Winter Perks

Things I Will Miss As Winter Ends

1. No need to mow the lawn. It's covered in snow.
2. Layers. Lots of layers of clothing.
3. The fact the sun isn't high enough in the sky to mess with the garage door. (The sun activates the motion detector so it won't go down.)
4. Darkness when I want to sleep.
5. The fact the town is cleaner in the winter.

Things I Will Not Miss

1. Shoveling snow.
2. Snow piles.
3. Snow.
4. Snow falling off the roof and freaking us all out.
5. Negatives temperatures.

It Won't Stop Snowing!

I live in Alaska. I know it snows. I know it ought to snow quite a bit.

PLEASE STOP SNOWING.

I can't see while driving. I'm pretty sure my yard is going to be FULL by the time spring finally shows up. And it won't be un-FULL till summer. (Yeah, it's that full.)

After thinking it was hazardous to drive through the streets due to snow MOUNDS, not street conditions, I took Basil out to the backyard. Okay, I let her out the door and she shot out.  Pilot Boy, months ago it seems, carved paths for the poor mutt when the snow got too deep for her to swim through on her own. She had been only using her well beaten path to the tree and never tore around the yard. But she's got paths now.

Though, under the tree is still her favorite spot.

I'm sure if she could, she'd chew that tree to bits. It did crack earlier this winter and a huge branch fell down into the yard during an ice storm. Since then, Basil Bea Dog has been slowly chewing the tree away. Today, while I was out with her, she discovered part of the branch that had been buried. I was minding my own business checking out our snow covered yard when I noticed her digging. Basil Bea loves to dig. It's an activity she learned from my father and brother during her stay in Chicagoland. Before she watched them dig a huge hole for the drywell for the sump pump, Basil Bea did not dig. Now she digs. Often. Today, she went digging in the snow. Strange on many levels, I went over to see what she'd found.

It was a STICK.

Basil Bea also learned to love sticks during her stay in the Chicagoland area. She learned to love a lot of things while there: walking, cold weather, snow, sticks, digging, turkey, carrots, cheerios, sleeping like she was drunk...(Side note: I miss my little drunken sailor. That bed bit the dust, so I no longer get a performance of Basil Bea hanging her head over the side of the boat.)

So, while Basil Bea dug and chewed on the branch, I ventured down the paths Pilot Boy carved. Partly to beat them down, partly to get far enough back to capture the snow on the roof. So, off I went.

Then I fell off the path. Right down into the snow up to my thigh. I was unable to photograph that, so I took this one, where it was up to my knee. I managed to get myself out of the hole, with Basil's help.

Ha, ha, ha, ha.

Basil was no help.


I fell in a few more times in my attempts to get myself back on the packed path. Basil came over after I was topside and sniffed out all the holes I'd made. Evidenlty, they smell good.

I did finally get a photo of the snow on the roof. The snow that is on the bay window, there? The snow is creeping again, away from the roof. It's annoying.

I also looked at everyone else's roofs. Even the people who "cleaned." We all look like we've got the same amount of snow.

It was snowing while I had Basil Bea out this afternoon. It has just finally stopped after a few hours, thank god. I don't think I can handle another major snow fall. Unless it takes out the tree in the backyard fully. I hate that tree.

Hazards of Alaskan Living

Snow.

We've had snow on the ground since October.

We do not own a snow blower. We own a shovel. Actually, we don't own it. It came with the house. It's a very nice shovel. Except when you want to shovel. I hate it when I have to shovel.

Our driveway is a slight disaster for a wide array of reasons. Snow, ice, snow, ice, rain, melting snow, the fact we only use one side of it because Suzi hates Alaskan winters. We got a good couple inches these past few days, so I ventured out to shovel.

I thought I'd make the driveway better.

It's worst.

For one, the tire tracks left by the Monstrosity are a combination of frozen snow and ice. I can't shovel them up. They are also growing as the winter continues, so they are pretty much one half of the driveway. I struggled for almost two hours trying to get the driveway shoveled till I gave up. It looked like a disaster area where I attempted to shovel and you still couldn't see blacktop. Also, it was REALLY SLIPPRY.

At least it snowed last night. So now you can't tell I even shoveled. Well, except on the side of the driveway I didn't get to and began new snow piles, as the ones in our driveway are over eight feet high. I can't throw things that high. With the shovel.

In the past few weeks I've also seen people cleaning off their roofs. The guy next door has some sort of special motorized roof shovel to clean it off. No one told me I'd have to worry about shoveling the freaking roof. Pilot Boy thinks it is stupid to shovel the roof.

"Takes away insulation."

