The Good, the bad and the downright ugly.

Oh where to start about the recent trip?  I knew at the onset that traveling with Beloved Husband would be difficult.  He is OCD and is like a grumpy Republican cat especially if he is no longer in his comfort zone.  

I shall attack the voyage in a linear fashion and eventually  get to the end. Hang in there this may be a tad disorganized.

Day one:  Because there were zero seats available on Horizon Air out of North Bend, we elected to drive FIVE hours to Portland to overnight three days etc.  

The drive was well done until we got to the 205 and it was slow, slow until the turn off to the airport.  We crept along for at least an hour.  Finally creeped past the accident that had slowed everything and we rapidly finished the last mile or so.  

First bump was a wrinkle for us.  The parking lot at the Holiday Inn is metered. There was one of those road crossing bars.  We were stumped not having encountered this thing before.  I finally had to get out of the car and read the directions.  Oh, push button, take token, bar raises, drive through. Duh.

Next morning we took the shuttle bus to the airport.  Got on the commuter flight to SeaTac.  I have not flown since 2006.  The walk from Horizon to Alaska was strange.  Not too long ago all of the original carpet at the airport was taken off and people were paying to get strips of it as a momento.  I looked down at the replacement carpet and unfortunately it has been badly worn and looks very shabby.  That kind of heavy use carpet must be constructed with some high iron content I am thinking.  Security was no biggy nothing new so far on the outgoing. Just needed to get boarding passes printed.  I watched people using their smart phones to wave at the gate.  So cool, I gotta get me one of those things.

But I digress.  We went to Alaska Air check in, got boarding passes printed etc. Asked where to go and were told go to the N gates.  Huh?  Go down those elevators, way way down.  We took an underground train thingy that was not there last time I flew.  It was kind of fun, hang onto a hand rail cuz it took off and accelerated like a moon shot.  We arrived at the proper spot and waited for the flight.  The next leg was SeaTac to Dallas/Fortworth.  

Tim and I were seated aisle and middle seat. Not much difference, same size seat very hard, but they now have couple portals to plug in your devices. I plugged in my tablet.  I sat next to a nice young man and greeted him and he said, "I love the snow flake!" (Said snowflake carved into the back of my head by hairdresser lady)  Conversation ensued.  He and his husband and little boy were boarded first and he said that at first the seating had all three of them scattered all over the plane. Um, no the four year old rides with one of us.  Of course, sir. Here you go.  

The ride was smooth for a while, we had a snack of some sort and then turbulence kicked our butts.  This went on for what felt like forever.  I began earnestly praying for the pilot and wishing that I knew one of those elegant prayers. I just kept mentally singing a purely made up hymn.  

"Let it be your will dear Lord, let it be your will.  
Let the captain of this plane fly true...…..
Let it be your will dear Lord, let it be your will.
Let the weather not be bumpy.
Let the clouds be not lumpyl
Let it be your will dear Lord, let it be your will."

I was envisioning some Country trio singing acapella and the one with the long white beard has a very deep voice.

Eventually the Pilot announced that we would climb to 35 thousand feet to avoid the lumpy clouds.  Yay!  Thank you!!!  Beloved Husband was very calm regarding the ride.  His philosophy is that since there is nothing to be done about, do not worry.  So proud, the man worries enough about minutia, but the big stuff?  Not so much.

As we landed and taxied the young man asked if I had a barf bag. Urp, urp.  Got another one? Urp urp.  Here's a napkin.  Was it the food or the flight.  Flight.  

I gave him my email addy and asked for a picture of he and his little boy (Wyatt) and the rest of the family.

All righty then, we switched to American for the leg to Florida. While waiting there, I saw a young black lady reading a book.  When she looked up I asked her if she knew what time zone we were here in Texas?  She blinked and apologized and said that she had no idea she had just come back from over seas.  Oh where from? Korea.  She is an English teacher to South Korean soldiers.  I asked about a phrase I heard many years ago that sounded like "hopshida".  She said it means, "Lets do something".  Thanks, I had never used the phrase because I was afraid it was some Korean cuss words.  

We landed at Tampa International Airport and took their commuter train thingy to pick up luggage.  It was very late and I spotted a man who looked he might be an airport worker. Nope taxi.  Goody, lets go to the Holiday In Express.  Got there and fell into bed.

Now for the medical adventure part.  My appointment was next day at 10:30 and another cab ride. The weather was unseasonable for Florida at this time.  There was torrential tropical rain storm and lots of thunder, Temp 70 very fine degrees.  I like rain.  Got to the clinic and signed at least 20 pages of stuff.  Watched videos of people singing the praises of the NSI stuff. One guy was a famous football player who had the joint injection for his shoulder and he could throw again. Another person talked about how much better his COPD was. Wow.  And another talked about the improvement in the diabetes. A1C went from 10 to 4, she is now on zero meds.

