4 - Decemer

3 - December

natural glitter, when it snows and the sun is out. Winter, please stay.

Today is giving Tuesday. Where do I want to vote with my money?

Mom, you are a good art critic. Finally calling 'On top of gull mountain' done.

2 - December

And the snow continued, all day <3 yay for snowplows, and successful driving, and not ending up in the ditch like the neighbor, or having our power go out. The weight of snow on the trees can be incrementally released, one branch at a time, and the tree slowly raises, or can be dropped in one go. Moss likes the snow, once he gets coaxed out the door...zoooomies.

Sit down a the computer, and realize your list seems daunting, go make a bunch of food <-- today.
I worked on my 'on top of gull mountain' painting, reaallly liked where it was before we left for yoga, the birds popped. And then added more to the clouds after yoga (hot with scott, small class)...and now they're less poppy. It's hard to fix the things, but not ruin it. Got 7 boxes from the post office today, including dog food, a DIY breathing hand washer, socks, a vest, and a muscle scraper, we're rich!

Turkey soup (bones-> broth + roasting juices + onions + pumpkin + rice), instant pot - brussel sprouts, instant pot - sweet potatoes, instant pot - black beans (after soaking, then did with wayy too much liquid, what purple liquid).

1 - December

And it finally feels like winter! Today we got snow, fingers crossed it sticks to the ice! Moss got the zoomies when we got off the road this morning, and he could actually run (not on ice) and I figured out that the ouchie on my left side... is actually an I slipped and caught myself injury... And I ate lunch at 11. Then I painted (oh gosh they're ugly, modifying 2 paintings that I didn't like, well GWGU ugamak, and a doodle of moms). And I worked on my list. Turns out... I need much smaller blorps. Was spinning in circles, and then decided to work on my painting id cards. And then oct/nov photos. And somehow that was my day. And today, was the first day of my 74, in which Megan is my accountabilibuddy, and I have to justify that I did the things...and check in, or she calls the coast guard. There are so many things, how do I do them on days that I don't have all day to be doing?

what I've learned about gangster friendly eating

1) It is really hard if you cannot pull things out of plastic wrappers.. and read labels (ironic)
2) I'm unsure what level of contamination is too much
3) Hand sanitizer just moves it around, but soap and water wash it away
4) Gliadin
5) Avoid flour clouds
6) Oats and soy sauce are not necessarily safe

Time use for 74 days - a.k.a the sentient kohlrabi

A lot or a very little can happen in a day.
Days can pass where you feel productive.
But with no priority set, no priority task gets worked on, or *gasp* completed.
1 December tough 12 February is 74 days.
At $30.03 cents per days that is $2222.22
I will define the things that base I must do every day, and do them, every day.
And these are working towards being the product of me that I see myself as.
And make them important, but also, acknowledge that other things are important.

hairs and papers and painting and dinner made of rescued vegetables

Sunday

I have a hard time wrapping my head around the fact,

that system design is actually a process

of evolution and natural selection.

In theory, when well rested, properly provisioned, and not distracted

A logical system is not complicated

I have come to realize that the most basic theorized system is often neigh impossible in practice.

But can be made attainable, if you plan on how to deal with life getting in the way.

And then there is the PLAN vs actually knowing how to do the thing you want done. Ah layers.

Last night I woke up as I kinda thought I would, in the middle of the night.

The middle of the night is a really good time to snuggle in, and do good work. 

I stayed in bed on my phone, and fell down an art rabbit hole, and ordered some canvases.

Then fell back asleep snuggled up next to the dog.

The the morning was a slow Sunday morning. Including dog snuggles and gluten free pancakes.

I did my workout in the living room. Moved stuff downstairs, and generally time went by fast, not dead.

And then ran to the CIK-CAS made gluten free brownies (with a dozen eggs) and talked with a passionate group of people about compost. I find the streams of connectivity and needs between and within groups so interesting.

And then, with the space and time. Have been struggling for an hour and a half, to write a story that I told passionately the other night....writing IS HARD

Here's what I got down, it's something. It's nothing. It's a part. 

Burrow 104 in Plot 19, July 4 2017.

So I’m sitting there, impatiently

Dan has his arm in a burrow

And he has been there for a LOOOONG time

Like, a really long time

And I’m thinking be patient, don’t complain

He has the tough job, you’re just recording

But  finally, I say something

So, uh, do you almost have a story,

And his response was not what i expected

It was ‘I’m stuck’

So I probably should have said something earlier

There are two species of storm petrel that breed on this island 

Little, burrow nesting seabird, about the size of a robin.

