pounce and strike

Moving!

2010-09-30T12:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight, at 7pm, Oliver and I will recieve the keys to our first apartment together! After three years of dating, visiting six countries, and living in four different states, we are finally settling down. For the next SEVEN MONTHS we will be in one place! Hurrah!

There are many many pictures to share from the last few months, from home in Montana, to the amazing internship in Oregon, to our visit back to Alaska, down to Colorado where we are now, and all the roads drawn out in between. I have a lot of updating to do!

And now, our very own place, our first place, here in Denver. I am so very excited. Cheers!

Watch this

2010-06-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

Right this second. Watch this, then book a flight with me to Iceland. Oh gosh, doesn't this make you so happy?! Lordy.

Pure Icelandic Magic

Too busy being happy

2010-05-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

So although I have tons of fun pictures and videos to post, I have been too busy having fun. So much fun, I can hardly stand it. Life just keeps getting better and better! I will get around to posting eventually, but for now, here is a shot of me and the first wild owl I've ever "mugged up" (as they call catching a raptor here). Don't worry, I mugged her minimally :) She should be released soon, once she has started catching live prey again. Cheers!

Saturday Night

2010-03-27T21:17:00.000-07:00

This is my view from up on the loft. See those guys down there? Those guys are my people.

See that soup shot? That soup was an experiment for a Saturday night.

I love to make stew, and I don't often vary from my tried and true "counter soup stew" recipe that involves lots of things like lentils and split peas and barley that most stew makers shun. It just isn't traditional, I know. But boy, is it tasty! However, tonight I didn't have all my goods. And I didn't even have red wine to try a more rustic meat potatoes and carrot stew recipe I was eyeballing from Giada's website.

What I did have was moose meat, squash, and balsamic vinegar. So what the heck, why not brown that moosey in the vinegar and toss in some squash chunks with the potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, stewed tomatoes, and homemade "beef stock" (chicken cubes + worchestire + rosemary and tons of garlic reduced down).

It was AWESOME. Thick and warm and melt in your mouthy and just a little sweet. Boy howdy.

Date Day

2010-03-26T19:48:00.000-07:00

Being busy folk with lots of responsibility (har har) we decided it was important to get out of the cabin and away from those punks we live with and have a date day. On the itinerary: sharing a lunch at Cosmic Kitchen, free day at the local Pratt Museum, dinner at the fancy Land's End for 40% off "local's night", and a movie, "The Book of Eli".

Oliver is excited for dinner!

I don't know if any of you have noticed this, but.... we are excitable folk.

Did I ever mention Oliver worked on a Gieco caveman commercial on the famous "Time Bandit"?

Deadliest Catch fans, eat your heart out!

Sunset from our window back at the cabin.

Our Life

2010-03-26T17:03:00.000-07:00

This is me This is my man

This is what we look like living in Alaska. That nighty was a gift from Oliver's mom for Christmas. She laughed when I opened it. Oliver laughs whenever I wear it. Which is everyday.

Oliver's shirt came from the $5 bag sale at Bishops Attic, the local thrift store.

I will never ever let him get rid of it

This is Kevyn and Dave's cute little cabin that we are house-sitting. Notice it is one room. Notice the lack of a railing up on the loft. This does not bode well for two people who sleep walk. Oh well.

These are punks. Renegade punks who we feed everyday. See how needy?

This punk thinks she can be a lap dog.

This punk also has some freaky-deaky eyes.

That is all for now. Tune in later to find out what happens when we leave our cocoon for the "real world".

Yikes.

Extreme Tubing!

2010-03-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

We have been having a lot of fun in Homer recently, so I'm trying to get some pictures posted. Oliver's sister Sarah came down a couple weekends ago to do some extreme tubing at the hill near our cabin. As luck would have it, Oliver's brother Eli and his family came down that day too! We had a ton of fun with the kids and Sarah got some fun pictures.

The little cabin

2010-03-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

When we first came up to Homer, we were staying in this little cabin. It has electricty, but no running water. The day we were set to move into the "big house" we had what turned out to be the biggest storm of the season. Kevyn and Dave barely got out of town in time! It was pretty wild.

Adorable little one room cabin with a loft.

Game Night! (I lost, as you can see...drat)

Before During After the storm.

That is Kevyn coming to help us move! Notice poor Bandit is swimming over her head in snow.

Because I would rather procrastinate some more...

2010-03-10T15:43:00.001-08:00

...than actually update my blog like I need to!

*They don't even give peanuts anymore! Oh the inhumanity.

Married To The Sea Completely random and often times downright inappropriate.

Just the way I like it.

Josh Ritter

2009-08-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this to anyone yet, but I recently went to hear Josh Ritter play in Bozeman. The concert was so incredibly amazing that I can't even begin to speak of it here, suffice to say it changed my life. Really.

The whole smorgasbord of songs was transporting, but one in particular got under my skin and I can't get it out of my head. It is a new one, not on any previous albums (and therefore unpossessable by me... so far) and it just gets my head spinning in slow delirious circles of wonder. It is haunting, to say the least. So, now that I've built this baby up, here it is. Another New World.

The lyrics stir at my heart and make my chest ache. They make me want to write strange stories and travel and hibernate and and... everything. It is crazy how this song makes me feel. Based on that, I suggest you listen to it at least twice. And then go rewatch the trailer for "Where the Wild Things Are". It will be good for you, I promise.

"...And I won't call it rescue, what brought me back to here to the old world of drunken decline, pretend that the search for another new world was well worth the burning of mine. But sometimes at night, in my dreams comes the singing of some unknown tropical bird, and I smile in my sleep thinking Anabelle Lee has finally made it to another new world..."

Langhorne Slim

2009-08-07T03:36:00.000-07:00

While I'm at it, I figure I might as well draw your attention to the excellent band that opened for Josh Ritter. I even bought their cd (for Oli, and got it signed to boot!) and I can say for the first time ever, this band is better live than on the cd. They just had so much energy! Now, this song I like the best (gets stuck in my head like whoa!) but I can't find a good live version to show you. Here is a decent one, but a little lackluster if you ask me. In fact, you probably shouldn't actaully watch the video. Just listen to the pretty addictive lyrics.

He wasn't quite that sweaty when I saw the band live... but almost. :)

"I knew the second we met, you'd go to my head... I wasn't much of a fighter or a lover, you said don't get excited but take cover..."

