Springtime

It must be spring!   Look at all of the cleaning that has been done -  Ben really did a nice job cleaning a little while ago, even sucking out the dead flies from the ceiling lights! (sorry, Dad, no windows were cleaned – I think we need you for that chore!)

In addition to the cleaning, Ben launched his boat this month!  She’s yet without a name, but she’s beautiful and we were able to sneak over yesterday in lovely weather to Glacier Spit with Mike, Josiah, Bo, Lia, and the dogs.  Here are some pictures from the launch and yesterday’s trip:

Backing her down the launch ramp.  Ben’s still in need of a real trailer, but this one managed to make it from the sawmill to the harbor without a hitch! (no pun intended…).  Jeff’s driving, Mikey’s on the tailgate, Ben has the line, and Steve & Susie (Ben’s parents) are looking on.

Champagne passed to the captain and poured over the bow (who knew a bottle of champagne would fit so nicely in the drink holder by the steering column?)

Checking the engines,

     

Engines Checked! Success!

Bo and Lia, hanging out on the bow as we headed towards Glacier Spit yesterday afternoon…a beautiful day on a smoooooth boat ride over. 

  

There was dog snuggling, hiking through snow to the lake (for all but Mikey who brought his sleeping bag and some book), and roasting dogs and making s’mores over a fire.  A lovely evening.

   

And back on the home-front, it’s break up season!  Meaning, mostly, that our driveway is variably drive-able.  Here’s Mike’s Subaru, Ben’s Subaru, and my Subaru lined up at the base of the drive.  Ahhhh, Spring – I love it.

In Transit.

I’m always intending to update my blog – really, the intention is there!  But you know what they say about good intentions and a road to hell… Thankfully I trust that ya’ll can understand that when a girl spends as much time in front of a computer for work as I do, she tries to avoid too much computer-time when out of the office.  So now here I am, a captive audience in the Anchorage airport at 11:49pm, in transit to Outside.  (Outside = anywhere not in Alaska)(yeah, weird, huh?)  First stop is Denver, CO where I’ll be attending and participating in the 7th annual National Water Quality Monitoring Conference.  I love conferences, I really do.  It’s good for the soul and the brain to get outside of your world and be reminded that other people do your kind of work, too!  And they have new and different ideas!  It generally is an invigorating experience.  On Thursday afternoon I’ll fly from Denver to Boston – WOOHOOO!  I’m terribly excited about this, as I can’t wait to see: my mom, grandparents, aunt, uncle, cousins, dad, donna, deb, justine, katie, alexa?, aaron?, amanda?, sally?, tom?  oak trees, fenway and the red sox, maine, the pioneer valley, the atlantic ocean, buildings built before 1750, bueno y sano, breaking new grounds, I-95 – I know, it’s ridiculous.  What can I say but I suffer from a deep nostalgia surrounding most periods of my life, my growing-up is no exception, highways and all.. it’s a whirlwind trip that will no doubt leave me wanting more.  Like NYC – I cannot believe I’m heading to the east coast and I’m missing New York and the good beautiful people there.  Next time, next time.