I finally broke down and bought a guitar.  Why?  It was my New Year's resolution to learn either the guitar or violin this year.  And since I was in Managua/Masaya Nica I was able to meet this amazing third-generation luthier who designed and built me a guitar.  It's a beautiful instrument-Cocobolo Rosewood sides/back with Canadian Cedar top and Mahogany neck.  Just a passing whim?  No, actually I was able to play a basic version of Ode To Joy last night with that having been my third self-taught lesson.  Not too shabby. 

  Well I've just returned from a week long adventure in Nicaragua.  It was rather eye-opening.  It was a trip to build homes for 10 families. Most of the people that we helped lived in a space that was about 9x 10.  The average number of people living in each of these spaces was six.  The did have scavenged power, where the power line could be exposed cable wire, or barbed wire.  Since there are rolling blackouts down there, they are able to jerry-rig the power during this time...Lesson 1: do not grab or touch low-laying wires they most likely are not clothes lines.  
  The children were amazing and hard working, never heard to complain.  Two, one 5 (Denis) and one 7 (Henry) year old, helped me while the crew and I dug out these 12" x 24" trenches for the footings around their 20'x16' homes.  It was rather rustic to say the least.  Lesson 2: the next time your child complains about taking out the garbage, send them to Nicaragua and see how hard these little guys work without as much as a peep of dissent.
  The air was something else I'll tell you.  We would be riding along and for approximately two blocks the air was thick with ganja smoke, then it was thick with burning plastic, then burning brush, dust, sewer, and back to the pot smoke.  I swear one could have gotten high off of riding in the back of the pickup trucks on the way to the job site.  But all I've managed to get is a cough that won't go away.  Lesson 3: air pollution comes at you from all sides.
  The heat was awesome.  90-100 degrees every day.  I was in heaven even though performing heavy manual labor.  Life was good.  Ice cream was a must.  Sunscreen saved my life, and those who have very little take better care of what they have than those that have excess.
 
 

So, like a crazy person, I decided to drive up to Anchorage to attend the broadway roadshow of Hairspray.  I had front row center, yeah you read it right FRC, tickets that a friend gave me for babysitting his dog.  Well, of course, the weather was terrible...that's right, 3" of ice on the road with blizzard conditions, winds gusting over 80-100mph at times, and low visiblity.  Why did I do this, well if I let the weather dictate my comings and goings I wouldn't leave my house.  Hence the studs on my tires and a constant engagement of 4wd on my SUV - yeah I'm adding to the depletion of our ozone and my environment, but one can't survive up here without one.  Here's why:
I'm driving up towards the pass and a fully loaded Semi, opposing lane, goes into the ditch due to conditions as described above, now I didn't have any problems getting around him, but am still driving ~60 versus the posted 65mph.  Well, I get to the pass and realize that the two water bottles I have finished off are not my friends.  At this point in time the light is flat as dusk is upon me.  Meaning that I cannot see snow depth.  (Also, there was an avalanche in the pass right where I am at the day before trapping 4 snowmobilers, killing 2 of them...of which I am blissfully ignorant).  Well as my bladder, yes I know TMI, is calling my name, I pull off at the rest stop.  I am driving into it, and stop within 15' of the john, open my car door only to discover that the snow is up to the bottom of my car door, OUCH!  I put my boots on, that are about 1.5 feet high on my legs, step out of my vehicle and the snow is about 21 inches deep.  I bound up and back from doing my business only to find that FIN is stuck.  Not panicing, because I don't want to be stuck at a biffy in the middle of the pass during the night with such conditions per above, I jimmy FIN around in 10 attempts and then proceed to drive out in the tracks that I had made coming in.  One problem, there's a big wall of snow in front of me barring me from getting back onto the highway.
What to do?  Well, it's still dusk, still cannot see if headlights of oncoming traffic are approaching or if roadway is free, and there's a 10-foot embankment blocking any hope of seeing said oncoming traffic. However, I'm on a time crunch to make it to Hairspray, and time if of the essence.  So, I just decide to go for it.  It took 5 attemps to break through this wall of snow and launch myself back onto the highway, all the while avoiding being T-boned or T-boning some unsuspecting driver.  Whewh!  
The conditions had deteriorated now, yes in 15 minutes time, to the point that I had to drive 35mph down out of the pass with my hazards on only to come upon yet another fully loaded semi in the ditch.  Now if you know anything about semi's, it's that they rarely go in the ditch, and are typically the only ones on the roads when conditions are rotten.  Yet I continue on my way.
Hairspray was amazing, and I was so jazzed, with a sore face due to permagrin and sore abs resulting from laughing, from watching it that I decided to drive back home at 11:45PM.  The roads were clear, no one else was out there, beyond a plow truck who was taking a break on the side of the road, and I made it home by 2:30AM.  Some of my friends up here have requested that I place a beacon on FIN so that they know where I am located at any given point in time, in an attempt to remain safe on the roads they would then be able to avoid me...though apparently that wasn't necessary on Sat evening as everyone seemed to have already received that notice by the time I was heading on home.  That, and knock on wood, I haven't had an accident yet as it would be such a shame to put even a small scratch on FIN .
I have to say though, that there's no way I would have made it safely without my awesome vehicle that has gotten me through a ton of snow in the 5 years I've been up here.

