31 August 2006

Work Trip to Juneau

note: pictures will be forthcoming...after I get home.
I am just finishing up my work trip to Juneau. The clinic here(the Juneau part of SEARHC) has kept me busy for the 4 days I have worked. It is always hard to work in someone else's space, but at least the configuration of most optometry exam rooms is pretty standard.
Annika seems to have kept herself busy and entertained. She has done a lot of walking the downtown area and some of the surrounding streets going up the mountains. Our motel is right next to the Alaska State Museum, so she was able to visit that. Tuesday was sunny and Wednesday was cloudy, but no rain. They say in SE Alaska that any day without rain is a good day.
The evenings we have spent doing shopping(around here you always pack an extra empty suit case to bring home all the staples that are cheaper here) and seeing a couple of things. Monday we visited the Mendenhall Glacier. The blue color of the glaciers is really cool. Yesterday we drove up the local ski hill to see how it looked(no snow of course). Eaglecrest has 2 lifts and a decent amount of snow. It is similar in size to Beaver Mountain where we skiied in Utah.... just lower elevation ...base is 1100 ft.
Today (Thurs) it is raining hard. Annika and I will try and see a couple of sites this evening before we have to get to the airport. It has been nice that this is a work trip as they flew me over, paid for the motel, car and food.

27 August 2006

Meg and Friends

A couple of Meg's friends joined us for dinner the other night and they got carried away with some markers... Ben is from Haines, AK and was the exchange student going to Spain that provided Meg with good info on Sitka when she was all upset with us moving to Alaska. Charles has a desire to go to Spain for an exchange and talking to Ben answered a lot of questions we had. Jo lives here in Sitka.
It is strange how kids here, in Juneau, Haines, etc. know each other. The interschool competitions really help as all the schools are small and the kids traveling stay with families of the other teams.
Meg as usual has been making new friends on a daily basis.

26 August 2006

Work Trips

One thing that has been unique with my job is that I do some traveling. SEARHC stands for SOUTH EAST ALASKA Regional Health Consortium...so...we handle the south east needs for optometric care as best we can. There is a doctor full-time in Juneau and he handles small villages such as Kake, Angoon, and Hoonah. Pam and I handle not only Sitka, but also Klowack on Prince of Wales Island and Yukatat. Each of us spend 1 or 2 weeks a year in Yukatat and 3-4 in Klowack. One of the doctors and one of the optometric assistants travels together. It is interesting to see a different place and help out the smaller outlying areas. We are never bored on these trips...in fact, we don't have enough time to see everyone who either needs or wants an appointment.
This year we have a new trip to do. It is only temporary though. The doctor in Juneau is an Indian Health Service officer and is retiring this summer. He will come back to work for SEARHC in October/November as a regular employee. In the mean time he is taking a leave of absence during which Pam and I will be covering for him at 1 week a month each. So I will have 3 trips to Juneau.
It will be kind of nice since Juneau is about 5 times bigger than Sitka and I can shop for more things at lower prices. The local method of travel is to take a duffle bag in your suit case or pack a small case in a bigger one and then fill up the empty one with shampoo, crackers...etc.
My first trip to Juneau starts this coming Monday. I will see patients M-Th. With Annika(our former exchange student/host-daughter from Germany) here we decided that she need to see more than just Sitka and we arranged for her to go with me to Juneau. She can explore the area while I work. Hopefully, she won't be too bored...and the weather will be good.

24 August 2006

"Hand"y Alaska Map

When ever you need a map of Alaska...try this...
One of my patients showed me this when I asked where her village was located. Apparently all Alaskans know this trick. Now we can all identify where Sitka is in Alaska... and remember that the Arctic Circle is above Fairbanks.

23 August 2006

The Dog Update

This is for the many requests on how the dog...D'Artagnan is doing... First off he is getting really big. He is just 4 1/2 months old now. Enjoy D'Artagnan at the beach, in the park, tearing up packing papers, and just kicking back.. First, however is an update showing how big the dog is getting. On an earlier posts when I introduced D'Artagnan I have a series of pictures of him on my stomach while I am on the couch...here is the latest....I could hardly pick him put to get him there...







