from the dome home

2011-01-23T14:27:00.003-09:00

Coultrin's Castle

Well, Sean & I have been down in “Fairbanks South” at Coultrin's Camp for about 3 weeks now. The house, or Coultrin's Castle is coming along nicely & we even have a bed in the bedroom, a kitchen counter, an island, a spare bed/couch for guests a makeshift table and a few canvas chairs.

The front view with the arch...Sean is working hard

Every day we wake up and marvel at the beauty around us, at the amazing sunrises and spectacular sunsets, the flocks of black throated sparrows, “our” covey of scaled quail that all come by each morning for the bird seed we put out and the water basin that we keep filled. Our other wildlife sitings have been 12 ibex by the road, 9 javelina by the house, 10 audad on the ridge above our place, an antelope squirrel, a coyote right out in front, the occasional ravens, many raptors and lots of little birdies whose names we don't know yet.

Sunrise view from the castle

Each winter that I am here there are new things to appreciate & enjoy. One of them this year is the house. Though I do miss some things about camping and our campsite, it is so nice to walk into a warm home in the cool evenings and mornings. I have to get out of bet and go outside to hear the “cheep cheep cheep” of the sparrows. “House hygiene” is also much easier than “camp hygiene.” The house is dug into the hill so it will stay cool when the weather warms up and it stays pretty warm through our cold snaps.

Our windmill and old truck

Another thing that I've been enjoying this year are the people in the area. Our neighbors Gary and Cheryl had a get together & what a wonderful group of people live near by. Sean and I visited one woman, Carolyn, in her beautiful adobe home. What a lovely person and a lovely house. It was built from adobe bricks that were made on site out of local soil. The next day we visited Virgil a long time local rock hound who is a friend of our good friends Pam and Ken. He's got a lot of knowledge pf the local history and geology. It isof course always wonderful to spend time with Pam and Ken. They have been very kind and generous to us. (fridge space, water tank, bed...) I shoul d also mention Margarete at the quilt store. Every time I stop in to say hello she gives me some new and good information.

Another great view

Our other fellow “Fairbanks Southers” Jim and Steve have been down on their property and last weekend we went into Big Bend National Park for a great hike on the Lost Mine Trail then a soak in the hot springs on the Rio Grande. The moon was out and it was a great soak. There was even a camp fire on the Mexican side, other folks enjoying the night.

This fall has been very dry with no rain since August. All of the tinajas up Coultrin's Canyon are dry. We took a hike up Well Creek, a bit south and west of our place. It's a dry wash this time of year. We hiked to a place where we saw springs last March, nothing but dry. We continued up the canyon then stopped at a side canyon with a 4 foot pour off to have a bite to eat. After about 5 to 10 minutes a bee started buzzing around. We thought that it was strange how fast the bee found us and I thought there must be some water nearby. We headed up the little side canyon and after about 400 yards we saw some green shrubs and trees. Sean was up ahead and yelled “Water!” There were a series of water holes filled with water. This little canyon must have tapped into some underground water and was providing water to the wildlife in the ares. We saw many tracks in the mud and bees were buzzing around. The only human tracks though were our own.

Just about every walk or hike we take Sean will exclaim, “We're seeing something cool everr 3 to 5 minutes!” Even for a short 2 hour hike, that's a lot of cool stuff. My most exciting thing on a hike was falling into a cat's claw bush, leading with my face. Only 2 visible scratches on my face, many on my arm (I should have kept my long sleeved shirt on) and one thorn I had to pull out of the inside of my upper lip. If It hadn't broken off I'd have been hooked like a fish!

Needless to say we are enjoying ourselves, our friends and looking forward to the other folks who are planning on visiting us in Big Bend Country or coming down to their place in “Fairbanks South”.

A panorama in the Chisos Basin from the Lost Mine Trail, Big Bend National Park

The Very Cool Mountain

2010-08-02T14:19:00.002-08:00

View from the top.

Karle climbing.

Basalt at the top.

Basalt.

Photo Shoot

2010-06-06T19:09:00.003-08:00

Our good friend Mark Conde was kind enough to take some pictures of us for our invitations. He took over 300 and the first was the best. Here a few of my favorites.

Photo #1

Photo #2

Photo #302 Sean is getting tired.

Here's the details on the invite...

Sharon Alden and Sean McGuire

are very happy to announce

their marriage!

1 PM Saturday August 28th, 2010

Cloudberry Lookout B & B

Fairbanks, Alaska

Please Join Us!

(907) 479-7334

Sean and I have been busy getting addresses, running a B & B, doing paperwork for the bed tax, working on weather for the fires, putting the floor in on the ground floor of "Little Cloudberry", trying to get fluoride out of the Fairbanks water system, playing volleyball,walking the dog, keeping up with our friends and reading a big book on Muhammad Ali. I'll let you figure out which belongs to which and which are shared.