That all sounds pretty incredible but how it works is that the fat cells are harvested, it takes about 4 tablespoons of fat (damn, take a pound, I got plenty!).  These fat cells are given an enzyme treatment, a heat treatment, harvested into a solution and given the patient intravenously.  The little cells circulate all over the body finding places to settle in and reproduce themselves similar to the cells in the locations where they land. There is also a bone marrow taken from the hip and this is used in some fashion.  The process is not yet approved by the FDA, so no insurance will touch the fees. Bring cash.  I brought credit cards.

Here is where it all fell apart.  You do know that banks seize up when your card suddenly gets charges from way far away? Yeah.  Mine were dead, dead, dead.  And trying to fix it on a Friday was not working.  I could not get a one day transfer from my 401k.  The young lady worked with me and nothing worked. I did not qualify for their inhouse financing and I decided to cancel.  Got my 1500 bucks refunded which helped get one card jumpstarted.  Yay, don't have to find a pawn shop.

Returned to room to rest and mentally cudgel myself.  Argh!!! We rested and listened to it rain and thunder, nice and refreshing.

We checked out next day and as we waited in the lobby a nicely dressed family entered.  The bride was dressed in a pink wedding dress! It was gorgeous!  Her grooms looked like her brothers nice tuxedos and orchid corsages.  Pictures were taken, it took three brothers to keep her dress fluffy and up off the floor.  

After they left the desk clerk explained that that was not a pink wedding gown it was a quincereana party, I probably have that misspelled.  It was a 15th birthday party.   I had not seen one since the 70's when the little Catholic Church in Philo, California was decorated for about 7 girls who all showed up in white gowns.  Very festive!  

We caught the cab back to TIA and checked in and got new boarding passes and got in line for the TSA thing.  We followed lots of people and finally got to a desk and the guy, asked if we knew we were TSA precheck?  No what is that?  You go in the short line over there.  Oh, thanks.  I got to the walk through thing and it kept beeping, no idea so I got to go into the x-ray thingie and passed that. I remembered much later that yes I DO have metal in my body, a titanium shoulder joint. Duh.

Things speeded up after that. We got to ride in the train thingy again and sat in a lounge. We had a long wait for the plane, I went shopping and purchased two neck pillows.  I was going to sit on mine because those seats were wearing out my ample padding.  We boarded a very full plane and we were both going to be seated in middle seats.  A nice young man asked Beloved Husband if we were together and offered to let him have the aisle seat, he was sitting with a couple and their baby.  Ok.  As things progressed, the only seat left open was next to me at the window. I asked the guy if he wanted to move over here and give the couple a little room. Yay every body happy.  

It was a SIX. HOUR. FLIGHT. to SeaTac.  The gate guy in TIA mentioned that connecting flights would probably be missed and to rebook with him.  So I did and then. a miracle of sorts happened.  The TWO. HOUR. DELAY. from SeaTac was made up by a combination of speed and a hefty tail wind.  Beloved Husband noticed that our seat mate was tracking the flight on his Alaska Air app (I gotta get a smart phone) and we had made up the gap and were MINUS 30 MINUTES.  Landed on time, but the extended taxi meant for sure wiped out that connection. As it was we almost missed the connection to Portland and we scurried onto an actual jet which took 25 minutes and we touched down in a very time travel manner.  We eventually waited under a heater in the cold 50 degree Portland weather.  Brr.  We eventually got the shuttle bus back to the Holiday Inn and woke someone up by trying to get into the room we left and did not realize that we would be check into a different room. Yay, got that straightened out and fell into bed at 1:30 am.  We eventually woke from a sleep deprived stupor and checked out and headed south on a Sunday and relatively traffic free drive. However, it was raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock.  I drove to Albany and we switched off and Beloved Husband got us to Myrtle Point to the Cozy Kitchen and a much delayed lunch.  Home then and Charlie was very vocal and cussed out extensively in cat attitude.  So good to quit moving.

Conclusion:  If I make another effort, I shall travel alone and hopefully closer. I did an online search and there is some stem cell work being done in Portland for arthritis.  I plan to contact them to see if they are considering infusions. So the moral of the story is.  TAKE. CASH. MONEY. And if anyone tries to rob you, stand up, look stupid and wet your pants which is becoming easier and easier the older I get.

Need a nap.  

BUSH DIARY SEPTEMBER 1996

BUSH DIARY SEPTEMBER 1996:

9-2:  Woke from a weird house dream.  The living room had a toilet on the left side of the fireplace and a bathtub on the right side of the fireplace.  The place was decorated with a tatty combination of real and fake plants.  I realized that this was a dream and woke up in self defense.
The rain has created splashy mud puddles.  In an effort to avoid mud stained pants I have taken to wearing sweat pants over my work pants. 

The seagulls are very loud.  They really love the dumpsters.  These gulls must weight about 20 lbs each and are large enough to carry off a small dog or cat.  Small dogs do not exist here, haven't seen one tea cup sized pooch.  Cats do not go outside either,  They are a furry snack pack.

