2.28.2008

pella and I had a awesome skijor today. an entire 2 miles, way to go pella!
during a work break tonight, we stopped for some gelatto at college pizza. audrey is back in town and of course we have plans to knit. ben however, is out on assignment as they say in the photog biz. how cool is that? ben is going big time.

2.26.2008

dialysis

my MWF 6am, 4 hour long, appointment of course is still dialysis. 2 years longer then i would have liked, but that is life. we are now back to ben as a donor and trying an experimental drug that Mayo has available sometime soon. it is very promising and brings down the antibody count so we could possibly proceed with a transplant. this is the machine i am hooked up too. it filters all of my blood and removes the fluid build up and toxins like a kidney but three days a week instead of constantly. the tall skinny tube is the dialyzer and acts as an artificial kidney. it is pretty amazing how well it works in that i can lead a normal life. dialysis has been going smoothly lately and hopefully by this summer we can have a kidney transplant.

2.23.2008

Take Five Coffee Lounge

we are having a great Saturday enjoying Fairbanks' new coffee shop in the yoga studios on College. they have great new comfy chairs, very reasonable fresh salad and soup prices and free wi-fi!! finally. they are open from 7am-9pm mon-sat. , if you are in Fairbanks i would check it out. a good alternative to Roaster's food, coffee and wifi. currently they serve north pole coffee, but she said they just opened and are expanding the coffee and food menu.

2.16.2008

early morning of the susitna

trevAH on his facebook, we are both checking emails at 1am. dorks. ed, kristen and ann are ready for the big race tomorrow and we are here to cheer them on. 100miles ski, bike or run in the Alaska wilderness. track the race at www.susitna100.com

2.09.2008

Yukon Quest 2008

after a big breakfast this morning we walked the frozen slough to the Chena River to see the start of the Yukon Quest sled dog race. in traditional fairbanks style it was 42 below zero(when we started the walk) and everyone was sporting their warmest carharts and bunny boots. there were so many people out even with the cold temps, it was a blast! dan, brian, lisa, dea, ed, julie, chris ,tobin, erin...this is Phil Joy (Kumi's fiance) starting out. of course human and dog exhaled ice fog. check out dan and lisa's video of his start.
when we say Lance in Alaska we are talking about Lance Mackey. He won the Quest last year and the Ididarod, he was the first musher to do so.
another shot before walking to Taco King for a little jackson and his to do list stories and then back to the house.

2.05.2008

ice fog

we have had some nice days of ice fog here in Fairbanks. ice fog forms from water vapor exhausted from automobiles, industry and exhaled. it forms at temps colder than 30 below. this is our second day of 50 below temps, with the predicted low tonight of 55 below. the strong inversion with colder temps near the surface traps the ice fog and pollution. this pic is at the IARC, just a few hundred feet and already you can look down on the ice fog.
down in it at the hut.
thanks ed for dinner out in the field. pretty nice to have it delivered! ed's sad face is because he missed ben's show. he was out in the wilderness waiting for friends to bike 60miles in the back country with virtually no trail...
our field campaign (for you Martin) has ended, just in time to tear down in these temps.

2.04.2008

we went and watched Julie and Ted ski jor race yesterday. here is julie and caz finishing. it was a cold one, 30 below most of last week, 42 below today and it is supposed to be 50 below tonight! i am still working this semi night shift out at the hut, we will see if it can handle another cold week.
getting ready to race. caz doesn't really need a handler, but just in case i was holding on.

2.02.2008

Ben's Gallery Opening


The opening tonight was a success. Ben sold a few prints and two to the Museum of the North, which is huge! What a great surprise. All of our friends were out to support and see the photos, thanks to everyone. It was a great showing. Here are a few more pictures of the evening:





we ended up all meeting out to celebrate at Lavelle's. I did a little video toast. It was a great night! His show stays up at Well Street from now until March 4th.