For anybody who follows me on Facebook, you've probably already seen that I have put in my "official" decision and am planning on heading back to Alaska for the summer. I plan on driving the ALCAN highway northward starting the end of May or very beginning of June. So now I have the semi-daunting task ahead of selling off or donating everything I don't deem necessary to bring along. I'd like to fit my whole life in my car if possible so I can be easily ready for whatever happens next.

I plan on making myself available to help people out with commercial fishing or whatever other tasks are at hand over the summer. If nothing else, I'm sure I'll have a great time being with family and playing with my camera down on the beach. When fall rolls around, after a probable trip to Norway, I'm likely going to be looking for a job in Anchorage area. It's funny. I never thought I wanted to live there, but within the last couple of months I've decided it could be fun for a few years. We'll see what life throws at me though, because as was made very clear by an opportunity in someone else's life this weekend, your whole plan can change in a matter of days.

Getting Ready to Turn the Page

I've been with my job for three years now and as much as I love my organization and the people I work with and for, the stress of field season finally caught up with me last year. There are a lot of factors that play into why it's so hard on me, but I think it's enough to say that if I did it again, I think I would end up miserable. So I'm not going to do it. Why should I subject myself to that? I have no debt and I've only got myself and my doggy (Polka's still kicking!) to worry about. I've submitted my resignation letter and my last day is May 15th (unless I find some awesome job sooner).

At this point I don't really know what I'll do next. I'm leaning toward heading back up to Alaska for the summer (and maybe longer). Hopefully if that ends up happening someone will have a spot on their commercial fishing crew for me. Even if I can't fish, I can't say I'd be disappointed to just hang out with as much family as I can and maybe finally get my chance to spend a summer taking photos instead of doing the dirty work.

Ideally I'd like the next step in my career to be in the direction of working a little more closely with mammals, but I'm willing to do something else interesting in the interim. Maybe I'll find a calling I didn't know I had! If nothing else, I could stand to gain more experience in a lot of areas.

For now I'm content to ride the waves and see where I end up next. At times like these I feel incredibly lucky to have so much family to fall back on and a place that I can always go home to. I try not to be a drain on anybody, but knowing that you have people to stand beside you (and behind you and all around you) when you need time to figure out what's next is indescribably comforting.

That's all for now! Just wanted to give a short update. I'm going to try to get into the habit of using this thing now that I'm not on Facebook as much. I feel like I have much more freedom to ramble on my own blog ;)

Wasting the Weekend

Is that a bad thing? Ha! No.

I'm in the middle of my third CHaMP field season and for the first time, I'm spending a weekend out in La Grande. My Friday afternoon was fairly productive. I got some computer work done... but I only worked an 8-hour day. *GASP* I didn't know what to do with myself the rest of the night, so with the exception of going out to dinner with my friend Mary, I spent the evening lolling around the house, drinking wine, and watching the last season of Merlin on Netflix. Dinner was delicious. Mary and I went to Mamacita's and I had a margarita, manicotti, and white chocolate raspberry cheesecake. I felt like spoiling myself and it was so worth it. Yum!

(Mary gave me her whipped cream. SO MUCH whipped cream = delightful)

So now I'm spending the day with the shades drawn, laptop on lap, and coffee at hand. I don't feel bad for a second. Sure, I could be out riding a bike in the ultra-low 82 F La Grande weather, but why? Where would I go? Right now, adventure is overrated. "Poor attitude!" you say? Let me explain.

In some ways, this field season has been the easiest so far. For the most part, I know what to expect from it. I know that I'll be tired. And I know that I won't want to do things on the weekend, but if I want to get anything done, I just gotta do it. If I don't make an effort to get out and about, I will become a sad recluse. It's been good though. I've been chugging along, not letting things get me down, working hard, and playing too. It's nice to have some semblance of a life outside of work, but partly because of this, it's also been one of the most exhausting field seasons I've had. Instead of being rested up and raring to go after the weekends, I've been more drained. Also, with each season out here I pick up more responsibility (which is a good thing) and with it more stress (not so good). We've had more small problems out here than I've experienced the last two seasons, so things have just been compounding. Don't get me wrong, I love being in the field. It's such a welcome break from a winter in the office (and I have a great tan going on). I just get tired, like any normal person would. End of story.

So here I am having a perfectly lazy weekend at the field house. I stayed in bed until almost 10 am. I don't have to take the dog out at 7 am. I'm not worrying about trimming the trees and watering my tomatoes (though I am curious whether or not they're surviving). I'm not feeling guilty about not getting the carpet shampooed. I don't have to run around tomorrow getting my laundry and groceries in order for the week. As much as I would have liked to go on an adventure out here and see more of the Upper Grande Ronde basin, I'm feeling like staying the weekend out here is the best thing I could have done for my energy levels. All I have is a bicycle and my own two feet. I could rent a car, but I think I'll just see how far those take me if I feel like getting out. Cheers to the weekend!

