tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17377823454274157132024-02-20T04:46:14.886-09:00The Year I Lost My MindReason for the title: When I made the decision to start travel nursing, people said that I'd lost my mind, and my first assignment in Fairbanks, Ak., confirmed their suspicions. There are times in my life I feel as if I've lost my mind....and times I KNOW I've lost it (example:the decision to work a full time and a part time job while in nursing school.)Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-29930282533425073302016-04-21T00:11:00.001-08:002016-04-21T00:13:47.584-08:00Reading the past....Sockeye Fire....<p dir="ltr">Funny how things change but stay the same! Spent the last 45 or so minutes "Reading the past". I kick myself for not continuing writing this blog, so much has happened. So much. Am happy to say, almost none of it is bad and the majority could be tossed into the "definitely not a bad thing" bucket.<br>
The one that I'm not totally sure where it lands is the Sockeye Fire in Willow. It occured June of last year, infact it was less that 48 hours after I arrived in St.Louis for two week vacation, needless to say, it was ruined. The way i learned about it was via a Facebook message from a friend who lives roughly 25 miles south of me. She didnt realize i wasnt in Alaska at the time when she sent me the message "hey, i see LOTS of smoke up your direction, are you safe?" Naturally that promted a search to find out what was going on. Found on one of my Facebook groups where someone had mentioned a fairly decent size fire on the north end of Willow. By this time, my parents were home and I told them what was going on. In the 30 minor so that I saw things "blooming" on the group, the fire had grown from an estimated 5 acres to almost 100 in less than 30 minutes. Dad pulled up a scanner app to where we could hear the Willow Fire Department, the State Forestry Department  and then the Mat-Su Borough disaster teams calling for more backup,  first call to all stations in the borough, roughly 30 minutes later (the previously called units from Wasilla & Talkeetna were either just arriving or still hadn't made due to distance) the call went out for all available units from Eagle River and Anchorage (keep in mind, the south end of Anchorage is about 100 miles from the northern end of Willow). It was amazingly scarey as to how quickly the fire grew. To see posts and hear over the emergency radio acres burned: 100, 250, 750, then 1,200 acres in what seemed to be mere moments but was only an hour or so.<br>
By this time I am getting slammed on Facebook messenger from friends all over the valley and Anchorage. A number of former coworkers were going to round up their friends and go break down the door to my house to save all my stuff. An awesome friend, Carey, messaged me telling me that she and her husband were hooking up their trailer and was getting ready to head for my house. As greatful as I am for everyone that volunteered to "safe my stuff", I really only wanted a handfull of things. My quilts, one of which I had made the top and my grandmother (who had recently passed) had hand quilted. All my native crafts that I had collected (seal, baleen, ivory, etc). My butterfly collection and my essential oils (yes, have gotten into oils and yes, I know they do indeed work, but that is another post one of these days) and art work of mine and two other friends. But it was not to be, by the time Carey and her husband made the drive from their house to mine, the road block and evacuation area had grown to include my house and they could no longer get to it. It was also about this time that the MatSu Borough Incident Management team had worked their way through all their levels (each time they changed, explained to my parents what each change ment) and then handed off to the Fed's and this was when all radio communication that could be heard on our apps stopped. Now my only means of news about the fire was via Facebook community/group pages, I always wondered if I could take the information on these pages for face value since what was being posted is basically hearsay. I did visit the Borough Facebook page, the Alaska Division of Forestry and some other government agencies for more reliable information. For the next 24 hours, updates were very close to occuring regular intervals. As much as loved the fire maps, they also brought me great anxiety, was afraid that at one point my house would be on the inside of that ring. <br>
I remember at one point, standing in my bedroom at my parent's home, staring at the one lone suitcase I had brought with me, and Paco playing nearby. I haven't a clue how long I was standing a staring, but it hit me pretty hard, the realization that at that very moment there was a very strong possibility that I was looking at the possessions I owned and that everything else was nothing but ash. Well, except for my cast iron, which I silently hoped I would just need to reseason and not replace.<br>
About 2 am, StLouis time, I finally accepted the fact that my place may burn. Since I couldn't sleep, I sat down with a note pad and put headers on each page: Kitchen, Livingroom, Master Bedroom, Little Bedroom, Bathroom, Pantry.<br>