Medical adventure:  Dr. Perez recommended niacin.  So I have been quaffing a daily pill.  Next bottle same dose.  I did not pay attention to the strength of the pill which I purchased.  I must have jumped from a 500 mg to 1000 mg.  BECAUSE, I had a medical hot flash reaction.  Within a few minutes of taking the meds my face flushed, my body was HOT all over and I thought I would faint.  I splashed cold water on my face and ran cold water on my hands.  The symptoms gradually subsided so that I no longer looked like a boiled lobster.  I was down to pink by the time I went to work.

Got a call from Monica, former truly appreciated boss woman.  She is now working in Texas.  She called to tell me that she got a call from Beloved Leader who wanted to talk to Monica about the direction of the medical record committee and to say that "Royce sure didn't want to let go."  Well that much is true, I am afraid she will forget where she put it and we won't be able to find it.  O dear.

9-6: Happy birthday to me.  Tim sent me a Balloon-o-gram attached to an Alaska shaped clock. 

9-7 Begin vacation:  We flew to Boise after stops in Fairbanks and Anchorage. Mom and Phil picked us up in the Van.  The  Sable was in the garage waiting for a hose to fix the AC. So we rented something for a week.

The real estate deal fell through.  The owner decided to withdraw so no swell upstairs apartment in downtown Emmett.
  
Second week of travel.  We took off for Kelso, Washington to visit with Tim's sister, Betty and brother-in-law Benn.  We headed first to the Dalles and when we got there we saw STEAM coming out of something.  It was Friday night.  The mechanic looked at it and said water pump is gone, we can fix it Monday.  So Tim and I left the car and cabbed to Best Western.  The in house eatery made the BEST chicken fried sirloin steaks.  Yummy!  We got the car fixed and then drove to Kelso to visit up there.  The tire went low and had to fix that.

Next portion of trip was drive to Seattle and visit with Carla.  Had to shop six hotels before finding a room.  The garage is coming right along.   We shopped, we gabbed.  It was much fun.  

Then it was time to head south to visit with Carolyn, Tim's other sister.  The trip bogged down a bit because POTUS was campaigning and I actually had to pull off of I-5 for about 30 minutes at one point because Secret Service had blocked traffic.  Campaigning is a behotch.

We visited in Salem and went out to eat and met the furry members of the family as well, two American Bobtails who look a bit Siamese with short tails, very cute.

Shopping.  We wanted a big TV, bought a big TV, Post office said, nope we will not ship that big TV, so we took the big TV back to Wally world.  sigh.  Still shipped three boxes of stuff home.  

We traveled back to Boise and flew home to Barrow.  We had to wait forever for Bradford to be off loaded from the jet.  Finally got all of us dragged home. 
Spent a quiet weekend collecting a bag of mail and one box.

9-30-96:  First day back to work.  There were people nearly weeping with job to see me. I got lots of hugs and many heartfelt "welcome backs".  I guess Beloved Leader drove the nurses nuts with the census thing.  There were five babies born while I was gone.  None of the birth certificates got done.  I completed them all today and will mail them tomorrow via certified mail. Carolyn M told me that Barbara has no idea how close she is to being canned.  Many on site personnel lining up to provide documentation.  E gads.

We have a computer god hired!!! He put a new laser jet printer at my station and it works perfectly!  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

That's it for September.  G'night folks.

BUSH DIARY AUGUST 1996:

8-4: Decided to make oatmeal raisin cookies.  I also made a batch Tex/Mex lasagna. I chopped up a Jalapeno pepper and used a cup of salsa.  Also added fresh mushrooms and zucchini.  Drained off lots of liquid.  Tasted pretty good.

Taking a trip: We booked tickets for September.  For the very first time we get to go first class from Barrow to Seattle. That usually does not kick in until Anchorage.  That only means we get on the plane first.  Should be interesting.

8-5: Update on the Fortune 500 ship:  Well we did have some rather pricey talent come to town  Members of the World President's Club and their wives just spent two weeks on a Russian nuclear icebreaker, the Imar, from Murmansk.  They had BBQ at the North Pole.  Then our local Search and Rescue flew out and transported all 45 couples to Barrow.  Phew! They all managed to go on a Tundra tour and lunch at Pepe's. The qualifications for membership area that the member must have been president before age 35 of a company worth more than 200 million bucks.  The Club presented Search and Rescue a check for 10k in thanks and an electronic keyboard for the schools.  Thanky.

Barge news: Stuck in Wainwright, it ran aground.  Hope a high tide comes to the rescue.

8-7:  Hah! saw the barge on my way to work this morning.  The barge will off load 4000 tones of goods, mostly building material and eight modular homes.

8-7:  Strange day at work.  Went to our regular medical record meeting that includes us and the nurses.  Barbara was not well organized.  She had prepared some scanty minutes.  And the first order of business was to change the name of the committee to Health Information Management Committee and expand membership to all departments and hold the meetings quarterly.
     There was immediate objection.  Name changes have to go through channels which means area and up.  In addition pharmacy, lab and x-ray are too busy to attend another committee meeting.
     Lastly was the review of standardized abbreviations as required by JCAHO.  Barb had copied the current list but had not collated or stapled the lists. We did a hurried scramble of assembly.  She had crossed off several commonly used terms and this met with objection from nursing.  This took an hour God help us.
     The fall out is that the head of nursing urged me to talk to the CEO so I did so.  She called me back to consult with ASNA Personnel.  He said he would speak to her
about the situation.  He estimated that it would take about six weeks for any changes to happen.  Dear God, must. not. kill. boss. lady.  I feel so bad about this because I dutifully made all the calls to references and checked it all out.  Boy was I ever not quite right.

