Bike Ride along Campbell Creek Trail

Are you getting out for those summer bike rides too?  

Enjoy the weekend and pedal on my friends.  

Pedal on!

Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (AWCC) is dedicated
to preserving Alaska’s wildlife through conservation, education, and quality animal care.

They are more than an animal park and way more than a zoo. They provide care for displaced and orphaned wildlife with the hopes of reintroducing them back into the wild, when at all possible. They are also the folks behind the Wood Bison being reintroduced back into the wilds of Alaska that you might have heard about in the news.

“After more than 100 years of extirpation throughout Alaska, wood bison have found their way back to the state! In collaboration with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, AWCC is working to reintroduce the wood bison back into the Alaska wild. In 2003, 13 wood bison were brought to AWCC from a disease-free herd in the Yukon Territory in Canada. The goal is to release the AWCC herd back into the Alaska wild. Currently, AWCC is home to the only wood bison herd in the United States. The first wood bison calves born in the state of Alaska in over 100 years were born at AWCC in 2005. In 2008, AWCC received 53 calves from Canada and placed them with the existing AWCC herd. Since 2006, AWCC has seen the birth of multiple calves every spring. Look for small orange “lumps” in the exhibit near the bushes!

Wood bison were down listed from “endangered” to “threatened” status in 2012. A special regulation was adopted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May 2014 declaring them a Nonessential Experimental Population under the 10(j) section of the Endangered Species Act. Among other things, this status stipulates that critical habitat cannot be designated for wood bison, and allows hunting based on sustained yield principles, as established by ADF&G.

The Wood Bison Management Plan was developed by a diverse group of individuals representing 28 interest groups which included local communities, regional population centers, landowners, Alaska Native interests, wildlife conservation interests, industry, and State and Federal agencies. An unprecedented spirit of sharing and finding common solutions guided plan development.

The effort to restore wood bison in Alaska was conceived more than 20 years ago, and is a significant effort in conservation and management of wildlife in the U.S. The boreal forest ecosystem in Alaska has lacked a large, lowland grazing animal for at least a hundred years, and this is a chance to restore a missing part of the ecosystem.”

When you visit next or for the first time, we will be sure to make the drive down to the Portage Valley to see a few of the famed Alaska wildlife from a safe yet up close vantage point.

Happy Birthday Colleen!

Happy birthday to the sweetest baker in town!  

Thanks for sharing your light with us, and the tasty treats you bake! 

We love you!

High Five Friday for Remembering those You Love

High five Friday for remembering those you love with fond memories of good times spent together.

I love the fact that you took the time to share this memory with me. You are a wonderful son!

Thanks for sharing the love!  

Adventures in Cooking ~ Pierogis

During my recent time away from the job that pays for the beans, I embarked on a few cooking adventures and decided to try my skills at making Pierogis’. The recipe that I followed was not quite what I expected so I asked our dear friend Lori for her famous pierogi recipe and will be sure to share the outcome.

But for now we are back to spending our free time working on the kitchen remodel project, yes there is more to do. This part of the remodel falls mainly to me as I am the tile master in the house. The back-splash is getting tiled in a similar theme as the guest bathroom to keep the house with the same visual flow. It helps with the smallness of the place to create that larger appearance.

Hope everyone is having a great summer. Have you had any new cooking or baking adventures this summer?  If so I hope they have all turned out delicious!  

High Five Friday for Forget-Me-Not's

High five Friday for beautiful tiny flowers and blue Myosotis Forget-Me-Not's.  Hope you are enjoying your summer and have plans for a wonderful weekend ahead.  We are headed out and about for some sightseeing Alaska adventures.  See you in a week.

Kitchen Remodel ~ Step 3, 4 & 5 etc.

Last we left off in the kitchen remodel saga was the fact that we had the top cabinets off the walls and had the façade ceiling torn down. We have progressed through the remodel steps to three, four, and five etc.

Step three was to put up new sheetrock, mud, tape, texture, and paint. This is the phase of work in construction and remodels that I have grown to enjoy the least as it just takes so darn long to get everything looking good.

Step four was to refurbish the window and the window trim, to include new screen in the window screen frame.

Step five was to take out all the base cabinets so we could install new subfloor sheeting. This left us without a kitchen sink for 10 days. Woof! Glad that’s over.

Step six was to install the new cabinetry, crown molding, and put the appliances in place again. This would include the kitchen sink, and I guess all the plumbing work that had to be completed could be its own step but you get the picture on the amount of work we have put into this project.

So as it stands now the kitchen is usable and functioning, but not completed. The countertops are still a week out (maybe less if the remodel fairies are looking out of us) and the flooring is not installed. But the Sureply floor will do for now and we have made temporary countertops so cooking supper again is not so much of a chore as it has been the last three weeks.