22 August 2006

New School Year, New School


Well, today started a new school year for Charles and Meg. They are both now in high school and at a new school.... Sitka High School.
Yea, so Charles doesn't look happy...it was after all only 8:15 am... Meg is just cute.
Charles is doing debate and theatre production and Spanish. He is the vice president of his freshmen. Since he has already been here several months he knows just about all of his 90 classmates.
Meg is actually going to be a sophomore instead of a junior since she didn't get much out of school in Italy. She will be doing a bunch of non-academic stuff. Shakespeare, drama, vocal jazz, and choir. Eventhough she is brand new she has already met many of the kids at the school.
School starts at 8:40 am and they will have Church seminary class at 7:40 am with the other kids from Church.

19 August 2006

Busy Tourist Week

With our first guests here in Sitka we have joined them in some of the tourist things. Since moving here we have not seen any of the typical(albiet important) sites. This has finally been our excuse to do this. We did discover after our fishing trip that really fresh salmon is something that is really good.
We have spent time hiking some of the trails. Particularly Mosquito Cove. This is a nice 1.5 mile loop trail near the original site of Russian Sitka. We also walked some of the trails at the Sitka National Historical site where the Russians and natives clashed in 1804. The Indian river flows through here. The salmon are all lined up..waiting to proceed up stream to spawn. It looked like a 10-15 lane freeway. Really cool. We have watched a carver work on a beautiful bowl and a weaver making small baskets out of cedar roots. It is interesting that in the film a the museum how many names I knew from working in the clinic. A very cool feeling. We toured the Russian Bishop's House that is one of 4 original buildings remaining from the Russian era on the whole U.S. west coast.
Yesterday we visited the Raptor Center and got close up views of bald eagles, ravens, owls, etc. The eagles are so majestic. Some of these can't be released back to the wild, but the goal is to release as many as possible.
Saturday the 19th we took a wildlife tour... it was a 3-hour tour... We saw 4 humpback whales, a single orca(killer whale), a bunch of sea otters(I hadn't realized how big they get..100 lbs.), a lone sea lion, puffins, and eagles' nests. A very calm day and none of us got sick this time.
We finally made up to Castle Hill too. This is where the transfer of Alaska from Russia to the US took place in 1867. It has been a site used by natives as a watch point and for the Russian governor for his house. Charles and his friend spend time up there just "hanging".
Saturday afternoon it got sunny!!! It has been about 3 week since we had significant sun. The sunny conditions continued all day Sunday also. It was nice for Anneka and Mike to see Sitka in a different light...so to speak... They left Sunday morning to return to St. George and 100 degree temps. Poor Anneka was cold the whole time she was here. Annika is still cold too. We even were able to eat outside on the deck on Sunday.

15 August 2006

Teach a Man to Fish...

It seem it takes visitors to get us to do some of the activities around our home. Yesterday, we charted a boat to take us fishing. The 5 of us...Lori, me, Annika, Anneka, and Mike did an afternoon trip with Sitka Secrets charters. In addition to us there was another gentleman there to fish. We went about 17 miles out from Sitka to bob around in the water. The trip out and back were no problems, but all that bouncing around got Anneka and Lori really sick and eventually me to. Mike and Annika did just fine.
Only Mike and I fished. I ended up with a 15 lb king salmon, while Mike had a 2 silver salmons, a king, and a rock fish. We had no rain, but the rough water(at least to us) was tough. I hadn't puked in almost 20 years...so I'm quite bummed.
The captain of the boat also stopped on the way back to show us a group of sea otters floating in a group and tried to get close to a puffin, but it kept diving.
We had them cut us a filet of one of the king salmons and then sent the rest off for professional processing. Mike and Anneka will take some back to Utah with them. We had the one filet for dinner and boy was it good. Lori commented that she had never had eaten fish that fresh.

