Lots of winter left...

The last few days has brought us a combination of cool sightings and family drama. Top of the cool chart was a moose sighting right outside Mary's condo on Friday afternoon. He was walking on the trail, snacking along the way. It appeared huge - so I am guessing it was a bull moose. Cool to watch from the comfort (and warmth) of the condo. The best of my pictures are above! It has been snowing for a few days - both in Seward and Anchorage - Seward has had a combination of snow and rain...which as I have stated before just makes for a town that is one big slurpy. Anchorage has been just snow. In fact - it is snowing again as I write this update. The best part of Mary's condo are the little elfs who come in the night and plow the road and driveway.

I am closely monitoring the road conditions and reports http://511.alaska.gov/ as there has been a series of avalances the last couple of days along the road between Anchorage and Seward. It is important to note that the drive does take us through mulitple avalance zones - just adding to the "adventure." Two expereinced snowmobilers were killed on Friday in an avalance in the Turnagain Pass area.

Also on the cool scale (but never as cool as seeing wild life in the wild) - we saw the National Tour of Hairspray last night - wow! It was awesome! I have noticed that in Seward sometimes the cold, and snow and/or rain can keep people from events but if they do come out they are generally dressed for the weather. In anchorage...not the same...going to the play last night we observed many women in short skirts and dresses with "light jackets" trudging through the snow to the venue. Too funny - made me think of Heidi and Valentines day...she's a smart one, opting for practical (warmth) over style. (You go girl!) At least the rain and snow have brought slightly warmer tempertures into the 20's and 30's - this is a good thing. (Except for the above mentioned avalance danger)

Moving down the cool scale - was a dance group from Seattle that performed at the Alaska Native Hertiage Center yesterday. The dancing was traditional Alaska Native complete with mask dancing. The masks were hand made by two of the performers and had moving parts. Mary has pictures on her phone and I will get them posted another time as the mask were amazing. All the dancers can trace their family line back to Southeast Alaska and were themselves Native Alaksan.

Finally - our friends Joey and Karen have been exposing us to many new and fun games. Friday night we meet at a local pub to play games and have beer and burgers. The game of note for the evening was the body part collecting challenge title "It's Alive." Great game that is easy to play in that you can visit while concentrating of the strategy needed to collect the body parts necessary to claim "It's Alive!"

Now to the family drama - I arrived in Anchorage on Thursday as Mko (our golden retriever) was very sick - doctor's were preparing us for the worse. She has been having health problems for a few weeks and last week along with bowel problems had a distended stomach - the Vet thought she was displaying all the signs of a heart/lung problem or liver failure. After a series of ultra sounds and draining the abdomain we still don't really know what the problem is - however over the weekend it does not appear the her belly is not filling with fluid again and she seems to have a bit more energy. She is antibotics and while the ultrasounds show no signs of cancer, we just don't know. We are hopeful that we all "dodged the bullet" this time - If these three days with Mko was not enough...Nikan awoke with a swollen right eye yesterday. After a trip to the emergency room - he has an ulcer on his cornea - seems that this is not uncommon for pugs - it is treatable (Great News) but very serious as left untreat can cause the eye to rupture... Mary will be busy with both dogs this week as he will be staying over in Anchorage for follow up doctor's visits. As you can see in the picture - he is pretty pitful in his "bucket." - Other than this ... all is well and today is a better day.

Miss you all - We will talk soon - Ginger

Snowing...

Well we awoke at 5am to a soft snow falling, about a 1/2 inch so far. It is a nice soft snow which is so much better than the heavy wet snow that soon turns to ice. However, this soft snow, at our current cold temp, does not adhere to the already existing ice which means you can be walking in what seems like a safe soft pack only to have your feet end up above your head on your way to the ground. Now doesn't that sound like fun! Have a great day - Ginger

Weekend Adventures...

Things are warming up just a little in Seward. Today I could actually go out without a hat and gloves for a short time. Mary has been in Seward since Thursday night and although I was busy with school functions day and night it was nice to have her close by. Some new friends (Karen and Joey) from Anchorage came to Seward on Saturday, staying over with us. Karen and Joey are avid game players...they brought some new obscure games for our enjoyment. Tons of fun - my personal favortive is the 'stack the animals' game. Great one for the kids as it builds critical thinking skills and hand/eye coordination.

