Anchorage and Talkeetna trip

Here are some pictures from my latest trip:

 

 

Happy Autumn

I finally found apple cider, and yes I really did buy this. 

I made an edible supper!

Quesadillas with cheese, salsa and cut up black bean burgers and sweet potato fries. 

I was expecting the sweet potatoes to be orange but when I cut them up they were white!

Best Buds

I was able to snap this picture of Casper and Trick who led during yesterday's training run. 

I didn't like Casper at first but now he's one of my favorite dogs. 

Ptarmigan- it's what's for dinner!

Lynx solved the issue of what to make for dinner Wednesday night because he caught and killed a ptarmigan!  Ptarmigan aren't the most intelligent animals, but we're still very proud of him. 

Popcorn night

Jura's favorite night!  Popcorn is her favorite. We went for a walk last night but she decided to turn around and ran home. 

The "Most Expensive Meat"

While walking through AC yesterday, Garvey found "the most expensive meat I've ever touched".

Can you beat it?

End of the Rainbow

Last week I went to Anchorage with DC....For the day. It was full of lots of driving and appointments, shopping and some too quick visits with friends. 

We did get a chance to drive out of town though down the Seward highway to Girdwood for dinner. It was rainy but the Turnagain Arm was gorgeous as always and we got to see this rainbow and where it met with the land:

Free Book Shelf Find

Since I've decided That I need to learn how to cook, I've been looking at recipe books and cooking shows and the like. I guess the Universe was paying attention and at the free book shelf in the Cultural Center I found about 50 gourmet cooking magazines. I only took a couple and tire out the pages I want.... I'm going to make a binder of recipes I like.

Lynx had a good time looking over the magazines too.

I found a few salmon ones, some things to do with potatoes (since I'll be able to harvest my potatoes soon), but the ones I'm most excited for are how to make popovers and Spanish omelets!  I already know how to make Spanish omelets and haven't eaten one in ages, but every time I've made them before they come out in a huge mess. So here's hoping that

Lynx and I will be able to handle it!

The Cost of Laundry

I saw this in one f the convenience stores here which also serves as a small laundromat. 

Update

This week I've been busy working and trying to get things done. the new VISTA Virginia came. It finally stopped raining and today I went for a nice walk along the river after work. 

 I had my first graduate class on Wednesday- Introduction to Public Management. It's taught online via video conference from Juneau. I think I'm going to officially enroll in the Masters of Public Administration program in the spring. I'm only taking one class this semester just to get y feet wet. 

I'm finally starting to unpack and will be picking up a dresser tomorrow! I'm very excited to stop living out of suitcases. 

All the birds are starting to migrate back so maybe I'll be able to see more birds.  I'm still really awful at birding. I need a new hobby. But, birds are fun.  Speaking of birds, the chickens are molting right now so no eggs.  They're still fun to watch though!

The pups are good, kind of mischievous. They're learning some commands. "Sit" is still hard for them because they are so wiggly. Birch still falls asleep in your arms like a baby:  

Sushi Night

Even up here we have sushi!  No cooking tonight!

Katrina and the Geese

On the walk back to the house, four white fronted geese crossed the path in front of us. The pups had a good time sniffing the "trail", but once Katrina saw them she was OFF and ran after them for half a mile. Thankfully, she came back!

Great Alaskan Thrift Store Find!

I found a pair of Xtra Tuf boots at the thrift store for 4 bucks! Such a steal! An they are the ones made in the USA too, not the cheap ones now made in China. They retail for over $100. Xtra Tufs, like bunny boots and Carhartt bibs are standard Alaska wear. I feel like a real Alaskan know!  These ones fit and don't give me blisters like my current ones. 

I thought I was going for a nice walk...

...but it turns out Earnhardt wanted to run instead. Silly for me to think otherwise! So I got some unexpected exercise before work. 

He must think I'm one slow wheel dog but we're still buds and he was very snuggly (he's usually more on the aloof side). 

