Arctic Survival Skills Patch

Cozy under the emergency space blanket!

Looking at survival kits and first aid kits together. 

In my search for fun outdoor based girl scout patches, I found the Fairbanks Council Arctic Survival Skills Patch. Right away, it struck me as a useful, interesting patch. The requirements:

Do six of the following activities, including the starred requirements.

1. * Find out what hypothermia and frostbite are. Know the steps to prevent them in different weather and water conditions. Know the procedures to take if either of these occur. Demonstrate them.
2. Know basic compass and map skills, and demonstrate them by following an orienteering course.
3. * Invite a Wildlife Specialist to a meeting to inform you about such things as bear protection and wildlife awareness (as appropriate to each area).
4. What is stress? How can stress interfere with survival? Discuss feelings such as fear and loneliness. How do you deal with tensions like thirst, hunger, and pain?
5. Shelter, food, water, warmth, and clothing are basic survival necessities. Show how you can provide these for yourself and consider their order of importance.
6. Arctic wilderness provides its own challenges. Think about and discuss characteristics of water, plant life, geographic conditions, and weather of the arctic that would help or hinder you.
7. Make a basic survival kit. Know how to use each item properly.
8. Plan and carry out an overnight camping trip to implement the survival skills you have learned. (Remember to turn in your troop trip application and a list of what your survival kit consists of.)

I enlisted the help of a troop father, Ryan. His twin daughters are in my troop and he volunteered to help take our troop through the patch. He is a retired coast guard rescue swimmer and is now a firefighter. Through his work as a rescue swimmer, he had extensive arctic survival skills training and was excited that our troop was undertaking this patch. 

On our first meeting to chip away at the skills, we all learned so much. I learned all the many uses of parachute cord (rope) and how it has 15 strands of very strong string inside of it. 

We learned about emergency space blankets and the different applications for them. 

We learned about the 3 stages of hypothermia ANd that 50% of heat loss is through our head-so put a hat on to stay warm. (Or take it off first to cool down!)

The girls were mostly captivated by the knowledge. I realized just how interesting of a topic survival is!

Zoya

Portland Recharge

Food cart Ethiopian food on a rainy day. Totally hit the spot…new flavors and spices. 

I just read Patrick's blog post about his reunion trip with his 5 college roommates.

In contrast I'm on a trip to Portland totally by myself. And so happy about it. Patrick's trip and my trip are total opposite from each other-his was to reconnect with friends. Mine is to have a few days away by myself to recharge.


Typically I always travel for either a class or to see family/friends. Last December there were some airfare wars for Anchorage-Portland flights and i thought I should jump on it for a little 3 day getaway. As the time neared, people asked "What are you doing in Portland? Visiting friends?"

"No" I replied…"not visiting anyone. Just want a trip with nothing planned and no commitments to people." People seem surprised. Several girlfriends are completely encouraging.

This trip has been just that. Perfect recharge time. I think with being a mom, a business owner and a physical therapist, time away from it all for a couple of days is golden. Good for my soul.


I love Portland. I heart Portland.
This city has it going on with great public transport, wonderful food, friendly, clean, safe.  I'm staying at the same hotel I stayed at in October (Hotel Lucia) and its just  3 blocks away from seemingly everything. I am completely happy. Having down time to read. Do a little writing. Spend hours in Powell's Bookstore.  Try new food trucks and restaurants.

Stuey calls me about 5 times a day…his soft little voice asking "Momma? Where are you? What are you doing today?" He tells me the details of his day, that he had  hasbrbrowns for breakfast. Whether or not he had a dream. What his dream was about. Who was in it.

Nora gets on the phone for a few minutes to say hi, but then Stuey steals it back from her. Bless her heart for not getting too upset at her brother who hogs the phone.

The only prescheduled thing I had on my agenda was 2 personal training sessions, which I'll write more about later…

Zoya

Roommate Reunion

Over the weekend I flew south and spent some time skiing with my roommates from college.  It was sort of amazing how quickly we reverted to our old selves.  Or as one of the roommates termed the phenomena, 'muscle memory'.  Kind of amazing that such a large group of us got together over a 1/4 century after graduation, and it was even more amazing how little anyone had changed.  

Older, grayer for sure, and no one wanted to stay up until 4 AM in a bar, but all the jokes and personalities remained the same.  About the biggest change is that every once in a while someone would drop out to call work or home on their cell phone.  That NEVER happened back in the day.  Patrick

Road tripping from Boise to Sun Valley, Idaho

Buying frozen pizza for dinner - by the time we got to Sun Valley all restaurants were closed

Toasting old times

Breakfast in Sun Valley

Ah yes - the ubiquitous cell phone.  Eric and Lanny texting the wives

Lanny and Eric on snow

Tomas the knuckle dragger - 'What's the worst thing about snow boarding? Telling your son . .. ..'

