Sunday, January 6, 2008
Friday, January 4, 2008
Xmas Greetings!
Greetings from Alaska!
Yes, it’s that time of year to check in to see what silly things we have managed to get up to here in our frozen, but snow less wilderness.
Last year, we forgot one memorable incident, namely David’s close encounter with a bear. Yes while David was hooking into his first (and only says Edith) salmon of the year, a young male bear decided to compete with David for a prime fishing spot. David was so determined not to lose his first fish of the year that he dragged the fighting sockeye up a bank whereupon David slipped on some fish slime, cut his knee, dropped his glasses, and promptly fell flat on his face. Would the bear now smell blood too?
The good news was the fish was still on David’s line!
Now the bear really smelled blood and came even closer. So what did our levelheaded Xmas writer do? Did David make a hasty retreat? Did he run?, Did he shout or scream at the bear, “Go away bear I was here first!” No!
No, David went back to fishing, albeit after he found his glasses. This close encounter came to an abrupt halt when the Dept. of Fish and Game insisted that all the anglers who were in the vicinity of the bear move on for safety reasons, leaving the bear to some fantastic fishing.
David has a friend with a very large greenhouse. This greenhouse has had many notable adventures. Once a curious moose somehow got in and ate its way through the greenhouse plants. On many other occasions the greenhouse was flooded after someone forgot to turn off the water while filling the trash cans used for watering plants.
Nevertheless, David had to go one better. The owner of the greenhouse, Dave, installed a new bolt lock on the outside to ensure that the moose could not get in again, then David ensured that Dave could not get out by accidently locking the greenhouse door while Dave was still inside. Despite many attempts to communicate with the outside world, Dave (who unfortunately had not yet learned how to use his new cell phone) accepted his fate, namely a night trapped in his own greenhouse. Fortunately Dave survived the ordeal and was let out for good behavior the next morning by a fellow gardener who was delivering plants.
Since gardening in Alaska is only a summer activity Edith and David are often pining for warmer temperatures, but leaving Alaska for warmer climates has its challenges particularly when you are traveling at Spring Break as it seems the rest of the state’s population are traveling too. A brief visit to California was definitely a big mistake. On arriving at San Francisco airport we attempted to collect our Hertz Rental car only to discover Hertz did not have any cars left.
And just when we thought things could not get worse we discovered they could and did! Our return flight to Seattle was delayed 3 hours, and having been rebooked on a different flight we were confident of getting home on time. On arriving at Seattle we were relieved to see our plane there waiting for us, but alas we soon found out that our seats had been given to someone else. The following day starting at 5 AM we were on standby and patiently went from terminal to terminal hoping to get home. We did but separately.
As we sit here typing this Xmas letter we do so with our cross country skis on. The only problem is again we have no snow so we are only pretending to ski, or as we say, all dressed up and no place with snow!
Yes, it’s that time of year to check in to see what silly things we have managed to get up to here in our frozen, but snow less wilderness.
Last year, we forgot one memorable incident, namely David’s close encounter with a bear. Yes while David was hooking into his first (and only says Edith) salmon of the year, a young male bear decided to compete with David for a prime fishing spot. David was so determined not to lose his first fish of the year that he dragged the fighting sockeye up a bank whereupon David slipped on some fish slime, cut his knee, dropped his glasses, and promptly fell flat on his face. Would the bear now smell blood too?
The good news was the fish was still on David’s line!
Now the bear really smelled blood and came even closer. So what did our levelheaded Xmas writer do? Did David make a hasty retreat? Did he run?, Did he shout or scream at the bear, “Go away bear I was here first!” No!
No, David went back to fishing, albeit after he found his glasses. This close encounter came to an abrupt halt when the Dept. of Fish and Game insisted that all the anglers who were in the vicinity of the bear move on for safety reasons, leaving the bear to some fantastic fishing.
David has a friend with a very large greenhouse. This greenhouse has had many notable adventures. Once a curious moose somehow got in and ate its way through the greenhouse plants. On many other occasions the greenhouse was flooded after someone forgot to turn off the water while filling the trash cans used for watering plants.
Nevertheless, David had to go one better. The owner of the greenhouse, Dave, installed a new bolt lock on the outside to ensure that the moose could not get in again, then David ensured that Dave could not get out by accidently locking the greenhouse door while Dave was still inside. Despite many attempts to communicate with the outside world, Dave (who unfortunately had not yet learned how to use his new cell phone) accepted his fate, namely a night trapped in his own greenhouse. Fortunately Dave survived the ordeal and was let out for good behavior the next morning by a fellow gardener who was delivering plants.
Since gardening in Alaska is only a summer activity Edith and David are often pining for warmer temperatures, but leaving Alaska for warmer climates has its challenges particularly when you are traveling at Spring Break as it seems the rest of the state’s population are traveling too. A brief visit to California was definitely a big mistake. On arriving at San Francisco airport we attempted to collect our Hertz Rental car only to discover Hertz did not have any cars left.
And just when we thought things could not get worse we discovered they could and did! Our return flight to Seattle was delayed 3 hours, and having been rebooked on a different flight we were confident of getting home on time. On arriving at Seattle we were relieved to see our plane there waiting for us, but alas we soon found out that our seats had been given to someone else. The following day starting at 5 AM we were on standby and patiently went from terminal to terminal hoping to get home. We did but separately.
As we sit here typing this Xmas letter we do so with our cross country skis on. The only problem is again we have no snow so we are only pretending to ski, or as we say, all dressed up and no place with snow!
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