More torture: I was called to Beloved Leader's desk to help on the end of the month report.  She kept putting in stuff and changing stuff and doing it wrong and I had to help her fix it back.  Argh!
     In addition to this, she asked Carolyn for a private office. Carolyn told her that no she could not have a private office because there were none available.  
     Carolyn also told her that no she could not take another trip for a coding  seminar because of budget issues and that budget must be shared with other members of the department.
     Barbara told me that her daughter called her at 5 am to ask her what to do about the burial plots?  Um, is this a sign, God?
     We had a small printer set up on Barbara's desk to print out birth certificates.  She complained that her desk was too crowded.  Since I have a printer for same function, I removed the printer and put it in storage.

8-10: The barge folks called to say that our 28 boxes of goods would be delivered sometime mid week.  We have the hallway for stack up of boxes.  Hope nothing is very tippy.

We went to Pepe's for Saturday breakfast but there was a huge tour group from Taiwan there and we walked to Sam and Lee's for breakfast.  It felt strange getting individual plates for hash browns, toast, scrambled eggs and pancakes.  Lots of plates, lots.

Interesting:  The post office finally issued a po Box for the hospital.  That only took 30 years. The official address is: Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital. 1296 Agvik Street, Po Box 29, Barrow, AK 99722-0029.

News from home:  Just talked to Mom.   Carla's house burned the garage to a crisp and lots of smoke damage.  The lovely antique T-bird is now known at T-burnt. They will be staying at Marsh's house for the next three weeks.  We were going to stay with them but will get a room in September.

8-11: Snow flurries.  Purchased two chickens and ingredients for potato salad.  I loves me some fried chicken.

8-12:  Lots of transcription today.  Dr. Maria Freeman got all caught up.  Lovely girl, I caught her one day typing her own H&P and asked why she was typing it?  She said it made her think about her patient better. God bless the woman!

Beloved Leader came in at 8:45 am today, sat at her desk paying bills during lunch and wandered off and came back about 2 pm.  She was really beating up the computer, I glanced at what she was typing when I went by and it was a very long letter to her last place of employment urging them to pay for her last seminar that she attended.  The national organization was threatening to take her to court for nonpayment.  The drama!

8-13: OMG my neighbors in the 12-plex were busted for bootlegging.  She is the dentist in Public Health and her husband works for BUECI. They actually had another house rented in Barrow and that was where they did all the brewing.  I used to see huge cardboard boxes of something (Thought it was dog food) delivered at the Public Health building all the time and just thought, boy that's a lot of toothbrushes.  They were both busted, went to jail and got out on bail.  She is commission corps with IHS in the Dental program. They stand to be fined 10k and some jail time.  Eesh.  Cops reported they found 176 bottles of beer on the wall and eight carboys brewing. Upshot is that she goes to Anchorage for two weeks until legal stuff is taken care of.  Husband was fired from BUECI immediately.

Beloved Leader Report:  Carolyn flagged me down in the hallway to say that she had set up weekly meetings with Barbara for attitude adjustments. 

Got the call from the Barge folks about to deliver our order. They showed up almost 10 pm at night and got everything shuffled into the apartment.  Tim had managed to get most of it put away the next day and there is sufficient passage from front door to living room.  Yay!!

Beloved Leader excused herself to go home at 3 pm today to watch...The Republican Convention...really?  She especially wanted to watch Bob Doles acceptance speech.

8-16:  Company Picnic:  The plan was for employees to ride in various boats to the Point where a sumptuous repast of hot dogs awaited.  The weather degraded rather severely and the picnic was moved to the commons.  Much better!!

One the ER nurses popped in to ask if Beloved Leader had left for her afternoon nap yet.  Yup. Dish of cream was passed and consumed, meow.

8-21: Luxury liner moored off shore. The Hanseatic Liner coming from Europe via the Northwest passage, the fifth such successful trip.  The passengers descended on Barrow in many red rubber life rafts.  They departed and the plan was for the ship to return via the Panama Canal.  25k per berth. 
     Got that wrong: The Hanseatic was headed north and trying to beat the ice pack.  The Hanseatic ran aground near King William Island.  Most recent news still aground, passengers taken off to continue their trip via other means. 

I learned a cultural thing today.  I learned that the way an Inupiaq says yes is to raise the eyebrows.  A non verbal No is a wrinkle of the nose.  Now that would be a good thing for non-natives to be oriented about.  Kids are easy, those little eyebrows go up easily and often.  You just have to watch for it.

Okay August is almost over, G'night folks.

