'A Pass By' by the Kodiak Killers

Today after work as I was driving out the road to go skiing I looked out over the harbor from my car window and saw orca (killer whale) fins. I parked the car and took some really bad pictures and video of the orcas just to prove to everybody that I had actually seen them. It was like video taping a submarine race - I'd get the camera on them and they would go under water and all that I'd catch on the video was the surface of the water with no nothing on it. The photos aren't much better - but I did get this one of one of the orcas with his/her fin silhouetted against the mountains. All the while people drove by on the highway and it was just an ordinary day in winter in Kodiak. I wanted to shout out to everybody to stop what they are doing and to look at the killer whales.

'Aint it great to live in Kodiak - a place where orcas are nothing out of the ordinary?

I gather from attending some Whale Fest lectures a few years ago that the orcas that frequent the waters around Kodiak only eat sea mammals - no fish. The biologists have nicknamed the pod the 'Kodiak Killers'. They cruise by the harbor and eat a few sea lions now and then. Usually they drop by a little later in the spring. Patrick

Kodiak's Real Ski Chalet

A couple of weeks ago I was going through a collection of slides at the museum trying to ID people and places when I came across this one - it was taken by Nick Nekeferoff sometime in the 1950s. At first I thought it must be Anchorage or some ski area near Seattle. But the background looked pretty familiar - and then it hit me. It's the old ski chalet at the pass on the way to Anton Larsen Bay.

It was built during WWII to help the troops train for winter warfare and for a place to recreate. After the war, according to Don Clark who went to Kodiak High School in the 50's, it became a 'snake pit' - a bar. And later it burned down. The ski chalet up there today was built much later.

What's cool is how elaborate the building looks. Too bad it burned down. It would be nice to have a place like that to hang out in 'apres skiing'. I am also struck by how different the hillside behind the chalet looks. The hill in the background is the bottom of Pyramid to the right (south) of where we climb up today. The photo was taken above where the current chalet is located, looking towards Pyramid (the gravel pit would be to the right and the parking lot to the left). Today there are groves of tall spruce trees and the alder is much thicker. You can see the baby spruce trees just getting started. I wonder if there is more alder because of global warming? Patrick

White Balance

I'm still getting used to my new camera, and have been experimenting quite a bit with all the features I read about in the manual. One cool feature that I know I will use a lot in the future is the 'White Balance Calibration'. Sounds like a topic for MLK day, but what it means is that I can calibrate my camera to recognize 'true white'. I've always know about the settings on the camera that you switch to depending on whether you are shooting under fluorescent lights, outside, in the shade etc, but I've never had a camera where you could customize this setting.

In the past, I took pictures of sunsets, mountains etc and then had to play with them in iphoto and photoshop to get the colors right. I always had to warm them up with a bit of red. Now I think I know what was going on. Today I took these two photos at the outlet to Buskin Lake. The top one I calibrated the white balance by using snow in the shade as the true white. In the second photo I just set the camera to average white balance (AWB), and I think the camera chose to made the pink snow on pyramid white. So instead of a photo showing the glorious pink sunrise reflected onto Pyramid I just had a white mountain.

In the future, I still think I will play with the colors in iphoto and photoshop but it certainly is nice to be taking photos that are far more true to the real colors. It also makes me feel better about all the 'photoshopping' I did in the past to get the colors right. I had always felt like I was cheating somehow, and creating an alternate, more beautiful reality. Now I realize I was just getting the colors back to where they were supposed to be.

The bottom photo is doctored a bit (not with the colors though) while the top two have only been resized for the internet with no doctoring at all. To make them perfect I would probably have played a bit with the contrast and light levels so that you can see a bit more in the shadows. By the way, 'aint it scary that there is no ice on Buskin Lake in January? Patrick

Home Times

This past week I had lots of home time with the kids. I"ve shifted my PT schedule to seeing clients primarily on M & W which is working well for me and the kids. We all really enjoy our home time-to cook, go to the the pool, draw, go on walks, do puzzles, see friends. So many great ways to spend the day together! Yes-there are days in the week where its tough-and they're in bad moods, and I'd rather be at work. I'll admit that. But we muster though-often with me suggesting a new activity-or getting outside. Another trick that I learned from Ella! When the going gets rough, get the kids outside for some fresh air. It seems to work wonders.

