First Day I met the Dood!

Today is November 13th, which is my brother's birthday. Happy Birthday Scott!! I hope your birthday dentist-appointment hits the spot. But you'll have to wait a bit before you receive our present (since I haven't bought it yet - but I know what it will be). But you'll love it!

Besides it being my brother's birthday, November 13th is also the first day I (along with Ruth and Jeanne) ever met Banjo! Back then he was named Sug, and was a little smaller and lot sleepier. But I that famous Banjo personality still shined through, and I knew I wanted to take him hom to Emily. I'll try and find some pictures of that day to post.

On Wednesday night, after work, Emily, Banjo and I went to the dog park. Who cared that it was completely dark and we could barely see anything? It had just snowed a few days over, and since the lake was frozen, Emily and grabbed our Cross Country skis and skied on the lake. It was actually a lot of fun, and once we got moving we weren't all that cold. And Banjo even met a Goldendoodle-type cousin of his (half poodle, half goldendoodle). Then we had some bitchin' Spam Fried Rice when we got home.

Part 2

Yesterday we drove up to Hatcher Pass, because there still isn't enough snow on the ground in Anchorage for any skiing.  Hatcher Pass used to be an old gold mine and is located out about 10 miles past Palmer in the "valley" (where Sarah is from).  We took a trail called Gold Mint.  It was a lot of fun, but there were quite a few small hills.  Neil and I realized that skiing lessons this winter will be a must.  I didn't really know how to stop.  It was pretty icy so it was hard to dig the edges of the skis in to turn and maneuver.  This resulted in a lot of falls, and a nasty bruise.  It also resulted in a wet camera.  Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working any more.  So, no pictures of the pass.  It was really pretty up there though.  Driving out it looked like it might be kind of crumby weather, but up in the pass it was really clear and sunny out.

This morning we did a few errands, and then were planning on going snow shoeing with Rachel, but the weather wasn't really looking good.  So we instead drove down to Summit Spice and Tea SHop.  It was a really neat shop.  THey had tons of different teas.  So I got a few $1 samples to try.  I'd heard about this shop from the tea tasting we had at work a few weeks ago.  This afternoon it's been snowing non-stop.  So, if it sticks there will be plenty of snow in town for playing.  I think Banjo is happy.  Even though we haven't gotten him his musher's booties.  We ran into his favorite poodles at the dog park (Fred and Magic) and their owner who is a huge Clemson North Carolina fan.  And he told us about this musher's supply shop that sells booties for a dollar each---this sure beats the ones from REI that we ended up returning for $65.

Tonight while I was swimming Neil went over to Todd's house for a little poker party.  

4 day weekend--first half

Because we don't work on Mondays, and because tuesday is a holiday we have 4 days off!  (Well we have to go into work tomorrow for 2 hours to make up the difference of only having a 7.5 hour holiday rather than 9.5 hours, which is our work week.

On friday we went to the University of AK -Anchorage Seawolves hockey game.  There were many bulldogs in lipstick there.  It was pretty fun.  And definately a colorful crowd.  But I guess I should have been prepared for that considering America's favorite hockey mom.  This was my first experience with hockey.  It was a pretty strange game, but it was kind of fun.  THe players were always moving and slamming into teh walls.  Kari who went with us laughed each time it happened.  It was pretty amusing.  The seawolves ended up losing, but it was still fun.

On saturday we didn't do too much.  We spent all afternoon putting out our snow tires.  We decided we didn't want to spend another 6 months sliding around so we found some on craig's lis for a pretty good deal.  The best part was that they were on rims, so we were able to change them ourselves.  During Saturdya evening we went to Kincaid chalet for the Ak Tri Club party.  I'm now officially a member.  It seems like it will be pretty fun.  They have a lot of clinics and things that you can do as a member of the club.  The first activity that I plan on participating in is the river swim.  H2Oasis is this indoor water park that has a 200 meter river that they're renting out so the club can go swim around the river before the water park opens.  It sounds like fun.  

Today we went over to a friend's house to watch them brew beer, because we've been wanting to start doing that.  It was pretty fun.  Basically a lot of boiling and sterilizing.  THey were making a holiday porter, so it had a bunch of pumpkin pie spices.  It smelled really good.  

The future first Dood

The Obamas were promised a dog in the white house.  And, apparently Malia has allergies, so it will have to be a doodle breed.  Our country will never be the same with a Banjo in Washington.

The senate race here is still too close to call.  I can't believe our seragate state will most likely be the first to elect a convicted felon to the senate.  Could Palin actually appoint herself once Stevens is voted out?  Let's hope Begich wins and we never have to find out.

GOTV day 3

For the last three days we've been helping with the get out the vote campaign.  Volunteers were directed to our house to get packets to go out and knock on doors to remind people to vote.  If they had a Stevens sign they just let them be.  The campaign was really focussed more on getting out the vote for the local elections.  In Alaska the US senate seat and house seat is open.  Today was the best turn out so far we had 19 precincts in our house district covered.  One gentleman, George was our favorite volunteer.  He came out each day and usually covered one in the morning, and then came back for another precinct in the afternoon.  With the dwindling hours of day light available (especially now with day light savings time), and the cold weather (today it snowed a few inches) all the volunteers have been really great.  We even had a few high school students who had the choice of volunteering for three hours on a campaign or writing a "really long paper."  

I hope everyone has already has already, or is planning on voting tomorrow!  I absolutely can't wait for to watch the returns.  I'm skipping swimming so we can watch the results.  

