Nice Rack

So Duncan and Dave have been doing a great job of alerting us when they see squirrels and birds on the deck and around the yard.  This morning Duncan started barking again and I was all prepared to see another squirrel...but saw this guy instead...

 the first buck (oops) bull I've seen...

He munched on the shrubs for a bit before continuing on his way...he disappeared into the shrubs after finishing his meal...

I've been wondering how Duncan & Dave would respond to seeing the larger wildlife...if they would (wisely) run away, or if they would (stupidly) run after whatever they saw...given their response today, I think I have to keep an eye out for the bears and moose, because D&D do not appear to have sense enough to stay away.  :)

Orso

My Alaskan friends will be returning to Russia later this week ~ it's been so fun getting to spend time with them this summer ~ it's hard to believe it's already time for them to go back.  The kids stayed home tonight so the grown-ups could go out to dinner.  I haven't had TOO many restaurant outings yet, but everywhere I've been so far has been good and tonight was no exception...

ORSO is in downtown Anchorage and offers a menu of local specialty options in addition to the more traditional steak, chicken, pasta dishes.  Tonight, they offered several specials, including Alaska King Salmon, Halibut, and Rockfish to name a few.  Rebecca ordered the king salmon ~ it was really good.  I opted to venture out of my 'safe' zone and try one of the halibut dishes from their regular menu...description follows below...

"Halibut Cheek Piccata
Tender Alaskan Halibut Cheeks and Scallops pan seared in a garlic, caper-lemon butter sauce. Served with crispy capers and cous cous, topped with a zucchini and king crab salad."

It was REALLY good ~ I just may end up becoming a *moderate* sea food person after all ~ neither the halibut nor the scallops were fishy tasting and they were both very tender...I tried not to dwell on the PART of the halibut I was eating ~ for some reason, the idea of eating cheeks is not initially appealing to me...but it was something I would definitely eat again.

One of the more interesting parts of the restaurant was discovered at the end of the evening when we made a visit to the ladies room...they have heated toilet seats...something that I could see coming in very handy in the winter time...but in the summer?  If I hadn't been told they were heated, I would have assumed that the prior occupant of the bathroom stall had just been IN there for a really long time... :)

105 Degree Temps in Anchorage

What?!?  105 degrees in Anchorage?  No way...oh yes...I've been introduced to one of the few places in Anchorage where it gets over 100 degrees...

*DISCLAIMER*  This is NOT me in this photo...unfortunately... :)

It's 'Hot Yoga' aka 'Bikram Yoga' ~ it's probably just considered plain old yoga in places like TX, or FL or anywhere else extremely hot and humid.  The room is heated to 105 degrees (on purpose) with humidity and you SWEAT like a pig for 90 minutes...none of that delicate feminine 'glow' that you hear about...it's a full on sweat running down into your eyes, your ears, dripping off your head, legs, arms and other places you didn't know could sweat.

I've been twice so far ~ thanks to my friend, Rebecca...a truly dedicated individual who has been working to complete a challenge of 30 days of yoga through the local studio where she is a member.  She convinced me to go with her the other day ~ I survived the first class...barely...about 60 minutes in, I was convinced that I had to get out of the room...but I managed to hang in there....and that first class was *only* 95 degrees.  The room was almost full with 48 students (in a room that can hold 52 students).  The second class was at 105 degrees, and it was actually somewhat *easier* for me to do - I'm not sure why ~ but I didn't feel the urge to get out of the room like I did on the first day. 

I definitely have a lot of room for improvement in both my strength and flexibility ~ there are some people in the class that have been practicing yoga for quite awhile (either that or they only have tendons in their body - no bones) and can contort themselves in any number of ways...but there are also a lot of average people (or less than average in my case), so it's not as intimidating as I first imagined it would be.  For now, I have a month to decide what I think...I could see where it would be appealing once winter arrives to escape to a 'tropical' climate even if it is only for 90 minutes. :)

Have you tried any hot yoga classes?  Or any other kinds of classes you'd recommend?

Settling In...

