Go Splat!

We were driving back from Warrensburg (about 40 miles east of Lees Summit) this evening, after visiting a furniture store there, when we were reminded of something that we didn't much encounter in Alaska (or maybe our memory is flawed): bug guts all over the front of our car. And the bugs come pretty big here, which leaves as you can guess a pretty big mess. I often hear the things late at night when I'm up working. When I don't have the curtain across the porch door drawn, they throw themselves at the glass and it makes a rather noticeable thudding noise. Or they crowd the light on the porch, which gives you a really good idea of their size. I don't know if they're beetles or stink bugs, but I could swear some of them are as large as my thumbnail. I'm particularly squeamish when it comes to bugs, so it was no pleasure to me to have one fluttering against my leg tonight as I was unloading a sleeping BB from the car. I just hope the thing didn't get shut up in the car when everything was said and done.

And while I'm on the subject, I have to say, I've had an awful eye-full of road kill since we've been back in the Lower 48. Drew hypothesizes it's because the wildlife here is smaller and less avoidable shall we say than what you find in Alaska. Raccoons, possums, any number of (unidentifiable) smaller rodent types, turtles, the occasional feline, deer. Certainly, anyone would be loathe to hit a moose or a bear, which would do at least and/or more damage than a deer. I would further hypothesize that for as much road and wildlife as there is in Alaska, you're not going to have that many car-animal encounters period. I should ask Drew what his impressions were when he drove the ALCAN.

A Couple of Side Notes

I don't know if these pictures need explaining, but I'll do it anyway for my own satisfaction.

Maybe you remember your mouth watering when I did a post about the rum pot I wanted to make this summer. After talking with some people about it, I guess it's not so clear exactly what it is. Think: sweet boozy (rum) fruit that you can ladle over waffles, or ice cream, or drink (the syrup) straight out of the pot. So a few weeks back I bought a brown "lookies" crock, got me a bottle of Captain Morgan Tattoo, and started off with a batch of semi-sweet strawberries. I have to tell you, I was kind of torn as to what kind of rum I should get: dark or light. But something about the dark stuff has always called/appealed to me, and after more than a week at the soaking (with an addition of blackberries), I must say I made the right choice. It smells absolutely heavenly – and tastes pretty good too. :) Tomorrow I'll put some more strawberries to it, if the girls don't eat them all first. And in case you're wondering how a light rum might taste, you won't have to wait until next year to find out: I'm getting another crock to try a batch.

This is me at 39 weeks. Does it look like I swallowed a basketball? LOL! Not terribly flattering, I know, and I certainly don't feel it either. But check it: in the lower RH corner is the new infant car seat. I figured I should get crackin' on preparing for the baby so on Tuesday I took the girls to go buy one. (G's car seat got donated – to make room – when we moved from DC, and BB's was a hand-me-down that we despised so that ended up getting donated too.) It's funny that as we were bringing the box home, G remarked that now that we had the car seat "Mommy could have the baby". That night, yesterday (Wednesday) morning, I woke up with uncomfortable (but not real) contractions. Wouldn't it have been crazy if she had been right? But she kept wanting to open the box, get the seat ready for the baby. I told her she had to wait for Drew to come home (because I wasn't going to lug that box into the house and up the stairs) so she literally pounced on him about it the minute he walked in the door. The girls were preoccupied with the thing for nearly half an hour, checking every inch, taking turns sitting in it, admiring it for the baby in general.

Getting on That Time

In anticipation of many more photos to come, I'm going to do monthly pictures a few days early – since I don't seem to have anything better to do anyway, i.e. still no baby. But after looking things over, I realize there aren't too many that you haven't already seen via other posts. There are, however, a couple of (v. brief) clips that you won't find anywhere else.


G's become quite the peddling pro. Whenever she gets the chance, she also likes to ride the two-wheeler (with training wheels) at the house next door. Drew's leery about upgrading her so soon, and after some thought, I agree. But just today, I saw her attempting to get on a training-wheel-less two-wheel bike like she was actually going to get somewhere. I'm guessing she wants the speed of it because I've often seen her peddling her little heart out on the tricycle trying to keep up with the girl on her "big" bicycle.




These two are from the weekend that we had the Ws over.

The SDMINES Plates

Here's a wild story: I'm driving down the interstate on the way back from my doc's appt (report below) to pick up G at BB's godmother's house when I come up behind a red car with S.Dakota license plates. For some reason, I like to notice these things. But these were even more notable for what was printed on them: SDMINES. Drew's and my alma mater is not particularly big so I figured I might very well know whoever was driving the car – and as it turns out, when I pulled up alongside, it was our dept adviser, Dr S, at the wheel! I honked and waved him down, and we had a brief reunion on the side of I-435, probably no more than 5 or 10 minutes. He was on his way to lunch with someone in town, passing through to Wichita and OKC, through on to one of the Carolinas and DC.