So, we still have snow on our roof. All of it. Every layer.

Do I think if I had a snow blower, my attempt to clean the driveway would have gone better?

No.

I can't use a snow blower. Ask my mother.

Skating to the Dentist

I spent some three hours on Sunday on the phone with my dad. Some of it was about why he had called, some of it was about how to restyle all my shop photos and how to make them more attractive to buyers. By the end of this conversation, I decided I needed a tri-pod. Target FAILED ME, so I was like, "I'll got to REI. I know what I want is there."

So, Monday morning, I hopped in the Monstority, started him up, and backed out of the driveway. However, as I skatted on the ice, I realized there was a light still on in the dash. It looked roughly like this: (!) with a little swiggle line under it. I was like, "Huh?"

I drove around the block and pulled back into the driveway. I pulled out the manual and looked it up. I mistook it for something wrong with the breaks, as it looked a lot like the ((!)) which means breaks. There are three different symbols for the breaks. Since Pilot Boy told me to get the oil changed, I was like, "FINE! We'll go see the dealer!"

I called, made an appointment for the next day.

After I did this, I remembered I had to go pick up more plastic trays at the dentist. Now, since I still thought my breaks were shot, I decided to walk the few blocks to the dentist. I always feel like a slouth driving there, but half the time its 1) a hazard to my health to walk due to the conditions of our subdivion in the winter or 2) raining or 3) I have other errands to run after I go to the dentist. (I got to the dentist a lot here...it's like the eye doctor in the Dirt Hole, only I kinda like going to the dentist. THEY KNOW ME! The Eye Doctor in the Dirt Hole never seemed to remember me till he looked at my chart.)

So, I put on my fancy The North Face boots with little "ice picks" and took a very deep breath. I exited the house and stared at the ice rink that is my street.

It has been brilliantly sunny for weeks upon weeks and the sun here is intense. It might claim to be 20 out, but in the sun it'll be 40. So things MELT like WHOA. Kind of. A few weeks back, they "plowed" the street down to the layer of ice that fell during the ice storm that hit in....November? But, yeah, so they took away all trackton on the street and turned the street into an ice rink. One must be very talented to walk on the street. I could have used ice skates to travel from my house to the main road.

I stupidly thought once I skatted through the subdivison I'd be good to go on some cement or something, but NO. I guess when they "plow" the sidewalks along the main road, they just make more ice rinks, as the sidewalks were worst than my street. I carefully walked along, praying I would not fall down and break something.

I passed a guy RUNNING on the ice sidewalk. I was like, "HUH?"

He said good morning, so I said it as well, as I was simply impressed he was RUNNING on the ICE in TENNIS SHOES.

Later I told the lady who gave me my new plastic trays and she rolled her eyes and said, "Yeah, there are some really crazy people here. My friend goes running every morning. Outside. On snow and ice."

I walked home and passed no more runners. And I managed not to fall.

Later, I took the Monstoirty to the Dealer.

There was a huge ass carpentry nail in the tire. It was HUGE. Almost as big as the screw I ran over in the Kar.

Also, the nice guy who took care of me at the dealer actually told me I DID NOT NEED MY OIL CHANGED. I was like WTF? WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN MY WHOLE LIFE?

Oil changes and I do not get along, as every time I go, no matter where I am, the guys who take care of me try to rip me off. Because I'm a girl they think I'm a moron. With the Kar, they used to tell me my oil was dirty. The first time it worked, because I honestly did not know. The second time, I knew better and they were seriously pissed off at me and would not leave me alone about my "dirty" oil. After that, when I had to get the oil changed, I made Pilot Boy drive the car in and act like it was his car. They never told him he had "dirty oil." I hated them, so I refused to get the oil changed. With my Poor Volvo, we only changed the oil twice. And the second time, it was changed when I took the car in because the TAKE CAR FOR SERVICE message had come on and it was annoying the shit out of me.

Granted, the time I took the Monstoriy in, they did not try to sell me anything extra, but this time the guy looked at me like I was insane when I told me about getting an oil change.

"YOu've got snyntheic oil right?
"Yes."
"You've only got 11,002 on this," he said.
"I know."
"Why do you want the oil changed?"
"My husband seemed to think we needed it. Its past it's three month mark."
"You've got syntheic oil. You won't get your moneys worth out of it if you change it now. You've got...at least 4,000 more miles to go."
"I figured," I replied.
"Tell your husband," he said.
I rolled my eyes. "He knows. I don't know why he wanted it changed."

I am serious. I know how the fake oil works. Pilot Boy has told me. Multiple times. He's also told me how traditional oil works, especially after they place ripped me off with the whole "dirty" oil thing the first time I took it to get changed.