All in all, I am really enjoying how Nora and Stuey do activities together now, drawing, playing, biting & hitting, doing puzzles. They're so close in age which makes it easy. And the periods of time where they can go off and play get longer and longer. Some mornings and afternoons, they can play for close to an hour (if they're both in good moods and well rested!).

In 2 weeks, Nora and Stuey start swim lessons at the town pool, which I'm excited about. They both love going underwater with their goggles and Nora is starting to doggie paddle a little ways. My hope is that swim lessons are a fun way for them to try out new things in the water.

The pool is closed right now for repairs--sounds like they're going to address the corrosion and deck drainage issues which have plagued the pool since it opened in October. Its a bummer that our new 14 million dollar facility has problems such as this, but good to see that they're being addressed promptly. I'm glad I wrote the letter to the editor months ago--it was a perfect way to get the concerns off my chest and start the community discussion about the concerns of the facility.

Off for a good weekend ahead!

Zoya

New Camera

A couple of weeks ago I sat on my old camera and broke it. I could not be too sad. It had done pretty well to last a year, pretty much always in my pocket. That's what durable point and shoots are for! So I decided to buy the same camera - Pentax Optio - only I got the upgraded model (the W-80). And it arrived a couple days ago.

Since then I read the owner's manual and have been experimenting with it. It is truly amazing what these point and shoots can do! I learned all sorts of things while reading the manual. For instance, I now know how to set the white balance for the particular conditions (see photo of Stuey on the floor doing a puzzle). I also learned how to use a tripod, set the ISO and take long exposures at night. Pretty good controls for a point and shoot.

In fact, I learned so much that I went back and re-read the manual for the Canon G-9 that we've had for almost 2 years now. One of the cool things I discovered was color swap and color accent. I took the two photos of the aloe plant behind our kitchen sink, and by accenting the green color only I made it seem like it was an alien taking over our kitchen - a la the plant in the 'Little Shop of Horrors'.

I think I'll be taking better pictures in the future - I definitely know the controls a bit better. Patrick

Helping Friends and Family

Lately I've had the chance to help lots of friends and family.

Physical therapists in general get asked lots of "I have this pain, that won't go away...what should I do?" types of questions. I never mind answering a few questions or helping someone decide whether or not they should see the doctor. Its gratifying and usually straight forward.

The upside of helping friends and family is when my advice or treatment really helps. They are grateful and it is feels great to help the people that mean a lot to you.

The downside is when your advice or treatment doesn't help. This happenend about a year ago with Patrick. Every time I tried to help him with back pain, he got worse. I was so bummed. The one person in my life who I really, really wanted to make better just got worse and worse. He had back pain and would walk around the house in pain. I cringed inside, wishing there was something more I could do.
I told him, "I don't think you can be my client anymore. You're not totally honest about how you're doing with your symptoms. You should get treated by someone else. Want to try a chiropractor?" Part of the difficulty was that he didn't tell me if a treatment I did didn't work. He was afraid to hurt my feelings.

He was just as disappointed as me. He replied, "No, Zoya. I trust you the most. I don't know that anyone can help me if you can't." Fortunately shortly after, his back started progressively feeling better. He just avoided the aggravating activities and stuck with things that were painfree. Letting nature take its course was the best treatment for him.

For some people that works, but for others, they greatly benefit from a little "kick-start" towards healing. This often is in the form of manual therapy, looking at ergonomics (someone who sits at a desk for 8 hours and has headaches, arm pain, neck pain would benefit from making sure their workstation is set up egonomically correct), sometimes exercises, posture and education on pain, source of pain and how to help their body progress with healing.

Lately family has presented with back pain, plantar fasciitis (sister training for marathon), traumatic skiing knee injury (very recent injury of family member). I"m glad to be able to offer advice here and there-even if from a distance. Sometimes people just need a listening board to get a gauge on how serious their symptoms are or if there are some simple exercises or something that could be done to help.