Fun Weekend

2009-07-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting at all lately, which seems to be the case when life is really fun. No time to blog about it!

But on sunday I did two fun things that deserve a post: I hiked Mount Helena with my mom, and went fishing in the creek with my dad. Here are some pictures!

I love my family :)

Something to consider....

2009-07-02T12:42:00.001-07:00

Here is an animation that describes pretty accurately some of the feelings and confusion I've been experiencing lately. It makes a lot of sense to me, but I'm still left wondering... what to do?

http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2008/06/04/the-tao-of-vagabond-travel/

"At what point when you have amassed X amount of personal fortune, accumulated Y amount of material possessions, and achieved Z status as ‘an upstanding member of society’ do you shout “Enough!” and commence living a life of contentment?"

2009-06-08T09:34:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been keeping up with this blog at all lately. I still have pictures from my birthday and easter I want to post! Bah. There just seems like there is too much to do, and even with the excessive daylight we are graced with at the lodge, I never seem to be in the mood to sit down and plunk out some photos and words.

So as a little apology I figured I would give the people what they want: Bears! Didn't you know that's what you want? Of course it is, everyone wants one thing, and that's more bears!

Error Error

2009-04-16T18:26:00.000-07:00

My blog seems to hate me lately. Also, photoshop doesn't want to work. And Bridge is absolutely on strike.

So I'm working on it, and soon you will have the excitment of all my birthday photos, including scavengar hunt extravaganza, Easter party frolicing and possibly even thrilling videos of little bobbins dancing. I know, I know. Contain yourselves.

But you must wait. Until then...

Ooooooooo

Take that, Martha

2009-04-10T22:50:00.000-07:00

So I was watching Martha Stewart this morning, and she was preparing for Easter. Except... not. Mostly she was just showing old clips of previous Easter's past. And Martha, while you have some lovely ideas for decorating, they just aren't in my budget.

You know what I'd love to see? I love to see the episode where Martha moves to Alaska and is unemployed for 8 months and stealing crepe paper streamers out of the garbage at an eight year old's bithday party to make Easter decorations out of.

That's TV I'd pay the cable bill to watch. So you better check you'self, Martha. You've got some holiday decorating competition, and you better believe I'm going to bring it.

See that? That, my friends, is an Easter egg made from a broken wine glass, spent daffodils, an old film canister, some scrap ribbon and a piece of cardboard. Set up on an old shirt and a doily cut from used cardstock. Booya, as my father might say.

Oliver suggested I make a new blog, called "Take That, Martha". I think I might just have to.

It's a GREAT thing.

Birthday!

2009-04-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

You might not have heard the good news, but I had a birthday! Yes, today I turned 23. Wow. How excited do I look?! It should be illegal.

To celebrate, Oliver made me an awesome breakfast of sausage, eggs, homemade breakfast potatoes, and of course strawberries, complete with a birthday throne. He also sneakily made me the World Famous Balckberry Cake! He even called mom to get the recipe... aw! Oliver made me "sleep in" even though I woke up at 7am so he could finish his surprises. "But I'm too excited to sleep..."

Also, Mount Redoubt erupted.

Since the day was actually clear and bright, we hopped into the car and rushed off to the beach for some photos.

Doesn't it look imposing?

A nice lady took our picture, but the sun was very bright

The beach in all its ice-chunk glory

Super neat. If you watched really carefully, you could see the ash cloud coiling up very slowly around the peak. This is the first time it has actually been clear enough to see it erupting! I know it isn't lava and dinosaur doom, but I thought it was very cool.

After viewing redoubt, we headed back into town to continue my day of surprises. Stay tuned!

`Danielle

2009-04-02T20:16:00.000-07:00

In preparation for our Easter party, and also just because I wanted to, I've been making some fun little penants to hang around the house. We have a thrift store here with a lot of craft supplies, so I was able to get a whole stack of little fabric bits and a ball of string AND cute vintage little chicks (more on those later) for $2.50! I borrowed Sarah's sewing machine, but they were so little I ended up just hot gluing the buggers.

Also notice the sweet little yellow flowers! They are having all sorts of sales for house plants at the nursery right now, and though these aren't technically house plants... they fell into the sale heap anyhow. I couldn't afford the forced daffodils at $10 a pot, but I could afford these little guys for $1 and come change.

How I love a party... stay tuned for more crafts and party fun in the coming week!

`Danielle

Lovely song, shirt, and haircut

2009-04-01T16:07:00.000-07:00

I think this song is lovely. I like how they filmed the video, so casual and intimate. I can picture being in the pub and watching. I also love love love her haircut and her shirt. I actually had myself convinced that I was going to cut in bangs like those.

Like, scissors in hand, ready. Then I remembered, I have curly/wavy hair. Hair that I've finally come to terms with wearing naturally most of the time. Fringe like hers only works on straight haired video vixens, or women who are slaves to their straight irons. Alas, no bangs for Danielle.

However, I borrowed Sarah's(Oli's sister)sewing machine and I'm determined to try for the asymmetrical neckline in the top. And I can still enjoy the fun lyrics, cute hair or no!

`Danielle

More activity

2009-03-28T17:18:00.000-07:00

Redoubt has been busy. It errupted last night (early this morning) around 1:30am, this afternoon at 1:40pm, then at again at 3:29pm! Here is the latest photo taken near Homer:

And apparently last night during the early morning erruption we also had crazy lightening striking the mountain!

Here is a photo of the ash plume from Homer:

Pretty crazy happenings. Oliver is out shooting his rifle, but since the ash is now supposed to be heading to Soldotna, he is trying to get home. I hope there isn't too much. Messy stuff, that ash.

You can check out more photos (these are all from the avo website) http://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/volcimage.php?volcname=Redoubt

Love, Danielle

Holy I can't wait...

2009-03-28T12:47:00.000-07:00

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I simply can't wait. I've been waiting for this to come out for awhile, after seeing a single screenshot months ago. October 16th is marked on our calendar. Holy cow, holy cow, holy cow....

`Danielle

Breaking News

2009-03-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

Boom Boom!!!

2009-03-23T14:15:00.000-07:00

Or perhaps more aptly, "puff fizzle....sigh*.