Dr S makes his own jellies and jams from fruit that he gathers wild in the Black Hills and he asked whether I'd like some. Without wanting to appear greedy, I asked if I could have one of each of his flavors: chokecherry and raspberry-rhubarb. (We've had jars of his various jellies in years passed and they're delicious.) He took a picture of me to verify our meeting and we went our separate ways. So I ask you, what are the chances?

Report: I ended up not seeing the doc this morning because she was at the hospital (adjacent building) delivering someone else's baby. The receptionists kept reporting that it should be any time now, that the woman was getting ready to push, etc. but after an hour, nothing. So I decided to reschedule knowing that I'll probably be back within the week anyway. As I was getting on the elevator, the doc was just coming back, saying that the woman's baby didn't seem to have any intention of coming out, which I could very well hope doesn't happen to me when the time comes.

This is Miserable

We had some spectacular rain yesterday morning, cooled things off beautifully for most of the day. Today was just "missour-able". I mean look at those numbers (from the National Weather Service)! Maybe the humidity wouldn't have been so bad if it hadn't been for the temperature being above, say, 70 degrees. :) That's about the highest I can go. The Wizard of Oz comes to mind: "I'm melting! Melting!"

Updated Weather

I was just rereading my post about this morning's weather and I noticed that the weather map changed – by itself. It occurred to me that I had posted the image's address location (as opposed to saving it) so that the map will update every time the web one updates. On a nice day that posted picture's not going to make very much sense with the posted text.

Show-Me People

We popped on over to the DMV this morning to get our Missouri drivers' licenses, and register as voters. (Mind you, pictures in your third trimester don't turn out very flattering.) There's a reason why people dread going to the DMV, but it's not so bad on a rainy weekday morning. If it hadn't been for a little mix up with the title to our new Toyota (for plates), we could have had business wrapped up in less than an hour, a new record, I'm sure.

Back to Ohio

The Ws are flying back to Anc this afternoon – and KC is sending them off with one last thunderstorm. (No sun tea today...) It's not as spectacular as the one we encountered some weeks ago (complete with tornado sirens), but thinking on it, I don't recall ever getting the lightning and thunder in Alaska.

Last weekend we had the Ws over to BBQ at our house, knowing that they'd probably be gone within the next week or so. It's lucky that things worked out the way they did because their boys were sick earlier in the week, and I didn't go into labor while doing all that unpacking the day before.

Drew (with Sven and little Whitney) is taking after G with the strange picture-taking face.

G discovered turning the hose on herself a few days earlier – and what fun to spray other people as well, like BB and Christian.

The only one who managed not to get entirely wet was Marcus (holding his mommy's hand).

Meanwhile, Back at the Farm...

See what a few glorious hours in the sun can do? I'm going to break into the smaller container for lunch, leave the bigger one for when Drew gets home from work. And there's plenty of ice in the bucket!

100-Mile Diet

In the previous post, I mentioned two local dairies: Heartland and Shatto. I was learning recently that only the latter fits the bill for the 100-Mile Diet (link also here and here). Apparently it thrives quite well here, and it's no wonder. Kansas City is pretty well central, I presume, to a lot of the goods circulating through the Lower 48, and this is farming country. I think it's a good idea, esp the part about supporting local growers, but I don't know that I would go out of my way to follow it 100%. A lot of the locally owned grocery stores carry local goods, but otherwise, Lees Summit's farmers' market only runs on Wednesday and Saturday mornings, which isn't exactly always convenient for me what with baby appts on Wednesdays and sleeping in on Saturdays. Drew and I were also laughing that it'd be near impossible to follow such a "diet" in places like, say, Alaska.

I Coulda Been a Contenda

Not really. My newest love: sweet (sun) tea, like they serve in the South. But I could never actually live in the south. There's too much hot, and there's too much humid. There's a reason why you drink your beverages cold and cold with plenty of ice. So it was during one of our first dinner outings after we'd arrived here that I ordered iced tea. Now normally I follow the Chinese cheapskate tradition of only having a glass of water, but for some reason, the tea just sounded really good. Keeping in mind that our household goods hadn't arrived yet, we were eating out quite a bit, and at one of the restaurants they asked me, "Sweet tea? Or regular?" It's not often I get this choice. Typically, I like to add a packet of the Splenda to regular tea because, frankly, regular sugar just doesn't dissolve quickly enough – so sweet tea, in my opinion, is just splendid. I was hooked. About a week ago, I had the bright idea of making my own tea. I mean going out to eat every night just to have sweet tea could get a little expensive.

