Can it, deer

D was home visiting his family last month and a friend sent him back with some wonderful deer meat. He also made sure to bring me deer bacon, which is one of my new favorites! Since we were so successful canning caribou meat last year, D wanted to try the process with deer.

First step is to cut the deer meat away from the bone and sinew, and into chunks. D did this part.

We added beef bouillon paste to boiling water and cooked the meat until just barely browned. The meat inside was still pink since the canning process will cook it the rest of the way.

Make sure your puppy is thoroughly and completely ensconsed in the kitchen. That way he can trip you up and almost knock you out when moving about the area.

Next step was to prep and clean the glass pint jars for canning. We added the meat, a big scoop of canned tomatoes, canning/pickling salt and juice from the cooking process. After all were filled the rims are wiped down, lids are placed on and bands are lightly screwed on.



All that was left to do was place the jars in the canner and pressure cook for 75 minutes. We had so many jars that it took two separate cooking sessions, so that was an all-day process. I am thinking about buying another canner - maybe at the end of the fishing season this year, which is when most of these go on sale.

Juneau Trip 3

Our work event concluded around 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and after a quick lunch my team headed to Mendenhall Glacier, locateed just outside Juneau. This whole area is part of the Tongass National Forest and the glacier flows into Mendenhall Lake. One of the other girls had been here before and pointed out a trail that starts at the base of the Visitor Center and winds around to the waterfall (barely visible at right in the photo below).

Mendenhall Glacier, from the visitor pavillion.



So huge!



At this point in the trip, I was EXHAUSTED. Actually, we all were - but couldn't pass up the chance to do some sightseeing.

 Later in the day and right before we headed to the airport for our 90 minute flight back to Anchorage, some of us took the opportunity to shop downtown. Most of the stores were closed because it was the off-season for tourists but a few were still open. This place had 75% authentic Native Alaskan items and 25% fake stuff from China - a better percentange than most gift stores!

"Oosik" is the Alaska Native word for...well, you can read it yourself.



Walrus skulls with scrimshaw art on the tusks.



Love the vivid colors of Alaska Native art and crafts.

That's it for my Juneau photos. I hope to take D back for a visit sometime next year - maybe in April of 2012. Alaska Airlines offers a constituent fare (30% off posted rates) to Juneau when the State Legislature is in session, which is a pretty good deal.

Happy Love Day

Life Update

Honeymoon - we leave Thursday morning and I couldn't be happier! My suitcase has been half packed for, oh, A MONTH. D pulled out our snorkel gear - isn't it funny that two Alaskans have their own snorkel gear? - and we plan on using them almost every day if we can swing it. D very sweetly checked out some great travel books from the Library last month and I made copies and marked those suckers up with notes. I'll also have my iPhone 4 (did I tell you peeps I finally got one?) for on-the-go info. Oh and we rented a Jeep! Fun fun fun.

Work - I'm at that burned-out stage again. Last week we were in Juneau and yesterday we had another health fair. Long days and one day off a week are taking their toll. I have been preparing people at the office for my 10-day honeymoon absence and by the way they are acting you would think I'm leaving for a month or more. I fully expect Monday through Wednesday of next week to be long days as I get everyone's last minute requests carried out. We're not pregnant yet, but I think people's heads are going to explode when they contemplate my 3 month maternity leave!

Dad & recovery - he is at home and getting stronger everyday. The Mayo Clinic will have him back for a visit 100 days post transplant, which is sometime in March.  Thank you for your prayers and support! Mom is taking amazing care of him. If you peeps are ever sick you will want my mother as your caregiver because she has singlehandedly brought my Dad back to health AND kept him healthy throughout this process. Although I suppose his excellent attitude and great physical shape (cancer notwithstanding) had something to do with it too. :-) Dad's risk of infection is still high since the pre-transplant chemo wiped out all of his immunities. We had a different scare right after he came home - a blood clot (DVT) that was thankfully treated in the Knoxville hospital. Mom is trying to fatten him back up again and it looks like Dad may even try to play in a disc golf tournament again soon!

Weather - cold and clear again. Yesterday morning on my drive into work at 6 a.m. it was -4 degrees. Time to fire up the woodstove. D went snowmaching with some buddies from work but he left me plenty of wood for fire-making. He is very considerate like that.

Entertainment - D and I had date night - in the middle of the week even! I had a free movie ticket set to expire this past Wednesday so we hurried on over to the brand new movie theater on the east side (near my high school) and saw "True Grit." D is a big time western fan (I'm enjoying them more and more) and this was a very good film - we recommend it.

