Yet More Snow

Yup - we got more snow last night and I love it! Kind of weird because we got around 6 to 7 inches at our house but downtown got half that much and the airport only got around an inch overnight. I think our end of town got a blast of 'ocean effect' snow. It made for good powder skiing on the mountain. Patrick

It's White Out

This is what it was like on Pyramid around noon. When you ski in this stuff you tend to gravitate to anything dark. Your mind thinks, 'look I can see something - let's go there'. Basically you are in a world that is all white and has no bottom - except occasionally when you hit a bump or drop off of a lip. Up higher there were no dark objects at all and it was very disorienting. Patrick

April Powder

I'm in Heaven and probably everybody hates me for it, but I'm loving this freak snowstorm. Another 1/2 a foot - woo hoo. Today I went up Pyramid and went downhill skiing. I skiied up to the top and met Lisa and Gregg on my way down. Up high it was a total whiteout and I had to use my altimeter and compass just to find the way down. Sort of weird going blind and not knowing quite when you'd fall into a hole. It's even weirder when you ski by the viewfinder of your digital camera. That's what I did when I shot Gregg for this video. The quality is a bit jumpy because I shot the video at 15 rather than 30 frames per second. Also it was snowing pretty hard. ... .. Patrick

Goings on Around Here - and more snow

ISLAND TRAILS NETWORK TALK
Lots happening this weekend in Kodiak. Last night Patrick gave a presentation as part of the Island Trails Network adventure night. Patrick presented on his trip to the South end of the Island several years ago with 'Ricky' where they encountered lots of bears. It was fun to hear him present on it--and hear the whole story from start to finish.
Last year when he presented at the ITN meeting, I didn't go because I had heard the "rough draft" several times the week before. This time, he didn't practice with me around, so it was all new at the talk! I was so proud of him--with the energy and enthusiasm he has about his trips. His curiosity about the land and the world really is contagious--and I imagine it will be passed on to our kids. It is definitely contagious to me. I love learning from him. He has so much excitement and desire to know more how and why things happen in nature. I love it.

Sharon W. presented on a glacier exploration trip and Philip T. presented on his kayak trip from Homer to Seward. All amazing adventures. I can't imagine hiking up a glacier, crossing crevasses nor can I imagine spending 6 weeks in a kayak. Its fun to see more about these amazing trips people do.

MELISSA & FISHER!!
Melissa D. is in town from California for two weeks, so we have enjoyed catching up. She is staying next door and I enjoy our coffee hour in the morning when she walks over in her pajamas. Melissa left Kodiak 1 year ago, and is engaged to be married this August in California.

T & R
Thomas and Rose K. have been in town with us for a week-and today Thomas took off for his fish and game job. He'll be back in a few weeks before leaving for his summer post in the field. Rose will be here in town until she leaves with Patrick and the archaeology crew for digs.

SNOW. STILL.
BIG snowflakes fall as I write this--winter hangs on. Its so wild. There is so much snow on the ground and it continues to snow--I believe there was one day this past week where spring was in the air. The temperatures got into the low 40's and I had small hopes for some signs of spring. At least its not raining!! The snow keeps things bright.

Zoya

Public Lecture Tonight!

The Island Trail Network is having a Membership Drive/Fundraiser tonight at the High School Common, and I am on as a public speaker. I'll be talking about a float trip I did down the Sturgeon River with my brother back in 2004. Needless to say, but we ran into a LOT of bears. Other talks include a glacier travel ski trip on the Alaska Peninsula and a Prince William Sound kayak trip. There will also be a silent auction. It ought to be fun, and you get free big Al's pizza with your yearly membership. The price of admission is signing up for or renewing your membership to ITN. So see you at 6 PM at the High School Commons. Patrick

Power Post

I love eating at the Powerhouse. The food is great and the views of the channel like nothing you could ever get in the lower 48. Where else can you sit and watch sea lions cavorting while you eat sashimi? And inevitably there is an eagle on the fence looking in at you - checking out the human world from outside. I wonder if he/she is interested in us or just our food? Patrick

Walks down the road

As of late, we go on lots of family walks. I love the simplicity of these walks. Walking right out the door, down the dirt road and to the stack of bouys which are in the yard in a neighbors house. Something about walking slowly with the kids is such a wonderful reminder of what the true pace of life should be. Slow and reflective. In today's fast paced world, its easy to lose sight of that. Our culture tends to value speed, efficiency and results. Walks with the kids are always full of questions, laughter, splashes into the puddle and almost always have a cry or two thrown in (mommy, pick me up !!). Good times on Cliffside road.

