Wasn't expecting snow this morning when I woke up. The last weather report I saw said it was going to be mostly clear and cold this week. I should stop looking at Alaska weather reports. Alaska is too big for them to be right.
It wasn't very much, just a dusting. Enough to cover the ground and the cars with the grass still peeking through. I'm going to have to learn to drive the Jeep in the snow. I hope it won't be a harsh lesson.
I've stacked all the movies I consider to be my Halloween favorites on the table. Today I'm watching "Bram Stoker's Dracula." I remember how this movie was the epitome of cool and pushing the envelope, but now it seems so simple. And much as I love Keanu Reeves, his acting in this movie was absolutely wretched. Like a block of wood. But I adore the costumes and the old school effects.
To add to my Halloween happiness, my little vampire tale has been accepted by SNM Horror Mag for their November issue. This brings my total of acceptances this year to twelve. My writing has slowed down considerably these last two months. I've mostly been doing the Light Ray version, one story and one submission a month, but I continue to march onward. I've decided to write a novel for Nanowrimo (a horror novel, surprise, surprise), which means I might not get any short stories written for the next month. Ah, well. As long as writing continues, the rest will happen as it may.
I've been extremely tired of late, probably due to the extra classes I've been teaching, and all the practices of new routines. I need to do a video of my kickboxing class soon, which is slightly freaky, though I've done these video things three times before. The numbers in that class stayed above fifteen until this week, when they suddenly dropped to around five or six. I heard it was parent-teacher conference week, so that may have something to do with it.
Today seems like a good day to curl up by the heater and watch movies. I better get to it. :)
Showing posts with label Little House in the Big Woods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Little House in the Big Woods. Show all posts
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Holy Snow!
It has been snowing here for three days, with a little break last night and a little break today. Yesterday it took four attempts of driving, and lots of digging and swearing before I finally got out of my driveway. Ours has a neat little uphill at the top where my car kept getting stuck. Finally got through and I was only a few minutes late to work. Heck, at least I showed up!
My husband met our very nice neighbor across the street. He offered to plow our driveway to make it easier to get in and out. Such a nice guy!
Today it was snowing heavy. Not big fat flakes, just gazillions of little dry dots that piled up quick. The snow is up to Bruno's chest. I had today off, but I was asked to come in to work when two other employees had called out. Since I have tomorrow off, I went. Our driveway was getting thick again, but I got out on the first try.
The roads were scarier than my driveway. I almost thought I'd get stuck going around one tight corner. Another car was already sitting off the side of the road in a drift. But I made it through with a little fishtailing.
When I got to work, I realized I hadn't brought my clothes, shoes, music, and so on for teaching my class later, so I told one of the managers that I would leave when the next employee came in. It was pretty slow due to the weather, so that was okay. That would give me some extra time to get my stuff and eat before my class. The trip home was uneventful.
I was getting ready to leave for class, collecting my things. I had decided to leave early since it was getting dark and I wanted to take my time driving. During this time, I could hear the sound of a truck outside, and the beeping sound it makes when it backs up. I thought, "Oh, I guess the plow is out there."
I got into my car after letting it warm up a bit. I got a good running start -
- and ran straight into a hill of snow at the top of my driveway. It was almost as high as the hood of my car.
The plow had left a big berm of snow blocking my driveway when it came through. We are near the end of the road, with only one other house next to us. That house is a retreat for someone who lives in Anchorage, so the road is not well traveled past our driveway.
Did they realize what they had done? I don't know. Could they have prevented it, or done something to help us out a little bit? I don't know. But they did it at the worst possible time. I backed the car down the driveway and left the lights on so I could see to start digging. I dug until it was too late to get to class on time, and I still hadn't gotten it clear enough. I chucked the shovel and stomped inside to thaw my hands and call the club.