BUSH DIARY JULY 1996

BUSH DIARY JULY 1996:

7-2:  Today was Founder's Day for the North Slope Borough.  Patrick thought it was an ASNA holiday and did not come in.  He decided to come in for some personal reason and saw everyone here beavering away and though "Uh oh".  And decided to stay for the remains of the day.  Thanks Patrick.

The hospital has a new name the hospital's official name has been the United States Public Health Service and ASNA renamed it the Samuel Simmonds Memorial Hospital.  I like the acromyn much better. SSMH.   I have to amend the electronic birth certificate package and also in a few other documents.

Tourist funny:  One of the nurses was relating the following at break.  One of the tourist ladies who came in for a minor injury discovered that the RN was also from Connecticut!  She badgered him to tell him how he wound all the way up here in Barrow.  Finally, he gulped, looked around nervously related that he had discovered that he had a mob hit out on him. He flew as far away as he could and still use his credentials for a job.  The lady bought it hook, line and sinker.  Which is not to say that a few people don't wind up here with a mob contract out on the street with their name on it.

Inupiaq Word of the Day:  The Inupiaq word for cat is "pusiq".  Pretty sure that is a phonetic adaptation of what they heard the sailors on the whaling ships calling, "Here pussy, pussy!".  Did not know the whalers even had cats on the ships.  Hope they ate all the rats.  As far as I know Barrow does not have rats.

ASNA Holiday, sort of.  The CEO of ASNA called the hospital about 3 pm and let us know that we had the rest of the afternoon off.  No idea why but I sent home as many folks as possible. Barbara went about getting some utilities hooked up.

Carla gave notice to her job in Ohio and is headed back to Seattle.  Her job begins as soon as the new store opens.

House dream: I was looking at a very messy living room and someone exclaimed, "This living room looks worse than a ruined meal!"  I really like that phrase and I am not certain that I have every hearing in my awake life.

This was the week that three people had to go south immediately; one to PI, one to LA and Patrick to Anchorage to take the coding certification exam.  Oh dear. Geri and I got a huge pile of paper processing done and I asked Barbara if I could take the afternoon off.  Okay.  Then she announced she had a headache and needed to go to her apartment and lie down.  I cancelled my afternoon off. sigh...

7-13:  It rained a lot today, created puddles with lots of nice splashy PERMANENT mud.  When it splashes just assume that you will never wear white pants again, ever.

7-16:  Still raining.

7-17:  Nice day, a little rain.  The area computer whiz arrived in town to install the internal hard drive.  Would you believe he discovered a connecting plug had been installed upside down?  He departed after a delicious pizza.  Next day still can't do back up, got a tape error. 

House dream:  Nice house with wrap around porch and columns.

Phil faxed me a draft of the condo bylaws.  Oh dear, more dreary reading.

7-19:  Watched opening ceremonies of the Olympics.  Atlanta made us proud with the snazzy chrome pick up trucks.  Muhammed Ali lit the torch.

O joy, I get to be acting manager.  Barbara will be attending the IHS meeting in Albuquerque.  Enjoy! Too hot for me.

Canadian Ice Cutter: Is parked just off shore.  One of the nurses met some of the crew while walking her dog on the beach and invited them to her apartment for snacks and to watch the Olympics. 

Also heard a rumor that a bunch of Fortune 500 execs have rented a luxury liner to take them to the North Pole for dinner.  Then they are supposed to stop in Barrow for tourista stuff.  Really? Kinda sounds like urban legend to me.

Barrow crud.  Fourth day of upper respiratory etc.    I was dragging around and one the Public Health Nurses gave me a handful of what looked like crumpled lawn clippings.  She told me it was Colt's Foot, she picked it on the tundra. I am to boil it for a couple minutes in a couple cups of water and drink it down.  It made me sweat like a little piggy and I actually felt better.  Huh.  It is good to be able to breath.

Silly joke: 
What goes "Clippety clop. Bang!"
               "Clippety clop. Bang!"
               "Clippety clop. Bang!"
An Amish drive by shooting.

7-29:  Watching more Olympics:  The pipe bomb was awful.  Hope the FBI is mistaken about Officer Jewell.

Oh dear, Concerns about boss lady at work:  Alaska really is a small state people wise.  Judy my ex-boss took the Nordies bus from Kenai to Anchorage and stayed in Edie Bailey's B&B. Barbara also stayed there for orientation at ANMC.  Edie and Judy chatted and Edie related that Barbara fell asleep about eight times, insulted the vendor, took down all of Edie's No Smoking signs and refused to take her shoes off in doors. Taking off shoes is an Alaska thing in some places. Keep the snow, mud and/or dirt outside.
  
All employees need to have a Hep B shot.  I made out a new chart for Barbara. she is keeping it in her apartment because that is what she did the whole five years that she worked in Germany.  Yeah I understand the military part of that.  But really?

