Scribblings

Ah vertigo

Today I spent the morning with a specialist figuring out where the hell the sudden vertigo I’ve been experiencing came from. Seriously, if I want the world to spin around like that, I’d rather do it chemically. And for those of you lucky enough to never experience true vertigo, let me explain it this way. Vertigo is to dizziness as a Clydesdale is to a pony.

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Scribblings

an explanation

As I, more rapidly than I’d ever imagined, experience all the joys of growing older, I find my normally cheerful disposition harder and harder to maintain. And for all of you out there on the floor laughing hysterically at that previous sentence, I do too have a normally cheerful disposition. It just is combined with a realistic view of life that creates an odd balance.

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pictures, Scribblings

Pick. Click. Give.

imageimage

Don’t forget when you sign up for your PFD, take a moment to Pick. Click. Give. to the charity of your choice. And if you don’t have one special one, consider Bird TLC for your donation. These immature bald eagles sure appreciated what Bird TLC was able to do for them so that they had a chance to grow into adults and fly free in the wild again. If you don’t live in Alaska and so don’t get that wonderful free check every year from our Permanent Fund, you can contribute directly to Bird TLC by going to our website

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Scribblings

OK Anchorage, here’s the thing

I have family actually coming to visit in February. Some of them are already pretty convinced that I lost my mind years ago and that’s why I still live here. If they arrive and find that Philly has more snow than Anchorage… if they arrive and find our sidewalks and parking lots and driveways are useful as ice skating rinks… if they arrive and see all the ugly stuff we usually bury under successive layers of winter snow… oh crap, oh crap. I’ll never get another relative to Alaska.

Wait… is that really a bad thing?

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Scribblings

Note to NCIS producers

Please do not let Gibbs make out with or fall in love with any woman on the show. It interferes with my fantasies.

On the other hand, it’s ok to let Dekes from NCIS:LA make out with Kenzie. Given my age and his, even in a fantasy that’s gross.

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Scribblings

Why I love Alaska

These two stories ran on the same day in Alaska Dispatch. How can you not love a state that produces them?

1. Fueled by soaring stock market, Alaska’s net worth climbs to $103,000 per person

2. Nearly naked inmate flees Dillingham jail, briefly (Followed by this opening line… and remember, it’s winter in Alaska) A 20-year-old man managed to escape police custody in the Southwest Alaska village for a very short time, wearing nothing but underwear. He was captured when he solicited a ride from an off-duty officer.

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Scribblings

D’Ear departed

The Alaska Ear has departed, gone off to sow seeds in her garden and enjoy life without political intrigue.  For those of us who turned to the Ear column first when our Sunday paper arrived, it is a sad day. Even if the ADN manages to find someone to take over the column, no one will ever be able to equal Ear’s humor and deadly accurate ability to call a spade a spade even when it’s trying to disguise itself as a heart.

Go plant your garden, D’Ear. You’ve earned the rest.

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Scribblings

oops

I’d apologize for not having an entry done earlier but quite frankly, I slept in until 10 AM after staying up past 2 AM to read and play words with friends. One of the joys of retirement is no one cares when you go to sleep and you don’t have to get up to be anywhere most days. On the other hand, when you do sleep in and you have dogs, you find all kinds of little surprises all over the house waiting for you. At least they’re polite enough to let me sleep in and deposit their surprises on

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Scribblings

You’ve got to love the US Postal Service

Yesterday, my mailman delivered a magazine cover to me. No magazine inside. That had apparently long since been separated from its cover. But for some reason, the Post Office felt obligated to faithfully deliver the empty front and back cover so I could see what I was missing. Thanks, PO. 

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