Marriage- In Hawaii D and I will mark 8 happy months since our wedding! We're not taking this for granted and know that every day, week, month and year that we are together is a milestone to be celebrated and thankful for. No baby news yet but we'll let you all know when we have some! And hallelujah, I finally sold the rest of our wedding stuff. I had a big tote filled with the last bit of wedding decor plus the burlap tablecloths. This woman is planning her daughter's wedding and grilled me on all of our details. She even wanted to see our wedding photos! I drew the line at that one. But I got a good price for everything and we both parted happy. D says I should start my own wedding planning business, but then I would say goodbye to all of my weekends in the summer. I live for summer!

Juneau Trip 2

More photos from beautiful downtown Juneau!

Looking north from the 8th floor of the State Office Building in Juneau.

Downtown Juneau is constricted by mountains on one side and water on the other. That left the mountainside as the only other option for building homes - and build they did! There is an amazing system of walkways, stairways, ramps and winding roads that take you to the houses in this area. Most of the homes date from the early 1900's, with some older than that - late 1800's! Believe me, that is ancient for Alaska.

I am always fascinated by old buildings and homes. "Old' being a relative term in Alaska because of our young history as a state.

Interesting juxtaposition of old and new around Juneau - concrete city buildings mixed in with historic homes and businesses.

Our team from work had a short time off to walk around on Friday evening. Since the city is located in Southeast Alaska (and a rainforest to boot!) we saw almost no snow on the ground. The mountains had a light dusting but nothing like in Anchorage.

This was a war memorial for Alaska Natives serving in the military. 

I talked with a gal who works for the State and says she lives in Juneau when the Legislature is in session. She rents an apartment downtown and doesn't need a car because this area is so walker-friendly. Although the downside is that if she needs to go grocery shopping (Juneau has a Fred Meyer, Wal-Mart AND Costco!) she has to borrow a vehicle for that.



The Governor's Mansion, completed in 1912. Anyone can walk right by it!

The balance on this photo is totally blown out, but it gives you a better idea of the surrounding buildings.

Juneau Trip 1

The Juneau trip went really well and all parties involved were happy overall. I was just there for two days, but they were two VERY LONG days. Up by 5 a.m. and lots of work and then to bed by 11 p.m. But I am so lucky to have finally experienced our capital city!

View from the airplane window. I forgot my regular camera so all of these photos were taken with my iPhone. It was a gorgeous day when we left Anchorage and then the clouds rolled in as we neared Juneau. Only a 90 minute flight! Landings in Juneau are wonky - planes have to follow the course of a mountain range and then bank sharply to make the airport landing strip.

The location we worked in is called the State Office Building. Gorgeous views from the Atrium level!

A little while after sunrise. Temps in Juneau are considerably warmer than Anchorage. It was in the 30's and very wet - typical for this rainforest area.



Not a lot of snow around but it was still icy from an overnight freeze.



The body of water is Gastineau Channel and beyond in Douglas Island. I decided that D and I should live down here on Douglas or Auke Bay or somewhere else in SE Alaska like Sitka for a while. So amazing.

More photos to come!

Best wife ever

Like I tell my husband, I'm really not so bad. Case in point - I looked at my budget and figured out a splurge on some really nice art would be acceptable. So a couple weeks ago I purchased the Charles Gause print and it is hanging in our dining room RIGHT NOW! D and I are both are in love with the print and it really looks amazing in the house. So happy. And now I'm pretty much off the hook for every gift-buying holiday this year. Maybe even into 2012 too.

I'm definitely flying to Juneau next weekend for a work trip, so that is some nice overtime to pad my paycheck.We're all leaving next Friday and will be back by Saturday night. I decided to skip this year's Ski for Women (click here and here for those stories) since I'll have worked an 18 hour shift the day prior.

Honeymoon countdown - exactly 3 weeks!

Welcome to Antarctica

It may not be the South Pole over here but it sure feels just as cold. -10 degrees at the house yesterday! D is currently spending quality time with his family in the Midwest and it sounds like they are experiencing frigid temps as well. I haven't been taking Drift for many walks lately and he's been wearing his mopey face. That dog does not understand my aversion to frostbite! I'm going to have to suck it up, bundle up and head outside. The good news is that we're supposed to see snow and temps in the 20's. Yay!

Ice crystals on my car windshield...