Other news is that my "little sister" (from Big Brothers, Big Sisters) who is 18 now, got a job at the warehouse at Alaska Fire Service. This is a great thing for an 18 year-old in a tight job market. She is enjoying it and I think they will enjoy her. She is a smart and hard worker.

Back in Fairbanks and Pictures of Fairbanks South

2010-05-02T12:01:00.003-08:00

Sean and I are all back in Fairbanks now for the start of spring. We had a nice big May Day party last night.

Here's a few pictures from the desert.

The Fairbanks south home as I last saw it.

Me on a cool evening walk.

Ocotillo blooming!

Out of the desert...

2010-02-25T20:58:00.005-09:00

I've left the desert and am now in Boise but goingto Fairbanks tomorrow . Here's a jumble of photos.

Some of the Fairbanks South folks just before I got on the train.

A butterfly in the Academey of Sciences.

The current version of the church my parents got married in.

Peace at Bernal Heights park.

1/2 rolled resurvation fern.

Sean on the rocks on Pinks Peak.

An overview and some close-ups...

2010-02-09T08:49:00.008-09:00

Sean and a few visiting friends are putting the dry wall up on the ceiling today. It's very exciting! I'm leaving for the start of my trip back to AK Thursday. I'm bummed that I'll miss the windows and doors. I might try to fit another visit in this spring.

And now...another melange of photos.

A friend came down with his small plane and Sean went for a ride. This is our place. You can see the house being built in the center and up and to the left, in the canyon is our camp.

It rained a bunch when I was in San Antonio and the wash ran with the rainfall. Sean again got some pictures so I could see what it was like. It's not running now but there is still a lot of water in the holes.

This is sotol.

A view of the house from the trail into the canyon.

A bunch cactus.

Close-up of candelia.

Close-up of a brown spine prickly pear.

Close-up of a blind cactus prickly pear. It has very small spines and they will get you!

Blind cactus.

Prickly pear.

Resurection fern. This plant curls up and dries out to a brown and dead looking thing. It waits for the rain; then it unfurls and turns GREEN.

Close-up of the resurection fern. It was very exciting to see these turn green and open up.

The Castle-a few pictures.

2010-01-29T15:03:00.003-09:00

What it looks loke on a rainy day.

A pretty sunset.

oops, forgot to rotate this. WATER in the wash. The animals are happy and so are we.

Artsy fartsy view from inside the west turret.

Sean in a turret.

A recent view. It's changing all the time!

Would you believe more pictures?

2010-01-25T10:42:00.004-09:00

Low sunset light on the candalia, and lecheguia. Not sure about the spelling

Sunset light on the Chisos.

Do you see the redish birdie in the bush? Click to blow the image up and get a better look.

More birds going after our birdseed.

Clouds ove Nine Point Mesa

Santiago Peak.

When there are clouds we take more pictures...They are pretty rare.

Photos of the Castle

2010-01-22T11:42:00.003-09:00

A selection of the work in progress.

Another Day in the Big Bend

2010-01-21T12:59:00.004-09:00

There's outstanding mountains,

Amazing sunsets,

Cool clouds over big mesa's with suprisingly lush vegetation,

Men who like to climb up on things,

Old cemetaries,

The Rio Grande and Mexico (on the left),

Cool mountains, and did I mention,

The Sunsets!

January in the Desert!

2010-01-14T10:02:00.006-09:00

Sean and I are enjoying the desert southwest in Big Bend country. Hiking soaking up the sunshine, (But it's raining today!), building and listening to the birds. There is a covey of quail hanging out near camp and that is very cool and this morning we heard the canyon wren wake up call for the first time.

You can click on the pictures to "embiggen."

Yesterday in the late afternoon we took a drive to a new area for me. We were heading toward a small mountain. It's about 4,000 ft elevation and about 1000 ft above the general terrain. We got some great pictures loking west as the sun was getting lower.

As we drove around to the west side we saw 4 mule deer and got a decent picture of at least one. Look closely just left of center.

And then got around to the west side, WOW.

There was also a view of the Chisos Mountains in Big Bend National Park in the picture on the right. (It looks a little small in the picture but it's impressive in person.) There's a porch in the town of Terliingua where folks gather to watch the sunlight fadeing on the Chisos.

Sean was going to hike up the the bench about 1/2 way up to the peak but of course scrambled all the way up in about 1/2 hour to the top then yelled down. "TAKE MY PICTURE!!" I got it, but he's very small.

This is amazing counry here.

Much going on and some sadness and some good things.

2009-02-25T10:22:00.002-09:00

A few quick notes...

I'm back from DC and the desert.

I've "discovered" face book and have been spending my internet time there.

