"Elvis was seen wearing RED panties..."

At last. What we have all been waiting for has begun. Starting at around 10:30 PM (?) Sunday night until 5:30AM this morning Mt Redoubt emitted a series of 5 explosive eruptions. Now the funny thing of this is we had no idea. None. I walked out this morning to let the dogs do their morning constitutionals and thought to myself, "Man, Tesoro must be doing something this morning" as a foul smell was wafting about in the air. Minutes later, I get a call from a friend asking what was happening. I'm figuring, nothing much, just out pottying the dogs....whats happening with you?! This is how we found out. A phone call from outside!! Maryann and I began our prepratory volcano chores and then stood by. As of current, most ash is blowing NorthEast and is not affecting us at this time. Flights were suspended in and out of Anchorage's Stevens International Airport. Areas North of us are so far affected by the ash fallout. We did have a peninsula wide electric outage this morning for several hours, due to the main station in Anchorage having issues, more than likely to do with fallout I am assuming? Some of our cell service was intermittently affected throughout the morning. We did venture into Kenai a little while ago, and everyone is going about their day. You would never know anything is wrong, and hopefully it will stay that way. The AVO www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php website is not keeping too much information updated, or at least what I can tell (I just got back online just minutes ago so I am just catching up on things) and with the overcast there is nothing much to see. The NOAA website (you can link it off of the redoubt Activity page of AVO) is keeping an ash fallout warning updated and as well a chart of the projected ash flow, but as I said, we are in good condition right now, so lets hope it all stays that way. The winds are blowing pretty good right now and they are our saving grace, so we will keep you posted on any continuing activity and lets hope for the best!

If you don't know Jorma...you don't know Jack!

Yesterday, March 18th, at approximately 11:40 AM AKDT Lance Mackey crossed the finish line in Nome, in a punishing - 15 below with his dog team. For the 3rd straight year he has officially taken first place with the 2009 Iditarod. And the first order of business within seconds of crossing the finish line....giving the guys that pulled him the trek, their well earned raw fish goodies!! Oh happy dawgs! For the next several days other teams will file in and wind down the event of 2009. Another sure sign that Spring is due soon. As well on the 18th, we scored tickets for Tuna....and it ain't 'Chicken Of The Sea'! Yes, our first official concert in Alaska. Mind you, the local scene this past Fall in Hope at the "Winterland" gig would technically for all medicinal purposes, be posted as the first concert in Alaska. But, on a 'more' official, and 'more' for all medicinal purposes of a legitimate official gig, Hot Tuna in Anchorage at the Discovery Theater will be the first....officially...! =) June 11th 2005, my Birthday present to myself with the love of Maryann to guide it. Scott and I went to see Hot Tuna in Truckee at some park.....great venue.... Still not sure to this day whether Jack, pictured at left, was pleasantly surprised, or pissed when he shot me this glance? I may have inadvertently used the flash on the camera, thus annoying him. Or, he may have well just been 'into the tune' and no glance was ever shot, but a look of daze.... I will never know! =)


Back in the day Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy lead guitarist and bassist (pictured center and left), founded the famed Jefferson Airplane, a band that took off and soared the Age of Aquarius in the late 1960 and early 1970 San Francisco rock scene. As the Age would shift and the Airplane turned it's sights towards a new line up becoming The Jefferson Starship, Jorma and Jack broke off and formed Hot Tuna and would continue their diverse and viable blend of blues and rock through the years and yes...into 2009 still going strong. Now for those of you who know not of this musical magnanimity and could care less....for this I am sorry. But to two earthbound souls who love simple music and the gentle serenity that such brings to the body and being....well, we are just plain excited of this!!! So something for us to look forward to for the coming transition of a new summer.

