What gives?

I move up to Alaska---where we currently have only big patches of ice, and then it snows in Seattle. Sheesh. Here are some pictures of our son's first steps, pee, and play in the snow. I think he's going to enjoy Anchorage (if we ever get any snow).

Today the Native Heritage Center had a craft bazar. It was pretty neat. There were lot's of carved whale baleen, walrus ivory, and even a doll made of walrus bladder (apparently the stuff is really water proof--it's also used to make rain coats).

Walk up-date

So, every race has to have a loser, and apparently team SHREK took that role for this one. Although I think some walkers weren't really walking, because I've never met anyone who can walk 6.5 miles in 30 minutes. I'm still proud of us for all of our hard work. Yay walking!

Thanksgiving weekend

Thanksgiving weekend was great! It was fun seeing little Banjo (I'm pretty sure he grew during the short time that I was there.) And traveling over to Spokane on Saturday to see Jimmy and Mary's wedding. It was a really fun reception--complete with the filipino national dance---the electric slide.

Then we rushed home for the big race on Sunday. We had perfect weather for the event. And it was fun to explore the city on foot. I'd have to say I've never walked 13 miles around seattle before. And I think team SHREK won the prize for being the slowest half marathoners of the event. While we were walking through the I-90 tunnel the police and another car were right on our tail making sure the road was clear so that they could open up the road to traffic. They were packing up the water station and the sanicans as we walked past. Nonetheless we had a great time. Next year I think I'll try to run it.

RIP Yuniesky

So, I recant my previous statement about Banjo being our first child. I forgot about our dwarf hamster Yuniesky. It seems that Neil also had forgotten about him, because when I went home for Thanksgiving I discovered him dead in his cage (the hamster that is). No one knows how long he'd been dead, but he was pretty cold and stiff and smelled bad. Poor little hamster. We got Yuniesky one night while we were walking along eastlake. He was sitting out in his cage in front of a restaurant with a sign that said he was free to a good home. His owner no longer wanted him. He was a cute little guy and liked running in his ball. Hopefully we have more luck with Banjo. (By the way he is the cutest dog ever!!! and quite smart too.)

We're Parents!!

Yesterday Neil chose the newest member of our family! He's a golden doodle, and just about the cutest puppy I've ever seen (although I may be a little biased). He's currently still living with the breeder, but as of Sunday he'll get to come home, just in time for me to come home. Does anyone have any name suggestions? We're currently calling him Banjo, although Jasmine, his breeder mother previously called him Sugs.

Winter's here!

It's been snowing up a storm here! I took Rio for a walk yesterday along the trail and she had accumulated tons of snow balls in her fur. There were already a few people out skiing along the trail. It made me excited to get some skis!

Refugee Nation

This Saturday I went to a play that a coworker was recruiting people to see. It was about the Lao-American community in the US, and their stories. Apparently there are around 2,000 Hmong in Anchorage. So these three people have been working on developing this project where they travel around and talk to Lao refugees and incorporate their stories into the play. It was somewhat interesting, but I thought the stories seemed pretty typical of immigrant groups. And they painted a picture that made it seem as though no one in America knows that Laos is a country or where it is. Maybe I was too critical, because everyone in the audience really liked the show and gave it a standing ovation.

Sledding fun

Neil visited this weekend. We took a trip to Flattop to play in the snow. Even though it dips into the 20's each night Anchorage still hasn't seen much snow since the first snowfall that melted a week or so ago. We bought our first snow gear (the plastic sleds) and headed up the hill for some sledding fun.

Moose in the driveway

Note to self: When there are two moose in the driveway, stay in the car until they leave. Getting out of the car only causes the moose to charge.