The sadness is that Dave Lacey passed away yesterday afternoon. He'd been fighting cancer for a few years. He was an amazing, strong and generous man. There will be a Dave shaped hole in Fairbanks.

The good stuff is that some friends of mine "swapped" kidneys. Well, not really swapped, no one got the bad one. Both are recovering now.

Some old sadness is that my cat Shouply died early this month. He's chasing butterflies now.

More good stuff is facebook has allowed me to get in touch with people I'd lost track of and cousins I rarely see. I've also finished some socks and am making good progress on a pair that have been sitting for about a year. Poor neglected socks.

Let the parties begin!!

2009-01-18T18:08:00.005-09:00

Oh, and "Strike up the bands!"

Sean and I went to the Inaugural free concert on the Mall today. The NPS is guessing that there were over 300,000 people there. We were near the Washington Monument and the crowd extended back from there and forwards to the Lincoln Memorial.

The big thrills for me were Stevie Wonder and Pete Seeger and Obama's speech, and U2 and Bruce Springsteen and.... When Sean mentioned that we were from Alaska several people turned around and one said "Wow, you ditched Sarah Palin and came all that way." Sean also has had fun saying "Jon Bon Jovi!" just 'cause it's a fun name to say and now he knows who that is.

Sean at Washington Monument

Sharon at the Washington Monument

Jon Bon Jovi!

Pete Seeger!

OBAMA!!!!!

The happy and cold people!

Inauguration run up!

2009-01-18T17:47:00.005-09:00

Porta pottys and White House. Hmmmmmm.....

Sean and I finally made our way to Big Bend and I'll tell more about that and what we've been up to there later but for now we are at my sister's in Falls Church, Virginia, just inside the beltway.

Capital getting ready for the big event!

We are caught up in the inauguration fever. Yesterday Susan and I went down to the mall to check things out. We got pretty close to the Capital and it was a great day with a festive atmosphere. Every one is HAPPY and it's a very diverse crowd. I'm so excited, words are failing me. Sean and I feel that is really one of the great things in our lives.

Sean and Susan on the Metro

A New Toy...I mean tool.

2008-12-20T00:59:00.002-09:00

I got myself a traveling laptop, A little one with wireless that I can take on the road and blog and stay in touch. I like it so far...

...open your Golden Gate

2008-12-10T16:24:00.003-09:00

San Francisco. We made it!

Note absence of back strap on canoe.

It took us a while to get out of northwest Washington but that was because there were good people to see and visit. Our 1st night in Bellingham we stayed with Lynn and Laura and the 2nd night was at Dan and Sarah's. We got the royal treatment and tour of a great little town, even the best hardware store I've ever been in. We had to buy some rope and a tie down strap to replace the one we lost somewhere along the way. At least we didn't lose the canoe.

On Monday, Marie and Tony and their 2 boys came for for breakfast and we got to have a regular Fairbanks reunion. Marie is loving the program she is in and they all love the area. Dan and Sara are trying to get more friends to settle in Bellingham and Dan gave us the hard sell by taking us up Whatcom creek which goes about 2 blocks from their home.

Sharon and Sean on Whatcom Creek

Monday afternoon we drove to my mom's cousin's place. David and Sharon live in Monroe on 10 beautiful acres of trees with a cocker spaniel, pond full of ducks, 3 heavy cats, a bunch of chickens, a few turkeys, and some peacocks. I think thats all but I might have missed something. David and Sharon are kindred spirits, environmentalists, and progressive Obama supporters. Sharon is a collector of many things and we got to see her collection of S**** P**** (I won't type her name) cartoons and Obama buttons. We had a great visit and I was proud to show off my relatives to Sean and vice versa.

The Sunset Unlimited at Cocker Creek (note new strap on back of canoe)

One of the highlights there were the wood ducks. They look like mallards going to Mardi Gras. The other highlight was the election returns recorded on disk. Sean and I hadn't seen them since we were out knocking on doors when they called the election. We got to relive the happy occasion all over again including the victory speech.

Then we drove south with a quick stop in on my cousins Eric and Addie in Portland for about an hour.

We slept at a rest stop north of Medford Monday night then Tuesday finished the drive to Sean's parents in Berkley and Wednesday to my folks in San Francisco.

We made it...Step one at least.

Refugees from Winter

2008-12-06T08:17:00.005-09:00

The Sunset Unlimited with 2 of the 6 inches of snow that fell Thursday night in Prince George, B.C.

If felt as though the cold claws of the clutches of winter reached out and almost snagged in our escape as we fled south from -40 F in the Upper Tanana Valley and the 5-15 cm of snow in central British Columbia that turned to ice pellets and then rain on the snow-packed roads.

