April Updates

There hasn't been a whole lot to update lately, but here are some April hi-lights...

- Last weekend we were finally able to start seeing some of the front lawn and in the past week, quite a bit of the snow has melted...there is still a LOT left in places, but each day brings more and more greenery (well brown for the moment...but hopefully it will be changing soon)

none of this lawn was visible before last weekend...

- I think I've picked up more dog poop in the last couple of weeks than I ever have before in my life...as the snow melts, the amount of bathroom breaks the dogs made over the winter has become evident...I 'invested' in one of those pooper scooper gadgets and it was well worth it!

- We've had quite a few sunny days, and I even decided to 'lay out' on the deck one afternoon - I rolled up my jeans, took off my jacket and soaked up the sun AND the 'warm' 50 degree temperatures we had that day...and then I laughed thinking if I was in Colorado, I would not be 'laying out' when it was that 'cold'...it's all relative I guess :)

- Duncan & Dave both finally got haircuts thanks to "Mel's Grooming Salon"...I didn't get a 'before' picture of Dave, but here's a before & after of Duncan, and an after of Dave...I think they both lost a couple of pounds just by getting those cuts...

 Dave

It's now staying light past 10:00pm - this is the dogs looking out the window last night around 9:00pm...still very light out...

We had 4 or 5 strong 'hurricane' wind storms over the fall / winter...as a result, there are many broken, damaged trees throughout the neighborhood...and there are even some that were completely uprooted as you can see below...

a lot of now 'horizontal' or leaning trees everywhere...

this is the snow behind the house...Duncan found a way back there on the other side of the house and then realized he was stuck

I took a painting class a few weeks ago...this is what the teacher's painting looked like...

and this is what mine turned out looking like...I think my lilies look like retarded star fish

it was fun to try, but definitely not one of my natural talents...what did impress me was that we only used four colors for everything...red, yellow, blue & white all mixed in a variety of ways to come up with these colors.

Our final group of students finished up last week, so the part-time school job I have been doing is now finished until the fall.  One of the things I've heard quite a bit about from them over the past few months was their participation in "NYO"...which stands for Native Youth Olympics.

The NYO includes 10 events based on games past generations of Alaska Native people played. They are events that allowed them to test their hunting and survival skills, increase strength and maintain endurance, agility and the balance of mind and body.  Students from 7th to 12th grade participate in the various events.

The pictures below are students practicing the one foot and two foot high kick.  They must jump in the air and touch the ball that is hanging from the pole with one or two feet and then land back ON their foot/feet.  The ball gets raised higher and higher until there is one person left.

Students also practice balancing on one hand and kicking up to touch the ball

This event is the 'one hand reach' - students must balance their entire body weight on one hand, reach up and touch the ball hanging from the pole with their other hand, without letting any other part of their body (elbows, knees, feet etc...) touch the ground...pretty impressive...

This video is not from today but it is an example of one of the other events that takes place...

it's called the "Seal Hop"...

it makes my knuckles hurt just watching it...

I've really enjoyed working with the students this past year and look forward to continuing with them next fall.

Random Musings

So the total amount of snowfall for Anchorage in November?  32.4 inches!!!  The snowiest November on record is 38.8 inches in 1994 - this year, we were 1 inch shy of breaking the 2nd place record.  Remember when I was bemoaning the fact I had to spend $$ on snow tires?  Worth every penny!!!  :)

Recent winter sunset...

The past couple of days we've been getting RAIN instead of snow...makes for a big mess of slush and ice everywhere...and the wind...reports of hurricane force winds over 100 mph...it certainly sounded like it from the howling going on outside!  Here's the resulting damage from the wind storm...

 grills knocked over

 broken branch on the deck

 and the top of a large evergreen split off and blocked the driveway

 the remainder of the tree minus the top

Thankfully, I had the help of a family friend and his chainsaw and we got the area cleared pretty quickly.  Using a chainsaw is another first for me!  I may just become a frontier woman yet (frontier women used chainsaws, right?!?) :)

I've been playing Christmas music a lot...between my own personal collection and the radio stations on Pandora, I have a large library to listen to...but it doesn't matter HOW many times I hear this song...it makes me cry...Every. Single. Time.

I love seeing the glow of Christmas lights underneath the snow...

I came across the BEST gift card ever...at Walgreens of all places...don't you agree...isn't this the BEST gift card ever??? :)

 And no post would be complete without the gratuitous puppy shot...

naptime

Friday Fun #2 - Grrrrr

I'm really getting a kick out of these "Cover Tune Grab-bag" songs by the group "Mercy Me"...they obviously have a good time together even when they're not singing songs like "I Can Only Imagine"...

this one's a 'nostalgic' song for me...I'm not a fan of boxing generally, but who doesn't get pumped up whenever they hear "Eye of the Tiger" from the Rocky movies???

Watch out for that tiger... :)

Friday Fun...Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da

This made me smile...Happy Friday!!