But regardless of the dramatic explosion or lack thereof, Redoubt finally erupted. After weeks of hoo haw and gossiping hullabaloo, the volcano actually honest to god truly went off last night. Five times!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29837941

We happened to get up early this morning to make a much anticipated (ha ha) trip to the DMV. But at about 8am, the power went out, and with it any chance of being first in line. Drat.

With no power comes no internet, which is our go-to source for news. We peeked into our slowly warming refrigerator and the results were uninspiring. So we joined the masses and jumped in the car to see what we could see. On our list of things to do: find other “survivors” and interrogate them for information, and forage for sustenance and ash-masks.

One fun part about the power outage is that traffic lights stop functioning. And we know that Americans in general have a problem driving at the best of times, but without someone telling us where to go and when to stop, things get really hairy. Common sense would say that all lights become four-way stops in the event of malfunction. However, about 1/3 of the population think that a lack of lights means they personally have the right of way, everywhere. Awesome! So while 2/3rds of us creep up to the intersection in meekness and fear that ballsey 1/3rd blows right through at 40 miles an hour.

Don’t worry mom, we wore our seatbelts and waited past our turn. Onwards to a grocery store. But alas, grocery stores have this funny habit of using those fancy automatic doors… which do not open without power. Lucky for us, Freddy’s was smart enough to include some regular, old fashioned doors on hinges! And enough of a backup generator to provide meager lights and run the card swipers. Phew.

Something we noticed while buying last minute jugs of water and produce: everything looks much nicer under the emergency low lighting. They should try it all the time. Save on power too. Also, with the threat of no refrigeration, everything fresh is on sale! Hurray for $1.25 mushrooms! Hurray for .98 cents a lb oranges! Hurrah and well done to the $1.50 gallon of milk!

So we drove, we shopped, we saved and conquered. All before most of the town was even awake. We learned from fellow shoppers that the power outage was weirdly enough unrelated to the volcano, and that electricity was supposed to return at 10 am. We got while the getting was good with our discount produce, ate cold chicken for breakfast and cheered quietly when the lights did flicker on.

But I took a bath, just in case, and there are now ash-masks in the car (you can relax mom and dad, as Oliver put it, “he provided for your little girl”) and water jugs in the kitchen. Along with those oranges, mushrooms, and milk. When the ash starts to fall or the sky is clear enough to get pictures, I’ll update again.

Cheers!

*PS* ash-masks. Try saying that one four times fast. Ash-masks, ash-makes, ack-mashs, ash-mash!

Random bears....

2009-03-20T16:42:00.000-07:00

....roaming about in my mind.

These are the "twin" cubs that spent a lot of time around the lodge last fall. The big blonde is a brassy little thing, and always beating up on her little brother.

I got these pictures on the way in from a boat trip, just as the light was fading. They are fuzzy due to that and distance, but I love them just the same.

Something about the mother leading them off to do their important bear things just makes me smile.

New Car!

2009-03-19T20:48:00.001-07:00

Oliver bought a new car last weekend, right before we headed up to Anchorage for the week for his construction job. I've been meaning to take a picture of the pretty thing, but of course we are now going through "break-up" (or melt down, as I call it) and the poor thing is not fit for photographing! So I snitched this picture from google instead. She looks just the same anyways!

It is a 2002 Ford Escort. We got a rocking deal on it, and we do need a second car (so I can get a job!) but Oliver isn't super comfortable with such a new car. So we got it with the idea that we would drive it a few months while looking for something more in the $800 range, that is older and he would know how to work on if it died. Then we will sell it, and hopefully for a little more than we paid for it! It has a few blemishes that are easily fixed that would up it's worth, and it has low miles.

Mostly, it is fun to have a new car! Especially a little red two door (picture my big mountain man tooling around town in a red sports car!) with 6 cd changer, a sunroof, and REMOTE START. The sunroof is largely a silly fun extra, but the remote start is certifiably excellent!

`Danielle

Valentine's Day

2009-03-19T15:10:00.000-07:00

Rather than buy each other presents, Oliver and I have a made a tradition of going on road trips for anniversaries or holidays. So this year for Valentine’s Day we drove down to Homer to take in the Pratt Museum and walk the beach a little. I finally got a chance to check out my new lens, and it did great even in the foggy weather! Here are some silly pictures of us playing around on the beach.

We also stopped in to the Salty Dog Saloon to get a drink and check out the dollar bill I signed and put on the wall in August with dad, but alas, it had been bill-napped.

Disheartened by their heartless pilfering of my dollar, we chose not to get a drink there after all. So ha! Take that Salty Dog, you fickle mistress you.

`Danielle

Alpacas: circa November 2008

2009-03-15T15:48:00.000-07:00

This post is a long time coming and specifically created for Jen. Look Jen, alpacas!

In November I was cordially invited to visit a local alpaca far, courtesy of Oliver’s mother, Lee. Oliver was busy hunting the mighty (or miniscule) Sitka deer, so I hopped in the truck and went along for the ride. We met a nice lady, her four daughters, two big dogs, and of course, her mob of alpacas.

Lee visiting

Lee checks out the fiber

Hello...

`Danielle

2009-03-12T10:50:00.001-07:00

In the name of accountability, I'm going to promise some blog posts:

Coming at you in 3-D, by Monday at the latest, I will wax eloquent about....

-Alpaca Farming! Courtesy of November 2008!
-Valentine's Day Trip to Homer, the disapearance of our momento dollar and beach photographs
-The new car, in all its red, two-door, remote start glory
-The baby shower for Oliver's brother Josh's latest offspring and the handmade gift we are sending them

And hopefully.... my phone interview with Wildlife Images Animal Rehabilitation Center!
*yeah, whoo hoo! all right, way to go, general cheering*

I know how excited you all must be. But try try to contain yourselves.

Fur Rondy!

2009-03-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

This week I am in Anchorage with Oliver while he is working on his condo construction project. We drove down on Sunday in our new car, which we bought minutes before we hit the road. More on that and pictures of it later. The main reason we had to hurry hurry hurry to Anchorage was to catch the last of the Fur Rendezvous festival! We missed the fireworks sadly and didn’t get to the blanket toss in time, but we did get to go to the best part (in my opinion)…. The carnival!

