"A mind once stretched by a new idea can never regain its original dimensions." ~Oliver Wendall Holmes

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Sunday, February 26, 2012

Number 14: Attend a sporting even or concert


Went to a hockey game tonight. Alaska Aces played the Las Vegas Wranglers. Funny coincidence, huh? Apparently these two teams are number 1 and 2 in their conference, so it was a good/important game. It was a blowout. Aces won 5-0!!! It was alot of fun and really nice to spend some time with Avery.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Ryder's after bath crazyness

This cracks me up!!! He makes himself so dizzy that he runs into things then falls on his face.

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Pup pup


For the last few months, I've been helping with a new organization here in Bethel called Bethel Friends of Canines. We have a dog problem in Bethel. People get dogs and then decide they dont want to care for them anymore. Or maybe their dogs have puppies and they dont want to feed them. Or maybe they have a sled dog that isnt pulling their weight on the team. What happens to all these dogs? They end up homeless and abandoned on the streets of Bethel. Many of them end up in the pound and then have to be put down because they are unclaimed. Not anymore.
The goal of Bethel Friends of Canines is to get the strays off the streets and into loving homes. They also have worked to get many dogs spayed and neutered. After a dog has gone unclaimed at the pound for a certain time period, the dog used to be put down. Now the dogs are put into foster homes while they wait for a more permanent home. Eventually, many of the dogs end up getting shipped to Anchorage where homes are found for them there. Others end up being adopted by people right here in Bethel.
Back when the organization first was getting going, I volunteered to be a foster dog parent. I've taken in and fostered several dogs in the last few months and found all of them loving homes right here in Bethel. Whenever I get a foster dog, I dont like to name it, because I would rather leave that privilege up to the family that adopts the dog.
I usually just call the dogs puppy or little girl or something like that. This last foster dog, I called pup pup. I'm usually really good about not getting attached to my foster dogs, but I just fell in love with pup pup. He was such a well behaved puppy. He was playful at the right times and cuddly at other times. He was potty trained completely at 9 weeks after only being at my house for 6 days. He was super cute.
Eventually, people started to ask me if they could come look at him to see about adopting. I kept putting people off and telling them I wasnt available or that it wasnt a good day. After turning aways several serious inquiries about adopting him, I finally had to admit that I was planning to keep him.
I was still having a hard time committing to another 15 years of dog ownership, especially because it is difficult when travelling. Also, I wasnt sure if I was ready yet after Taboo died a couple years ago. Then, I lost him.
My friend, Sadie, and I took both of our dogs out for a ride on the snowmachine. Our plan was to get out of town and let the dogs run while we checked the rabbit trap line. We got almost all the way to Oscarville (about 4 miles) before realizing that my pup pup had jumped out of the bin in the back. We searched and searched for about an hour before finally heading back toward Bethel. When we got close to Bethel, we saw a few other people riding their snowmachines and stopped to ask them if they had scene a little yellow dog. They said they had seen him closer to Bethel. Then we saw the little red flashing light that I had attached to his collar in the distance!!! Yay!
I was so happy when we found him that I realized I was going to keep him and I started trying to think of a real name to call him beside pup pup. Eventually, I settled on the name Ryder since he had a history of riding snowmachines. He has grown up so much in the last few months and he is still a great dog, even if a little ornery.
I still miss Taboo, but I think 2 years was long enough to be dog free. I love my little Ryder. AKA Pup Pup, Puppalup, Puptastic, Puppalupagus, Snuffapupagus.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Rainbow of fruit and veggies

We started another round of the Biggest Loser here in Bethel. My challenge
this week is to eat a fruit or vegetable of every color. Not only did I complete
my challenge, but I completed it in less than 24 hours. Yay me! Now I have
further been challenged by a friend to see how many times I can do it in the
two week time frame. It just so happens that I've eaten yellow, green,
and red already today. Hmm...how many times can I do it in two weeks?

Thursday, February 09, 2012

The Weather

We Alaskans spend alot of time talking about the weather. And for good reason...

from weather underground...
Two daily records, one broken and one matched, within first two
days of February...

The bitter cold that began in late December 2011 and dominated
January 2011 has continued into February with one cold temperature
record broken and another matched. The high temperature of 26 below
on February 1st tied the record coldest high temperature for the
date set both in 1910 and 1999. The low temperature of 38 below on
February 2d beat the old record of 37 below from both 1910 and 1914.

In fact, the record low for today February 3d has already been
matched with the temperature around 1:30 this morning falling to 37
below. The record coldest high temperature for today is 23 below.
A final record event report for today's record will be issued
Saturday morning.

Temperatures will begin warming this evening as a front approaches
Norton Sound from the south. Beyond today temperatures will likely
not pose a threat to records for awhile.

The weather here has been obnoxiously cold for about 6 weeks now. This January has crushed the previous average daily temp of -13.2 with an average daily temp this January of -17.1. I've asked a few people who have lived here their whole lives and they all tell me that the cold has never lasted this long before. Listen to this little recording to hear the specifics...brrrr.

Now here we are a few days later on Feb 9th and it has been not only above zero, but ABOVE FREEZING for 6 days in a row now. The river is a mess. The snow is melting then refreezing at night. It feels like spring!!!

Friday, February 03, 2012

32 things to do before I turn 33

The first 9 are roll overs from last years list, but the rest are new. Some easy, some fun, some time consuming, and some really challenging. Looking forward to another great year!

1. Lose 30 pounds
2. Finish reading On The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
3. Volunteer at the local senior center
5. Finish at least 1 rubicon map
6. Visit the southern hemisphere or go on a cruise
7. Finish reading the Bible or listen to an audio version
8. Publish my book
9. Take a steam or go hunting
13. Make my 2011 photo album online
16. Read Atlas Shrugged or a Stephen King novel
17. Complete a half marathon
20. Ride the snowmachine out to three step or to a coastal village
23. Pay my credit card down by half

I can't believe I'm 32 already!!! How'd THAT happen?

Thursday, February 02, 2012

My 31st year

I completed 22 out of 31 goals on this years birthday list. That means that there were 9 things that I did not accomplish. This is not as good as some of the previous years. There were some things this year that I could have accomplished, but just didnt. I am going to roll those goals onto the next list along with some other new ideas. Next list will be out soon!!!

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Number 17: Read at least 5 more books from this list

One more thing to cross off the birthday list before moving on to the next year...

1984 by George Orwell
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Les Miserable by Victor Hugo

Some I read in print and listened to some on my ipod. I'm loving listening to some of them on the ipod because i can put it on and listen to it while I'm cooking in the kitchen. And sometimes I spend all day in the kitchen on the weekends which means i listen alot. And it frees up some of my "reading time" for reading other print materials. Win/win.