Up next will be installing the flooring, installing the wine rack above the refrigerator, and planning out the tiles that will be part of the backslash and walls. Oh and the rest of the cabinet handles and pulls.

Until our next remodel update, keep sweeping the floors, as that always helps.

Life is Better with Oreo's

Life is better with Oreo's!  Happy Father's Day!

Lessons I've Learned

Lessons I've learned from a Grandmother who didn't start out as my own.

• Wisdom comes in many shapes and sizes. 

• Routine is a must in every step of our life, keeping us balanced, keeping us centered. 

• Understanding goes hand-in-hand with compassion. 

• Sometimes joy comes from just being in each other's company, enjoying a simple luncheon, and a simple dessert. 

• Marriage is about having a playmate for life, one that you trust wholeheartedly.

We are truly blessed to have Grandma G. visiting us for the next week, and we will enjoy every moment of sharing the joy with her, and learning from her wisdom.

Guest Room ~ For Real This Time

Our guest room is ready for occupation, again, for real this time.  No take backs. No filling this room with supplies for remodel projects. It is now and forever more just a bedroom that welcomes guests into our home for a cozy nights sleep.

And none to soon as Grandma is on her way to Alaska for a visit.

When will we be hosting you for a night or two or three?  Hope to see you soon!

Less is More Upgrade

My less is more conversation got an upgrade when I by chance came across this web site: BuyMeOnce.com. They share my long standing ideas and belief that we need to change the way we purchase, consume, acquire, and discard all the items that surround our daily living.

They have it right, in my mind, when they say “let's throw away our throwaway culture.” I particularly liked their article “Things I Don’t Need…” which of course you can approach it from the other side and make a list of things that you do need. Either way, by making one of these two lists, you will be on the winning side of less is more, plus add the longevity value of your items for the goal & win!

What are a few of the things that you don’t need?

Empowerment

Having a sense of realism can give you true empowerment.

The difference between knowing when you should do something and knowing when you shouldn't can also lead to a sense of empowerment.

Is this what they mean when they say keep it real?

Keep your life real. Keep your life simple and share the love!

Wash Your Hands Roger

When I was very young, young enough that I only remember snippets of memories, I can see a scene of me in a kitchen dining area of a white painted Iowa farm house. This house was your typical farm house surrounded by a few trees edged by fields of corn. There were people all around in the house. My parents were there, I can see the faces of my aunt, uncle, and my cousins, all the while there was laughter in this crowed space as the smell of a well cooked meal filled the air. But what stands out most in my memory is my aunt yelling to her oldest son, the oldest of us grandchildren, "Roger, wash your hands Roger! It's time for supper."

The remarkable part of this long ago glance into my childhood memories is that to this day, when it is supper time, I will yell to my son's and my husband, "wash your hands Roger, it's supper time", even when none of them are really named Roger.

Happy Thursday everyone, and remember to wash your hands before supper time!

High Five Friday for Wild Flowers

The woods are blooming with wild flowers, and the bees are out and about doing a fine job of visiting these beauties.

My goal today is to share with you the joy of the small things in life such as a walk in the woods and seeing nature flourishing.

High five Friday for wild flowers, joy, and summer!

Lincoln Memorial

Photo from the Library of Congress - The Lincoln Memorial and reflecting pool, photographed one year after its dedication, on May 2, 1923

This week I received an email from the Littleton Coin Company with the below history on the Lincoln Memorial and I thought it was worth sharing.

***

Ninety-four years ago this week, on May 30, 1922, the Lincoln Memorial at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. was dedicated. Seated on a colossal chair inside the memorial, the 19-foot statue of Lincoln captures the 16th president's strength and resolve used to preserve our nation. Perhaps this is why the Lincoln Memorial is situated near the Potomac River, which served as a boundary between North and South during the Civil War and runs adjacent to the National Mall.

As early as 1867, Congress established an association to create a national memorial that would honor our 16th president, but bickering slowed the progress down. It was not until 1902, when the Senate Park Commission decided Lincoln's memorial should be at the end of the National Mall near the river, that planning got underway. Senators Cullom and Cannon, who knew Lincoln in Illinois, sponsored the Lincoln Memorial bill and President Taft signed it.

Construction on the building began in 1914. The memorial resembled a Greek temple and was designed by Henry Bacon. The 36 Doric columns represented the number of states in the Union at the time of Lincoln's death. When the memorial was completed, 12 more states had joined the Union and their names are carved about the columns on the outside.

Photo from the Library of Congress

Prominent American artist Daniel Chester French sculpted the large figure of Lincoln that dominates the inside. French studied photos of the president, read accounts that described him and looked at a life mask of his face to create his masterpiece. Twenty-eight pieces of marble were used for the 19-foot statue that is the centerpiece of the memorial.

