I have several lists. One for proposed writing and photo projects, one for the house "to do's", one for the lawn, one for the cars, and on and on. However, retirement is being able to toss the lists and do what either seems to need to be done at the moment or just taking a nap. Or I may go dig in the dirt and pull weeds. They are always there. Today, I did a honey do job and stripped the wax off the kitchen floor and re-waxed it. It looks pretty good!
In the past 10 days or so, I have done a variety of things and Joan has run errands, been shopping and other things to give me needed space. She particularly loves the flea markets and the thrift shops to pick up a lot of odd things and hunt for bargains. I went with her on one of these adventures last week and picked up a couple of ideal "layering" items for the days in Alaska. On the fishing boat and at Denali, it may be near freezing in the AM and then mid to high 70's at mid day and then back to the low temps later in the day, so layering is suggested. I found a nice, ideal slicker with a liner and hood for the fishing day for $8. It is almost new. With the price of extra luggage on the air lines these days, I may consider leaving some of it behind in Alaska rather than have an extra bag. I can't really anticipate how a day can have 22 hours of daylight! Sleep habits may change.
I think I have most of the Alaskan details ironed out. We will all three (son Jeff, Charles Davis (office buddy at DAQ and myself) will bet into Anchorage on Saturday late afternoon. We will take a rental car and drive to Seward for 3 nights. The first day in Seward, we start out early to try to catch some salmon and halibut. If you are not familiar with a halibut (I wasn't), it is like an overgrown flounder. It is a giant flat fish and the eyes migrate, just like a flounder, but the big ones get up to 700 pounds! Our worst nightmare would probably be to catch 3 of these huge fish and then have to clean them and ship them home (they provide the facilities, ice, boxes and FedEx). "Finest gutting facility in Alaska." Apparently, the fish are sort of hard to get rid of if you don't ship them home. As I understand it, the commercial fishers can't take them and others may either be tourists or other people who don't have any thing to do with them either. We have a former member of our church who went to Alaska many years back and married into an Iderod (Sp) family. Her father in law, her husband, and her son have all won the race at some level. They have a summer dog sled training and tourist attraction in Seward and take you into the woods on wheeled dog sleds for a fee. I am sure they can use some fish if we catch too much. My usual result is that no one catches anything when I go. Someone told me that the salmon have been slow to show up this year and there is some concerns.
Also in Seward is the Marine Sciences Museum, supposedly (paid by for blood money from the Exxon Valdez mess). We will be staying at an Army recreation facility there. They have their own fish and tour boats. The third day, we take a boat trip up to Kenai National Park and hope to see the whales up close, glaciers melting and calving, puffin, eagles, bear (on shore), probably moose, elk and miscellaneous other creatures.
From Seward, we drive back through Anchorage and on up to Denali and stay at a bed and breakfast just a short ways outside the park. We take a 11 hour bus shuttle into the park to Wonder Lake and back (dirt/gravel road, a school bus-like transporter). They have a ranger on board and stop for wildlife and you can get off at various stops and take a later shuttle. You have to bring all your own food and snacks, drinks, etc. The people at the Dome Home B&B seem real nice and have been very helpful. That first morning, we won't get to make use of the full extent of the breakfast as we have tickets on the shuttle at 7:15 AM. After a night to recover, we go back to Anchorage and spend a night and tour around Anchorage to see what is going on there. We then take separate red-eye planes back to RDU or Charlotte and arrive back in NC in mid-Sunday morning.
On the way up, I am going by way of Portland to the A&WMA meeting. I am also using frequent flyer miles (anytime miles-w/o restrictions) and going to Anchorage from there. Currently, I am scheduled on Saturday to go up, but may change to Friday as there is only one American flight to Anchorage, and I HAVE TO GO BACK TO DALLAS THEN TO ANCHORAGE! What a bummer! It means 12 hours flying, but the alternative seems to be a full fare ticket at $1200 plus - and climbing so I guess it will be worth $100/hour. It also increases the likleyhood of my flight being delayed and the problem is that I have to be with them when we go to Seward. I am anticipating.
I have not really filled in many details of what I have done during these 10 days or so. Mostly, get up in the AM (by or before 7 am) and try to remember what seemed so important to do when I went to bed the night before, drink my coffee, decide on breakfast, if any and finish off the paper (Yuk, too much politics!). I also have had a very sick friend, and one with a broken leg that needed some help, have been to a Rotary meeting (they are scoping me out!), and have run lots of errands to the cleaners, grocery store, etc. I went in to work (past tense) two days and spent some time. I went to a Legislative Commission (Global Climate Change) Meeting and met former coworkers for lunch another day. It seems like I ought to be going back to work (Working on some potential opportunities there on a VERY scaled-back basis). I mourned the loss of the history of EPA and DAQ in the abandoned papers, books etc. that no doubt have found their way toward CO2 and methane by now. You have to turn loose some time. I have several boxes of personal stuff that I have on my list to go through soon............. Two days ago two boxes stacked just at the top of the stairs to the play room somehow managed to topple over during the night and fully emptied themselves from the top to the bottom of the stairs. What a mess!
Well, Joan's bachelor brother in Tennessee who does not have a driver has his second cataract surgery on Monday, May 4, so another 5 1/2 or so drive is coming up Sunday. We will probably stay there till Mother's Day and head on back so that we can get to doing other stuff, like sorting books, digging and pulling weeds some more.
I will pick up again somewhere just after Mother's Day if I don't get another inspiration before then.
JimS
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