Polar Bear Club

Hello again everyone,

First things first. I may now reveal Andy's secret, although some of you may have found out on facebook. Andy's cutter (boat) entered the Arctic Circle, something that only 2% of sailors/coasties get to experience. This is a HUGE, HUGE honor and experience for he and all the other men and women on the cutter.

Here are Andy's exact words as to what happened. (USCGC means U.S. Coast Guard Cutter. Munro is the name of his boat)

"Andy and the crew of the USCGC Munro crossed the Arctic Circle, Had Davey Jones on board sent by King Neptune Rex the crew had a fun initiation for 2 days swam in the Arctic Ocean and now Andy is a Polar Bear".

I can tell you that the water was 40 degrees and the air temp was about 41 degrees. I am soooooo cold just thinking about it. They even get a special certificate and a pin for their uniform (I think).

Since we are on the subject of the USCG, I'll will continue. Andy and I hadn't gotten our oil changed since we left the lower 48, so the truck needed one BADLY. Kodiak does not have any kind of quick oil changing places like a Jiffy Lube, etc. So if your husband is underway you can go to the Auto Hobby Shop on base and get an oil change for $8. What a deal right? Well sort of.

I was not told that you need to bring your own oil and oil filter. WHAT? Now I am no Princess but, what kind of oil and oil filter do I need to buy? So I dialed up Andy's brother in law that works for Toyota and he came to my rescue. Then I headed to Napa where the guy was super nice and totally hooked me up with what I needed. So I finally got my oil changed on base for $8. It is very nice to know that when you husband is underway you can get the help you need.

I haven't had any new bear spotting's but did get a chance to go to several beaches with the dogs. The beaches here mostly have black sand a lots of rocks, flat rocks, the kind that are good for skipping across water, which I have not mastered yet. They also have very tall cliffs and alot of times the water is green and tropical looking.

One of the beaches is at Ft. Abercrombie. Ft. A has remnants of WWII military installation, which I have attached some pictures of. There is ALOT of WWII history on this island.

One final note. The "pink" pretty flowers I am posting a picture of is Fire Weed. The blooming of fireweed symbolizes the end of summer : ( I sure hope Andy makes it home for a day or 2 of 60 degree weather.

I am still working on fish and bear pictures.

Much love

Andy and Nancy

I found some bears

Hello again everyone,

Alaska continues to amaze me with its beautiful scenery every corner I turn. I don't think I will ever live in a place that is this beautiful. I still can't believe I live in a state thats total population is less than the city I just moved from.

I tried to take some pictures of the fish spawning but, the water level was a little high to get a good picture. Tomorrow (friday) is supposed to be a gorgeous day and it hasn't rained in several days so I will try to get some shots. Plus, I got a new camera (more about that below) that has a much larger zoom on it.

Sunday night Lisa (friend from ATL) treated ourselves to halibut burgers and cocktails at Rendevous, which is near the base. While we were dining outside and basking in the sun we chatted up with some locals. During our conversation we found out a few interesting facts about Kodiak. 25 percent of power here on the island is wind power and 25 percent is hydro power and the power company is a co op (owned by the people on the island) Pretty cool. I think Coast Guard Housing is it's own deal.

The one fellow we were talking to is a Marine Surveyor, which means he appraises boats. So if anyone is in the market, just let me know. We also found out that wind gusts of 100 mph is not uncommon, yes you read that right, 100 mph. This week we had wind gusts up to 40 but, at times it felt like 100 mph, especially when I was up on higher ground.

So the bear stories.

Sunday, Hogan and I were running on our usual road. On our 6th mile, a truck pulled up beside us and rolled down their window and told us that they had just seen a bear run right behind me and Hogan and "he thought we would like to know." My response was "b.s., really?" and all 4 people in the car agreed and one even offered a picture. He did not offer us a ride, which we wouldn't have taken, but, we did finish our last mile alot faster than the other 6.

Tuesday I decided to take the dogs for the usual hike up Old Womans' Mountain. I wanted to get a really cool picture of one of the planes taking off the runway right over the ocean. But, our camera wouldn't turn on. Darn camera. All of the sudden on the "landing" down below I saw our chocolate lab Brandy playing with another choc lab. THEN I realized that Brandy was right beside me. YOU GOT IT FOLKS, it was 2 bear cubs playing around. AND the DAMN camera wouldn't turn out, flat ass broken.

So I didn't stay around to find out where mama bear was but, I was SOOOO mad that the camera wouldn't turn on. So I emailed Andy on the boat and asked him if I could buy a new camera. Well he said yes, and I bought a better camera. Funny, I told Andy the whole story and he emailed me back and said "was Brandy playing with the bears?" I really could have had a good time with that one but, I made sure I clarified what happened.

It is a beautiful night in Kodiak and the skies are so clear I can actually see the moon and the stars.

Andy is still underway but it is going to a really cool place that few sailors/coasties get to go to. As soon as he gets back, I will spill the beans.

Much love

Nancy, Andy, Hogan and Brandy

2 blogs in one week

Hey everyone,

Well we had 3 days of great weather and now we are having 3 days of crappy weather. No worries though, I'll take the good with the bad. My friend Lisa (also an Atlanta transplant and a newleywed to her husband and the Military too) is stuck in Anchorage until the fog lifts here in Kodiak. But, that's living in Kodiak.

