What to CHOOSE?

How about some R-E-S-P-E-C-T?

While en route to Alaska from MN today I'll share what took place in Sitka earlier this month. Well, I should back up a bit. Last fall I joined the local Choose Respect Mural committee. It fit in line with some projects through work and I thought it would be great to meet and get involved with Sitkans this way. The mural project addresses domestic violence and sexual assault through positive action and creative, artistic expression. Alaska has horribly high rates for these areas, and "Choose Respect" comes from the Governor's initiative to address these serious issues. After nearly a year of work by the committee, the hired lead artists came to town to paint the design derived and created through community engagement projects we organized during the year, along with heavy school involvement and more.

The most awesome thing about the actual painting, as proposed by our lead artist, Eliseo Art Silva of CA, was its paint by number system---to get the community painting and contributing, and get a lot of work done in a week's time! I was thrilled to learn the paints were non-toxic, water-based acrylic so I wouldn't miss out on the fun, connection and contribution. From our sign-in sheets I tallied over 178 volunteers gave 600 hours to bring the design In Living Color!

Here it is with all 18 panels combined, as shown on www.artchangeinc.org:

Let's break it down:

Like a topographical, camouflaged map with paint by numbers for grown ups!

I'm awfully proud of the painting effort, and myself, tried to be there every day to pitch in. It will be installed on the outside of the middle school, a visible spot within town. Our dedication and unveiling will be on Oct. 1 to commemorate Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Awareness month.
MORE on this, with good interviews by the local public radio station, and talented reported, Ed Ronco!
http://kcaw.org/modules/local_news/index.php?op=centerBlock&ID=1309
*Amy

Ahoy!

In a waterway town I've learned to expect the unexpected for vessels, crafts, floating things--anything that could sail in, and then sail out. Last month saw two interesting contrasts pull in port.
The first was the 365-foot Russian vessel "Pallada," which came from Vladivostok. Its tour was to commemorate the 270th anniversary of the Russians in AK. It hosted a crew and cadre of fisheries, science cadets. The only other Alaskan port of call she made was Kodiak.

The public was welcome to climb aboard, walk around, and read the interpretative panels displayed to detail Russian history in Alaska and their space program--in Cyrillic and English languages. The Russian perspective was "interesting" and didn't exactly line up all the time with the history I've learned. I'll just say that. Mostly, I was fascinated by lines and lines and shapes and ropes. Lines going on and on like time in history, with many points and knots along the way.

The silent, smoking and polished cadets walking around added to the atmosphere too.

And this floater showed up, docked by our central and highly-visible O'Connell bridge:

She's the 156-foot yacht called the "Rochade." It was completed just this year and the newspaper reported it was on its maiden southeast AK voyage. Andy was impressed to hear that it's powered by a combined 7,200 Hp! And then word spread quickly of another fancy-shamancy boat worth a jaw-dropping 48.5 million and it had a HELICOPTER on its back deck! A rumor from the docks around SE credited it to the owner of Bayliner...as in the type of boat.

These waters have a fascinating past, active present and guaranteed future. So do the vessels, boats, paddle boards and more that pass on through or come to stay.

*Amy

Soggy Indeed

As you've noticed from this blog, I tend to process and understand some things in life through writing. Today's post is no exception. Andy is in Georgia for two weeks. One week has gone by and I sneaked in a village work trip during that, and I leave for a visit to MN before he returns. I planned other distractions like happy blog-posting (which I'll still do), reorganizing my recipes (okay, more necessary than fun), and some pampering. So Saturday started with a pedicure. As I drove home from that pampering, up our hillside neighborhood, it hit me how much rain had poured the night before and that morning. The ditches and culverts were bursting with new, gushing streams going down hill.



My friend and neighbor Naomi texted asking how I was doing, and our house with the rain. I went around inside and out and all looked tight. Except for the puddle "lake" growing behind my neighbor's, on our zero-lot line. 



Andy's room at the military base does not have cell service so we began to Skype and I described all the rain we received. That's when it occurred to me I needed to check the crawl space too. Before I even got that far, I believe God sent Naomi over to me for the day as she was at my door insisting we check that crawl space. Thanks to her, I never had to face anything alone yesterday. She was decisive, quick to action and available to give hours of hands on help for what we were about to discover.



It was hard to determine how much water had flooded until we went down there (and I ended up only doing one cursory and heart-stricken trip to the crawl space. I was forbidden to climb in and out after that, and do any major heavy lifting. That killed me). There was water on top of the plastic covering the ground, but the plastic was floating up with most of the water beneath. Every step we took had to be careful to avoid unnecessary water movement and rushing from one area to another.

Part of the Christmas area where, thankfully, most ornaments are in plastic containers

Here's me in my Bogs--Naomi used my Xtra Tuffs-and when we moved by one another one time I had water spill in. Bye bye pedicure!

