Snow, Target, and Snow

Here is a view from the dog park.  Don't know why it looks so bright since this was taken at 8pm.
Here I am infront of the new Target.  Hooray!
Welcome to Alaska!  Where you go to work with clear roads, and roll home on snow.

The Termination Dust is quickly coming down the mountains.  We had about three weeks of fall.  Now most of the leaves have fallen, it's cold out, and snow is on the ground.  The last picture was taken out our living room window tonight after work.  

But the good news in all of this is that Target officially opened yesterday!  And since Target is Emily's favorite store (well, maybe second favorite behind Value Village) we stopped by to check it out after going to the dog park with Banjo.  It's 172,00o sq. ft, which is a little smaller than 4 acres.  The place was packed with people.  We tried to buy some Doritos and some socks, but the lines were way too long so we put them back.  But when we were leaving we saw the express line, which we could have used, and was way shorter.   Ooops.

Cute 'Dood

We just love Banjo so much, we had to put a few more pictures up.  He has some strange habits, like sitting down on the couch.  And look at how big he is now!!!  Almost as tall as Emily.

A 14 mile hike...

On Saturday Emily's friend Laura from swimming asked if we wanted to join her on a hike down by Seward.  We decided it sounded like fun, so we decided to go.  We met in town at 6:00am to drive down to Seward, which is on the Kenai peninsula (it's about a 2 hour drive).

 As we got closer to our destination, it started to snow.  The first part of our trek wasn't too bad b/c we had a lot of cover from the trees.  Then when we got to the top of the pass, which was completely unprotected, we got bombarded with snow.  It took us about two hours to cross this part of our trip, and at times it was pretty miserable.  We wanted to eat lunch b/c we were all really hungry, but there wasn't a place to protect ourselves from the falling snow.  Finally we just broke down and ate right in the middle of the trail, wind and snow blowing.  An Everything-Costco bagel never tasted so good.  We even brought a little food for Banjo to eat as well (he carried it in his new doggie pack).  His demeanor went from night and day.  He was a little sluggish before lunch, and afterwards he was racing up and down the trail.  He definitely felt better after a little Puppy Kibble (his last bag before moving onto Adult Kibble - ahh).

Once we (finally) got to the other side of the pass and into some tree cover, we all felt a little better.  Dragmar, Laura's friend, had some salted chocolate that she shared with us.  The sun started to shine, and the decent was nice and gradual.  By the time we were a few miles from the end, we could tell that the snow was melting and we started to see more greenery.  We finished the hike in just under 7 hours, which I think is pretty good.  Then the 4 of us went into Seward and ate Calzones - except for Dragmar, she had soup.  All in all it was a real fun trip.

Happy Birthday Dood!

Saturday was also the Doodle's birthday!  In the morning while I was at swimming, Neil took him to the dog park.  They walked around the lake three times.  Then that evening we had our friends over for dinner to celebrate.  We had T-bone steaks, which Neil cooked up on the bbq.  They were really tasty.  Then afterwards we gave one of the bones to Banjo.  He ate it all in one sitting (I thought they weren't supposed to eat the bones).  For Banjo's birthday we bought him a pack that he can wear when we go hiking so he can carry his own food and water.  Kari and Jared also got him a big raw hide bone, an orange bandana (because that seems to be his color), and some doggie treats.  I think Banjo had a good day.  At night he was really tuckered out from all the excitement of turning one.

Obama Rally

On Saturday Anchorage had yet another Obama Rally.  Despite threats of snow and hail about 1500 people showed up.  This one had Ethan Berkowitz and Tony Knowles as speakers (the the democratic candidate for house (running against Don Young--whose even more corrupt than Stevens) and the past governor (who lost last election to Palin).  There was also a live band that played weird hippy music.  Neil and I volunteered for a few hours at one of the tables to give people information about Obama and the head quarter office here in Anchorage.  It was pretty fun.  

Apparently the competition held a rally during the same time and only 350 people showed up.  This mom and her son decked out in all McCain/Palin gear came up and took some of our information and asked for Obama buttons.  It was a little weird.  But they didn't say anything rude.

The great debators

or at least the great debator.  Biden was awesome!  Tonight we went to the Beat Tooth--the big theater/restaurant in town to watch the VP debate.  The doors opened at 4:30, but we got there at 4 to stand in line (well, I stood in line while Emily went to the yarn store across the street for a little while).  And it's a good thing we got there early, b/c people started lining up behind me right when I arrived.  

