Welcome to the world

Congrats to D's brother and sister-in-law -- their new baby girl arrived last night!

She is beyond adorable in the photo I saw. In person she is probably making heads explode because of the cuteness factor.

Shower makeover

Master bathroom renovations continue. D is working very hard while I get some cleanup duty and generally stay out of his way. We have lived with this cramped little depressing bathroom for almost exactly 2 years so I'm ecstatic to see the finished product!

The bathroom before -- don't get me started on the condition of things in this space. The tile was pretty awful and there was CARPET on the floor. Happily D will also be installing beautiful large tiles on the floor along with a heated mat to warm our frigid toes in winter.

Here's a sneak peek at the new shower tile:

My request for a bench seat in the shower was approved! Seriously, it is almost impossible to shave my legs in a regular shower stall. I need that bench big time. Fancy schmancy pull-out shower head to be installed soon.

The wall behind the old stall and next to the toilet was hiding dead space, so D tore out the drywall and expanded the new shower. It'll be such a luxury to have all that extra space:

More photos to follow!

Volcano

Just to quiet everyone's fears, we're all fine here in Anchorage and southcentral Alaska. Mt. Redoubt has been erupting all morning but so far the ash has fallen mostly on the Susitna Valley, up north from us. Sounds like the ash fall is fairly light. So, no worries!

Whittier '08

Before I met D, I had never once stepped foot in Whittier, Alaska. In my defense though, NOBODY went to Whittier when I was growing up. It was (and still is) a tiny town and you could only get there by hopping on the train. Everyone lives in a big apartment building, which doesn't see any direct sun for quite a bit in the wintertime.

With the construction of the tunnel, more and more boaters, kayakers and tourists could drive through to the gloriousness that is Prince William Sound! Now I spend more time in PWS than I ever could have imagined.

These photos are from our first trip of the summer season last year -- around mid-May 2008.

A nice drive down the Seward Highway -- Turnagain Arm is the body of water between the highway and mountains.

In one of many of Culross Island's little beaches.

Occasionally an interloper finds its way into the traps. We deal with squid, crabs and sea urchins after the whole haul has come up. Can't leave them too long -- otherwise the squid will suck out the meat from the shrimp.

Spot shrimp missing his long, razor-like nose poker.

Shrimp all cleaned out and traps ready for another long soaking.

Lots of snow still around in May.

We were lucky to see a float plane take off one day.

Airborne (way off in the distance)!

Drift prefers to ride up front -- he rarely sits inside with us, except when it's really rough and bumpy. Even then he'll sit outside at the very back of boat near the engine.

Sometimes, when we're very, very lucky, a clear day and flat seas happen on the same day. And a sea otter comes out to play.

The forests are quiet and awe-inspiring at the same time. I always get the feeling that we are the first people to walk around in the area.

We'll end on a shrimpy note!

Pets in small confined spaces

I'm not sure why, but lately Drift has been sleeping in our not-yet-remodeled-and-missing-a-door coat closet. It's funny to see his big blocky head nestled on D's rubber boots and yellow butt jammed in next to my summer sandles.


Little Dude loves the new dining set -- the perfect vantage point from which to swipe an unsuspecting dog in the shins...mwaaahahahaha!

Blogkeeping

Hi all - made a couple small changes to the blog...

There is a new masthead photo up top (it's from a photo op on the drive back from BOW/Chickaloon). After over 31 years of living in my home state, I still get blown away by the beauty of this place.

And a search box has been added to column at right. I do like this new template but it didn't come with a search function, and it has taken me this long to find one I like. Just a note -- it won't search labels (the words at the bottom of each post that I use for tagging purposes), just the body of each post. If you want to search my tags, just click on the Categories column at right.

Thanks for reading!

Food Thursday

Thought I'd share some of the fruits of my BOW labor -- first up, pickled salmon! We are curious to taste this stuff. D is midwestern man so he has grown up with pickled fish, but it's pretty new to me.