Here, let me digress a moment: One of the first times I ever went to the grocery store here in Lees Summit, to the HyVee, I was tickled to find that they have milk in glass containers. The local brand on the MO side is Heartland, and in KS they have Shatto. (In Alaska the local brand was Matanuska Maid – isn't that fun to say? – but it couldn't keep up with competition, e.g. Carrs/Safeway, Costco. Last I heard they were still looking for someone to buy it and keep it running, but I don't know how that turned out.) Not surprisingly, either one of these costs more than the stuff in the plastic jugs: half a gallon in glass is almost as much as a gallon in plastic (not on sale). I know you can get a deposit back on the glass container if you return them, but I have yet to return one so I don't know how much that is. And in any case, I found a use for them. :)

To sweeten, I employ that very important "staple" (because it mixes so well into iced anything): simple syrup. Most recipes call for a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water, but there was one I was reading that said I could do 2:1 sugar to water in order to get more bang for my buck if you will. And when I can finally get to the local farmers' market, I plan on doing some infused simple syrups. Oh, this could shape up to be a "cool" summer after all.

The Other Answer

While I'm thinking on good kid quotes...

A few days ago we were driving home from somewhere and G's looking out the window commenting on the moon. It was a little passed the half on the way to full so you could see some of the dark spots already. And G asks (in Chinese), "Where's the moon's eyes?" These last few weeks I've been stuck for answers to a lot of unconventional questions – I was never one for the quick/good comeback lines either – so I turn to Drew and ask him the big question. His response: "The moon's eyes are closed because he's sleeping." Apparently, this didn't satisfy G. So I ask her, "Where do you think the moon's eyes are?" and she says, "They're on the backside."

Fast forward to last night: again, we're driving home in the dark, and now G's commenting on an almost full moon. You can clearly see the "face" now, but still she asks me, "Where's the moon's eyes?" This time I'm a little smarter and I ask her, "Where do you think the eyes are?" and she says, "The moon's sleeping."

His Name is "Little Sister"

We're getting close: this is the start of our 38th week.

We don't know what we're having, boy or girl, but when asked which she would prefer, G says, "A little brother would be fine." Or, "All I want is a little brother." Sometimes she'll point to one side of my tummy and say, "Mommy's tummy's got a little brother", and then she'll point to the other side and say, "and a baby". Thankfully, there's only one in there and I tell her as much – and all she wants is a little brother. But I've also been preparing her for the eventuality that it might be another little sister. She's not completely adverse to the idea, but, of course, "All I want is a little brother."

Today she was playing with some of her stuffed animals: putting them in diapers, dressing them up in clothing, putting them down for a nap, telling me to be quiet because I was too loud and might wake someone up. We were all sitting in the living room and she was playing with a rabbit that she referred to as "her little brother". I asked her what her little brother's name was and she said, "little sister".

Another Missouri Pest

Thanks to Megan, I'm now afraid to go out into my lawn because of what will be lurking there: chiggers! I've heard of them before, and I suppose I assumed they were only in warmer climes, i.e. the South, but I guess I never gave them much thought because no one ever said, "...and we have them here in [insert state's name]". So they're here in Missouri (read also this article), although interestingly, if you Google "chiggers" and "Kansas" you don't get the same kind of search results, like they're not as much of a nuisance on the other side of the state line. Anyway like the latter article says, there's no positive side to chiggers, but at least it sounds like it's relatively easy to prevent their actually puncturing your skin and causing itching and suffering by being diligent – both on your property and your body.

The Culprit

Something's been digging in our trash for about as long as we've been here – we keep the can outside in front of the garage door. At first we thought it must be a dog or cat, but considering the relative stealth, the latter was more probable. One of our late night invaders even left a present on the front stoop for us to find: a wad of pooh.

But then last night as I was laying in bed reading a book, I heard snarling like a dog. Except it wasn't a dog – it was two raccoons! We turned the porch light on in an attempt to get a better look, but the way our porch curves in front, the corner where the can sits is completely in the dark. Just as I was coming to get a look from our bedroom window, Drew made a hissing noise and scared them off – passed the porch, where I had just been standing. But 'coons are persistent if nothing else. It took a few more tries, but with the driveway light on, I managed to get a really good view of my first live raccoon. (I don't know about you, but I've only ever seen dead ones on the side of the road.) He rustled through the garbage; scampered up onto the porch and sat there for a little while; made his way back to the trash; got spooked by my accidentally brushing up against the window screen and sat on the step for a few seconds; and then ran off through the bushes and across the street. I probably won't think it's so exciting in a few months, but it's pretty cool right now.

Our House in the Middle of the Street (updated)

Ours was a very popular house this afternoon. First came the movers with our stuff. You can't see it with the doors open like that, but the side of the truck says "Fairbanks" and there's another (female?) moose standing in a picturesque lake surrounded by mountains. And of course the polar bear family to the right. Then, as the movers were finishing up, the furniture guys arrived with our new dining room table. And literally, as both the movers and the furniture delivery guys were getting ready to leave, here comes our friendly UPS delivery lady with some packages. The house can't get any more chaotic, I hope.