The crowd was very much a pro-Biden crowd, bar the lone booth of McCain/Palin supports seated directed behind us - I'd say about 96% - 4%.  The crowd was a little rowdy at times, clapping loudly and shouting remarks at the screen, mainly when Palin was talking.  She got a lot of "Liar" and "Bullshit" when she was talking about Alaska.  And of course those Palin/McCain supporters would clap whenever Palin would say anything.  

This nice lady, Caroline, sat next to us, and I (Neil) recognized her - I had sold her some Obama bumper stickers on Tuesday while I maned the front desk of the Obama HQ.  She was pretty cool - and she used to work at the crime lab.

All in all it was a really fun event.  There were lots of news cameras there, even one inside the theatre that filmed the crowed during the event (it was a little annoying to tell the truth).  And there was a guy in a suit filming one of those on-site local TV bits in the lobby as we were walking out, talking about "450 people and Pizza, popcorn, and Palin."  We might watch the local news tonight to see what they report (if we stay up to 10pm).

There is a BIG Obama rally scheduled for Saturday afternoon, from 1-4 on the downtown park strip.  Emily and I are going to volunteer somehow, although we don't know how we'll be used quite yet.  We'll make sure to bring our camera with us this time to take some pictures (we've been a little negligent on that front lately).  

Mooooooooose

The weather has been really nice here over the last few days.  It definately is getting colder (on Sat while I was driving to swimming a reader board said it was 1 degree Celsius).  The moose also know that fall is here.  We've seen 6 moose in the last few days.  While we were bike riding on Monday we had to turn around because two moose were blocking the road and we didn't want to push our luck.  Then today while we were walking Banjo he came within 3 feet of a moose, and proceeded to bark his head off.  Silly doodle.

Scrabble Fun!

Neil and I have started our new work schedule.  The first part of the work is great!  We take every Monday off in exchange for working 10 hour days Tuesday through Friday.  It hasn't been too bad so far.  We leave for work when it's pitch black out.  On Saturday we went to Kincaid park (the park we went to with everyone this summer) and took Banjo for a big walk.  It ended up being even bigger, because we got lost and ended up walking almost 2 hours.  I got really hungry, so I made Neil run back to the car and drive to pick me up.  

On Saturday night we played a great game of Scrabble.  It was great because I won (although afterwards Neil realized that I didn't spell cabage correctly).  The best word was scored by Neil (72 points).  Afterwards he typed it into the Meriam's DIctionary and had the machine repeat it over and over again.

Pub triviatastic

The other girls from my lane and I have been trying to get together after swimming for quite a while now.  And on Tuesday we finally went out to dinner after swimming.  Unfortunately (for me, the trivia challenged) we went out on pub trivia night.  I don't understand how anyone would ever come across half the info they ask.  Really, who cares?  But it was still fun.  I had some halibut tacos, which were acclaimed the best in town, but weren't nearly as good as Anthony's fish tacos.  

Neil and I (mostly Neil) have been very busy this week working for our man--Obama.  Every night--Monday-Thursday he's gone to the headquarters to write postcards to people living in battle ground states.  I tried it on Wednesday, but it took me a whole day for my arm to recover after writing.  I think it's a nice touch.  People will probably get excited to get a personal postcard from Alaska.  

September = Beginning of Winter

Going for a brisk walk along Powerline Trail.  Snow is already starting to top the mountains once again.
The autumn colors are starting to turn.
Emily poses for a picture.
We hiked up part of this guy in the summer.  Now it looks too ominous.
Banjo started running around like a crazed dog on this boggy part just off the trail.  I think he liked it because it squished under his feet.  He even had a few digs for fun, too.

It was actually a nice day out today.  Emily and I went to IHOP for a late Sunday breakfast.  I had the biscuits and gravy, she had Swedish Pancakes.  We then headed to Flat Top for a little walk along Powerline Trail with Banjo.  We had our rain-pants and jackets on, preparing for the worse.  We really didn't need them - it just sprinkled for a little while.  We were up there with my family last week (although we didn't walk along the trail), but the leaves are a lot more yellow, orange and red than they were a few weeks ago, and there is a lot more snow on the tops of the mountains.  Winter is fast approaching!

As we were walking back to our car, this family was riding towards us on mountain bikes.  Banjo was off his leash ahead of us, just to the side of the trail.  Well, when we saw this family coming, Emily and I knew in our head that this would spell trouble.  And sure enough, as the dad was riding by Banjo he said "woof, woof" and Banjo lept out infront of him, causing the man to fall and crash (and almost causing a pile-up with the lady behind him).  Emily asked him if he was OK, and his reply was "Yeah, I'm just great!" in a super-sarcastic tone with a mean scowl. We put Bannie back on his leash, and the man and his family rode off.  Perhaps he should have gone a little slower when riding past a dog, especially when you have a dog running along with you.  But Banjo didn't seem to mind the crash.  He didn't even make a whimper.  He's one tough dood!