Zoya

MJ came over during the weekend and we made white chocolate blondie bars--yum!!! We forgot the sugar and they still turned out well!
Photos from walks down the road.

Beautiful Buskin Lake

Today we snuck out for an hour ski at Buskin Lake. There wasn't an iota of breeze in the air, the snow was crisp and fast and the company was perfect. We met up with Jeremy Larson who had just arrived and skiied for a bit with him before we broke off and made our way on our skate skis. He had his dog Belle with him, who would scamper back and forth between us and Jeremy. Her bounds of excitement were so fun to watch. Made me remember how fun it is skiing with dogs.

I regret I haven't skiied more this past winter, but yet am glad I have skiied as much as I have. Since it has been so long since I've skate skiied, it was a bit painful and tiring to get back into the skate ski rhythm. It is a whole different use of muscle groups. Patrick took a few short videos of me skiing so I could practice my "gait analysis" skills and when we got back I quickly looked at them. It was too painful to watch--I was HORRIFIED by my form. Lets just say, there lots of room for improvement!

Zoya

Loving Life

I can not complain – snow-wise it has been a good winter and GREAT spring. We have lot of snow. Today when I went skiing up the upper Buskin I experienced powder conditions. That rarely happens in April. We have about a foot of snow at our house and I gather there is over 4 feet of snow on the ground at sea level over at Anton Larsen Bay. Wow! It seems more like early March than early April. I intend to enjoy it while it lasts.

Photos: Top - deep snow on the upper Buskin River. Middle - the canyon from the bottom up. Bottom - intrepid cross country skiers and their dogs cross Buskin Lake.

Energized Day!

Phew! My illness has quickly passed-THANK HEAVENS-and today my energy was back in full force. Wow-did I ever have energy!! It was almost as if I was making up for the lost time from my two sick days. I buzzed around from client to task with so much energy today. At lunch I enjoyed an impromptu meal with my friend Mary at Monks Rock. I had ordered a homemade veggie burger to go (DELICIOUS-BTW) but with her there, it made so much sense to sit and catch up (as opposed to doing my beloved paperwork)--talk about birthing, kids, etc. She is bringing in a midwife from Cordova to deliver her baby this next week-very cool. The midwife from Cordova also works as a fisherwoman. Mary extended the offer for me to meet her sometime this weekend--which would be awesome. She seems to enjoy coming to Kodiak for home births.

Monks rock definitely seems like the latest and greatest happenin' lunch spot. Pizza, calzones, sandwhichs. Amazing lattes. The latte I had there was fabulous-served in a glass mug (LOVE those!!) so you could see all the wonderful foaminess of the milk. (Hmmm...now that I think of it, perhaps my energy has more to do with latte and less to do with my illness recovery....)

And late afternoon I picked the kids up at Sarahs, which is always fun. They run to the door saying "Mommmy, Mommy".

To finish a great day off, I started leading the next childbirth preparation series tonight. I am so blessed with a wonderful group of moms and birth partners. What a fun time it is-to share, discuss and help the couples find answers to some of the questions they may have about birth.

The top photo is of Nora and her recent stick figure drawing of our family. I believe this is her first stick figure drawing representing all of us. Its fun to see her little squiggles and lines taking shape!! :) Magna Doodles are the best.

Zoya

April Fools

Oh well, we tried. This morning's post was our lame attempt at an April Fools joke. Yesterday, Zoya was sick and NOT in Anchorage. The photo we posted this morning was from the live cam at the AVO website and doctored in Photoshop. I basically threw a plane wing (from a 1960s slide I recently scanned) onto the picture. It looked so Sci Fi and fake that Zoya and I thought everybody would know it was a joke.

