2012 Highlights

It's fun to look back at the past year and see how many things have changed.  Last year at this time (almost exactly) I was debating whether or not to even apply to graduate school...and I spent the better part of January deciding that yes, I would apply and 'just see what happens'.  Here's a review of my favorite memories and adventures from 2012.

January
The highlight of January was a trip to Arizona to visit family.  While there we went camping in Dad and Barb's RV (oh to look back now upon that trip in the RV and know that in less than 1 year we'd be living in one!).  We also visited the Saguaro National Park, Biosphere II, the Grand Canyon, and Sedona.  Truly a great vacation!

 

February
The azalea bush and daffodils in our yard was in full bloom and we visited the Angel Oak.

March
We braved a crowd of 40,000+ to do the Cooper River Bridge Run and Steve, Beth and I participated in the Rugged Maniac 5k.  Whew! 

April
I received official, final word that I was accepted to graduate school and Steve and I began planning for a 4000+ mile move!  April was also the first month of the CSA - every week a new load of awesome, fresh produce.  (and looking back now, oh how I miss it!)  Oh, and we went camping with friends and Seca took a mud bath!

May
We bought Irv, our home on wheels, in preparation for the move to Alaska.  We began selling off all of our worldly possessions (or that's how it felt) and also made a quick visit to Steve's family in Pennsylvania.

 

June
June was full with work on Irv, with a little time off for some fun down in Beaufort, SC.

July
Steve sold his beloved FJ1200 and we finished loading up what was left of our possessions into Irv, and moved out of the house.  Home for a couple of days was a Charleston RV park.

 

August
Let the adventure begin - we left Charleston for Alaska.  Along the three-week trip there was road trouble, fun with family and friends, Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Cascades National Park, a 2 1/2 day ferry trip, and finally settling in Juneau.   Hard to pick a favorite photo from this month!

 

September
Classes started for me and we had fun exploring Juneau.  A highlight was hiking the West Glacier trail.

October
I went to Kodiak for a fisheries meeting and we hiked the Perserverance Trail - our favorite trail to date.

 

November
We did some remodeling in Irv and we explored the now-frozen Mendenhall Lake.

December
Snow, snow, snow!  We got a lot of snow early in the month, enough to make it pretty for Mom's visit.

Wow, a record year in so many ways.  We managed to travel through or to 19 states between our visits to Arizona and Pennsylvania, and the move from South Carolina to Alaska.  We whittled down from a three bedroom house with a garage and a yard to a 30 foot RV with a stuffed-to-the-gills storage locker.  It's been a crazy, fun year...and 2013 will hopefully be just as fun!

Happy New Year to all!
Much love, Steve and Kari

Happy Birthday Steve!

It's been snowing since before I woke up yesterday morning, though it seemed to take a break last night for a bit.  We had wanted to go into town to celebrate Steve's birthday last night, but I couldn't get up the driveway with the car to meet him so we grilled steaks at home instead.  After dinner, Steve used the snowblower to clear the looooong driveway and I shoveled around the house.  Steve came in exhausted from battling with the big snowblower (it has tracks like a tank, not wheels!).  Today, we've gotten another 5-6 inches so far and I headed out while it was light out to do another pass.  Now I understand why he was so tired!  Holy cow that thing is a beast.  I'm sad to say that it's snowing even harder now that it was all day, and I think we're going to have to clear the driveway AGAIN!  Good thing tomorrow is Saturday.  I'm diggin' this house-sitting thing, but I don't think I'd want to live way out here all the time if it snows like this!

Porcupines don't hibernate

Well, at least one porcupine wasn't hibernating today, I can't speak for all of them!  We were out for a walk with the dogs and on my right side saw a bit of fuzzy motion.  It was a porcupine about 4 feet from me and Chevy.  I quickly grabbed his collar (having no idea whether he'd go after one or not) and very calmly said to Steve "Quick, grab Seca".  I didn't want either dog to realize what was right next to us.  Thankfully, we passed by without either dog noticing.  The last thing I wanted was to go to the emergency vet on Christmas day!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas eve cards

On Christmas Eve we had my adviser over for dinner and cards...It was a really, really fun night!  And despite Terry saying he doesn't play cards much, he lost one game by a hair and then put us both to shame on another. 