The suddenly-very-small living room.

False Alarm

No, not the baby...

Our belongings are scheduled to arrive today about noon-ish. But earlier this morning an Atlas Van Lines truck pulled up onto our street and I thought for sure it must be them – a few hours early. I called Drew at work and he came home only to find out that they're moving stuff into the house across the street! LOL! What are the odds, esp when I was sure that someone was already living there.

Etsy :: jeffmartin :: sundrops

In high school, I took an elective pottery class and was pretty much hooked on the medium. We spent most of the year hand-building things like vases, using rolled ropes of clay; a box, using slabs; little flasks; a hollow egg. We got to use some glazes, and for those who finished their other projects early, we got to dabble a little in throwing on a wheel. The latter certainly takes a different kind of patience (and lots of it!), esp when you're inexperienced. Considering the learning curve of the wheel, you could say I prefer the "freedom" of hand-building. But I talk as if I've taken many classes since, when in reality, after high school, I was able to work with clay only a handful more times with my aunt in Taiwan. It was on one of my visits back to Taiwan that I accompanied my aunt to one of her pottery classes and we made a dish with melted glass in the bottom. The result was exactly like in these sundrops except we weren't able to find enough broken glass (on the street) to cover the bottom entirely. Given the materials and workspace, I could easily make these for myself. They're really very pretty to look at.

You Can't Count on Your Neighbors

Here's a strange quirk of maybe just Lees Summit: there are at least four or five different trash collecting companies (not to mention the company that collects grass clippings and tree branches exclusively), which operate not by neighborhood or street, but by house. So on any given street, different houses will have their garbage out on the curb on different days of the week depending on which company picks up their trash. It absolutely boggles the mind. Obviously some weeks I need a little reminding via what the neighbors are doing – and now I can't even count on that!

p.s. Drew called the moving company and our stuff is due to arrive tomorrow! Along with our new dining room table that's being delivered from a local furniture warehouse. Our little home is going to come together in a bit of chaos.

Ice Ice Baby

Normally, I'm not one to go in for icy cold things like ice in my drinks, ice cream. Part of it must be the Chinese belief that ice throws your chi off balance, etc. You just can't get away from that kind of stuff. But since we've been in KCMO, I've been, you could say, craving below-freezing items. I don't know if it's because of this pregnancy, or the perception that we're in a warmer climate. There's an automatic ice maker in our fridge and I'm at the ice bucket every time I pour myself a glass of water. And the girls love ice water too: G's always requesting it. For some reason, it just tastes better. (That might be a commentary on the taste of Missouri water...)

And I've had ice cream just about every night this week. There are a few places here in town – Poppy's (Cold Stone Creamery caliber), Custard's Last Stand (second best, in my opinion), Sheridan's – that we've already been to, but what with prices, I figured it'd be cheaper to get a tub. Drew thought half a gallon might be too much, but after two days, it's already half finished. Might have to go for the gallon size next time. :)

Hoo Too

I was up late last night to use the bathroom, blow my nose, check on the girls' blanket status. I don't know what time it was, but there was a veritable cacophony of owls outside calling to each other. They almost sounded like monkeys. If it had been more soothing sounding I might have bothered to stick around – you could hear it better from the girls' window – and listen some more.

Expect More. Pay Less.

So I was just perusing the website of my favorite store, looking for someone's gift registry actually, and reacquainting myself with the place, so to speak. I've been without for nearly two years (although, the few times Drew came to the Lower 48 on business, I had a list ready for him). Where did I go in the meantime? Mostly, Fred Meyer, which in my opinion is a step up from Wal-Mart. What's wrong with Wal-Mart, you ask? Maybe it's the lights; maybe it's the atmosphere; but for some reason I feel stupider for having gone in there. (No offense to anyone who loves to shop there.) Well I can tell you people are starved for variety in Alaska. Someone once told me that when K-Mart had a store there that it was the only one in the nation that was consistently in the black in terms of sales – but of course nationwide they went kaput. And Drew remembers someone saying that they skipped school for the grand opening: it was such a big event.

About a year after we arrived in Anc, rumors that Target was going to build a store there started to swirl. And of course everyone had it on good authority that it was really going to happen. It was in the paper, on the radio – and they cleared land on our side of town. (There will be two other locations: one on the north side of town and one in the valley in Wasilla.) By the time we left, there was talk that they wouldn't be opening until the end of this year, but I knew they couldn't resist the Christmas rush (see above). Frankly, I'm excited for them because I can't tell you how many times I've been in the last few weeks.

Etsy :: bhanuramesh :: Flower Garden Kolam

Shall we have another favorite from the ol' Etsy?