Carolyn M.  has voiced some doubts as well.  I shared what little I know and it doesn't look good.  I am still waiting to be dazzled by my new manager and so far nuthin.  So far she has been on site for six weeks, has taken two trips out of Barrow.  She comes in to work no later than 8:30 am, takes very generous coffee breaks, takes 90 minute lunch and leaves at 4:30.  I am stumped.  I feel like I helped shoot myself in the foot regarding the hiring of her. 

7-29:  Barbara called in sick.  She fell ill on the trip back from New Mexico.  So noted.

Beloved leader is back.  She came in at 6 am, left at 3:30 pm said she had new working hours.  Don't know how long that will last.  Update:  Lasted one day.

Day 17 of the Olympics:  I thought there was going to be Ball room dancing this year.  I must have missed it.

July has been  very interesting.  G'night folks.

BUSH DIARY JUNE 1996

BUSH DIARY JUNE 1996:

6-6:  Woke from fancy working dream. I was working in furniture, kitchens.  I think I am remodeling the property I am trying to purchase in Emmett.  Meh.

Big Fire in Alaska:  Big Lake is burning.  Carolyn McClintock told us that their house burned to the ground.  Spared a vehicle and a storage shed but house is a goner.  She and her husband own a house in Fairbanks but there are renters in it and they do not want to go through the hassle of noticing to move out etc.  They are planning on putting a well insulated modular home next year.  Poor Lloyd is starting all over paper work wise, he can't even prove he exists at this point.  Ugh, paper work!  She also said that since both or her parents had been cremated that she was going to take a small vial of ashes from the burned house so they could "Take it with them."

Family dream: all about music, pockets and waiting for buses.  Weird.

Phil faxed me the plans for the "condo".

The new manager is here, Barbara Kennedy.  She comes from West Point and is near retirement age.  Her flight was weathered out in Fairbanks and she got in a day later than planned. 

Furniture:  We decided we needed a recliner for Father's Day. So Tim and I went shopping at AC.  We picked out a  Benchcraft teal color rocker. They delivered it to the 12-plex next day.  Tim wrestled the thing into the apartment and found room by arranging stuff.  The two housing chairs that had been there were already gone when I got home today.  

Nalukatuk 6-20 through 6-26:  The Welcome Whaling Feast and Blanket Toss and Eskimo dancing will be held amongst these dates.  There were only six whales taken this spring most all tender 25 footers and one big 50 footer.

End of partial week with new boss:  We held a birthday party and potluck for Barbara as well as Jeanne's birthday.  Tons of food. At one point the head housekeeper poked me and said, "You boss sleeping at her desk.".  OMG, I apparently have hired Wanda B.  I hired Wanda when I worked in Emmett. She was retired and I needed someone for papework etc.  She had a delightful personality and told very funny stories. Unfortunately she had an undiagnosed case of narcolepsy.  I could be talking to her about something, look up and there she was holding a piece of paper and nodded off.  I really did not want to fire her so I got into the habit of kicking the desk every once in a while to wake her up.  I don't know if I will be able to kick Barbara's desk.  We will see.

Movie dream:  Anastasia.  What have I been reading!?

Weather records smashed here on 6-18:  The temperature rose to 72 degrees, nice breeze, mosquitoes mostly blown away. The apartment needed all windows open and all fans going. Warm!!!

6-23:  Chatted with Mom she said she and Aunt Wilma had a good time at the Missouri Cousins reunion.  They also visited Katherine in St. Charles and toured St. Louis, enjoyed the Mets/Cardinals game and did the Arch.  Katherine also took them to the airline training facility and they got to practice opening an airline door way. 

Sad News From California. Mom called to tell me that Helen Dougherty had died.  She was using a cane at Charlies wedding but looked well.  She had metastatic ovarian cancer and declined to take much treatment of any kind.  A very strong woman.  She had been raising Vickie's two children.  Do not know what will happen there.  Mike will probably take over the house.  They tried to tell Granma LaVann that Helen had died but at age 96 her memory is slipping badly.

Jury Duty:  I am in group number 23.  Superior court. Got in the jury box, got challenged and dismissed.  Thank you!!  I have been called to jury duty enough to recognize patterns.  If one sits and works on a puzzle or reads a book and accidentally smiles, one or more of the lawyers will bounce you out of there.
  
Computer trouble: Some one was working on Barbara's computer and deleted the Microsoft office program. Some one finally figured out that the Microsoft Office program somehow got dragged and dropped into the Electronic Birth Certificate Program.  What!?  Anyway it got fixed and put a password on the PC so that Barbara is the only one who can use her PC

6-30:  Farm dream.  There was a large barn with a grass roof.  Perhaps the farm was located in the alps?

That's it for June, Ladies and Gentleman. G'night.

BUSH DIARY MAY 1996

BUSH DIARY MAY 1996:

Hmmm, my Bush Diary is very short for May.  

5-17:  Had Bradford in the kitty hospital for observation.  He was not urinating. Vet thinks he was having a spot of urinary tract difficulties. She recommended more liquid in his diet.  Ok, you can lead a cat to water but you can't.....

Real Estate Decision:  I asked Phil to go ahead and order the 2,000 dollar survey.  I will put together a check.  