These pictures aren't the greatest quality. But if you look closely you can see one of the moose that was in my front yard.

wildlife encounters

So I thought I'd share a call that was received at the health department. (Every time there is a suspected rabies contact the public can call in to this hotline that the public health nurses take turns answering.) Earlier this week they received a call from a woman who was out walking her dog in Eagle River (a suburb of Anchorage), when she was shocked by a sharp pain to the buttocks. It turned out that a mom grizzly bear was out walking with her cubs and she decided it would be fun to take a nip. (This story reminds me of grandma's encounter with the dog.) So they were calling in to see whether or not she was at risk for rabies.

Being that the only other news in Alaska is the corrupt government officials, the lady's story made it onto the front page of the newspaper. And no, she didn't need to get a rabies vaccine.

By the way, I had my first moose-in-the-city encounter the other day. I was hopping in my car to go to swimming and the next door neighbors had three moose chilling out in their yard nibbling on a tree. It was quite a shock to see. I think it was a mom and two calves.

Perhaps I was spoiled with all the nice Seattle weather

My weekend in Seattle was great! We had nice warm weather--perfect for a corn maze and it was fun to see everyone. Upon returning to Anchorage, my system was in for a little shock. It finally snowed! So, after I returned to my car I spent the next 10 minutes scraping off all of the snow and ice that had accumulated on the car (the only problem is that with the explorer I can't reach to the center of the car so about a food of the windshield always remains icy.)

Today at work I went on a little field trip, which was pretty interesting. We got to tour the PICU at Providence hospital. It was pretty neat, because all of the walls, including ceilings, were painted with murals of Alaskan scenery. Each wing had a different theme. My favorite was the underwater wing where the ceiling had the bottom of a kayak and a bunch of fish.

We also heard about a number of the patients there. This one infant was in an iron lung. (At an urban hospital they would have simply put him on a ventilator and sent him home until his lungs matured enough to breath on his own, however, because he lives in the bush, where electricity isn't predictable, he was kept in this archaic bubble.) From what I could tell his family has returned home to their village and he has been living in the contraption for the last 6 months of his life. Medicaid has run out so the hospital is keeping him there out-of-pocket. There are so many issues in rural health care that you'd never think about when serving an urban population.

Happy Alaska Day!

I don't have anything exciting to report...except that today is Alaska Day. All state workers got the day off to celebrate the state joining the union. The day seemed a little less exciting than the celebrations of statehood in Ecuador, however: no week long parties or party buses cruising the streets. I, perhaps not yet a true Alaskan, went in to work so that I could squirrel away my day off for a long, 4-day weekend. I found a cheap red eye Saturday morning so, I'm headed to Seattle through Tuesday. Yay!

Today I registered to vote in Alaska. I'm thinking that this red state needs a little more help than King county. Today I also learned on the internet that the names Emily and Hannah are top baby names in red states, while Sarah and Katherine are more popular among the democrats. You can learn a lot while you're bored at work.

Watch out Yarn Harlot!

This weekend has been pretty low key (read: boring). But I did manage to finish the hats that I was making for the Westfahl kids. They're pretty cute if I do say so myself, although a true yarn harlot may be able to note a few mistakes. If it were socially acceptable perhaps I'd make myself a larger version to wear around the office.

I registered for the 1/2 marathon walk today. Fortunately for me, with my car on the fritz I've had lot's of training walking from place to place. It should be pretty fun. So far Haru, Ruta and I are doing it. I'm thinking we should pull together some sort of costume to wear. We'll go by H.E.R. or if we're able to talk Sarah and Katie into doing, SHERK sounds pretty cool.

I drove with Meghan to drop off the recycling and it was snowing quite a bit over there. But, still no snow on the west side of town. The weather reporter was complaining that the weather gods mistook Anchorage for Seattle, because it's been pretty rainy all weekend. Why does Seattle get such a bad wrap?

Moose Spotting

Neil came up this weekend and we actually had some pretty great weather. It's getting cold here (upper 30's), but we had some nice rain-free days, which were perfect for hiking. On Sunday we hiked along Turnigan Arm along the coast. This was the first I'd seen snow at sea level. It was a pretty mild hike, although Neil managed to get thoroughly covered in mud after slipping and getting then getting his foot stuck in a big mud hole.