I stumbled across this one while watching the Recently Listed Items scroll by. Of the kolam art listed by this seller, this flower garden is the best. If you Google Image "kolam", there are some great (and colorful) examples. I think it would take me terribly long to accomplish something like this considering it looks like it's symmetrical. Maybe the key is to start small, practice practice practice, and work your way up. As doodling goes, I think during a lecture would be a perfect time to hone one's skills.

Charley is the Name of My Horse

Today is the start of my 37th week so roughly three more weeks to go, if this baby's anything like the girls. The Braxton-Hicks have been progressively more frequent and uncomfortable/noticeable, but nothing like actual labor pains. The major difference between this pregnancy and the others are the terrible leg cramps I've been having in this third trimester. I've never had such things before, except maybe once when I was swimming, a comparatively mild episode. They're some of the most intense pain I've experienced. Usually, they catch me late at night or early in the morning when I'm stretching out to change sides. Once, I had Drew in a momentary panic thinking I'd gone into premature labor when I couldn't get one worked out on my own. He massaged and massaged but to no avail – until he found the taut tendon on the bottom of my foot. As soon as he pushed on it, everything loosened up. This morning I had had to walk it off. I know something's lacking in my diet, but I rather despise bananas so it's probably been harder for me to get enough potassium. Maybe I'll ask my new doc for a less "painful" fix at my next appt.

Where There's One

We've had our first cucaracha. (:sigh: I miss Alaska.) I was heading into our closet, flipped on the light and there he was. At first I was in denial: maybe it was just a really fast moving beetle. But you almost can't mistake that dodging run they do as they're trying to get away, like someone's shooting at them. And they're faster than most insects. As Drew was going in for the kill, the cucaracha was trying desperately to incorporate itself into either the wall or the carpet, but that didn't save him. Unfortunately, this means there are probably more somewhere. The trouble is without a dining room table, it's been hard for me to restrict the girls' wandering eating so I've probably got bits of food where it shouldn't be. Because note that I didn't find the cockroach in the kitchen. So I'm anxiously awaiting at least our vacuum, which should be arriving sometime early this week – our car arrived this afternoon –, and hopefully we can decide on and buy a dining room table soon.

The Missouri Hoo

Drew and I were up rather late last night – he surfing the internet, I reading a light mystery novel – when we heard a noise out the back porch. It sounded distant at first and maybe that's why we didn't take notice at first. But because it kept repeating itself, and getting louder, one of us finally remarked on the noise: an owl. I don't know how many have ever heard a live owl before, but I thought it was quite a treat considering my experience is limited to nature shows on TV. Drew's been listening to owl calls all morning trying to decide which exactly we'd heard. We have it narrowed down to either the barred or the spotted.

Has Spring Sprung in Alaska?

There's a river in southeast Alaska called the Tanana, which is the centerpiece, if you will, of a yearly contest to guess the precise moment when the ice breaks up, heralding the start of spring in the Last Frontier. (See the ADN article – this is current news...LOL!) But it makes you wonder about "spring" in Alaska when they got nearly two feet of the white stuff at the end of April!

Tanana ice moves; clock stops

As of 10:53 p.m. Tuesday, at least 1 person hit the jackpot

Is it you?

Did you choose 10:53 p.m. Tuesday as the time the Tanana River ice would go out and stop the clock on the Nenana Ice Classic?

If so, hold tight. You could be about to win all or part of the $303,895 jackpot.

The Ice Classic, now in it's 92nd year, is a game of chance. It also helps to be an amateur historian and would-be meteorologist as people pay $2.50 a try to guess the exact minute a tripod sitting on the Tanana will move.

When the tripod heads downstream, a wire is tripped, stopping the clock.

Ice Classic workers are double-checking the 243,776 tickets sold this year to make sure they get the winner or winners right, said Amanda Wubbold, an office assistant for the Classic.

Everyone who guesses the right time shares in the cash.

As of Wednesday afternoon, there was only one confirmed winner, Wubbold said.

"They are probably aware, and are probably waiting for a phone call."

It would be the first time in more than a decade that a single ticket claimed the whole jackpot, she said.

But with so much double-checking to do, it's too soon to say who that is or where they live, Wubbold said. "We can't say for sure that there's not multiple winners."

According to The Associated Press, the Nenana Ice Classic took root in 1917 when Alaska Railroad workers bet on the precise date and time the ice on the Tanana River would break up.

Last year, the ice went out at 3:47 p.m. April 27. There were 22 winning ticket holders, with each ticket worth $13,785.09. The $303,272 jackpot was the biggest in five years, the AP reported.

Wubbold said she got a call at home from the Ice Classic manager at about 9 p.m. Tuesday.

There was a channel running near the tripod. A crowd gathered at the river, but the ice looked solid.

Wubbold returned home.

Soon, she got another phone call.

"We have a watchman down there 24 hours a day, so we came down and it had shifted free and broke off and went down river," Wubbold said.

