first snow! usually in fairbanks once it snows it stays everyday until june, but it is warmer this year than last.

when i took this picutre, ben did a full on model pose for me.

we started our anniversary at dialysis treatment. it takes about 4 hours total. this is what it looks likes, taking all of my blood and filtering it through a dialyzer(just like the kidney) and back in thru the catheter. ben and i did go to the vallata afterwards for a short dinner. he gave me a great card and he wrote:

"in sickness and health, alaska or outside, young or old, I will love you always." ben
how sweet is that? It was not the ideal anniversary being on dialysis, but that's life an we still had a good day.dea

when we arrived home we had flowers from stac for our anniversary, which is tomorrow!

ben and I are back in fairbanks. the surgery went well, besides that I am a little sore in the chest where the tubes stick out and the iodine will not come off(you see both in the picture, kinda gross)..I also did my first hemodialysis session in anchorage to make sure everything worked. It was similar to when my kidney's first failed and I was on dialysis, except the technology has advanced. It actually made me feel alot better today and now I will continue on with dialysis three days a week at the kidney center in fairbanks,until we find out more about another kidney transplant. we do have some good news though, ben is O positive a match to donate a kidney. we will know more after we decide on a kidney transplant center and so forth.


we did not blog much in anchorage, we only had coffee shop internet, but stac was down there for a wildlife convention. she gave us the raven, we named it Orso(good restaurant in anchorage) Audrey stopped by the dialysis center too, it nice to have their support.


this one's for my parents. they visited denali with ben and i when this strip was bussling with tourists. this is what it looks like from sept 15th on everything is boarded up even the hotels.

Hi all,
Ben and I are down in Anchorage for the weekend, I have not been feeling well. After our visit today with Dr. Tucker today,I will have surgey monday to put in a permcath(tubes to hook up to the machine) and start dialysis. Dialysis takes place of the kidney and I go three days a week until I have another kidney transplant, possibly 6 months. Though it is big news, we are trying to remain in fairbanks and for now take things day by day. we don't know if ben is a match, we just started testing today.

The good news is we get to hang out at Titlewave books and CDs today along with a stop at Skinney Raven Sports. We are also staying at this nice bed and breakfast on cook inlet, it is a great deal in the off season.

most of us are out of town for the weekend so we had pizza, salad and beer night at julie's cabin. since bow hunting off your porch for moose is legal in her neighborhood, the dogs found a moose carcas not far from the cabin and were banished to the cars(except turtle).

Equinox Marathon and Relay

The 44th Equinox Marathon was Saturday in Fairbanks. One of the biggest running races here and a 3rd hardest marathon in the US after Hawaii and Pike's Peak in colorado.


here is stacia on her way to cheer the runners, she calls herself the "exotic cheerleader". (she is available for hire at your sporting events!)


julie and audrey pre-race, they ran the entire equinox marathon, over 2200 feet of steep climbing and decending, mostly on trails.


here are dan and martin at the 3rd hand off in the relay and yes the Nitrate Radicals win again this year! Ted's team with Brian and Leslie put up a tuff fight. Martin and Leslie were within sight of each other near the finish.


Our good friend Matias and Mike Kramer in the lead of the race from mile 1! Matias put up a good fight and came in 2nd overall in the Marathon.


Julie finishing the marathon with all of us cheering behind. of course ben is shooting this pic.

Audrey, Ned, Curtis and Brad also had a great marathon. it was a fun day of cheering everyone on! dea

Pre-Equinox Marathon Dinner @ Ted's

the big equinox marathon and relay was this past saturday. it is a huge community event and this is our pre-race dinner. our 2nd year rivals sweet river trio and nitrate radicals competed head to head in the relay.


the morning of the race. i was not feeling that great, so i had a "pinch runner" at the last minute julia(UAF cross country runner :-) so this picture is part of the support crew for our friends racing the entire marathon and relay. stacia is pre-costume here..

fall is almost over, the sun is dissappearing, we are having some fantastic sunny weather in Fairbanks. this was on the way to the bus this morning, then I missed the bus!

cool super foggy morning yesterday.

we had a great dinner last night at matias's house sitting gig. we also watched a stage of the tour, a little late up here. jeff raced bikes in colorado so we talked alot of "back in colorado" stories...BUT the ben was excited because he is from IOWA, his wife and Jill too! so of course lots iowa talk.

mellow labor day weekend

caz and pella waiting for a treat from ben after swimming in the tanana river.


martin is back town and we all took the dogs for a run on gilmore trail. the leaves are changing and it is fall in fairbanks.


ben and i facing the cleary summit area. martin comments how nice it is to be back and run on the quiet trail with no people (except some random hunter shooting, we think not in our direction).

girls night

we had a girls dinner party at stacia's cabin the other night. here is julie and kumi making the pie from handpicked blueberries, rasberries and rubarb eariler in the day. stac made a great citrus salmon and laura picked some kale from her garden.