Tom, Larry and Eric

Scott cooks up the steaks

Roommate reunion dinner

Fancy dinner in Ketchum

Today everyone but me seems to be wearing a helmet while skiing

Sledding at the Pass

Generally we go sledding at the golf course.  It has a long hill and you can cross country ski at the same time.  But if we want a STEEP hill and REALLY fast sledding we go to the pass.  Only on that hill there is no skiing down in skinny cross country skiis!

On Sunday it was fast enough that I was even thinking that just perhaps, you know maybe, we should have been wearing helmets.  Most of the time, half way down the hill the sleds would turn sideways and we'd wipe out.  To make it to the bottom you had to either balance and weight the sled perfectly or drags your hands and steer.

At the bottom there is a big berm to keep everyone from sledding out onto the road, and if the sled made it that far it would go straight up and dump everyone out. It was a good time.

Patrick

Last of the Greens?

I took this picture just before dinner a few days ago.  I could not believe how green and vibrant our garden kale remained near the end of January.  It was actually growing.  But I am happy to say that today it looks beaten back and close to dead.

Here on Kodiak we finally experienced a few days of continuous sub-freezing temperatures.  I am pretty sure the cold snap finally killed the mint and parsley, and the kale is looking dark, wilted and droopy.  I am going to try and eat it all quick!  Patrick

Snow Scenics

The last time I climbed Pyramid it had snowed and then ice-rimed on top of everything.  All the bushes had a layer of ice that caught the morning light.  It was a spectacular sight that I tried desperately to catch it on film.  And I failed miserably.

How does one capture that glinting, low-level light that sparkles?  Everything was aglow with sparkles when I took the pictures.  But when I looked at them at home the glint and sparkle was gone.

I guess it is one of those things that you just have to experience. Nothing better than climbing Pyramid after an ice storm!  Maybe it is just something that can only be experienced and never photographed.

Patrick

This one was pre rime storm, but the dog silhouettes in the fog sunrise do look cool

"Who Is Mother Nature?"

Treat a skinned knee. Treat a bee sting. How to dress in layers for inclement weather. Prepare a small snack outdoors. How to pass a knife safely....

Outdoor Skills patch (Level 1) is DONE!

My Brownie troop has been working on their outdoor skills patch for months now. The learning is gradual-and i've  kept it fun. And the skills are one that I know they a will use for the rest of their lives.

To celebrate the completion of the patch, I set up a Treasure hunt in Fort Abercrombie. It led from the well that is near the old "Cry of the wild ram" play site, to the fire pit by the volley ball court, to a spot by the lake, to the WWII museum and finished at the beach. 

The time flew by too fast and my only regret was that the girls didn't have enough unstructured beach play time. Especially since it was a nice day after a long streak of bad weather. 

As we headed back to the parking lot after, one group of girls asked me "Who is Mother Nature?" What a hard question to answer. I did my best and my reply included something about she is the one creates the storms and weather and she is the one ultimately in charge. The girls seemed satisfied (or at least not outwardly disappointed!) with my response and they had their own continued discussion about it as well. 

Zoya

One of the flags from the treasure hunt

Warm, calm weather for the treasure hunt

Reading the clues together

Hmmm...where could the next one be?

Brownie Troop #118

Last clue at the beach

Outdoor skills patch-DONE!

On a prior week we toured the new high school

hot cocoa time

walking back in the fog

White light

I've found that it is easy to tell if you've got the white balance correct when taking pictures of snow.  Snow is white, and any other color is pretty obvious.  That said the snow can in reality look blue, yellow and warm, or whatever as it reflects the light of the day.  Snow itself is NOT always white.

When I took these the top one was super blue and I had to shift it towards yellow.  It still looks very blue, but I remember that it looked blue too.  In general I have found that I routinely need to shift towards yellow with snow pictures and often a little towards magenta and away from green too.

But it is easy to see when it looks right.  For all three of these it really did look like that - at least as seen on my computer screen. I gather computer monitor screens have color balance issues of their own.  What looks right on one computer might not look the same on another computer.

Patrick

Space for Nora

Recently Nora has started needing her space. In the morning as I get ready in our shared bathroom, she gathers up her hairbrush, toothbrush and barrettes and goes into another bathroom to get prepped for the day. Its not that I'm in her way in the mirror, its that she wants her space. I totally get it, because I'm the same way. If I"m in the bathroom on a work day morning getting ready and Patrick comes into the bedroom to read a book, I feel annoyed-as if my space bubble was popped. I also need my alone moments to gather myself for the day.

At breakfast time, Nora has recently taken to setting up a little dining spot for herself away from our kitchen island, on the counter against the wall. She turns on the fluorescent light under the cabinets, sets up a napkin with fork and knife and eats her meal there. She says she likes to be away from the 'clutter' of the kitchen island.

In my mind I think, "the kitchen island is one of the least cluttered spots in our house" but I don't argue. I like her routine and I appreciate that she sets herself a spot at the counter.