The smell of Spring is in the air! The obvious signs are emanating about. The temps are a bit hokey pokey, but the feel is definitely here. Looking outside it is winter. Bountiful amounts of snow, ice, cold.... But to the pre-seasoned '2nd Winter' rookie, there is a feel. Or at very least that internal hope. Loved the Halibut and Salmon through the winter, and the freezer is getting low. No less in time for a new and hopeful season of fishing. Wood....would you believe we went through the wood, man?! What did I say back in September? Started out with around 12 cords?? We are down now to about 2 and 1/2, 3 now. It was a cold winter. Maryann insisted on a new ceiling fan up in the 'go-go cage' and like a fool I denied her this. But when we finally got a new one a couple months back, viola! Heat was being evenly dispersed about the house and efficiency was again retained. I made a silent/verbal suggestion just before we left Dorrington. I stated that I intended to do no more renovation/remodeling of any type on my own home for at least 2 years. After the long process of updating the cabin in Dorrington, and the even tougher push to wind it up on time for putting it in market in March of 2007 I had pretty much had enough for a while. Well, that 2 years is about up. We moved into the house here in June 2007 and it is in need of updating, renovating, maintaining and the like. My hiatus is about done. The jig is up! Where will I start? Where do you start??!! John is pretty intrigued by the idea of turning the unfinished basement room into a studio apartment complete with bathroom and mini kitchen. And we have been studying on that quite a bit actually. So that is probably the first order of the 3rd year.

Other than that, we are gearing up and still....still....grateful to be here, happy about what we have all accomplished and feel very blessed. Oh, another 'official'. We have all officially applied for the 2008 PFD!! Woo-hoo!! Now lets just hope that since the crash of the oil market that we still get something come October. HHMMMM.... Unofficially, we are setting our sights for a trip outside in Fall. HHMMMM..... HHMMMMMM! Yes, we will see about all of this official unofficiality.... Stay tuned......

Back into the basement....

eAfter a significant quake today, we find ourselves at the mercy of Mt Redoubt, once again. These are pics taken today of the activity that has become once again apparent. This time there was a miner spew of ash at the mountain and mainly steam pluming from within. We were gratefully lowered to a level yellow last week, and were wiping the sweat from our brows. But, in leau of the recent occurrence we find ourselves again back at a level orange. So we wait, and patiently pray that the little activity will go away.

On a brighter note, currently Lance Mackey has thus far found himself in a significant lead as mushers reached the Kaltag village checkpoint this morning. This will be a turning point as they will be leaving the Yukon River and the interior and running along the brutal West coast of Alaska to Nome. It is exciting for us, to say the least, to have the coverage and updates via tv and radio daily. Especially knowing that soon after the last 'great race', Spring will be close at hand. Currently the temps are once again down in the single digits by night and 20's by day. The surise is around 8:15AM and the sunsets at around 8:00PM. Be safe, be kind and our prayers go out to our fellow bloggers.

Sunday at the races.

The beginning of a fine Sunday morning in Kackemak Bay. Quite literally, in Kachemak Bay. We had a treat this weekend as Maryann surprised me with a stay at The Lands End Resort on 'the spit'. We had our own condo with the water a walk out the back sliding door. Was too cool! After a long walk down the beach, we ended our weekend and left 'the spit' to head home. Now this is where it gets really weird. On our way off the spit we were heading through Homer and were going past Beluga Lake when I noticed a mass of vehicles out on the lake. Now remember, the lakes are still very frozen, and it is not uncommon for people to take snow machines (snow mobiles to anyone outside of Alaska), vehicles or the like out onto frozen lakes. But this was not an ordinary gathering of vehicles. No, this looked like some kind of fun was in progress. Serious fun! So being the explorers we are, we ventured with Maryann's truck out onto the lake....with the 'pucker factor' on high.... to find out just what it was that had drawn so many people to the middle of frozen over Beluga Lake. What we saw next I can honestly say, I....and I speak for Maryann as well...have never in our lives seen until this day.


There were two groups of vehicles in the middle of Beluga Lake this day. The spectators.....and the competitors. The competitors were gathered at the center of a make shift race track on the ice. The spectators were gathered in a line around one end of the track, with their vehicles pointed towards the track. This was in part so that people could stay in their warm vehicles...quite like the day of the old Drive-In Theaters, and still have a full view of the races in complete comfort. So we filed into a slot and watched in utter amazement. Let me tell you, ice or not these cars were hauling butt! The smell of alcohol blown engines, and the sound of serious adrenaline lined the lake. There were several different brackets, and unfortunately we came in towards the end. We saw the converted rice rockets run. These were old Honda's, Fiats, and the like pieced and scrapped together with worked over engines. And the last run was with.....I don't even know how to describe them! They are in the pictures. They looked like rolled over converted half snow machine half lawn mower/tractor.... We even saw one. pictured, that reminded me of Herman Munsters' drag racer!! The strange yet amusing ritual was for the winner to circle the track with the finish flag....in the opposite direction, while all of the onlookers would honk as he went by, for their applause! This was fun, definitely in typical Alaskan style, on a cold and brisk Sunday morning in Kachemak Bay. One thing I do have to give credit to.....Alaskans have shown more than once, the ability to entertain themselves through many a very long and cold winter!
Remember, on any post you can 'left click' any picture for a full size view. I highly encourage this!