At BOW we boiled a pickling brew and scooped it into the jars filled with chunks of salmon that we fileted and cut up. The jar needs to be refridgerated for another couple weeks before we can experience the goodness.

Also from BOW, my gravalox (or lox for short) sample. This filet has a salt, sugar, peppercorn, herb, etc., mixture rubbed into the fish which is drawing the moisture out. In a few days it'll be quite firm and we'll be able to cut it into thin slices and eat with yummy cream cheese and bagels or crackers.

Somehow the crisper in the fridge became filled to the brim with red and green apples. Must be apple gnomes playing tricks on us. Yesterday I got so tired of seeing those damn apples sitting there (silently judging me for not doing anything with them, I'm sure) that I found a recipe for Apple Crumble and got rid of all but one.

D and I agree that it was pretty good, but now I understand why people say to use more green apples than red in an apple pie or bake -- the tartness of the green variety gives the dish a little kick. The brown dots are Ghiradelli baking chocolate -- I have TONS left over from the coconut macaroon experiment.

And does it get any better than a nice lambic? A sweet and tart Belgian fruit beer, of which my favorite is framboise (raspberry). Lindemans also makes a kriek (sweet cherry), plus green apple and peach. I usually buy two bottles at a time -- they go fast in our house!

Designing woman

I am not sure how this happened, but somehow I have become the go-to graphic designer at my workplace. Which is interesting because I have zip-zero-zilch design training in my background. I'm a PR person for pete's sake! I write stuff. And talk to the media. And organize events.

But you take one work-sponsored, 3-day InDesign class and suddenly the office inbox is full of poster and brochure requests. I enjoy upping the creativity factor, but it seems like most of my time is spent doing these piddly little fliers that honestly I have no interest in. But my boss is great and we're going to work on figuring out a better system for all of these requests so I'm not inundated. She also did say that our employer would pay for additional classes if I want to get some real graphic design training -- which rocks, because I'd love to get some additional experience under my belt. Looks great on the resume'!

St. Patties

Forgot to say Happy St. Patrick's Day! I'm so embarrassed, especially I am some small percentage of Irish from my dad's side.

I neglected to wear green today and one of the admin assistants here at work actually pinched me. HARD. Who does that anymore? But she did give me a little green clover sticker so I held back from kicking her in the shins.

Back from BOW

What a fantastic weekend! The girls and I have returned from BOW (all in one piece, fingers and toes intact!) The weather was gorgeous -- lots of perfectly blue sky, no precipitation -- but very cold. There were no thermometers around and I think most people didn't want to know how chilly it was since most of us had outdoor activities. Why bother when you have to be outside anyway?

Here is the view from our cabin -- the FARTHEST one from the main lodge!

The lodge was visible from our cabin's back steps -- mid-left in the photo.

Our heated bunkhouses -- I'm used to camping in tents so anything with a roof and four walls is luxurious. Those beds were a tad bit uncomfortable though. I had a top bunk and practically had to launch myself up there!

My first session was snowmachining and was able to take it with two of my girlfriends. So much fun! Makita Sea & Ski let us use brand-new Polaris 500-series machines for our class and each person had their own. There were about 8 or 9 girls in the class.

We stopped for a hot chocolate break and talked about safety/digging out from being "parked" (snowmachine speak for "stuck")/maintenance/etc.

Two of my friends on their machines (the snowshoe class in the background joined us for hot chocolate.) I was really happy with this class because the instructors took us through all kinds of trail conditions -- woods, narrow trails, open flat stretches, frozen lake surfaces, fresh powder -- I got my machine up to 50 mph!

Since this was my second time at BOW I wasn't able to attend all my first (or even second, third or fourth) choices in some cases. I took both canning and smoking fish -- my favorite part of those two classes? Getting to practice fileting fish and removing the skin! I did pretty great once I got ahold of a sharp knife. This looks like my first try -- my other filets looked better.

