Maggie and the 'Mailman' Cookie

Most Labs have a reputation as the garbage can dog. They will eat anything. Maggie is a complete exception to the rule. This fact was brought home to me recently when I gave her a vitamin in her dinner. Her response had me thinking of other dogs we have had.

Poko was a high energy dog. There wasn't much she did at medium speed. It was pretty much full-steam ahead. She was 10 years old before I noticed she was taking her time eating her meals. I timed her one day and it took her 45 seconds to empty a bowl... and I thought she was eating slowly!

Poko would eat anything. She ate a bar of soap---on two occasions! It wasn't enough to do it the first time. The memory didn't stay with her nearly as long as it stayed with me. Soap is not readily digestible, and the clean-up is, well, let's just say I guarded the soap bars closely after that! She ate charcoal, cardboard boxes of Girl Scout cookies, and hard boiled eggs in the shell. After she dug up poisonous plants in the yard with nary a hiccup, I stopped worrying about visits to the vet.

Another dog we had was much more mannerly in her eating habits. She ate her dinner at a more normal pace. She preferred fruits and vegetables and would steal tomatoes and bananas off the counter. She could peel a tangerine, eat the sections and leave the peel in one piece. She was well-behaved in her eating habits, and we could balance food on her nose that she would catch it as it fell.

Enter Maggie. While Maggie is nearly perfect in every way, she is an absolutely picky eater. Unlike Poko she is a cautious, quiet eater who nibbles each kernel. She will sniff any food item and investigate it before adding it to her diet. There are days when she doesn't eat at all. Until recently if any of her food fell on the floor it stayed there---for days. She only ate food that was in the bowl. When the vet, the lady at the bank or the guy at Petsmart offers her a cookie, she politely sniffs it, takes it in her mouth, drops it on the floor, sniffs it some more, and sometimes walks away.

This brings me to the current situation. Maggie has a new vitamin called a "People Vitamin" that I add to her dinner. They are shaped like a little mailman or a dogcatcher, etc. Maggie has not yet accepted the new treat. When she finishes her meal, there it is. A little mailman sits in the bottom of her bowl.

The vet worries a little. He's given me pills to give her on days she doesn't eat her meal. I don't worry about her at all. She just has her own way. I guess there's a little "Goofy" in all of us. For this normally sedate dog, the mailman waiting in the bottom of her bowl is Maggie's way of reminding me she's NOT a garbage can dog.

Retirement

A few friends of mine have just retired. One is retiring-AGAIN! She tried this once before about ten years ago. She thought she was ready, but discovered there is a difference between being ready to leave your job, and being ready to not work. At the time she said she wanted to spend more time with her family. Within a few months she was trying out different jobs. This time she says she is ready, and I think she is!

Retirement is not easy! Most of us find that much of our feeling of self-worth comes from work. We may not be aware of the depth of that connection until the day we don't have a job to go to. The lucky ones find great satisfaction in work, but for those that don't just collecting a paycheck impacts their self-esteem.

The trick in retirement is re-discovering that sense of value. Vacation is wonderful, but it is meant to be short lived. What happens after that initial freedom of responsibility? How do you spend your days? What makes you want to get up in the morning? At the end of the day, what do you wish you had done?

When I retired, I felt awkward. The change was greater than not working. We had moved so I had no friends. My social life had to be rebuilt. I needed to redevelop a support system. When my husband went to work, I was very aware I wasn't contributing anymore. Fortunately, I really was ready to retire and getting settled in a new community helped me pass the time while I decided what was next.

I took a lot of time deciding what was going to make me feel good about me. 3 years later I have discovered the best part of retirement is the rediscovery of who I am. I enjoy volunteer work, but I don't want to be in charge of anything. 'Commitment' is a big word to me. Too often it becomes 'obligation' and that is a word I avoid now that I'm retired. I'll do anything as long as I can do it on my time and when I want to. My priorities now are my family. When Larry wants to go, I don't want to say "I can't". My kids live very far away and weekend visits are not possible. When I want to go see them, I want to be free to go. I love the life I have now. I made it through the awkward phase and today my days are filled with the things I enjoy from reading, to gardening, to writing.

To my friends, Bev, Barb and Shirley, This is the time to look back and feel good about what you've done, and look ahead at what you can do. Here's to your rediscovery! Enjoy! It's a great time.