Monday night was Tok and COLD, Tuesday was Whitehorse and cold, Wednesday was Ft Nelson and cold, Thursday was Prince George and SNOW and Friday was Bellingham with a little rain Saturday morning.

Sean has done all the driving so far and that has left me only to worry. The anxiety would have been much greater if I was driving though, much.

Out of the snow (Whew!) but you can see the icing on the canoe and the rope.

We are in Bellingham tonight with Lynn and Laura who graciously put us up on short notice and took us for a walk down to the Alaska Ferry dock. Today we are visiting other Alaska folks here and then tonight at some cousins of mine in Monroe, east of Seattle.

It's good to be out of the cold and snowy mess, that dry pavement was so nice yesterday after most of the day on snowpack.

Made it to Whitehorse!

2008-12-02T20:00:00.002-09:00

Sean adding some cardboard to block the radiator

The Sunset Unlimited!

Connie's house. This house was built by our late friend Bill Fuller, Wu-Lu Master.

Spent last night at Connie's in Tok and woke up to -40 F and clear and beautiful. Not much traffic on the road so we better not break down!

We drove to the Yukon today and then to Liard Hot Springs tomorrow. (Liard was shut down tight so we just kept on driving.) This is some big beautiful country.

ROAD TRIP!

2008-11-30T23:35:00.002-09:00

Sean and I are heading south tomorrow for the winter migration. Step one drive to the Bay Area. We're heading south in the Sunset Unlimited, a red '91 Toyota truck with 160,000 miles, extended cab, a sleeping platform in the back and a canoe on top, complete with a retro-fit customized rack. I'll post pictures later, after I take them. We're heading to Tok tomorrow or further depending on how fast we get out of town after all our last minute errands.

We're planning on visiting friends and relatives on the way down. I'm nervous but I know I will feel better once we are on the road and past North Pole!

Early Christmas

2008-11-09T15:09:00.003-09:00

I caught the end of Obama's first news conference and I was struck with an overwhelming sense of relief. We are going to have a smart president! It feels like an early Christmas without the post Christmas let down. Last month I was trying to imagine how I'd feel after Obama had won. I was close in the happiness scale but didn't figure in the relief and security. A president who is smart and will listen and who is strong and "cool" at the same time. I also think he's a bit of a nerd. I like that.

It's also good to hear that the Alaskan election weirdness is getting national interest. The numbers are saying that voter turnout was down from 2004. That makes no sense and all anecdotal evidence says that turnout should have been up. We'll have to keep the pressure on. I feel confident that Begich will win and that Kassel will win in district 7.

I'm also hoping to see a Sen Al Frankin from Minnesota because gosh darn it, I like him.

Sean and I will be going to DC to visit my sister for inauguration day. What a scene that will be!

Election day photos

This is a picture of phone banking earlier in the day.

These are watching the VICTORY speech!

Sean and I were knocking on doors reminding people to vote up until 15 minutes before the polls closed. We were out in 2 different neighborhoods when we heard from people that the election had been called for Obama. We had a Victory party here last Friday and there were over 50 folks here. It was the biggest coat and shoe pile ever in the dome home and the batteries were out in the camera. Dang!

The occasional blogger...

2008-08-24T18:43:00.003-08:00

That's me. I blog a couple times a year it looks like. Despite all good intentions. HA! I've been very slowly making progress on the scarves for my friend's wedding. It's been a slow summer work-wise but I've managed to keep busy. Still spending a lot of time with Sean at his B&B, A Cloudberry Lookout. I enjoy meeting the guests and talking over breakfast. I'm loving my weeks off and miss the morning conversations on my work weeks.

There's a little flux going on in my household. I've got 3 roommates now plus a friend who is recovering from back surgery. But no one is home most of the time. I'll be swapping 2 roomies out for an old roomie back. Since the couple will be getting their place good enough to live in by the end on the month.

The sad news is that Sean's dog and faithful friend Leeto passed away in early July. Sean is heart broken and we are all really sad. Leeto was a wonderful and beautiful dog who had all the best qualities of a German Sheppard. This is a picture of her in Golden Gate Park at Stowe Lake in San Francisco. We buried her near the small lake on Sean's property where she loved to swim and put some balls and sticks in with her on a bed of moss. Some dogs and cats are out pets and some are our friends that we will always miss. Leeto was like that. There are a few pictures of her in other posts. Rest in peace Leeto!

The Promised Knitting and Some Miscelany

2008-04-08T20:22:00.004-08:00

I'm working on a big knitting project. It's not too hard just big and kind of fun. It's not lace table cloth big, or afghan big. It's lace shawls for the brides maids for a friends wedding. They aren't too elaborate or wide, more like wide-ish scarfs or wraps. So how many brides maids? Five! I'm one down and 4 to go and about a week behind my ideal schedule of one a month giving me 2 weeks to spare. So here's some pictures. Cross your fingers that I do this right.