Qaspeq Wednesday

A lot of schools and some workplaces out here have "Qaspeq Wednesdays" where people wear qaspeqs on....Wednesdays. 

These are some qaspeqs in the gift shop that use more modern and bright prints vs.the more traditional calico prints. I don't prefer one over the other, I think both are nice. I need to get sewing!

Dinner Date

DC and I have both been trying to impress each other with our cooking skills. Of course there's certain road blocks in this, such as he is a vegetarian and my favorite food is hot dogs, and sometimes meal planning can get interesting with food availability. 

So tonight, I made kale chips:

 

And he made another one of his vitamix soups that cooks in the blender or something:

I think he wins this round. 

Watermelons

Many of my loyal readers/fans and Anchorage friends have probably heard me talk about the price watermelons here more than once. The price of a watermelon here can easily be $50. This year we've had a lot of yellow watermelons, and Yesterday in AC I saw these:

And here's a picture of Yukon just because she's cute:

Visit to Quinhagak and Nunalleq Site

Wednesday and Thursday I spent most of the day in Quinhagak in meetings regarding the Nunalleq archaeology dig and what steps would come from the finds there, such as upcoming meetings, workshops, capacity building, and involvement of organizations. 

The archaeology site and the artifacts they found and shared with the community were amazing. 

Here is the site. You can see how close it is to the Bering Sea. The site is in extreme danger of eroding away, and part of it already has. The location of the original 2009 dig site is now somewhere in the Bering Sea. 

Part of a boardwalk. 

A mask depicting transformation into Wolf. 

A whole uluaq or woman's cutting knife used to cut fish or whatever (still widely used today)

The start of a coil basket which was very exciting because it shows proof of pre-contact coil weaving/basketry. Some claim that Yupik people were instructed on how to make coil baskets by missionaries. 

A more "open" weave used in what is believed to be a bag for carrying the fish. The open weave allows are to flow through so the fish don't get gross and slimy. 

When the Moravian Missionaries came, Eskimo dancing was banned. This year, a dance group formed and Quinhagak dancers performed at the Cama'i Dance Festival in Bethel last March. Wednesday was the first time a public Eskimo Dance performance had taken place in Quinhagak in 100 years. The students who performed did an awesome job!

Quinhagak is a gorgeous village and I really enjoyed visiting it. I can't wait to go back!

Our housing accommodations were phenomenal. We stayed in a very toasty Quansit hut that had bunk beds!

The flight back was pretty bumpy, but I got some great pictures of the tundra. Does anyone else think that this section of land looks like North and South America?

Mystery Bird- Solved?

Saw this guy on our porch Sunday and has been identified by the Bethel Birders as a juvenile northern shrike. Maybe. 

Just another day in the Grocery Store

I have a really hard time trying to explain to people not only are the prices here outrageous (3x on some things than they are in CT/Anchorage, some things more, some things less) but really bizarre things happen in the grocery stores as well.  And it's not completely their fault but sometimes I have to wonder what the heck is going on. 

AC now has some fancy cheeses but once again is/was out of milk.  The avacados are all bad, and they had one package of hot dog buns left that were marked 50% off because two were taken out of the package. 

Neck lines and Tug lines

I spent Sunday (slowly) making necklines and tug lines for the dogs. A neckline attaches the dogs collar to the gangline (the big rope that goes down the middle and connects all the dogs together) and a tug line is where the dogs actually pull from and connects the back of their harness to the gangline. 

To make the lines first you need to cut the rope to size and then burn the ends so they don't fray and to make it easier to pull them through. 

Then to make the loop where the clips go , you put one end of the rope through the other and then put that end through the other one to lock it, then put the excess Into the middle of the rope to hide it.  Casie has a board with nails in it that helps you measure how long the line needs to be and how big the loops need to be. 

I got all the tug lines done but still need to do the necklines....