Hart Christmas Newsletter(long)

Yes, this will be long, but I hope it is worth it. Some may get a hard copy of this too... Here goes...

Christmas 2006
Hello All,
For any of you that have not either been informed, heard, or seen… we are now living in Sitka Alaska. We entered Alaska on January 1st of 2006. OK, now for the story and a few other tid bits.
Last fall(2005) things at work for Rick came to a head and we realized that it was time to make a change. As we looked, this position in Sitka just felt right. The description of the job, the area, the information we received just fit together. So…
We finished remodeling our basement in Logan in 2 months, sold our house, visited Sitka and arranged for a rental house, packed up all our stuff except for the 50% we sold or got rid of, said good-byes, packed a 25 ft. truck, left Lori’s car to be sold by a friend, caravanned with the truck and Rick’s car to Seattle, left our dog Heidi with Rick’s brother (she ended up with bone cancer and died within a month of us leaving), got on a ferry and spent 4 days getting to Sitka, and settled in to our rental house. Then in March we bought a house and moved again!!
Sitka is located on Baranoff Island… about the size of the state of Delaware. It is very rugged with mountains, lakes, valleys, a couple of glaciers, etc… We have many trails in the mountains and shoreline to investigate. We have the brown bear here (grizzly). Yes, they do come into town and are seen on the trails. Also a small deer called the Sitka Blacktail. We have enjoyed the many eagles, especially this summer when there were hundreds of them. Our house is on a cove where eagles like to hang out in the trees. We also see blue herons. We have seen several whales although not up close. We also have a dormant volcano about 15 miles from down…Mount Edgecumbe. This is just one beautiful place.
Rick is now one of 2 optometrists in the Eye Clinic at Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital for SEARHC (South East Alaska Regional Health Consortium). He gets great benefits, a great staff to work with, and Saturdays off. He travels several times a year to clinics in Yakutat and Klawock. Rick is very happy with his position. He gets to see types of patients he has rarely seen. He enjoys working with the native people who are the vast majority of his patients. They are very friendly.
Lori has been working like crazy on her Ph.D. dissertation and has finished the writing. And then she has to get it through her committee and defend it. By the time you receive this Lori will have finished all her work for the Ph.D. and will be Dr. Hart. She continues to teach for Weber State doing internet classes and has taught online for UAS (University of Alaska-Southeast). On Nov. 13 she will start a new job in the mental health department at SEARHC as a nurse practitioner. She is really excited to be back working in mental health. So both she and Rick will be working at the same hospital. She worked again at Kennolyn Camp in Santa Cruz, CA and again had Charles and Meg with her. Even with all the writing and researching she has taken time to get to know Sitka.
Richard went back to Logan so he could get ready to go to Utah State… where he is now. He is living in the dorms and using a scholarship he earned in high school. He has a job at the USU library doing all kinds of different jobs. He seems to be enjoying his experience.
Meg is back from her exchange to Udine Italy. She had a tough time with the language, but finally beat it. She made many friends and has a hard time keeping up with them. Her host-family, the Mineos were really good to her and will always be special to us. She got back in July and right away started making friends. Sitka has been growing on her day by day. She was just named the Student of the Month at Sitka High and has done very well for the DDF (Drama Debate Forensics) team. Since Meg got back from Italy she, Lori, and Charles have gone vegetarian. Rick is doing all right as Lori accommodates him with a meat version of the meals.
Charles had an advantage before we moved here. When we came up for our visit last November he was introduced to Zach (a good friend now) and spent 2 days at the middle school. When he started school he was already well known. He played bass in the middle school jazz band last school year and this year is also in DDF. Charles hadn’t been east of Utah, so in April he and Rick went to Memphis while Rick attended an optometry seminar. Charles played golf and enjoyed Memphis BBQ. He got to see places from our family history that he had only heard of. Charles also attended the Sitka Fine Arts Camp playing music in various groups. Charles is vice-president of the freshman class.
Lori wanted a new dog and we got a labradoddle… D’Artagnan (the 4th Musketeer), whom she is training and walking and just loving. In June we got D’Artagnan, an 8 week old puppy. Now he is about 50 lbs. and big. A labradoodle is a cross (he is 50/50) between a standard poodle and a labrador retriever. The idea is to have a dog that sheds little or none and has the good parts of each breed. She and D’Artagnan have walked and hiked wherever they can.
Also in June Lori and Rick went to Fairbanks while Rick attended another seminar. They took a trip up to the Arctic Circle and experienced 24 hours of light even though the sun went down at 11:30pm. Rick got to play golf till 10:30pm. This trip was also to celebrate Rick and Lori’s 25th wedding anniversary.
We are really enjoying Sitka. It is strange what being on an island does to people. Lots of traveling “down south”. Our airport is small, but has several flights a day from Alaska Air. Shopping is sparse and we do bulk shopping when in Juneau or down south. We have learned lots of the “local” ways including how to dress dry for the rain and how to take your shoes off before going in anyone’s house.
Anneka and Mike are in St. George where AJ is working for Zions bank and Mike is still an electrician. Anneka just had her gall bladder out and Lori was able to fly down and help. They came up for a weeks visit in August. Mike caught 3 fish on a charter trip we took… (Rick only got one).
Annika Brachmann our first exchange student came to see us for 3 weeks. She went on the fishing trip, but didn’t fish. We got her to hike with us eventhough she was afraid of the bears. She got to go to Juneau for a few days when Rick went on a business trip.
Our summer from all reports was pretty lousy. Lots more rain than usual and much cooler temps. We survived well and it can only get better. This fall has been pretty nice. For comparison: Our rainfall for Sept was 16.3”(ave is 11) and October was 15.8”(ave. is 14.1). November "only" averages 9”.
Rick’s parents are doing OK. Dad has Alzheimer’s and Mom is working very hard at taking care of him while still having a life. They are very active at Church. Mom has been feeling better the past few months and is looking forward to us visiting at Christmas.
We have plenty of room for houseguests should you come visit. Summer is the time to come… July or August. If you are connected to the internet please contact us: Rick-rhartsco91@gmail.com, Lori-lhart8862@gmail.com
We have a great bunch of people at church to meet with in the Sitka Ward. They were very welcoming and have a great testimony of the restored Gospel. Their faith in Christ helps us to keep more of a Christmas spirit in our lives all the time.
Have a great Christmas.
Love you all, Rick, Lori, Meg, Charles, Richard, and D’Artagnan