Let's Talk about Weather, Baby!

It is AMAZING here in Juneau today. It is downright balmy at 58 degrees. That's almost 60! In practically October! WOW! It has not been in the 50s in months here. I bet we didn't get up to 58 more than three or four times all summer. We are heading outside for some fun in the sun (and possibly a migrane) ASAP. Seriously, doesn't this day just scream for some bike riding and swing swinging? We're on it.

Meanwhile in other weather news, this morning there was a BLIZZARD ADVISORY forecast for Thompson Pass near Valdez. (Greg and I did a celebration dance in the bathroom this morning when we heard it.... as in "yay, we don't live there anymore"). Sorry to all our friends still in Valdez, but we are so happy not to have to shovel and plow our way through another winter. Of course, this is seriously jinxing us... I'm sure Juneau will now have the most snowfall on record this winter, but at least we'll have today.

UPDATE: The blizzard warning was cancelled. They are still expecting enough snow to limit visibility to less than a mile, though. I'll take our rain any day. OK, every day.

If I Could Save Time in a Bottle...

...the first thing that I'd like to do is to go back to last week and blog all this stuff as it happens, not inundate my loyal readers all at once. Nonetheless, I will proceed now to do just that.

Where has the week gone?

We've been quite frazzled around here since Greg returned from his sheep hunt about three weeks ago. It is a long story that Greg will gladly tell anyone who wants to call up here and get the details.

Gwen had a few field trips at school, with the seasonal tree and bark rubbings, and of course the obligatory leaf drawings and other autumn-inspired crafts. As a family, we have been enjoying the fall colors as well. In fact, we went for a hike out Montana Creek on Saturday and while we have no pictures to share, I can tell you that both girls got a closeup view of the creek. Gwen fell in as she was making her way out to Greg who was so busy casting that it took him a moment to help her up. Alas, not a fish in sight. So, as we were looking for some pretty rocks (OK, I'll admit it - I was looking for gold flakes! It's hard not to!), Amelia took a header right in to the frigid, glacier stream. Luckily, Mommy had a change of clothes for each girl and we were none the worse for wear. What tough Alaskan kids!

On Sunday after church, Gwen and I attended a birthday party for a classmate, Maille (pronounced "Miley", but with the traditional Gaelic spelling). Let the adorable pictures begin!!Yes, it was a fairy and pixie party! They played Fairy Queen Says (like Simon Says, but way more fun!)Fairy wands up, Fairy wands down. Oh and even though Gwen and I were completely ignorant in the ways of the pixies, we soon realized that fairies and pixies have to hide when a human comes close.... in fact, the fairies turn in to flowers and have to be really still until the danger passes. I'm still contemplating all the ways I can continue to utilize this fact for years to come....Pin the fairy on the flower... Gwen's fairy was the closest to the center!And here she is with about half of the girls in attendance. All of them are classmates at Gwen's preschool. They made their own fairy crowns and fairy wands.

Nothing else to report except that Greg and I have started on another 12 weeks of Body for Life. I lost two lbs in one day! Yeah, it sounds good now, but I'll let you know my total for the week - that is the real gauge. The last time Greg did a stint of BFL, he lost 50 lbs, FYI. We are in crunch mode now. Exactly 12 weeks from yesterday is the day before we leave for Hawaii. It is awful to have all the staring and pointing when you're on the beach - and not from the paparazzi, either. It's because all the spectators can all tell we big, white tourists are from Alaska. Anyway, I suspect we will still be fairly white in 12 weeks, but hopefully not quite so big. And do not ask, for I will NOT be posting any "before" pictures here.

Absolutely too cute!

The girls and I went on a little nature walk after picking Gwen up from school yesterday. I can't believe how adorable and amazing these girls are! We all had a fun time in the very crisp (mid-4os) Juneau day. It was the first time in weeks that the cloud cover hasn't been hiding the mountains and glacier, so I thought to grab the camera and it turned out well. Juneau gets about four days of fall before winter hits, so we try to enjoy it all we can.

In related news, I was on the national call-in radio show Chris Fabry LIVE yesterday, talking about my favorite memories of fall, and what fall means to me. If you go to "past programs" you can listen to the Sept 22 show yourself. The show is a favorite of mine and I try to listen every morning, but if you want to zip through most of the show, go to about 19:15. That's where my call starts and I yammer on for about three minutes. Spoiler: my comment involves football and napping.

By the way, in the above pictures, that's the Mendenhall Glacier and the Mendenhall River. Original, huh?

Happy autumnal equinox, everyone!

Bear Report

Since we moved, we have not seen any bears around in our new neighborhood. However, we did hear all about one of the cubs we had seen at our other house... here's an excerpt from last Monday's news from kinyradio.com:

Wildlife Troopers: Bear cub apparently crushed when sow tips dumpster
A black bear cub was killed in an unusual manner over the weekend. State Wildlife Trooper Nicholas Massey says it happened Saturday morning on Tongass Boulevard in the Valley. He says it appears a sow and two cubs were feeding out of a dumpster there when the sow tipped over the dumpster crushing one of the cubs. He says the cub was laying underneath the dumpster when he arrived. Massey says police were on scene and made sure residents were safe and provided support while he put the bear in his vehicle in the event the sow came back. He says the sow was very angry and disturbed.Massey says he's never run across such a case in the past. He thinks it's pretty unique. He says the owners of the apartment building have made arrangements to stabilize the dumpster so something like that doesn't happen again.

The big boar we had reported on a while back has not followed us over, and we have not heard anything from our old neighbors about his fate. I've got a message in to the local wildlife biologist, so I'll pass on any news. As you can see, anything could have happened to him. It's a tough world out there for bears.