reminder that we are all a part of the Earth and should take better care of her (although he's not preachy about it all.) He's one of my favorite writers.

*The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass ~ so what if the Hunger Games happened but instead of fighting to the death, you got to look beautiful and be on the Bachelor to win the hand of a handsome prince? So it's really not like the Hunger Games at all, but it's a dystopian YA story all the same. And beautiful women competing for one prince can be just as brutal as anyone from District 1, just different weapons...

*My Story by Marilyn Monroe ~ some people say she didn't really write this. It was published after her death....but I'm not sure. It end abruptly and it's particularly well written. It's not bad but it could have been her who wrote it. You'd think they'd have found a better ghost writer is all I'm saying.

*The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus #3) by Rick Riordan ~ in my love of Greek Mythology, I love that Rick Riordan has brought the world Percy Jackson. Yes, it's the same formula as Harry Potter but it was a middle schooler who first told me about the books and told me how much she loved them. So any series that makes Greek/Roman Mythology cool is a good read in my book!

*On Dublin Street by Samantha Young ~ Amazon told me I'd like it, and I did. It's a modern romance/erotica book but without vampires and that 50 Shade junk. And it involves sexy Irish men. I had been reading my textbooks all that week and it was nice to just read something different.

*Isabeau: A Novel of Queen Isabella & Sir Roger Mortimer by N. Gemini Sasson ~ Queen Isabella is one of my idols from medieval times. And according to Ancestory.com, I am a direct descendent of Roger Mortimer, so I was hoping this would be a good read. It was okay... I wanted to like it more but it was kind of slow.

Okay, I didn't realize I had read that much. But that was fun for me. I love talking about books and getting some good book tips. If you look to the right of my blog, those books are all my favorites (I tried to cut out the kid books), and if you know of any good books you'd like to recommend, I would love to hear it!!

Hopefully, next week I'll have pics from a helicopter ride over some glaciers!! Fingers crossed!

I leave you with: Dakota (and Lola!!)