It's Vary Personnel

I found the following placard displayed at a public event with lots of foot traffic. (Okay, it was at the Alaska State Fair in the photography section.) I'm willing to dismiss, or at least try to ignore, the grammar issues but the spelling, capitalization, and excessive punctuation make me cringe. Even when I try to give credit for the poem-like stanzas, I find that it makes me crazy. I suppose that most of the words are actually spelled correctly - just not the proper usage.

Note: I took a picture of the original sign, then cropped it to remove personal (not personnel) information. Since he was featured, I would have to assume that he's got better photography skills than spelling & grammar. Makes me kind of grateful for my high school English teacher...

Whirlwind Visit

Jeannea finally finished her summer work in Silly Dilly (Dillingham) and stopped in to visit on her way to WA. It was a short visit - she came in on Friday the 22nd, and headed out on Saturday the 23rd. I was a little bummed that we didn't get more time together, but she promised to make it up to me on her stop over (when she's heading out to King Cove - should be in just a couple weeks now...)

The reason we didn't get much time is that she decided to collect her car (Wilbur, as I named him) and drive down to Seattle. A friend from work was going with her, and they had to be in town by a certain time. I'm glad she had someone to make the long trip with - it's loads more fun (not to mention safer) to do a long road trip with someone... (Hol, remember Smashed-in-Heads-Buffalo-Jump?!? And other events best not published on the internet... ;) )

Because Jeannea was taking Wilbur, we needed to get another vehicle. A great deal practically fell in our laps, just before the deadline...

They're practically twins! Mine is older and has more miles; Wilbur has the off road and tow packages; mine has running boards; Wilbur has stereo controls on the steering wheel (man, I miss that!!) a compass in the rear view mirror, and a better stereo; they both have cracked windshields (Jen - you need to let me know what it'll cost to fix and I'll send you the $$). Everything else is just about the same - even the color. Haven't named the new one yet. Jeannea didn't even know that I picked her up from the airport in the "new" car instead of hers, until we got to the house and Wilbur was already there... =)

What is it? --Part II

There's something going on in my backyard...

something that makes lots of noise...

It could be a stage...

or maybe a playhouse...

just need some curtains for the first act...

So I'm still doing some catch up posting. I have a couple more events from August yet, and we're almost half way through September. I promise I'll get it together and get caught up...

Sheri's Stop In

I'm lucky to have lots of family visits this Fall. Dave was here in early August, followed by Sheri, then Jeannea - and Sara will be here in September. Since my family lives far away and it's so expensive to travel Outside (or to the Lower 48, if you will), I don't get to see everyone very often. I'm fortunate (because you know it's all about ME) that some of the sibs have summer jobs in AK - then they make the flight reservations with a layover in ANC so I get to spend time with them. Last year, it was just Sara & Jeannea. This year, Dave & Sheri joined the summer crew, which means I get visits from them all, and I'll see the rest in December - wahoo!!

I'm woefully behind, as Sheri has already come & gone (and so has Jeannea, but that's another post). It was great to have her visit - I don't get to see her very often. Last time we were down south we got together a little, but she was busy with work and we were trying to cram in visits with loads of people - so it was limited. But still good. This time, I got her for two days entirely to myself, then an additional week that I had to share. We spent Thursday visiting and catching up, then Friday was a Girl's Day. Plenty of shopping, and then some relaxing while we got a pedicure.

Phil arrived on Saturday afternoon, and Greg got home late Saturday night. So Sunday we all went up to the overlook at Flattop. (After we stopped at the chocolate waterfall. Yummmm!) Didn't hike Blueberry or the Flattop trail, but the overlook has a great view of town, and it was a very pleasant evening.