We are back on the air.

And imagine our astonishment, almost a month later to the date, when we rise out of the sealed basement, out of the sealed house into the outdoors to find that no eruption actually occurred?! Now don't we feel like a bunch of dumb asses? This is the only viable reason I can find as to why "no post" since February 11, is that we panicked, sealed ourselves inside, and waited out the dreaded eruption safe in the fresh air and fallout shelter of our basement. Only to surface and find it never happened.... Would you buy it? Me neither! Fortunately for timing, we managed to come out just on time to see the annual running of the dogs. The 2009 Iditerod starts today. The ceremonial start will be aired live at 9:30 this morning, and in tradition, Maryann, myself and the dogs will veg in front of the tv to watch all the excited doggies for 3 hours. Why would we choose to be in front of the tv when we could easily drive the 4 hours to bear witness in the flesh, of this event? Try: there is a sofa (and a comfortable one at that) 10 feet in front of the tv, a woodstove that is a blast furnace 6 feet from that, and it is 6 degrees on the curb at the race in Anchorage....do the math. The past week has been the 'Fur Rondy' which is a bevy of festivities that take place the week prior to the actual race. People will come as far as Europe to watch this today. In fact, Anchorage is stoked of the poke it will receive with it's economy for this event.

And to date, still no eruption. It is old news it seems. Possibly 'brutha-O' changed the course of the inevitable eruption with his stimulus....or maybe Sarah ordered a shipping container of Gas-X dropped into the mouth of the crater. Or maybe....they just predict eruptions like they predict the weather? In any event, we are happy it hasn't happened, and frankly hope it doesn't. They say that since 1700, something like 48 eruptions have rained down ash on Alaskans....and none have been blown off the map.... we really don't want to be the 49th eruption.

John is happy in his new job. he has some pretty serious responsibility handed to him and although he finds his new position a challenge, he is taking it in true form. The highlight is the forklift. Which brings back a story, or at least one of many, of a friend who around Johns age worked at his dads canned food grocery outlet. One day while doing brodies with the forklift in the back lot....with a full pallet of canned goods ..... the pallet tipped, the friend quipped and dad flipped (wink). We won't even get into the story of the same friend and the cows.... Anyways, John is loving the forklift scene and has been encouraged against pulling a 'Bradley'. There is hope on the horizon that John will be getting on with the forestry service in Soldotna in the coming months. He has found out that they have a program to hire and train on site, which could have him working the summer fire lines. Not sure how all of this will affect his new job, although the owner of this company is a retired Fire Chief and has already let John know he will work with John on helping to accommodate any needs he has. Cool beans!

Other than this, we are really wanting Spring to spring, and happy that it is getting light out again. I did manage to get a few promised pics from the plow-cam. Guess we need to work on that a bite, don't we....maybe next winter I will have this feature perfected! however, here are a few nice shots taken from the beach here in Nikiski when we took the dogs snowshoeing. This was 2 Sundays ago. Was a brilliant, crisp and cold day. Enjoy and our hopes to every bodies health, happiness, and summer to come!

Now if that does'nt...

....doesn't make you poop yourself.... This is what we saw on the news stand walking into Carrs (Safeway in the lower 48) this afternoon. Now, if we didn't already know that : #1 It was snowing all day so there is no way that this could be a photo from today. #2 We already drove form Nikiski to Kenai and saw no evidence suggesting otherwise. #3 Nobody around us seemed to phased.... we surely would have lost it! And rightfully so. This is a photo that is fairly popular from the 1989 eruption. No, as of post tonight there has been no eruption. People here are going about there lives like nothing is out of the ordinary, as are we. Truthfully, I am really holding on to that whole 'fart' theory, but am prepared for the worst. It just seems like it will be a huge pain in the butt for potentially a long while if it does go. Who knows, man!

