30 weeks & Goodbye Green Carpet!!

Dan came back to Anchorage a little bit early on Friday and surprised me, which it was wonderful to see him sooner than expected even though it was only for one night. He came back just in time to help me pick out the colors of paint for the baby's room (we were successful this time around!). Unfortunately he had to leave Saturday morning and couldn't stay for the fun a few friends and I had remodeling the baby's room. THANK YOU Tom, Pam, Angela and Mark - you helped so much I can't even begin to describe it. The awful green carpet is no more, even though we still have a few weeks until the cork flooring arrives. Everyone helped me dismantle the room (doors off hinges, etc) and paint. It makes such a difference having a lighter floor.
It is fantastic to have gotten so much work done in such a short period of time. I banished myself outside into the fresh air - and sun I might add - and painted all the doors. I think Guapo had fun too because I left him in the backyard all day - he got to chew sticks galore!


I think it's coming up on prime blueberry picking time in AK - a bit later than usual due to the cool summer, but better late than never! My friend Mikal and I went for a short hike up near Little O'Malley and found some nice blueberry patches there, enough to fill up a couple of nalgenes. Mikal and I were talking about a huge bull moose he saw just two days ago in the same area, when we looked up the hill and saw a big cow moose coming our way. Even though we didn't have any sun, we did have a spectacular view of Denali and a nice walk for a couple hours.

I found this cute light switch plate that has the colors I like in it...hopefully Baby will like them too!

Cape Lisborne

Cape Lisborne is as northwest as you can get in Alaska.  We arrived here on a clear evening, but the mountain top has been shrouded by clouds ever since.  When we had our camp orientation, the danger of bears was hammered into us-  there’s a gallery of polar bears that had to be shot after breaking into the facilities and we were told stories of a brown bear with cubs that’s been seen in the nearby area.  So, after three days here, what have we seen?  Squirrels and a fox....  that’s it...  no bears, no caribou, no whales.

At least this job was the most straightforward yet- until the time we called for our air charter.  It turns out that the pilots were checking misleading instruments at the end of the runway rather than calling the weather observer here on site.  Yesterday and the first half of today was a ‘weather hold’ in their eyes.  We’ve had 7 planes come in during our weather hold no problem!  Well, that gave me some time to visit the quarry and take a look around.  The site mechanic showed the sergeant and I the 6-wheeler and sent us on our way.  He gave us a 30-second review which included 'put it in low when you go on the beach'.  I pocketed that gem for later-

So, we visit the quarry and I collect my samples while the sergeant looks around and sees a rookery down the beach.  We've got a few hours to kill before the plane arrives, so I figure we can make it down there, look at some rocks and birds and still make it back for the plane, plus 6-wheelers can travel on the beach, right?  no more than 20 feet off the road, we're bogged down AND a wave runs right up to where we're stuck.  Lucky for us, it was a freak wave and no more of them came close.  The sergeant shifts it into low gear, and we just sink lower into the sand.  It took a highlift jack, some wood, and pushing, repeated about a half dozen times to make it back up on the road.  We considered briefly calling on the radio for a tow, but there was no way I wanted to listen to that around camp... once we made our way back to camp and tell the story to the guys in the shop, one asks "Did you put it into all-wheel drive?"  Me: Uhh, you mean a 6-wheeler isn't always in all-wheel drive? - I guess not...  a good lesson to learn, I only wish I took a few more pictures!

Here's some other pictures:

Kotzebue

Kotzebue has changed since the last time I was here a few years ago.  Although the coffee shop is now gone, there's sidewalks, joggers, and traffic, which makes no sense when gas is $7.15/gallon.

The site is not as nice as Tin City was since it's in a community and the radar facility is near an area where residents like to have bonfires and party.  There's even a few bullet holes in the upper skin of the dome to prove it.  Nothing was happening while we were there, which is probably for the better...

Unfortunately we weren't able to complete the job for now due to some equipment problems, so on to Cape Lisborne-

28 weeks & Mt. Alyeska

I went out for a hike this weekend to get some fresh air and enjoy the Girdwood sunshine! One of my friends/co-workers from Russia was in town and he wanted to go hike the mountain - we got lucky because it was a pretty nice day all around at Alyeska. There was one lady one who could not believe I was on the mountain - and she babbled on for 5 minutes about how great it was that I was out getting some exercise and doing something healthy for the baby. I took a day trip to the Slope on Friday and the ladies at the check-in were so nice as well - even making sure that I had a very comfortable seat that had lots of room for me to relax. The flight attendants were great as usual, but even more so once they noticed my bump. I find it interesting how many people talk to you when you are noticeably expecting - and how nice people are to you. I bet things change later on when you have a screaming toddler running around.





I have been watching the fireweed in our backyard grow this summer, and there is one stalk in particular that is even taller than Dan! We took a photo once the sun came around last week before he took off (27 week belly shot).

Tin City

I started a whirlwind tour of the state before the baby arrives in order to visit some new places and to build up some extra vacation time!  I arrived in Tin City this morning to 45°F and 25 knot winds- a beautiful August day in these parts.

The project I'm working on involves replacing communication antennas at 14 remote sites around Alaska.  Tin City is the first site, at the western end of the Seward Peninsula, 700 miles from Anchorage.

A former White Alice site, it reportedly housed about 200 workers at one time.  Before that it was an active tin mine with some gold placer deposits as well.  Today the clouds haven't cleared above 600-feet yet, so I haven't seen the mountain top, or anything more than a few miles away.  They say you can see Big Diomede Island (Russia) from the summit site.  If the weather improves we're planning a tram ride (picture wire basket, not Alps-style tram) to the top of the mountain.  I hope I brought enough warm clothing!

I just noticed that my telephone is labeled warning me "Do Not Disclose Classified Information", so I better end here-  more to come!  (hope you like the picture- the hair is a result of ridiculous wind...)

L.A.

I had my last work trip before the baby comes to the LA area this week and my mom flew out from Colorado to meet me for a girl's weekend! We had a ton of fun Friday and Saturday walking around the Venice Beach, Muscle Beach Santa Monica Beach, and all the areas inbetween. We had lunch at ocean side cafes, smoothies near the beach, walked on the piers, rode the Santa Monica Carousel and got the obligatory mani & pedi! We stayed in Marina del Rey and had great weather - what a break from the rain of Alaska. I lost my head and got one of the worst sunburns of my life...I haven't seen sun this intense sine we were in Hawaii in January, and it didn't even cross my mind that I would be more sensitive to sunlight while pregnant. It was fun because everywhere we went people though we were friends on a weekend out, and they were surprised to find out we were mother-daughter! Such a short visit but what fun to get to spend time with my mom! Now it's almost time to go home...so sad :(. I'm looking forward to seeing Mom again in November in Alaska!






A very silly photo of my toenails...