Later that night we went out to see Ratatoui at the Bear Tooth. It's a pretty cool set up where you order your food and then they have servers who hunt you down in the dark with flash lights during the movie to deliver the food. So we had burritos and shared a huge piece of mud pie during the movie.

On Monday we went on another hike near flat top, to look for moose. We saw quite a few from afar (I had to refrain from doing my moose call--because apparently they're in rut right now and will charge you!) But then on the way out of the parking lot we were slowed down by all of these cars pulled off to the side of the road. A bunch of tourists, a wildlife photographer, and a photographer from the Anchorage Daily News were all snapping shots of a bull moose that was about 10 yards from the side of the road. It was pretty cool. Here is the link to the front page of the news paper with the picture. Unfortunately we didn't make it in the shot. www.adn.com

A day in the life of an epidemiologist

So one of the competencies that I have to cover for my fellowship is to participate in an outbreak investigation. The only training we've had for conducting an outbreak investigation has been related to food born illnesses at picnics or the county fair.

I've started attending the public health nurses' debriefing meetings twice a week to start getting a feel for the types of infectious disease reports they get, and hopefully, get in on an outbreak investigation.

Of course, I should have suspected that in Alaska things would be a little more interesting. First they were talking about this case of rabies in one of the villages. It was pretty entertaining listening to the nurse talk about the guy who decided to personally kill 9 dogs, 1 goat, a cat and a fox, as a result of a potential exposure.

Then of course there was the botulism poisoning due to eating seal blubber. And the many many tuberculosis cases. Apparently tb is really prevalent here, especially in the bush. It seemed pretty interesting.

Happy Birthday Bradford!

Today is the big chief's birthday. It is also the day I became a resident of Alaska. I now have my license and plates. And you should be pleased to know that my license is actually a good picture. I'm on my way to collecting the PFD, which is the oil dividend that all Alaskans collect each year. And now as an Alaskan I can call attention to the flaws in our state government. So, the other day the governor was complaining about on the nightly news about congressman (from the lower 48) who was trying to pass a law that would make it illegal for people to shoot at wolves from helicopters. Governor Palin said that the killing of the wolves was justified because the wolves kill the moose. Okay fine. We like moose. But apparently not too much, because they also announced this same week that they are opening up the area to moose hunting. They hope to kill off at least 30 moose, because there are too many. Does any one else find something wrong with this story???

My Impressive Cranium Skills

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day. I wish I'd taken a picture, because you could see all the mountains that were white up top with snow and orange on the bottom half from the fall leaves. In the evening Sophie, one of my walking buddies from work, had a barbecue at her house. So I whipped up some sweet potato salad and went. It was fun to meet some other people and to hang out. They had a fire bowl so after the bbq we toasted marshmallows. Afterwards we played Cranium. Half the people had never heard of the game (those Alaskans...) so I impressed them with my gaming skills.

Today is not as nice out, so I'm spending the morning watching Wordplay (I think grandma would really like it. It's a documentary about crossword puzzles.) and knitting my pumpkin hat for baby Ashton.

Anchored back down

After a week of CSTE orientation in Atlanta I'm back in Anchorage. The orientation was pretty good. It was a lot of general public health information as well as some more specifics of what competencies we'll be covering in our fellowship. It was great meeting all the other fellows who are stationed around the country. And, the best part was that I got to stop over in Seattle on my way home. Neil, Sarah, Haru and my parents and I all went to the Greek festival, which basically included a lot of eating. Gyros, Greek salad, baklava, and some weird little donut things. Then, in the evening we went to see "To Kill a Mockingbird" the play. I had forgotten what a great story that was. It was pretty good. The girl who played Scout did a great job.