The more robust fork tailed, who more or less sits still

when we jam our arms into its burrows and then poke it trying figure out what if anything it is sitting on (reach here)

And the smaller Leaches who tend to either tsk at you tsk tsk tsk

Or especially if it’s just visiting and doesn’t have an egg, tends to run around 

Well, Dan had found on of the later and in it’s attempt to escape,

It was firmly wedged as far out as it could get which put it squarely in the middle of his forearm

Awkwardly so it in order to pull his arm out, he’d have to squish the bird… 

So I crawl over him

Luckily we are at a burrow that has somewhat of a place to sit in front of it..

And I jam my arm in to the left of his

He and the bird are stuck at a bottleneck

So there we both are, along with the poor unsuspecting little leaches

And I start digging, the two fingered type of sloooww digging

And I’m trying to get at the bird, so that I can grab it’s bill, and get it safely out

Get him out, move on with our work.

Today I did a whole lot and nothing at all

Welcome to the Watershed Gallery at the Community Action Studio

hard habits

More warm weather, still icy. Light collar for morning walk was fun, one road was sanded the other was SOOOO not, glad I don't have to drive on it, almost not walkable, vibram ice gripping soles worked... sketchy. Then I spent most of the day painting. Finishing up 5! GWGU had the farthest to go, and I layered on a lot of paint and he looks awesome! And then it was like 3 and Dan drove me and my box of paintings into town. Afternoon at the cook inlet keeper climate action studio. Getting ready for open house / art on the wall for tomorrow! Lovely humans come through the space. Explaining my paintings as an artist, and scientist, and realizing my oceanography skills are rusty. Ordered some cards printed. Drew a floor plan on a white board. To Clam gulch with Kaitlin and Gwen, Mongolian moose for dinner. The story of home, of Dan with his arm stuck in burrow 104. Painting with sparkly watercolors. Blick art supply catalog. Sleepy.

On day 3 I fall off the habit wagon

Wednesday, 45* and raining on the snow = ice. Got up in time to go to Courtney's Un-Yin yoga class, figured out that the body shaking of flapping your feet while lying on your back is amazing, that elbow pits forward palms on the ground I can't do without doing the creepy hyper-extension thing, and my right shoulder blade juts waaaay out when I put my right hand behind my back with the palm down. Kaitlin wasn't at the office when I drove by, so went to Lucy's and had coffee and a cookie (<3 <3 <3 gluten free baked good that are better than the gluten version). Spent some time working on my story telling class story, it is stagnant, I have a lot of history but not a story. Then spent the afternoon on office feng-shui-ing the office, we did a good job. Then hot yoga, almost hot enough, right shoulder quite sore neck angry. Then Safeway, so many 50% off Easter eggs! And then food and then bed. All in all a good day. Lending out my camera to hook someone else on the RX10iv...

glut-on free diet

Today was windy, and it rained on top of the snow. Megan talked me into going to Tsalteshi with her, and then decided not to because it was raining, and then decided to go. Moss and I did Wolverine twice, we got soggy, his footprints were larger the second loop because he was sinking more. I jogged, but remembered why I haven't gotten into running.. my left leg plays possum, and for whatever chain reaction reason my knee starts going tweeky. I told Megan, and she said nope, nope, your stride is wrong, nope. And then we figured out that I had totally forgotten, I have a butt and abs. So now to pursue Glut-on. Started Ski babes round 2, really thinking about making sure I do things from a place of not wobbly core <3. Another post office run. Story telling class, practicing delivery. I need to write a story. Kaitlin and I stood outside in the fog and talked for a long time afterwards <3 Remember, a bird coasts when it can.

now with that wet dog smell

no, you

Intermittent. Fasting. My brain and habits tend to lean towards instant gratification in an ADHD way if given the reins. The rational future planning part of my brain realizes this is fairly detrimental to all the things I want to succeed, and tries to set rules. In practice brain guffaws at these rules, dances in circles and gets excited about something else. In practice brain realllly likes to read books about habits, prefers this to doing the habits though. But future brain may finally have snuck one in that could stick, read Atomic Habits by James Clear a couple weeks ago, and ordered (this is also a habit of in practice brain, but future brain was sneaky this time) a new habit journal.  Thinking about habits as setting the good habit to be stronger than the pull of the bad one. I started two things today, and both fall under the umbrella of intermittent fasting: 1) food only for an 8 hour window of the day, and try to avoid snacking inside that window, 2) checking and responding to social media and email once per day. These are both things I know work for me, and I can be the person that practices these habits as strongly as she practices the daily habit of a cup of coffee in the morning, through all situations, places, and external stimuli.