Oil is always dirty, people. If its not brown, it's not doing its job.

Things that made for an interesting weekend...

1. After two days of wearing the same sweater, I discovered it was an x-small size. I stared at it for a long time when I made this discovery, as I haven't worn a x-small since I was in high school, and the sweater was not left over from high school. It made me feel skinny, so I decided it was new favorite sweater.
2. Bark. Bark. Bark. My name is Basil Bea Dog and you will listen to me endlessly bark at nothing.
3. I wore four inch heels to take the trash out. I had forgotten I had put them on when I realized it was five pm and I needed to get the trash out before I forgot. I got to the end of the driveway and though, "Oops. I should have changed my shoes." I almost twisted my knee trying to make my way through two inches of snow on the driveway.
4. It snowed quite a bit this weekend and I don't remember really seeing it snow.
5. I made apple crumble. I then ate it all the next day. I am out of raisins.
6. Suzi's had another recall. Fuel pump and cold temps make for an unhappy Suzi. I am terrified of taking Suzi to the dealer, due from her last encounter with the dealer. But at the same time, I do not want to blow up. Or have Pilot Boy blow up. That'd be bad.
7. I spent over an hour looking for a movie to stream on Netflix. I ended up going to bed because I never found one.
8. I spent all night Friday singing. Kinda like I did a lot of weekend nights my senior year of college. By myself. In my room. Only this time I had Basil Bea staring at me thinking, "God, what is wrong with you? Just go to bed all ready."
9. This weekend I ate an entire bag of Smart Popcorn. If it had been a normal sized bag, this would not be a big deal. It was a family sized bag.
10. I read three books this weekend too. One was so bad, I gave up reading it and just read the end. The other two I read all the way through. Only after I was done with them did I decide I did not like spy novels.

Quest for Sushi

On Thursday, I decided I wanted sushi for lunch. Strangely, Fred Meyer has okay sushi and I also needed milk. I opened the garage door and peeked in the garage to discover Suzi the Subaru was hanging out in the garage. Due to the fact it snowed, Pilot Boy took the Monstrosity to work.

I decided to do something really stupid at this point: I was going to take Suzi the Subaru out in the snow.

Why was this stupid? Aren't all Subaru's 4 wheel drive and made for racing through the snow?

Well, yeah, you'd think that, right? At one point in time Suzi did do such things.  See that picture above? Yeah, all Pilot Boy did was back up and drive off. When the car lived in the Midwest, Suzi the Subaru seemed to like the snow and cold.

Then we put her on a ferry and she went away for awhile. When we saw her again, she had a crack windshield and smelled strongly of gas when ever we turned her on. So we took her to fix her windshield and then found out she had been recalled for the cold weather/gas issue. So, we made the tragic mistake of taking her to...the...Subaru...dealer...in....town.

Suzi has never been the same since.

Things for Suzi went bad when we picked her up form the dealer. Five minutes of driving, the engine light came on. The next day the dealer called and told us because the car wasn't from Alaska, Subaru rejected the recall, so WE HAD TO PAY. We also discovered, the dealer had "fixed" other things. The seat was all whacked and the turbo gauge did not work. They wouldn't fix Suzi unless we brought her in and paid them MORE MONEY, so we took her to a independent Subaru shop. After two tries, the turbo finally worked and Suzi no longer was trying to kill us (her brakes didn't work right after the dealer was done with her either.)

However, after all this trauma, Suzi the Subaru decided she didn't like Alaska. Especially winter. She...won't work right. She flies. I am serious. I think Suzi the Subaru wants to be an airplane.

Pilot Boy thinks if we got snow tires all Suzi's problems would be solved. I think not. I think Suzi hates winter. I also think her brakes are still jacked up. But what do I know?

Anyways, all ready knowing that Suzi the Subaru doesn't like winter and refuses to stop, I took her out on Thursday. It has snowed overnight and Anchorage doesn't own snow plows. They own snow packers. But those hadn't been out yet. Anyways, I put myself into the car and backed out. Everything went fine till I went from our subdivision to the main road.

I wanted to go left.

I ended up facing the opposite direction I wanted to be heading and in the wrong lane.

Why?

Suzi the Subaru decided to spin in a circle. I moved in slow motion as I just kept turning after I made the left hand turned. I have never spun out in a car before. Ever. Even when I drove three hours to work in a snow storm in a car with two wheel drive. And no snow tires. But, there I was, turning around in a circle in the middle of the street. I came to a stop and decided I'd just to the way I was facing. Left hand turns in Suzi were dangerous. So, I laughed like a maniac and drove down the road and went the long way to Fred Meyer. I pretty much kept laughing like a maniac all day and was kind of off my rocker (which might explain why I made the adventure for sushi in the first place).