On Sunday we went out to breakfast with Neil's family, then we went to church and out to lunch with grandma afterwards. (It seems like all I did in Seattle was eat!) After lunch we played cards, which Neil and I made out with over $6 in winnings!

Back in Anchorage I can really tell that the weather is getting colder. The taxi driver told me that it rained about an inch each day while I was gone (in the 80 degree weather in Hotlanta). It's in the lower 50's here. Quite chilly really. We've taken to wearing hats and coats indoors. All the rain in Anchorage has meant snow in the Chugach.

Blueberry picking and moose...an Alaskan right of passage

Yesterday Joie from work asked if I'd like to go blueberry picking with her. So, we left work a little early (this was the first day all week without rain) and hiked about an hour up a mountain to this opening with tons of low bush blueberries. I wish that I had brought my camera, because the hike was pretty much straight up the mountain, but when you get to the top you can look out over all of Anchorage. We even were able to see out to Mt McKinley! It was a pretty neat view--especially this time of year with the leaves all red and yellow.

So we picked berries for probably about two hours, and I filled an entire gallon zip lock baggie. Joie had this berry picker thing that looked like some tool for removing cat tirds from the litter box, but it worked really well at getting the berries off the bushes. (Note that these bushes are nothing like the bushes dad has at home. They're really close to the ground and much smaller, but they are really flavorful.)

Since I'm leaving for Atlanta tonight, I turned most of the berries into freezer jam, although I don't think the recipe I grabbed from the internet was that good, because the jam is really runny, but it made great syrup from my blueberry waffles that I made this morning! (See the before and after pictures.)

Oh! And, I almost forgot to include that while hiking we saw some moose off in the distance (and a fresh bear track in the mud). But then when I was on my way home in the middle of Anchorage on the side of the road was a mom and baby moose eating some grass. It was pretty cool. They were just sitting there a few feet from the busy street. I guess I'm on my way to becoming a true Anchoragite.

Wildlife spottings

I wish that I could say that we saw these animals in the wild, but we actually stopped off at a wildlife refuge on our way home from Girdwood. It just so happened that the Animal Planet was there taping the moose. I think they were from the show, "When Nature Attacks" or something like that, so they were trying to provoke the moose to trample this dummy.

The cutest, and biggest crowd attracters were the baby bears. They just ran around and wrestled and jumped through the water. It was almost more entertaining to watch all of the old people bussed in from some cruise boat chasing the bears up and down their pen (other side of the fence of course) to capture them on tape.

Winner Creek Hike

Here are a few pictures from our hike on Sunday. It was pretty rainy, and MUDDY, but we had fun. Also, on our way off the trail we passed right by someone from Whitman. What a small world...

The last one is a view from the top of Mt Alyeska above the tram. The building below is the fancy resort.

Anniversary weekend

All day Saturday I had to work hard to keep myself busy so that I stayed entertained until Neil arrived at midnight (which turned out to be 1am). Unfortunately the weather outside was pretty bad and rainy, so I went to see Hairspray. It was an absolutely wonderful movie! I loved it. Then in the evening Meghan had a bunch of friends over for salmon chowder, so I hung out with them and listened to stories about helicopter flying and forest fires.

On Sunday Neil and I packed a lunch and headed south of Anchorage to Girdwood, which is a small town about 45 minutes from here. We went hiking on the Winner Creek trail out towards a glacier. But, because of the rain it wasn't until the following day that we realized how big the glacier actually was. After our hike we checked into the Hidden Creek B&B, which was pretty nice. The family just built the house last year so everything was very clean and cozy. We stayed in the enchanted forest room. I don't know what bed and breakfasts are normally like, but this one was really nice, although a little hokey. For dinner we went to the Double Musky (voted best steak in America by the food network). The food really wasn't my cup of tea, but it was tasty. Neil had a pepper steak and I had crab stuffed halibut. The food was creole themed and the place was decorated accordingly.