Cleaning Fun

Right before we went to the dogpark on Friday night, Emily cut Banjo's toenails.  Apparently she got a little too close on one of them, and it bled a little.  We thought we had it under control until we see Banjo running around with a red paw.  When we get home we put some more of the blood stopper on it, but then we see red marks all over the carpet and the kitchen floor.  That's when we knew it was time to get the Rug Doctor to clean our carpet.  So that's what we did Saturday afternoon.  

One of Emily's swimming friends was having a BBQ Saturday night to celebrate the "end" of summer (that we never really ever had).  Of course it rained all day so we hung out inside.  But there was some really good food (BBQ ribs, salmon, cheese, and Emily's potato salad).  We had a pretty good time.  And we learned about how bright blue, hollow, rubber dildos are family heirlooms.

Two of our passions

Two of our passions are food and protesting McCain/Palin.  Tonight while we were out we drove by this guy walking along the highway.  For dinner we made tomato beef with grandma's delicious tomatoes!!  There's nothing better than fresh tomatoes from the garden.

Fall is here

Despite never having a summer, fall has arrived.  Three days ago the termination dust started to sneak its way down the mountains.  Tomorrow we're going to an end of the summer bbq.  And if I'm feeling really social a "I recently got divorced and am now starting my life over as a better me with a new name" party of my co-worker--although I don't really want to.

Tonight we went to the dog park and all of the leaves were turning orange.  Today at the dog park we saw our friend Laurie at the dog park with her two new labradoodle puppies.  (Banjo is much cuter).  The puppies were named chewbacca and ewok.  Chewbacca kept humping Banjo, so Banjo gave him a bad pin to the ground.  The dog laid on the ground yelping.

Highlights from the Hoff's visit

After the anti-Palin rally on Saturday we went  up to flat top so the Hoff's could see a view of the city.  It was pretty cold and windy up there, so we didn't hike too far, but we were able to see the changing autumn colors in the mountains.  

After flat top we dropped Scott and Diane off at the hotel and took Banjo to the dog park.  David enjoyed watching the dogs socialize.  Then we dropped by Neil's work so he could see where the crime lab is.  

Anti-Palin Rally

My parents and brother were in town for my Dad's birthday, and one of the things they really wanted to do was to go to the anti-Palin rally held infront of the library on Saturday afternoon.  Emily heard about it via an email, but it was also mentioned in the paper.  We thought maybe 10 or 100 people might show up.  When we showed up there were at least 500 people.  The news reported that 1,000 people attended.  There were a few pro-Palin fools, but for the most part it was a bunch of fired up Obama-ites.  We saw a few of our fellow Obama volunteers, and  Emily saw a bunch of people she knew from swimming and work.   It was great!  Cars would honk as they drove by.

After the rally we went to a sports bar for lunch so that Scott could watch football.  The waitress--who had recently  moved from New York was really excited to see our Obama stickers.  She said that she'd thought that she and her husband were the only people supporting Obama in the whole state.  

Berry Pickin'

If there's anything more Alaskan than Sarah Palin--it's picking blueberries.  This Saturday we went blueberry picking around the back side of Flat top (the mountain that we often hike just outside of town).  We picked around 2 1/2 cups until it got too rainy and cold.  Our hands started to go numb.  But, we got enough to make a delicous blueberry and peach crisp, which we ate when Kari and Jared came over for dinner.  It was fun--despite the fact that it took 2 hours to cook my stupid chicken.  Who would have known?

Today we went out and helped with the Obama campaign by registering people to vote--after reading a number of news articles about Palin, and then promptly making another donation to Obama's campaign.  That woman scares me.  Since when did it become "god's will" to build an oil and gas pipeline?  Her pastor said that anyone who voted for John Kerry is "going to hell" in a sermon that she and her family attended, but apparently Jeremiah Wright is the one we should fear.

News on the Alaskan Obama campaign is that dear Barack has given up on us Palin freaks and is planning to quickly relocate all the staff who were stationed here.  We're still keeping the 6 offices that are around the state, but only volunteers and the staff members who were from the state are going to stay on.  I think we had hope of winning here before Palin came into the lime light, but now there doesn't seem to be much hope.  

 

RSL - Day 3

Here is our great sleeping arrangement.  Those boards were very hard, and that tiny foam mattress did little to cushion our sleep.  
More pictures of the scenery.  It was so nice out on the lake.
More canoeing fun!
Trees, trees and more trees.