Problem is - the post was too believable for a good April Fools joke. Everybody who've I've talked to so far who read it also believed it. And worst of all, when I got to work a fellow employee who had just returned from vacation had taken a picture of the volcano from her airplane window. A photo remarkably like the one we posted this morning and coincidentally taken at the same time (both around 4PM). Her plane actually did fly a big detour to the windward of the volcano. So our joke post really was real life.

Zoya and I find it funny that Alaskans have become so blase about the erupting volcano that they just accepted our post as the truth. In Alaska commercial airliners really do fly around erupting volcanos.

Anyhow, here are 2 more photos from the AVO web cam of Redoubt volcano at dawn yesterday. Again I doctored them big time in Photoshop. The originals are pretty grainy and dark, but check out the website (see earlier post from March for web address). It is pretty cool to see a volcano erupting live. Patrick

Redoubt Just Steaming

Check out this photo that Zoya took of the volcano on her flight back from Anchorage. When she showed it to me I was amazed that commercial planes are allowed to fly so close to the volcano. But Zoya tells me the pilot assured them that what they see coming out of the volcano is mostly steam and not ash. The planes don't fly after a major ash eruption because the ash damages the plane turbines, but steam is fine. The pilot also informed the passengers that just to be totally on the safe side they fly upwind of the volcano. So I gather all the planes to Kodiak have been flying a huge detour to the West over the Alaska Peninsula to fly around upwind of the volcano. The detour also means cool pictures! Patrick

Home Sick

Yesterday and today I've been home sick--gradually feeling better and hope to return to work tomorrow. I'll see how I feel in the AM. This morning the kids went to Ms. Sara's and I laid on the couch and watched "Ave Ventura-Pet Detective". Oh my gosh! What a funny movie. I needed a few cheap laughs and that was the ticket. I was so glad it was on our shelf. Jim Carrey is something else in that movie.

Patrick came home at lunch and said, "isn't it nice to just be able to lay on the couch and not do anything?". Well, not really. I love my work and really dislike being ill. It puts a cramp in my style. The concept of "laying around" is a nice one, but not for me. I discovered that after weeks of bedrest when pregnant with Nora. It was ok for 1 day. Then it quickly got old.

Being sick is no fun.

Zoya

Bye, Bye Crib

Stuey is officially done with his crib. Last night Dustin and Shannon came and took it away--now Nora sleeps on a twin mattress on the floor and Stuey is in Nora's toddler bed. Tonight's bedtime routine went better than last night-both kids were asleep by 8:15. I think the fact that we took them on a LONG walk helped the tired factor this evening!

It was bittersweet watching the crib get dismantled and moved out. Tears came to my eyes.

The crib was one of the last "baby" type of pieces of furniture we had! Travelling will be easier now, without a crib, as we can put kids down on the floor, mattress, etc. I think more importantly, getting rid of the crib signifies the end of an era. An end of the baby/crib era-one full of sleepless nights, trying to set a sleeping baby down in the crib, etc. In some ways I felt relieved, as if to say, "we survived!! the crib is gone!". As if we found out we passed the test of babyhood parenting and got an A or a B grade. And the prize is to get rid of the crib. Here comes the toddler era! So far, so good! Now about them diapers....

Zoya

Zoya spends the weekend home afterall

Chalk me up as someone who is happy about Redoubt's recent activity. On Thursday Zoya was supposed to go over to Anchorage for some training and not come back until Sunday. But the class got cancelled when the volcano erupted because the instructor could not make it up from Seattle to teach the class. Zoya could not leave the island either. So we got Zoya for the whole weekend. And my daycare issues got a lot less onerous. Thank you Redoubt Volcano!

Today we went for a classic cross country ski across Buskin Lake and up the river. Fresh snow from last night that was surprisingly deep. It mostly rained at our house but at the Buskin there was 4 to 5 inches of new snow. On the way home we made it a date and had brunch at Mill Bay Coffee. Eggs Benedict, Zoya and me - and no kids. Heaven.

The other photo is one Zoya took of the sunrise yesterday morning. Patrick

More crust cruising

Today was my first day on skis since the big snow storm. And what a difference - we got a lot of snow now! All the salmonberries are covered and the ditches filled in with snow. I can ski anywhere. The only problem is that the crust is really bumpy. The rain at the end of the storm created melt runnels and lots of little dimples. Today whenever I hit top speed it took a lot of effort to stay in control. But the rain also created the crust that allows me to skate ski on top - so who am I to complain?