Since Oliver spends the summer at the lodge each year, I’ve been feeling like the two of us would never get to experience the fun of a fair together, which is one of my favorite things in the whole world. Luckily for us, in Alaska they have Fur Rondy in the winter, no matter the weather! The carnival was downtown in a parking lot, and we rode a couple rides and ate corndogs, hamburgers, fries, and funnel cakes! Oliver wanted to make sure we got the whole fair experience. :)

It was the first carnival I’ve ever been to that I wore a scarf to! We ate our food in a warming hut, and froze our fingers and butts off riding the rides. The highlight was getting initiated to the Alaskan “squirrel cages”, which are a rickety, duct-taped together version of the zipper. The carnie had a difficult time balancing the ride just right so that it would actually go! That was great. It was also fun to see all the little kids bundled up against the weather. And lots of people in crazy animal hats!

We were in such a hurry to take it all in; I didn’t even bring my camera for pictures. So you’ll have to make do with some from the internet I snitched. The ride below middle is the squirrel cages! The rest of this week has been fun, staying with Oliver’s aunt and uncle, Craig and Gail. I’ll try to update this weekend with more pictures…. I’m quite behind!

~Danielle

Apples and Talkative Ravens

2009-03-05T11:39:00.000-08:00

This morning I am laying in bed enjoying our new wireless internet, eating apples with peanut butter, and listening to the raven outside my window making a fuss. These things are especially nice because: I don't have to blog upstairs, the apple is an organic gala on sale for only $1.23 a lb (that's super cheap Alaska style) the peanut butter I ground myself at Freddy's and has nothing but peanuts in it, and the raven not only makes a cool toad-like croaking noise, but he also can say "caw". He is not cawing, he is saying over and over, very carefully and distinctly "caw".

He is talking because he gets to eat my apple core. Lucky him.

2009-02-10T11:57:00.000-08:00

I keep telling myself I will start posting again as soon as I get some photos organized. However, I'm coming to realize I will probably never post again if I use that excuse. So here I am, with no pictures but at least a little to say.

Today we are going out searching for cheap cars. We have realized that I will need some sort of vehicle if there is to be any chance of me getting a job. Also, if Oliver is looking at buying another car anyways, in case his breaks down.

SO, Oliver is looking for a "good car" for around $1000. A "good car" is one that is sturdy and has a good engine and that he knows how to work on. I am looking for a "crap car" for around $0-$100. A "crap car" is one that runs, or is close to running with $100-$200 worth of parts, and that could be cute if painted on with sharpies. I figure a car like that would pay itself off within a few weeks of work and be worth it.

If Oliver finds what he is looking for, that would be great. I could have a car to drive around and he would have his back-up for when his old car finally dies. If he doesn't, I will try my darndest to find something that runs for awhile for really cheap. So far I've found a 1991 Sundance in Anchorage for.... FREE. Also, it needs a new fuel injector. ALSO, it is my favorite color, the color I love everything in. Alright!

There seem to be a lot of cars in Alaska that are beat up and people just don't want to deal with anymore. Hopefully we can benefit from this!

Seward!

2008-11-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

On our giant list of "things to do when we get back to town", one of the things I was most excited about was theroad trip to Seward, to visit the Sealife Center. So Friday morning we jumped in the car and drove the 2 hours or so to Seward.

The sun through the trees on the drive there

When we arrived in town, we got really excited to go see Exit Glacier, since I have yet to see a glacier and I've been in Alaska for 3 months. Once again, our plans were dashed because it, like a lot of things in winter, was closed. Booooo.

However, the town itself was very pretty, very small, and right next to the water. Apparently in the summer, Seward is where all the cruise ships come to dock, and when they do the town is filled with tourists. I tried to imagine mom and I running around seeing the sights as quickly as we could, like we did on our cruise. Oliver got excited thinking about driving the boat there one day, and making a trip of it. I got excited because we found the Sealife Center!

Oliver at the Sealife Center!

The first thing we did was run in and grab some tickets. They were $20! Holy cow, this place must be awesome. But then the girl at the front desk asked us if we qualified for any of the discounts, and Oliver went into the story of how he is really kind of a resident, only he has been out in the bush for so long he rorgot to get his new license... blah blah sob story. So she shrugged and gave us both the resident and student discounts! It ended up only being $28 for both of us. Score!

So here are some pictures of the place, I sadly didn't take too many because I was distracted by all the animals. You understand. Also ignore the horrible lighting/flash as, once again.... distracted by animals!

Shrimps hanging out on some rope

Oliver and I are amazing puzzle makers

This duck was so friendly, I think he was looking for a handout

Amongst all the neat things they had, the coolest by far was the diving bird tank. It is a deep tank, full of fish and birds. The cool part is going under and watching the birds dive down looking for food. I took a video, and will try to post it later. The deepest diving duck can go 200 ft under, and the deepest diving bird can go 600ft! It was crazy to see them swim underwater admist all the fish.

We also saw sea lions and seals, tons of fish and crabs etc. We talked to a really nice older man all about eiders (a type of duck) and their conservation program. We also talked about their volunteer opportunities and got me pretty excited... too bad Seward is so far from Soldotna.

After we toured the whole place we found a really nice restuarant to have dinner: huge hamburgers! Then we drove around until we found....... the buey tree! Sarah had told us to look for it, and you should have heard me scream when we drove past.

We found it Sarah! The Buey Tree of Seward!

Finally it was getting late and, after calling my pop to wish him a happy birthday, we started the drive home. As the sun went down, we could just glimpse it turning the top of the mountains pink, and after many half taken shots, we were able to pull over and take a better picture.

The last bit of sunlight on the mountains

All in all, a very good day! If any of you are ever in the the neighborhood, (haha) it is certainly worth the drive to Seward. Take my word for it!

`Danielle

Homer

2008-11-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

The 31st of October is our anniversary, so Oliver and I decided to head down to the Homer spit and have some fun. Plus, I had a surprise to show him at the Salty Dog Saloon (this may be spelled, Salty Dawg). The weather was great, with bright sun on the water and a balmy 37 degrees.

Sadly, Homer being a tourist town, and tourists mainly exisiting in Alaska in the summer, everything, even the bar, was closed down. Two things were open, a bead shop and the visitors center. So we went to the bead shop and talked to the lady there for quite some time, who was very nice. She recommended the FREE visitors center, which has just been redone.

So off to the visitor's center we went. It was really neat and we had a fun time until we realized we were going to be late for Halloween shinanigans and got back on the road to Soldotna.