This is only the second time the ice has gone out between 10 and 11 p.m., she said.

Two Feet

I guess this is kind of old news, but I rather liked seeing the pictures. As it was coming down, a friend of mine emailed that the falling flakes were like "little bits of depression".

Anchorage digs out after record storm

Spring dump is heaviest on record after April 1

A day after Anchorage endured one of the city’s heaviest one-day snowfalls on record, people spent what would normally be a spring Saturday digging out and slogging through nearly 2 feet of fresh snow and slush.

People who had planned to put on shorts and T-shirts for the popular annual Heart Run instead got out hats, gloves and boots and postholed through the snow. The race, like other events, was postponed. In a place that saw a run of blue-sky days in the 50s earlier in the week, it felt a bit like whiplash to look out the window. Some rejoiced, others cursed, many just threw up their hands and gave over to the oddity of it.

“Last night, I looked outside at 10 p.m. It was snowing AND light out,” said Kenny Hood, who was playing indoor hockey in South Anchorage. “It certainly does mess with your mind.”

The snowfall was the third-heaviest in a single day — measured midnight to midnight — since the National Weather Service started keeping records in Anchorage in 1915. Counting Saturday morning, 17 inches fell in West Anchorage and up to 22 inches in Muldoon. Between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Friday, snow fell at the rate of nearly 2 inches per hour, according to the weather service.

Before Friday, the most snow that had ever fallen in one day after April 1 was 8.3 inches. The day’s official tally at the airport: 15.5.

“Everyone’s grumpy,” said Trace Carlos, who had been looking at bicycles to buy and getting ready for his summer kite surfing. “We need summer, and old man winter comes along and gives us a big dump.”

DIGGING OUT

By afternoon, much of the snow on the major roads had been plowed or melted. In many neighborhoods, though, drivers had to practically swim through it, listening to the sound of the slush on their cars’ underbellies.

Juliana Jaroslaw took in her car Friday morning to have the studded tires switched over. She had started thinking about wearing flip-flops. “I hate it,” she said Saturday. “Everything now gets put on hold. My gardening. Everything.”

The snow bent tree branches, causing electricity outages affecting more than 2,500 customers of Municipal Light and Power and Chugach Electric Association.

Outages are par for the course in Alaska in the fall because snow accumulation snaps smaller branches and brings down lines, said Chugach Electric spokeswoman Patti Bogan. This much snow this time of year is highly unusual, though, and had the same effect, she said.

Letter carrier James Perry was delivering mail Saturday afternoon in the College Village neighborhood, trudging through the mess to get to mailboxes.

“You know,” he said. “People complain, but I ask them, ‘Where do you live?’ ”

And he sucked in his breath and released a long and slow, “Aaaalaaaska.” “Complaining about snow in Alaska is like complaining about the heat in Arizona,” he said.

PLANS CHANGED

In the same neighborhood, Gary Brell was plowing his driveway. He was supposed to spend the day installing a boat ramp in Soldotna but came home after reports from his wife that the house was buried in snow and they had already lost one tree.

“This is exactly like what happened six years ago,” he said, referring to the record storm in March 2002 that dumped 22 inches on the city in 24 hours. “And, just like then, this neighborhood has shut down.” In downtown Anchorage, tourist Stephen Ferry, from Washington, D.C., walked out of the Hotel Captain Cook in a T-shirt to smoke a cigarette. He had wanted to check out the Anchorage nightlife on Friday but stayed indoors. “I didn’t bring any boots with me,” he said, looking down at his canvas sneakers.

He might be marooned at the hotel for a while. To cross any street from the Captain Cook required leaping over gutter puddles of slush.

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A late-season doozy

Anchorage was hammered by snow from Friday morning to early Saturday. Storm totals:

West Anchorage 16 inches

Hillside 18 to 20 inches

Muldoon 22 inches

It was the third biggest snowfall in a single day in Anchorage — midnight to midnight — since record-keeping began in 1915.

1. March 17, 2002 22 inches

2. Dec. 29, 1955 15.6 inches

3. April 25, 2008 15.5 inches

And it was by far the largest single-day snowfall after April 1 since 1915.

1. April 25, 2008 15.5 inches

2. April 2, 1955 8.3 inches

3. May 3, 2001 5 inches

Source: National Weather Service

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Area snowfall totals

Storm totals as of Saturday morning as provided by the National Weather Service:

Skwentna 4.0 inches

Talkeetna 6.0 inches

Palmer F-Loop Rd. 9.0 inches

Wasilla 12.0 inches

Eagle River Valley 14.3 inches

Chulitna 15 inches

Sand Lake Road 17.2 inches

30th-Turnagain 17.5 inches

Lake Otis-Huffman 18.5 inches

Glenn Alps 19.0 inches

U. Hillside-Huff. 20.0 inches

NE Anchorage 22.0 inches

Alaska to KCMO

I'm sure some are anxiously awaiting pictures of our new place, but I have to disappoint: there aren't many to be had this time around. For one thing, without our furniture and general stuff, there isn't much to look at in my opinion – a house without stuff looks so lonely and unloved. However, I think there is one picture of the front of the house. After I took the picture though, Drew added a nice patriotic touch: a flag. It gives our house a little something extra. :)

I also found these video clips from the day we drove out to Sidney, NE to see Drew's sisters and our two nephews. I guess musical greeting cards all the rage now. We've received probably six of them in the last year, and when I was at the store the other day, I saw an entire wall of them with all manner of nostalgic songs. So this particular card was for G's birthday, belated, from the aunts.

