Waiting.Exercising in the driveway.

3 weeks down, 1 to go till Patrick gets home. We miss him. The last 10 days we've had houseguests, which has made the time go by much faster. There are other adults around the house--people to eat dinner with in the evenings and talk about the day. It really has made the time go by faster. Patrick calls from the field every few days and he sounds good. Patrick and Mark have been suffering from some back pain, so they are excited to have the help of Andrew and Ryan, who are taking a plane out to join them tomorrow at the site and help excavate.

NOVEL TRAIN TRACK DESIGNS
Andrew is Catherine's husband (catherine is an archaeologist at the site) and is an astro-physicist. He arrived yesterday and is waiting for a good weather window to heat out to the Archaeology site, In that time, he has created the most incredible Thomas the Train Track creations that I have ever seen.

In about an hours time yesterday, he created a track which used tiers of wooden blocks for supports and it created two large hills for the trains. STuey said, "This is so cool" over and over again.
It has been interesting talking to Andrew about his job-he is an astronomer and professor at Boston University. He studies the smallest types of planets and uses physics to solve the question of how old the planets are. He says he is always having to think outside the box and come up with new equations or new ways of looking at his questions about planets and age. I love hearing about other peoples jobs--and especially one which studies stars and uses large amounts of physics. College level physics just about did me in--and almost prevented me from going on to physical therapy school, so I always have a slight grudge against the equations referring to planets spinning around eachother and gravitational forces, etc... I remember having to answer those questions in my physics class and I'd think "when in the world am I ever going to have to answer these questions again..." Taking those exams and studying physics was one of the hardest academic undertakings I"ve ever gone through. I'm glad its done with and I'm now able to be a physical therapist!

DRIVEWAY FITNESS
This evening the kids were outside going up and down the driveway on their bikes and I was just standing there watching, and occasionally helping Nora. I had to seize the exercise moment to do some squats, plyometrics, and downward dogs in the driveway. I kicked my flip flops off and did a variety of exercises and felt like I got a good workout. Whenever I heard a car comign down the road, I would jump out of whatever I was doing and stand like normal. It actually felt really good to have my bare feet on the earth and made me realize how I should walk around barefoot more often!

DUTCH HARBOR
This past week I found out my office manager, Christina is moving to Dutch Harbor in 2 or so months. Her husband is a state trooper and he is getting transferred there. She (and I) are quite bummed, as she has really gotten into her job at A Balanced APproach and likes Kodiak. The good news is that I don't have to go through another application process, as I asked someone who was interested prior and they would like to take the job. So thats a relief. It will mean another office manager orientation period, but thats ok.
I can't imagine moving to Dutch Harbor. It is WAY out there and at least an $800 trip from Anchorage (and several hour airplane ride with bad weather). Patrick used to say, "if there was one other place in Alaska I'd want to live, it'd be Dutch Harbor." I went to the Visitor website for Dutch Harbor and the pictures are gorgeous. It is absolutely stunning. I suppose if I had my kids and Patrick, all would be well and I would be fine. Makes me appreciate how neither Patrick or I have jobs where we could suddenly get transferred. We're here for the long haul.

Zoya