Photos: Top photo is of Pyramid mountain above the big ravine that is the headwaters of the Buskin River. I often see mountain goats in this ravine - but none today. Bottom photo is a view back to where I started my ski - I parked the car on the other side of Buskin Lake which is visible in the distance on the right side of this photo. Patrick

Thoughts on husbands in the labor/birth room

Many people are very passionate about the topic of men in delivery rooms. This became apparently evident as Patrick and I made plans for Noras birth. I decided to be surrounded by female friends and a doula. Patrick's presence was welcomed at the very end for Nora's birth. He and I were in complete agreement with this plan and it worked fabulously for us.

This said, well intentioned people would reply, "You should make Patrick be in there with you. He should see what labor is like. Don't you want him to be the one comforting you?"

Patrick is not a hospital person, nor is he big on or seeing me in that amount of pain AND knowing how to appropriately respond to it. So I knew that the delivery room would not be his forte.

With Stuey we had a similar arrangement-I had several friends there with me and this time Patrick was in Fort Abercrombie with Nora as I gave birth to Stuey. And I was equally as happy with this arrangement. In fact, during labor I loved imagining the walk through the park that Patrick and Nora were taking together.

I recently have done a lot of reading on the matter of men in the delivery room. There are virtually no cultures around the world (until the recent 100-200 years--us and England) where men are a key part of birth. Birth has traditionally been a womans job. A woman goes into labor surrounded by a midwife, friends, sisters, etc... while the man tends to the fields, keeps the fire warm in the fireplace and sees that the house is taken care of. Or they would be out hunting, and getting food for the family. The men were not a part of birth.

More recently in our culture there has been a strong push to have men in the delivery room-especially since the 1960's. What are the advantages and disadvantages to this arrangement?

Advantages of having men in the delivery room:
-Improved bonding with the mom during labor/birth
-Bonding time with baby during labor and after birth
-Husband is able to read his wife and her needs/wants/desire. May be able to provide a comforting touch or word unique to that relationship.
-sense of accomplishment after its over "we did it honey!!"
-They have greater empathy for what the wife went through to give birth to a baby.


Disadvantages of having men in the delivery room:
-potential for disappointment--not being able to do enough for the mom--or feel understanding enough of her pain.
-Some men may have adrenaline in their system-which may be evident to their wife in labor. Adrenaline tends to be a contagious hormone, and this can be passed on to the woman, which can actually stall labor. During labor, women need to be in their primal mode, where they are in their own "zone" and can go through the contractions with little interruption. Adrenaline is a hormone which is typically present AFTER the baby has been born. This hormone is not particularly needed during labor and it has the potential to slow birth down. Adrenaline is associated with action and excitement, which is not a primary hormone for the laboring mom.
-Some men may not be able to provide the nurturing touch a woman needs during labor. Many women remark wanting "a motherly figure" to help them through the contractions. Someone confident with the process and re-assuring. Many men ( especially first timers) may not be comfortable expressing such confidence about the progress of the labor.

I believe some men are "thrown" into the role of caregiver during labor. It is almost the FRIENDS TV show pop culture syndrome..."You did this to me, so you'd better be in there when I push this baby out!!!!!" I can just hear Courtney Cox in an episode of FRIENDS saying that now. Almost like its cool to "torture" our husbands with childbirth so he gets what he deserves. Hmmm.....
theres a lot wrong with that philosophy.

The husband can feel like a deer in headlights.
Birth is a completely foreign scene for some men. To see their wife in that much pain and not be able to take it away?

What we know about birth is that the woman needs to be in the primal mode and do not need to be asked after every contraction, "does that hurt, honey? Are you ok, honey?". Talking and questions draw the woman out of the primal cortex of her brain and more into the neo-cortex--where more reasoning is done. Birthing is an instinctual, primal activity.

Thats where a midwife, doula, sister or friend who is experienced with birth can make such a difference. She can provide comfort measures which are indicated without excessive questioning, reasoning, etc.

There are many men who are absolutely amazing in the delivery room and are able to provide just the right comfort and touch. The care they are able to offer their partners is wonderful-and without nervous, concerned energy.