Walking with Bears, part 2

We are home from Alaska and getting caught up on stuff. We got in late Saturday to a dead battery and a very muggy night. The humidity was reminiscent of getting off the plane in Florida. The first thing we noticed was how dark it was. Then we realized we hadn't seen DARK in 8 days! Even at 3 AM when it was darkest, it was still a gray dark, not the black of night.

Maggie was thrilled to see us, but I must say, that a pet sitter makes such a difference. Beth stops by 3 times a day, walks her or lets her lay outside in the sun (which is one of Maggie's favorite pastimes.) When we come home that frenetic ecstasy that overtook our other dogs is not present in Maggie. She is calm and relaxed, but glad to see us.

Sunday, we went out for our "neighborhood tour". On a path through the woods I thought I recognized bear droppings. Hmm, an imagination running wild? Could be. I didn't notice anything else around, and the dropping was very small; just a small black turd with berries in it. Definitely not deer droppings.

When we moved here, I made a comment to Larry wondering if bears lived in our area. NAH, he pooh-poohed. Oh course this is the same guy who told me not to worry about snakes or alligators when we moved to Florida. The very first day we were in Florida we took the boat out. What did we see?? An alligator was swimming in Lake Thonotosassa, where people water-skiied, and then we saw snake skins on the sidewalks in the neighborhood where we were house hunting. No alligators in Florida? HAH! Larry routinely took guests on Alligator Viewing excursions. If you lived on water, you probably had at least 1 resident alligator. So I know he is more interested in heading off the hysterics of his wife. I also know to listen with one ear!

We have never seen signs of bear around here, but this spring black bears have been seen in highly populated areas not far from us. One was caught right before we went on our trip. Today I heard there have been 2 reported bear sightings in the last few days in a half mile radius of our neighborhood, so apparently my imagination was not running wild! This is the time of year when momma kicks out her older cubs to live on their own, so young bears are busy locating their new territory. I guess it is time to bring in my bird feeder.

I may not have seen a bear in Alaska, but the summer is young, and apparently, opportunities still abound. Stay tuned. Maybe there will be a "Walking with Bears, Part 3"!

Alaskan Favorites

Today is our last day here and we spent it getting organized for the trip home and took a quick side trip. Larry ships a lot of his sample clothing here and he has to send it back. We needed to pack up as well since we have an early flight tomorrow. We drove down to Girdwood this afternoon, a resort about an hour from here. It's back in the mountains and we heard it was a nice place to see.

Before we leave I thought I'd like to share a few of my favorite sites and sights with you.

Anchorage is an unassuming city, but in the summer hanging baskets of flowers can be seen everywhere. They hang about 100,000 baskets.

Parks abound as do walking paths. Alaska is ahead of the game when it comes to bike and walking paths. They may not have a lot of roads, but every major road has an asphalt trail on one side and a dirt path on the other side, even if there are no towns or houses nearby.

Pull offs and parking areas make it possible for people to park and walk. Of course, wildlife like bears and moose are there as well, so caution is advised. My favorite thing about the parks is that each one, big or small, has a sign identifying the family or families that have adopted that park and maintain the flower gardens or pots.

I love the Oscar Anderson home, built right on Cook Inlet. The home is quaint, original and one of the few buildings that survived the 1964 earthquake and tsunami. It was lived in until recently. Anderson was the 18th person to settle Anchorage. As he tells of his arrival, he was eager to get here arriving across the inlet in April. No one wanted to risk the trip across the water but he found a 19 year old young man who was willing to row him across Cook Inlet. The water was rough and the young man fell overboard. Anderson pulled him in the boat, gave him dry clothes to put on and finished the crossing himself. He was the 18th person to arrive at the tent that housed the 'residents'. He went on to become a leading business man in the new town.


Potter's Marsh is a large accidental wetland just outside of town. Before people understood the benefits of a marsh, the railway built their tracks along the coast on a raised bed, trapping much of the water inside, and re-routing the creekbeds. The accidental benefit is that it filters the run-off from the hillside behind it. It attracts a lot of water birds, beaver, moose, and other animals. A long boardwalk with lookouts, and panels that identify birds and habitats is busy in the evenings by photographers, elderly, and children alike. It is one of our favorite places to go after dinner.