On Monday, we decided to take a drive south to Girdwood and have Double Musky for dinner. We don't go there very often - mainly because they don't take reservations, so if you take the 45 minute drive, you may be waiting in line for a while before you get seated. Be prepared to wait - but it's *definitely* worth it. We left town early - around 4:30pm, hoping to get to the restaurant early enough that we wouldn't have to wait long. We got seated right away, and not 20 minutes later all the tables were full and there were people waiting... We ate A LOT. Two appetizers (Popcorn Shrimp and a spicy cheese spread), everyone had something different for dinner (Pepper Steak, Shrimp & Scallop Cardinal, Shrimp & Sausage Jambalaya, and Boneless Breast of Chicken - so everyone could try lots of different things), and everyone had different desserts too (the cheesecake was the best I've ever had). By the time we left, I felt like I could roll down the driveway to the car. Magnifique!!

So we didn't explode, we stopped on the way home and took a little hike. It was windy and threatening to rain, but still a pleasant trek. We saw an eagle and had a great view of the inlet. Just the thing to help digest an over-large dinner.

On Tuesday, we headed the other direction. We stopped in Eagle River to have dinner at a little mexican joint, Jalapeno's Mexican Restaurant. Another restaurant we really like, but we don't go there often - this time, primarily because of the drive. There are plenty of mexican restaurants in town (altho maybe not quite as good) without having to drive 45 minutes to get there. After dinner, we headed out to Thunderbird Falls. It's about a mile hike in on a well-groomed trail to the falls. They're not huge, but the scenery is pretty and it's a nice walk. After we made it to the platform, we took the lower path so we got close to the river. The braver folks (everyone but me) climbed down to get even closer to the falls. Another lovely evening!

It was great to spend time with Phil, too! He's been a friend to many of my siblings for years now, so it was nice to spend some time and get better acquainted. After such a nice visit I was sad to see Sheri go, but grateful for the time we got to spend together.

What is it? --Part I

There's something going on in my backyard...

Something that makes lots of noise...

The trees are gone and there's something different growing...

Brother Dave

Last week Dave came to visit - wahoo!! He's been in Dillingham working for the summer, and he stopped in on his way back home so we could spend some time together. It was a short visit - he came in Monday afternoon and left Wednesday evening - but anything is better than nothing!! Summer was good for him. He's starting school this month to get trained for something other than truck driving (I think he's going to work on drafting/CAD or something like that) - so he was able to save up a bit of money and lost weight to boot. Way to go, Dave!

His last day here, Vanessa & Jessica came through and we were able to hook up for dinner & a movie at the Bear Tooth. It's so cool to eat dinner right in the theater!

I was really glad that we had a chance to spend some time together. Since he's not driving the Big Rigs anymore, he won't be up this way on a regular basis. He'll probably be back up next year to work for the summer, so I'll have visits twice (coming & going) next summer. And after that is just too far away to worry about. Good luck on your studies, Dave - we're rooting for you!!

Friends & Connections

I have a MySpace account (for friends - but mostly because my friend Rosa had one and in order to see her info I had to have one too), a LinkedIn account (for professional contacts), and a Plaxo account (for friends/business?). I've blogged on MySpace, linked my Flickr pictures to the Plaxo, and not done much with the LinkedIn site at all. I've had invitations to join Twitter and... some other networking site, but I figured that I already neglect the ones I belong to and that is enough.

I'm not a Friend Collector at any of my sites. I think I have maybe a dozen "friends" (I just connected with 2 more) on Plaxo and LinkedIn, and I've got 18 on MySpace (two are musicians - I don't really know Colby Caillat, but I have met Jared Woods - and one is the Default Friend Tom - that everyone gets when they create an account...). That's fine with me, as I don't spend lots of time or energy updating the sites and the people who are there are pretty much really my friends. Greg, on the other hand, has hundreds of connections or friends (okay maybe dozens & dozens?) on his site(s). When I see that, I war with the greedy numbers demon... maybe I should do more, send out more invites, work on it more... then I remember that I'm already spending as much time as I care to maintaining those places. And it's cozy, realizing that the people connected to me electronically I am also connected to emotionally. (Altho I really could stand to work more on my professional networking - I'll put that on the list of things to do when I'm bored...)