And there are other men who may not feel as comfortable being the primary caregiver for their wife and will tend to be more nervous/anxious. For the men in this category, I believe it is best for the woman to be surrounded by female friends and to have her husband come in either right during birth, or right after for the post-birth time to welcome the baby.

The point is that whether the man is in the delivery room or not is NOT an indicator of what kind of father they are, or will be. What determines how good a father is seems to be dependent on their help with the mom, household duties and baby help as the little one gets older. THere are so many ways in which the partner can help with the household tasks and with the moms recovery from delivery (cooking, shopping, errands, etc...). These tasks performed over the months post -partum would appear to be a much larger indicator of paternal involvement than whether or not he was in the delivery room.

Another aspect of this dilemma is that many women in todays society live far away from sisters, mothers, close aunts, etc.. So women ask only their husbands to come to the labor/birth room. That is where a doula, or professional labor support person, can be of great help. This is a female who is skilled in the art of supporting a laboring mom-being with her, encouraging her and supporting her.

This birth support person will only ENHANCE the birth experience for the mom and birth partner. Many couples may think, "oh, I don't want to have someone else in there because it could take away from the experience with my husband." Well, the reality is that the professional birth support will make the experience better for the husband by taking some of the pressure off. What if the husband is doing a technique to help the mom and it stops working? And the husband forgets everything they learned in class? And the nurse is busy?
Thats where a birth support person can confidently guide the couple in finding techniques to help with soothing the mom during contractions. Its a win-win situation.

The take home message is that men should not be judged on whether or not they are in the delivery room. Women and men should have the necessary support in the birth room, which could come in the form of sisters, friends or a doula. Birth is a natural, normal process to be celebrated by all.

Zoya

Photos:
-Patrick, Stuey and I after Stuey's birth
-MJ looks on as I have a contraction during Stuey's labor
-Marias, Alexis and I in the hallway before Stuey is born. We went back into the room and he was born about 10 minutes later!
-Nora hanging out for a few minutes before I was induced to have Stuey!
-Marias, Alexis and MJ support me during labor. MJ puts a cold washcloth on my forehead.
Katie took all these memorable photos and she was a wonderful support as well as Lisa M.!!

Ski Resort Kodiak?

All this snow and it is snowing again. It's like living at a ski resort. Heaven on earth, and this from a guy who shoveled a 50 yard long driveway. I'll do it again tomorrow - please just keep snowing!

Photos are of the kids digging snow caves and making snow angels with Zoya and Hanna.

Now let's hope it does not rain too hard tomorrow. ... ...

At least it's not volcanic ash

Wow! There is a lot of snow out there. I gather the storm total was 20 inches. Kodiak is totally shut down. After I shoveled the driveway Zoya did go to work, but the parking lot at work was not plowed - so with no place to park she came home. All the main arteries in town are plowed one and half lanes wide. The road maintenance guys got their hands full - 20 inches of snow and 50 MPH winds have created havoc. No more driving for us today. We owe the plow-men cookies for this one. Photos for this post need no explanation. Patrick

Super Husband Award

Patrick deserves the SUPER HUSBAND OF THE DAY award.
He has been outside for over an hour shoveling our driveway. Bless his heart. He is super husband. He stops very occasionally to take a few seconds of break here and there then returns to shoveling. The guy across the street has a plow on his truck and was clearing his driveway as well-but Patrick is doing it all by hand. WOW.

Zoya

Nora took the photo of Patrick last night with the camera. She really enjoyed running around the house taking photos!
(However, she took a most unflattering photo of my back side which I immediately deleted.)

Buried in Kodiak

My word-we had an amazing blizzard yesterday. More than a foot of snow fell-most of it in the late afternoon and evening (out at the airport 13 inches of snow fell and the wind got up to 50 m.p.h.). There are HUGE snowdrifts around our house-I think snow caves are in our future with the kids today! As one friend put it very eloquently, "it feels like its January, not the end of March!"

When I returned home from work, I discovered Hannah making a snow man with the kids. Stuey and Nora were way into it! They used ritz crackers for the eyes-which the dogs gobbled up later. It was the first real, true snowman of the winter! Now he's buried. More pictures to follow later today...

Zoya