Airplanes are everywhere! A trip out to Lake Hood is fun anytime of day. Small planes take off all day. It was the original airport before big planes started coming here. Kids learn to fly before they learn to drive. Many parts of Alaska are only accessible by plane and most little towns have an airstrip. A trip between outlying areas may take a couple of hours, but you could fly there easily. The first time we were here we were amazed at the number of airplanes we saw.

Seward is a great little town. I really enjoy going there. Each year they hold a mural contest. I'm not exactly sure who all participates, but there is a nice variety of murals. The winning mural is painted on the outside of a building and the accumulative effect is to have a town dotted with murals. Last year's winner featured wild flowers. One of my favorites is of the towns founding fathers. The picture above was this year's winner.

My final favorite thing is the Alaskan flag. When Alaska became a territory it had no flag. The governor held a contest among school children to design the flag. A 13 year old boy from Seward came up with the winning design: Blue for the color of the midnight sky and the state flower, forget-me-not, the gold stars of the Big Dipper; gold from Alaska's past and the stars that brought his father home from fishing, pointing to the north star: the northern most territory in the U. S and pointing to a bright future. How cool is that! What a great kid!

We've come to the end of this year's tour. Hopefully I will get to come back again. I'm already planning what I hope to see next time!

Walking with Bears

Did that title get your attention? Don't get too excited. I try hard to avoid walking with bears. Larry will tell you I'm not much fun on a trail. I sing, cough loudly, chatter away and clap my hands, all to make sure any bear in a quarter of a mile knows I am coming. Bears and Alligators have one thing in common. Generally they stay away from people if possible. I aim to make it possible! However, in Anchorage bear siteings are a pretty easy thing to do. Anchorage has the dubious distinction of being the only city with a resident bear population. About 60 black bears call it home and can be seen walking through back yards, just as the moose can stop traffic crossing the roads. On this trip, though, we haven't actually seen any bear and only a couple of moose across a wetland. Last year we saw several moose and one bear.

Today I went out to visit the Anchorage Botanical Gardens. It is a beautiful place in one of those areas that bears like to travel through. The picture on the left is of the Herb Garden. On the left is a mix of Forget-Me-Nots, the Alaskan state flower, and Columbine.

There is a nice wire fence around the entire park. Even so, the first sign you see when you walk through the gate is the one that warns "You ARE in Bear and Moose Territory! Watch for signs. Make noise as you walk."

OK. That is always the kind of encouragement I need when preparing to walk woodland trails by myself. I was assured that moose would probably not be inside the park, "unless someone left the gate open and they walked through, but bear will climb over the fence or dig under it, so they could be in here." With all of those assurances (?) I enjoyed the morning in the botanical garden, and I got a very nice picture of a tree with bear markings on it, clearly pointed out on the Gardens map! I decided to forego the wilderness path to the river where I could maybe see salmon spawning. Hmm...salmon.... Bear food???

The days have been fairly consistent; gray, cloudy and cool in the morning and clearing to sunshine in the evening. I haven't been in short sleeves yet. Most days I wear a sweater and/or windbreaker. Sprinkles are common, but very light and short lived. Of course, it can reach high 70's or maybe 80's, or so they say. Haven't seen it yet!

Even so, these cabbage plants for sale at the botanical garden are great examples of Alaskan summers. Because the days are so long here the growing season is accelerated. These plants already have cabbages growing in them. After they are planted in a garden they will continue to grow. By the time they are harvested they could be as big as 65 pounds!

It was a morning well spent. Best of all, when a Garden visitor passed me on the path asked "See any bear?", I could cheerfully answer "Not today!"

Fun in the Woods

Just on the outskirts of Anchorage is a great visitor site called the Alaskan Heritage Cultural Center. I had it on my itinerary last year, but never made it, so I was really hoping to get there this year. Today was my day on my own and I headed out there. Days like this are great. Larry was working all day with a Sales Rep so I had the car to do as I please. We travel very well together, but we have somewhat different interests. He really enjoys just driving through the countryside, which I enjoy too. I, on the other hand, enjoy learning the culture of an area and reading all the pictures, dioramas and examining a display. When we stop someplace that has displays, he'll look at all the pictures and check out the displays. When I go to find him, I'll discover he's in the car waiting and I've just completed the first hall. So today was my day.