The Kansas City Zoo

A few months before we got our offer to KCMO, some friends from Anc, the Ws, got an offer as well – and now it looks very likely that they're heading back to the Last Frontier. So our two families got together on Saturday at the Kansas City Zoo for a late afternoon stroll.

The KCZ is quite extensive with two major themed exhibits: Africa and Australia. We decided to do a loop around Africa. Like us, the W's have two small children, both boys, about G and BB's ages, and they just had #3, a little girl, a couple weeks ago. Thankfully they had their Chariot along as our stroller is still in transit somewhere here in the United States. I don't remember all the animals that we saw, but here are the pictures that I took. (For the pictures that the Ws took, check out their blog.) A few animals weren't out yet (like the chimpanzees) due to, I guess, the temperatures not being warm enough for them.

Just above Drew's left shoulder, you can sort of see the lion sitting on watch over his pride. From the viewing area, you could see three or four females. Maybe there were more and just out of view. We also saw the cheetah from a distance.

Of course the rhinoceros, and in the same pen, some zebras and ostriches.

In the entryway between Africa and Australia, there's a carousel, some snack stands, a sea lion show area (above), and a river otter exhibit. By the time, we detoured over to see the sea lions, the zoo was already officially closed so the sea lions were taking their leisure in the sun on the side of the pool rather than being pleasing.

Maybe you can just make out the new river otter T-shirt – it currently only comes in blue in case you're wondering why Dada didn't get something in pink – that we bought for G. On the way to the zoo, she threw up in the new car and all I can say is thank goodness for gift shops. (I happened to have an extra pair of pants along, but no shirt.) Afterwards the Ws treated us to homemade pho at their place. Yum!

27 April : Our Lady of Lourdes, Raytown

I hate to admit it, but we're outside of OLL's parish boundaries. But here's my excuse: they have a great school attached, which I plan on enrolling G in this fall depending on their age minimum. What better way to get involved with the school community than to attend its parish every Sunday? It's a little bit of a hike from our house, but truth be known I simply prefer OLL over the other Catholic school near us.

We're in Luck

I don't know where the thing materialized from, but yesterday afternoon there was one of those camera download cables next to the computer. So I downloaded all the pictures from the camera and I'll get pictures posted within the next couple of days. In the meantime, I'm going to update a couple of my previous posts – Cabela's, cows and Leavenworth – with the appropriate pictures. A note on the latter: I'm kind of surprised how much both the girls like the tricycle. The first time G vacated her seat, BB was right there to take her place. She can climb right on and will look at you expectantly, knowing that you'll take pity on the fact that her legs are too short to touch the ground and push her. I can be thankful that I won't be doing that the old fashioned way. And the bike has actually paid for itself twice over: I think we had it only five days when G started peddling all by herself! Mind you, I've been working at her for months now, but it seems she could never quite understand the concept of pushing alternately with her left and then right foot, etc. But on Wednesday, I let go of the handle and she managed just fine on her own, although she'd often run herself into the grass because she was too busy looking around and not paying attention to steering. I think she's rather proud to be keeping up with the older neighbor kids on their peddled vehicles.

p.s. The moving company called yesterday afternoon, said they're going to deliver our car, separate from our stuff, in the next couple of days. And our stuff will be here either this weekend or early next.

26 April : Leavenworth Yard Sale (updated)

A garage saler's dream, this little event happens twice a year, where practically the entire fort is on yard sale status. Drive into just about any neighborhood and at least every other house has something out in their yard for sale. I was on the lookout for a dining room table and chairs, but there weren't many good ones left by the time we (BB's godmother E and I) arrived on the scene, i.e. 30+ minutes after the official opening time. There were plenty of kids' clothes and toys to be had though. I tell you I'm a bit of a snob when it comes to second-hand clothing so I only bought a pristine condition pink dress (two sizes too big) for G. I also snagged a faded Radio Flyer tricycle with the parent push handle – that's AhPoh in the pictures and video clip – and some mugs and glasses.