Oliver playing kissy face with a seal

You can't tell from the photo, but the grey screens in the background were live videos of seals on the beach! It was a really cool idea.

Me with some seagulls

A gorgeous painting

So, despite Homer being shut down, we had a lovely day and a great roadtrip. Happy one year anniversary to us!

`Danielle

Halloween!

2008-10-31T21:40:00.000-07:00

Giant beard? Check. Red checkered shirt? Check. Big ax? We can make that. Blue ox costume? Umm....

None the less, for your and everyone in Soldotna Alaska's viewing pleasure, I present, Paul Bunyan and Babe the blue ox!

Don't be too alarmed. And if you are, don't worry, so was everyone else who saw me. Especially the little kids. Oy. However, to my credit, we did put this together in one hour! Ha.

cute feet!

However, as scary as I looked, I'm nothing if not stuborn, and I'll be damned if I'm going to make a costume as awesome as a giant blue ox and not go through with wearing it! So we went out with Oliver's neices and nephew, and followed them around gathering candy, confusing little kids and getting "oooos" and "ahhhs" from adults who know their midwestern folklore. To those people, thank you.

The little punkin heads: Alexis: Hannah Montana, Keegan: Thomas the Train, and McKenzie: SuperGirl (who says the belt goes on your waist, it fits much better as a crown)

`Danielle

Care Package!

2008-10-30T21:56:00.000-07:00

What makes coming back to the real world much much better? Mail! I got a letter from Brooke, and card from Mom and a care package from James! I feel like the richest person alive. I love you all so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amongst many many neat and flavorful things in the package, we found gummi domo teeth. Here we are modeling them. I think this is the most attractive photo I've ever had taken. You should all be so lucky I actually went through with posting it.

RAWR!

`Danielle

The Last Day

2008-10-29T21:37:00.000-07:00

One more morning at the lodge, not so ready to leave and make it back to civilization. Despite sunrise being pretty late this time of year, this is officially the first sunrise we were awake to watch!

We are getting on the plane in a few more hours, after closing up shop here, and then it is back to the real world. And all the questions the real world poses for us. Drat and double drat.

`Danielle

It's Bat Boy!

2008-10-27T18:31:00.000-07:00

Pumpkin carving is a fun activity. This is made somewhat more difficult if there is only one pumpkin, to be shared. I generally choose happy or silly faces, while Oliver prefers the angry scary pumpkins. Somehow, between the two of us, we came up with....

Bat Boy! (the pumpkin)

He's silly, he's also scary.... he's also 3-D!

`Danielle

PS we roasted his innards and they were lovely

Scenery

2008-10-26T18:51:00.000-07:00

I had some pretty pictures of the scenery here, so I thought I'd just post some all in one place.

22 ft tide. It makes it seem like we live right on the ocean!

Another big tide, with the sun going down

As we get closer and closer to the date we leave (the 29th) things seem even more beautiful than they have before, making our departer all that more bittersweet. *sigh* Back to civilization, kicking and screaming.

`Danielle

Bread and Walnuts

2008-10-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

Today, Oliver thought he would try his hand at making bread. He also thought he would forgo the recipe nonesense. So off he went to create a one of a kind dough. This involved throwing a large amount of water and yeast into the mixer, followed by an even larger amount of flour. And some honey. Why not.

Here he is, proud of his stretchy creation

Pretty rising loaves

By the time he got the dough molded into the pans, (including one heart-shaped loaf for me, aww) I was pretty jealous. If you remember, my own bread making was lacking half the water, and thus was lumpy and not so pretty.

The finished (gigantic) loaf

However, things were not exactly as they seemed. The loaves grew enormously in the oven, and when they emerged, althought they looked lovely to behold, their insides were quite raw. Also, because of the extra flour, they had very little taste. The honey seems to have had no effect either way. So, between the two of us, we could have had very nice bread. However, we ended up with mine being ulgy but ok to eat, and his being gorgeous, but not the yummiest thing you could imagine.

While all this bread experimentation went on, I decided to go with a proven winner: Candied walnuts!

The spread

Oh delicious goodness!

`Danielle

Fall Feast!

2008-10-24T18:24:00.000-07:00

Today, to celebrate the coming of the pumpkin (thanks David, $10 well spent) we decided to have a fall feast. I decorated the table with branches and pinecones and candles, and we cooked steak with blue cheese and sauted mushrooms, cauliflower with cheese sauce, garlic hand-mashed potatoes, spinach salad with roasted pine nuts and feta and fresh tomatoes, and a nice glass of wine straight from the box.

Doesn't it look good? Aren't you jealous? To make it all better, we ate it after a lovely fall walk out on the beach.

Food always tastes better after being outside for awhile!

`Danielle

Milk

2008-10-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

Here in the wilds of Alaska, we take our milk the way we take our whiskey- straight up.

`Danielle

Biscuits

2008-10-21T12:59:00.000-07:00

So, all I want to do this morning is make some biscuits. I go to the pantry to find some quick and delicious bisquick. Then I remember: the baker, Andrew, had a misguided hatred for the stuff and never ordered any. ARG! Next I look online, and discover biscuits are not the quick easy project I thought they would be. Then the propane on the stove went out....

I JUST WANT SOME FREAKIN BISCUITS MAN!!!!!

The moral of the story; go out right now in your cars that you get to drive whenever you want, toodle down to the nearest grocery store where, hell, you could probably just buy some biscuits if you really needed some fast, and purchase some Bisquick. Because you can. Because you should.

`Danielle

PS. Hell, go buy some milk and some fresh produce while you're at it!

Pie

2008-10-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

Today was a really bad day. What better way to fix a bad day than to make pie?

We found 5 old red apples at the back of the pantry. No good for eating, but plenty fine for pie! Thus, Oliver and I had our first experience making apple pie.

Oliver crimping the edges

What a mighty fine pie!

The finished slice!

Thanks to mother's recipe, and our crust making finese, those 5 apples gave their wasted lives to a good cause. It was a very yummy pie.

Even though the power went out and we ate it in the dark!

`Danielle

Stoat video!

2008-10-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

Here is a clip of the stoats tunneling in the snow next to the wood pile.

PS This took almost 40 min to upload for you, so you better love it!!!

`Danielle

Stoats Playing in the Snow

2008-10-10T17:07:00.000-07:00

During a trip to the wood pile today we heard some scuffling amongst the logs and hurried to take a closer look. It was the stoats! A big one and a smaller one, and they were having a blast in the snow.