During this long trip to Fred Meyer, Suzi tried to go into the middle of the intersection on a very busy road (she refused to stop sliding down the road). On the way home, she tried to spin again on the same road, only I was making a right hand turn.(After the first spin, the whole trip was right hand turns, so I kept singing, "Just keep turning! Just keep turning!"

Let me tell you about Thursday.

1. It was not snowing.
2. The roads were pretty clear by the point I left the house.
3. It was not that cold, it was in the upper 20s.
4. THE CAR SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN HAVING THE TROUBLE IT WAS. Why? Because it was a star in the Midwest and Thursday was a very Midwestern sort of day, okay?

Conclusion: Suzi the Subaru was messed up by the dealer and now hates Alaska.

She also hates Alabama, but that is another story.

Doggy Smell in my Nose

Basil just emerged from her crate, so she smells very strongly of...dog. I do not know how to cease the doggy smell about her, as I clean her, her crate and everything around it, but no matter what, within an hour or two, she smells like a dog again. Due to the fact I have a sinus headache and have since last night, her doggy smells is highly annoying. She is not, her smell is.

We figured out why she was shedding up a storm: she was dry.

Like her skin was dry, not she was dry from lack of water to drink. Anyways, we started her on these Doggy shed control vitamins and try to brush her more, and she is softer and less of a shedding wonder than she was before. She loves her Doggy Vitamins too...sometimes that is all she will eat for the first hour or so she is up. I am sure my dog would eat anything I put in her bowl as long as its flavored with something. She loves her heart worm meds and when she had worms, she loved the pill I gave her for that to. She was so pleased with herself after she ate it...it didn't work, but as far as she could tell, she had just gotten a really special treat for no reason!

We had a "warm spell" these few past days (or weeks, time blends into one big blur at times) and the snow melted, reminding me why I hate spring: it is ugly. When the snow melts, this place isn't pretty any more, it is just dirty and gross. I like it when snow clings to the trees. I like when there is so much snow it doesn't look black. When it melts, everything you've forgotten about shows up. Like dog poop.

The only positive thing this has led to, is that Basil Bea poops in the same area now all of a sudden: under the tree. We can only hope it remains this way, as this makes for easier pick up when one must mow the lawn.

Also, we have confirmation that the large hole in our front yard's snow drift was indeed a moose. As the snow melted, we found a pile of moose poop in our front yard. Again. So a moose did decide to take a nap in our front yard at some point. And eat my dead flowers. that were poking through the snow. Hopefully they will grow back, because that was one of those annuals I paid big bucks for at Lowes.

In shop news, I'm trying to figure out what bags to make for spring still. The bags I made in the winter are winter/fall bags, so I decided I won't fight with the sun and my house to photograph them for the shop till this summer. So, since the new year, I've only been renewing items. I still can't figure out if its worth it to renew the paper items, as I think I have renewed them to the point where I am paying someone to take them away from me (which would be fine, as I need to get rid of them.) I did discover a tragic flaw in the paper bags which I must fix. The ones I made with glue fall apart. Well, the bag doesn't fall apart, the paper I stuck to the front falls off when an item is in the bag. Totally lame. I knew there was a reason I did not like glue.

Basil Writes a Post

Hi! I'm Basil Bea Dog. I'd just like to tell you that I LOVE SNOW. It is like the greatest thing on this earth. I am totally serious. It might be better than Yummy Chummies. Or carrots. Though, not better than Turkey. Nothing trumps Turkey.

But it snowed a lot FINALLY. To the point where I can shove my head into it. No one is sure why I do this and I think I'd like to keep it a secret.

But, Alpha Dog let me outside yesterday morning and there was SNOW! And A LOT OF IT! I ran around leaping for joy! Then to make things better, she took me out and PLAYED WITH ME!

IN THE SNOW PEOPLE! IN THE SNOW!

I think we had a lot of fun. I'll share with you some of our fun.

 I found the kong in the yard. It was full of frozen snow goodness!

 It was also fun to run around with it in my mouth. I threw it at Alpha Dog a few times, but she never picked it up and ran around with it. She just doesn't get it.

 She fails to realize the fun you can have carrying things around in ones mouth. I mean, that is how I carry everything. She never carries things in her mouth. Except pins. I'm not sure why she does that.

Alpha dog likes to throw snow at me. She threw a snow ball at me there. I kinda wish I could throw a snow ball at her, but all I can do is jump on her with my snowy paws and make her wet. She doesn't seem to like that, but oh well.