(Chilling beer with science: water + ice + salt)

Spring!

Though... it's still not feeling much like it. Flowers are blooming, bees are buzzing, birds are singing, and Portlanders are bundling up to head out for work in the mornings. Good thing I'm not a Portlander ;) It has been a little bit chilly still though. And apparently we're having record rainfalls? I could be exaggerating, but the radio keeps saying that the Alpenrose Dairy has had to cancel it's annual Easter egg hunt due to it.

Life is pretty usual right now. I'm still sitting at a desk for most of the spring, though I just found out yesterday that I'm going to get to do a little bit of sea lion chasing this spring! I'll be helping out twice a week for about a month. It'll be good to get back out on the water and I'm really looking forward to getting back out in the sunny streams of eastern Oregon this summer.

Chelsea and I are still doing CrossFit and even though I haven't noticed huge changes in my physique yet, I am getting better at a lot of the exercises (I even deadlifted 225 lbs. one night!), so it feels like progress to me! I've also been trying the Paleolithic/primal diet for Lent and am having a fun time noting differences in the way I feel and how different foods affect me. But now Lent is almost up, so I have to decide where I'm going to go with it. I'm definitely planning a "cheat" or two after Easter (the Waffle Window, anyone?).

Speaking of Lent, I'm also singing with Joyful Noise (not to be confused with the St. Clare Choir... or the recent Dolly Parton movie) and we've been putting in a lot of time this season with practice. I'm pretty excited to sing "Oh Happy Day" on Easter. It'll be a great way to finish the season and I think all of our voices are looking forward to the break we've been given the following Sunday. As much of a challenge as it's been to be forced to learn how to sing harmonies (as an alto) and MANY new songs, it's been pretty fun singing with this group. As I get more comfortable there, I'm doing slightly more - hopping in with the sopranos when the alto section is very large and just feeling freer to be my usual goofy self. Folks are definitely starting to.... appreciate me more.

That's pretty much the sum of my activities. Mak and I moved into a different rental about a month ago and are very happy to have a house to ourselves. Polka's just as silly as ever and I think she's enjoying having slightly more freedom. I intend to put up a small enclosure for her, so that I can leave her outside for longer periods without worrying about her. I have some raised bed garden boxes that I need to get to work on. I've done a lot of weeding already, but now I need to get the soil turned over and figure out what I want to plant! I've got plenty of projects I can work on if I ever make the time for them :)

I've also been neglecting my photo site, so I need to get working on that. Maybe as part of my next life renovation I'll also finally get myself to take a photography class or force myself to go on at least a monthly photo safari. Gotta start making use of my tools!

Wasting Time

As usual, huh?

http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=15858

I have to admit, upon looking at all the other blogs I follow, I'm pleased to see that hardly anybody else has posted for months. At least I'm not the only one who's horrible at blogging. It's been nearly ten months since I wrote... and I could do some catching up... but I don't know that it would be worth it. Okay, fine, quick recap:

After hazing sea lions, I was moved to the habitat project in June. I spent most of July through September going out to La Grande, OR (Mon-Fri in La Grande and back to Portland on the weekends) to do habitat surveys under the Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program (CHaMP). We spent our long workdays wading in streams, collecting rocks, surveying the stream channels, and trying to avoid hawthorns (I've got some scars to prove I didn't do a very good job of that) among many other things. Back at the field house we took care of equipment, did computer work, and cooked meals together. On Thursdays we'd often get together with friends from ODFW, who were also working with CHaMP, and have a few beers. I miss our summer barbecues.

My fall was spent mostly in Portland. A lot of my time at the office was spent drying, sorting, and weighing rocks that we collected from the streams we worked in. I also helped prepare a few things for the CHaMP workshop that happened at the beginning of December. My temporary position was extended through January, but in December I was placed in a permanent position with the habitat project. I'm now the crew leader (basically lead fish tech) and am very happy to have all my benefits getting lined up. I made a few trips to La Grande to visit people and spent Thanksgiving in Sequim with Jenny and her family.

For Christmas and New Year's I got to go home to Naknek, which was a very nice treat. I didn't end up doing a lot while I was there - the weather was a little bitter and I seemed to lack any motivation to get out whatsoever. It was really good to spend time with family though... and also the Wii. Our New Year's bonfire set a new record this year with 351 pallets, though I can't say that I helped much except to be the photographer. It was -27.6 F that morning and after my "I'm helping the guys build" beer started turning to slush, I decided it was time to go inside.