My cell phone kept giving me the same message over and over: "Emergency calls only." WTF?! I'd never seen that before. It would not let me call the club and have them put up a canceled class sign. Everyone was going to think either I was a total flake or something terrible had happened to me. I finally managed to get through (after my big screaming hissy fit tantrum.)
I think we need to get our land line fixed.
After that I called Logan and told him what happened. Then I went out to finish digging so that Logan could get in without a problem.
When Logan got home in his Landcruiser, he took one look at the snow piled up next to the driveway and said even his Landcruiser would not have gotten over that berm.
This is the first time the snow has really ticked me off. And it's not even the snow's fault. I'd like to tweak the nose of the plow guy. And then say thank you for plowing the road.
At least I have tomorrow off.
My husband met our very nice neighbor across the street. He offered to plow our driveway to make it easier to get in and out. Such a nice guy!
Today it was snowing heavy. Not big fat flakes, just gazillions of little dry dots that piled up quick. The snow is up to Bruno's chest. I had today off, but I was asked to come in to work when two other employees had called out. Since I have tomorrow off, I went. Our driveway was getting thick again, but I got out on the first try.
The roads were scarier than my driveway. I almost thought I'd get stuck going around one tight corner. Another car was already sitting off the side of the road in a drift. But I made it through with a little fishtailing.
When I got to work, I realized I hadn't brought my clothes, shoes, music, and so on for teaching my class later, so I told one of the managers that I would leave when the next employee came in. It was pretty slow due to the weather, so that was okay. That would give me some extra time to get my stuff and eat before my class. The trip home was uneventful.
I was getting ready to leave for class, collecting my things. I had decided to leave early since it was getting dark and I wanted to take my time driving. During this time, I could hear the sound of a truck outside, and the beeping sound it makes when it backs up. I thought, "Oh, I guess the plow is out there."
I got into my car after letting it warm up a bit. I got a good running start -
- and ran straight into a hill of snow at the top of my driveway. It was almost as high as the hood of my car.
The plow had left a big berm of snow blocking my driveway when it came through. We are near the end of the road, with only one other house next to us. That house is a retreat for someone who lives in Anchorage, so the road is not well traveled past our driveway.
Did they realize what they had done? I don't know. Could they have prevented it, or done something to help us out a little bit? I don't know. But they did it at the worst possible time. I backed the car down the driveway and left the lights on so I could see to start digging. I dug until it was too late to get to class on time, and I still hadn't gotten it clear enough. I chucked the shovel and stomped inside to thaw my hands and call the club.
My cell phone kept giving me the same message over and over: "Emergency calls only." WTF?! I'd never seen that before. It would not let me call the club and have them put up a canceled class sign. Everyone was going to think either I was a total flake or something terrible had happened to me. I finally managed to get through (after my big screaming hissy fit tantrum.)
I think we need to get our land line fixed.
After that I called Logan and told him what happened. Then I went out to finish digging so that Logan could get in without a problem.
When Logan got home in his Landcruiser, he took one look at the snow piled up next to the driveway and said even his Landcruiser would not have gotten over that berm.
This is the first time the snow has really ticked me off. And it's not even the snow's fault. I'd like to tweak the nose of the plow guy. And then say thank you for plowing the road.
At least I have tomorrow off.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
A real autumn!
Last year, autumn seemed over and gone in a matter of days. I felt like I totally missed it, or that maybe we didn't really have a summer, just one really long fall. The leaves barely had time to change before they were ripped from their branches by high winds and almost constant rain.
This year is totally different. We actually had a summer! A couple of weeks where the heat made it up to the 80s! And then it cooled down a bit from there, occasional rain, but still pretty nice until the last month or so.
Then the leaves turned gold. I kid you not. The road to our house swoops down and is surrounded on all sides by thick trees. When the sun shone through that tunnel, it was like driving through a tunnel made of gold. No wonder people have been stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures! I wanted to myself, but never had my camera on those pretty days.