14 August 2006

Our First Visitors

We finally have our first guests here in Sitka. And to make it even better we have 2 sets of guests. First, Anneka and Mike are here for a week and second, Annika Brachmann, our exchange-student, from Germany is here for 3 weeks. They all arrived yesterday(Sunday the 13th).Mike our son-in-law will attempt to put in some lighting for us...he is an electrician, Anneka will just hang out, and Annika will learn a bunch about what has been up with us over the past 6 years. We are so happy to have them here and to share what we have.

!!Dick and Peggy Happy 50th Anniversary!!

Much of our family gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of our parents--Dick and Peggy...
Our Alaska family was unable to get to southern California and we really feel sad. My mom didn't want a big celebration and just wanted to have her family around her and Dad. Both of my brothers and their families went. My aunt Susan and her husband Bill were there too.
Married 21 June 1956 in Manti, Utah Dick and Peggy moved to California after Dad finished school at the University of Utah. After buying a house in 1964 they haven't moved. My brothers and I all grew up in that house through all its incarnations.
Even though we weren't there with our kids, there were still 5 of their 9 grandchildren present. We here in the great wet north are so grateful for the influence my parents have had on us and the help they have provided. Our thought and hope and prayers are with them constantly.

09 August 2006

AFS Intercultural Exchange Experiences

We as a family have been involved with AFS for 8 years now. It all started with our oldest... Anneka... who decided that she wanted to go to France as an exchange student. She check out about a dozen different programs and compared not only cost, but the level of involvment of the people with the student. She settled on AFS. Lori and I were kind of familiar with them as we had students at our high school with this program. For the history of AFS as well as other information go to the AFS site.
With Anneka going to France we decided to be a host-family for a student from another country. When Lori and Anneka looked over the applications for several students the found Annika from Germany. So we switched an AnnEka for AnnIka.
Anneka left in Sept. 1999 for Crest, France. It is about 1/2 way between Lyon and Marsille(ok so I can't spell a French city..) near Valance. She lived with a family on a goat farm in a 300 year old house. After taking 3 years of French in school she figured that the language would be easy... It wasn't... However by the first of January 2000 she was fluent. Since being home she has had the opportunity to work with the French figure skating team before the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. They were practicing in Logan. She was even interviewed for French TV. This was due to her exchange and her love of figure skating. Her education goals now include a major in history, a minor in French and to teach either or both.
While Anneka was in France we were the host-family for Annika Brachmann from Belm, Germany. She went from the youngest of 2 to being the oldest of 4. What a change, but she handled it great. Annika is very much part of us now. In fact she will be coming to visit Sitka in 4 days!! While with us in Logan she participated in high school tennis and dance. Her English became so good that the other kids at school didn't realize that she was from another country and that her native language wasn't English. She now going to a university in Cologne, Germany where she is learning about historica art restoration.
A couple of years later we hosted Jo Donze from Geneva, Switzerland. He got along well with Richard and Charles. While a good soccer player(he played for the varsity team at school) he got to play American football. He was one of the kickers. He also liked to run even when it was -10 degrees F. He is now in training for hotel management and has been in Spain for several months.
Right after Jo left Richard(19) went to Portugal. He lived in the rainy northern part. He had to adjust to living in an apartment instead of a good size house which made him feel a bit closed in. He enjoyed walking around the city with all its OLD streets and buildings. The rain didn't bother him and prepared him somewhat for the time he spent here in Sitka.
Meg just returned from her exchange to Udine, Italy(not too far from Venice). Her biggest challenge was learning to be an only child. She also learned that cats can be evil when the family(Mineos) got her a kitten. This cat was referred to as the "evil cat". While there she got to go to Slovinia, Austria, and central Italy.
Charles, if he gets the chance wants to go to Spain...we'll see. Currently I am acting as a liaison for a young man from Japan who will be here in Sitka.
We have had a chance to work with some great people in AFS...especially Barbara Calney... What a great lady who loves all those kids that come to experience Utah.

08 August 2006

!!!Happy Birthday Lori!!!

