caution: whine

i havent been too outwardly cranky on the blog in a while. i figure whining about how cold and dark it is isnt really getting me much mileage anyway. but... god, its dark here and we have no damn snow and we've still got 23 or so more days of losing 5 minutes of daylight every day. whaaaaaaa!

we're down to 6 hours and 15 minutes. the afternoon darkness doesnt bother me as much as the fact that the sun doesnt make its appearance until 9:40 in the morning. makes it tough to get going in the morning. heavy sigh.

i brought out the old therapy light, but havent had time to bask in its artificial glow. maybe tomorrow.
if anyone out there talks to santa, tell him to send some snow.

only 42 days till mexico.

postturkey

its soggy here in the gray north, with soggy being the understatement of the week.

what began as an epic start to an early ski season is now an avalanche prone, slushy mess just waiting to happen. with early season cool temperatures and a few nice snow storms, alaska was off to a great wintry start. but, just as we were getting into the groove of the winter thing, warm air moved in and temperatures rose into the high 40s, leaving nothing but thick, wet cement everywhere.

aleyeska resort reports that over 200 inches of snow has fallen at the summit of the mountain since november 1st. last week the resort was bragging that patrolers were up to their knees in fresh powder, leaving the rest of us with tongues wagging, waiting for opening day. opening day came and went and now, the mountain is temporarily closed due to the looming avalanche danger. and to compound matters, downtown anchorages many beloved cross country trails, groomed to perfection for the past few weeks, are now nothing but slush.

we drove to seward yesterday, leaving the valley behind in a gray haze. as we rounded turnagain arm, the waterfalls pouring off the ledges to the left of the highway multiplied. we are used to seeing lots of water pouring down along the ride, but i would say there are at least five-fold the normal amount of gushing, pounding, sheets of water. we also spotted many avalanche shoots with 10-20 foot piles of heavy, wet, mud and snow, some reaching within feet of the highway and railroad tracks.
i wasnt able to get photos because i was driving, but i plan on being photographer and passenger on the way home so i may capture whats going on here.

seward is sleepy this time of year.
we are cozied up at r & l's sweet abode with a fire in the woodstove, watching the clouds cover the peaks with intermittent, heavy rain flattening the once deep snow on the ground.

today, we hit the sea life center (jade loves that place, can you tell?) yolys (which we love) and the coffee shop. what could be better?








the sea life center is a respite this quiet time of year. were it not for the birthday party going on in the "research room" we would have had the place to ourselves.
here are some photos of our day. the sea life is largely from right here in resurrection bay. can you believe the colors of these cold water creatures?? the octopus was amazing today, very active and stretching out all over his tank. although you cant tell by his smiling face, jade was none too impressed to be asked to pose in front of this guy as he was wriggling his tentacles all over the place.

preturkey

days are growing short here at latitude 61 with the sun rising at the lazy hour of 916 and setting at 413. we headed out for a nice ski this afternoon, racing the daylight all the way back to the car.
its been all about settling in for the winter and cheering on the snow the past few weeks. if youre going to live in darkness and cold, let there be something to rejoice in- bring on the snow!

weve had a slight improvement in our social life lately which seems almost like a miracle after being here for 15 months. i havent consulted my horrorscope lately, but the stars must be lined up just right.
jc and i have been lunching, having dinner and even had a night out at a disgustingly smoky bar with a very nice guy from vermont. god, cigarettes are gross. finally the like minded people are crawling out from behind the birch trees and getting to know us a little.

we will be heading down to seward on friday to cheer up r @ l's little house with a fire in the woodstove and a turkey roasting in the oven. our wayward friends have been gone for over 2 months now. we've missed them. they have just reached washington state in their lovely little sailboat and will be returning home in december. we are looking forward to hearing all about the adventure!

sunday

hope you all enjoyed your day as much as we did!

rant

this post is dedicated to delta, over at craft pirate lounge because my tiny little rant and rave makes me want to say arrrrrrgggggghhhhhhh.

have you ever felt like asking for paper bags at the grocery store makes you a very wicked and possibly even evil person? does the checkout clerk snarl at you after you've mustered up the courage to timidly made this seemingly small but apparently humongous request? (any boulder colorado readers, i realize you cannot feel my pain because there is no such thing as plastic in boulder)

well, folks, i am not here to promote some sort of personal bias on the paper vs plastic debate, (although there arent turtles choking on paper bags in mexico... ) or, even suggest that my choosing one over the other was for anything other than, well, i just needed some damn paper bags!

christmas is coming and all, and you can make cute little gift tags or even wrap presents in them. (honest, i have a 4 year old, making paper bag wrapping paper can be fun). and they work best for bringing magazines and junk mail to the recycling center. but i really shouldnt have to explain myself to the checkout girl!
the bottom line is this;

dear young checkout girl at fred meyer with the stripy highlights in your hair, who when asked if you could ring up the meltly salt stuff that is stacked up outside the store simply said "no" and didnt even bother to ask if i wanted you to get someone to go get it, or even remotely think of problem solving the situation and then acted like i'd abandoned my cart and my kid while i went outside the store to get the damn bag of melty ice stuff myself so you could ring the shit up;
please dont outwardly grimace when someone very nicely asks, "can i bother you for paper instead of plastic?" just do your job, smile and say "not at all".

holy crap i feel better.
arrrrgggghhhhh!!! power to the pirate!

scary

so we aren't parents who feed our kid juice and consequently, he's a child who believes oranges are a perfectly wonderful dessert.

so halloween has come and (thankfully) gone and our child went on the candy equivalent of a coke binge.

he looked pretty darn cute in his skeleton costume, running from house to house with his buddy elaina the vampire princess. (there wasn't a single female child in the clinic yesterday who wasn't going to be a princess of some sort).

after the initial rush of "what, i just knock and then they hand me candy....??? how can this be?"
he, with his candy-spilling-over-the-top-spider-bag decided; "im done. i wanna be done now."
(translation: now i can eat my candy).
one dum dum, a tootsie pop, a few starbursts and one long hard candy stick later my kid looked like this:


for those of you who just dont see that sugar turns kids into monsters spinning out of control, try this: dont feed them any for a while.

cut out 8 oz glasses of juice, no frosted flakes, no pop tarts, no applesauce with little candies, try some cheerios, corn flakes, hey try a scrambled egg for breakfast, some organic naturally sweetened oatmeal, baby- and try oranges or apples for dessert.
then, after a week or so of the low processed sugar diet, preferably in the comfort of your own home and away from others, give him a few candies and watch him spin!
now thats scary!
hope you all had a spooky time.