The Serious Pose

Plaxo sends me updates once a week, and when I go to check them out there are also suggestions of people I might know as connections. I wasn't sure how the site picks potential connections for me - but I look at them to see if I know anyone. Turns out, it is probably looking at my current connections' connections to build more connections. Whew! Anyhow, I found Janet on the connection list on July 24th. I actually know a Janet. So I looked at more of her information and saw that she's in MO. The Janet I know is in MO. So I sent a Friend Request. I get an email back the same day. Not only is this the Janet I know, but Chris & Caleb are *in flight* on their way to AK for family functions. Wahoo!!

It's been *ages* since we've seen Chris... at least 4 years. The last time they were up (Janet was here too), there were only two bambinos. We've watched the family additions of kids and pets through the annual Christmas card (which we put on the fridge with the other cherished pictures that get updated once a year...). Calls are infrequent - mostly because it's hard to coordinate schedules with a three hour time difference.

Picture Posing (just look at those smiles!!)

I can't describe how good it was to see Chris & Caleb. Like coming home - or having them come home. Like that missing piece of the puzzle is back, but you didn't realize you missed it. Like you find something good that you didn't even realize was missing - the old sweater from the back of the closet that makes you feel *so* good when you wear it, because it's perfect - the perfect fit, the perfect comfort, the perfect smell, the perfect color, the perfect everything... something like that, only much, much better... because sweaters don't reminisce and hug... =)

My Hidden Closet Sweaters

We had lots of laughs, re-visiting events from the past. And then spent hours catching up on all the little things. It was hard to say goodbye, knowing that it'll be a long time before the next reunion. So we stood outside and visited some more - it was a perfect evening, we even had stars (and when you see the stars in AK in the summer, it's waaaaay past bedtime...). It's expensive to travel to Alaska (especially with a big family), and we just don't get to MO very often. Maybe next time we'll get Janet too... and meeting the rest of la familia would be nice... and as long as I'm Dreaming Big, maybe the visit could last days & days (I'm not greedy - if I were, I'd say weeks & weeks, or months & months) so we have lots of time to reconnect and get to know the little ones... and maybe someone will invent an inexpensive teleport between here & there, so we can just pop back and forth for the weekend (but if they do, we need a portal to NE, FL, WA, & UT too).

We Love You, Chris!

It seemed like hooking up with Chris worked as if by *magic*. Plaxo sent the update, that was the first day I'd seen Janet on it, and I know that didn't come from my contacts. If I hadn't checked my email that morning or hadn't checked out the Plaxo updates, things would have gone less smoothly (but I trust that Chris would have tracked us down). As it was, Plaxo sent me an update with Janet on it, I responded to connect to Janet, she emailed me that Chris & Caleb were en rout as we typed... Probably the site mined Greg's information and was asking me if I want to connect to this person, as I'm already connected to a person who's connected to this person. I prefer to think of it as magic...)

Family Find

I'm a bit behind on my posting and have several subjects, so I figured I'd get one in now.

A couple weeks ago, we got a message from John - we're family and he's in town, it'd be nice to get together to visit. I *love* visiting with family - any chance I get!! Even if I've never met them before... =) (Thanks mom or Aunt Anna or whomever passed along our contact information - I'm so glad you did!!)

Turns out, John is my first cousin once removed. I admit I had to use wikipedia to get a firmer grasp of the familial relationship. My grandmother (on my dad's side) and his mom are sisters - so not first cousins, but not seconds either. 1sts, once removed. It was very nice to visit for a bit, and I kept thinking that mom would really enjoy seeing this bit of living genealogy - branches of the tree coming together, if you will.

It was wonderful to spend time with John - starting a new relationship with family, finding I have roots in another part of the country, hearing a bit about my dad's side from a different perspective. Fascinating and very enjoyable. If we get to travel down to FL next spring for Greg's work, we'll have to see if we can work in a visit to AL... Thanks for calling, John!! I'm glad we could hook up - but next time, dinner's on us!! =)

On the way home, we ran across a vehicle that I've seen around town for the past couple of years. It's so interesting and odd that I've wanted a picture, but I only ever see it when I'm driving. Since Greg was with me, I had him take the picture as we passed the car. Then we did a loop-back and caught a side view too. I'm sure the people driving thought we were nuts!!