The little stoat peeking out from the logs

It was a little dark for taking pictures, and the little buggers are so fast! But Oliver was able to take some cool photos of them fighting. Here are some of his:

Snow on the nose after a dive

Teeth!

They are so vicious, but were really just playing

Here the big one is actually dangling the other by his face!

I think I've said it before that these little creatures are my favorite things about Alaska, but just in case, I'll say it again. I love the stoats!!!!

`Danielle

Snow Days

2008-10-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

Everything is more fun with a good layer of snow on the ground.

Bringing wood in for the fire (I feel like Laura Ingalls!)

We decide to make a "trek" to the shack in the back to gather the last of our things and move them inside.

Snowy path to the shack

Oliver looks like a traveling musician carrying all his guitars back!

Frozen Lake Canoe Trip

2008-10-08T16:59:00.000-07:00

Since we have been cooped up either in the house or the yard for so long, we decided to take a walk to the lake and go canoeing. However, we did not expect to find that the lake was indeed frozen.

Being the people that we are, we decided not to let this discourage us, and, with me at the front chopping a path and Oliver at the rear providing sheer strength, we forged our way out into the lake.

Here I am with my paddle stuck in the ice

Eventually the ice was too thick to paddle through any longer, but we did not turn back until we had seen the trumpeter swans! We guessed there were about 45 swimming out in the deep part of the lake (that of course we couldn't get to) making a huge racket and preparing to continue their migration.

We paddled back through our trail in the ice, then made a little hike around this peninsula to get a closer look at the swans.

See those little white dots in the distance? Swans. Oh yeah! But really, they were neat, and we could see and hear them well despite being so far away. Hurray for frozen canoe trips!

`Danielle

What I've been baking

2008-10-06T16:34:00.000-07:00

As I have had some free time on my hands, I decided to try my hand at some baking.

Behold, my first ever attempt at bread!

Ok, so maybe between mother and I we got the recipe a little off and left out half the water... just because they are a tad dense and a little misshapen doesn't mean they don't taste good!

An easier task for sure was creme brulee, since I have made it before. However, since I also had a half gallon of cream at my disposal, I was able to do some tweaking to my recipe until I finally created the perfect ratio of cream, vanilla, and egg yolk. The consistency is PERFECT. The crust is a thing of beauty. Bow down to your master!

Close up of the carmelized goodness on top

Yum! Needless to say, we have been eating a lot of creme brulee and bread.

`Danielle

First Snow!

2008-10-05T16:31:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up, stretched, and peeked out the window to find.... SNOW!!! Inches and inches of the stuff. So exciting!

This is the view looking out towards the ocean from the deck

Another view from the deck, facing the Coho Cabin

The snow got so thick, it began to slide off the roof in great sheets

As the snow slides off the roof periodically, it makes this great loud "whoosh" that sounds a lot like great big animals mucking about outside. To complete the picture, they fall off from all sides, one after the other. At night, this makes it sound like the house is being surrounded by killer bears, closing in for the ambush!

Oliver encourages these thoughts, especially when the generator is off and the power is dead. Not helping matters is the story he first told me during one of these dark scary nights. Apparently, one year David and two of the crew were watching a scary movie in the living room. Right at the scariest moment when the bad guy jumps out, a bear came crashing in the hallway door, ran around breaking things, then rushed back out into the darkness!

Not to worry though, I carry a headlamp and a fire poker around at all times, for just such occasions. ;)

`Danielle

Shelves

2008-10-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

One of the first projects we finished was the bookshelves for David's office. His space is limited, and as it was.... kind of a disaster. The idea was to make some pretty shelves that would also give him much more usable space.

We were using birch covered plywood that got rescued from the ocean in the boat sinking disaster. This caused problems, mainly, the wood veneer was damaged from all that tossing about and subsequent scuffing that came from dragging it back up the beach to the lodge. The veneer was so thin, any sanding we did to try and fix the damage had to be very very light so as not to grind right through.

Here I am, very gently sanding

Oliver did a ton of measuring, since we didn't have a big saw to put the wood on and the cuts had to be as close to square and exact as possible to make strong shelves. So we measured a lot, and used a little hand saw propped against a straight sheet of plywood to make all the cuts.

Here he is routering places for the shelves to fit snugly into.

The routering idea was a good one, and ultimately made it possible to not use any sort of backing to keep the shelves standing straight and tall. However, the bit died pretty early on, and it was difficult to sharpen to a point that could be used to finish the project. That delayed us a lot.

Once the routering was done, we matched up all the shelves and placed them so that the ugly and damaged ones would be either high up or low down, and the prettiest would be in plain view. Then we glued them all in, hammered in some little nails and finally tapped them in with an awl so they we could putty into the holes to cover the nails.

With all this done, we still had to make trim to cover the front. We found the most interesting pieces of pine 2 x 4's we could and then cut them really thin. After watching Oliver stick his fingers distressingly close to the blade of the table saw, I made him a push stick (thanks Dad).

Here is a close up of the top of the shelves, and the trim being glued

Once all that was done, we sanded the sucker down for what seemed like the hundredth time and carried it into the office. Then while I coated it in a clear varnish, Oliver went outside and started the second one.

Here they are installed, with some cleaning of cobwebs and sticky notes also done to the office. David was surprised!

The left side

And the right side

With these completed using around $70 worth of supplies, Oliver and I are considering never buying another piece of furniture again. This would be more shocking if I had, in fact, ever bought one before. Ha! Strangely enough, it is hard to go dumpster diving for home furnishings in the bush of Alaska.

But in reality, they are very pretty shelves and if a person had a proper shop (instead of a four wheeler and trailer topped with a piece of blue foam, and miscellaneous cordless power tools) it would be fun and easy to build your own furniture. Not to mention super cheap!

*Well dad, what do you think?*

`Danielle

Stoat Buddy

2008-10-01T18:14:00.000-07:00

So the today David left, and as we were packing the boat and guess who came running out from behing the bushes to visit with me? My little buddy stoat. He got really excited and made these little squeaks at me. Then he ran away. It only took a minute before he reappeared, and with a present for me, a fat vole! It was crazy, just like a cat, he brought out the vole (still alive... oy) and pranced around just like he was proud and saying, "look what I brought you!!!".

