Pepper's Debut

So, in February we got Pepper.

As you can see, she was adorable.  We were all quite taken with her.  Then, she pretty much became the bane of my existence.  Accidents, chewing what she shouldn't, destroying my furniture, puking because she ate something disgusting, etc.  This is not even the worst of the damage, it's just the only picture.  

Sometimes I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  She sits, she waits patiently while we feed her, and then waits for the command to start eating, she usually comes when we call her.  She's got promise, really.  But, sometimes I'm not sure if I'm going to outlast the puppy phase.  Seriously, our neighbors must think we all have Tourette's Syndrome.  We are always yelling at the dog about something.

But, then we do something like take her swimming, and I realize she is pretty cute still.

 
And right now Pepper is snuggled up at my feet after a quick walk around the block.  She is making funny Eewok noises while I pet her with my foot.  She's not all bad.  I suppose we'll keep her.

An Informal Thank You Note

Dear Mom and Tots,
    
Thank you so much for the subscription you got me for The New Yorker.  It has proved to be a lasting gift.  I really enjoyed reading it until February.  Now your gift serves a higher purpose.  As New Yorker magazines enters our house they are promptly rolled into cylindrical shapes and staged in various places around our house.  I usually have one on my lap wherever I happen to be sitting.  There is one on top of the television cabinet, and one on our computer desk.  There is one on each segment of kitchen counter, and one on our dining room table.  We have one in reach no matter where we might be in the house.  They are now devoted to swatting the rump of our naughty puppy.  This might not be quite the purpose you had in mind for them, but they are sure coming in handy.  I think of you both with fondness and appreciation,  many times throughout my day, as I swat Pepper off the kitchen counter, or stop her from chewing on our shoelaces, or snatch the sofa cushions from her mouth, or rescue the electrical cords from her sharp little puppy teeth, or rescue the remote control . . .

Thank you again and again,
Anna

Confronting My Fears

Well, okay.  Fear might be a strong word.  But, as some of you probably know, I'm not too terribly fond of goats.  They just strike me as being creepy.  This little fella, though, well . . . you'll see.

On the other hand, he is just a baby goat.  He'll probably grow up to have creepy yellow eyes and chomp down on that girl's fingers.  Baby steps, Anna.

How I Like to Start My Day

Before I had quite finished my first cup of coffee Saturday morning I had to clean some stuff out of my Jeep so the seat could be put down - a storage run was on the agenda for the day.  I grabbed the bag of trash that I'd been meaning to throw out for a week or so, and the random scraps that had accumulated in the back seat, then threw everything in my hands into the dumpster.  When I returned to my Jeep I realized I couldn't find my keys.  I delayed my panic and took the detritus from my car into the apartment, then went on a key hunt.  I looked in, around and under my car several times, all the while feeling the dumpster looming behind me.  I turned and looked directly at the dumpster.  I walked to the dumpster and opened the lid.  I stared into its stinky depths.  I said a quick prayer of thanks that the day before was garbage day.  It was relatively empty.  No chance a dead body was hiding inside.  I went back inside and grabbed a broom so I could use its handle to push the garbage around before I jumped inside for no reason.  Just as I was clambering up the side of the dumpster one of my neighbors came outside to throw something away.  Awkward.  I sheepishly smiled at her and explained that I was afraid I'd thrown my keys away.  She stayed for moral support.  With the broom handle I pushed the garbage around, and there they were.  Right on top of someone's leftover Chinese.  Blech.  I sighed a big sigh and made my descent.  My keys were rescued!  

Oh, as I was climbing out a moose calf came running from around the corner.  I swear he cocked his eye at me as he ran down 79th Ave.

My Apologies

It is December, nearly Christmas, and I only just published my very first blog from September.  We are well into snowy weather here in Alaska, and I feel silly saying anything about golden autumn leaves or first snowfalls.  But, on a happier note, my computer glitches seem to have worked themselves out, and hopefully I can stay more up to date from now on.  And hopefully you care.

The First Snowfall

As a relatively new transplant I'm in church-shopping mode.  This is not an activity I look forward to.  Well, I look forward to finding the perfect place for my family.  I do not look forward to feeling awkward and exposed in a new place, and I do not look forward to the overwhelming stench of people's clashing colognes and deodorants.  So, when my husband came home from work at around ten on Sunday morning and wanted the boy and me to go hiking with him, I happily kicked off my flats and went to change into my boots and some more appropriate jeans.  We threw some snacks in our various backpacks, filled up our water bottles, and left our apartment for an adventure. 

We were prepared for chilly autumn weather.  We had our hats and gloves, just in case.  We were bundled in our fleece jackets.  What we were not prepared for was the sight of snowflakes drifting down from the sky.  It was snowing!  It was September 26th, and it was snowing.  We clambered into the Big Green Jeep and hit the road. 



The boy all bundled up on the trailhead.

 We drove down the Seward Highway, which takes you out of Anchorage and along the Turnagain Arm - a long, narrow extension of the Cook Inlet.  I usually spend the drive scanning the water for signs of whales.  Apparently everyone, including my six year-old, has seen whales in this body of water except yours truly.  As usual, there were none about.  But I was pleasantly distracted by the explosion of golden fall leaves.  It was breathtaking.  On our left was a rocky mountainside.  Driving this road in the summer I never noticed that it is dotted with brave little trees, clinging for their lives to whatever soil they've managed to find there.  Autumn left the gray rocks sprinkled with yellow, shivering leaves.

The guide book said to expect a 'strenuous' hike.  It probably wouldn't sell guide books very well if it said a hike was annoyingly wet and muddy, but that's about as strenuous as it got.  It was too warm for it to stick, but after hiking about a mile the snow began falling in earnest.  It was pretty exhilarating.  Catching snowflakes on our tongues, even we grown-ups were wide-eyed.  We wound up hiking a little more than four miles round trip.  The boy was sustained with pop-tarts, granola bars and rectangles of Hershey's bar, which were periodically produced from the husband's pockets.  One rectangle got us about 10 minutes of whine-free hiking.

Here is stuff I saw on the hike:











We blasted the heater the whole way home.  Forgot to stop at The Turnagain Armpit (apparently they have good barbecue - husband and son stopped for ribs on their last trip), but I had enough time to get home and bake a banana cake for our dessert.  Just a little taste of home.