I've heard it's a motor-home-type vehicle, made to be able to handle rugged terrain. Sure looks like that would do the job! And such a pretty blue, too...

Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...

My last haircut was about 2 years ago. A few months ago, my hair started giving me fits and I figured it was time for another stop at the salon. Problem was, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my hair. Keep it long? Shave it off? I've tried mid-length and wasn't very fond of it, but I wasn't sure if I'd like short hair (it's been more than 15 years since I've had short hair) or if it would look good, but I was tired of the same 'do.

Old style - in a knot on top

A couple weeks ago I had Greg make an appointment for me with his stylist (Jamie's also been my stylist for the last 4-5 years, but since that makes approximately 3 haircuts I'm not sure if that counts...). Then I was talking to Greg about my dilemma. What if I cut it short and totally hate it?!? Just trimming it leaves me with the same look, only a tad shorter. But that's something I know how to handle... Short - I can grow it back, but it might take a while. Long - depressingly the same. What to do? I still hadn't made up my mind, so I told Greg maybe I'd just have Jamie whack it in the middle and be done with it. His suggestion was to cut enough to donate to Locks of Love - if I don't like it short, I can always get extensions... =) What a smart man!!

Old style - flappin' in the breeze

The Big Day came, and I was still undecided. I looked at some of the pictures in the magazines, hoping to find something that looks nice and works with curly hair. I took some of the examples back with me and discussed options with Jamie. Criteria: 1) Something new; 2) Low maintenance; 3) Fun; 4) No Triangle Head; and 5) No fuzzy hair. She said she could do it, so I let her have her way with the scissors. I was concerned that a short 'do wouldn't look good with my round face, but Jamie pointed out that if I'm wearing it up 90% of the time I already have a much shorter 'do... Good point!! Because of all the playing with my curls (and their shock at the cutting), Jamie styled my hair straight... What a change!!

New 'do done straight

That was Wednesday. I have to admit that there were a couple people at work that took a while to recognize me. I'm going to try that style more often! Thursday, I was going to try for the same, but I'm just not coordinated enough to do the comb/blow dryer combo - I think I need the straight iron (which I got Thursday night). So the top was still straight, but the rest was curly. (And I was late to work because I spent so much time trying to do and redo my hair.)

And Friday I decided to try ALL curly. I actually used a comb in my hair. For those of you with long curly hair, you know this is an impossibility. I don't even own a brush (well, until last night - when I bought one with the straightening iron). I always use (used to use!) loads of shampoo and conditioner, then spray on lots of leave in conditioner (as a detangler), then add bunches of goo to give lift and deter fuzz. All that has changed. Bonus: the morning routine is shorter, and I can probably shave more time off as I get better at my new style. AND I've already had three different styles, instead of my standard two. I have an appointment in 3 weeks to get a touchup (if needed) and some tips on what I can do with my new self.

It's taking some getting used to, but I like it. Believe it or not, my hair seems even curlier than it was. Jamie said the curls might relax some after they're used to not having so much hair pulling them down. I suppose we'll see...

Another Squirrel Creek Adventure

This has the potential to be a very *long* post. My options are to try not to be boring, or to break this into multiple posts. Since I already have the topic of my next post, I decided to try not to be boring. You'll have to let me know how that works out...

Our second camping trip of the season - over 4th of July weekend - was spent in Squirrel Creek. This is an area that we've been to many times over the past couple of years. We try to get in some new areas each year, but at least once we head north to Squirrel Creek. The drive up was gorgeous - as usual.

View from Sheep Mountain pulloff

Since I *froze* last time (at Byers Lake), we came prepared this time. Sure, it's July... but that's no guarantee that it's going to be warm. Greg bought new sleeping bags - rated for -25 degrees - and a tent heater, and we brought lots of tarps in case of rain. I also packed some long sleeve shirts, long johns, and plenty of warm fuzzy socks. Good thing I also packed a pair of shorts (one), a couple t-shirts, and a tank top. Also a good thing that when you're camping you're allowed to wear the same thing every day. (Let's just say the tent heater never came out of the box... but that's okay, cuz I'm sure we're going to need it - I'm going to need it - on the Labor Day trip...)