Today is my beautiful wife's birthday. She is not paranoid about how old she is and is glad to have made it to the big double-4...yea 44. Hopefully the dog and I can make it a good day for her as the kids are all gone...Anneka of course in St. George and Richard in Logan and Meg/Charles are in Logan too.
I have been around Lori for 27 of those 44 years...61% of her life. That is an honor for me. She still is and will continue to be my best friend and sweethart...Happy Birthday Lori.

07 August 2006

Lori's Back!!

Lori got home late last night from camp. She is cold thanks to being in much warmer weather "down south". The dog was very glad to see her as was I. She, Meg, and Charles flew from Oakland to Seattle together. The kids then left for their 10 day "vacation" to Logan. It's nice to know that although Lori really enjoys her time at camp that she is always glad to be home. Of course the downside to coming home that the real world has to be dealt with again...
Notice how sad D'Artagnan was before Lori got home?
GLAD YOU'RE HOME SWEETHART!

04 August 2006

Weather in Sitka

OK, that summer thing I posted last week...well, it's over. We are told by the long-timers that this is an unusually cool/rainy summer. Anyway, follow this link to our local 10-day forcast.
We do get more than our fair share of "liquid sunshine", but in this part of the state the fire problem is really low. I would guess that UV problems are low also. Of course that would extend to growing things...gardens aren't the best and most limit them to fast growing and water tolerant items. But, for the beauty and opportunities we have here the rain is the least of our worries.

03 August 2006

Where is Sitka

For those of you still not sure where Sitka is....here is a map that might help. The lower right hand side is the Southeast. We are near the capitol of Juneau. This part of Alaska is temperate and wet. Check out Sitka.com for more info.

Almost Over---the wait that is

Lori will be back on Sunday night. It will be so nice to have her here. I know D'Artagnan will be glad to have her back. He has had to be cooped up in his kennel everyday from 7:45am to 12:10pm and then from 12:45pm to 5:10pm. I have been coming home at lunch to feed him and get him to relieve himself. He has grown paranoid of getting in the kennel. With Lori coming home he'll only have one more day of that torture.
Lori has had a good session at camp...much less sickies to take care of. Meg and Charles apparently are having a great time. The all fly back to Seattle together and then the kids go on to Salt Lake to visit friends in Logan for 10 days while Lori comes straight home.
We will have a week to ourselves before guests arrive... Anneka and Mike are coming to visit the week of the 13th and our first exchange student; Annika; will be here for 3 weeks. Charles and Meg will be back while they are all here.

01 August 2006

House #3 or the Old house

This is a matter of symantaics...Lori and I refer to our houses as #s 1,2,3 while the teen-agers with their all-knowing, random, and/or exitential brains refer to them as the Old, Old Old and the Old Old Old house with the rental we had here thrown in for good measure.
House #3 was the one we left when we move here. It was at 1680 East 1220 North. For those of you outside of Utah...we use a grid system for addresses. So we were almost to the 17th block to the east of Main St and on a street that would be about the 12th block north of Center St. So we were in the north east part of the city. Very easy to get around. We lived here for 4 years form 2001 until the end 2005 when we left.
We made some changes in every part of the house from painting the outside and removing trees/bushes to painting everything inside to changing almost every light fixture to updating the plugs to adding shelves to basically gutting the basement and finishing it right before we moved. A few examples follow including Meg's bedroom, the basement, the kitchen and the living room/dining room. Enjoy.
Here is the original basement. The room on the right was behind the cabinets of the left picture.
Then is the longtime -in- progress basement with no drywall, carpet, or ceiling. Where the theater seats are has not been wired yet. These pictures were from the end of August 2005. Next is the final product on December 28. We actually didn't even start this until the first of October after we made the decision to move. The electrial was finished at the end of October. A lot of work in a short period just to leave it for someone else to enjoy. Lori says she knows some of what the Mormon pioneers (including my 3rd great- grandfather) felt when they had to leave the places they had struggled for in Nauvoo and be driven west.