We did take our camera with us when we hiked alongside Lake Eklutna last week. The dogs came with us and we hiked a total of six miles and had a small picnic next to the lake out of the wind. There were golden trees everywhere along the path and all up and down the hills.
I will post some pictures as soon as I can. We have a new camera and I have to figure out how to use it!
So the fall has lasted about a month and the weather has been delightful. Yes, rainy on occasion, but not too cold or warm, perfect for getting out and about.
Until this morning, that is.
Last night, the rain woke us up, it pounded the roof so hard. This morning, when I went out to my car to go teach at the club, I noticed the lacy patterns of frost on the top of it. Not white or thick, but definitely a bit icy. As I drove, I looked at the mountains. Earlier there had been a small dusting of snow at the very peaks. Now snow covers most of the mountains.
So I guess the winter is just about here. My feet are cold and I've got the heat cranked up. My cat Asuka is lying in front of the flames, toasting her tummy. (We're on natural gas, but the stove looks like a wood stove. Fake wood with dancing flames rising from them. I love it. It's the next best thing to a real wood stove.)
In other news, I've been trying to record my Group Centergy class so that I can mail it in for my evaluation for certification. I've tried three times and my camera keeps shutting off before the end of the class. I finally figured that the memory card is too full for an hour video, so I went and bought another one. So now I have to figure out when I can record it because I have to mail it before my next Centergy class.
My marital arts class began last week and I'm loving every second of it. I've got about 10 people in the class, some of whom are interested in getting ranked, so I may be on my way to my own dojo very soon. I hope the popularity picks up so I can add some more classes and eventually quit working at Sports Authority. This schedule is gonna be the death of me. I had to drop out of "Carousel" and I couldn't even audition for "Babes in Toyland." I'm extremely bummed about that.
And just in case I don't get to call my bestest buddy in the whole wide world, I want to let her know that I hope she has the most fantastic birthday ever known to human existence tomorrow. I wuv you!
I can hear the wind blowing outside. I don't think the leaves are gonna stay on the trees much longer. Sigh.
Happy Autumn Equinox!
This year is totally different. We actually had a summer! A couple of weeks where the heat made it up to the 80s! And then it cooled down a bit from there, occasional rain, but still pretty nice until the last month or so.
Then the leaves turned gold. I kid you not. The road to our house swoops down and is surrounded on all sides by thick trees. When the sun shone through that tunnel, it was like driving through a tunnel made of gold. No wonder people have been stopping in the middle of the road to take pictures! I wanted to myself, but never had my camera on those pretty days.
We did take our camera with us when we hiked alongside Lake Eklutna last week. The dogs came with us and we hiked a total of six miles and had a small picnic next to the lake out of the wind. There were golden trees everywhere along the path and all up and down the hills.
I will post some pictures as soon as I can. We have a new camera and I have to figure out how to use it!
So the fall has lasted about a month and the weather has been delightful. Yes, rainy on occasion, but not too cold or warm, perfect for getting out and about.
Until this morning, that is.
Last night, the rain woke us up, it pounded the roof so hard. This morning, when I went out to my car to go teach at the club, I noticed the lacy patterns of frost on the top of it. Not white or thick, but definitely a bit icy. As I drove, I looked at the mountains. Earlier there had been a small dusting of snow at the very peaks. Now snow covers most of the mountains.
So I guess the winter is just about here. My feet are cold and I've got the heat cranked up. My cat Asuka is lying in front of the flames, toasting her tummy. (We're on natural gas, but the stove looks like a wood stove. Fake wood with dancing flames rising from them. I love it. It's the next best thing to a real wood stove.)
In other news, I've been trying to record my Group Centergy class so that I can mail it in for my evaluation for certification. I've tried three times and my camera keeps shutting off before the end of the class. I finally figured that the memory card is too full for an hour video, so I went and bought another one. So now I have to figure out when I can record it because I have to mail it before my next Centergy class.