1.1 down and 3.9 to go...

artsy-fartsy in a tree

now you know what my bathroom looks like

So one down and 4 to go. Thankfully they are all different colors. I'm making up the patterns as I go and basing some of it on patterns from the book Arctic Lace by Donna Druchunas but nothing near so fancy or elaborate. The yarn is Louet KidLin (49% Linen/35% Kid Mohair/16% Nylon) It's fun to work with and isn't too hard to unravel even though it's a bit fuzzy. The bride chose all autumn colors for their September wedding.

Other things I've been up to...

Yellow Jackets in the Outhouse in the Pub

Went to see a friend's band, Yellow Jackets in the Outhouse. That's Eric on the left, in the hat playing the guitar. I worked with him for a bunch of years at the NWS starting when he was just a summer trainee. Now he's a petty bureaucrat. That's Jen behind the drums and Jamie on bass. All in all a rockin' band. Check them out. I still don't know how to put a link in the blog propper...cut and paste.

http://www.intheouthouse.com/

Stryker Traffic

I work on an army base that hosts a stryker brigade. I wasn't fast enough to get a photo of the 4 stryker vehicles I was stuck behind, just the one. Kind of surreal if you really think about it. I mostly don't.

Party Shoes!

I had a party, these are the shoes. It was the annual "it's spring, I should have a party" party. A good time was had by all. I didn't get the shoes at the height of the shindig. I was too busy shindigging!

Aside from all that, this is my last week of full time. I am bit nervous about the $$ going down but I can be a frugal girl, and I will be. There's plenty of yarn in the stash and food in the pantry. I'm mostly excited. It will be great to share my job and get a life.

Equinox

2008-03-20T22:45:00.001-08:00

So, for the equinox I posted a picture of the snowy dome on the suggestion of a reader. That makes it sound like I have a lot of them. I'll assure you it's not many.

Brrrrrrr!

2008-03-19T20:23:00.004-08:00

There were about 50 of us in the about 10 degree F evening. A nice and peaceful group. My toes are not all back yet I'm still "missing" about 2 1/2.

I got home and wondered if there were any knitting peace groups and found this.

http://knitforpeace.wordpress.com/

I'm still unsure how to make this "clickable" so cut and paste.

Next post will be about something fun like knitting!!!

The occupation...5 years...and counting.

2008-03-19T18:05:00.002-08:00

It's been 5 years since the invasion of Iraq. Talking to a friend today abut the war she corrected me. "It's not a war, it's occupation."

I'm off to a peace vigil now.

Politics, the war and what to do???

2008-03-14T21:35:00.006-08:00

I went to a political "thing" this evening. It was for Mark Begich who is looking into running for the senate against Ted Stevens. I liked what he had to say and it echoed some of my thoughts on Stevens. Mainly that the rest of the republicans are getting tired of him and how he throws his weight around. (Not Begich's words, mine.) He had some good things to say about how he would approach the job of senator. I'm glad I went, but not because of Mark Begich (though it was good to meet him and get a sense of who he is and what he stands for.) but because I had a great and interesting conversation with another woman there, co-worker's girl friend. We got around to the "what do you do?" question and she asked me to get back to het when I had some clarity on what direction to go in or what action to take. So I told her of some of my recent thoughts on speaking out and As I expressed this id gained clarity in my own mind as well. Talk to those who still think we should be in the war and plant some seeds of truth and doubt there, focus on the fence sitters and encourage them to educate themselves and lastly talk to those who agree with you and encourage them to do the same. She had some good things to say as well and encouraging words about how to overcome the fear of speaking out. All in all a nice evening with egg rolls, jalapano poppers and BBQ meatballs along with the chips and guacamole.

My job goes to 1/2 time or so in a month! I'll have more time to work on these things.

These pitures are out my bedroom window from about a month ago. Not great quality but still fun.

My best photos (?)

2008-03-11T23:02:00.011-08:00

While I'm learning how to do the photo's correctly, I thought I'd share some of the good ones. I'll write about my recent trip later.

This is from the upper part of my 40 Acres looking southeast. My plan is to put in a trail up to here to watch the sunrises and sunsets.

It's the sunsets that grab you...

This is in a small canyon off the larger canyon where I'm buying some land. This turned out to be one of my best photo's ever. It's all pure dumb luck. I don't have too many pictures of Sean and I and Leeto all together. You can see me in Sean's shades.

A variety of Photo's

2008-03-11T22:41:00.004-08:00

I'm still trying to work out how to integrate photos and text. This is not success. Guess which caption goes with which image?
It's not too hard but still...this is not success.

My 2 "kids" napping. This is Shouply the cat and Coco the dog looking too cute not to take a picture.