Well, all, that was our play session in the snow. Today she only came outside for a few minutes and followed me around for a while till I went potty. She then went back inside, after telling me she didn't have any socks on. She had boots on. I hate boots. She told me I might have to wear my boots again if I didn't let her wipe my feet off. I let her wipe my feet off. I hate those boots.

And those dumb coats. I hate those too. I haven't seen those yet...I hope they do not make an appearance. Maybe I should stop shedding so much?

Love you!
Basil Bea Dog. (BARK BARK BARK)

Why You Should Not Buy a 2010 or new 4Runner if you plan to drive in Weather.

I drove up to Eagle River the other day. It wasn't snowing, raining, or anything, but the highway was wet, so there was junk flying at the windshield and I had to use the wipers to see.

During my 20 minute trip, I remembered another reason to hate my 4Runner. Never mind that it is huge, bulky and drop dead ugly, you cannot for the life of you DRIVE THE THING IN THE WINTER. Why? Because, you cannot see out any pertinate windows except the front and passenger side. The back windshiled wipers only clears a TINY portion of the window and not even where YOU NEED TO LOOK. The dumb ass spoiler on the back also adds insult to injury because it just adds to amount of junk that gathers on the window. Currently, I cannot see anything worth while out the window and if the cars refuse to use their lights, there is no hope of me seeing them at any given point. And not just because the back window is so caked with grime, no, that isn't just the issues any more.

When we traveled up here, we learned that when traveling at speeds of 50 or higher while using the wipers, kicks back grime onto the driver side window. Since the back window has been uselsess since any rain/snow/sleet/dirt/wind has been going on, I've taken to using the mirror to see what's behind me and make sure I'm not going to run anyone over in the Monstrosity. Well, during my 20 minute highway drive, this became almost impossible to do because the window was caked in grime from the front windshield. This occurred on our drive up here and I had forgotten. This isn't an issue when it rains. Just snow and ice and grime. In the lower 48, where they salt the living daylights out of things, this is a BIG PROBLEM, as the salt just sticks and is hard to get off the window. So, basically, when we drove up here, daily cleaning of the window took place because we couldn't even SEE the back window due to our belongings. Once we got here, and cleared the car out, we were like, Dear God. There is like five inches of grime on the back window. More than the rest of the car.

So, Mr. Toyota Car Maker, you SUCK. And I HATE YOU. HOW THE HELL DID YOU MANAGE TO MAKE A CAR "BETTER" AND NOT TEST DRIVE IT IN WINTER CONDITIONS? YOUR REDESIGN OF THE 4RUNNER SUCKS AND YOU SHOULD ALL...WELL, BE FORCED TO DRIVE THE 4RUNNER IN ALASKA ALL WINTER AND NOT ALLOWED TO WASH IT. I GARANTEE YOU WILL CRASH AND DIE.

In other news, till I get a window washer thingy, I will have to risk my life in the Subaru, which has no winter tires (we thinks studded tires are lame and do not understand why the people of Alaska are holding on so hard to studded tires, they just ruin the roads. They make winter tires. The 4Runner has those. They work brilliantly).

That is all.

::steps off soap box ::

Total Winter Wonderland

It snowed on my birthday. I don't think its ever snowed on my birth date before in the location I have been located to celebrate it. But it snowed, like a real good snow fall.

And I shoveled it.

And then it snowed again.

And again.

Today, while waiting for the sun to show itself in the cloudy sky, i realized my back yard tree (the one I hate almost with as much flaming passion as the tree in the front), looks like it needs to be on the front of a Christmas card. The trees in other people's back yards look similar. The tree looked like this when we first moved in (granted it was burried in at least two feet of snow), but I loved the tree then. It was not till I began mowing the lawn in the spring did I grow to hate the tree.

How can I hate a tree? Easy, it attacks me. I am serious. I always looked horrible after mowing the lawn due to my battle with the trees. The tree in the front always bashed me in the head with its branches as I tried to mow under it. The tree in the back yard pulled my hair, threw bugs on me, threw leaves and other things on me and scratched me numerous times. Thus, I hate the tree. Both of them actually. Then, after beating me up all summer, they lost their leaves. SLOWLY. But they had so many leaves. I was not sure where the tree in the front got so many fracking leaves. Two WEEKS. TWO FREAKING WEEKS of raking and FOUR TRASH BAGS EACH WEEK. SERIOUSLY.

WE never raked the back yard. By the time we did the first week of raking, we gave up on the back yard. Pilot Boy mowed it, but then the next week, we just stared at the pile and told Basil Bea to go have fun.