Fifty-seven years after Lincoln's death, the nation's memorial to our 16th president was dedicated. His son, Robert Todd Lincoln attended the ceremony, along with other famous dignitaries and the U.S. president at the time, Warren G. Harding, who gave the dedication speech. Eye-catching and bold, the Lincoln Memorial is one of America's most iconic buildings and can be found on the reverse of Lincoln Memorial cents from 1959 to 2008.

2 Years 3 Months & 7 days

It did not take me long at my new job in Anchorage to realize that the culture of UAA was vastly different from UAF. Granted both these institutions of higher education have their inherent academia flaws, in which there are some tenured faculty members that think very highly of themselves and very little about others, especially if the other person does not have a Ph.D. But this fact not withstanding UAA harbors a dark underbelly that festers in an atmosphere of mistrust and abuse of power by those who perceive themselves to be in power.

The ivory tower syndrome runs rampant at UAA. Those affected by this syndrome are not only the tenured faculty but the Administrators, our Chancellor, Provost, Registrar, and the Deans of several of the colleges have all been known for making decisions based on what they see their needs are and not the needs of the students we are here to serve or the staff members that are in direct contact with the students.

At UAA my ears, on numerous occasions, have heard the phrase, “people at this institution are reluctant to make changes, even if it were to the benefit of the students.” The negativity that surrounds statements such as this further cultivate that dark underbelly, and promotes an atmosphere of a non-cohesive working group that ceases to put energy into making positive change for our students. Somewhere along way the leaders and the culture at UAA became unhealthy, poisoned by thoughts of mistrust in each other.

On the other side of the coin, UAF has not always been the perfect place to work, and they too have struggled with the ivory tower syndrome. Some of the people they have hired into the leadership positions have been true brown nuggets, that when they left those positions and moved on, back to the lower 48 in most cases, all around campus you could sense the sigh of relief as we enjoyed the end of that era, or end of an error as it were. But the overall culture at UAF is more open to change, more receptive to new ideas and a more productive way of doing things, as they keep their eye on their mission, their students. They value working together as a team that is working for the same goal.

UAA and UAF are also the product of their environments. One is part of the largest city in Alaska with all the attitudes associated with the big city mentality. Anchorage residents could be describes as unfriendly in their behavior towards one another, they are standoffish and detached from those around them that they do not know. The smaller community of Fairbanks and the residents could be described as welcoming, forming fast friendships and treating those around them like family. As if these new comers to town are their family of choice in place of their family of origin, as most everyone’s family of origin lives outside of Alaska or in other places around the world.

I should also add that Anchorage and Fairbanks have been rivals since the very beginning. In 1915 when Anchorage was first marking its territory as a tent city, Fairbanks was well on its way to forming the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, which caused a fuss in the Alaska Territorial Legislature as there were opponents in Anchorage that claimed Fairbanks was just trying to be the first to cash in on the territorial treasures. So began the rivalry that survives to this day, and if you are from Fairbanks and are now living in Anchorage you might as well be a Green Bay Packers fan living among the Broncos of Denver.

When I had been at my new job in Anchorage six months I was struggling with my choice and wondered why in the world was I employed at such a terrible place to work. What lessons was I to learn from this experience? After all each experience in our life should be building blocks to a better version of the person we wanted to become, so what was I to learn from spending my work days in this type of negative culture?

If the truth where to be told I am still asking myself this question. I have found some higher understanding why I am still working at my current job even after having sought other positions, only to have that job recruitment be closed, and left unfilled. That particular job, by the way, is closing its office in Anchorage due to the state budget cuts, so if they had indeed hired me I would now be faced with being laid off in October and on the hunt for a new job. My disappointment at the time worked out well a year and a half later. Proof enough to me that what we think to be doors of opportunity sometimes don't open up because something better is behind another door.

This post started out being titled ‘lessons of having to stay at a job I dislike’ or more clearly stated ‘lessons from having to work a job where I like the tasks I do but dislike the ugly personalities that I have to work with’, and I can see now that it has turned into something more positive.

Something that more resembles hope, perhaps I am here to be a positive force that floods that dark underbelly with light.

Shine on and share the love! Always!

What's Your Guess?

So what is your guess as to what this license plate is trying to say?

I Spy

I spy with my little eye, a cute spring bunny fresh on his own in the big ol’ woods. Hope you are having a hopping good spring day! 

Fear of Remodeling

Do you also suffer from the fear of remodeling?  Don't be frightened, jump right into that large and very overwhelming project.  Besides what could possibly go wrong?

Oh Lovely Tamarack Tree

Tamarack trees, those lovely deciduous conifers that I have enjoyed watching this spring as they flower and grow soft green needles. 

Summer green is here is full force. 

I hope you are enjoying the green where you live just as much as we are here in the northland.