Seca's temporary brother

We're house- and pet-sitting for 3 1/2 weeks over the holidays so Seca has new friends.  The family we're sitting for has a dog, cat, two guinea pigs, and a turtle.  Seca's getting along great with their lab, Chevy, and also with their cat, Miss Kitty.  Miss Kitty is super soft and loves to sit on your lap, and while she's a bit nervous around Seca, she's really outgoing and talkative.

A sunny drive

Another sunny day, so once the sun was above the mountains we headed out the road for a drive.  We had a lot of rain last week that knocked the snow off the trees, but it snowed a couple of days ago and everything's pretty again!

We decided that this would be a pretty awesome place to live...

The water today was almost a pastel blue!

 Amalga Harbor

 Looking down a creek.

Whoa - sun!

It was beautifully sunny outside today!  But also cold and windy (boo!).  While running errands and showing mom around Juneau we popped up to the Mendenhall Glacier, just as the sun was hitting the slopes. 

Here's more pictures from the 10 minutes we were willing to stand outside in the cold!

Ferry to Haines and Skagway

Mom, Steve, and I took the ferry to skagway and back today.  We didn't even get off in Haines and Skagway (it was cold, windy and snowing both places)...we just went for the ride, to see scenery and wildlife.  We left at 7 am, returned at 9 pm.  We did see peeks of blue sky now and then...

Since it's almost the winter solstice, there's very little daylight (about 6.5 hours or so) so much of the 14 hour trip was dark.  But the scenery we did see was very beautiful!  I really want to go back in summer and visit both cities.

The trip out was very calm and the water was a pretty blue-greenish grey.  Lots of the pictures were taken from inside the ferry because it was so cold and windy outside!

Once we turned around it was a little bit rougher but still not bad.

 We were on the LeConte - one of the Alaska Ferry Systems vessels.  It's much smaller than the Kennikot that we took up here from Bellingham.  There was a small lounge for movies, a cafeteria with surprisingly good food and reasonable prices (we ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the boat), and a forward lounge with lots of windows looking forward.

Tied up at the Haines ferry terminal.  It's not close to town, so we stayed on the boat...

Look at the line of birds in the water - weird!

I love the color of the water up here.

TGiF

It's been a crazy week here.  I finished up and turned in my final exams, Steve and I moved into a house 'out the road' where we'll be house- and pet-sitting for the next month.  The family has a dog, cat, two guinea pigs, and a turtle!  It's nice being in a house for a bit though this place has some challenges because it's got a crazy steep (and icy) driveway.  I had my first committee meeting (which triggered another, follow up meeting about my project), and the school is also conducting interviews for a new faculty hire - so there were seminars and lunches and meetings with each of the candidates.  In short, I'm very, very glad it's Friday!

My mom is coming for a visit on Saturday (I hope the weather holds out so she can land!).  Then we have a week of fun planned.  Stay turned for more on our adventures!

It's not that cold in Juneau

I was just checking out the weather forecast for Juneau, trying to decide how soon we'd need to get up on the roof of the RV to shovel off the snow.  If it's going to get warm (above 32 for a high), we'd want to be sure to shovel the roof, because what we really want to avoid is more melting and freezing and ice accumulating on top of the RV and we definitely want to avoid getting rain on top of all the snow that's up there.  Sure, rain might melt some of the snow, but the snow will also trap the rain and things will get heavy up there quickly, and we really don't want the roof to collapse.  According to the forecast, we're below 32 for the next several days, so we don't have to shovel right away.

However, while I was on the site, I decided to check out the temperatures in Fairbanks. This is the forecast.  Note that the temperatures are in Fahrenheit, and when they say 'below' they mean below ZERO.  Now that is cold, and good perspective when I whine about the temperatures here...

TODAY
MOSTLY CLEAR. PATCHY ICE FOG. TEMPERATURES 30 TO 40 BELOW
IN VALLEYS TO NEAR 15 BELOW AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS. LIGHT WINDS.

TONIGHT
CLOUDY WITH FLURRIES AND FOG. TEMPERATURES RISING TO 10
TO 25 BELOW. OTHERWISE LIGHT WINDS.

WEDNESDAY
CLOUDY WITH FLURRIES AND FOG. HIGHS 10 TO 25 BELOW...
WARMEST OVER THE HILLS. LOCAL NORTHEAST WINDS GUSTING TO 15 MPH...
OTHERWISE LIGHT WINDS. 