Now I'm back in Portland settling back into the winter season at work. I'm on the computer a lot and need breaks from staring at spreadsheets, so here I am. I went to my first Winterhawks hockey game for my birthday - very fun! I'm singing with Joyful Noise (the choir for one of the masses at my church) and have been since summer. My friend Chelsea and I have just completed our third week of CrossFit, so we're hoping to start seeing some results soon. Give us a month or two and we'll really be getting into shape. Right now I'm just sore most of the time.

Well now I'm thinking it was really good that I decided to do a recap of my year, because I really don't know what else I would have talked about. I haven't been doing much cooking, I haven't been on any recent photo safaris.... but I've been spending a lot of time keeping myself entertained on Pinterest. That site is awesome! Hopefully I'll be motivated to do more as spring comes on, but I'm not holding my breath.

SmugMug, Strawberries and Sea Lions

I have a lot of things running through my head with all the road and boat time I'm putting in these days, so bear with me.

First and foremost, I've made a small start at a photo-selling type of website! You can find that at <http://floundergirlphotography.smugmug.com/> I'm still trying to make the time to go through a bunch of photos and get them uploaded. I think I've decided that I'm going to stick with this site (I still have 11 days on my free trial), I just need to wait until I get paid to actually pay for sticking with it :) I think it's going to be a very fun resource for me and I don't expect that I'll be selling a lot of photos, but it'll be fun to be able to share with people anyway. I have yet to figure out the actually marketing function of the site, but I think that may have to wait until I'm an actual "subscriber" or whatever that makes me.

The "strawberries" part of this post is mostly just me yearning for fruits to do things with (it must be spring!). I think Puk has some figs in the freezer that I want to try to make jam with. I have blackberries in Andrew's freezer that we intended to try making wine with, but we'll see if that happens. Also, there was a fellow on the corner by my church yesterday selling flats of strawberries for twelve dollars. I'm thinking about buying one and freezing some for various uses and also making jam. I want jam! I'm not going to be able to handle not canning things this summer :P I also want to hit up a farmers market soon and see if I can get  my hands on any rhubarb. SPRING!

Our sea lion "friends" are still around Bonneville Dam, but my job description has developed a little bit more. Now, not only are we observing tagging and branding, hazing them down the river, and watching for fish kills, but we're also working with acoustic receivers. This just means that we're putting a piece of equipment out with and anchor, plenty of rope, a bouy, and crab floats to keep track of the sea lions that have been tagged. When a sea lion swims near one of the receivers, the identification number and time are recorded. So we're responsible for downloading this data every week. Yesterday we downloaded the data for the dozen (actually only eleven, one has disappeared) by Bonneville Dam and today we went down to "the estuary" to download data from the 15 or so we put out there. Our estuary days end up being long ones (I put in about 12 hours today). It's fun getting to go to the coast and be on "big water," though, so I really can't complain much (except for the soreness in my shoulders and back).

I could probably think of more things to share if I really wanted to, but I think I'll let you all be for now. I had a girl-friend comment recently that I write long posts. I already knew that :D

Oh, one last comment that I forgot. Within the last week or so, I've gotten a couple encouraging comments on the old blog that I wrote while on Svalbard (http://floundergirl07.livejournal.com/). I didn't expect at all for that to suddenly materialize again, but I'm really grateful to my mystery fans, because sometimes I feel like I'm just typing for myself (which isn't such a bad thing) or that maybe I'm the only one that's really enthralled by my thoughts and musings :P It's nice to know that my ramblings are somehow appreciated (by more than my patronizing family and friends).

Staying Fishy

So, try as I might, I don't seem to be able to get away from the fishing industry! It's not so bad where I'm at right now though (at least it's not ADF&G in King Salmon.... I don't think I could handle that sort of pressure) I recently started a job for a tribal fisheries place in Portland and it's a really fun atmosphere to work in. There's a lot of really neat people. Currently I don't see a lot of them because I'm out below a dam on the Columbia river hazing sea lions all day :P I know everybody's jealous of my amazing job. This should last until about mid May, then I'll be switched over to another project (I'm supposed to be employed for 8 months), thought I'm not completely sure what that will be yet. I'll keep you updated.

So now that I have job security for a while, Makenzie and I have renewed the lease on our apartment for 9 months, so we're set here until December! It's going to be very strange not being home for summer, but I'm glad on some level that I've actually got something going on with my life and that I don't have to feel like I'm running home with my tail between my legs after a failed attempt at "making it" in the big world. Not that I would have let that be the end of my attempts, but I just would have had to build up resources for another one.