Monday was my first "flex" day. So I had the day off to play. After a very tasty breakfast, complete with reindeer sausage, we went to the Aleyska Resort in Girdwood, which has a tram that takes people up to the top of Mt. Alyeska. At the top of the lift we were able to hike around a bit and make our way up to a big glacier. It was pretty cool being so close, although I was getting a little vertigo.

Today Neil came and had lunch with me at work and then hung out in my office a bit before I took him to the airport. Apparently on the drive to the airport Anchorage experienced a point 4 earthquake. I was sad to see him go, because we had such a fun weekend. But, soon enough I'll be in Atlanta and then back in Seattle for the weekend. Tonight I also started a master's swim class. It was fun to get back to swimming again, and it is nice because the pool is a saltwater pool, so no icky chlorine smells.

I'll try to put pictures from our trip up sometime later this week. I'm too sleepy right now. We have a bunch of neat wildlife ones from a wildlife preserve that we visited. (The bears were so playful and cute.)

Strawberry bread= Mmmm

I'm still not used to grocery shopping in the absence of Neil's appetite. So, I had a 5 pound box of strawberries from Costco that I were starting to go bad, so I made lemonade (well, actually strawberry bread). And, now I've discovered one of my new favorite foods. If you're every stuck with a bunch of strawberries that need to be put to use, I recommend this recipe. It makes two loaves, so I brought one to work that was eaten all up, and we're working on the other here at home.

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/399/Snooks_Bayside_Club_Strawberry_Bread14196.shtml

So today it finally hit me that yes, I'm now living in a red state. On our daily walk during lunch I saw this car with a homemade license plate holder that read: January 20, 2009, The End of an Era. Another not so subtle reminder is the front desk that I walk by each day on my way into my office. Francis (who I believe thinks I'm a Native Alaskan because of comments about bead work and tribes) keeps one of those poster inserts from the newspaper with an American flag blowing in the wind that says September 11, Never Forget.

I guess I'll have to be careful what I say...or at least not bring up grandma. The only other not so great thing about living in Alaska, which may or may not be related to the redness of the state, is the lack of recycling. You would think that the state's largest city could have a recycling program. But, the closest thing is this drive up center that you can bring your presorted stuff to be shipped down to the Seattle facility.

An Anchorage 3-Day

Labor Day weekend has been pretty relaxing. There's this guy in Anchorage who owns two restaurants called the Moose's Tooth and the Bear's Tooth (named after mountain peaks). Neil and I have already been to Moose's Tooth twice for pizza. And on Saturday I tried out Bear's Tooth. The neat thing about Bear's Tooth is that it is also a theater. So Meghan, one of my roommates, and I went to see Nocked Up. The place has seating just like a normal theater, but in-between each of the rows there's also a narrow table. We didn't end up eating, but I will definitely need to return for the mud pie. The movie was decent, although it wasn't what I was expecting.

This weekend our duplex also has 2 house guests--Sherpa and Montana. Meghan is dog sitting so we are officially out numbered by canines 4 to 3. Montana is a great dane, and I could probably ride her around like a horse without her slowing down. Her head comes up to my arm pit.

I've also managed to get in a few hikes this weekend. With a friend from work we went up to the flat top area, which is Anchorage's most popular hiking area. It's only about 10 minutes from my house, and you can look out over the entire city. We took the power line trail. Along the way there were a few middle school aged boys looking up into the hills with binoculars at something. They claimed to have seen a few moose, but I wasn't able to spot them. I expect to see one soon though. I guess as it gets colder and the moose can't find anything to eat they make their way into the city to eat the bark off of the trees.

Another day another dollar

Work today was more of the same: sit, read, email. There are a few people my age who go walking every day during lunch, so I joined them. They walk with purpose, so I had to kick it up a notch to keep up. They were both very friendly though, and Sophie even invited me to join her and a few other people on a 40 mile back packing trip this weekend. It sounds fun, but considering her pace during lunch I don't know if I could handle 40 miles in 3 days. I'm beginning to realize that Alaskans live life with intensity. My theory is that they have to fit in all of their adventure and activity during the light months. And, as everyone is eager to tell me, come September summer is over and winter begins. I suppose I'll soon see what they're talking about.

