Tuesday, January 10, 2012

yeah, we know we SUCK! :0)

Maryann here-
Greg and I are sincerely sorry for those of you who have logged onto the blog and have said again, " No Post".  I do have to say, we've been busy.  As you know Greg is the one who normally does all of the writing and with his regular work schedule, producing and selling pottery and writing as editor for Stage of Life.com he's really had no time to write in the blog.  However, I'm really hoping that that changes soon as I always enjoy reading what he writes as well, of course when I have the time.  So since he is unable to do it currently I thought I would let all of you know what we've been up to and add a few pictures so that we don't end up losing all of our audience to stagnant blogging.  Again, we apologize for the lack of writing.  tsk, tsk.
John has been hard at work lately snow plowing and sanding now that he has introduced the new sander onto his flat bed plow truck, he's stoked.  What's funny is he used our driveway as his test run and must have dumped his entire load of sand (1 yard) onto our driveway by accident of course because he's learning to gage how fast he should be moving the truck while he opens the sand shoot, not an easy task.  It's somewhat like chewing bubble gum and rubbing your belly at the same time, try it-it's not easy.  Anyway, John's excited he now has another way of making some serious money besides plowing snow as he can now sand ice, which the Kenai Peninsula has a lot of.  Once spring rolls around he will be back at the State Forestry office for his fire suppression job and Commercial fishing.  Jenn, his girlfriend has been at the Nikiski Fire Station on intern work for her Firefighter 3 and volunteering herself at the same station.  It's nice to see both of them doing what they love.  And when you don't find John and Jenn doing the activities above their both working on building their own individual Toyota Trucks (NO JOKE), those two are never boring.  Greg and I just shake our heads, it's all so amazing watching John and Jenn.  :0)
And then there's Greg.  He has been so busy with snow plowing and maintenance work I don't see much of him.  When he is home he's billing his customers and working on his following days schedule and then writing his weekly pieces for Stage of Life.com.  He's not had any real time to himself.  Him and I always said when we lived in CA that we need to move to Alaska to enjoy the simpler way of life and relax.  REALLY!  We're much more busy here than we ever were in CA and at times have to pinch ourselves and come back to reality because we aren't taking the time or finding that balance.  However, there is a lighter side to all of this busyness.  We've managed to do financially better here than CA and have the stability of having steady work than CA so it isn't ALL so bad.  And we are able to fly out of state twice a year, so life is great. Again, we just need to find that balance.  Life is good, it could be so much worse.  We thank our lucky stars!
As for me, I'm still at the lodge although right now I'm working from home as I always do during the Winter and Spring months, it is nice to be back at home.  I've been able to pop out of my office for a couple of hours and cross country ski at the local trails or just ski out the front door, I love this time of year.  Not a lot of ice and the snow has been wonderful for skiing. 
Yes, I did run the Big Sur Half Marathon on November 20 and finished with my medal and it was an accomplishment.  Thank you to all of you who donated to Pancreatica in honor of Carl Schmidt, Beverley's husband who died in 2007, your money is going to a very worthy cause. 
The morning of the Marathon didn't go as I planned.  I had to wake up at 4am in order to eat breakfast and have it digested before the run began at 7am which wasn't a problem since I didn't sleep the entire night from anticipation, anxiety and nervousness, it was a fun night-not really.  Beverley drove me to the race and I lost my breakfast from yet again nervousness, anxiety and anticipation.  This was a downer and I just wanted Beverley to take me back home.  I was standing there thinking of just going back home and crawling back into bed when I thought, "wow, you've trained for this for 10 months and you're going to go back home?"  REALLY?  So I downed Beverley's hot tea and a protein bar and got into my corral and waited for the gun.  What's amazing is I met up with a gal named Kim who ironically was running by herself as well and we both ran the marathon together.  It was a terrific experience and has taught me a lot about the human body and how much of a beating it can withstand, so why not run a 27.10 mile marathon, let's see what will happen.  :0) Crazy huh.  Yes, I am contemplating running the 2013 Big Sur Internation 27.10 mile marathon on Big Sur Coast, yes I know it's pure craziness!!! 
                                           Sea Kayaking in Monterey Bay on my 40th.

Evening moon rise from our deck.


Lunch with our Arnold Friends
Mom, Kim-my marathon buddy, myself and friend Beverley
Sorry, blogger downloaded this one like this.  Kim, myself & Beverley


Anyway, I have loaded a few pictures for you, I will be loading more from the marathon as soon as I receive them.  And as Greg always says, we are still loving it here and have no want or desire to move back.  We do hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  And much happiness and prosperity in this New Year!      


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Very pretty!!