Andy stayed on Skype standby for hours to receive my updates. Once he got the bad news he tried getting out texts to the Troopers. I never had to stop and call anyone. People came quickly and I had 8 people (and a baby!) helping at some point. Naomi stayed down below with two others as they removed the light and dry stuff stacked on top of others. For the water-logged, tearing boxes beneath, we hoisted empty rubbermaids down there and they just emptied wet contents into the containers to bring up to the garage. The garage is an interesting disaster of drying out stuff...from decorative 4th of July flags hanging to art supplies, and *hopefully* salvaged baseball cards, Andy's high school diploma, etc. etc.

Water caused stacks to become tippy, or boxes just to float

I got to damp photos early on and we covered the kitchen and living room surface areas with photos galore. Most are saved.

I feel more prepared to tackle emergency situations in the future, hopefully not needed. And got some hard-knocks lessons too (like packing everything in plastic containers...and don't procrastinate on doing something with scrapbooks and photo albums--even if you don't have actual house space for that stuff!)


Andy's LT brought over a pump and hose from the Academy and within 4-5 hours the space was free of water. Our buddy Lance climbed around last night making sure it reached the far and dark corners. Fans are blowing down there now.


The main thing is that it's all out...I can dry out, clean where possible and then will repack eventually. Don't want mold and mildew now. Our house structure is dry and strong...the other main thing. I'm so glad we discovered early Sat. so I have all weekend. The City is aware that a better drainage route is needed up and behind us. They already jerry-rigged something to divert the rain scheduled for at least a week. We weren't the only ones. I heard one trailer court below us had river gushing streets.


I can't express (and Andy too) enough our appreciation for the all the help! Even to the plate of dinner I was brought, the hauling away of destroyed items and trash, and checking-in phone calls. This home alone preggers lady is so grateful. Alaskans are first-rate helpers to one another, especially when families are often far away. 


*Amy

Gorneration @ 22 weeks

We're 5.5 months into this thing! I guess the biggest addition or change to share over the last month, other than an ever-growing belly (and I seriously feel bigger than average for this stage of the pregnancy), is the sensation of little bebe movements. It started just about 1.5 weeks ago and I'm certain now that these little sci-fi feeling pulses are our little girl.

I've always been curious what it would feel like, how to expect, and then describe a baby moving. I'm not at the point that I can tell it was a kick, or see ripples across my belly, or for Andy to feel either. It's just little internal sensations that never happened before. It's something like painless pulses or muscle/organ spams in my lower abdomen. And they seriously make me giggle aloud! She usually does her little thing in the late afternoon or before bedtime. This morning, though, she's pulsing away--sometimes for just two quick pokings or a gurgly-feeling that can last a minute. She definitely gets my attention, and a few words from me, at these times.

I'm guilty of buying foods I NEVER would get. Like Oreos. Andy will match me oreo for oreo with milk after dinner (actually, he sets the amount of a "short stack" so we don't go overboard). He was starting to complain of sympathy weight but I reminded him of something called "self-control." Lucky for him he's back to a regular work-out routine now that the new Academy started up.

We picked up some used items around town for killer deals...like a Bob jogging stroller, portable playpin and vibrating chair. Another Trooper family passed on their car seat to us! I set up a free appointment to have it inspected and was given a thorough 411 on safety handling and installation. I think I passed the test (I seriously had to install it while he watched me). New respect for the awkward car seat game.

Despite introducing the Boppy body pillow to bed, lately my lower back and sides ache in the morning from side-sleeping. Thank goodness for insurance-covered prenatal massages! I'm loving that perk. And I'd like to give another shout-out...to Tums---getting heartburn here and there. Also, not so sure on this rumored "glowing complexion" during pregnancy. Maybe that's code for "oily" and I was misled for what to expect.

Got my next doctor check-in Monday and I plan to ask if size-wise and all that if we're still tracking for 12/10/11-ish. Andy leaves this Saturday morning for training in Georgia and we won't see one another until 9/1. He might have to use these pictures as reference for growth when we see one another after a long absence!

*Amy

Rough Days

Two weeks ago my old friend Lee flew up to Sitka from Portland to help me understand the finer details Sitka's waters. He just happened to fish here for many summers in a past lifetime. I of course, was all ears and eager to get his knowledge in my head (and GPS). The king salmon have found my line many times this but I hadn't yet given the halibut my attention. That changed with Lee's arrival. With a few pointers, the right gear, and a couple of secret spots, we pulled some halibut onto the Cajun Queen. The largest measured 61" long, which according to the book, weighed in at 114.8 lbs. I didn't have a scale, but my old arms could barely hold this fish up (don't let my smile fool you, I was struggling). This momma halibut head shook, dove, and made for an extremely fun catch. My first 100+ halibut, dynamite.

The king salmon and silver salmon fishing was pretty good as well. Strangely, it was easier to hook into a chinook than it was to find a coho. I'd imagine that has changed now that we are into August. It's probably time to get back out on the water to confirm. This king wasn't gigantic, but plenty legal for the freezer. Until next year Lee. Good times.