Cowee Meadow Cabin

We met up with some friends and hiked out to the Cowee Meadow Cabin on Friday night. At the cabin we met some other friends who had hiked out earlier with their beautiful german wirehaired pointer.

www.pedigree.com she looks like this, sorta, definitely cuter!

The oil stove didn't work so the men found a dead tree, sawed it up and put it in the tiny wood stove. We ate popcorn and cookies, played games and laughed until the wee hours of the morning.

After getting up to use the outhouse my friend saw my light and thought an intruder was in the cabin. We had joked earlier about her husband's hand gun, so I was glad when they recognized my voice.

In the morning we had sausage, eggs, bagels and muffins. Then we packed up and headed for home.

P.S. Yes. That is Mr. X in crocs and shorts. Yes, he is at home celebrating his birthday with a cold. Happy Birthday, dear.

Ahh, the Life...err I mean, Argh.

Yesterday, we got home from work and immediately changed into pajamas; it was one of those days. We were discussing some plans for this month and indulging in brownies and milk when we heard a light tap, tap on the door. Mr. X rolled his eyes, but went to the door in his flannel pants.

Our neighbor's on-again boyfriend "Thor" was at the door. He didn't say anything just pointed and I heard Mr. X say, "Uh, I don't recognize him. Hmm, I can smell him." Thor grunted, "I'm taking care of it."

Since Thor could win a Hulk Hogan look-alike contest, Mr. X didn't object.

At this point I could distinctly hear snoring, so I peeked my head out the door. From there I saw a heavy boot and pant leg on the hallway floor. A DRUNK WAS SLEEPING IT OFF IN OUR ARCTIC ENTRY!

About 10 minutes later I hear another neighbor - who definitely shouldn't take up pro-wrestling - wake the guy up, "Hey, Bro. You gotta get up. Come on Bro. My neighbor called the po-lice and, Man, I don't want you to go to jail. You gotta get up and get out of here." At which point the inebriate lashed out, verbally assaulting the poor kid, "I don't **** have to **** go **** anywhere **** I don't **** have **** **** to ***** worry about." He went on like this until he passed out again.

20 minutes after that, I hear a cheery and enthusiastic voice, "Hey there, it's Officer Hayes! How's it going? You're at the wrong apartment. Yeah, I know but you can't stay here. (laughter) I don't usually see you out here; you're usually downtown. (laughter) Who're you visiting? Friends or family? Can I give you a ride? You ready? Come on, let's go."

On one hand it's pretty creepy to live in a place that invites this type of visitor. On the other, it was a terribly wet, windy and cold evening. At least he wasn't passed out in a puddle?

Either way, I'm counting on him NOT remembering where he was last night so he can't come back.

How we 'do' Halloween...got chili?

Friday 6am: Pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins, milk and treat bags for 12

Friday 12-noon: Department "Sweaty Brow" Chili cook-off/costume contest/charity event - highlights were Medusa, Catwoman, an oompaloompa, Dorothy, Scarcrow, Tin man and the Cowardly lion. And yes, my brow was sweaty. I was glad we had leftover milk from our breakfast party.

Friday 6pm: blow-off trunk-or-treat (and another chili cook-off) in favor of pizza and warm, dry house

Sunday 5pm: 4 trick or treaters

Sunday 6 pm: Chili and a sliced apple/cheese tray

Save for Retirement Week - delayed

Last week was Save for Retirement Week. I bet you all thought I forgot.

Mr. X and I happened to get our quarterly statements on Saturday, and we spent a few minutes together calculating our returns and reevaluating our approach for 2011.

Some people like to remind you to do your self-exam - I like to remind you to check your retirement accounts and see what's what, and really, it doesn't matter what week you do it.

Personal finance is just that, personal, so take some time to learn how to make your goals a reality whether it's reading a book, logging on to your online account statement or writing down a financial goal for the next year - go do it.

You might be Alaskan...

Me: ...so, D and M went to a U-pick place and--

Mr. X: A Yup'ik place?

Me: Uh, no, U-pick, they got potatoes, onions and tomatoes.

Mr. X: Oh, I was thinking spears and salmon.

The New John Muir Cabin

September in Juneau was unusually warm and dry. The result is that instead of the leaves turning grey, falling from the trees and molding on ground, we have beautiful color everywhere. Yellows and reds, oranges and evergreen. Simply gorgeous I say - Boston in the Fall sings Mr. X.

Friday night we met some friends for an overnight trip to the John Muir cabin. We had been told that the cabin underwent extensive renovations this summer so we were excited to see what we could see.

The hike up was good until night fell. Then the rain came in earnest, and we really tromped through the mud. Hiking in front, Mr. X found a missing plank on the boardwalk and sunk to his knee. A short time later I found a "leg breaker" board and also sunk to my knee.

At the cabin we discovered that it now has an iron spiral staircase to the second floor which was enclosed and shut with a storm door. The table, benches, counter, cupboards, sleeping platforms, roof, and outhouse are all brand new.


In the morning, while everyone else snored, I grabbed the camera and headed out to capture the colors. I couldn't believe the neon orange grasses - they looked like they'd been sprinked with powdered cheese. I loved the red leaves of the bunchberry plants.

On my way, I ran into (what ended up being) two early morning hikers who asked if they could start a fire in the pit in front of the cabin. Since the rest of the mountain is a bog, I agreed and they very quietly cooked their breakfast.* We had a quick breakfast of oatmeal and blueberry muffins, then packed up and invited the hikers in for a chat since a heavy rain had started falling. They were career Coasties working in HR and PR - interesting guys.

We then took a few pictures and headed back to the trailhead. At Conference on Sunday, I asked our friends if they were ready to go again. The husband said absolutely. The wife...not so much.

*the US forest service cabins are warming shelters between 10am and 5 pm after which the cabin and the immediate area belongs to renters; it was 8 am so I could have told them to scram, but I didn't.

Our last John Muir Trip here.

Food Storage Fun

Every September in honor of preparedness month, the Juneau stake holds a food fair. It's a really great event full of fun information, tasty food and interesting demonstrations.

This year, I had ordered some snow tires and had just 25 minutes to browse the displays before I had to go to Les Schwab to pick up the wheels. I had eaten brownies for breakfast and couldn't bear to eat anything else - even though the soups, stews, bean dips, cheesecake, and cinnamon rolls looked delicious.

Really, the only thing I did was play the "name the bean" game. I wrote down my guesses to 20 different beans including mung, anasazi, yellow lentil and put my slip of paper in the box. The missionaries came up and quized me on the beans, teasing me along the way. I teased them back and said that now that I had given them the answers they better put their guesses in the box too.

So, well, yesterday I was surpised to get a call from our ever efficient Stake Food Storage Coordinator. "Sarah, you were the winner of the name the bean game. For your prize you can pick any #10 can that Walton sells."

Sweet!! I chose milk. Probably should have chosen something fancy like dehydrated strawberries though. What would you have picked?