No Sunday fun day, but Friday funzi

Friday I woke to much excitement.  The snowy grey skies were gone and blue skies had returned.  I had a few errands and things I had to do but then I looked at my roommate, Rob and said, I have to go to Pyramid, It's too nice not to.  (also knowing I needed to work out as 2 days before were weak to none, and the next days to come were not going to include any play either).
I quickly convinced him to go out with me.  We got to Pyramid and I saw my two favorite guys, the Saltonstall brothers.  One was skate skiing or shall I say blazing around the parking lot and up the mountains ...he was everywhere and fast!!!  The other speed skinned up the mountain and then met us at the top at one point and skied a quick lap with me while Rob continued to climb up, and then he went down with Rob and I.  I sadly convinced him to do Sharon's traverse with me which ended up being bumps and ice and no new snow since the day before blew 30-50 mph winds when it was snowing.  However, I'm not sure his way down was going to be any better for me.  I decided that when I saw him rabbit hop continuous turns in the steep brush, which I knew I couldn't do.  

Before leaving I lost Kodi and then this crazy truck came plowing into the parking lot and got really stuck from missing the turn in and hitting a burm of snow!!!!!  I saw the GV license plate and immediately thought it was a a truck full of Navy Seals showing off.  So I told Rob and Dicky that we should leave fast before they make us pull them out.  I was not impressed!  This was an odd reaction I realized because usually when the Seals are around its all giddiness for all girls.  hahaha
The next thing I know, my husband and several other swimmers are jumping out of the truck, saying hi and then they all so strongly pushed the truck out of the snow.  I couldn't believe it, it was quite comical at this point because it wasn't the Seals, it was my husband!!  I said hello...I gave him and them a piece of my mind about him taking my safety ski beacon on their training and not telling me and leaving me without it for my back country ski... and then left to head back to town as we had date plans soon that evening.
On the way to town when we hit cannery row, Rob and I found the greatest flock of eagles poached on the rooftops awaiting their "evening meal" as Jason calls it.   sorry my pics are not that great.  I will try to get some better before leaving Kodiak.
When I moved to Kodiak I told myself that I would not take a bald eagle for granted living here with the winter load of them taking up winter residency here, because there are people in the lower 48 who never see an eagle in the wild for their entire lifetime.  Therefore, each time I see one, I still marvel at their greatness.  Their talons, their nests, their beauty and their ability to ride a thermal in the sky over a giant mountain or the great ocean out front of Kodiak.  (we can add this to the list of my many things I will miss of Kodiak!).  ~Shanna

 

SUNday Fun day again and again, I'll take it!

North Bowl looking up to Pyramid

What an exhausting 4 day weekend all because we are moving!
Thursday was errands and more.
Friday was a lot of "what are we going to do today Jason?"  "what is our game plan Jason?"...then suddenly I made the decision, we are going to have a garage sale because I was drowning in stuff, stuff that needed to go bye bye.  So we did!  We set up in our driveway a garage sales worth of stuff in 2 hours and entertained people to buy our treasures for about 3 hours.  It was perfect weather but a bit chilly.  A few hour laters and oh about $900 later, we were more pooped but happy.  One more garage sale to come this coming weekend!  but my mind still sees that....Jason has tooooo much stuff! whew!

Saturday we did the tax free day in town and spent much of our garage sale money :( but on new cool stuff that we needed for Utah.  We attended a memorial service, dined with our sweet friends the Kreskes' for an amazing dinner of bacon flavored Dall sheep burgers and lots of veggies!

Sunday we finally played after days of no exercise and no time for any!  And boy did we play.....3 laps on Pyramid.  Pyramid was gorgeous Sunday.  Very little wind, super sunny, and warm!  I skinned up in my t-shirt and very light synthetic long sleeve top.  I even contemplated at times taking my long sleeve off!  We busted incredible laps in the north bowl and the south bowl and then we were going to do the regular lap down, but the sun was magnificent in the south bowl that we decided to enjoy it longer by taking the south bowl out.  All was good till we got to the bottom by Three trees where the old tracks were hard with a cover of new snow.... bang, bump, scrape, clunk, might have been all the words to describe the entire way down on 3 trees.  Oh well..... as Jason put it..it can't all be perfect snow! :)

Jason skinning out of North Bowl

South Bowl first tracks.. we got them!  that is a cloud not snow blowing on the summit. 

Us in South Bowl

Time to use up the freezer food.  King Crab feast after skiing

Kodi in complete exhaustion after 3 laps on Pyramid 

Besides the skiing, one other highlight of my weekend among so many was a cute local Girl Scout who was selling cookies at the grocery store, when she said... "it's okay Shanna you don't have to buy any cookies because you are a dietitian."  Finally!!!  a Girl Scout/family respects me for not wanting to partake in the annual Girl Scout cookie craze.    ~Shanna

Lots of Food again and big news for a house!