I finished reading a Kinky Freidman book entitled, "God Bless John Wayne".  The phrase that made me laugh out loud in an airplane was "F-ck me gently with a chainsaw." 

5-24:  What a week.  Thursday I developed a low back twinge.  Standing was okay, sitting was miserable.  Saw doctor who prescribed Robaxin 1500 mgs every six hours for two days then taper off. It kicked in the next afternoon at work. Yayyyy!

The bank seems to have misplaced one of my CD's.  I didn't cash them all out for Charlies Wedding gift.

Memorial Weekend:  Felt like making Tim's favorite oatmeal cookies.  Ran out of brown sugar so this was a white sugar only version.  I also made potato salad and fried some chicken.  I just love my ulu for cutting meat.  It is a native knife the blade has a round blade kind of triangular blade with a wooden handle.  It is very sharp but it must be washed and dried immediately. It ain't stainless steel.  I like to fried the chicken until crisp and then finish cooking in the slow cooker.  Ummmm, good.

Traveling dream:  I went to India or Pakistan.  Bathrooms were nonexistent and could not figure out what people did for a necessary until an English lady demonstrated. She stepped into a river, went neck deep and made bubbles   oh...

More Bank troubles.  Trotted into deposit pay check.  Clerk fiddled and punched and stamped and finally gave me the deposit slip.  I looked at it and said that the number did not look right. 
What!?   Give me that!
Seems the clerk had punched in the check number from ASNA.  Always fill out a deposit slip!!!

5-31-96:  Samuel Simmonds funeral was yesterday.  He was 74d and he died at home. He was a highly respected elder and pastor of the Protestant Church both here and in Wainwright. He was the first native to be ordained in the church. The funeral was held in the high school and about 300 people attended .  Samuel had taken up ivory carving and he made many carvings of typical Inupiat live.  One of my favorites is a small statue of a father and son.  The father is dressed up to go hunting.  The little boy is pleading to go with him.  The father is explaining that the boy has to stay home but promised to take him with he got a little taller.  It is a very touching thing.  The funeral lasted about five hours. 

Hate to close on a gloomy note but that's all for the month.  G'night folks.

BUSH DIARY APRIL 1996

BUSH DIARY APRIL 1996:

4-1: First day work as ASNA employee.  The ASNA finance guy came over to explain the new 401k.  I elected to maximize.  Yay, me, being all finance and stuff.

4-5: Got two checked today.  Got the last NSB pay stub.  Cashed out 502 hours of leave time.  Unca Sam got 38% of that.  Will have to scare up 500 bucks addition for filing this year.  Yeesh. Must mail by 4-8. Yikes.

Found out that rent is no longer withheld from pay check.  I pay rent to the Borough in the building next door.  That is doable.  Hope there will be the opportunity to pay electronically or something at some point.

Tuesday I was guest lecturer and Ilisagvik College.  I was invited to the business class to explain the filing system at the medical records department. They asked some good questions.  Then they came to the department for a tour.

ASNA's new personnel, David White, came to chat with us.  Is worked previously in Nome.  He is fired up to hire the New York lady for the manager position.  Ok what ever.  It will be refreshing to have someone do the hiring, procuring, housing etc.

Jeez, a whole week without Mary Jo.  She apparently quit without notifying us.  I talked her into coming back.  I will refer her to Borough counseling.  She has a lot of stresses in her life.

Final meeting for NSB stuff.  Signed mo paper.  Elected to keep Pers as is for the time being.

Real Estate.  Got a counter offer from Phil for the Emmett property.  I said okey dokey.  Now it is up to the other guy.

Carla called she has a job interview in Minneapolis for Target.  The store in question is located in Salt Lake City.  Huh.  Well that is a little closer to Seattle.

The hospital remodeling guys are back.  They left before Thanksgiving.  They are converting one patient room into true isolation which means reverse air flow. 

Birth certificate difficulties.  Had a Mom and Father signing an affidavit of paternity.  Got a call from the Mom wanting to fill out a new certificate.  Oh? Yeah he ain't the Daddy.  Sigh.  She came in.  Filled out another one.  Juneau wanted both of them.  I turned my back for a minute and the original one disappeared.  I documented that with an incident report.  Same mom brought in another man to fill out another affidavit.  I am pretty sure Juneau will not let that one stand.  Headache.

Travel plans are firming up for the wedding.  Still mulling appropriate cash gift as to type.  I cannot surprise them with a personal IRA, they hafta do that.  Mom and I will play tourista before and after the wedding.  Fun.

4-12: Spring Festival.  ASNA declared a half day off but UIC would not provide phone coverage so that fell to three of us in the department. 

New TDY doc whose last name is IP.  Someone quipped look what it says when you put Dr in front?  Giggle, giggle.

