Top 10 Things Joe's Status Will Get You

Our friend, we'll call him "Joe", gave us airline guest passes for our trip to Florida. Although a very generous gift, we're now wondering if "Joe" really is our friend ... or is he trying to get us off his friend list? Here's what "Joe's" airline status got us:

1. The only window seat on the plane that didn't actually have a window. Go figure, the seat across the aisle had a window.
   
2. A loud, non-stop-crying, obnoxious 3-year-old. My ears are still ringing. How his dad slept through it all is beyond me. It's a miracle no one was hurt or killed.
   
3. Three days to get out of Kodiak. Yes, three days. We were "outranked" by others with more seniority than "Joe." Really? How many people on Kodiak were using guest passes? At least we were at home. (Thanks, "Joe".)
   
4. Another two days to get out of Seattle. Which meant we had time to kill ... so we spent money on an iPad. (Our bank account says thanks, "Joe".)
   
5. The smallest seats on a plane I have ever seen or sat in.
   
6. On the return flight, the last row of seats, which means no reclining for the 6-hour flight. (Thanks again, "Joe".)
   
7. No refreshments, drinks or snacks during the flight east. Come on, how did they mark us?
   
8. Mean flight attendants. They must have once considered "Joe" a friend, too.
9. Sorry, no full cans of soda for you! We'll only give you a cup.
10. We'll have to charge you extra for that overweight bag. It's overweight by 4 ounces, so unless you can take something out....
    

Top 10 Things Learned on Florida Trip

It took more than 4 days to get there, including 3 days of delays due to weather in Kodiak and a day and a half in Seattle, but we made it to Florida for our anniversary trip, hog hunting and seeing Robin's mom. Here is what I learned:

1. AYCE means All You Can Eat
2. It's hard to push a 15-passenger van out of sugar sand (yeah, our friend Bob got it stuck but we eventually got it out ... Robin only ended up with a few bites from fire ants, ouch!). It did take 6 if us, however, digging in some scraps of cow-dunged wood and several tries.
   
3. You can survive a 5-hour red-eye flight with a screaming (and I mean screaming) 3 year old right behind you without killing anyone. (He did not let up, either, not even for 5 minutes!)
4. Wild hawgs have vicious teeth and tusks! They can and do kill pit bulls that some people use to hunt them.
5. You cannot keep red snapper when fishing in Florida at any time of year.
6. Robin's predictions of calm seas continue to follow his usual pattern of accuracy (see previous post: Hangs, cobras and hawks)
7. If you distract the person checking in your grossly overweight coolers with bizarre tales from your trip, they just might forget to a) charge you for the luggage entirely and b) forget about it being overweight
8. You cannot have a wine opener in your carry-on luggage
9. Traveling light, by Robin's definition, means two coolers full of 120 pounds of meat, a wheeled luggage bag weighing 60 pounds, a duffle bag weighing 53 pounds (including a ham and some pork chops), gun case with two guns and three carry-on bags.
10. Pizza restaurants in Florida serve something called a "grinder", although we never did learn what a grinder actually is.
    

Hangs, cobras and hawks

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary with an offshore fishing trip while we were in Florida visiting Robin's mom and he was hunting wild pig.

This time, despite Robin's assurances and predictions of calm seas, I loaded up on the motion sickness pills. Perhaps I overdid it but it was worth it. It certainly wasn't calm! Like 6 foot waves and swells, oh boy.

At the end of the day, we used our nifty new iPad to send an e-mail, typed by yours truly. My e-mail said: "Robin got 3 hangs and 1 cobra. I did not get any hawks, but did catch a bunch of little fish today."

Translations:
Hangs = "hawgs" (wild hogs)
Cobra = cobia (a fish)
Hawks = also "hawgs" (wild hogs)

Groundhog Day all over again

This winter has seemed like Groundhog Day, the movie. Snow. Snow. More snow. January was a new record snow month for Kodiak, with 48.6 inches of the stuff, snowballing the old record of 40.4 inches. Total snowfall to date this winter is 85 inches (normal is 34 inches).

So far, 4 boats moored in the harbor have sunk because the owners didn't go and shovel them off.

Robin has been on the snowplow all month, with hardly a day off. So far this winter, he has used:

• 492 gallons of gas
• 105 gallons of diesel
• 60,000 pounds of sand and traction chips
• 1,500 pounds of ice melt (that's 30, 50-lb boxes he himself has spread)

We head to sunny Florida this weekend, weather permitting, for a brief break from the snow.

30 Year Anniversary

Robin celebrated his 30 year anniversary with the Department of the Interior. (He started a seasonal job there while still in high school.)

We had a surprise party for him with cake (the decorator accidentally put the blue goose upside-down and a co-worker started cutting into it before I could take the picture) and entertainment (a slideshow I put together covering all 30 years). Thanks to all who submitted photos and quotes! It was great and he was very surprised and happy.

View the .wmv, complete with music (it's worth the download wait, but probably only works on a PC).

Download the PDF.

Remembering Mike Voshell

My brother-in-law, Mike Voshell, passed away on Sunday after a brief (but long), brutal battle with leukemia. He was only 62.

Please send condolences to Theresa, Allison and Josie.

I've known Mike since I was 6 years old! He was the first person to give me a motorcycle ride. He dutifully served in Vietnam and served as the local fire chief for more than 27 years.

Winter weather

We've been hit with some snow, wind, rain, snow, rain, wind and some more snow.

Did I mention we've had some snow? Not as bad as Cordova, the place with about 18 feet of snow, avalanches and collapsing roofs ... where National Guard went to help dig them out.)

• In Kodiak, the heavy wet snow caused some boats to sink in the harbor. (Listen to the local radio station report.)
  

• Several deep puddles in the road, more like ponds, really, made for very hazardous conditions. Local officials finally closed the road when puddle depth reached 3 feet. Yikes. The airport was also closed for several days. (See the local paper.)