Then I would mentally go from room to room doing inventory.  At the time, it felt cathartic, at this moment, I realize it was not. It did help with the anxiety I was having at that time, but accepting an outcome you don't want to happened  that hasn't happened yet, does. I thing it was close to 4 or 5 am that I just decided, "if it burns, it burns. I can cry over the unreplaceable item, but at lease Paco and I are safe". Didn't sleep the next night either, had been a very long time since I had gone more than 48 hours without sleep, the following night, I fell asleep around 5 pm. Do remember waking around 2 am and being awake for 2 or three hours, then slept till almost noon.<br>
When I was returning back to Alaska, I was lucky enough that they lifted the evacuation the day I arrived back home. When I got home, the house smelled like an old fireplace, and I can still smell it from time to time. Excuse to get rid of the couch?<br>
Here we are, nearly 6 weeks away from the anniversary of the fire and I think I have figured out why I have been having issues with insomnia. Praying that it doesn't get worse as the date gets closer. Well, at least I know have a job where  have good insurance, not to mention I am working in a clinic and see a MD every day😜. Will have to bring this up to her at some point and see what she has to say. I do know, I am SO looking forward to this hike/walk to Wainwright in July.....see,so many things have changed but are the same....I'm nuts, the rate I am going, I'll have papers to prove it.....I am planning a hiking trip through the North Slope tundra to one of our closest neighbors...90 miles away.</p>
Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-33866816447531990612014-05-09T04:31:00.001-08:002014-05-09T04:31:03.094-08:00 After a exceedingly long hiatus I have decided to return to blogging, mostly in part to maintain my sanity. You see, I am currently working in the Kotzebue and that is pretty much all I have been doing, working. Since December I have been working 48+hours a week. More often than not, 60, which doesn't leave much room for anything else other than eating, sleeping, laundry while eating and sqeezing in grocery shopping somewhere along the line.<br />
Don't get me wrong, I came here to work and bank some cash for I need a new roof on the cabin (origional was put on wrong and started leaking two years ago), build a workshop/storage shed and a down payment on a new vehicle.<br />
The new roofing is still going to be metal, though the contractor tried his best to talk me in to shingles...on a log cabin, OYE! The material that will be used will have the screws covered, so no worry about someone getting over zealous on tightening the screws too tight and popping the rubber grommets.<br />
The work shed, well, it's basically going to be a small cabin, 16'X20'. I want something that is big enough to store an ATV in and still have plenty of room for other things like an inflatable boat/canoe, kayak, gardening tools, garbage cans, freezer, plus other things I can't remember and still have room to do projects that you don't want to do in the house, but need protection from the weather, like painting or wood working.<br />
As for the vehicle. Is going to be a Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, that is certain. Still not 100% sure on the model, can't make up my mind Sahara VS Rubicon. Both have their pluses and minuses, hence the problem. Nor am I certain about the colors. 2013, they had Gecko Green, OMG! That was such an awesome color. When I first saw it, my first reaction was "WOW! That is GREEN!", the more I saw it, the more I liked it and ended up falling in love with it. Now, the color spectrum is basically various shades of grey.<br />
If it wasn't for these three things, I wouldn't be working this summer and play/fish all summer long. Maybe next year!Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-9984049275625782412009-08-09T13:58:00.001-08:002009-08-09T13:58:28.501-08:00What is going on?!Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-28661728525881559102009-08-08T21:13:00.003-08:002009-08-08T22:10:23.828-08:00Never say neverYou know that old saying "Never say NEVER".<br />Well, it's come back to bite me in my big ol' keester, twice!<br />I don't know how many times I have told people that I LOVED working in the nursing home back in Idaho as a CNA, but I'd (you guessed it) never work in one again.<br />Also, after I had graduated from nursing school and took my first job, we were required to switch shifts every two weeks, day shift to night and back until we finished our 12+ weeks of training. I fell in love working nights and when I was done, you guessed it, I said I'd never work day shift in a hospital.<br />Well, the last 9 weeks, I've been gainfully UNemployed. The first three were voluntary for the hospital I was to extend my contract with wanted to put it on hold until the census came back up, it from 36 to 18 in about one week. I agreed to wait a couple weeks, so I took time to go back to the ST Louis area and visit family and friends. When I came back, my recruiter told me that the hospital is still wanting me to come back, but they were still waiting for the census to go back up. No problem, I had been wanting to take some time off and had some money saved up.