I've been absent from my computer for awhile ~ not because I've been doing endless fun activities as my previous posts may lead you to believe...unfortunately the realities of daily life are still present, even up here in beautiful Alaska...so I've been busy working, unpacking, working and unpacking some more.

This is where I will be calling home for the next several years,

and it's also my 'office' for the time being as well.

I'm finally starting to feel like I'm catching up from work after being absent for about 2 1/2 weeks (not the smartest thing to do when you work for a landscaping company ~ taking time off in the middle of summer ~ but what can you do)?  I guess I haven't really shared about the job situation recently, although many of you already know...for the immediate future, it's worked out for me to continue working for my Colorado company from up here in Alaska.  We've had to do SOME finagling and shifting of duties but thanks to some helpful and flexible co-workers, we're making it work for the time being.  I'm enjoying being able to work from home ~ the dogs still get to 'come to work' with me, I don't have to worry about getting a dressy wardrobe, and I have some flexibility in terms of working in the evenings if I have an appt. during the day (which will come in handy as I need to get an oil change done, get my AK plates, and AK drivers license etc...all of those necessary but loathsome chores).

Anchorage is pretty easy to get around so I'm feeling fairly comfortable finding places ~ although for the moment, the most frequented place I've been is Office Max for work supplies.

The wildlife seems to have gone into hiding ~ I did see a bear (the same bear?) again walking up our driveway, but other than that, the moose are staying hidden.

One thing I've quickly learned is that the weather forecasts are even more of a guessing game up here than they were in Colorado.  I don't really bother checking the forecast anymore ~ I just plan for layers.  The saying in Colorado was always 'if you don't like the weather, just wait 10 minutes'...the other day I heard a radio d.j. say, "If you don't like the weather in AK, just wait 6 months...or 6 minutes..." and it's so true.  There have been several mornings where I've woken to POURING rain ~ but a couple hours later, the sun is shining brightly and it's all cleared up.

I've been slacking some with my photo taking as well, but for now, here are a couple of shots looking out from the house...the solitary mountain you see is "Mt. Redoubt" and it is an active volcano.

 The Alaska Range

Evenings

I've been asked about the evenings and the long hours of daylight...is it really true?  Yes...it's really true...those pictures from the plane in my last post?  Those were all taken between 10:00-11:00ish at night.  It's pretty cool...but it's also made it difficult to go to sleep...not because of the room being too bright...but because my mind tells me it's not that late and I should stay up longer...each night, I've said, 'I'll be in bed by 10:00'...but it just doesn't happen.

These are sunset pix from last night, taken from my bedroom window around 10:30pm.  I've already noticed we're getting less light from when I arrived 2 weeks ago...but it's still pretty awesome.

Flying

So after a great day experiencing dip net fishing...it was topped off by ANOTHER great moment...I got to FLY back to Anchorage in a two-seater airplane!!

 my ride home

 Jamie, the pilot, getting ready to go

The drive to Kasilaf took about 2 1/2 hours...the flight home to Anchorage...40 minutes...and poor Alanna, in addition to driving home, got stuck waiting for the highway to be re-opened after being shut-down for 2 fatal accidents...she didn't end up getting home until after 8:30 the next morning.  Thankfully she had company...and was able to get some sleep in the car...even though it had 2 coolers full of fish...I was EXTRA thankful that I got to fly home ~

This is the Kasilaf 'airport' - I didn't get a picture of the sign...wish I would have...it was a gravel strip...

 from the cockpit...getting ready to taxi down the runway...

I have only been in a small plane once before...it didn't scare me...but I have to take motion sickness medicine anytime I fly...and I didn't that first time...so I got sick...this time, I had taken some medicine in anticipation of being on the boat earlier in the day...so I had no issues whatsoever on this flight thankfully!

 this is where we were fishing earlier in the day...above and below...

 views from the air...

this is the Kenai peninsula...some pretty nice homes located here...

 more dip net fishermen...

 Anchorage from the sky...

 the house I'm living in is somewhere in this picture... :)

 downtown Anchorage

 this is around 10:30-11:00 at night...

 the airport where we landed...not the Anchorage airport...one a little further north called Birchwood

 our runway...

 very smooth landing!!

tying down the plane...

Talk about a great Alaska experience!!