WEDNESDAY NIGHT
MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH PATCHY FLURRIES AND FOG.
LOWS 25 TO 35 BELOW...EXCEPT NEAR 15 BELOW OVER THE HILLS. LOCAL
NORTHEAST WINDS GUSTING TO 15 MPH...OTHERWISE LIGHT WINDS.  

THURSDAY
MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH PATCHY FLURRIES AND FOG. HIGHS
10 TO 25 BELOW...WARMEST OVER THE HILLS. LOCAL NORTHEAST  WINDS
GUSTING TO 15 MPH...OTHERWISE LIGHT WINDS.  

THURSDAY NIGHT
MOSTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 40 BELOW.   

Night photography

Friday night there was nearly a full moon so took the camera and tripod up to the glacier to try some night photos of the mountains and sky.  It was cold outside - maybe 5-8 degrees.  I was pretty bundled up, but my fingers got cold from having my mittens off to manipulate the camera controls.  Here's my favorite three photos from the night. 

Grocery prices

I will admit that I am totally procrastinating right now.  I should be working on my final exam questions.  Steve is outside shoveling snow (again...I did it once this morning).  We're expecting about 7-13 inches between yesterday afternoon and sometime today.  There's maybe 6 or so inches out there now.

Back on September 18 I posted briefly about the prices in Juneau.  Since I'm in full-on procrastination mode I dug out some grocery receipts to illustrate the costs up here.  Food here is generally more expensive than I remember from the lower 48, whether you’re eating out or getting groceries and cooking at home.  (I'll do a separate post about restaurant prices!)  There not many items that you see at the grocery store and really notice a huge difference in cost over the lower 48, but when you add up a cart full of groceries, it is noticeable.   I had kept notes on what things cost in South Carolina, but have since lost them and they’re out of date now anyways.   SO, here are some recent (last two weeks or so) prices of things we buy.  We generally buy the store brand for most items if it’s cheaper (and we are on a budget these days), but I’ve noted that below where applicable.  Also, I will often make substitutions for ingredients if something is on sale…like this weekend I made chili and I was planning to use ground beef and canned black beans but the ground turkey was on sale and $3 a pound cheaper and kidney beans were on sale, so I am now making ground turkey chili with kidney beans.  Not a major difference in the end result, but definitely cheaper.  

Produce:

Jalapeno peppers, fresh – $1.99/lb

Yellow onions - $0.98/lb

Red onions - $1.39/lb

Russet potatoes - $0.69/lb on sale ($0.89 regular)

Lemons - $0.99/each

Broccoli, crowns (that’s the only way it’s sold that I’ve seen) - $1.28/lb

Green beans - $2.99/lb

Green bell pepper - $1.39 each (on sale)

Dairy/Refrigerator:

Sour cream, store brand, 8 oz - $1.19

Yoplait yogurt, 6-8 oz container - $0.70

Butter, store brand - $3/lb on sale

Athenos prepared hummus, small container - $4.29

Alaskan ale, 12 pack bottles - $12.99

Milk, gallon (at Costco) - $3.49 (much more expensive at the grocery store)

Canned/boxed items:

Kidney beans, store brand, 15oz can - $0.97

Crushed tomatoes, Hunts, 28oz can - $2.69

Evaporated milk, store brand, 12oz can - $0.89

Kraft Mac n Cheese box (7.25 oz box size) - $1.89

Sawnson chicken broth, 14.5 oz can - $1.39 (sometimes on sale for $0.89)

Meat:

93% lean ground beef - $6.69/lb

93% lean ground turkey - $3.99/lb on sale

Hormel turkey pepperoni , 6 oz - $3.50 each (on sale)

Other:  (many of these I haven’t bought, but know the prices)

Snapple iced tea bottles, 6 pack - $7.99

Digiorno pizza $9.99 each (sometimes on sale for $7.49)

Jello pudding, small box - $1.25 each on sale

Sugar, store brand, 5 lb bag - $2.99

Ziplock freezer bags, 52 qt size bags - $7.79

Taste of Thai brand coconut milk, 13.5 oz can - $3.79 (and that is by far the cheapest brand!)

Frosted mini-wheats, Costco, the 2-bag box - $9.39

How do these compare to what you pay?  Is it more expensive here or pretty comparable?  (And for Tami – you must think these prices are cheap compared to Tokyo!)

school...