I'm always honored when friends choose to come to me, and I maintain confidentiality just like my regular clients. This always baffles Patrick-if he hears from someone that they're coming to me for PT. He says, "Zoya never said anything!?" I"m true to my confidentiality.

Since my sophomore year in high school, I've wanted to be a physical therapist and I truly love my job. And who ever would've guessed I'd be back in my home town with my dream job?

Zoya

New Snow & Saturday night dinner

This morning Patrick and I took the kids to the golf course to go cross country skiing. This was the first time this winter we've taken them and the trip went well. Stuey walked along on his skis for about 35 minutes and Nora actually started to get the hang of skiing. Patrick and I were amazed by the improved confidence Nora had in the one year time since she last skiied. It was so much easier today than ever before. And there were no tears from Nora and Stuey! Yeah! A successful family ski trip by all measures. Stuey kept saying he wanted to "go to mountain"...Will he be a downhill adrenaline junkie? I had to explain to him that he has to get first skiing on flat area before he goes downhill.

Last night Jeremy and Karen came over for dinner-Patrick made quesadillas filled with deer burger and onions/peppers. It snowed outside and the kids served us spoonfuls of snow. They were on a mission to keep us full with snow.
After dinner Jeremy read a few books to the kids and taught Nora a song from one of the books. It was a 4 line song and Nora really enjoyed memorizing it and singing it to us. It was a fun time with Jeremy and Karen-they are moving to Portland at the end of the month. We will be sad.

Zoya

Snow Cycle

It looks like Kodiak might just have turned the corner on all that rain and 40 degrees. Now it seems to be raining and 35 degrees. But I'm not complaining. This photo shows what a difference a temperature drop of a few degrees makes - it may be raining in town but it is all snow on Pyramid. Yesterday I even went skate skiing at the golf course.

I've noticed that Kodiak develops weather patterns that last about a month. For the last month we've endured a cycle of 'pineapple expresses' that tipped over backward - hence the rain in Kodiak while it stayed cold in the interior of Alaska. Now it looks like the interior is seriously cold while the moisture is traveling east to west (Juneau to Kodiak) along the edge of the cold. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping this means lots of snow! Patrick

Who's on the phone?

Are polls biased? I got to thinking about this when I realized that many of the people I know no longer have a land line. Who's polling them? Also lots of people out there are screening their calls and do not answer the phone unless they know who it is. I seriously doubt that the segment of the population with land lines, no caller ID, and who answers the phone to whomever calls is the same as the one who lacks a land line and answers the phone to whoever calls. I bet the former tends to be a single person who lives in the city and lacks the time to answer the phone, while the latter has a family and home and lives in the country and has all the time in the world to talk to a pollster. I also bet the former tends to vote 'blue' while the latter votes 'red'. Anyway it is an interesting thought. I wonder if the pollsters have already thought about it and account for it somehow?

Anyhow, this line of thought also got me thinking about how as a country we have changed in the last 30 years. I remember in the 1970s listening to Walter Cronkite on the evening news. Everybody watched the news. Everybody also had a land line and always answered the phone when it rang. I bet in those days polls were very accurate and that everybody was on the same page when it came to the latest news. Today with the internet, 'smart' phones, twitter, facebook, cable and Satelite TV etc I very much doubt everybody is on the same page. People don't even listen or read the news unless it is coming from someone they already agree with! We have become a much more segmented and divided nation, and I wonder how anyone, in this environment, could ever create an accurate poll. So next time I read the latest and greatest poll - I'll be thinking about who they polled. Also, since media polls might well be biased I don't think our government should rely on them when creating public policy. Elections are the only poll that should count in this regard. Patrick

Dogs and Kids

When we first had kids, or even before we had kids, Patrick was talking about the similarities between having dogs and raising kids. I must say, I initially found this quite insulting. How kids possibly be so similar to dogs?

In our four-and-a-half years of parenting, I"m afraid to admit that I've actually discovered a lot of similarities. And tonight i couldn't believe I heard myself say, "Patrick, the kids need more exercise. An hour every day. Just like the dogs do." Geez. Could he be right?