These fish were also difficult to cut because they had been frozen and then thawed for a bit when we started into them. Mushy meat -- but perfect for canning and smoking. We were also taught how to pickle fish and make gravalox -- I brought my pickled salmon and lox home to share with D.

My fourth and final class was pulk sled building (wanted ice fishing or dog mushing but they were totally full). This session ended up being one of my favorites -- we had regular Paris sleds and then attached welded aluminum frames and hardware to the plastic base. There are tons of other ways to build these sleds, including PVC pipe, but the instructors have never had a frame break yet. The best part is that when the plastic sled gets beat up beyond salvage, I can just remove the hardware, buy a new sled, drill some new holes and assemble the rig to the new sled. Good as new!

Follow the leader -- testing out our sleds with weight in the back to simulate a real excursion. Since the instructor didn't have a chance to call and let me know to bring weight for my sled, she let me use her big heavy DeWalt drill box and tool set (which we used to make the sleds.) I remember thinking that D would be so proud to see me hauling around construction tools in the back of my sled! Our aluminum frames also featured telescoping poles -- I can adjust the length to accomodate different length x-c skis or trail conditions.

Like snowmachining, our instructors took us through different trail conditions we'd experience in the backcountry, including fresh powder, snowmachine tracks, frozen lake, wooded trails, etc. Our instructors were awesome -- they are both Fish & Game employees who lead a lot of backcountry ski trips. We skied for about 2 and a 1/2 hours -- pulling a dead weight up hills is quite the workout!

After returning we got unharnessed and I snapped a photo of the sled dogs waiting for their turn to run.

I know this is hard to see, but this lady is skijoring on the lake -- sking while being pulled by a dog.

We were so busy all weekend that I didn't have a chance to snap many photos! The other girls took some too, so I'll post some of their good ones. We stopped on the way back home to Anchorage to enjoy the amazing view:

Posting hiatus

Okay peoples, I leave early tomorrow for BOW so no additional posts until next week. Two of us are driving since we have six girls total. It's about a two hour drive north to the camp location in Chickaloon. I started packing the car last night with my skis and snowmachine helmet -- after a good hour was spent vacuuming the seats and floors. That car has not seen a good cleaning in over a year! Here's hoping that we'll have space for everything on the way down and back -- especially the pulk sled that I'll be building on the very last day. My x-c ski bag barely fit, but at least it's not poking me in the face.

Entryway organization

I really need to start labeling the photos that I snatch off the internets. I can't remember where half of these images came from.


Some lucky people have loads of room in their entryways. Ours is teeny tiny -- one little closet and a small square of space next to the front door. I have tried to maximize the area but it's still very compact! So for now I collect design ideas for our next house:

Happy Wednesday

Displaced

The home remodeling continues. My in-house expert (D) is now working on the master bathroom, which explains this scene in the guest bathroom:

Maybe D will let me post photos of the new bathroom when he's finished. Our shower will be expanded and I'm getting a new swank shower head!

BOW Here I come!

After weeks of waiting to hear back about our BOW schedules, news has arrived. I got in! And so did 5 of my girlfriends...however 2 others are on the waiting list which is disappointing. But considering the majority of us are repeat attendees, we're lucky to have made it.

So much for first-choices though -- I was really hoping to attend the Rifle Markswoman class, but it's all full and they have put me on the waiting list. The silver lining is that D took pity upon me and will let me tag along to the gun range here in Anchorage later this month for some rifle shooting practice!

My classes ended up as: Snowmachining, Canning fish, Smoking fish and Pulk Sled Building. We leave Friday morning for Chickaloon and should be back sometime Sunday evening. In addition to the four class sessions, the camp also features a HUGE tubing hill (if you're lucky a snowmachine pulls you and the tube up the big freaking hill), a moose calling contest on Saturday night, lots of giveaways and silent auctions. They even had a snowmachine raffle last year. I'm super excited to go...like a kid at Christmas!