Da wedding. Tim escorted me to catch the plane.  Took the Hertz bus at SFO to the car lot.  I drove a little white Dodge Stratus.  Found Oakland and burned as I watched Alaska Airlines landing continuously there.  Had I known I would have flown directly there.  Sheesh. Picked up Mom and we hijacked one of those motorized people carrier things to take us to the front door.  
     We visited with my friend, Judy Jones, who picked us up for the day.  We tootled all over Sonoma county looking in at various vineyards. Much fun.  
     Went to Corte Madera and found a dress at Macy's.  I look like a large green float but what the heck.  
     We were all invited to Mike and Linda's house in Santa Rose.  Had not seen Mike for years and was shocked to discover that he has lost two top front teeth and not a denture in sight.  We had London broil, ravioli, tossed salad, cheese cake.  I noticed that she has a nice angel collection. I kept my mouth shut about MY angel collection. 

     Saturday was the wedding.  Went early and helped decorate a bit, went to our rooms and got gussied up and returned for the ceremony. It was great, visited with people I had not seen in 20 years. 

     I saw Grandma LaVann sitting and I went over to her and knelt down and asked, "Do you remember me?"  She gasped, "You look younger and fatter!"  I laughed and said, "Don't you know that fat is a preservative?"

     The wedding was conducted by a nondenominational lady Minister.  The only hitch was that the kids left the marriage license at the house, the maid of honor was sent to toss the place and return forthwith.
     Charlie was very handsome in his black tux and gray vest. Leslie wore a Victorian satin floor length dress with a froth lace trim peeking out at the hem.  The neck line was sweetheart. Her veil was finger tip with a dainty little widows peak hand securing with a spray of pearls and small white flowers.  They had matching wedding bands.  They took off for a mini honeymoon in Timber Cove.
     Monday Mom and I went to Petaluma to visit with all the Berglunds and Papageorgedapoulis folk.  We met Glynnie and Ted and the baby girl.  That evening we had dinner with Pat and Beth Doughtery. It was a catch up with everyone Monday.
     Tuesday Mom and I toured the Burbank gardens in Santa Rose.  We visited more with the married folk and said our goodbyes and packed to return home.   
     The trip to Oakland airport next morning it was raining and BUMPER TO BUMPER traffic.  I sweat bullets getting her to the airport.  Dropped her off and went south to the San Mateo bridge and north to SFO.
     Tim had flown to Anchorage to meet and have a break from Barrow.  The next morning he blissfully left the rental running and it locked automatically. Had to call someone to come unlock it and we did not miss our flight to Barrow.  It was a 50 dollar miracle. Got home okey.  Bradford had a hiccup the gate agent had to check for shots and flight cert from the vet.  Awk.

4-26: Lovely surprise at work. Lois Anderson sewed me a kuspuk and gave it to me.    I remember chatting with her about how much I would like to have one.  She told me to turn aroud.  She took her fist and measured from my neck to top of shoulder.  I think I am a three fist kuspuk.  Anyway I took off my knitted cap that she had admired and I gave it to her. I told her that my mom had knitted it for me.
     Other work, I have to prepare a death certificate for a woman who had just resigned from her position as State Representative.  She died of liver failure at age 46. She had been in treatment in California but wanted to die at home.  She mayor sent the Lear jet.  She was cremated in Anchorage.  The service was broadcast on KBRW and was five hours long.

Other work: Patrick is still on jury duty but managed to do census each evening after he got off jury duty.  Thank you!!! I have about 20 charts to get caught up.  The computer guys came to fix the PC that has the birth certificate loaded on it and they put in a new mother board, so am forced to wait on that and have four birth certificates waiting.

 Update:  Computer guys have to order new mother board.  I begged to have them swap out the bits I need to another PC so I could get current on birth certificates.  Got five caught up.  

Got a call to come get a check at NSB.  What check?  My life insurance had been cashed out.  That's a thing? Trotted to bank, made deposit.  What fun.

Have another trip planned to Kenai for the Alaska Health Information meeting. Will go visit Judy and Dean which is located on the Kenai peninsula.  Tim and I are booked into the Kenai Marriott.

House dream.  Mom and I visited Agatha Christies house. No murders were committed, no mysteries were solved.

Kenai Trip:  Tim, Bradford and I flew down on Alaska, and short hop on ERA to Kenai.  The Kenai Inn was NOT Marriott.  The bathroom was so small you had to step into the tub to close the door.  And it was HOT.  So we shopped at a big store and bought a box fan.  Some people moved to another place but Tim had settled in and once he is settled.....  Had lunch at Land's End which is a place out on the Homer Spit.  It was fascinating.   Visited with Judy and Dean at their very nice place.  Saw the infamous eagles nest which is about the size of your average Volkswagen.

Real estate:  I need to pay for a survey. ok.

Barge order: Tim has been busy preparing a barge order this year.  He has been busy ordering 25 cases of assorted goods from Span Alaska, scheduled to leave Seattle June and get to Barrow in August.

Sam and Lee's is open.  Chinese food place that burned down three years ago.  It was formerly a collection of Quonset huts.  This has been replaced by a very nice two story building, living quarters upstairs, eatery down stairs. I adore the Mongolian Beef.  Tim and I had dinner there for about 50 bucks. Spendy but delicious.

Happy April, G'night folks.