Dogs and kids both need love, care, food, water, sleep, consistency, discipline, follow through and as Patrick puts, "The Pack Mentality". They need to feel like part of the pack--with attention and love.

When I first met Patrick, I wondered why he didn't put his dog Katie on a running line.
Patrick said, "Oh thats so sad. Katies' part of the pack. I could never put her outside by herself in the cold"...(so much so that she slept on the bed with us for years until she passed away. And Patrick believes that dogs should sleep on the bed-even 90 pound black labs...I had to put my foot down on this "pack" behavior when my sleep was disrupted by the dogs having nightmares, going in and out of the room, etc...)

Kids and dogs are quick to pick up on body language and are very sneaky as well-another important similarity. You say, "walk" around the dogs or go for your shoes and the dogs are already headed out the door. You say, "popcorn" around the kids and they are planted on the couch ready for a video. The Pavlovian response!

As of late, the kids have a hard time going to bed unless they've had seriously good exercise-such as a walk down the road to the park or a trip to the pool. Lately because of the weather (RAIN RAIN RAIN RAIN RAIN) we haven't been great about the outside time and I haven't taken them to the pool for about a week. So that leaves us with Stuey and Nora playing games and giggling at bedtime not wanting to go to sleep. Argh. The joys of parenting. Kids that won't go to sleep.

(And yes, Ella---I take your advice to heart. This post is dedicated to you because I believe you're right!!!...she always recommends hard core exercise to make bed times easier. This advice comes from my twin who would know-she has 4 boys under her roof!)

Tomorrow I get off work at noon. I"ll be packing up my car with some beach treats and taking them for a drive to a beach or park or someplace where we can do some mileage-by FOOT. Burn off some energy and maybe tomorrow night bedtime will be easier. And come the weekend, getting back into the pool with Nora and Stuey will be hopefully remedy the bedtime blues at the Saltonstall house.

Dismal Days

This weather is beginning to get a little monotonous - 40 degrees and raining for what seems like forever. Today on my way to go skiing I noticed that Boy Scout Lake is ice free, and Buskin Lake mostly so. We have lost almost all our snow below the 1000 foot level, and lately it has been melting all the way up to the 2000 foot level. Up until last week at least when it rained we were getting new snow above 1500 feet, but not anymore. I can't wait for it to get cold again. One thing for sure - when it does get cold again, it will brighten up.

I find cold winters in Kodiak to be so much brighter. The light reflects off of the snow and when it is cold it also tends to be clear. So there is more sunshine. People who say they prefer warm winters tend to forget that in Kodiak warm in winter means fog and rain.

The photo above is of the snow at the 1000 foot level today on Pyramid. The skiing is actually pretty good down to this point. I have been trying to go skiing every day because I am still hoping to race in the Tour Of Anchorage cross country ski race this coming March. I have not gotten in much cross country skiing but at least I'm climbing mountains. The bummer is that all the Anchorage skiiers have had great cross country skiing conditions this winter. They have been training like crazy. I'll have my work cut out trying to get competitive this year. Patrick

Ashes, Ashes All Fall Down

Today Stuey made his dancing debut in Nora's ballet class. He LOVES dancing. I think next week I"m going to start him in the 3 year old class.

Tonight Nora requested "Ring around the Rosie" on Itunes, so we put it on and danced around the kitchen. Stuey did some crazy moves in the kitchen. He is quite the little ham...and gets lots of smiles from us.

Zoya

Puzzles and Water

Lately I've spent a lot of time doing puzzles. Stuey and Nora love puzzles-especially Stuey. I got them their first larger puzzle back in November when I returned from my triathlon in California. I remember the first time the kids were exposed to a larger puzzle, it was quite difficult for them. Now, Stuey can do a puzzle for over an hour-again and again and again. After he finishes a puzzle, he says, "lets do it again, lets do it again" (really fast) and quickly breaks up the puzzle to start it again. The great part is that I really enjoy puzzles. In some ways, its meditative. To see the pieces come together-to be on the floor doing something productive with the kids. And it is challenging...even though its only a little 60 piece puzzle, it takes a few minutes for us to put it together. The puzzle in the photo is a large 24 piece puzzle, which Stuey can put together by himself fairly quickly. I'm all over playing with legos, blocks and puzzles. Good times!