This is what they have for toilets in Chicago, O'Hare airport. The plastic covering rotates to a new one with the wave of a hand.

This is in Van Horn Texas. Aren't you hungry now?

Whaaa? Nothing else around this store front with no one in it. Is it art?

And me at the land I'm buying. Very exciting, don't look down...

Time for another post...

2008-02-15T21:35:00.004-09:00

I've been trolling the internet reading other people's blogs and feeling like a slacker. Hmmm, if I have all this time trolling the internet what do I actually have to write about. The Weather maybe? Great weather today. We HAD weather and not just cold. There was a squall that passed through Fairbanks around 10 AM. Snowy and windy at the same time. It's the cold air moving back in after the warm (hot?) weather yesterday (almost up to 40 F above) caused by what I call "the power of the Chinook." enough of that interesting blogging.

My 1/2 job will be closeing next week. I'm looking forward to being semi-retired and getting in touch with my inner tight-wad to make ends meet and even overlap and continue to save some money.

Book recomendation...(a must read actually) "The End of America" by Naomi Wolf. It's not to long and not too heavy even though it's a heavy subject. She outlines the steps a country goes through on the way from an open and free society to a closed one where people are afraid to speak up and speak out. It's a little scary but very good. Other note...Naomi Wolf actually went to Herbert Hoover JR high in San Francisco with me, same grade even. We knew each other but weren't close friends or anything.

I'm going to be heading back south to Big Bend next week to get out of the chill and into the warm. I'm also going to be buying some land down there. Now I know Texas has a bad rep due to George W. but I prefer to think of it as the state of the Dixie Chicks rather than the state of.....well, you know. I had planned on going down at the end of March but then it got to -40 something here and I remembered that March is one of my favorite months in Fairbanks. It's the winter wonderland month. All that snow and all that light and usually (but not always) comfortable temperatures.

Here's a picture of the land I'm buying. This is where I'm going to put my adobe "home."

Caucus anyone?

2008-02-07T23:08:00.000-09:00

Last Tuesday I went to the Democratic Caucus in Fairbanks. I'd never participated in one before. What a blast! Well, it was fun for me. There were many more people than they expected so it was a bit of a mad house. There were 293 people there from district #7.

When we were ready to start they said "We need to get an accurate count of the people here." I thought "Right, and were going to get that how?" We counted off, all 293 of us. In one try. Pretty impressive, at least to me. We went for Obama by a bit more than 3:1 over Clinton.

Go Obama!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjXyqcx-mYY

I haven't figured out how to make the hyperlink so cut and paste...

Happy New Year!

2008-01-18T23:19:00.000-09:00

A couple pictures from Sean's property

Yes, yes a bit late for New Years. I'm just back in SF after 1 1/2 weeks in the Chihuahuan desert near Big Bend National Park with a friend and his dog. MAN what a lot of stars they have down there. Alaska has a weak background of aurora that washes out the dimmer stars. The stars and mild weather and geology and cactus and sunsets were all great. I had a good time hiking and resting and soaking up that vitamin D. I'll add more pictures later.

Hen Egg Mountain with Sean and Lito

Me and Lito

View to the northwest from near Terlingua Creek

Sunset Colors on Hen Egg Road

The Hat

2007-12-31T11:38:00.000-09:00

I promised to post a picture of my hat and scarf but, true to form, I can't find the scarf. I'm staying at my parent's and the scarf has disappeared in the mess that we call "Sharon's exploding suitcase".

So, here's the hat I made to match the missing scarf.

I'm BACK

2007-11-25T12:14:00.000-09:00

It's way too long since I've posted. Summer has come and gone and a good time was had by all. I'm intending to keep this up a little better at least post every month or two.

I've been knitting, doing yoga and playing volleyball and having fun. I've also been doing a lot of reading. One book that I read earlier this year was Kurt Vonnegut's "Man Without a Country". I love Kurt Vonnegut. You can open that book up to any page and just find gems of humor and wisedom. Another book that I read this spring that really sort of "pinged" on my brain was a Gullivers (a local book store in Fairbanks) used book purchase, "Five Sisters- Women against the Tsar" It's translations of the journals of 5 early (1870's) Russian revolutionary women. What struck me was that these women were from the upper class and believed that the system of government and society in Russia was so corrupt and evil that they gave up all advantage and security and dedicated their lives to bringing it down. Brave and admirable women.

Check out this You Tube bit. My good friend Sean is the 1st person they show talking about the wolves. He was talking about aieral wolf hunting when I first met him, 18 years ago. Unfortunately it's still in practice in Alaska and still needs to be talked about...Loudly!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Mu_rqmFpL8

This is from the Power to the Peaceful festival in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco last September. I had a blast! It was classic foggy San Francisco day inspirational speakers (Amy Goodman) and great inspirational music (Michael Franti, Indigo Girls).

