Is anyone out there?

I've not been in a blogging mood lately. Just not much going through my mind, nor much exciting going on up here.

Well, I guess I shouldn't say "not much exciting". That's not true.

Several weekends ago now, I was invited to my boss' home for "Russian Christmas". Here are a couple of pictures that I was able to squeeze out. One of the customs of Russian Christmas is for carolers to go from home to home singing, twirling a magnificent home-made star, and of course, eating. I'm not sure of many of the details of "Russian Christmas", but those are just a couple of them. These pictures didn't come out that great. I didn't want to be obtrusive or to push my way around in there to get good pictures. It was really pretty darn cool just to be there and to hear and see everything.

"singing" pictures taken my C. Hall

"starring" pictures taken my S. Jensen

A week ago last Saturday: 5.7 magnitude earthquake centered roughly 130ish miles south/southeast from Anchorage. No damage reported, and I didn't feel a gosh darn thing.

A week ago last Sunday: Mount Redoubt began rumbling, threatening to erupt. Redoubt is approximately 100 miles southwest from Anchorage. If Anchorage is effected at all, it will be with ashfall amounting to a couple of centimeters. Mount Redoubt is still expected to erupt.

This past weekend, Scott and I got out of Anchorage. It was sooooo nice! We haven't been out of town together for quite awhile. It was so very nice to unwind and relax; we totally enjoyed each other's company. The drive was nice, as well, as we had plenty of time to talk. We headed to Talkeetna, which is about two and a half hours north of Anchorage. It is known in the mountaineering world as the "jumping off" point for those brave enough to challenge Denali (Mt. McKinley to you "outsiders").  Here are some pictures of our trip:

These pictures show the view from the cabin that we stayed in and the cribbage games that I kicked Scott's butt in. On our drive back to town, we pulled over at an overlook and were lucky enough for the skies to be clear enough to give us a spectacular view of Denali, Hunter and Foraker. Such beauty.  The last leg of pictures were taken at Arctic Valley. Arctic Valley is a ski area in town and along the drive up the mountain, there are overlooks with a nice view of much of the Anchorage bowl. Another great Alaskan view. I love this state!

Temperature update: -2 degrees in Anchorage; 22 degrees in Whitman

Sunrise/set update: 9:11a/5:17p in Anchorage; 6:53a/5:03p in Whitman