Basil refuses to use the yard for fun unless it is covered in snow. She is my snow puppy and I love her. She ran at least a mile in the yard yesterday while I was out trying to clear the deck. Round and round Basil Bea flew, snow flying everywhere. She loves snow. What this poor snow loving dog was doing in Texas is beyond me. She hated Texas. She loves snow and cold.

the dog days are gone

Summer has ended.

It snowed this morning. Also, the leaves have all turned various shades of brown and yellow and begun to topple to the ground. Most were helped to the ground my the massive amount of wind we had on Friday. Basil Bea blew away at one point. Off went the puppy into the backyard, carried by the wind.

Last weekend, we went hiking around a lake and I was amazed how fall like the world around me had become since i had stopped seeing it due to being encased in fog. I got excited to bring out my sweaters and comfy clothing. I've worn various light weight sweaters since that point in time, as the heavy duty ones aren't made for low 40s sort of weather. However, with fall, comes the annual cold. I feel it setting in and it kind of sucks. At least I finished my fall line for Ireland Scott. Now, I just need to start making Christmas cards. Hopefully I'll get out and get some Christmas stuff this week so I can get started. They won't sell and I don't need them, but I love making them anyways.

On the matter of the giveaway, I had kind of hoped more people would enter it...but alas, only four people entered. I let it run for two weeks to give myself time to remind people, but no one seemed to enter when I reminded. I might run another one after christmas to give rid of some Christmas stuff...I still have a lot left over from last Christmas.

The Continuing Adventures of Basil the Shedder

Basil sheds a lot. I spend a great deal of time vacuuming up after the fur that doesn't seem to like here and jumps off to hang out on the floor. I can't keep up, due to the fact the sun came out and it warmed up and thus the hair is leaping off the dog at leaps and bounds. I just looked in the bed she has taken to sleeping in, and there are huge clumps of hair in there and I just cleaned it out on Friday. A week later there is another dog worth of hair in there. It is like I'm in the dirt hole again.

Basil Bea and I have been enjoying the sun shine though, Basil more than me. I'm a rain and cloud gal, Basil is a sun puppy. She worships the sun. Its good she has fur, or she's go through gallons of sun screen.

In other news, to fix my teeth will cost some 5,000 bucks. Whoo hoo! I wish I had piles of money to toss around. Then maybe I'd feel better. The number freaked me out so much, I drove over to the fancy building the Anchorage School District is located in and got a sub packet. They totally mean business here. There are like 110 things I have to do and they want professional things too. I can't remember the last time I was professional. Oh, wait, I do. 2006. I don't think I can write a rec for myself, since I have been pretty much working for myself (admit badly) for the past three years. My husband pointed out I don't know how to make a profit or really have the head for business, I'm too nice. This is true. I am too nice, which was why after I spent a year telling everyone I was going to be the CEO of AT&T I realized that was stupid. I wasn't driven enough to be a CEO. Technically, I am a CEO and I'm not very good at it. Trust me, I know I am not good. I know, while running something like Ireland Scott, I need to be nice to a certain degree, as that is how you get loyal customers, but, well, customer service isn't a strong point at AT&T. They are a large, greedy corporation, thus they make the big bucks while I loose tiny bucks. I don't really care, as I am mostly doing ISD to amuse myself and be able to share something with people. I love purses, but I only have two shoulders.

That is it. Other than Basil Bea is sleeping in her won hair, as I didn't clean the bed out after I noticed it was caked in fur. No wonder she smells. That and she licks herself all the time.

Its Sunny in Fairbanks

Or so Pilot Boy says.

Its been oddly rainy and gloomy here for the past week or so. More so than usual. I decided to try to begin a new story that has been milling around my noggin for the past couple of days. It is not going too good. I remember now why I don't start new stories that I have been milling in my head: they don't turn out. The best ones are the ones I just kind of sit down and start and don't put a lot of thought into.

In other news, an airplane fell on my head last night.

Granted it was a wooden toy airplane, but it still hurt like my head was going to die and roll off. It hurt more than when I'd crack my head on those stupid trees. I hate those damn trees.

Almost as much as I hate that damn wood airplane made in 1997.

At least the Thai can of coke didn't fall on me. That would have hurt and been a sticky mess.

And the Sun went Out on Me

Last night, after I finished being a geek, I got up and noticed it was "pouring" rain outside. After I informed Basil of this happening (only to discover she wasn't in the room with me and had put herself to bed), I came upstairs to work on the computer till I deemed it late enough to crawl into bed and go back to being a geek (this time by watching "Doctor Who" till I zonked out).