Happy Spring!!!

2007-04-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

Yes It's been spring for a few weeks now but the dome home finally had a spring party. My roommate is moving to another state so it was a non-going away party and a chance for her to see a bunch of folks at one time. A good time was had by all with much beer and wine consumed. I may try to get some pictures to post here. I didn't take any.

The dome is an ideal party house.

Lee's Cabin with the Girls

2007-03-25T19:25:00.000-08:00

This has been one of my best winters in a long time mainly due to SKIING! I've got a ski buddy at work and we ski on our lunch break. After a winter of skiing we decided that we needed a trip. Lee's Cabin is in the White Mountains about 30 miles north of Fairbanks. It's a BLM cabin and you ski in about 7 somewhat hilly miles. Bring or cut your own wood and bring or melt your own water from snow. I've always wanted to do something like this but was too timid to get in on a trip like this with my uber-athelete friends. This was a lower key trip but still a challenge. The temperature was about -10 F going in and -20 F the next morning with a slight breeze and beautifull amazing sunny. The day after we got back it was -20 F and 20 mph. That would have sucked to say the least. We skied, we cut wood, we ate dinner and laughed and told stories not to be repeated, ever and laughed more. It was a slog of a ski but sure fun and it felt good to know I could. I'll add a picture of the cabin soon. These are my awesome ski palls.

Cold on the Chena

2007-02-25T12:14:00.001-09:00

Here are some pictures of my friend finishing the Yukon Quest this morning. It was about minus 40 F and the camera work was not too good. I wasn't sure if I was even pushing the button through my mittens and it was too cold to do it bare handed. He looked happy to be back though in the pictures you can only see a few dogs and folks huddling around the fire.

Chena Hot Springs

2007-02-24T21:56:00.000-09:00

I went out to Chena Hot Springs today to see my co-worker Bob start off for the last leg of the Yukon Quest Sled Dog Race. Bob will be the last musher into Fairbanks early tomorrow morning. All his friends are proud of him for completing this race with 13 of his 14 dogs. The most of any fnishers. So here's a try on posting pictures on the new computer. It's an IMac and I'm a bit awkward out of the "Windows zone".

Testing testing

2007-02-23T20:18:00.000-09:00

New computer and way too long since I posted. so testing.

S

2006-10-28T14:57:00.000-08:00

Test posting.

I accidently posted to a friend's blog but figured that out.

It's about time I post something here. So this is what I'm posting. My first ski last night on Birch Hill. I'll try to get up there again today for a bit. I've been having a nice lazy (in bed 'till noon) day warping my loom and listening to the radio. Just a little dusting of new snow out there today.
Perhaps I'll post more with pictures later.

S

Hello again!

2006-02-09T06:51:00.000-09:00

I've been meaning to post for a while but have been sucked into the knitting a bit much of late. On Superbowl Sunday Inua Yarn Shop has a 50% off sale and knitting party. I did some serious stash building and have been playing with what I bought. I also have been practicing for the Knitting Olympics. I am going to knit a lace shawl, in RED. It's with some old fingering weight yarn from my mom that is pretty old and of unknown origin. It's a gorgeous red called cherry and I've got about 14, 50 gram skeins. That should be more than enough. I'm leaving for my trip late Friday night to spend the weekend with friends M & M in Roseville, then a week of class in Sacramento then the long weekend with Mom & Dad in Georgetown with cousins. Think I'll find quality knitting time? I'll do okay if I knit instead of getting out and socializing with the classmates (Yeah Right!)

The photos I posted last time were pretty dark. I didn't realize that at first since all I have to do is tilt my laptop screen to brighten them up. I'll try with another. This is the dome home and though this is not a recent picture, this is about what it looks like now. It's a balmy and breezy 23 degrees outside now...a scorcher, but about 10 in town on the flat lowlands.

How it's done...posting photos that is

2006-01-30T21:44:00.000-09:00

I'm showing a friend my relatively new skill of posting photos here...so here's some pictures. The first is the sun setting or rising from the IARC building at UAF.
The second is a display from the Arctic and Antarctic exploration museum in St. Petersburg. It's a mock up of a prefab dwelling. Note the dog on the bunk. We thought that was pretty uh gruesome?...stuffed man's best friend?
Though we did think it was a nice touch, the faithfull dog companion of the Arctic (or Antarctic) researchers/explorers. Well, the dog MOVED. It was a live dog hanging out in the museum. So I took the picture. The picture is pretty underexposed so the point of this post is that I'm still working on "How it's done....." right that is.