My marital arts class began last week and I'm loving every second of it. I've got about 10 people in the class, some of whom are interested in getting ranked, so I may be on my way to my own dojo very soon. I hope the popularity picks up so I can add some more classes and eventually quit working at Sports Authority. This schedule is gonna be the death of me. I had to drop out of "Carousel" and I couldn't even audition for "Babes in Toyland." I'm extremely bummed about that.
And just in case I don't get to call my bestest buddy in the whole wide world, I want to let her know that I hope she has the most fantastic birthday ever known to human existence tomorrow. I wuv you!
I can hear the wind blowing outside. I don't think the leaves are gonna stay on the trees much longer. Sigh.
Happy Autumn Equinox!
Monday, July 27, 2009
Summer over? Nooooooooo!
The weather here has taken a turn for the normal. We got pretty warm there the first couple of weeks in July. Now it's on-again-off-again rain. The nice thing is that it isn't cold rain. It's rather warm. The pain is that you can't tell when it's going to happen. We go entire days with heavy, threatening clouds and not a drop hits the ground. Today it was sunny for about one hour in the middle. Then it started pouring.
At least we accomplished something in the downpour. Since Uffda, our Newfie puppy, was already soaked, we just rubbed some doggy shampoo into her fur and rinsed her off with the hose. Dog bath done in record time.
Uffda is huge! She's only five months old and she's Bruno's size. This is great because now she can take him on. She doesn't do a whole lot of fighting back, but she's equal to him in weight, so it's harder for him to bowl her over. Now if I could just teach her not to wrap her lead around everything.
Speaking of Uffda, we decided we just couldn't deal with the gigantic responsibility of puppies. Sure, I'd love to see what kind of puppies a pure Newf and a pure Golden Retriever would have (dang, they'd be cute!), but we don't have the time or energy that they would require. And we don't want the hassle of selling them, either. Besides, knowing me, I'd get attached to them all and we'd end up with a dog farm. So she's getting broken this week.
My practice for Group Centergy is going well. I'm still not ready to have it recorded, but I need to get over that soon because I have until near the end of September to get a video of me teaching the class done and sent in so I can be certified. I love how this class makes me feel at the end: taller, standing straighter, strong in my core. I'm loving all this exercise I'm getting. And Logan doesn't seem to mind it either. >wink, wink, nudge, nudge<
I can't wait until my trip back to California. I know many Californians are tired of their hot weather day in and day out, but I hope it's still hot when I get there. I miss really hot weather. And don't roll your eyes at me, Myndi-bunny!
I hope it's not the end of summer here. I know August is the beginning of the end. By September it'll start getting cold again. But I think Alaska still owes us from the misery of last summer's weather. But, of course, Alaska is not the type of state to uphold deals with anyone, at least not weather-wise.
At least we accomplished something in the downpour. Since Uffda, our Newfie puppy, was already soaked, we just rubbed some doggy shampoo into her fur and rinsed her off with the hose. Dog bath done in record time.
Uffda is huge! She's only five months old and she's Bruno's size. This is great because now she can take him on. She doesn't do a whole lot of fighting back, but she's equal to him in weight, so it's harder for him to bowl her over. Now if I could just teach her not to wrap her lead around everything.
Speaking of Uffda, we decided we just couldn't deal with the gigantic responsibility of puppies. Sure, I'd love to see what kind of puppies a pure Newf and a pure Golden Retriever would have (dang, they'd be cute!), but we don't have the time or energy that they would require. And we don't want the hassle of selling them, either. Besides, knowing me, I'd get attached to them all and we'd end up with a dog farm. So she's getting broken this week.
My practice for Group Centergy is going well. I'm still not ready to have it recorded, but I need to get over that soon because I have until near the end of September to get a video of me teaching the class done and sent in so I can be certified. I love how this class makes me feel at the end: taller, standing straighter, strong in my core. I'm loving all this exercise I'm getting. And Logan doesn't seem to mind it either. >wink, wink, nudge, nudge<
I can't wait until my trip back to California. I know many Californians are tired of their hot weather day in and day out, but I hope it's still hot when I get there. I miss really hot weather. And don't roll your eyes at me, Myndi-bunny!