Afterwards, E drove me around Leavenworth, having lunch at a TexMex restaurant, going to a local tea shop, shopping the deals at a Polish pottery store – I got a sugar and creamer set in a discontinued pattern for 50% off –, and viewing the amazing creations at the quilting shop next door to that. At the latter, they had a laser guided quilting machine for the really big projects...like the one I still haven't finished. For those of you who haven't heard this one yet, back in grad school, I dusted off the ol' sewing machine, got a wild hair and decided I wanted to make a quilt, one of those things on my life's to-do list. I shopped around and found one of those block-of-the-month sets – for a king size quilt. (I figure if I'm going to sew a quilt, I might as well go out and do it right.) But it wasn't until I was pregnant with G and looking for a job that I found the time to actually start sewing the thing. Once I finished the top piece, I got to reading the directions for finishing my quilt and realized I bit off way more than I could chew. (There's certain nuances to piecing the layers together so that it's all centered, even, and not bunchy; there are at least 10 different patterns to be quilted onto the top, which requires penciling the designs on in sections; and I'm afraid my machine can't handle the super thick cotton layer that I bought to pad the quilt.) So the thing's been sitting incomplete these last 3-4 years. LOL! I've hauled it across the United States twice: from DC to Alaska, and now from Alaska to KCMO. In each place I've considered paying someone to finish it for me, and now I'm considering this machine in Leavenworth. I was told you can rent the thing for $15/hour and they'll teach you how to use it. I guess now it's just a matter of finding the time to do it – I wonder how many more years that's going to take. :)

Addendum: I see I can pay an experienced machine quilter (at the above store) to finish my quilt for me at a rate of $0.015 per square inch. I forget the exact dimensions of my quilt, but I'll bet I'm looking at least $100 to finish. It really could be worth it.

25 April : The Haunting

As Drew will tell you, I'm not what you would call a fanatical housekeeper. I don't clean pro-actively and I only pick up messes as they come to my urgent attention. But I do have my moments, e.g. in my third trimester nesting phase, when I get a little wild with the cleaning supplies and gadgets and scrub until I look like I've been to the gym. Take our new house for instance. It'd be too harsh to call it a sty because it's a nice house – but the landlady left a lot to be desired in terms of move-in cleanliness. Most apparent is the thick layer of dirt, grime, human hair and fur all over *every* surface in the house. The carpet, the drawers, cabinet shelves, corners, the tops of doors, door jams, the door itself, the track of the sliding shower doors and porch door, windows, the blinds horiz & vert, the ceiling fans. What grosses me out the most is that it's not mine/ours and that I'm the one to clean it. During one of my daily cleaning projects, and subsequent sneezing fits, I wondered to myself how much a full service cleaning job would cost. I even went so far as to see what companies there are here in town. Some even give free estimates. :) One of the hardest things to cope with is not having our vacuum cleaner here to do its thing.

23-24 April : The Road Trip

The drive from Cheyenne to KCMO (through Nebraska) is supposed to take roughly 9 hours, and with all the attendant pit stops necessary for a retiree, two toddlers and a pregnant woman, you're looking at a two-day journey. I, for one, have been across Nebraska only once or twice before and it never ceases to amaze how long and straight the interstate is through there – and how much open farm country there is to see. The first day we thought we were making really good time only come to find out we'd only traveled about a third of our planned trip to Lincoln. Of course G being older understands a little better, can play along with the distractions when the miles are just dragging on. But you really felt sorry for BB, who took to these random crying outbursts in her frustration at being strapped to her car seat for so long, and literally for the first time in her life. You can imagine how they clawed their way out of the car when we finally stopped at our hotel for the night.

Missouri is really not as flat as you would think, but it's not exactly the Appalachians either. As we were getting closer to KCMO, I had the impression of rolling over the next hill and seeing the entire city laid out before me in a valley. But that never happens except in a movie, and once when I was somewhere in Spain. Actually, just about the first thing you see as you're coming into town from the northwest-ish corner is the airport, and surprisingly, not that many cars. As we passed the city center on the eastern edge, however, traffic started to pick up, although I can't say it was ever as bad as I've seen it in, say, DC. (This was right before evening rush hour.) Lee's Summit is down in the southeast corner of the city, if you ever want to look it up on a map. I imagine at one time it was a sleepy little town some separated distance from KC, but now it's completely connected by houses, commercial areas, other suburbs, and lots of highway. Unlike, Anchorage though, there are lots of undeveloped patches in between which give the impression of leaving town, but not really.

"Hello, World!"

It's been more than a week in the doing – the title of this post seemed so apropos –, but we're finally all here in Lee's Summit – and we have internet! As I was telling a friend, being out of touch is rather exhausting when you consider all the emails you miss and have to swim through later. And then there are all the missed blogging opportunities. :) So I was thinking the easiest might be to (unofficially) back date my entries, give you the highlights. Unfortunately, I won't be able to include pictures yet because, alas, our stuff is still somewhere in Montana, parked at a depot until...