I have yet to get my first pay check, but I have all sorts of plans and ideas for when payment actually starts to happen. One of my ideas is to get a portfolio of some of my best photos going. Mostly this is just for fun, but people have also mentioned maybe trying to get a show or put them in a gallery of sorts. I don't know if that will ever actually happen, but it's a fun idea. Also, I want to get some postcards printed to maybe have sold at Fishtival or something like that. I think maybe I'll got with something between top 4-8 favorites for actually printing, then I was also thinking about getting one of those little photo books with the rest of the photos I'd like to make available for prints and postcards and maybe come up with some sort of ordering system. Big dreams, I know, but I think it could work. Mostly I want to do this for my Bristol Bay photos, because I feel like maybe it'd be a fresh take on life there.... at least as far as what shows up in print.

Also, one of my co-workers today asked if we eat fried bread in Alaska. He definitely got my taste buds hankering for some home foods, so I may have to figure out a way to make myself an Alaskan feast sometime soon.

With that, I'll be off! I'm not even sure that anybody checks my blog anymore since I'm horrible at being a blogger. So, to the resilient few, thanks for your patience!

Maybe I should become a food blogger...

Recently, I've noticed that I look at a lot of recipes. A friend shared a link to a cooking blog on Facebook and I spent several days looking, almost obsessively, through all the recipes it had to offer (<http://smittenkitchen.com/>). I found a lot of really good sounding recipes and the lady that writes the site is the sort of person you love to read (lots of character).

I've also noticed that, since I don't have a job and don't have a lot else going on, a lot of my posts and pictures on Facebook are about food. Before the holidays, I really wasn't doing a lot of cooking for Makenzie and I, but recently that habit seems to have changed. I guess now is a good time to explore different things in the kitchen and I love having somebody else to cook for (even if I don't have a lot to spend on ingredients). Makenzie is a bit undiscriminating as far as the things I cook (everything is good), but I appreciate the fact that she actually eats it (I try to avoid the things she dislikes of course).

I'm having fun sharing my creations with people online and I think eventually it could be something fun to base a blog around (sure, there are a ton of food bloggers already, but it would be more for my own benefit and not so much because I expect people to read it). Now that I have this idea, I'll probably start taking pictures of the more random things I make. I'm a bit sad now that I didn't take a picture of it, but early in the week I made a pizza on sourdough crust with pesto, chicken, leftover yams, asparagus, blue brie, and Colby-jack cheese. It sounds (and looked) kind of weird, but all of the flavors really meshed well together and I would definitely do it again (though I think I'd like to have the time to make my favorite wheat crust instead).

So in the end I guess this is just me getting all of my random thoughts on a page and if you care to follow me into this world of experimental cooking, that's great, but if not, I don't blame you. I can't promise steady posting (I've tried never to promise it before), but I will TRY to share anything food-related here that I've shared on Facebook. This isn't turning into a food blog quite yet, there will probably be other randomness, but it's the best ploy I have so far for becoming a better blogger. Look out, world!

Changes in Life

Wow, so it's been a very long time since I wrote!

I'm now living in Portland with a new friend and roomie, Makenzie. I also have my Polka-dog here with me and am enjoying her company. I've been spending most of my days on the couch job-hunting, but have also been enjoying time with family (Damian and Jenny) and friends (Andrew mostly). I had an interview at a doggie daycare last week on Tuesday and am hoping to hear back soon as to whether I'm getting the position or not (I'm REALLY hoping I do). Money is getting a little tight, but I feel like fate has brought me here, so I'm still hopeful.

I don't really know what else life has in store for me right now. I'm just waiting to see what my (hopefully) future job has in store before I start making other plans. Back up plan? Sell my car and buy a ticket home! Hope everyone else is doing well and I'll try to keep things up-to-date a little bit more.... like... at least every 2 months instead of half a year :P *hugs*

I came, I saw, I conquered

The Kokhanok carnival  that is. I just got back home this last weekend after spending a little over 3 weeks in Kokhanok. I really didn't have a lot drawing me back down here, so I just hung out, made a lot of bread, and helped with chickens, horses, and children. It was pretty fun. I really enjoyed my time at carnival - especially dancing lots :) I guess I didn't really do a lot else other than go to breakfasts :P

The big adventure in being home now is that I've gone to a bigger town, but a more primitive living situation. Funny, huh? Well, apparently the pipes weren't getting quite enough use with just dad home, so the theory is that something froze and water started backing up into the downstairs. Great, huh? We're still not sure how long it'll take to thaw, but it seems that the blockage at least is being pushed farther down the pipe everyday - as counted by buckets of water Dad's able to pour down the toilet before it stops going down. Until then, we're not allowed to flush the toilet often or take showers at home. Dad has the luxury of a steambath every other night with the guys, but I get the pleasure of bumming showers at Bill and Diane's house. Much love!

Now I'm just looking to planning my travels for the wedding etc. and thinking about my plans for the fall. Should be a fun spring/ summer from here on out! Now we just need to get this snow to clear off so Dad can make it to Kokhanok and work on the boat!