Barb's Blog

In spite of being on Capital Hill much of the time, I was still involved in three of the meetings, the battle of the books selection session, and other odds and ends.

This is the amazing group of individuals I had the priveledge of working with this past year as president for AkASL.  What a hard working supportive group of people!

These were the NEW t-shirts/sweatshirts we sold this year at conference.  Slogan: “Staying Connected: The Key To Success”.  We also had our cute little puffin icon.  We sold or gave away all but about 13.

Battle of the Books selection for 2007-2008 is a big deal for school librarians.  Shelly Logston had everything organized ready to go.  It looks like we’ve got a good slate of titles for next year!

I spent 4 days in Juneau last week at the annual Alaska Library Conference.  Though the time was jammed with lots of good workshops I would love to have attended, I spent the first 3 days on Capital Hill lobbying for a bill the school librarians are going to try to put through the legislature.  If the bill passes as plans, every active school library in our state will receive a yearly grant of $2500 for schools with more than 6 teachers, and $750 for schools with less than 6.

We worked hard to get our bill in draft form, trying to find primary and  secondary sponsors, and getting our ducks in a row to spread the news on the next steps to Alaska School Librarians around the state.  Here’s a few pictures from the 3 days up on the hill.

Suzanne and I had gone to visit her house representative Mary Nelson.  2 years ago Suzanne received the Alaska School Librarian of the Year Award.  Mary wanted to present her with a certificate.   Mary Nelson is going to be one of the co-sponsors for the bill.

Donny Olson, a Democrat from Nome, standing on the left, is one of our two primary sponsors for the bill. The gentleman on the right is our lobbyist, Clark Gruening.

 Tim B., on the right, is an aide for Ralph Samuels.  Though Samuels will not be able to sponsor our bill, it was his office that took our proposal and got it put into a working draft.  Tim has been a wonderful support, giving us suggestions of key individuals to talk to for potential sponsors.

I called John Harris, our Valdez House Representative, to let him know I was going to be in Juneau.  He had given me some nice support way back in October to get this bill in place.  I decided to stop by to keep him in the loop.  He took time to take us to chamber and have our photos taken. Too bad the quality is so bad!

We woke up to a beautiful sunny Saturday. After a great sourdough pancake breakfast, Bill proceeded to mix up a large quantity of dough from the extra sponge he had put together Friday night. He was all hot to trot to try out a recipe where you cooked the bread in a dutch oven. Here’s a sample of the sponge before it got mixed up for the many menu items to follow.:

The goal for the day was to get Rudy out for a walk, and run down a ptarmigan. The thought was, if we could bag a bird we’d replace Saturday evening’s sourdough chicken/feta cheese pizza with ptarmigan.

We headed for the Valdez Glacier. Everyone else had decided it was a good day to get out as well. Lots of people out walking dogs, skiing, snow machining and hiking, just like us.

We had the advantage of getting off the beaten trail a little having our snow shoes on. It really was a beautiful day!

We proceeded to follow along a ridge of willows and hadn’t travelled far before we heard that distinct clucking sound of a ptarmigan. We quietly located one sitting in the branches of a willow, and two more nearby.

Bill plopped the single easily. The challenge was getting our “retriever” Rudy to go pick him up and bring him back. After several attempts Bill retrieved the bird himself. Then, after much modeling, coaxing, and extenstive praise, Rudy finally fetched the bird up a couple of times.

Hmmmm! Who’s being trained here?!? (Believe it or not, Rudy is tentatively caring the bird in his mouth back to Bill!)

So Saturday night we feasted on Ptarmigan Pizza that was first sauted in garlic and bacon grease, then added to the other  toppings. Not bad!

But the sourdough saga is not through. Bill still had more dough to deal with. He ended up making a nice batch of cinnamon rolls for Sunday breakfast. Yum!

Below is the Other batch that he was experimenting with. He had found a recipe in the Minneapolis Star Tribune which did not involve kneading and was cooked in our little 8″ dutch oven. I neglected to get a shot while the bread was still in the pot. (Next time). Not bad for a first attempt we decided. We’ve had more bread in the past 2 days than several weeks! Guess it’s time to get out on those snow shoes again and burn off a few of those calories!

I have to admit, I was not looking forward to traveling back to Minnesota during the busy Christmas holiday season and driving from place to place to place to place to see everyone.

It couldn’t have gone any better! We started our holiday down in Alden with Bill’s family. Check out Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and December 26th down on the farm.

We must be on the farm. There’s the bell!

Christmas Eve there was a house full. Bob & Delores, Don, Linda, Erik & Becca, Ann, Wayne and the kids, Bill & Arlene, and Bill, Katie and I.

Great seeing Linda & Don & Kids!

The brothers: Bill and Bob.

Bryse, Maurene, and Donovan.

Becca and Donald.

A great photo of Arlene!

The next day Bill Sr, Bill, Katie and I headed over to the East Woods for a little exploring.

Kate and I had to do a little tree climbing.

Bill Sr. had to collect a little corn for the birds before we returned home.

The sun sets on the farm are beautiful. This shot was taken right outside the house in the yard.

We’ve had three or four days of clear skies which was nice because it coincided with the full moon. Wednesday after school Jane Haltness and I snowshoed above the ferry terminal as the full moon came up.  No camera.  Drat! Thursday night two friends and I snowshoed out behind Robe River. It was beautiful with the moonbeam shining on the surrounding mountains flashing sparkles of light on the hoarfrost. Unfortunately my camera froze up and I was unable to get a group photo.  Double Drat!!