I hope it's not the end of summer here. I know August is the beginning of the end. By September it'll start getting cold again. But I think Alaska still owes us from the misery of last summer's weather. But, of course, Alaska is not the type of state to uphold deals with anyone, at least not weather-wise.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Finally moved in!
We are finally moved in to our new house! We moved all day Tuesday and I moved all day Wednesday while Logan was at work, though he joined me as soon as he could to finish up the job.
It was brutal. I was covered with bruises and every single muscle I possessed screamed in agony for a few days after the moving was done. But we did it!
I will be taking pictures soon. Still getting organized. If my friends and family download Skype, they'll be able to see at least part of the inside of the house with my computer cam. Not to mention we'll be able to see each other and talk to each other for free, too! Ain't technology grand?
Anyway, Bruno was a nutcase for the first couple of days, but he has settled in quite nicely now. He loves his run because it means he gets to spend more time outdoors and run back and forth and I can go about my business while he does his. Also, this is a very dog friendly neighborhood, so he's already had several canine visitors. No fights, everyone plays friendly, so as long as none of them are unfixed females, I'm cool with it. I will not take responsibility for any puppies when my dog is confined to his own yard!
The cats are having a ball. They'd forgotten what carpet was like because our apartment was all laminate flooring. The loft upstairs, where they spend most of their time, is carpeted, and I can hear them racing around like crazy several times a day. Also, the staircase is their personal kitty jungle gym. Cats settled in almost immediately and they love all the windows, too. Need to replace those blinds with curtains, though!
All the snow has melted. Even thought the temps have been in the 40s and low 50s, it's still pretty chilly as it has been raining the last few days. I have to get our tires changed over on Monday because they have to be changed by May 1st. We're still riding on studded tires right now and we'll get fined for that if we don't change them now that the snow is gone for the season.
So much I want to tell and I can't remember it all right now! I'm positively giddy with delight!
I'm driving into Anchorage here in a little bit, so when I get back, I'll blog about our search for Dog #2. And more on the new house will follow as I remember all the things I want to write about!
It was brutal. I was covered with bruises and every single muscle I possessed screamed in agony for a few days after the moving was done. But we did it!
I will be taking pictures soon. Still getting organized. If my friends and family download Skype, they'll be able to see at least part of the inside of the house with my computer cam. Not to mention we'll be able to see each other and talk to each other for free, too! Ain't technology grand?
Anyway, Bruno was a nutcase for the first couple of days, but he has settled in quite nicely now. He loves his run because it means he gets to spend more time outdoors and run back and forth and I can go about my business while he does his. Also, this is a very dog friendly neighborhood, so he's already had several canine visitors. No fights, everyone plays friendly, so as long as none of them are unfixed females, I'm cool with it. I will not take responsibility for any puppies when my dog is confined to his own yard!
The cats are having a ball. They'd forgotten what carpet was like because our apartment was all laminate flooring. The loft upstairs, where they spend most of their time, is carpeted, and I can hear them racing around like crazy several times a day. Also, the staircase is their personal kitty jungle gym. Cats settled in almost immediately and they love all the windows, too. Need to replace those blinds with curtains, though!
All the snow has melted. Even thought the temps have been in the 40s and low 50s, it's still pretty chilly as it has been raining the last few days. I have to get our tires changed over on Monday because they have to be changed by May 1st. We're still riding on studded tires right now and we'll get fined for that if we don't change them now that the snow is gone for the season.
So much I want to tell and I can't remember it all right now! I'm positively giddy with delight!
I'm driving into Anchorage here in a little bit, so when I get back, I'll blog about our search for Dog #2. And more on the new house will follow as I remember all the things I want to write about!
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