Today was a: loop dog walk. Ponder what projects I want to do and how to do the. Do some little tasks that make my fight of flight response tick. Drop things at the mail. Find my donated mug I made a long time ago for sale at the thrift store for $2. Buy windshield wipers. Read book with dog snuggles. Go to hot yoga (20 people) not hot enough, only an hour. Drink coconut water. Eat two satisfying meals that I couldn't finish. Resist snacking urges. Hang out with megan and mom watching giant tv while snuggling with moss. Got to bed early, plan on getting up in the middle of the night to be productive. Sort of day.

today was beautiful crunch snowy, moss jumped in the river, and the humans were weird

Today, it stayed in the low 30s and snowed, melted a little, snowed a little more. The parking lots and intersections are a bit treacherous, but the snow is nice and crispy. Moss let me sleep in until 10. There was hoarfrost on all the veg. Megan was going to go run on the beach, the tide was acceptable, but guts to 25 sounded cold. So she went to run flat and slow from the sports center along K-beach.

Moss and I meandered the Centennial campground loop. We walked towards the bridge, and watched mergansers floating down the river (he was acting like jumping in would be fun), and then we moseyed towards the boatramp. I had the not so smart idea of lets walk along the water's edge (low water = sharp things exposed..but no harm encountered there...) there were some ducks in the water... and the goober decided to go for a swim in the shallow (turns out he is a water and a bird dog!) chasing after them. His already almost uncontainable zoom of a walking style (leash walks with him in places with all the smells are like tying yourself to the looney toons version of the tasmanian devil). Watching wet dog run while also shaking water from tip to tail is enjoyable. I saw a kingfisher, perched on an upturned river access ramp. We encountered one human, it was the Megan, Moss got the totally uncontrollable zoomies. This walk was a good reminder of all the things this almost four year old dog still needs to be trained on...but at the same time, what a good dog he really is.

The rest of the day was fairly meh. The humans all have the zoomies too. I'm having the winter hibernation eat all the things. A bunch of things ended on Ebay!! and I made instant pot dirty rice. And continued working on the painting I started back on yesterday. It's from one of my favorite Aiktak photos, of TUPU on the cliff. I was having a hard time with it, the birds were just meh, good but not the TUPU jizz.. so I decided to just allow myself to doodle. Not cover it up, but add paint however I felt onto the canvas. So I diluted paint, and poured it on tipped it around, played with colors. When that layer dried, it was quite dark. So today I added white paint, and now, it is TUPU in the fog, and I quite like it (watching paint dry is a lovely pastime btw)

TUPU in the fog. Reference photo 2018 Aiktak. Gave myself permission to get weird on top of the realism on this one. 

Zooooomies day

Introduction to THE FOG

Every day we are on Aiktak, I update the world about my day to day life, and feed the blog. For the first time in the history of the camp, we put up no HF radio in 2019. So instead of the daily turn on the radio and listen to everyone else check in, and they trying to get our words through, (the previous four seasons,  many days all I managed to say that was heard was 'KWL 45 Adak, this is KOD 673 Aiktak, I WILL EMAIL') each day this involved sending an email (this is what we did), or two (this is what we plan on doing, in case we don't get back, and this is what we did). The general format: Today the weather was. Here's what we planned on doing, here's what we did. And if we ate anything special, 'we're having pizza for dinner'. And if I painted 'here's a really small grainy photo'. And I'd ask Dan, anything interesting to report, and generally he'd say, no. But sometimes we had interesting things to report. It was weird not to hear other voices, but we adjusted rapidly (often staying out well past 10pm...). It also meant, I wrote a lot more words, and tried to make my updates more of an inclusive diary.

I've initiated blogs waaay too many times over the years. But, rapidly fall off the horse each time with 'oops sorry it's been a while'. But the need to report 'not dead' on a daily basis, is perhaps the only way to keep me consistent. Welcome to 'The Fog'. I have to write daily, might share some stuff from the past too. Follow me, let's see where this goes.

Weird winter weather we're witnessing. 20191116, pixel camera. End of driveway snow dripped on by trees.