The shortest & busiest month

Next month is gearing up to be a busy one. I'm 99% sure that I'll be flying to Juneau to help coordinate a health fair for state employees down there in early February. Never been to southeast Alaska so even though it's a quick trip I'm excited! Only way to get there is by plane or boat and the weather is notorious for ruining travel plans. I'll be sure to take lots of photos when not working and share them here.

Back at my workplace, we have quite a few seminars on the calendar for Heart Month, plus a heart-specific health fair on the 12th. And then D and I will leave for our 10-day Maui honeymoon! My schedule is super tight for February but I'm very much looking forward to relaxing on a Hawaiian beach with my wonderful husband after the work craziness has subsided.

Parties galore

Happy Friday, happy weekend. My workplace holiday party is tonight - 775 people signed up! I'm going to scoot home a little early and then help with setup this evening at the hotel. Our party is so big that we rent all four of the Sheraton's ballrooms. I helped my coworker shop for door prize gifts this week and am crossing my fingers that I will win something because our prizes are seriously awesome (camera, flip video recorder, coffee cards, gift cards, lift tickets, ski resort overnight stays, etc.) D is off the hook for this party and has decided to go snowmachining and critter-hunting up north with a buddy instead. Aren't I a nice wife?

Speaking of holiday parties, we attended the Carpenters Union event last month and I ended up winning a $50 certificate to Club Paris downtown, which is one of THE BEST places to get a steak in Alaska. It's very Alaskan, which means you can go there and drop $150 on a fancy meal but not feel out of place wearing Carharts and XtraTuffs.

The Carpenters party was held at the Captain Cook and I got a fantastic parking spot just steps away from the hotel (there's my lucky streak again - my friends call me the luckiest girl in Anchorage!). We took a little break from the party to check out the hotel shops and came across an art gallery, Stephan Fine Arts. D and I both fell in love with a gorgeous print by Alaskan artist Charles Gause.

It is HUGE (44" x 14" unframed) but coincidentally we have open wall space above our dining room table that would fit this perfectly. D and I spend a lot of time in Prince William Sound and we both love how this evokes memories of special days spent out there. Isn't it amazing? At the gallery the print was matted beautifully with a thick dark wood frane that matches our home decor. It's a wee bit expensive though - $450 unframed and around $825 framed/matted. Ah well, we can dream.

A New Year

Happy New Year everyone! Here's to a year filled with new hope, life, health and experiences.

A warm front rolled in this weekend so now we have 35-40 degree temperatures! Our street is one big sheet of ice and my car slid down the melting hill to bypass our house the other day. Some people call the warm winds and weather a "pineapple express" because of their origin in Hawaii and the tropics. I say they are Chinook winds because I'm Alaskan. And that's how we roll.

Went showshoeing with a friend from work - 3 other ladies were slated to join us but the weather and other errands called them away. I was ridiculously hot since the temp that day was 45 degrees, but we had a good time regardless. My friend had never been snowshoeing before so it was neat to introduce her to a new experience. No moose or other critters on the trail.

My dad is getting a little better every day and finally got a good night's rest with the help of a sleep aid (doctor approved). His appetite is back and my mom is visiting the grocery store almost every day to make the meals he is craving. Cross your fingers that Mayo will let him travel home to Tennessee in the next week or so!

Our honeymoon plans are coming right along. I booked a one-night stay in Hana and used Hotwire.com to bid on a hotel room for our last night in Maui. We wanted to be close to the airport after driving back from Hana, and Hotwire actually came back with a great deal. Our all-day snorkel cruise is booked, as is our rental car (a jeep - yay!). I'm debating on whether we should do a luau - I've attended a few but D has never had the luau experience - but they are running $100-$116 per person! We could eat some amazing food in Maui restaurants for that much money.

I haven't blogged about this but my kitty Pepper passed away in September. We returned home from a moose hunting trip up north to find Pepper unresponsive and very sick. I was shuttling her to and from the vet every day for a week and she seemed to be improving. But at home she escaped outside and didn't come back. I am sure she was done with being sick with thyroid disease, feeling awful because of this new condition and dealing with a scary vet office - and wanted to pass away on her own terms. Oh man, I am getting teary-eyed just thinking about her right now! I try to remember that she was an older cat who had a good life and 12 years is a pretty good run. I adopted her from the South Texas SPCA as a senior in college and she survived 3 moves (including a 12 hour plane trip from San Antonio to Anchorage).

Happy Holidays!