So it's the end of the semester.  Technically, I believe classes end December 11, but one of the classes I'm taking is already done with lectures and the take-home final exam is already out for us to work on.  The exam is loooong, with lots of math and equations and thinking required.  I'm operating on the idea that I'll go through every question once (they build on each other), do what I can on each, and keep working iteratively until it's done and I magically understand it all.  This exam is definitely a 'learning exam', the kind where you do the problems and have a *so that's what I was supposed to learn in that lecture/lab/homework!* moment...well, at least I hope I have that moment of brilliant understanding!

My other class ends next week, and yesterday in class the professor mentioned he'd try to get the final exam (also a take-home) to us 'Saturday or Sunday'.  Mostly, I wanted to say 'Yeah, don't worry about getting it out this weekend, Monday is fine', because really, who wants to get an exam over the weekend??   And I'll still be working on my first exam over the weekend so it's not like I will be chomping at the bit to start another one!

I have my first committee meeting December 12.  All grad students need to form an advisory committee before the end of their first year. I have 4 members on my committee and I think they'll be excellent mentors.  At this meeting we all decide on which classes I'll take in the spring.  I have already picked what I *want* to take, but will need their approval and guidance.  I don't anticipate any objections to my selections.  If things stand, I'll have two tough classes and a moderately easy seminar (for reference, this semester I would say I have one tough class, one 'medium' class, and a super easy seminar).  However, I'm still really excited about the classes for next semester - even more excited than I was for this semester. 

One of the classes I'm hoping to take next semester is taught by my primary adviser - a population dynamics class.  It's the class I'm the most excited about because it's basically what I've come back to school to learn and do.  My adviser co-wrote a fish population dynamics book about 12 years ago...in many ways it's THE book on fish population dynamics, and he uses excerpts from it to teach his class.  (As a side note, he doesn't require students to buy the book since it's really expensive these days).  I do have a copy and I've made it a personal goal to read the book cover to cover before the class starts.  I don't think I'll actually meet this goal since it's 400+ pages long and equations start, quite literally, on page 1.  But, it's a goal.  I'm on page 14.

snow and ice

It snowed again yesterday - about 6 inches - and the temperature last night was hovering right around 30 so it was a weird mix of melting snow from the roof due to the heat from the RV then freezing into icicles off of pretty much everything on the RV.  The unfortunate result this morning was that the front step was built up with enough ice this morning that we couldn't get the front/main door (actually the side door) of the RV open this morning!  In a very frustrated moment I looked at Steve and said "This situation is just unacceptable to me!".  Not that he could do anything about it.  :)  We peeled back the vapor barrier to the front of the RV (the driver's cab) and climbed out the driver's side door, then pounded at the ice (think Deadliest Catch, when they're using sledgehammers to get ice off the boat, just on a smaller scale).  After a few minutes, we could go in and out of the door again.  Steve's going to try to build an awning for the front step this weekend that will hopefully stop this from happening again. 

On the other hand, it's beautiful with all the fresh snow.  After I dropped Steve off at work I risked stopping in an unplowed overlook to take an early morning picture of the glacier (top picture; same vantage point that I've posted before, just with fresh snow now).  Then I got to the harbor early (I carpool with another student who lives on a boat and it was my turn to drive) and took a few more pictures.  Happy Friday everyone!

It doesn't look sunny...

The weather forecast for today is saying 'mostly sunny' with a 10% chance of precipitation.  So far, we've gotten 7-8 inches of snow and it's still coming down strong.  Oh, and no sun in sight.  Man, I have really missed winter!  Bring on the snow!

Seca is LOVING the snow.  She and the neighbor's dog were frolicking in the snow in our 'yard' and she got a long walk this morning.  She likes to walk with her head down, plowing the snow with her face as she goes.

working for the weekend

                                          The view this morning...

Sadly, I'm at the lab today, working on a homework assignment that is due on Tuesday.  I'm about to head home for the day, however, and we have plans with friends for dinner and cards tonight.  Since it's a weekend and I'm the only person in the building, I set up in the 3rd floor conference room so I'd get to look outside instead of working in my cave cubicle.  It's really windy again today and I can hear the it roaring outside.  The water is a cool blue-green color, which unfortunately isn't very apparent in the photographs.  It was cloudy when I got in this morning, but now it's partly sunny!  I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!
                                        
                                          The view now....