'Welcome to the United States of America'

So I got the most expensive piece of paper in the mail today..but very very exciting! I have finally got my permanent residence status. Now I can legally work, travel and perhaps even get the Alaskan dividend! I'm on probation for 2 years so no playing around with hookas or anything like that ;)

Wow..it such a relief its been the biggest pain in the a** and thousands of dollars and hours of stress.

I'm most excited about being to travel again, I've felt like a prisoner in a very large country. I would like to fly to the UK or Australia just because I can, but unfortunately the bank balance won't even get me to Canada :)

Stairway to heaven

So last week home we decided to take on a giant construction project.. It was actually the last phase of framing inside the house for it to be complete.


We had several different ideas for a loft above the kitchen.. the ceiling is 5 meters high in the living room and kitchen so it was good to capitalize on all the airspace. We ended up making a 4 by 6 meter loft along with a landing above the hall and a stairway. The ladder that came with the house was getting a little cumbersome after 6 months of climbing.

Luckily enough I have a good friend Chris who is an ex-framer who worked on many prestigious builds around the city of anchorage, he just happened to get suckered into a hunting for framing trade that worked to our advantage.

Step 1 = Rewire the janky wall lights to accommodate more modern lighting in the kitchen ceiling.

Step 2 = Build the Ledger.. this is the perimeter of the floor structure

Substep 2A= drop drill while lagging bolts in the wall and destroy a brand new windowsill.

Substep 2B = apologize to Amy Victoria

Step 3 = Span a beam…. Or in our case 3 very scientific… very engineered LVL beams.. this means Laminated Versalam Beams.. Basically wood with a lot of epoxy in it.

Step 4 = Install the Joists…

Step 5 = Sheet the floor

Step 6 = build the upper landing and the wall for the underthestairway closet.

Step 7 = Build lower landing and upper stair stringers.. This is probably the hardest step to lay out stairs that work perfectly with the house.. the science that is involved in this process is bewildering.

Step 8 = Put the treads on the stairs

Step 9 = Enjoy

The new couch fits in its place as if the stairs were built to accomodate it.

Fire Pit

I found a bargain at Burlington coat factory for a cool little fire pit. We are dreaming of fires on the deck and BBQ's with our family and friends this summer.

I decided to time how long it would take Craig to construct the thing....It actually didn't take Craig very long at all, maybe 15 minutes.

I love how our dog Saebo has to be involved in everything we do..if you didn't know about boxers they are the nosiest breed in the world.

I gave a helping hand with the decorative river rocks..

Ta Da! Oh isn't it fancy? Apparently the Steller's Jays have some use for the river rocks, we witnessed a bird steal one the next morning.

Chris, our friend from Anchorage came down this week to start the 'big project'. (Stairway and office room construction!) Chris is a very skilled carpenter so Craig swapped a hunting trip for some labour.

This is what my house looks like right now. Isn't it just lovely?

Here's the first step..making way for the support beam. I'm slightly nervous but excited. Stay tuned!

Randoms

I realised I haven't done an update on the Aerogarden lately...this is 3 weeks. Isn't it just magical? We have a mystery plant on the bottom right, it was supposed to be cilantro as I wanted two plants but its defnitely not cilantro.

On Saturday night we went into town and both drank a few too many that there wasn't a DD available. We left the car and then drove in Mr Pimps the next day to pick it up.

Here's C and Saebo cruising in diplomatic stylee down the highway...

Craig drove me all the way up to Anchorage today so I could work with my birds and he could buy a door for the bathroom. We have a door its just not very functional. Well we drove all that way, they drove home in a blizzard with the boot open because the door didn't quite fit. And then we got home and the door doesn't quite fit the doorway either :)
Craig to himself "I can't believe I was that dumb".


Anywho, C came and met the coolest Red-Tailed hawk on the planet at Bird TLC..

Saebo's sulking cos a door was in his seat...

Iditarod VIP's

There I was just petting Martin Buser's dogs..minding my own business and over walks some men is black suits and a women in sunglasses looking very glam for such a cold day.

Sarah Palin, our very famous Governor who was the vice-president elect, came over with her husband, her baby and one young daughter to chat with Martin Buser.

She digged my accent and got her assistant to take a pic of us, she said 'we love English people!'








I even managed to tape their convo...






Martin is my fav dude musher as he just seems like a cool legit guy. He is a four-time champion, and holds the record in 8 days, 22 hours, 46 minutes. He's been a top 10 finisher 18 times. Wow. The work that goes into this is just amazing.

He's pretty hardcore with such fancy gear...

Here's one of his beautiful dogs.

Here's me and DeeDee Jonrowe, she is an awesome lady who wears makeup during her whole trip! She is quite the crowd fav and super friendly. She came second in 1993 and 1998 and is pretty much a complete badass representing the ladies (I think most Alaskans are more impressed with my DeeDee pic than with Sarah Palin). She is a breast cancer survivor and started the 2003 race 3 weeks after finishing chemotherapy. What a women!

Last Great Race in the World (Part 1)

OK seriously. Have you ever been so high off life it can't get any better? I had the most fantastic time as a dog handler for the start of the 37th Iditarod Trail Dog Sled Race.

'It’s unlike any other event in the world. A race over 1,150 miles of the most extreme and beautiful terrain known to man: across mountain ranges, frozen rivers, dense forests, desolate tundra and windswept coastline ...'

From Anchorage, in south central Alaska, to Nome on the western Bering Sea coast, each team of 12 to 16 dogs and their musher cover over 1150 miles in 10 to 17 days.

On Friday I had my training to get certified, you basically have to take turns practising running around with these dog musher models...

So I got my Dog handler card and I was up early Saturday morning and headed to downtown Anchorage.

It's a crazy fun scene, all the mushers have tons of helpers getting themselves and the dogs all organized.

Most of the dogs get these cute little booties to help protect their feet from getting packed with snow..

I just love the beautiful eyes of the huskies..

Taking a rest before the big trip.

Dog handlers in action!

Start line on 4th Ave..

This here is Lance Mackey, a cancer survivor and history-smashing musher who has won the last 2 races.

Here's a clip of how crazy the sled dogs get; they are sooo excited to get going!

Goldielocks

This week at Bird TLC we got a new juvenile bald eagle in from Dutch Harbor. He is weak, has labored breathing even though his lungs and heart sound fine, but he shows all the signs of being toxic-he probably ate something really nasty he shouldn't have. We actually get quite a few eagles through the clinic like this.

Here's my friend and work collegue Jen holding him while Cindy tubes him some ground up fish and vitamin juice, he vomited it right back up.

We gave him an IV of fluids the next day as he was very dehydrated. He is not eating on his own so its not looking like the best outcome. I have named him goldielocks as he has the most beautiful coloured feathers on the top of his head.

On the way back to Ina's this guy was in a neighbours yard happily diggin away ..