The other thing we've been doing lots of recently is swimming. Nora LOVES swimming. She puts on her little pink goggles and likes going underwater to search for the plastic rings on the bottom of the 3 feet deep kiddie area. There is another young girl the same age in the pool who is extremely confident in the water and just the other day did the breaststroke the entire length of the regular pool! Wow! Nora sees her and has become more driven to do all the things that the other girl does. She says, "mom-I want to go to the deep end and swim like her".

I like taking the kids to the pool for several reasons:
-its an easy hour for me-kids are COMPLETELY thrilled, happy and entertained. And they don't fight there. Yeah!
-Its great exercise for the kiddies. A solid hour of kicking and swimming around is so good for their bodies and minds.Makes them go to sleep easier and sleep longer, too!
-Swimming is a wonderful life sport for Stuey and Nora and I support their love of water. We have a strong kingfishers swim program and a new pool with a great kiddie area---all the makings of water being a great source of fun and exercise for Nora and Stuey!

The house is quiet-everyone is asleep. I just returned from teaching birthing class. Seems like there might be an end to the rain-THANK HEAVENS. Seems like nothing but strong winds and rain lately. I'm not normally one to complain about weather, but this has been a bit of the pits. I'm ready for winter to resume! :)

Zoya

2 Cool Blogs

I recently found out about 2 blogs that I think local Kodiak folk should find interesting. I have put the links on our blog's 'blogs of interest' sidebar.

One is a blog called 'Deckboss' that keeps up on Alaska Fishing issues. Here's the address - http://deckboss.blogspot.com/
It's updated daily by Wesley Loy a reporter from Anchorage - and seems to be on top of anything related to fishing.

The other blog is titled 'Stewards of the Buskin River State Recreation Site' - http://buskinstewards.blogspot.com/
And is dedicated to keeping track of the Kodiak airport runway extension. It's possible that the airport might have a runway extended in front of the Buskin River mouth. This would obviously impact a great many subsistence and recreation related activities for both locals and visiting tourists. This is a project that I think everyone who lives in Kodiak should be following closely. The plan will come up for public comment soon - NOW is our chance to submit our input and to make sure something terrible does not happen.
Patrick

Canning in the New Year

On Saturday Erin H, Zoya, Ryan J and I canned up over 80 jars of Red Salmon. Ryan provided the fish, Zoya kept the kiddos corralled while Erin and I fed the pressure cookers. We had 4 pressure cookers going all at once on the stove in our kitchen. Nedless to say, but our kitchen got a little steamy and all the windows fogged up. According to the weather station Zoya got me for Christmas, at one point it was 76 degrees with 66 % relative humidity. What a job! Now we got all the canned salmon we'll need for the winter. Whoo Hooo!

The top 2 photos are me and Erin emptying the first load of canned 'product'. The bottom photo is Nora and Zoya at sunrise on the dawning of the new decade.

Frosty New Year Morning

Today was a 100% completely lazy day. And it was fabulous. We didn't leave the house until 11:30, at which point we drove to Near Island and went walking on the trails and down to the beach. The kids packed serious beach gear (kitchen utensils, primarily)-but once we got there, the ocean was at full tide and there wasn't any beach. (With the full moon, there have been incredible high and low tides lately.) The rest of the day was spent relaxing around the house and later in the day Nora and I went for a walk down the bike path.

This afternoon, I made some Beet Bundt Cake from my vegan baking cookbook which was really good! It used 2 cups of cooked pureed beets in the recipe-and also had 1/2 cup chocolate chips, sugar, flour, baking powder, etc. I liked how it turned out because it wasn't TOO sweet, like cakes often are! Plus, it has a healthy veggie in it! Woo-hoo!