I came upstairs and sat down. After a few minutes I realized it was dark. I figured it was the storm. Not so much. It was actually raining very steadily, but the clouds weren't black, they were dark, but not black. I realized that the sun was setting.

THE SUN WAS SETTING?!

After I had a small freak out, I turned on the desk light, then a short while later another light, then finally the overhead light in the study and I shut the shades so no one could peek into my room. Later, when I went downstairs to eat something so I did not pass out from hunger, I had to TURN ON LIGHTS in the family room. It was almost pitch black down there. It felt so...alien to have to turn lights on. I also realized, we do not have enough lights in the family room, even if I would turn on the butt ugly brass over head spot light that shines on the fire place (the only light in the room, as who ever designed the house figured that in that room the only thing worth lighting was the fireplace, which is also ugly). I might have to buy some lights...as I am not leaving that ugly light in the kitchen on either.

What did we do when we first moved in and it got dark? Did we just sit in the dark? I seriously do not remember.

let the sun shine down

Today, it was sunny. Thank god. Even though I had a minor sinus headache almost all day, it wasn't so bad due to the fact the sun was out.

Basil Bea was happy.
We even went outside to play. Then she drank water to fast and threw up.

The major highlight of the day was setting up the wireless router. My father, located three time zones behind me, aided in this endeavor. After three hours, and many reboots later, I am wire free for the time being. We will see how long this lasts. Last wireless router I bought was faulty and never worked wireless. It worked as a router. But I was always wired in. So far today I've totted the laptop to three different rooms and it was not nice having a 90 foot cord following after me. Now, in the winter when I am freezing, I can move to the room that is the warmest in the house.

I posted a new purse today (irelandscott.etsy.com). It is wonderful and a Teagan tote. I've been trying to figure out which purses I should make more of. Hobo bags seem to be rather popular. In the winter, the Hillhead Satchel sold well too. I want to create a new style. I did see one on "Glee" tonight that I think I could swing making. Its kinda funny, I see handbags now and I see patterns I can make. I made a clutch today, still not up to the standards I want...but I'll try to sell it anyways, as its got a lot in it. Plus, I bet its just me being hard on myself. I'm almost done with the batch I want to make to send R for the fest she's going to in September. She offered to hawk them in her booth for me. I doubt any will sell, but hey, I gotta get my name out there some how right? I'm thinking of getting some MOO cards printed up as coupons. Or just printing some out on my own now that I've got the printer working.

Dude, I could make the printer wireless!

Tomorrow I plan to run all the errands I've been putting off all week. (OMG, the week is like gone...) I hate going out in the weekends around here, with all the various roads that are closed/congested/etc. Its just safer to remain in the house on the weekends.

I'll sew and make new purses. The purse I was most proud of turned out to have a little iron boo boo on it, so now I can't sell it. I guess I'll carry it. Its really cute.

In the Land of Midnight Sun

Its cloudy.

It is the longest day of the year and it is CLOUDY.It was brilliantly sunny all day. I woke up at 5 am this morning and thought it was 9 am.

But, not it is cloudy. No sun. There is just something wrong with that. One's first Alaskan first day of summer is supposed to be sunny.
Instead I get this:Not the best picture, but at least you can see the camera in the window.
Oh well. The sun just stayed out long enough to heat my house up, though now that it is gone, the air should cool down so I can blow some cold in before I go to bed.

Living here in the summer is just odd. I'm not sure how to really explain it, but you never know what time it is, because the sun never sets and it always looks like the middle of the day most of the day. I did not fully understand this till I went six hours without a clock. I was in a building for 6 hours without a clock and when I left I thought it was maybe nine pm at night. I got in the car and it was almost midnight. MIDNIGHT.
After our heat wave (when I last updated) it cooled down a lot and I had to TURN ON THE HEAT. It was a few days before I realized I was freezing to death in my own home. In June.

Today, I got a logo for Ireland Scott Designs. It hit me rather randomly (like most things) while I was looking at stamps. I was searching for a purse stamp to add to the business cards I got for free off of Moo when I saw it: a Scottie stamp. A DOG! It was perfect. So I added the stamp to the business cards and then the new labels I made. Then I revamped all the other images. I, however, never did finish the purse I have been attempting to finish for the past two days. I was going to do it tonight, thinking the sun would be at full force until at least 11, but alas, it is not because it is cloudy. I sat with the shade closed all day to keep the heat out of the room, and now I open it for some light and all I get is a cloudy sky. Oi. There, some sunlight over that way. I know that sun is still out.

