I’m in the middle of a big project that seems to have no end. And I just want to say, “AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”. I apologize if I misspelled that word. I’m never sure how many Gs to put in.
Finally, a cold Anchorage winter
My first dog, Lovey, is somewhat of a legend in certain circles in Barrow. Not only did she live about ten years longer than predicted based on her extensive girth, but she managed to do so with uncommon grace…. and I don’t mean that in the good sense of the words.
Lovey was not particularly enamored of the cold. She felt it was best experienced from the inside of a heated house or car. Actually going out into it was something reserved for those moments when you absolutely could no longer keep your legs crossed for even a second.
In
Feeding eagles
We have an eagle at the Wild Bird Rehab Center where I volunteer on Tuesday mornings whose top beak was shot off. She’s a wonderful bird. We call her Beautiful…ok, I actually call her the Beakless Wonder but that’s just me. Being Italian, I’m the cook on Tuesday for the birds. I get to cut up old salmon and moose, defrost dead mice, quail and hamsters and – my favorite part – plump them up again with lactated ringer’s solution. I also get to hand feed Beauty because without an upper beak, she can’t feed herself.
There is no feeling
Lousy Anchorage weather
It warmed up in Anchorage today. Everything is icy and slushy. It’s raining, sleeting, hailing and windy. So of course Mr. T and I had to go take our walk. Which wouldn’t have been bad had not the moose blocked our way home when we were just an eighth of a mile from the end of our walk. Had to turn around and going all the way back in the direction we came. Ended up walking six miles in this weather. Mr. T is not a happy camper. Neither am I. And people wonder why I long for Barrow winters.
How can I not be homesick
How can I not be homesick when I hear that’s it was 59 below in Barrow last week. I miss it so much. You can’t know the meaning of the word bracing till you go out to your car in 59 below weather, sit on a frozen seat and try to convince the motor it wants to be alive. To say nothing of the joy of driving on square tires. Oh my. I could just weep from missing those good times.
Firefly and Serenity
I originally saw the movie because the name was so close to my maiden name. Now I am positively hooked. That Captain Mal brings up feelings in me that I haven’t felt since I was a hot, hormonal youth. And I don’t even feel like a dirty old lady…at least, not too much.
It seems to me
It seems to me that it’s highly appropriate to go see Brokeback Mountain on the day of the Superbowl. You figure it out.
Bird poo
I saw that special look on my parrot’s face and grabbed him off my Internet connection box right before he let loose with some poop. Note to self: among other things I never want to have to do in life is explain to a GCI repairman that my Internet connection no longer works because of bird doo doo.
Kids in locked facilities
In an ideal world, I’d be an effortless size four while eating my weight in carbs daily. My birds would clean their own messes and my dog would never grow old. People would not use the name of a god they claim is loving and merciful as an excuse to torture and kill everyone who disagrees with them. And kids would all be raised by Ozzie and Harriet in a neat little suburb where their worse problem would be the occasional pimple.
But we don’t live in that ideal world. I am nowhere near a size four and my birds
Al’s Eskimo Cafe
Another favorite gathering place—and the only restaurant in town opened year round back then—was Al’s Eskimo Cafe. There was a place called Brower’s Cafe, but it only opened in the summer for the tourists. It was tradition to go there at least once a season and eat a bowl of reindeer soup while listening to the tour guides’ latest spiels about Barrow.
Al’s Eskimo Cafe, owned and operated by Al Hopson Sr., was the really special place. It was the original highway greasy spoon translated into tundra ambiance. I wouldn’t have been surprised if, after downing one of those wonderful