Yesterday dad and I decided to take a longer trek to the same area. We ended up hiking for over 2 hours. Check out the photos.

We heard on Thursday that Friday was going to be a real snow dump and that it would be followed by rain. (This was After, our official 10 feet recorded by the Valdez Weather service!)

(Just a random shot of a neighbor’s car)

Rain after having as much snow as we’ve had really gets people up on the roof or out to their boats quickly. When it rains the snow becomes like a huge sponge causing that much more weight. Lots of high school kids are making a little extra cash shoveling for people. They charge a round $200 a roof.

(This is an “Old Town” home moved after the 64′ Earthquake that’s around the cornor from us.)

So I woke up Friday morning at 5:30 a.m. to around 18 inches of fresh snow. After shoveling a path down the sidewalk I scooped enough snow to get the car out the garage for work and walked Rudy before getting ready for school. The pass was closed all day. There were 2 avalanches. Nobody was coming in or out of Valdez.

Sometime on Friday the snow that had been accumulating on the roof this past week dumped onto the back deck so I knew Saturday was going to be a busy day of shoveling. I’ve been lucky. Though I’ve started and ended my days this week shoveling, I’ve had a little help from our neighbor across the street while I’m at work. That was a real blessing!

Check out the Saturday morning 8:30 sunrise that greeted me. Yup! That’s some of the snow that needed to get removed.

While I was shoveling a way, the snow load on the garage roof gave way. It’s wonderful having a snow shedding roof!

Check out the chunk that came off….. And notice the neighbor’s yard! They don’t have much window viewing left!

Rudy kept me company while I shoveled the back deck. It took me about an hour.

TA DA!  I finished the job!  Bill will be pleased!

Take note Bunny, I am shoveling up…..

Here’s the view from our bedroom. Yup! I could climb out the 2nd story window and walk down if necessary. Sigh…..

I told Zac I’d put up a picture of the various snow implements we use. They all have their specific use.

You may be curious, why the push broom? When I come home from work, often there is a good foot or two of snow on the car roof. We can push the snow off easily using the broom. Also, after the car comes out of the garage there are often standing puddles of water. The broom works well to push it all out the door.

Enough snow stories! I’ve got the house cleaned up and Bill should be coming home within the hour. There’s a bottle of cabernet chilling. It will be good to have him home! Then HE can take over the shoveling again!

Bill left for Hawaii yesterday. Luckily he plowed the drive way and shoveled the sidewalk before leaving. BUT, by the time I arrived we had already had another 2 inches and the roof had dumped on the driveway and back deck. Here’s a picture of Rudy on the front porch right before I came into the house for the evening after shoveling the driveway to get the car in the garage.

After coming into the house I took off my wet clothes. Bill had left me a suprise on our bed. What a sweetie! Got to think this through though…… I get 9 pieces of chocolate. He gets Hawaii……

So today I pretty much stayed in bed until close to noon. I decided to take Rudy for a walk and get a few more snow pictures. Check them out

This is how my friend Judy’s house looks during a heavy winter of snow.

What would we do without the city’s great snow removal service?!?

This is pretty much what everyone was doing today! After my walk and a brief visit from some friends, I tackled the back deck and put more bird seed in the feeder. Now it’s around 7:00 and the wind has come up. It’s gusting pretty high right now. I have my trusty flashlight at the ready. I just checked the Valde weather on the internet. It’s gusting 31 – 50 mph. It kicked off the street lights for a few minutes. Time to get the flannel p.j.’s on and do a little reading. All for now.

Well, the guys are packing up to head to town. Wah!:( It’s been wonderful having Bill with us for the last 10 days. The guys have plugged away on the chair for the past few days. Here’s a few pics of the work in progress.

The little birds are loving the new feeder and the crows, ravens and magpies are having lots of difficulties getting the seeds.  They’re usually such pigs and always enhaled all the sunflower seeds from the old feeder.  The little guys never had a chance….

It’s pretty much been snowing steady. We probably have gotten another 24 inches in the past 2 days. This is the view looking across the street at Gilson’s today.

Bill snow shoed up Hogsback with friends yesterday. Check out his blog for more pictures.

We’ve been pretty much just hanging out playing Farkle, Pinocle and spending time together.

I started writing thank you cards today. Fun choosing from Erin’s great selection. They’re pretty cool!!

Katie started packing for the return home. It’s been fun having her with us. We hope she has a safe and awesome time in India.

Bill fixed fresh guacamoli, prime rib, and home-made apple pie to celebrate our time together. YUMMY! It’s about time for the dieting to begin….

Christmas began abruptly with a 6:30 am phone call from Bill and Erin. Great hearing from them. Katie was amazed at her Christmas sock this year. Check it out….

Neosportin, tooth brush/floss, Airborn. Pretty much a worried Santa thinking about the upcoming traveler to India.

Check out a sample of Erin’s card extraviganzas! No excuse not to write a letter with awesome cards like these. Thanks Erin! I love this!

Rudy was checking for lost chocolate. Watch out for that tongue!

Bill and Katie filling up the new bird feeder. Hoping this one will keep the crows away.

Went snow shoeing out behind Robe River subdivision today with Grechen and Allen. Judy Almy’s daughter and son-in-law. Saw eagles.

We celebrated the holdiay with prime rib and yorkshire pudding. Yum!