I see Nora changing with her behaviors and doing things in a more mature, reflective, routine fashion. She knows what she wants, and what she likes in her life and makes it happen. I'm happy for that. Even if it means getting far away from me when brushing her teeth. ;-)

                                                                       ~

This past week I read a book called "The Wonder of Girls" by Michael Guiran, and in a matter of 150 pages, my understanding of Nora grew expotentially. I picked the book up by chance at Title Wave books in Anchorage…it looked interesting to me-a book to help explain what happens in the mind of girls. After 10 pages in, I felt like I just might be able to survive the next 5-10 years of motherhood.

Really. Truly. So often people say, "What age are your kids?" and I say, "7 and 9" and they respond with "Oh what great ages! Enjoy them now because soon they're going to hate being around you…." and other similar replies.

Comments like these are breeding grounds for feelings of low grade dread, wondering "just how bad will it be?".  The Wonders of Girls has changed that. It explains how between the ages of 10-12, the growth of connections in a girls brain is similar to during infancy. And how during this "explosion" of brian activity, girls need us (moms, parents) MORE during theses years, not less.  It explained why social connections are so critical during this age.

It helped me understand that Nora's perpetual longing for playdates is exactly what her brain and mind are wired for. So I'm feeling a little less anxious, more excited and more "there" for Nora. Reaching out to her to see if she'd like any playdates. Putting a little extra effort in to make it happen.

Parenting is hard enough as it is and it sure is nice to have such a great reference to help me better understand what is going on in their minds!

(Oh, and Guiran wrote the Wonder of Boys also…which I'm going to read next!)

Zoya

Kayaking with Stuey

On Saturday afternoon while Zoya and Nora went on their Girl Scouts outing Stuey and I went sea kayaking.  We both wore wetsuits so that we did not have to worry about getting wet.  We launched out at Fort Abercrombie and it looked flat calm.  Once on the water I was shocked at the size of the rollers.  Whenever we got near rocks there were big breaking waves.  I think Stuey enjoys sea kayaking and if the weather stays like this I am pretty sure we'll be doing it some more in the near future.  Patrick

Some of that pesky snow on the mountains - if it gets much lower it might wreck my kayaking. .. 

G. L. O. R. I. A. !

Yesterday I was driving in to work in the dark when an old song came on the radio - Gloria by Van Morrison and the band 'Them'.  Immediately I was tapping out the beat and was transported back to September 27th, 1985 - the beginning of my sophomore year at Harvard University.   On that long-ago, September day all that played on the radio in Boston was various versions of 'Gloria' (Doors, Hendrix, Branigan etc).  G-L-O-R-I-A - Gloria.

Hurricane Gloria was bearing down on the City of Boston and for just the 3rd time in the 20th century classes had been cancelled at Harvard University (click here for contemporary article about the storm).  Everywhere there where taped windows and the lines at the liquor stores were going out doors and down sidewalks.  G-L-O-R-I-A was blaring out of every car door and dorm window.  The storm was getting hyped as the 'largest of the 20th century - bigger even than the hurricane of '38.  Boston was going to get crushed.  We could not wait!

Students had been encouraged to hole up in their dorms, and wait out the storm.   Yet everybody was rushing to the liquor store.  The wind was picking up and colored leaves were blowing off of the trees.

And for a while there we did hole up in our dorm rooms.  In my dorm they evacuated the high rise rooms and the refugees joined us in the low rise for a 'Glorious' party.   The drink of the day was aptly called a 'hurricane gloria' and consisted mostly of rum.

Later in the afternoon when the storm hit in earnest we all went outside to be a part of it.  And it was G.L.O.R.I.A chaos as other 'hurricane parties' all across campus also emptied out onto the streets of Cambridge.  Huge white cap waves were stirring up the brown water of the Charles and drunken students caroused under the trees.  I remember a roommate wading out chest deep into the river and almost getting arrested, impromptu football games under the trees that were whipping back and forth like stalks of grass, and over all the intense roar of the hurricane.  But the crescendo for me was a Harvard cop with a thick South Boston accent repeating through a bullhorn over the chaos, 'Futchah leadhas of Americah - go back to your rooms'.

Winds did top out at almost 100 miles per hour, but Boston did not get crushed.  The storm ended and the students that had not already passed out went to bed with a hangover. Harvard woke up to sunny skies and taped windows, and the football game was played as scheduled.

And her name is G. (G) L. (L) O. (O) R, (R) I. (I). yi-yi-yi-yi
G.L.O.R.I.A. (Gloria)
G.L.O.R.I.A. (Gloria)
I'm wanna shout it ev'ry night (Gloria)
I'm wanna shout it ev'ry day (Gloria)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all right

Patrick

More Lemonade

Yesterday after work I ran 2 different rivers with Jeremy.  It was GREAT.  Take that weather gods!  Patrick