Last night when I walked into the house after dance practice I hit play on the answering machine (yes, I have an answering machine) I know this sounds funny because most places in our country these days do not have landlines or answering machines, but here in Sitka landlines still are the norm. So I walk in, hit the answering machine, and heard one of the most Alaskan messages ever from my roommate Rachel's boyfriend Pete:
"Hey Bradford I was told that you were going to chop some wood tomorrow, I would love to come help, give me a call whenever you get in, Matt and I will be up late because we are going to be butchering a dead mammal."
So today when Buck and I woke up we ate some flapjacks for our big day as a lumberjacks. TJ brought the chain saw and Ben, Buck, and I helped out with the hauling and splitting. Splitting wood is absolutely addictive! It was amazingly fun, plus we have enough wood to keep all of Sitka warm all winter. I also worked muscles that I don't think I have used since the last time I chopped wood about 8 years ago... we will see if I am still as enthusiastic in the morning!
Want to test a friendship, move somewhere 4 time zones away only accessible by plane or boat! You realize quickly how strong friendship bonds are!
In a few days (woooo hoooooo!!) my friend Mallory will be HERE in SITKA. She will be bringing all of her Mallory fun, and I can't wait to introduce her to the Alaskan life. Now if I can only coerce her into moving here! That is my goal, and if it doesn't work I am thinking of stealing her identification cards so she can't leave! I have been trying to get things ready for having her here, so far all I have accomplished is let everyone in town know that she is coming. I was hoping at some point to get all my school work accomplished, clean my room and bathroom, but who knows if any of that will happen, I guess this is another way to test a friendship!
So there was a scare for awhile, I might have to stay in Alaska for the holidays, heaven forbid. However, that just recently changed. Mom, dad, joseph, harry, and fuzzy, break out the champagne (okay red wine, not really into champagne) and rest easy, I'll be home soon.
One of my favorite things to do in all of the world is to think back to exactly what I was doing at the same time the year before. It is always fun to think about what it was you were up to and then compare it to what you are up to now. Last year when I did this activity my life was drasticly different. I would compare my AK existence to my NC life. This year the main difference is what mountain I am on and who I am with. This video that is on this blog ranks up there in the list of all time most beautiful hikes. My buddy Matt Hunter and I hiked up to the top of Bear Mnt. in fresh gorgeous fluffy snow. When we got to the top (it took us 5 hours) we basically stayed up just long enough to shoot this video, we were pretty sketched out up top, thinking that potentially we were sitting on a cornus! Needless to say this hike was one of my favorite last year moments.
to post a blob. Recently my blobing life has been put on hold. This past week I was just holding my breath for the elections (my third presidential election!) and now that they have finally come and gone the grad school world has taken back over. On the subject of grad school today I completed one of the most daunting tasks of my life: entertaining and teaching 40 staff at my school on various reading strategies, and now in an hour, without even debriefing I am suppose to go to the Whalefest grind. In reality all I want to do is sit and drink hot tea, cook a nice veggie dinner, read my book, and be as low profile as possible, but since there is only 1 grind a month and I LOVE them I know this is not an option. I'll rest tomorrow, oh woops maybe not. Tomorrow I have another race (the Whalefest 10-K) and then a contra dance tomorrow night, not to mention endless numbers of craft projects, yes for Christmas which in the craft world is already nearly here. Then if I can find a spare minute I need to do some homework. I often wonder if weekends are for resting or for squeezing in as much fun as possible in a window of time about the size of my thumb nail? So I better go back and jump into my crazy world...
Speaking of crazy world here is Brea and I dressed as Truffula trees!