Lethal Luau

For Halloween we went to a murder mystery party.  I was Lelani the hula dancer who killed her fiance.  Neil was Chief Honikoa Wiki Wiki, Polynesia royalty.  It was pretty fun.  I made spam sushi for the ocasion, and we had kalua pig and some other hawaiian favorites.  The story was that Chase Diamonds, a private detective, was having us all over to celebrate his birthday, but he ended up dying.  We had to solve who it was.  Also at the party were Holly Day, the billionaire who who loved flirting with Chase; Les Bags the clumsy tourist, who we later learned was really an escaped contict; Nadia the swim suit model; Birdy Put the golfer; and Joey Breaker the surfer.  

Keeping warm in the cold

It's been really cold out recently.  At night when we walk Bannie it dips down into the teens.  So, to cope I made the greatest $6 investment--a hot water bottle.  At night I fill it up and put it in the bottom of the bed to warm my feet.  It's been great, especially with our new polar fleece sheets we just got at costco.  Ahhh...

Today at work the fun and fitness group brought in a lady to do a tea tasting with us.  It was pretty fun.  This lady's hobby is tea so she brought in her tea cup collection and a ton of different teas.  She told us a little bit about the history and about the kinds (black, oolong, green, and white) which are all from the same species, it just depends on how long the leaves ferment (they don't really ferment, but that's what its called when they're laid out to dry).  We had little cookies and then in the end she gave us a bunch of tea bags to bring home.  I was like Ruth in a yarn store.

Obama Human Sign on YouTube

Greetings form the Great North.  The campaign is coming to a quick close.  I entered data today at the headquarters about calls to Nevada while Emily was at swimming.  There is a big GOTV movement this weekend - Get Out The Vote - and Emily and I are helping out by letting our house be a staging ground for the canvassing.  Basically, we will open our house up to strangers from Saturday - Monday so people can stop by, pick up some doors to knock on, and head out. We'll help compile the data as people return.

They put a little video about our human flag/Obama sign-making this weekend.  Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lffB7B8jKE

They are trying to get 500,000 viewers before the election, to tell everyone you know to look it up.

The human obama sign

On Saturday we went to an obama event.  They handed out red, white and blue ponchos for people to wear and then they had us stand in out in the formation of the american flag, and then the Obama symbol.  I haven't been able to find the posting of the pictures and video that they took, but I heard that it turned out pretty well.  They rented a hotel room from the third floor of a building across the street from the park that we were standing in.  For a video guy and a camera person to take pictures.  For the last formation we were supposed to remember where we were standing and then we all cleared out of the frame and then all ran back into the frame like a spontaneous crowd coming together to make the symbol.

Afterwards we were really cold so we went to the gumbo house with some friends.  Neil and I shared jumbalaya, which I didn't really care for.  It was too hot.  Then after we warmed up we went out to go snow shoeing with Kari, Jared, and Rachel.  There wasn't quite enough snow out, but it was perfect for sledding.  The whole time Banjo was runnign up and down the hill with us. 

Random pictures for October

We Voted!

Today Neil and I got out the vote!  We walked down to city hall with Banjo, one of the two early voting places in town.  We took turns going into the poll so the other person could stay outside with Banjo.  All three of us did our accomplished our civic duty.  Later on the news we saw that Mark Begich (who is running against Ted Stevens) voted in the exact same booth as Neil and me.  The campaign is trying to get as many people to vote early as possible.  At the head quarters there's this huge Obama Biden mural and everyone who votes can sign the mural.  

Apparently the plan is to call supporters a minimum of 12 times to make sure that they vote early.  Seems like overkill if you ask me, but I'm not running the winning presidential campaign.  

Debating fun

Today I hosted a debate watching party at our house.  Several friends from work and swimming came, and another woman invited a bunch of her friends.  The Obama campaign even told the media about our event, however, no one came out.  It was pretty fun...although it was pretty  much same old same old.  Afterwards we all wrote a bunch of postcards.  This time it was to undecided women voters in Indiana.  We had to a few talking points like equal pay, working benefits, and expanding day care services.  With only 3 full weeks left till election week we're really stepping up our volunteering.  Yes we can!  

Oh by the way our Obama 'lantern turned out pretty good.  I'll try to post some pictures next time. 

Guilty!

If you haven't heard, the legislative report about the Troopergate scandal was reviewed yesterday.  Republicans dressed up as clowns and protested outside of the courthouse in Anchorage, because they think its unfair.  They were chanting "Go Sarah Go" and "Sara is the best mom ever".  I don't really get what that has to do with Troopergate, being vice president, or being a clown, but that's what they said.

The report found that PALIN WAS GUILTY ON ETHICS VIOLATIONS.  Last night when they interviewed the Alaska head of the McCain/Palin campaign she had this huge smirk on her face and was so happy, because the report vindicated Palin.  Even the new castors called her out on it and asked if that wasn't the opposite of what the report found.  She was scary.  

Black holes

 Today we went to another Whitman gathering. UJ Sofia, the astronomy professor from Whitman came to Anchorage to give a lecture/lunch on black holes.  (THis is not a picture of a black hole, a black hole is black and boring looking).  The talk was at the Glacier Brew House, where we went to eat when my mom and dad came to town for Fur Rondy.  It was pretty good.  A lady from my swimming was there, and one of the women we volunteer with at the Obama campaign (her son went to whitman).  Apparently everyone there thought black holes are really interesting--including Neil.  Personally I'd never given them any thought before.  And although Neil thought the talk was interesting, I didn't really get it.  The food was good though.  We got to choose between pork loin, salmon, and chicken.  I had the salmon.

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.