Bears, toys, and chiefs

Hello to everyone,

Summer has officially ended and some days I think we have jumped right into winter without ever seeing Fall. Last Saturday I was talking to The Seawell's (Andy's sister and bro in law) who had just left the UVA game and were in their car with the airconditioner on full blast b/c they were so bloody hot and I was in our back yard with winter gloves on, ski jacket, hood up and wool socks throwing ball with Hogan. When asked what temperature it was I soon found out that it was a whopping 44 degress!!!!

The next day I took the dogs up the mountain behind our house for a hike. I soon found out what Gale Force Winds feel like. I felt like one of those Weather Channel reporters covering a hurricane on the East Coast. Being the exercise freak that I am I insited that the dogs and I trek on. I finally decided to turn around when Brandy, our 63 pound lab, kept blowing into me. The walk down was just as hard as the walk up. I tried to find a way to capture the wind force with a photo but, my brain was too cold to be creative.

Now that Andy has been home for a couple of weeks he has decided to dive right in to the Alaskan culture including buying some new toys. Yesterday Andy came home with two (2) Four Wheelers and I quote "I got a really good deal on them." I think he wanted to spend the night in the garage with them last night but, decided our pillow top mattress would give him less of a back ache when he woke up in the morning.

Adding to the excitement of the 4 Wheeler Andy also saw/encountered his first Kodiak bear. He and a buddy went fishing a week or so back and had to "Give up the River to the Bear." Bears are actually very smart! This praticular bear was waiting for fishermen to catch their salmon and then he (the bear) would approach the people and make them cut their line, losing their fish to the bear, but, allowing the people to walk, rather run away. So rather than chancing this Andy and his buddy "gave up the river to the bear."

On top off all this excitment Andy, is also going through initiation. Andy has been a Chief for a year and a half but, was never "initiated" into The Chief's fraternity (not the real word but, he is not around for me to ask him) do to being at small boat station in Nashville. There will be a formal swearing in ceremony once all 20 Chief's on the Kodiak base have passed their tests/pledging. So one word to describe Andy right now is "busy."

I will leave you with pictures of Andy's bear and our new 4 Wheelers. I will try to not take so long in between posts next time.

Stay tuned for snow report 2010!!!

Andy and Nancy

Homecoming

Most all of you know by now but, Andy came home yesterday (Thursday)! His ship was due to pull in at 10am and they were tied up at 10:05am!!!!!

All day Wednesday I had butterflies in my stomach and sudden bursts of energy all in anticipation of seeing Andy for the first time in 2 months. I did not take the dogs with me to go pick him up b/c I knew we would not be able to drive with them bouncing all over the truck trying to say hello to him. If you are ever looking for a feel good moment go down to your nearest military instilation and witness/watch a homecoming. It is tear jerker watching couples (kids or no kids) unite.

Some of you may remember that Andy has never seen our house (another reason why I was nervous) until yesterday. He loved the house and all the decorating that mom and I did; which was mostly mom's doing : ) I have never seen Hogan (the pointer) so affectionate to anyone. Brandy (lab) wasn't quite sure what to think; Andy says she ignored him. She has since warmed up to him.

Today was another beautiful day in Kodiak. Andy enjoyed sleeping in until almost 11. Finally around 4 I convinced Andy to go for a hike up Old Womans' Mtn behind the house. I took it easy on him and went slow. He was very happy when we got to the top and he saw the gorgeous view of Kodiak from high in the sky.

Okay enough is enough and I need to get back to spending time with my Coastie.

Hopefully I will get Andy to write the next blog.

Yes, we are still here

Hello Everyone,

I apologize for the long pause in our posts and I don't really have a good reason to give y'all for my absence.

This past weekend (Labor Day wknd) was a great weekend here in Kodiak. A group of my girlfriends and I went to the Kodiak Fair and Rodeo. Yes, this was my first Rodeo folks. 3 out of 7 of the girls in my group are from Texas and have been to rodeos and one in fact used to train horses for this type of "stuff." I was told that this rodeo was definitely a much more scaled down rodeo than they had been used to. But, when you live on an island of 12,000 people I wouldn't expect anything glamorous. Since I didn't take any pictures at the Rodeo I'll let you the reader decide if I liked it.

How thrilled I was for Sunday to come and to get to watch ECU play football on ESPN!! This may be my only ECU game I get to see on TV all season and I guarantee it will be the best game they have all season. I literally cried when the game was over (they won in the last second). I can't wait for Andy to come home to have someone to watch College Football with.

After the game I decided to go try out a new hike with the dogs. I had NO idea what I/we were in for. The mountain is called Pyramind Mountain. On the way up the mountain I completely missed the memorial for the Coastie that lost his life a few years back after being blown off the mountain. At times I was on my hands and knees making my way up to the top. But, WOW, what a view. Again, I can't wait for Andy to come home so we can take pictures of each other on top of the mountain. I have attached a picture of the last peak I had to climb.

On the way home from the hike I managed to spot a bear and get some pictures of him. I would have gotten more but, the police came by and told us that we needed to move along. Little did I know that one can get arrested in Alaska for "Harassment of Wildlife." Needless to say I did not get arrested but, that doesn't mean I am going to stop taking pictures of bears!!!

Monday me and the girls had a great cookout at Melissa's house. Melissa showed off her grilling skills and we all left feeling very fat and happy.

Stay tuned for my net blog post which will be posted by Friday. I'll leave you with a couple of pictures of the bear and hopefully a few others. Here in Kodiak our technology is not exactly up to the speed with the lower 48.