Look! Here! A vole!

Getting a better look at me

Follow me, I'll carry the vole

Running

Licking his lips

Hope everything is well in Montana. Miss you all :)

`Danielle

The Sinking of Joanne's Song

2008-09-28T17:41:00.000-07:00

Well things were all set up to take a boat trip tomorrow, and everyone but Oliver and I would be returning to the mainland. One tiny event kinda put the kebosh on that plan... the boat sank. Like- filled with water, everything floating away, bailing like mad people in surf up to our necks- sank. So we just got back from doing that and no one is talking much. Pretty glum team today. It's hard to say how it happened, but the last time it did (yes it sank once before) there was something about the rope to the anchor not being long enough... I don't really know. The bummer was, besides the fact that the boat SANK, it was full from our boat trip yesterday, full of lumber and other building supplies that we were going to unpack on the high tide tonight. So once we all ran out to the beach, all this wood was washing away and we had to run in after it. I don't know if any of you guys have tried to pick up sheets of plywood in the surf, but it is a bad idea. I think I got knocked over once for every two boards I rescued. And being in the ocean up to your chest... I now know why they call hip boots "suicide boots".

Anyhow, so that's what's happening here today. Everyone is safe, no one was on the boat when it sank or anything, and we just have to wait for the high tide to see if we can salvage the motors etc.

`Danielle

Doomed Halibut Trip

2008-09-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

We went on one last halibut trip, and Oliver's sister and her friend came along. The day was beautiful and the crew was staff only, so it looked like an awesome day for fishing. Sadly, we got completely skunked! We caught dogfish all day and no halibut. So the freezer is dismally empty and we will go a little halibut hungry this winter. Drat.

Iliamna looked pretty though

My favorite spot off the motors, and our little companion, one of the shearwater gulls that follow the boats

The fishing must be bad when the captain falls asleep

How many sleeping fishers can you see in this photo? I count five!

`Danielle

Cutting Wood

2008-09-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

As the guests leave, we spend more and more time going into the woods on woodcutting trips. This specific trip lasted all day and we had a great time just getting away for awhile and cutting loose.

Part of the crew on the first run of the day. So serious!

A baker and a bear guide discuss the finer parts of tree management.

Oli practices safe tool use

I prepare for the pulling of the tree. This one was a leaner, so we all lined up to pull it towards us

Riding the full traliers back

See, I was there too.

Some bears stop by to see what all the fuss is about. Oliver is excited to see bears!

`Danielle

Things to eat in the woods

2008-09-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

When we go to the woods to cut firewood, there is a lot of downtime while they choose trees to cut and then fell them. Thus, Jenny and I spend a lot of time taking pictures and eating berries! I thought it would be fun to show you all the yummy things we have lying about in Alaska.

Raspberries in the garden

Blueberries in the woods. Note, they look like blueberries and are large like blueberries, but taste exactly like the red hucklberries we used to eat in Washington!

Jenny picking lowbush cranberries in the woods

Low bush cranberries. Very yummy, but also very soft and very small!

random pictures

2008-09-19T10:40:00.000-07:00

http://thinkinpictures.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/weugenesmithwalk_.jpg

Welcome to the Shack in the Back!

2008-09-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

So it really seems overdue for me to post some pictures of the lovely Shack in the Back, or as Joanne and David call it, the Moose Lodge (because of the stack of moose antlers piled behind it). Following that line of thought, we might as well call it the Motor Inn as well! The outside might look a little "Arkansas" as Oliver likes to put it, but inside it's just perfect. It was just an old shed when he started work on it, and since then it has grown windows and electricity and insulated walls! The squirrels are doing their best to reclaim the attic, and I am at war with myself over what to do about that. They are pulling down all the insulation and dropping pinecones in my bed at night and chewing in the walls by my bed and giving me nightmares, and yet... I really don't want to shoot them. Hmmm. More on that dilema later.

For now, here are some badly lit photos of our little cabin!

The path to our little place

Our porch! Note the old washer/wringer to the left, as well as the moose antlers and motors and my lovely bay window! There are many more decorative antlers and motors to the right, but they have been cropped out for your pleasure. However, I included the chunk of insulation to the right of the photo.

Upon entering, this is what you would see. The next photos move to the left, in a circle. Directly ahead is our dresser and mirror, and to the left is our "closet" complete with turquoise feather boa. Everything in the cabin has been salvaged or "borrowed" from elsewhere in camp.

Raised bed (with a real mattress!) Note my boots to the left, handy for nightime bathroom jaunts to the trees out back :).

Yes, it is true, we even have a couch! And a second window. And a table and chairs. We are very classy out here in the bush. Also some shelves and Oliver's guitar.

Curtesy of the remodel of some guest cabins, we even have a little kitchen area. The stove doesn't have propane, but looks nice, and the sink doesn't have water, but the little igloo jug works great for teeth brushing. We even have a little native art on the wall. Note: the floor is the color I love everything in!

So that's that. Hope that gives a little better idea of where I'm staying. It's really nice because we are a ways away from the main lodge and all it's noisey guests. However, it is getting very cold at night now and freezing our water etc. We will have to move to the lodge soon since we have no heat out here. But I think we will tough it out as long as we can!

`Danielle

Fun With Fisheye

2008-09-15T17:46:00.003-07:00

Today we borrowed a visiting photographer’s fish eye lens and took some fun pictures. We took pictures of everyone on staff and then manipulated them even more to make them really strange for an end of the year slide show tonight. Here is a sampling!

Puffins and Stoats

2008-09-15T17:46:00.002-07:00

Last week I was able to take a boat ride with Oliver and Jenny and a batch of guests to Duck Island, to see the last of the puffins before they leave for the winter. We saw a whole bunch rafting in the ocean, and more were nesting on the island itself. I’m still trying to figure out how to “track” the flying birds with my camera to take a clear image, while at the same time just watch and enjoy them in real time! I think I’m better at watching than photographing so far. But I wanted to give you guys an idea of how many birds there were, clear or not.

Besides the puffins and the bears, Oliver and I had a close encounter with another animal. On the way back to our cabin one afternoon, we looked up to see a little stoat perched in the doorway of the neighboring shed. We froze, thinking he would be scared away, but to our surprise, he was very curious and stuck around. Eventually we even grabbed our cameras and came back, and he ran right up to our boots and looked up at us! He was pretty young still, and it was quite cute to see him running around on feet that he hadn’t quite grew into yet. So fearless, and very very fast! I think of everything so far, the little stoat has been my favorite.

