some more of then

I haven't mentioned lately how much I am enjoying my new ZEN V Plus player. I ripped and burned several books on CD to it before the trip and am still going through them on the morning walk. It's Grrrrrrrrrrreat! But unfortunately, when I lie down to listen, I fall asleep. Then I have to playback until I figure out where I dropped out at. That is not so grrrrrrrreat.

One of the things my Dad was adamant on, regarding the AK trip, was that we bring lots of salmon home. Well, that we did - about 40 pounds worth. There were 5 in the fish wheel when we arrived outside of Glenallen. One was a big king red. Tony (the owner of this fish wheel) swapped it out with someone else's down the river as the red salmon are really only good for smoking according to those that fish salmon and we weren't going to be there long enough to wait for that. Yeah, I did not know that the reds are generally used only for smoking by the natives because when a king turns red, they are about to die. Imagine that -- cuz in the market, the canned red salmon is considerably higher priced. Interesting, huh? BTW, fish wheels are illegal for the non-Alaskan natives, but that does not stop the seven owners of the seven wheels that were set in this area. A little rebel in us all.

Here's a pic of me after grabbing one of the silver salmons out of the fish wheel on the Copper River (which is a glacier river, hence the silvery gray color of the water). Obviously, it has just dawned on me that coming down the ladder was a helluva lot easier than going back up and I'm contemplating how many strides it will take me to get back to land ... without getting wet, of course.



Before I left, Peg gave me this pic. It's so appropriate for us. I hung it in the office across from where I sit so when I look up it is the first thing I see. I miss her.

back home blues

The poop plugging pills that the doc gave me the day before leaving for Iowa worked wonders and I was able to make it up there. I was in discomfort and kept my distance from Dad and the family so as not to give IT to anyone. The next morning I got up and felt much better and the best news was that Dad felt good and it seemed we were going to Alaska.

We boarded the plane and off we went. Peg picked us up at 8:30 Thursday night and the vacation was on. We had decided to do an 'on' day and then an 'off' day in order to keep it paced well for Dad to be able to enjoy all that we had planned.

I can never put into words how fabulous it is to see Peg. We just click. And when we laugh, we laugh til it hurts ... and several times we ended up peeing our pants. I love her so much, it tears me up when I think about how I wish we lived closer, but know that it's not going to happen any time soon.

To keep it short, we did see a lot and I got to drive the 2.5 mile tunnel that goes into Whittier and we saw the lazy man's way of fishing salmon and ended up bringing home about 40 pounds of the stuff. We took a train trip (now THAT'S the way to travel!) and then on a 5 hour boat cruise through Resurrection Bay where we saw 2 orca whales, a humpback whale, harbor seal, puffins, black bear and cub and much more. It was a wonderful time and Dad says he's going back in two years.

I'm in!

flu tag and I'm it

If this doesn't suck! I woke around 11:45 last night with that horrible acid stomach and I knew whatever was in there, was not going to stay in there very long. Sure enough. I got to the bathroom and up came the acidy water followed by a rush to get turned around to flush out the other end. God, I hate being sick.

At 8am the malemate called and made an appointment with the doc. They got me in at 9:15. He gave me a shot to stop the nausea and make me drowsy. Off we went to get the diarrhea script filled.

The malemate felt really good this morning when he woke He was even planning on going to the gym before he realized he needed to tend to me.

It looks like it may just be a 24 or 48 hour thing. I'm already feeling better after the injection, meds, ice chips, room temp 7-up and best of all hydrocodeine :) Of course I'm scared to eat anything, but hey, that might be a good thing too.
As of this moment, the trip is still on unless my dad doesn't want to take the chance of catching this crud. Then, we'll just have to do it another time. I'm confident that things will be moving along as planned for tomorrow morning.

is that crap contagious?

Upon my awakening to a another Sunday morning, the malemate tells me he will not be going to do the volunteer work that morning because he's been in the bathroom most of the night puking and pooping! I felt a panic coming on and instead of my morning cup of java - I did a healthy dose of xanax.

The panic had nothing to do with him being sick, spending most of his day in the bathroom and possibly dehydrating to death, it had to do with ME and and my dad and the fact that we are to leave from Omaha on Thursday and the malemate better damn well not give that crud to ME and fuck up MY trip! He went to the doc this morning, and sure enough, the pukingshits are contagious. So, I'm calling on prayers that he simply keeps it to himself!
The good news is the doc thought that I probably would have gotten it by now if I were going to get it. Just the same, say the damn prayers -- I need 'em!

On another note, I've been making a different kind of rag rug lately. It's called naalbinding or toothbrush rugs. It's easier than shirret, and looks good in a lighter weight fabric. There's some very good instructional videos on youtube by LauraJane for making a variance of the method I use -- if you are interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGr-LiPboEY&feature=related

The most noticeable variances are that I only use one strip of thread except when I begin a new oval rug -- which I begin by braiding a strip about 12" long. The other main variance is I cut my fabric on the bias because I can't stand all the little fiber dusts that are created when the fabric is torn with the grain. I also use the slit and slip method to join the fabric rather than sewing them together.

Here's one that is made of "reclaimed" denim jeans/dresses and a part of a sheet, shirt, tablecloth, etc. Whatever scraps of fabric that caught my eye at the moment.




Well, if all goes well ... and I mean WELL, as in BE WELL, I'll be leaving here on Wednesday for Iowa then to the air on Thursday afternoon to arrive in Anchorage around 8pm.
Yeah me!
Happy is me!
WELL is me!
Let's keep it that way, ya hear?

to me from me ... with like

I walk in the mornings - if not on the treadmill then around the 'hood' which often ends up at Walmart.
This morning the walk did take me to Walmart, so I strolled around the store and landed in the electronics department.

I looked around at the telephones, the laptops, the cameras and then to the mp3 players. Well, wouldn't ya know, they just happened to have a nice little 2 gb Creative Zen V Plus on clearance for $48. I just had to have it because after all, it had a lime green button.

I have never ever played around with one of these things as I seldom listen to music, except when I walk and then I have a little fm radio that I listen to so that I can catch the latest news on what towns got blown away the night before by the killer tornadoes.

I get it home and RTFM. I get the software installed and start to add some songs to it. I add a few, then a few more and I realized that it can hold a BUNCH. So, I started adding entire CDs to it and it still has only taken up 250mb!

I called the OK! cousin and told her that I treated myself. And she informs me that I can go te the library and get the books on CD and rip those and play them on this thing! I think I peed a little.

Tomorrow I'm off to the library to get signed up and then I'll be searching for some James Patterson, John Sanford, Patricia Cornwell on CD.
The flight to Alaska just got a little more pleasant.

10 days to unbaked alaska

The countdown begins. I'm so excited and more importantly my 84-year-old dad is really excited. I think we've covered everything health-wise for him to be able to fly comfortably -- manOman I sure hope so.

And Peg is so excited. I just know this trip is going to be fabulous. She's getting things lined up for us to do and I think she's even going to have a project or two for the 2 of us to do. Peg and I can really work well together and we're both project people.
DAMNIT I wish we lived closer to each other. I love her so much and love being around her. Maybe someday.
But for now, I'll settle for the the 9 splendid days with her ...
... and my dad.