Stuey and Nora PHRASES of THE WEEK
Stuey says, Way-way for Safeway. When we work on him saying Safeway (with an emphasis on the "s") he deviously smiles and says, "Sssssssss." "way-way". He knows how to link them (we've heard him do it), but he likes to be cute about it. Pretty funny.

Nora asked the other day, "Mom, do you have any doula clients right now?" I looked at Patrick and said, "did she really just ask if I have any doula clients?". She soaks in everything she overhears!

Noya & Stuey's Decade

It's not the dawning of the Age of Aquirius or anything, but it is the decade that Stuey and Nora will remember as their decade - much like I remember the 1970s. Everybody has their decade - think of the TV series 'The Wonder Years' or the movie 'A Christmas Story'. It's the decade where you become you, and for the rest of your life you sort of define everything against it. I remember disco, Watergate, the end of the vietnam war, Patty Hearst - even hippies, AM radio and womens lib. Now Stuey and Nora will have their decade. I wonder what events and trends they will think back on in 30 years?

Anyhow, this is what I was thinking about when I watched the sunrise over Mill Bay this morning. Nora even took her own picture of the sunrise. Let's hope the bright colors portend great things for the decade ahead.

The bottom two photos I took while climbing Pyramid mountain yesterday. I can't resist a good 'A Balanced Approach' tree (check out and compare with the logo for Zoya's business). And the other photo is of Sheratin Mountain glowing in the last sunrise of the 000's decade. Patrick

Run Bike & More Nora Pics

Yesterday I came home from skiing and found the kids already out on the lawn with the babysitter. She had them 'sledding' with the run bike down the hill in the back. The babysitter left, and we spent another hour going up and down the hill with the run bike. Stuey also did a few runs on top of Thomas the Train. I was amazed at how well the kiddos can ride the bike, and brought out the bike with pedals for them to try. The bike with pedals and training wheels did not work well at all because the training wheels got in the way! I guess it is time for the training wheels to go away.

I took the top two photos of Nora 'sledding' on wheels, and then she decided that she wanted to take photos of Stuey doing a run. The bottom 3 photos are all ones Nora took. I've noticed that Nora is into taking self portraits of herself just like Mommy does. But Nora prefers to take them while making a funny face. Nora got a pretty good action pic of Jake with a stick. Patrick

Flying versus driving (My TSA rant)

The recent attempted airline bombing has prompted a great deal of discussion in the press. Much of the coverage has highlighted the inadequacies of our ‘security apparatus’ and how the recent events should be a wake up call for improvement.

Do we expect the TSA to catch the bad guys every single time? Is this an achievable goal? ‘Improvements’ are spendy, and will make airline travel a serious hassle – way worse than it is now. As a nation we have already spent over 40 billion dollars improving our airline security, and I’d argue that we are only minimally safer today than we were in 2001.

Meanwhile our airlines are going out of business and plane travel has become a serious hassle. Today in an effort to cut costs the airlines seem to nickel and dime everything. Remember the good old days when you could put 2 big bags under the plane for free, the planes were half empty, and you always got a good, in-flight meal? And today, the worse part of travel is not the flying – it’s just getting through security.

I’d rather they not try to improve security because I’m certain that they will not get it right. Remember a few years ago when Ted Kennedy got tagged as a terrorist and held up in security. Or when the Feds tested the TSA checkers by putting explosives through the machines and the explosives were not detected? How about all the stories of people inadvertently carrying on pistols etc?

Millions of people travel and it is inevitable that TSA personnel will burn out fruitlessly checking everyone for weapons and bombs. Isn’t it ridiculous when they treat toddlers and grandmothers like hardened terrorists? I think we’d be far better off if the TSA did profile a bit and saved their serious searches for people who did not make eye contact etc.

Terrorist attacks are inevitable – just like the occasional plane crash. We will never be able to stop a determined terrorist. But even with the occasional crash and bombing, airline travel will still be far safer than other modes of travel. Since 2001 fewer and fewer opt to fly and more people are choosing to drive. How many extra people have died because they decided to drive rather than fly? Statistics show that car travel has higher rates of fatality.