Return from my short retirement

Today I began my work. It seemed to surprise everyone in my office, who thought I wasn’t starting until sometime in September. No one but Bradford were expecting me, and he of course doesn’t get in until the afternoon. So they all scrambled around to find stuff for me to read and get my computer set up. Margaret (who was the CSTE fellow before me) was really helpful at giving me resources and setting me up with different projects.

To start with I’ll be working on this on-line course taught by a professor out of the University of Illinois, Chicago (I thought I’d finished this class stuff). The course is part of a CDC training for the state public health workforce. For the course I’m working with a few other people in my department (MCH (Maternal and Child Health) Epidemiology) and investigating maternal depression during and following pregnancy (for epi folks, using PRAMS). I also got into contact with the head of the Epi unit, who is going to let me participate in the next outbreak investigation. Apparently there are more outbreaks during the summer (which ends with August). After meeting with Bradford I have a number of options of projects that I can design. He’s letting me do a little research into the topics before I decide which ones to do. All in all it was a pretty interesting day. I haven’t hit up websudoku yet….

Ahead of Schedule (Wrangle St. Elias to Anchorage)

Day 6
Mileage 290
Today we were planning on spending the day in the park, and camping the night before heading into town, however, the weather made us change our mind. Our stuff was still pretty damp from the night before and after cooking breakfast in the unrelenting rain we decided to head for the finish line. Of course, as luck would have it. After making the drive out of the park and down the highway the rain let up and sun came out. The rest of our drive was warm and sunny. It wasn’t all a loss, however, the scenery was great! We captured a few pictures of glaciers and the Matanuska Valley. The glacier pics may one day be published in history books (think about it).

Nat'l Park # 2 (Haines Junction to Wrangle St. Elias National Park)

Day 5
Mileage: 395

We got a decent start this morning, out on the road by 7:30. But right away we were stuck behind a Canadian road crew (who happen to stay at our motel) that was painting yellow lines on the road. Once we got past them (leaving yellow tire marks down the highway), we were stopped yet again for blasting work in Kluane, the Canadian half of the park. A little drive longer, and we were back home in the good ol’ US of A. We stopped off at a grocery store in Tok for camping supplies, and set up our camp in Wrangel-St. Elias National Park. We made a little fire, and put our supplies away in the car because Emily thought it might rain. Then it rained, and we raced into our tent at 8:30pm. We played cards for a while and then went to bed. What a soggy night.

The Last Big Drive (Liard Hot Springs Park to Haines Junction)

Day 4
Mileage: 510
Wildlife: bison

We woke up at 5:40am to get an early start. We broke camp and were out on the road by 6:15. Right after we left we saw a bunch of bison along the roadway at about 5 different spots. It was actually sunny out, and the roads were straight, flat, and with little traffic, so we made great time. We had lunch at Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory.

Haines Junction is where the Alaska Highway breaks off from the Haines, AK highway. Haines Junction is also the location of the self acclaimed Alcan highway’s best Chinese restaurant. Perhaps there isn’t a very high bar for this, because we were less than impressed. Although it was prepared and served by an authentic Chinese family. After dinner we walked around town a little and found a field where they’ve built structures for swallows to build nests. Apparently a single swallow can eat around 1,000 mosquitoes each day (they missed a bunch), which helps the town to cut down on pesticides. We also stumbled into a general store that had the bumper sticker: “If you can read this sign, thank a teacher. If you can read this sign in English, thank a soldier.”

More Day 4 pictures

We wanted to include some pictures of the scenery around our motel in Haines Junction.
The first three are right outside our door (actually taken on the morning of Day 5).
The next was taken from the parking lot, and the last one is a picture of a weird town statue.