So this afternoon I was leaving one of my "offices,"  and some, insert choice explicative, decides to double park their vehicle in behind mine instead of pulling into one of a plethora of open parking spots.  Instead of being able to head back to my main office and complete my day's work without leaving a large heap of crap for tomorrow, I'm stuck in a parking spot for 15minutes waiting for this jackass to return to his vehicle.  Thus leaving a whole 10 minutes of productive project time after I drive through a rainstorm and icy roads (yep, 4" of snow fell yesterday, and now is turning into at least 1' if ice on the roads with this heavy rain) to get back to my other office.  Meanwhile, his wife is seated in the passenger seat incapable of pulling their vehicle forward the necessary 6 feet to let me out!  When I politely ask her to move, she says that she "(doesn't) know how to drive the truck).  Who the hell doesn't know how to drive a truck?  (I mean, I'm thinking that even Jerhooey can drive a mean stick from time to time, with thanks to yours truly.)  I'm not one for road rage, and seeing as how there aren't ANY vehicles up here, the fact that they decided to block my vehicle into a parking spot that had a multitude of open spots around it really was unnerving.  I did, however, manage to keep my cool and allow them at least 50 feet distance from my vehicle after pulling out of the parking lot behind them.  I didn't want them to kick a rock up and damage my perfect windshield (as, after replacing 3 at about $400 a pop, I no longer have windshield coverage through my auto insurance...though noone up here does, I had a swank deal from MN until they realized that I didn't live in MN).  All that aside, WHO parks someone in when there are at least 25 other perfectly good parking spots in a partially full lot? 

So I've recently discovered that my neighbor kids were hanging out in the edge of our woods huffing.  Great, you say? Not so much.  I had to clear out all of their things out, you know the usual, paint, liquid nails, strangulation devices, chains, ...need I go on? Then, when I went over to take it to the dump, they had stopped by and reprocured everything.  So, I had to call the Troopers and the city police to let them know what was going on, prior to clean up and following their reprocurement, and they said they knew who the 5th and 6th graders were!  I suppose if you're going to start, why not when you're young.  Future meth-heads of America here they come!  Watch out, they might enjoy the "pop rocks" a bit too much and come running back for more.  It's rather interesting to see, depending upon which school they attend, which drug of choice they flock to.  Sky-hi has taken to ganja, So-hi has taken to beer/meth (some more obvious than others with their 'Practicing Crystal Methodist' shirts on), and keen-hi was into crack/cocaine, but may have transitioned in the past two years to something else.  It's rather crazy, the parents encourage some of this use, and have been known to join in from time-to-time...mind you, some of this is obviously more deleterious than others.  How could you not know what your kids are up to day in and our?  I'm thinking the one's who were in my woods must have known what they were up to/ supplied them because liquid nails-jumbo-sized caulk plus dispenser- is not inexpensive.  I'll tell you, if I were a parent these days, my kids would be home schooled from 4th grade on...and we would travel about the world as part of the curriculum...how sweet would that be?  I mean, I only truly work 8 months out of the year anyway, why not take the other 4 and travel?  That would keep them out of the superficial troubles associated with "the change" when most of the anger/aggression/insecurities of life sprout causing a need to escape anyway.  Although it's another form of escape, I've decided that travel is the safest way to avoid using drugs, in fact, it could be the best replacement next to, well, sex.  However, I won't have to worry about warping the minds of any child  with a travel-based curriculum because I'm never going to have any...though through no lack of trying.     BUT  you didn't hear it from me.  In all, that was last week's drama. 

I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm so exuberant at the moment.  Well, this past weekend I was seconds away from literally having my brains smashed in!!!  How you ask?  I was helping to load these 2-ton blocks of ice that our community uses for the Peninsula Winter Games ice carving contest/ fund raiser.  I had already successfully loaded the first row of 10 blocks (4-feet x 8-feet x 22 inches each) onto a flat trailer bed, and was in the process of loading what would have been the 18th block, when I decided that I didn't have enough space between myself and the block that was being loaded.  I jumped down, walked over and stood beside the lift operator.  The second (no exageration) the second that I stopped walking and stood next to the operator, the 18th block shifted on the lift.  It slid into and fractured block 16, then as the operator was attempting to regain control over block 18, it shifted the other way taking out blocks 8,9, 10, and destroying block 18.  Now, had I stayed on top of blocks 9 and 10, my body would have been crushed by block 18, AND had I jumped down after block 18 shifted initially, I wouldn't have had enough time to get out of the way.  Hence my brains would have been splattered all over the snowy white ground.  This fact was not lost on me.  So, I went down to the area where the ice was being cut from the lake and had a celebratory hot chocolate...boy was that good.  From there I proceded to load another 25 blocks of ice without further incident.  Immediately following the ice cutting event, I went in to work at the hospital.  What did I find there???  I won a free meal from our lunch room.  Now, if any of you will remember, I am the most unlucky Irish woman on the face of this earth...typically.  Though I wouldn't want to live this day out any other way.  My brother said "it would really be something to have a death by water"  Hmmm, I'm not sure he was pondering this much when he said it, but it works for me.