I like to think of our airlines as a chicken coop, and the terrorists as foxes trying to get in and kill the chickens. A farmer will only keep chickens if it is worth his while in eggs and chicken meat. If he has to spend more on fences and traps keeping the foxes out than he gets in eggs and meat he will stop keeping chickens. Most farmers are realists and do not mind losing the occasional chicken. They do not spend a buck on new fencing to get back a dime’s worth of extra eggs.

Picture the airlines ten years from now if we do try to improve security further –tickets will likely cost twice what they do now. The hassle will be far greater, and every bag will cost you 50 bucks. Will it be worth it? Will we be any safer than we are now? Everything we do entails risk. You can get hit by a car crossing the road, so should you cross the road? As a nation we need to learn how to assess risks and their cost of mitigation. Do we need to make our airlines safer than our crosswalks?

Just some food for thought. Patrick

Busy Doula Days and Nora's photos

PHOTOS
Patrick has recently trusted Nora a bit with his camera and she has been whizzing around the house snapping photos left and right of walls, us, the floor, furniture...etc. It is fun to see the world through "Nora lenses"! You realize how low she really is to the ground and what things really interest her. All four photos posted were ones that she took.

DOULA DAYS
Today I"m a bit groggy...I attended 2 births as a doula in a matter of 3 days, which is quite a feat! The first birth was on Sunday and the second birth began as soon as I got home from work last night (Monday)-I got the text message at 7Pm and was at the hospital with her shortly after. The funny part was the nursing staff and doctor were identical on both night shifts. When I arrived on the floor, I looked at nurses and we all laughed. They said, "back for more? Weren't you just here?".

I returned home at 10:30 this morning from the hospital. Wow! What a busy couple of days. Being at 2 births back to back is quite the task! But 200% rewarding and fabulous. (Typically, Katie and I are back up for eachother and in this case we would most likely have shared the case load, but Katie is out of town for the holidays, so I was on board for both of them.I"m just SO happy they didn't both go into labor at the same time!)

I'm in awe of the miracle of birth. It is truly amazing-watching babies be born into the world-and to see men and women transformed into parents! This past year I've attended around 10 births as a doula and each one is so unique and incredible! It is a true, true honor to be invited and to be part of such an personal, incredible rite of passage for a mom. Its hard to believe that it was less than a year ago that I began doula work--and what a positive response the community of Kodiak has displayed towards A Balanced Approach Doula services. When I opened up my business just over a year ago, I envisioned it having only physical therapy services and fitness classes...and now childbirth education and doula services are offered. I truly couldn't be happier in my own clinic.

Off to do some laundry and cleaning then EARLY to bed for this cowgirl!

Zoya

Grinding Meat

Last night we ground up all the burger from this year's hunting season. That's over a 100 pounds of meat! And I am proud to say that Stuey seemed to enjoy it. He was intrigued watching the ground meat coming out of the grinder, and frequently helped Gregg with redistributing the finished meat in the tote.

We did not grind the meat earlier this year because we wanted mix in organic beef fat from my Aunt and Uncle's farm out East. Last spring we sent them Halibut, Cod and Crab from Kodiak, and in return they sent us organic beef fat and lamb from their farm. What a deal! But we had to wait until December for them to butcher their cows - hence the long delay for the big grind. Only problem with the fat is that it was too good and kept on gumming up the meat grinder. Patrick

Annual Christmas Party

Yesterday I took the kids to Libby and Jim's annual Christmas party. It's an after Christmas Kodiak tradition. Kids galore, good food, Balalaika singers, a HUGE christmas tree, and a diverse blend of the Kodiak community. I think my favorite part is the ham - Libby always puts out the world's best ham. But I think the kids really like the toys and other kids. Nora also liked dressing up in her new dress. Stuey REALLY liked the horsey, and they also played a lot in 'Rosie's Bait Shack'. Jim told Mike and I that the box really did once contain a load of bait (squid actually), and that since the box was so substantial they decided to keep it. They made it into a little fort and it has held up to 9 years of abuse. Zoya was helping with a birth so I went to the party with the kids and Mike and Cece. Mike and I traded off on watching the kids. Patrick