<br />Two weeks later my recruiter calls, and by the sounds of it, not happy, and tells me that she had just found out that they had hired a bunch nurses in the last several weeks, this was during the time that the hospital was waiting for the census to come back up and have me come back. The thing that PO'ed my recruiter is that they were hiring people during the time that the agency was verifying that they wanting me to come back....had the hospital been truthful and said that they were hiring in new staff and would most likely not need me, the agency could have started looking for another assignment for me.<br />The next day, my recruiter calls again and tells me that a position is open in Valdez. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven, ever since the spring of '07, I've wanted to work in Valdez. The manager called the next afternoon, did the interview over the phone, was offered the position at the end of the interview. I was happier than a kid with free reign in a toy store. It was short lived. The next morning, my recruiter called with bad news. Seems that Valdez is owned by one of the hospitals in Anchorage and the HR in Anchorage does the hiring for Valdez. Some lacky in Anchorage hired someone for the position I interviewed for...the day BEFORE I interviewed, but failed to tell Valdez and managed to PO about four people (me, the Valdez manager, my recruiter and the account manager), maybe more, who knows.<br />The following week, another phone call from my recruiter. This time asking if I have any experience in endo(scopy). Nope, none there and something I'm not willing to try out as a traveler. The only other position they have is home health/hospice. Thinking, there is an idea! I worked on a Med/heme/onc floor a CNA and not long after graduation so I was accustomed to taking care of the dying patient and their family. So, my recruiter made the pitch to the company (they were needing 4 home health and 4 hospice RN's) to give me a try for 4 weeks (all I needed to learn was the paperwork) and if there wasn't a fit on either side, no need to finish out the 13 weeks. Two days go by, I hear nothing, then I get a phone call. My recruiter is frustrated because no one in the home health agency was willing to make a decision and wanted to wait til they could talk to the home office. Not sure what really happened for I was not told that they said no. Oh, and one other thing to note, a friend works for the agency and said that I'd be able to do it without a doubt and put in a good word for me for they needed the help really badly...they'd just lost another nurse.<br />The following week, another job possibility. Home infusion. Talked to another friend that works for the company, he told our recruiter that he would put in a good word for me (he was wanting to get out of his contract so he could go to a 12 hour shift job) so it seemed to be a shoe-in for me. WRONG! The infusion center wanted to hold off 1-2 weeks to see if they could hire someone perm for the position before saying I had a contract (without an interview!). All I could think was "Well, God bless America (this happens to be my g-ma's first name) & f*@k me running!". I would have banged my head on the table, but Paco was playing on the table in front of me and I couldn't hurt that little featherball.<br />Now, here I am, 9 weeks without a job, though, I do start one on Monday, in Seward (WOOT!), a day shift (boo!), 12 hours (yeah!...don't like 8's) in a LTC.....that is a long term care facitily a.k.a.:nursing home...UGH!<br />I can't bitch too much or too loud. It's (as a dear friend puts it) J.O.B., housing is provided. Will be working 4 on, 2 off, 2 on, 6 off! Nice thing about that, those 2 days off, are really days off, won't spend the first one sleeping! Another reason why I can't bitch, it's in Seward. And Seward is beautiful. I'll be there for the silver run, I can go hike out at Exit glacier, go on a glacier/wildlife cruise (been wanting to do that for 2 years now) and after I get my freeze, I'll go halibut fishing again! Not to mention that I want to get some rock fish and lingcod...hope I can go before the season closes on those.<br />I feel that the tide is turning and I'm about ready to ride it...just hope I can stay on top and not fall off!Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-4251864678030207572009-01-16T10:03:00.006-09:002009-01-16T10:15:47.062-09:00New state moto for IllinoisSince I was born & raised in Illinois, I find this rather humorous...<br /><br />Illinois<br />Where our Governors make your licenses plates.<br /><br />Gov.Rod R. Blagojevich is just keeping up with tradition!<br /><br />The following is from Wikipedia <br /><br /><a> "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Illinois"</a><br /><br />Six Illinois governors have been charged with crimes, either during their administrations or after. The first, Lennington Small, was acquitted. Otto Kerner, Jr., Daniel Walker, and George Ryan all served time in prison. William G. Stratton was acquitted of tax evasion charges. Current governor Rod Blagojevich was charged by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald with several offenses, including mail fraud and wire fraud, and attempting to sell Barack Obama's vacant U.S. Senate seat for personal financial and influential gain.Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-88175845008918604872009-01-12T06:27:00.002-09:002009-01-12T06:36:10.332-09:00HEAT WAVE!The bitter cold had finally made a move and has left town....it has been warming up all night long.<br />We started out the night at -5F, right now, it's 13F and it's supposed to start snowing sometime today. Officially, we spent close to 10 days under zero...a little over two weeks in my part of town and most of that was at -15 or lower.<br />As crazy as it sounds, I would rather deal with 30 inches of snow than -30F. This is due to the fact that I had mentally prepared myself for a winter in Phoenix Arizona...NOT Anchorage Alaska. When that fat, juicy bonus was plopped down in front of me, there was not enough time to prepare myself (mentally that is) for the impending deep freeze that I knew was coming.Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-89704187857904760292009-01-06T06:12:00.002-09:002009-01-06T06:17:03.075-09:00Should'v, would'v,could'v.......I should have:<br />--not taken the contract with the awesome bonus and stayed in Anchorage<br />Or<br />I would have:<br />--been in Phoenix<br />AND<br />I could have:<br />--been basking in the 70F degree weather and not freezing my nads off at -20F<br /><br />Could be worse, could be in Fairbanks were it's been hovering around -52F.....Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-22808692794569903042008-11-19T08:28:00.002-09:002008-11-19T08:57:09.908-09:0030 Days of NightI guess living in Alaska has jaded me to this movie, hence, I have some problems with it. Let me set a few things straight:<br />#1 The sun does not set and does not come up for 30 days. During the darkest period, there is something akin to a sunset during the "day light" hours. From what I've been told, it's usually quiet pretty (hence my desire to work a winter in Barrow)<br />#2 If I remember correctly, Barrow has two incoming and two outgoing flights, year round...last I heard, planes can land in the dark and when it is snowing during the night. ;P<br />#3 The sun does not, after 30 days, decide to pop up and come roaring up into the sky, it's a gradual thing. The sunset period lengthens, then one day the sun will pep above the horizon, each day showing a little more of itself before going back below the horizon.<br />Things I found a little funny/odd:<br />--the "Eskimos" all looked like Asians, sorry just because you put an Asian in a Kuspuk doesn't make them look like an Eskimo.<br />--Only saw 1, maybe 2 snow machines and loads of cars....if Barrow is anything like Nome, the ratio should be the other way around<br />--Don't you think that the vamps would have noticed the waste piling up from 6 people holed up in an attic? Think about it, any other time of the year, the smell would lead you to them.<br />--while we are on the subject of the attic. I find it hard to believe that people could survive 4 weeks in an attic during the time of the year where the temps get down to -50 F...if you have ever experienced those kind of temps, you will understand...I can only imagine the caloric intake needed to maintain your body temp, forget about the extra calories to burn when you are up walking around.<br />--on to the vamps....I know that they are the undead, and because of this they get superhuman powers. One thing that bugs me about the vamps in the movie, they are walking around in skirts, shirts and pants, no jackets to keep warm, no gloves to keep the fingers from freezing....and that is my point. If they are dead, they are not producing body heat...which is need to keep from freezing solid. Wouldn't you think that they would be afraid of freezing solid? Which wouldn't take long at the -40F range.<br />I do have to say, if I put on my Alaska blinders, it was a good Vampire flick.Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-2090634288067316912008-10-16T22:49:00.002-08:002008-10-16T22:51:03.300-08:00The picture says it all<a href="http://punditkitchen.com/2008/10/15/political-pictures-fashion-police-spot-know-signs/"><img class="mine_2276659" title="political-pictures-fashion-police-spot-know-signs" src="http://punditkitchen.wordpress.com/files/2008/10/political-pictures-fashion-police-spot-know-signs.jpg" alt="Obama Pictures and McCain Pictures" /></a><br />Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-68928096252561621792008-10-16T20:33:00.001-08:002008-10-16T20:33:46.314-08:00An Irish take on the U.S. electionsAn email from Ireland to all of their brethren in the States...a point to ponder despite your political affiliation:<br /><br />'We, in Ireland , can't figure out why you people are even bothering to hold an election in the United States .<br /><br />On one side, you had a pants wearing female lawyer, married to another lawyer who can't seem to keep his pants on, who just lost a long and heated primary against a lawyer, who goes to the wrong church, who is married to yet another lawyer, who doesn't even like the country her husband wants to run!<br /><br />Now...On the other side, you have a nice old war hero whose name starts with the appropriate 'Mc' terminology, married to a good looking younger woman who owns a beer distributorship !!<br /><br />What in God's name are ya lads thinkin over in the colonies!Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-5652844529585817062008-10-16T13:06:00.000-08:002008-10-16T13:07:23.756-08:00Another gem from a Yahoo GroupGift Wrapping for Bird Owners<br /><br />1. Clear large space on table for wrapping present.<br /><br />2. Go to cupboard and collect bag in which present is contained, and shut door.<br /><br />3. Open door and remove bird from cupboard.<br /><br />4. Go to cupboard and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.<br /><br />5. Go back and remove bird from cupboard.<br /><br />6. Go to drawer, and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors,<br />labels, etc. . .<br /><br />7. Lay out presents and wrapping materials on table, to enable wrapping<br />strategy to be formed.<br /><br />8. Go back to drawer to get string, remove bird that has been in the drawer<br />since last visit to collect string.<br /><br />9. Remove present from bag.<br /><br />10. Remove bird from bag.<br /><br />11. Open box to check present, remove bird from box, replace present.<br /><br />12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.<br /><br />13. Try and smooth out paper, realize bird is underneath and remove bird.<br /><br />14. Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.<br /><br />15. Throw away first sheet as bird chased the scissors, and tore the paper.<br /><br />16. Cut second sheet of paper to size - by putting bird in the bag the present came in.<br /><br />17. Place present on paper.<br /><br />18. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach.<br />Realize bird is between present and paper. Remove bird.<br /><br />19. Place object on paper, to hold in place while tearing transparent sticky tape.<br /><br />20. Spend ten minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from bird with pair of nail scissors.<br /><br />21. Seal paper with sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.<br /><br />22. Look for roll of ribbon. Chase bird down hall in order to retrieve ribbon.<br /><br />23. Try to wrap present with ribbon in a two directional turn.<br /><br />24. Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to bird's enthusiastic ribbon chase.<br /><br />25. Repeat steps 13-20 until you reach last sheet of paper.<br /><br />26. Decide to skip steps 13-17 in order to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of paper.<br /><br />27. Put present in box, and tie down with string.<br /><br />28. Remove sting, open box and remove bird.<br /><br />29. Put all packing materials in bag with present and head for lockable room.<br /><br />30. Once inside lockable room, lock door and start to re-lay out paper and materials.<br /><br />31. Remove bird from box, unlock door, put bird outside door, close and re-lock<br /><br />32. Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear bird outside door)<br /><br />33. Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet, but do your best)<br /><br />34. Discover bird has already chewed the paper. Unlock door go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper. Remember that you haven't got any left because bird helped with this last year as well.<br /><br />35. Return to lockable room, lock door, sit on toilet lid and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.<br /><br />36. Seal box, wrap with paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas.<br /><br />37. Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.<br /><br />38. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to pour yourself a drink and feed bird.<br /><br />39. Spend 15 minutes looking for bird before reaching obvious conclusion.<br /><br />40. Unwrap present, untie box and remove bird.<br /> <br />41. Go to store and buy a gift bag.Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-88577790920979009062008-10-16T12:13:00.002-08:002008-10-16T12:16:05.096-08:00Bad joke....can't say I didn't warn you!!!!Just received this from one of my Yahoo groups<br /><br />Don't say I didn't warn you...<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />A pirate walks into a bar with a paper towel on his head. The bartender says, "What's with the paper towel?" The pirate answers, "ARRR...I've got a Bounty on me head!"Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-30794094181826215112008-10-06T21:47:00.002-08:002008-10-06T22:01:27.397-08:00Yet we meet again....in AlaskaMy dear friend, Sarah, passed through Anchorage yesterday on her way to Nome. Her flight from Seattle came in too late to make the 157 to Nome, so, she got to spend the night here in Anchorage. I took her out for breakfast before seeing her off at the airport.<br />In the last two years, we have tried to meet up in St. Louis several times...where we were both born & raised and have failed. The closest we had come to being in ST.L at the same time was back in July'07. I called her shortly after my plane had landed, she was on her way to Memphis and was in Sikeston Missouri...about 2 hours away. Funnier yet, last October, I called her and she happened to be in the Anchorage airport (I thought she was traveling the next week) with about 3.5 hours to go before her flight left, so, we went out for dinner. We have now meet in Alaska 4 times<br />So, now it has become a little like a game with us. She is hoping to be able to extend her assignement in Nome, and I'm hoping to make another trip up there to see Nome at a different time of the year. If I'm lucky, I'll get an assignement in Valdez come March and Sarah can come to visit and see yet another city in Alaska (she's only been to Nome, Fairbanks and Anchorage).Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-12997569849412623642008-10-06T21:46:00.000-08:002008-10-06T21:47:04.611-08:00The end is here!<a href='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBwNvlfLuZb18PoB_PC_UssBgrDsdiYHEuwmAjiWtt7l0MzZa08K_-ddOsUf_VmGPsoMMhcx_sY-iJkjxA7Gs8ack9liNbT3nVZrC-L8whaW39TzCk6e2LhJqeazIYghe5fyNokuDK0g/s1600-h/IMG_1177.JPG'><img src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihBwNvlfLuZb18PoB_PC_UssBgrDsdiYHEuwmAjiWtt7l0MzZa08K_-ddOsUf_VmGPsoMMhcx_sY-iJkjxA7Gs8ack9liNbT3nVZrC-L8whaW39TzCk6e2LhJqeazIYghe5fyNokuDK0g/s320/IMG_1177.JPG' border='0' alt=''style='clear:both;float:left; margin:0px 10px 10px 0;' /></a> <br />Well, the end of our very short fall that is.<br />The night of October 5th, it snowed. In town, enough survived to more or less frost the ground. Further up north it was a different story, it looked like there was about 2 inches of the white stuff on the ground near Eagle River. In Willow, it looked like there was about 1.5 inches on the rails at my cabin.<br />On my drive up to Willow, on the radio, they were saying that we are supposed to get around 2 inches tonight. Well, my dad was looking on the computer for the Anchorage area and the forecast there said that we are to get 2-6 inches over night...maybe I will get to ski tomorrow!<div style='clear:both; text-align:LEFT'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-85203416679371349752008-09-06T09:42:00.002-08:002008-09-06T10:12:18.611-08:00If I had a nickle for every time I heard....It's been a week since my parents flew in from St.Louis for a two week stay, and it's been go-go-go ever since...and I'm beat.<br />We started off last week with a trip to the state fair in Palmer, obviously it was the first time they had been but it was the first time for me too. I really wanted my parents to see the massive veggies that are entered each year. I had to chuckle at their comments regarding the massive size of the rutabagas and parsnips (dummy me waited too long to write and have forgotten the weights). The a lot of the cabbage weighed in around 70-80 lb. Three days before the start of the fair, there was an article in the ADN (Anchorage Daily News) regarding a man who usually enters the fair with large cabbage, his this year "exploded" and the remains weighed about 109 lbs, which would have been a record.<br />The next day we headed off to Hatcher's Pass, and that is when the 'Wow!', "That's gorgeous', 'The view is _______!'-fill in blank with:awesome, stunning,beautiful, etc.<br />Monday, we headed out to Whitter to see the glacier and the Wildlife Conservation park. It rained all day, we got soaked to the bone, but that didn't dampen their enthusiasm. Comments I heard :'Wow!', "That's gorgeous', 'The view is _______!'-fill in blank with:awesome, stunning,beautiful, etc. <br />Tuesday we drove to Valdez, nearly the whole drive I heard :'Wow!', "That's gorgeous', 'The view is _______!'-fill in blank with:awesome, stunning,beautiful, etc, 'Stop!!!! gotta take a picture!'<br />Wednesday, we attempted to troll for silver salmon...no luck :( but the comments continued:'Wow!', "That's gorgeous', 'The view is _______!'-fill in blank with:awesome, stunning,beautiful, etc.<br />We stayed a second night for we had decided to try our hand at snagging in the harbor and shore fishing...no luck, again (the SOB's were jumping right next to the dock for Pete's sake and I still couldn't snag one!!) When dad and I went out to scout out a place to shore fish (it was low tide), we saw some black bear out and about munching their way through the dead fish. There were even more when we returned about 3-4 hours later (2 hours from hight tide) and mom got to see more bears too(she wasn't with us on the scouting trip).<br />Friday we drove to Homer, stopped along the Kenai River a couple times. Their first look at the river was awesome...I tried to explain the color of the water, but like the person that tried to explain it to me, it was not enough, and they were shocked.<br />The comments were even more emphasized:'Wow!', "That's gorgeous', 'The view is _______!'-fill in blank with:awesome, stunning,beautiful, etc.<br />Today we are going to go up to my place and 'relax' a little...going to try to fish for some silvers at Willow Creek, and some rainbow trout at Montanna Creek. We may even try fishing in a couple of the many lakes that are around.<br />I need to prepare myself fore on Tuesday, we are driving up to Denali Park and Wednesday we are going to be doing a tour in the park...I can hear it now:'Wow!', "That's gorgeous', 'The view is _______!'-fill in blank with:awesome, stunning,beautiful, etc.Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-30120688966470475522008-08-29T06:58:00.004-08:002008-08-29T10:02:30.834-08:00O.k., I'm felling oldLord have Mercy, I'm feeling old!<br />Obama is 5 years older than me, Palin is only 2 years older than me. <br />I'm too young to have people close to my age running for president/vice president.