One thing I didn’t capture on film was the orca sighting we had a day ago on a halibut trip. The fishing was bad, but the weather was great, and when we saw those huge fins come cresting out of the water only 75 yards or so from the boat, it made the whole trip a success. We estimated that the biggest male’s dorsal fin was over six feet high! He came the closest, with a female by his side, and in the distance we saw another five whales surfacing. It was just the neatest thing you could imagine, and so unexpected. In 25 years of living here, Oliver had never seen an orca before. So cool!

`Danielle

Dad and Danielle in Alaska

2008-09-15T17:46:00.001-07:00

Sept 10

I left Montana on August 20th, with my father, and flew to Alaska. We spent a few days roaming around Anchorage, and one day driving a rental car all the way down to Homer and back! We went to a wildlife center and saw bears and moose and caribou, we watched beluga whales surface in the ocean, and we drank white Russians at the Salty Dog Saloon in Homer. We drove through Soldotna and got a little better idea of where I might be living in the fall. When we finally got back to Anchorage that night, it was very late (actually, very early the next day) and we couldn’t remember where dad’s friend, who we were staying with, lived. Needless to say, we got to know Anchorage very well that night, and the rest of our experience driving in that town was made simpler because of it!

On the 22nd we got all our stuff together and went to the little airport to get on a Great Northern plane and fly to the lodge. We waited all day, but there was dense fog and it trapped the pilots in several places around the area, and no one was able to make it to Silver Salmon. It was so disappointing; after waiting for two and a half months to see Oliver, I had to wait some more! But we spent the night with dad’s buddy Ben again, and in the morning hopped on a plane as scheduled.

It was so good to see the lodge again! And so much fun to show my dad around. There were a lot of guests that first day, and things were pretty hectic getting us settled in and trying to keep the people organized who needed to fly out. But over the next week we were able to help out and experience a lot of things that make this place so special. We caught silver salmon in the creek, and dolly vardens in the lake, and halibut in the ocean. Dad even caught a big chum salmon up Johnson River that we released. We saw quite a few bears and at one point, when both dad and I had a fish on in the creek, a pair of bear cubs ran off with my new coat! Oliver had to chase them off, and they were so bold they just kept coming at us.

I think all in all we both had an awesome time, and my dad was able to get a better idea of what I have gotten myself into. But before he left, you can bet my dad had a few things to say to Oliver, and they all ended with, “And you better keep my daughter safe”. First aid kits and flare guns and bear spray… oh my.

So now that the last of my family is back in Montana, I am really “alone” out here. This is the first time in my life that I have been farther than an hour and a half’s drive away from mom and dad and Tyrell. And with the internet down most of the time and my phone not working, staying connected isn’t easy either. The idea behind this blog was to keep everyone in touch, but as I am typing this, I have only made one actual post! But I’m trying to get them ready in Word, so that the moment the internet kicks in, I can post for you all. Hopefully I’ll have more luck soon!

`Danielle

About a girl, a knife, and a plane.

2008-09-10T14:17:00.000-07:00

For those of you who need catching up, lets start with the incident with my hand. The first week I spent in Alaska, I was joined by my father, and much fun was had. More on that later. But in the first few days we were here, one of the things we did was take an hour boat ride to Shelter Creek and set up the lodge’s tent camp. It was just Oliver and my dad and I, and we got the big tent set up, caught a fish, and were getting a quick meal together. It was around 10 pm or so, and Oliver gave me a filet knife to cut potatoes. He told me to be careful, it was sharp… and I remember thinking, “hmm, this actually isn’t very sharp” and also, “this is probably a bad idea” as I used it like a paring knife to cut the potatoes directly into the pot (who needs a cutting board, we were camping!)

You can probably guess what happened next. I pushed too hard and went right through the potato and into my hand, in what looked like a botched attempt to remove my thumb from its fellow fingers. I quickly closed my fingers together and said something to the effect of “oops” and “I think it’s bad”. Oliver said, “well let me see it, it can’t be too bad because it isn’t bleeding much”. So I took a deep breath and opened it up to show him and my dad, and Oliver took a good look and a deep breath and passed out. My dad looked from him on the ground, to me holding my wound, and took charge. The first aid kit was, of course, missing, so good ol Peter our Leader whipped out a clean (thanks pop) handkerchief to wrap me up with. Not after first rubbing the cut with an ice cube first, of course. Then to make sure I didn’t accidently open the thing up again, we wrapped it with some medicinal grade electrician’s tape. Awesome!

That being about all that could be done for the time being, Oliver finished chopping the potatoes, we built a fire and went to bed. The next morning we were lucky enough that a plane just happened to land on our beach to drop off some fishermen for the day, and it was headed to Soldotna. My dad and I jumped on board and headed off to the hospital. The ladies there were very impressed with my dad’s first aid, but not impressed that the wound was more than 12 hours old. Apparently they usually won’t stitch you up after that long, but I cut myself in such a vulnerable place, they said it would take forever to heal if they didn’t.

Four hours of waiting and five stitches later (if we had got in before 12 hours, I could have had 10 or 15!) we were done. Luck being on our side we got a ride from a friend of Oliver’s and grabbed some food and some beer to take to the lodge, then got on the plane a flew back!
So, with strict instructions to keep my hand dry and away from infection causing fish, we went halibut fishing the next day. Hurray! And a few days after that, I caught the second biggest fish of the season (the biggest being the 76 pounder I caught in June, ha!) one handed. Oliver had to braid my hair for me, and the first week was frustrating because I couldn’t grab anything, but now all is well and healing nicely.

Moral of the story, “don’t hurt yourself in the middle of nowhere”. Or, “don’t use a filet knife to cut potatoes”. Or… something like that. :)

To whom it may concern:

2008-09-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

So here it is, the blog you have all been waiting for! Finally, you can get updates about my facinating life and view pictures and videos all in one handy location. I know, pretty amazing. But really, with internet sketchy here at best, and phone calls a rarity, this seems like a good solution. This blog is just for my family and the friends I'm trying to hold on to, created as a way to keep in a little better touch. Hurray! Cut the red ribbon, lets get this rodeo started.