Today the four of us went to the "Train Wreck" for breakfast and then off for site seeing and wildlife hunting. Our "hunting" techniques tend towards camera and binaculors. Today we found a multitude of eagles (mature and juveniles) and a sea otter playing in the bay. (Pictures included) The weekend is winding down and Mary is gathering things for her return trip to Anchorage...the cycle begins again.

The most exciting thing happening in the north these days is the gaining of daylight. While we still start the day in darkness it is getting light around 8:15am. Night time comes around 6pm so there is time after work to be out doing winter sports (if it is not to cold). Shelly (middle school principal's wife and my librarian) and I are going to begin training together this week in preparation for some triathlons this summer. A focused activity will be good as the daylight continues to increase.

I hope you are all well (and warm) - We will talk soon...Ginger

Expected Low Tonight...

Hello - It has been another great day in the "land up north." On the drive from Anchorage to Soldotna late this morning I encountered three Dall Sheep (click the link - check out the pictures) by the side of the road at Beluga Point (about 15 minutes outside of Anchorage). This is a common spot to view Dall Sheep in the summer and often you can drive by seeing people "looking up" on the hillside. During the summer we actually stopped at this spot twice when Connie and family visited, spotting Dall Sheep on both occasions. Today was pretty special as I was able to get very close to these wild animals for these pictures (and trust me I was pretty sure I could out run them from the distance I was at if need be)...by the way it was cold at roughly 4 degrees at 11am. I told Heidi tonight - at that temp, you remember pretty quickly if you forgot to put your gloves and hat on when getting out of the car.

Recently I have been struck by the "steam" that rises off the water as the temps drop. It seems like an odd phenomenon when you consider how cold the water also is during the winter. Today as the tide from Turnagain Arm was rushing out the view of the steam rising from the remaning water flow was beyond description. I have included two pictures here for your enjoyment. Note the chunks of ice and snow left as the water clears out of the inlet. During the summer months you will see mud flats rather than the ice field. Even after a year and half I am amazed by the ever changing landscape as well as the beauty from the powerful forces of nature!

A big shout out to Erika (click the link, check out her blog, it's cool) for telling me about photobucket. This is the website I used to upload these pictures. Much faster and more effective than the typical pdf slideshows I have compiled in the past.

Just got off the phone with Mary. She gave me the all important weather update - Anchorage is expecting -7 as tonight's low, while Soldotna may see -25. (good thing the hotel has pull-ins for our cars). This news is extremely important as it requires that ALL electrontic devices be brought into warmer surroundings...nothing worse than having your Xbox or Camera freeze in the car. Seward looks like it is having heavy winds which means the windchill will drive those temps down...good news currently it is 2 degrees with the windchill (wish I was home in Seward where it is warmer - Ha! Ha!)

Before I go, if you get a chance this week check out Iron Chef on the Food Network - this week's secret ingredient is Chocolate. Gotta go for now - But come back soon...Mary is now able to log in and post so between the two of us...the adventure continues!

Ginger

Xbox Live

We are now live on Xbox 360 - and with some fine instruction by Darren last night Ginger is up and running in Halo 3. What a cool game and gaming system...most mind blowing is the ability to talk in real time with Darren while we play the game together. It is pretty cool to be able to talk thousands of miles apart over the game system and to have the same view of the game runnng off of two different game disks. What a world we live in...

Now let's talk Super Bowl commericals...so far E*Trade commericals are the best, love the little kid talking about stock trading. My favorite line has to do with under estimating the "creepyness" of the clown. :-)

Go Patriots!

Here are some pictures of Mary's place in Anchorage. The "forest" pictures are the view from out the back windows. The condo is on Campbell Creek - there is a nice hiking, walking, skiing path right behind the house. We have walked on it a few times but it has just been too cold for our liking to do any cross country skiing. It is a two bedroom, two and half bath she shares with its owner, our friend Judy. Judy works on the North Slope, she is on the slope two weeks and home two weeks. This is the first weekend all three of us (and the two dogs) have been in the condo and it seems to have plenty of room for all. One nice bonus is the extremely large, heated two car garage. (Mary is particularly happy about this feature)

Sunsets along the Turnagain Arm are some of the most breath-taking I have ever expereienced anywhere. This was taken sometime this winter (2007) on a trip into Anchorage. (It would appear before the snow and ice arrived)