ADD Knitter-That I am

2006-01-29T00:30:00.000-09:00

A note to those who complain about the cold. It's so much warmer tonight than last night. Last night the big red hand pointed to -48 F. These are good days to knit. These are good days to knit mittens and hats. I don't have any mittens in progress but I do have one hat. (see below, lower right hand blob in marino-possum, it sheds more than my cat, possums revenge! as Dame Edna might say, possums).

I finally gathered all my works in progress together and took some pictures. When I don't know what to do I start another pair of socks, or something. The first picture is everything, then a close up of just the socks in progress then the swatches and experiments all alone. There is another pair of socks somewhere and I didn't bring out the afgan that my grandma started that I'm assembeling....for the past 5 years....

ADD knitter that's me and I have more yarn than is...well...SANE? But I like it that way, I think it's better than collecting little knick-knacks that need dusting, I just need to get more big rubbermaid tubs.

I will feature some of these things as I complete them
S-

Home sweet.....

2006-01-20T21:23:00.000-09:00

It's good to be back home even though every one in town is whining about the cold. The big hand on the thermometer points to a shade under -30F. That is cold I guess but it reminds people that they live in ALASKA, God's Country for long. I'm promising here to pull out my camera and my works in progress and take some photos of the knitting.

And photos of some of what I knit on my trip.
Promises promises...

3.2 socks (One whole pair, one sock in reds and the start of one in browns.)
4 dish rags
1 hat
2 scarf (Okay one was a work in progress when I left home)
1 felted MP3 holder
1 un-felted and un sewed-up MP3 holder
1 grocery sack from bamboo yarn in pretty colors to save on the plastic bags

$$ blown, I mean spent wisely, yeah that's it, at my favorite yarn store in Pocatello, Florence's Attic......well.....over $100.00, but I bought some Lantern Moon needles and they are lovely, and so was all the yarn I bought so there!

So Cal

2005-12-29T19:53:00.000-09:00

I'm well south of God's country, the last frontier and surviving it pretty well. It's nice to be in 60 degree pleasant weather hanging out with my family. My sisters just make me laugh. I got Alterknits (a book) for Christmas along with a little yarn. I've almost finished the first sock of a pair I started on the train from Fairbanks to Anchorage. That's a nice winter trip. It's only once a week and there were about 15 people onboard. There's my token posting from my trip...

Some theme of sorts for this place...

2005-12-13T22:29:00.000-09:00

Inspired by all the great knitting blogs I am going to write about my knitting and basically anything I guess. I finished a pair of socks this evening. They are two shades of green. Unfortunately each sock is it's own sagey green. I didn't realize that it was different yarn when I started the second sock. Oh well, I'll be happy wearing them and I dare someone to stare at me ankles and tell me they don't match! I just took a picture of the socks but since I can't find my data cable for my camera...it will continue to live in the camera for a while.

I'm now starting a hat with the recycled Value Village sweater Kool-ade dyed yarn.

S

Back home

2005-11-05T13:52:00.000-09:00

Glad to be back home though the time in Tucson was pretty nice, espescially the mild warm evenings and early (5:30 am) walks. I got to see a bunch of old and less old friends and spent some quality time talking and solving the worlds problems. A couple of those guys are some of the finest people I know and make me feel fortunate that I have such good friends. On the flip side...MAN some people are wack! and I'll leave it at that in this quasi public place.
It's -8 F and sunny out. I'm getting it all together to go to the dump and run a couple errands then plan on mainly chilling out at home with Coco. I did miss my dog this last week. The meeting was a good and productive one and gave me some good direction for what I have to do and can and want to do this winter in prep for next summer.

Uh-oh the animals are after me for attention....

Weather Pixie

2005-10-27T20:45:00.000-08:00

I found the weather Pixie on someone else's blog. She changes clothes with the weather. If this is what she wears at -7C I wonder what she'll do at -40?

Let's play with pictures!

2005-10-21T19:28:00.000-08:00

This first picture is of a street in Yakutsk, Sakha Republic. It's about -40F, a mild day. Note the fur coats and the english graffiti on the left window.

Next, we have me the milk maid. Small town in siberia, these cows only come inside for milking. We had homemade ice cream from these cows, frozen outside and served with a lowbush cranberry jam. YUM!!!!

And last but not least...here's a picture of Ed my cat, named after Edward Abby. He died 2 weeks ago and was about 16 years old...rest in peace kitty!

Ah Glorious Friday

2005-10-21T19:15:00.000-08:00

A medium long but very good week. Things to do this weekend but not so busy I can't chill. Or, spend time trying to learn things on this blogging blog....like pictures. Ah, it worked. Here's mom and dad at ocean beech a few years ago...aren't they cute!

Too many other things...

2005-10-18T20:51:00.000-08:00

to do this evening, so I thought I'd start a blog instead....well on to other things. Walk the dog & go to bed.....ZZZZZZZ lovely zzzzzz.