So our fishing trip today was postponed. Don't get me wrong PLENTY of people fish in the rain (see picture). I might have gone and fished in the rain but, luckily I didn't have to make that decision. I have officially gotten the itch to "rip a lip" aka go fishing. One of our girlfriends says she will "show us the way." Again, who is going to clean the fish. I still think I am going to catch and release.

I have gotten a report from Andy that the seas are VERY angry and his 378 foot boat is getting tossed around like a buoy. He said it is very hard to sit at his computer and read the screen. There are several reports of other Coasties getting sea sick. Although it is rough he says "it is kind of fun."

I had a job interview of sorts. I sat down with the Aquatics Director on base. We discussed me teaching swimming lessons for juniors and adults. I am very excited to get back to teaching something that I love but, yet have lots time to spend with Andy when he returns to land.

Bear watch is still in affect and I haven't seen any lately and it's not because I haven't tried. We have gone out trying to find them but, have had no luck.

I will leave you with some pictures. I promise tomorrow I will go and try to take pictures of trout.

Hope everyone is enjoying the heat.

Still Blogging

Hey everyone,

We have had some beautiful days here in Kodiak. It does rain here a lot but, when it is sunny, it is gorgeous! This week we have been blessed with 3 beautiful days and it's only Thursday.

Speaking of the weather, where Andy is, out on the Bering Sea somewhere, he says the weather is usually rain with the temperature averaging about 45. Well, I received an email from him today and he said he saw some beautiful whales today and some were very close to their boat. I asked for pictures but, he says everytime he runs in to get his camera the animals disappear. We are still hoping for him to return to land sometime in September. Poor guy has never spent a night in our new house. I can't wait for him to come home : )

Hogan is still in recovery mode with his foot. His stictches have been removed and we are still waiting for the area to heal. WE have cheated a little bit and let him go for a hike and a run but, still following the rules by not letting the area get wet.

The salmon are running, the salmon are running. I am going for my first official fishing outing on Saturday. The ladies and children of The Munro (Andy's boat) are getting together for a day of fishing. I have seen some amazing and HUGE salmon in some of the streams. I am going to get a few pictures for y'all tomorrow. It is crazy how they literaly line up and wait to "spawn" up stream and lay their eggs where they were born. I was REALLY excited about this until one of my girlfriends here in Kodiak asked "why is going to clean the fish after I catch them." Well, maybe I will catch and release or take them down to one of the fish canneries here in town. There are ALOT of foreign students that come over for the summer and work in these places.

I have worn shorts from time to time outdoors here. I had someone comment on how tan my legs were the other day. WOW, she must be used to some seriously white legs if my naturally darker skin is tan to her.

Did I tell y'all that I got my Alaska drivers license?!!? I have always wanted one. Now, it's time for my oil stipend check to show up!

Not too much else to report but, I will leave you with some pictures and will have alot more to report after fishing on Saturday I am sure of it.

Still kicking in Kodiak

Hello friends and family,

I have a new phrase for living in Kodiak "just good clean living." If one is going to be happy here on an Island of 13K people in the Gulf of Alaska you need to become one with your environment. What I mean is that you must embrase the outdoors and move at A LOT slower pace than in the lower 48.

I will explain the pictures that I am posting and then get on with the blog. One of the pictures is a picture of our house. I really like our house/townhouse/duplex. It is a 2 bdrm and 1.5 bathroom with a fenced in backyard. The neighbors next store are Brain and Carrie. Carrie is from Sitkah, Alaska and Brian is from Florence, SC. They have a dog that gets along great with Hogan and Brandy.

Another picture is a picture of a cargo ship just like the one that our goods were brought in on. I have NO idea how much it would cost to ship your whole entire house here to Kodiak but, if I had to guess, I would guess too much for me to move here.

The other pictures are from on top of Old Woman's Mountain here in Kodiak. One of the USCG's helicopters and one of the USCG's buoy tender. Hopefully I can throw one in there of me and some friend's on top of the mountail too.

I have made several great friends here and we try our best to keep each other busy. We get together every Friday night at one persons house and have a "themed" dinner and everyone brings a dish. On the weekends (weather permitting) we try to go hike one of the many, many trails here or go to the beach. This past Sunday we tried to prove to ourselves that we could go to the beach in 55 degree weather and have fun!

Our trip to the beach was a great success. We wanted to prove to ourselves that if we were going to be women living in Alaska who's husbands were going to be gone for up to 6 months out of the year that we could do this by ourselves. We managed to build a campfire and cook burgers and hotdogs without a hitch. I have one confession though, we did bring along lighter fluid (and use it). But, hey, it counts! We stayed out there for almost 6 hours! We can not wait to do it again.

Since my last post there has been a few bumps in the road. Hogan cut (rather sliced) his foot on something and had to get 7 stitches. He was also placed on the "physically unable to play list" for at least a week. This is NO fun at all. Also, I have now learned that I have an allergy to blackberries. Luckily a few benadryl took care of that.

A few things to just throw out there just b/c I don't feel like forming paragraqphs.

I saw 2 more bears last Thursday, I was inside they were outside.

Bear season is in full swing and bears are being spotted everywhere even on base where there is always activity going on.

There are no good restaurants here in Kodiak, anyone interested in opening up a restaurant in Kodiak?

I will trade postcards & Alaskan gifts to those who want to send me long sleeved shirts, sweaters and sweatshirts.

We definitely stop and smell the roses here in Kodiak, Alaska. You should too.

Much love to our friends and family back home. We really do miss y'all.