Gypsies and Birdies

Hello everybody! There has been no true Sewardian update for some time. This is partially a consequence of circumstance (noteworthy things don't happen often here in the winter) and also a lack of camera sources. Above is a picture I just took from our computer. You can see that once again, the light has returned to Seward and is gaining in strength and force! The Dark Side is loosing, and our light-saber induced happy powers are winning over the gloom.

 A recent update: 

Ice fishing and snowshoeing seem to be coming to an end. Our weather has warmed to a balmy 36 degrees on a regular basis--you're all quite jealous, I know! This does mean that all ice and snow are slowly yet surely melting to oblivion, and related outdoor sports are coming to a halt. I did, however, see my first moose in 5 months this week whilst on a hike around the outskirts of Mt. Marathon, which borders our very small little town. 

Work has been quite enjoyable. I had the radtastic opportunity of shadowing a bird addmitance to our rehab department this week. The bird was found tangled in fishing line--discarded fishing equipment is actually a very large hindrance to many marine animals. The fishing line was easily taken care of, but the bird, a Common Murre, had an old injury that we addressed as well. Two out of three toes on its left foot were completely bare to the bone! It looked like the foot had been sitting in flesh eating beatles. There was no meat left on the bone, it was completely bare. I can't imagine walking around on a foot that was 2/3 bone. Insane. Our vet wrapped the foot and we'll see how things progress...it definatly won't be using those toes ever again. 

Nothing particularly noteworthy has been going on in our spare time, though. Consequently, I thought I would share some recent doodles I have occupied myself with: 

I took a picture of the doodles, so all writing is backwards. I shall spell it out for you:

Title: "Gypsy Fish of the Cretaceous". 

Caption of Dino Speak: "Fill my belly with shrunken heads, Gypsy! And Powdered Pteradactyl! I'm plum out of Powdered Pteradactyl!"

In this next drawing, I really wanted to draw a Bird Nerd. I then really wanted him to hold a hedgehog. I then decided it was quite important that I justify this moment, so I consequently untilized the math equations on the boards. The equations follow:

X/Hedgehog = fun/tomato

this translates to: X = Hedgehog(fun)/Tomato

I also utilized this equation:

X/Bird = Insert/Tomato

this translates to: X = Insert(Bird)/Tomato

If you substitute the X's, you get the following:

Bird = Hedgehog(Fun)/Insert

This means the bird must play with the hedgehog! The consequenting scene of a hedgehog running after a tomato on the bird's wing resulted. Yes, art and math can combine. And yes, I'm just crazy enough to think this is hilarious. You are allowed to laugh with me, at me, or utilize your own personal combination of both attributes to appreciate this doodle. Thank you.  The time has come to say farewell. A kiss to the palm.... And a blow from the hand. 

Enjoy! And thank you all for your love and support,

Kristen Barenjager

Durango Trip!

Steinmetzer Mama just sent us some pictures from our trip to Durango to visit Durango Mama for Christmas. 

Below: downtown Durango. Tyler and I with Deanna (sister) Durango mom and Steinmetzer mom. We just had our family portrait taken: western theme! It was one of the few moments in life when it's okay to put a gun to your own mother's face. A moment not easily forgotten :o)

Tyler is getting ready to go fishing with my dad below. They went fly fishing together while I went snowshoeing with the moms and my sister.  Here we are snowshoeing! I'm in the front. I don't think it's a past time Deanna or my mom will take up as a favorite hobby....but the landscape was quite beautiful! A dessert covered in snow. We saw some really beautiful sandstone covered in icicles.  Tyler and I. This is my new hat: Just like dad's! Here Deanna and I are with my dad in front of the X-mas tree, strangling his girls. Sweet, huh? We had a wonderful time in Durango. Too bad it couldn't last longer! I'll update with recent Seward happenings soon....

Imminent Explosion!

This is a picture of Redoubt Volcano, which is not quite 200 miles away from Seward, AK. This was taken in 1989, the last time Redoubt had a large explosion. Seward received a few inches of ash from this explosion We've been on eruption watch for about a week now, and even had a small earthquake when the watch started. If it does explode, there is a chance ash will reach Seward, but it's a small chance. It would be exciting! We'd have to wear masks ad HAZMAT suits all over town for a while. I'm supposed to be going to some villages around the Redoubt area next month for some educational outreach programs--wouldn't that be amazing to watch the volcano explode from the air?!? Wish me luck. 

A fair amount of time has passed since my last post, and the lives of the Barenjager family have stayed fairly uneventful. We did have quite an enjoyable jaunt in the forest last weekend during some heavy snowfall. It was quite beautiful. We hiked back to Vogt lake a few miles outside of town. Tyler had his gun out the entire time porcupine hunting. No signs of porcupines, although we did see plenty of coyote tracks. We found cute little shrew tracks leading to a little shrew den, too. Fishing the lake was slightly productive--Tyler caught one rainbow trout, I didn't get any bites. We did have Tyler lassoed around his belly with a long line of rope much like a five year old overactive child. It was, of course, for his safety. He was the ice tester, so he'd go out onto the ice first and I'd stay towards the snowy shore holding the rope just incase he fell in. We were hiked about a mile and a half in, so it was a good thing the ice was about a foot thick--no chance of falling in once we knew that. We also collected some lichen (rock tripe in particular), boiled and ate it. It had really no flavor whatsoever, but neither of us had ever tried lichen before, so it was at least a new adventure. Natives, especially eskimo, apparently ate it quite a bit. 

We also took a nighttime road trip with our friends Sara and Chad to find the Northern Lights. We're not quite sure if we saw them low on the horizon, or saw some sort of orange glow from a man-made object in a place where there should not have been a man made object. Hopefully, before the winter's over, we'll have another chance to try. We went about 13 miles outside of town on a clear night with no moon. The stars were gorgeous. I was suprised how much the snow glowed just from the starlight. Low on the horizon, between two low mountaintops, was a distinct orange glow, much like you would get from a distant city. However, the closest city was about 130 miles away, so it couldn't have been the city. We like to assume the glow actually was space plasma hitting the earth's atmosphere, giving us the duller version of the Northern Lights. Our goal is to make it farther north on a vacation next winter to enjoy them more properly. We're a little too far south in Seward. 

The sun is coming back to us more and more--Thank you solstice! I can feel spring on its way. I think soon I'll be able to actually FEEL the sun again! During the winter, the sun is so low on the horizon that it provides light, but you can't feel any warmth from it. It hits your eyes at this funny low angle, too, that can make objects prism sometimes. It's quite interesting. 

Our Barenjager Update is now complete. Have a pleasant week! And we'd be more than excited to get an email update from anybody, letting us know how our friends and family are doing! We do miss home from time to time :o). 

steinmetzer@live.com