Baking in Alaska

A heat wave has hit Alaska, and Basil Bea and I have been baking in our own home, which does not have a/c, because who needs a/c in Alaska? Well, the sun is totally intense, so I have been shut into the house for almost a week now. Yesterday it finally rained and was cool enough for me to really get to work in the sewing room. In a few days I will go out and buy a new camera, so new purses will begin to appear in the shop.

I have been working on clutches. Yesterday's did not go too well. I wanted to make a small draw string bag like the one the tank tops I ordered from Victoria Secret came in. The first two tries did not work in the least, so today I might try again or just work on purses I know will work. I still have to figure out where to take pictures. Now that I am in my own home, I can use the wonderful kitchen table again. Though, I am totally in love with the purple wall in the sewing room. Not sure where to use the purple wall, as the sewing room is always a mess. Total mess.

Well, that is all. The dog and I just went for a walk and I did some yoga. I am starving but its only 11 am. For some odd reason I feel that is too early to eat lunch.

A true Spring Day

Today, it really feels like spring. It even smells like spring out there. At about 10.30 am I let Basil Bea outside and she promptly started sunbathing on the deck. So I decided that maybe today would be a good day to go on a big walk.

I have been putting off taking Basil Bea for a long walk down the street because of the mess. It was a combination of dust, mud, melting snow, and garbage. Basil was always a dirty, wet mess when we'd get home from the short walks around the block I'd take her on. But, today I figured the snow was mostly gone, the "Spring Clean Up" has been going on for awhile now (do not get me started on how stupid it is the town has to "clean itself up" for the tourists) so I figured it'd be safe.

IT was WONDERFUL out there. The sun was bright, the garbage wasn't too bad and most of the snow along the road is gone and melted away, so Basil Bea remained dry. I totally enjoyed our walk down the road and back.

I have been thinking about buying some toning shoes to talk Basil Bea walking. I really like the idea of the Reebok ones. Maybe tomorrow or this afternoon, I'll venture to get them. I don't know. I haven't decided yet.

In other news, I still have not gotten that stupid piece of paper to reopen the shop. April is almost over. The longer it takes, the less motivated I am to do anything about it. I figured today, I'd tape the living room off and start painting it. It is a huge wall and I haven't touch it since Thursday when Basil showed up doing her impersonation of a balloon.

Spring is here! It snowed!

It snowed last night. And this morning. It is still actually snowing. So I wore a sweater today. I was actually getting rather suspicious of the lack of crazy weather.

I got out the sewing machine, bought material and made something yesterday. It was a minor fail, though I think I have saved it. It turned out too short for the window I was making it for. Oops. Also, I concluded I wanted to see something else on that window. So, today, I'll start again. After I run some errands. In the snow.

I am reading a booked called "Man Walks Into a Room" by Nicole Krauss. It is pretty good so far. Rather interesting concept as well, as the main character has lost all his memories for the past 24 years due to a brain tumor and seemingly has no desire to get them back. Then he seems to go a little nuts after he meets this odd ball doctor.

Well, time to get ready to run those errans and figure out why I can't see with my new contacts in.

A Slow Alaskan Night

Tonight Pilot boy is working, so Basil Bea and I were on our own. Nothing remotely exciting happened and at 10.30 I find myself wide awake and bored. Basil Bea all ready went to bed. So, I opened a Twitter account (@IrelandScott). That only took up maybe ten minutes of my life.

So I turned on iTunes and fired up Doctor Who. A throw back to the winter days when Doctor Who ate my life and that was all I did: watch Doctor Who. It is highly addictive. I blame my mother. She gets me addicted to science fiction shows. First Star Trek: The Next Generation, then Stargate and now Doctor Who. Though, the only one who ate me alive was Doctor Who, but for that I blame the glasses and the suit. Oh, and the hair. I'm a sucker for crazy guy hair.

The weather here is pretty much remained the same since it "got warm." The snow has begun to melt away, revealing layers of compacted snow. It is like looking at rock formations. Layers and layers of varying shades of dirty snow. The whole place has reverted into a dirty, rocky mess. The roads are in varying states of disarray due to the rocks all over the road. Pebbles really, all over the place. Some parking lots are fine, void of pebbles while some are full of pebbles. Others have neither and are just icy sheets of mess. That is how the flat parking lot is. There is still at least five inches of ice on the parking lot. There are holes where one can see the actual parking lot. Pilot Boy and I had a bet on what the parking lot was made out of. Its asphalt. We were both wrong. He thought it was just rocks, while I figured it was paved with concrete.

I am pretty sure Basil Bea's days of snow swimming are numbered. She really sinks through now, except at night when the melting snow freezes. She actually broke through a muddle tonight. Man, that was funny. She was so surprised.