I have Thursday and Friday's off.  It really is the life...though I don't make as much money as 40 hours makes.  I'm still determining how I feel about that.  Mostly though, I love it!

Thursday was a busy one again with some sweet news to end the day.  

In the early morning, I had my annual dental appts.  I learned from my new dentist that I shouldn't use my sonicare with toothpaste as it (toothpaste) is abrasive on my teeth.  But then I should follow up my wet clean sonicare session with a manual toothbrush that has toothpaste on it for maybe everything but my teeth to get that "freshness".  I'm not sure I agree with this!  My very trusted dental hygienist may or may not have rolled her eyes when I asked for clarification.

Jason had x-rays for his post coast guard physical.  

We then met in the middle and started our day.  Today included a lot of food for some reason. We had both been craving scones, so I made scones.  We also were drowning happily in 5# of carrots from our produce order so we made a yummy orange carrot juice, a jar of fermented carrots, and 3 pans of Shepard's Pie because we were absolutely still drowning, and not so happily, in white potatoes.  I can report that we are down to a half of bag of whites now and a lot of sweet potatoes.  These potatoes are comically testing my German roots.  ;). Friday (so today as written) we had potato pancakes.  Thank you mom for sharing this recipe with me. 

After 3 pans of Shepards pie, we visited a sweet dear friend to assess her yard after our huge wind storm on Monday and Tuesday that still leaves her without cable, internet and phone.  This is a problem because her son who visits on Saturday nights doesn't stay when there is no tv/noise for him to enjoy.  The way she shares that story is hilarious!  

We then walked the dogs and then we had a FaceTime interview with our future landlords; though at the time we didn't know they were going to pick us from the other family.  It was very nerve wracking because if they declined us, we would be back at square zero for our living situation in SLC come April/May.  About an hour or two later, we received the news that they DID pick up and we have a place to live in SLC or actually Cottonwood Heights, Utah!  Whew, what a relief for both us and our roommate Menerva!  

We also hit the garage finally for cleaning/weeding/prepping for the movers who come in two weeks! Ugh....Jason has WAY too much stuff.  on another note, though our rental house offer was a major high of excitement, my husband declared that we will be selling my hunting pack as it will sit and rot for 2+ years while I'm at school.  Talk about major sadness and tears at that moment.   ~Shanna

Sunday Fun Day retro post

Sunday was a busy day...okay actually all days these days are busy as we continue to prep for our move to Utah.

did I wear my shoes wrong?  look at the tips ????

We had church and then I worked on my to list as fast as I could before our 2 pm departure for a group hike with some friend and Jason's bosses from Orions.   At 3pm we set out for a hike up Sharatin mtn. north trail.  This trail is about 2 miles through the trees, twisting and turning and up and down but mostly a looonnng gradual incline.  It then opens into alpine meadows with a sprinkle of spruce trees here and there until you climb out of the trees completely in the alpine.   We almost got to the no trees, but actually stopped at the start of the alpine and "summit".


A bit before we left the trees, we put on our snowshoes that we were carrying to handle the deeper snow.  the snow was perfect for snowshoeing.  It was firm where needed and fluffy but not post hole fluffy.
Overall, it was the perfect Sunday fun day hike and with excellent company.

Jason, Sharon and Steve on Sharatin

My favorite bay and view on Kodiak.  Behind the 2 tall spruce trees is Whale Island

I also learned today after church that I booked my ticket wrong.  Jason and I were working on his travel Saturday night and mine too.  Mine from ADQ to SLC with a long layover in ANC.  Then the next day after arriving to SLC, I fly to Chicago to see a sweet friend and her family that I met in Nome.  A few days later I go to Cleveland to see the Podoll's and my absolutely hilarious and adorable godchild Maryn!  then a week later I meet Jason in KC.  There we will buy a car and drive west.  So the wrong ticket!?  I was supposed to leave Kodiak on the 3rd and arrive to SLC on the 4th. But since the coast guard books this ticket from Kodiak, I went ahead and booked my others.  I realized on Sunday that the ticket I booked for Chicago and beyond from SLC actually was booked for me to leave on the 3rd out of SLC.  (insert hand on head!). So if I had to keep the ADQ to SLC ticket, it would have had me arriving to SLC at 8am'ish and then leaving at 9:30am'ish for Chicago.  Soooo...I leave the day after Easter now from Kodiak!  :)   Moral of this story.  Don't drink social when booking tickets :).  ~Shanna