The Center is amazing. It is dedicated to informing the Alaskan natives of their culture as well as Alaskans and visitors. There are live presentations going on all day long, video presentations in the theater, and a walking exhibit outside of each of the 5 main native groups.

School kids watched a demonstration and explanation of dances. At the end they were invited to join in an "Invitation Dance". During the first dance I could see one little boy clearly wanted to go up, but no one else was brave enough. During the second dance lots of kids eagerly went up on stage and learned the dance. It was fun to watch.

The walking tour was great. A Native of a cultural group was present in each house to explain living routines and answer questions. Most of the winter homes were basic sod homes supported by wood beams or whale bone, depending on their location--by the sea or in the woods. The sod homes were a pretty good size. Some cultural groups had smaller sod homes for the women and children, but all seemed to have large community centers where the men stayed in winter and the women and children visited. The vision we have of igloo's may have been present in the Canadian Arctic Inuits, but was not used much with Alaskans. I heard 2 explanations for the pictures we see of igloos.

1) Igloos were 'fast' houses' built in the winter by hunters who needed shelter when a storm blew up.
2) When the Russians first arrived in Alaska they probably saw the sod houses covered with snow, and that resembled the igloos we see drawings of.

Another interesting tidbit was that villages in the northern regions built long, low entries to their sod houses 1) to keep out animals, and 2) to keep out the wind and cold air. They probably had to crawl in and out as the opening was just 3 feet high.

This picture shows a food cache. The Athabascans lived in the interior and used the same techniques campers are given to protect themselves from bears. The food cache was a distance away from the housing area, high up, accesible only by a ladder that was kept on the ground. The support poles were covered in bear grease. Since bears are territorial they would avoid the scent of another bear.

There is so much to discover here. I was amazed at my ignorance last year, and I really enjoyed walking through the downtown museum. I learned a lot. This year I find it just as fascinating. Today I learned a lot more. This is a large and complex state. It is so worth the visit!

A Tiny Village Proves It's a Small World

Today we met a man from Pittsburgh, I bought a cute sweatshirt, and I got a lead on one I've been looking for. Today we had proof it really is a small world.

Today we went to Talkeetna, a tiny village about 2 1/2 hours north of Anchorage. It is a great tourist spot with little restaurants and tiny shops selling Alaskan crafts, t-shirts, sweatshirts, books, etc. Most of the businesses are devoted to outdoor excursions like float trips and plane rides into Denali National Park. It is a main stop for tour buses on the way to Denali as well as trains.

Denali is another 2 1/2 hours away. I hope someday to get there, but it's not a quick trip and we would probably need a good 3 days to make it. Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America, is in Denali.

One of the cool facts about Talkeetna is that it is the village that the town featured in the TV show, Northern Exposure, was modeled after. Walking the main street I can see the resemblence. 700 people live there year round. We stopped in Mountain High Pizza for lunch and had a great pizza and flatbread sandwich. We noticed a huge Pittsburgh Steeler logo on the back of the drink dispenser. Larry happened to be wearing his Steeler sweatshirt. As we were leaving, the owner ran out calling to us. He saw the sweatshirt and wanted to say hi. Turns out he is from the town 7 miles up the road from our house. He has made Talkeetna his permanent home, but still has his season tickets to the football games. He only goes home for the playoff games and sells the other ones.

This year I didn't really come to Alaska to shop, but there is one sweatshirt I hope to find. It is a chocolate brown one with some Grizzlies on it. Underneath is printed "Homeland Security". I saw it last year and never bought it. This year I'm on a hunt and hope to get one. I got my first lead at Talkeetna. As I asked in different stores each owner said "Oh yes, 'so-and-so' has it. I finally found the right store, but 'it hasn't come in yet'. She asked where I lived and I said Pittsburgh. "Oh, great", she said. "If it fits it ships! Email me when you get home and we'll send it when it comes in." Even from Alaska to the Lower 48 "if it fits, it ships"!

However, I didn't go home empty handed. I found a really cute light blue sweatshirt with a moose on it. My wardrobe has changed from my days as a working woman in Florida. Sweatshirts in Pittsburgh are great winter wear for this retired lady.

As we left Talkeetna I couldn't help but marvel that this state that is 2 2/3 times the size of Texas still proved it really is a small world.