(Note: I normally have to get up 2-3 times - at least! - every night and make the trek to the outhouse. I always hate this because it's cold, I'm sleepy, outhouses are no fun - especially in the dark - and I'm losing sleep. This trip, two nights in a row I was able to sleep the night through, without the trek. I wonder if that has anything to do with being warm while I'm sleeping? Hmmm...)

Cooling off in the "lake"

It was so warm that we didn't have fires until late, late at night - then not big ones because people are starting to go to bed. I didn't even roast any marshmallows this trip... The best fire we had was the last night - and that's because we were working on burning up as much of the wood we brought as possible. I love big fires!

The warm days ensured we were out & about (tents were too hot & stuffy for napping most of the time), which provided lots of fun. John, Sam, Jennifer, & Tony brought 4-wheelers - so people doubled up, and headed up into the hills. Apparently it was pretty dusty out there, since everyone that went headed over to the lodge down the road (we lovingly refer to it as the Adult Day Care Center) for showers.

Dirty Boys

Those of us that stayed behind had a fabulous time. I relaxed in the sun reading and later tried to nap for a bit. Then we played games and ate junk food until the rest of the crew arrived. Unfortunately, I didn't realize how potent the sun was. I was wearing my tank top, and now have some lovely lobster red shoulders that are peeling. I'm just glad they're not so sore anymore. It seems everyone ended up with some type of sunburn by the end of the weekend. =) Sadly, my burn happened on Thursday - so I had to wear regular t-shirts for the rest of the long, hot weekend. I'm just grateful my burn was on my shoulders. Jen burned from the t-shirt line down to her hands. No way to keep that out of the sun - unless you're willing to wear long-sleeved shirts and be a puddle of goo...

Party girls at camp

Friday was more goofing off and relaxing. Those that didn't get to ride previously, took the chance this time. Ride wasn't as long, but apparently it was just as dirty - and fun.

Uni-brow, anyone?

Teach 'em young!

Since it was the 4th, we *had* to have fireworks!! They're not allowed in the campground, so we trek out to the road (just outside the boundaries) to enjoy our fun. We had pretty sparklers, mortars, screamers, and - the best - roman candles. It was great!! The property across the road also had fireworks, so we got a double treat. There were lots of roman candles - so we could have duels. =) Some of our crew are just down right crazy... We had these wars last year too - see here - but we had one casualty this year. Greg hit John in the nose. He's okay now - a little skittish around loud noises and bright lights, but that should pass with time... =)

John defeated

Saturday we headed out to Valdez. It's only an hour from Squirrel Creek, so I just can't pass up the opportunity to visit with my sister. It's a fun trip, with spectacular views - as a bonus, we get showers, flushing toilets, and a visit with Sara. There are lots of geocaches on the way too, and since most of our group are also avid cachers there's plenty to do. The scenery is breath-taking in Valdez - but I wouldn't choose to winter there (too much snow!). I have loads more pictures (I took more than 100 over the course of the weekend) that I will be posting to my Flickr account in the near future.

Mountain view in Valdez

Hangin' with Sara

And we've reached the end of another campout with the Bucket O' Fun club. It was lots of fun, and the weather was wonderful - the best we've had all summer! I think the September trip is to Hope... we shall see, eh?

Bucket O' Fun

Epilogue:
Greg and I took a detour on the drive home - for some caching, of course! But it also gave me the opportunity to see some areas that I haven't been to before. We stopped at Liberty Falls, just outside of Chitina (pronounced Chitna) and then proceeded to the Copper River. In previous trips, some of our party have made this trek, but this was the first time I've been. Liberty Falls was fantastic. And now I have an image (of a wide meandering brown river lined with fish wheels) to go with "Copper River Reds" - these are practically the most famous salmon around (at least the best marketed).

Liberty Falls

Fireweed on the Copper River