Monday 6 June 2016, week 3: Buldir Island, 22:01 As I look to the northeast in the mornings, I see clouds of small birds rising and falling as one: a changing shape dancing in the sky’s foreground. Captivating, these shapes are; they’re swarms of activity flying just above the water’s surface and shifting as they rise up and change direction. These auklets – crested, least, parakeet, and whiskered – go…
Since my own mom seemed to think I didn’t understand Alaska’s geography, I just wanted to note that I was being humorous with that last post. I’m very aware of how far south I am in relation to my usual Alaskan bases, and I know that the sun rises later when you travel west in a time zone. Having all of Alaska in one time zone is rather absurd, given…
Sunday, 29 May 2016, morning It’s 6:45 in the morning, and the sky is only a shade above inky dark as I gaze out the galley window of the R/V Tiglax. Surely we can’t be in Alaska, Land of the Midnight Sun. That’s where – in my typical Alaska – the sun starts rising by 3:30, providing full daylight well before this time. Where are we? 52º 19′ 750” N…
I’m on my way to a summer on Buldir, where I’ll only have a satellite phone with e-mail. I’m going to try posting by e-mail once a week, and I won’t know if it worked until the end of summer. Due to my capabilities, I won’t be able to share pictures. Sorry! If it works, I’ll share various things about camp life weekly. If not, there may be a post…
March Madness did something many of us Spartan fans are not used to this year. It took a sword and not only threatened our team, but it bled the team and all its fans like a stuck pig. I was pulled along for the painful ride as I watched the MSU – Middle Tennessee State score teeter the wrong direction for the duration of the game. The whole time I…
At the start of my sophomore year I made the mistake of buying a ridiculously heavy Mongoose brand bike from a pawn shop. That bike spent most of the year sitting in my dorm room, and I knew it had to go. Fortunately I was able to sell it for a small profit and go buy the quality of bike my genes prefer. Enter May 8, 2009. Walking to Goldstream…
The more I think about it, the more I believe that adults don’t grow up; rather, adults make choices to leave behind the games and spontaneity of childhood and adolescence. In some instances it is necessary, but it seems to create a more predictable adulthood that can lack excitement. Recently I’ve had a couple memorable moments where instead of making the logical decision and keeping life simple, I decided to…
Whenever I cook one of my Grandma’s recipes, a goofy grin spreads across my face as my nose registers the odors emanating from the kitchen. Whether I’m baking her dinner rolls, making cucumber salad, or creatively building a bundt pan to bake her sour cream coffee cake; I can’t help but think of her house. By the time I take a bite of the familiar food, I’m fully smiling and…
In early December I took a birthday weekend trip up to Seattle to see some missed 4-legged and 2-legged friends. The visit was just what I needed, but I do wish I could have stayed in the fair state of Washington. Waylon felt the same way, as evidenced by his texts the day after I left… D’awww I’ll be there next weekend! I’ll cancel Christmas with my family! Sigh. Thanks…
My current read, Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error, is a little deeper than a laughter inducing-Bill Bryson book; as such, it requires reading in smaller doses and with an alert brain. Author Kathryn Schulz interestingly brings up how the word er meant “to move or go” in ancient Indo-European. The linguistic road led to er becoming the root for the Latin verb errare, which means to wander, go astray, or be…