<br />Nuff said....hopefully it will be a while before they (any of the canidates for pres.) are younger than me....then I will feel ancient. Ugh.Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-8482673452845853282008-08-29T03:13:00.009-08:002008-08-29T03:37:48.756-08:00Alaska, the Last Great FrontierSince Alaska is the Last Great Frontier, that would make Anchorage a frontier city, and I had a rude reminder of that on Saturday. Since moving to Anchorage, I have become totally accustomed to having moose roam the streets of downtown, but I was not prepared for the news of a grizzly bear roaming the very same streets the moose meander down. Yes, you read that right, grizzly bears roam the same downtown streets that moose do. <br />The following link is to the story that was in the Alaska Daily News regarding a grizzly bear that was hit and had to be shot due to it's injuries:<br /><a href="http://www.adn.com/wildlife/story/502266.html">Grizzly hit by SUV</a><br />The thing that got me regarding this bear is the fact that it was hit only 1/2 mile by road (that is going down 3 blocks and over 5 blocks to get to the site where the bear was hit), or less than a 1/2 mile as the crow flies.<br />Needless to say, since all the bear attacks had occurred in one park on the outskirts of town (more than 5 miles away), I hadn't been too wary of walking around in the neighborhood until Saturday. Now, I'm very leary of walking just from my truck to the apartment in the dark...forget about a moose, at lease Bullwinkle doesn't look at me as meal on the run.Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-37736958666447086102008-08-17T03:19:00.002-08:002008-08-17T03:34:57.511-08:00Oh, looks at the cute...OMG, you have a bird with you!Every time I go home, Paco comes along because it's usually cheaper for me to pay the $80 to bring him on board that to board him when I'm gone. The boarding fee is $20 a night, not to mention the nearly $200 fee for the blood tests needed to be able to board him at any of the facilities here in Anchorage. <br />The airline fee just kills me for if the carrier was void of an animal, there would be no fee involved, it would just be a carry on, not to mention the fact that if I can rack up frequent flier miles, why can't Paco? Hhhhmm? He's paying for space on the plane (well, I am anyway).<br />On the flip side though, I find it absolutely hilarious when people ask me, with out looking into the carrier, what kind of cat I have (which reminds me, I really need to teach Paco to meow on command!). I find the look on their face even funnier when they do look in the carrier and they see a blue bird...."Oh my!It's a bird and it's BLUE!". I can hear Paco, "Yeah, what a Sherlock you are, must have graduated from Kindergarten to figure that one out...Yes, I'm a bird and I'm blue, have been all my life."Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-24981505264039547542008-08-17T03:14:00.002-08:002008-08-17T03:19:42.533-08:00"This is not the fish you are looking for...."I have to laugh, back on August 6th, I flew back to St. Louis for a family reunion. I brought back about 50 pounds of sockeye salmon and some halibut for mom & dad. I did grill 6 fillets for the reunion, it should have been about 2 or 3 more for nearly everyone was fighting over it! I couldn't believe my ears when one of my little cousins, about 7, came up and demanded "When is that fish going to be done?!". Another, but older cousin (he is about 22) told him that the hot dogs were done and he could have one of those...thus ensued the argument between a 22 year old and a 7 year old as to which was worthy for a 7 year old to eat.Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-60669321248216438022008-06-05T11:21:00.003-08:002008-06-05T12:26:21.445-08:00You won't believe this fish story, but I've got pictures!Yesterday evening a friend and I went fishing for King salmon at the mouth of Ship Creek. We weren't there much more than 5 minutes when Barbara snagged some fishing line in the water. I didn't think much of it for nearly every time I've gone fishing, I've either found or snagged line, but it was what Barbara said next that caught my attention "There is a fish on that line!". I didn't have enough time to say anything when this huge fish jumps up out of the water and 1/2 way in between Barbara and the fish, up pops another fishing pole!<br />Now, when the fish jumped, that caught the attention of all the people fishing around us. With the encouragement of the forming crowd, Barb reeled in the fishing pole, then grabbed the wet pole and reeled in the king. Turned out that it was snagged in the tail, but before we could release the fish, some guys that had been trolling for kings to tag for an up coming fishing derby had come over and wanted to tag it. Since Barb couldn't keep it, she let them tag it and release it.<br />In the mean time, the guy that had lost his rod had come over wanting to claim his rod and fish. Turns out the the guy is not from Alaska, well, he never actually said that he was from the lower 48, it was the comment "What do you mean I can't keep it?!". Not only was he not from Alaska, he was most certainly a novice fisherman for he had placed the pole on the ground to chase a piece of plastic that had blown out of his tackle box. Now, I consider a pole with a lure in the water the equivalent of a drink at a night club, you never put it down and you most certainly do not take your hands off it!