In other news, John has landed himself one great job! As you know, he is now getting out of school at 11:30 daily, since he has more than enough credits to graduate. The deal here was: you get out early, you need to find a job. We could not see the sense in him just hanging around, doing nothing. Mind you, that is not John anyways, but it was the agreement. So he is now working part time at an electric supply house outside of Kenai. Woo-hoo man! The really good thing is that after school in June he will probably be going full time, which will provide him with the old fashioned benefits...paid vacation, medical, ect. We are so happy for him. And talk about God opening a door for each that he closes, John found out within a couple days of getting this job that the Italian joint was going to lay him off due to lack of business and family matters. you know how those 'family' matters are with the Italians... =) So, yeah, it all came together like a good book!

I had the strange honor of teaching a couple pottery classes at Nikiski High a couple weeks ago. Strange, only because I of all people would have been the last to ever think that 'I' could teach anything. I am the one who used to be sick the days that I had to stand up in front of the class to do reports. But, I was asked by the art teacher, and spent a couple days helping the middle school class throwing clay on the potters wheel. They were stoked! It was really fun, and I only wish I had more time to have been able to attend more with them. But it was fun, and worked out well. I have been told that I can do an appearance anytime I have the time, so maybe next week I will pop in and see how they are all doing with what they have learned. We have had snow litely most of the day, and it has picked up this afternoon and evening, so it looks as if I will be going out around midnight to begin my plowing run. I have installed the 'Plow-Cam' on the plow, so hopefully the next post I will have some awesome 'real time' pics of plowing snow. Cool, huh!? Always trying to make it all better for everyone to see!! This is what I do. Take care, and stay safe out there. Our love to all!

Still going....

Good news is....we're still here! Woo-hoo!! After a statewide DSL outage with our local telecommunications company, we are finally starting to get our computer and internet access back. We are still limping with John and Maryann's PC and the router. When I called tech support tonight at ACS to get some help getting it all back online, I was told on a recording that the wait time would be approximately 154 minutes. Riiight. And ACS's moto...."We're there!" Truth is, seldom are they or have they ever in our time in Alaska, 'been there'. I do have an updated link for the Alaska Volcano Observatory. It is Alaska Volcano Observatory - Redoubt - Activity Page This is similar to one of the prior links, only it will take you directly to the activity page. On the right side of that page if you scroll down about half way, you can click on one of two web cams to see firsthand what we are seeing. The first is from the hut just 7 miles from Redoubt's summit, and the second is from one of the Unocal oil platforms out in the bay. Also towards the top of the page, if you click on that middle photo, you will have a bevy of current close-ups from fly overs at the volcano's summit. Meantime, we are as prepared as we can be. It is really hard to gauge how bad an eruption may be. Could be...a fart (good analogy, Barb) or it could be apocalyptic. No matter what happens though, it is going to potentially somehow inconvenience alot of people. Truthfully, we are not too worried. Again, when you pick up your family and their lives and move stone cold 3000 miles away, across another country and an ocean, to start life over at $0.00 income, with no assurances that anything is going to work out right....it is really hard to be too afraid of much of anything. Especially when the good lord brought you through with remarkable and unbelievable results!

We finally got a good blast of snow last week. Brought in 4 days of consecutive plowing for me, much needed money, and a nice blanket to add to what we lost with that last warm-up. Night time temps are getting back down to -25 below 0, and daytime temps just creeping over -0. Out of a combined concern for the current weight with the snow on the roof, and the possibility of additional weight from any ash fall, John went up Sunday and started shoveling off the roof. Oh, it was about -10 when these pics were shot! It is amazing how very little amount of ash, can crate enormous weight, capable of collapsing roofs. Again, just trying to stay a half step ahead of potential issues. All in all we are just continuing on with life, as is much of the peninsula these days. Many veterans of the 1989 eruption are seasoned and very much unaffected by the most recent developments. I would like to say that we are following their lead, but that would be a misrepresentation of the real deal. But we are, however, just taking one day at a time, and figuring..."thy will be done". As Grandma Travale used to say..."whata me gonna do?" Amen to that, Grandma! Stay tuned. Love to all!!