Great news - my dad was discharged from the Mayo Clinic yesterday! They made sure he could keep food down (nausea necessitated an IV being inserted and that is no fun) and checked his levels. Everything looked good. So happy that this happened before Christmas! My parents are required to stay in Jacksonville for at least two more weeks so the clinic can monitor Dad's recovery, but being out of the hospital is HUGE!

I am currently in the throes of honeymoon planning. We booked a 9-day trip to Hawaii (YES!) for late February and splurged on miles to get a direct flight from Anchorage to Maui. I know it seems like so far away (2 months) but I prefer to plan way ahead for trips and the short notice is making me a bit nervous. Most of the accomodations I have looked into are already full! But we may stay for a few days in one location, drive down to Hana for a night and then book a different hotel/condo after that. Also doing my research on rental cars and fun activities like snorkel cruises, fishing trips and the road to Hana.

The temperature right now really bites. I try not to be a Negative Nelly about the weather because it is my choice to live in a northern state like Alaska. But COME ON, below zero or single digit temps for 3-4 weeks straight? It's too cold to do outside activities and even going grocery shopping is a miserable experience.

Not sure if I mentioned that I am part of a supper/wine club with some folks from work. There are 9 of us now and we get together monthly at one of our homes to decompress from work and basically have a really entertaining evening. Everyone is required to either bring a bottle of wine or dish that corresponds to the theme we have all decided on at the previous meeting. I love this group! We talk (gossip), play games, win prizes, stuff ourselves with amazing food and drink copious amounts of wine. I'm organizing two field trips in January for my fellow club-goers: a snowshoeing expedition and a night at the Beer & Barleywine Festival.

Well, Merry Christmas everyone. This has been an eventful year in more ways than one, but we are always grateful for the blessings (big and small) that come our way. Holiday love to you all.

Update on my dad

Some of you may have already received this message from me on Facebook, but wanted to post again to make sure everyone knows about the address:

I just heard that the insurance company moved my mom from one apartment complex to another. (Actually she moved herself and has a throbbing knee to prove it, but that is another story!) The move is good news since the new place is cleaner and on the 1st floor (Dad cannot climb stairs or walk very far after he is discharged from the transplant unit.)

So that means they have a new mailing address starting TODAY. If you have mailed something already, mom will check the old box in the next couple of days. And from now on I'm telling everyone to use their home address in TN - a wonderful family friend is forwarding all of the mail to Jacksonville.

Ulys & Ann Whalen
1718 Brent Hills Blvd
Gatlinburg, TN 37738

Dad is still struggling with nausea, lack of sleep and being restricted to his room due to risk of infection. But I talked to him this morning and he sounded more like his old self. If his blood cell and platelet counts improve in the next couple days the docs will let him mask up and walk the halls for a few minutes each day.

Mom, Dad, Risha and I are touched by the outpouring of love and prayers for Dad and his speedy recovery. Thank you.

Snowy day skiing

The weather during Thanksgiving weekend was perfect! Lots of fresh powder after 24 straight hours of snow and it was the light, fluffy stuff. We packed up our x-c skis, the dog and headed out to Campbell Tract, which is conveniently less than 2 miles from our house.

I don't know if I've said this before, but I really do love the area we live in. It's close to everything we need (shopping, work, highway, etc.) and at the same time near the wilderness (Campbell Tract, Far North Bicentennial Park, Chugach National Park). Every year we see lots of moose in our yard (just 2 weeks ago, in fact) and last summer a black bear was spotted near the end of our little street.

Anyway - back to skiing. The temps hovered near 19-20 degrees and couldn't be more perfect. Any warmer than that and I just get so overheated after 15 minutes of outside exercise.

Blue sky and no clouds!

This is Campbell Airstrip. Small planes mostly land during the spring, summer and fall months but there are signs on this route that caution trail users to stay on one side of the airstrip year-round, lest they get run over by a Piper or SuperCub or something.

The majority of those we saw on this day were skiing but a few were just hiking or on snowshoes. Lots of dogs along too. Didn't see any dog sled teams though.

Google Reader

I started using Google Reader a few months ago and it has totally changed the way I read blogs and visit websites. If you are like me and have a long list of blogs to visit every week, the process can be a bit tedious.

Using Google Reader allows me to see which blogs/sites have been updated recently and quickly read through those. No wasting time on blogs that have not been updated since the last time I logged into Reader.

Here is what it looks like when I log in:

It shows me who has new entries to read (and how many) and who has been lazy about posting. Ha! So, although it may take some time to add all of your favorite blogs to your subscription list IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT in the end! Take my word for it.