<br />The two guys that helped Barb get the pole and fish to the bank told her, after the guy who had lost his pole had left, that they would have made sure that she kept the fish. I do believe by law, that it would be hers since she was the first to have her hands on the pole when the fish was on the line.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="288" height="192" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fmarzsaetel%2Falbumid%2F5208486797880409041%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-23796571440866249682008-03-27T09:25:00.002-08:002008-03-27T09:31:17.681-08:00Youtube funnyA. Make sure you don't need to pee<br />B. Do not, repeat, DO NOT attempt to drink anything when listening to this!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iC8oRKvSObU&hl=en"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iC8oRKvSObU&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-52625562271302796842008-03-25T09:10:00.005-08:002008-03-25T09:27:48.674-08:00The Alaska ZooLord have Mercy, am I spoiled rotten or what!<br />Re: Zoos, that is. The Alaska Zoo cost $10 person to get in! Those of you that have not been to the St. Louis Zoo, it's free! Granted, yes, you have to pay to ride the train, or get into special exhibits, like the insectarium or the Children's Zoo (it's free to get in there also, if you get there before 9am, if my memory serves me correct.) <br />I also need to mention that the zoo here may cover 1/5th the ground (and I think I'm pushing it) that the STL Zoo does. Not to mention the number of animals that are in cages and not in bar free large enclosures.<br />If you are looking to see African exotics, this is not the place for you. They used to have an elephant, Maggie, but they sent her to a rehab center somewhere in California for she was not doing well.....Well, DUH, the last time an elephant walked around up here had HAIR, and LOTs of it (woolly mammoth). She should have never been brought up here to begin with.<br />One cool thing, the native animals, like the Arctic Fox, Bald Eagles, Linx, etc. are all from an animal rehab center and the animal could not be released back into the wild due to their injuries.<br />I will link up my Picas photo file from yesterday...<br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="600" height="400" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fmarzsaetel%2Falbumid%2F5181533255027582065%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-35098124488060788282008-03-25T08:57:00.002-08:002008-03-25T09:04:45.727-08:00It's Paco's hatchday!O.k., so, I'm a day late posting this one.<br />Some days it seems like I've had him only for a couple months, then, like today (keep threating to make him a ringneck parakeet) it feels as if it has been eons since I drove up to Chicago to get him.<br />Here's a picture of Paco on his new Wingdow, the postman was gracious enough to deliver it on Paco's hatch day.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWAWzG805Rut7ill_ZA_LPtzpe0x4T1VT18oDzVTa8Dup5ZwkOSwbEreNSsV3izSYrO_mz-GFQefi6ElUG5dsdtrqTjJpHHuCFZTXuDRlhbJ4nYdSgkbyaz8WrCcTmmfq0O1jCPd68MUk/s1600-h/IMG_6496.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWAWzG805Rut7ill_ZA_LPtzpe0x4T1VT18oDzVTa8Dup5ZwkOSwbEreNSsV3izSYrO_mz-GFQefi6ElUG5dsdtrqTjJpHHuCFZTXuDRlhbJ4nYdSgkbyaz8WrCcTmmfq0O1jCPd68MUk/s200/IMG_6496.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5181726111944075730" /></a>Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-108951609479120772008-02-27T20:43:00.003-09:002008-02-27T20:54:06.385-09:00Portage LakeWell, after one days rest (from Fur Rondy that is) Martina & I went out to Portage Lake for a walk about...we quickly discovered that we should have brought our snowshoes! We have both decided that we were going to go back out when we get back from Fairbanks and we are going to try to ski to the glacier, if the snow is still too deep, then we will shoe back in to it. I can't wait!<br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="800" height="533" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fmarzsaetel%2Falbumid%2F5171475648238201921%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1737782345427415713.post-40071395872113629722008-02-27T20:24:00.003-09:002008-02-27T20:41:57.723-09:00Running of the ReindeerOk...just imagine the Running of the Bulls....substitute Alaska for Italy, reindeer for bulls and crazies for, well, a different breed of crazies.<br />I'll just let the pictures do the talking (I do have to admit, I thought it was hilarious)<br />.<br />.<br />o.k. for some reason, I can't get the photos to upload, was able to link a slide show...do have some mushing and skijoring pics, but you will know which ones are the "Running of the Reindeer" pics.<br /><br /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="800" height="533" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fmarzsaetel%2Falbumid%2F5171548688452042881%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>Marzsaetelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02044617338189769518noreply@blogger.com0