An Alaskan Friend

While getting my second cup of tea this morning I struck up a conversation with a woman I assumed worked in our hotel. She had been chatting with other employees, but it turned out she was just dropping her boyfriend off. He is a mechanic at the hotel. In our conversation I told her how much I loved walking through downtown Anchorage and visiting the different parks and the museum. It turned out she had local craft items for sale there.

Julie taught herself 'Skin Sewing' and 'Bead work' and just recently had added Ivory carving to her list of skills. She showed me some of her things and we talked for quite a while. She told me about her village 50 miles from Nome, on the island, Shishimeraf. There are about 100 people that live there. The island is slowly eroding away and eventually the villagers will have to move to the mainland. Her village hunts for seal, and has a tannery. Their seal skin is highly prized and is shipped to all parts of the world. The government wants to relocate them to Nome, but that is not their familar hunting grounds. They hope to stay closer to the waters they are familar with.

As I admired the Ivory earrings she pointed out which ones were fossilized ivory and which ones were Walrus Seal Ivory. She explained the difference between light seal skin and dark, belly fur and back fur. She explained the laws involving who can own and create items for sale using ivory and seal skin.

Sea Otter and Walrus Seal are among the animals in Alaska that are protected except for a very specific use. Only native Alaskans, those with tribal connections, not just people born here, may harvest protected animals and they may only do it to supply their needs; food, clothing, tools, and crafts. Many villages still survive only through this lifestyle. All materials must be tagged by the Fish and Game Department, and only natives may own tagged materials.

The people that hunt and make many items for sale live lives of subsistence. They go without running water, let alone iphones, doing what their people have done for hundreds of years. Sometimes the outside world likes to dictate what is right, and what is wrong when it comes to animal rights. I often support them. But there are always 2 sides to a story, and sometims the other side can give you a lot to think about. In this instance, I can help support them in their world rather than insist that they relocate to mine.

It's a choice. I chose the ivory earrings and I got her business card. She is a modern day Alaskan, but she has many relatives that still live on that little island. She spoke well for them and she raised my social consciousness up a little above Political Correctness.

Alaska

The view has drastically changed this week! I'm no longer driving the busy streets of my town, or navigating the interstate highways of western PA. Instead, Larry and I are weaving our way down Alaska Highway 1 through the mountains and along the shore of Turnagain Arm, between Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula.

This is my 2nd trip to the largest state in the union. Did you know that Alaska holds the unique claim to being the northern most, western most AND EASTERN most state in the U. S? Amazing isn't it? How can that be? Well, I'm sure you can figure out the Northern and Western most points, but the Aleutian Islands stretch south and west until they cross the dateline and enter the "Far East" part of the hemisphere. Therefore, Alaska is officially the eastern most state, too. I learned that little bit of trivia last year.

Yesterday Larry and I celebrated our upcoming 39th anniversary by taking the 26 Glacier Cruise in Prince William Sound, a 5 1/2 hour cruise on a catamaran. We were blessed with unbelievably great weather. Even the crew kept remarking on it. Although most of us were outside in our sweatshirts and hats, one girl on the crew stood in the sun in her short sleeves remarking how warm it was. The air was probably in the 60's on land, and the sun was wonderful, but the air off the glaciers and the breeze from the boat kept us in jackets. According to our guide, the Sound has rain 8 out of 10 days. They may get 20 feet of snow in winter, but the mountains may get 100 feet of snow. I'll keep Pittsburgh, and learn not to whine so much about the shoveling.

This picture is of College Fiord and shows several glaciers coming down to the water. Each of these glaciers was named for a girls college. On the other side of the fiord the glaciers were named for boys colleges. The two glaciers at the end of College Fiord were named Harvard and Yale. Harvard seems to be advancing, while Yale is retreating. I wonder if that's a commentary??

On our cruise we saw sea otters and harbor seals, but no whales, although there are several pods in the area. We saw lots of sea otters, but it was hard getting a good closeup of them. Sea Otters never go on land. They spend their time in water. And they roll over frequently to put air in their coat. Their fur is so thick the water never touches their skin!

We aren't actually here on vacation. Larry covers Alaska as part of his territory, so when he comes here, I tag along if we have enough frequent flyer miles. I'll be sharing this trip on this blog, so check back daily! This is going to be a great week, and I'm looking forward to sharing it with you.