smiley face pie design by kumi.

we are also super excited to get the october issue of Alaska Magazine because ben's photo will be in the raven article by Ned. it is an exciting step for ben, thanks to stacia and her ravens!

granite tors

the early morning rain turned into a beautiful sunny day on our trail run. it was 15 miles and took longer than we thought, but it was awesome. we never saw pella, she ran up with ted and he had to drag her along...we allowed him a "pella handicap".


tors on the ridge.

great mocha that ben made me this morning!

i finally have a camera again, an unpassable deal on a nikon coolpix at fred meyers. we are headed out for a run/hike today at granite tors trail, but it is 46 and RAIN again...

julie and stac on their backpacking trip

check out julie's blog. great pics of her and stac's trip backpacking/hunting in the brooks range, what great photos! I'm glad they are back to help with my coffee addiction and hanging out at ak roasters.

it has been raining for 17 days in fairbanks, my ride this morning it was 46F. still ben and i had a fun weekend running matias's tour de murphy dome. school starts next week already! i am missing my blog camera! dea

Back home

My trip North on the Dalton was a success. It rained for two days striaght, but I came away with solid images. I did nothing but drive, shoot, and eat (while driving). Good trip all in all.

Dea and Pella had rain here all weekend too. The weather today was perfect though- mid 70s. We were both able to get out for a run (Dea) and a bike (Me).


Dea and I hiking with the dogs in the rain on Sunday.


Getting some quality tripod time at the pipeline. This access road runs along almost the entire 800 miles of the line. I hiked this stretch for six miles or so where the line zig zags up a hill where I could shoot a good section. I'm not sure the what would have happened if I ran onto a worker out there. I was struck by how vulnerable the line is.


This was my view for much of the time.

I'll post more images after my final edit for Matter.

ben hanging out with pella before he leaves on his weekend adventure in the brooks range. i hope to smoke the rest of our salmon this weekend, rent some girlie movies and hike in the white mountains....

BP pipeline shut down

stock photo (ben)
lots of alaska pipeline news lately.(click to read)

sunday

well we're back to our regular bloggin' ways.

went blueberry picking today on murphy dome. it's a bit early, and the berries are a tad tart, but we came home with a good haul. we got a flat on the way back down the hill though- this is the second one in the last couple months. new tires tomorrow.



when we got back into town we saw these crazy tourists. the back of their bike said "DONG'S Guns, Amo, & Reloading. Tulsa, OK". wow.

we're back

it has been awhile since our last post. i wasn't feeling the greatest and it turns out my camera is not waterproof, the combo put a stop to the blogging for awhile.

all is great now though and we spent the morning riding to the farmers market.

julie and i eating some good pastries


onions, yum.


ben's funky argile socks and bike shoes.


ben has been shooting alot and next weekend he leaves for a solo trip to the arctic to shoot his "fuel" project for matter literary art journal, he is pretty excited to get out of town for a job. besides the blog pics he's been doing some pretty creative stuff, and adding to his "can't see denali from here" project.

all the dogs are ocming over for a run at birch hill, should be interesting.
dea

sea kayaking to shoup glacier

we had a great trip sea kayaking with cousin steve. here are a few pics.

camp spot on avalanche beach, it was a rainy night.


campsite was complete with a glacier fed waterfall.


heading toward the glacier. ben liked the new challenge of shooting pics from the kayak.


shoup glacier outside valdez in the prince william sound area.


steve taking in the views.

more pinnell mountain photos

i just posted more photos of our backpacking trip at photoshelter.

pinnell mountain

steve arrived safely in fairbanks at around 2:oo am saturday morning- steve, dan, dea, and i set out to hike the pinnell mountain trail six hours later.

the pinnell mountain trail is, typically, a 3 day backpacking trip- broken up by two storm shelters. we only had two days however, so we did it in two. 10 miles the first day, and 17 miles the second.

it rained for every damn mile. the kind of biting horizontal rain that tests your balance and your resolve. it was a true initiation to the alaska backcountry for steve (and us too for that matter). an epic weekend for sure. we are dried out now, and beer is proving to be the best medicine.

the weather was pretty fierce the second day, and i barely took my Camera out, so the worst will live in our stories only. it's rare that we get visitors up here (wonder why, after a trip like this?) so the images are all steve...


preparing for the rain at mile 1.


the fog and rain limited our views to limitless miles of alaskan tundra.


day one shelter.

and finally...


steve- day one.


steve- day 2.

this trip won't make the tourism brochure.

Extreme Home Makeover

well, the alaska episode of extreme home makeover is a wrap. dea was sick today, but i was still able to get out to see the 'move that bus' finale. working for the station certainly has it's perks. i arrived late, but was able to walk past a least a hundred people that couldn't get past security because the 'set' was already a madhouse.

not only was i whisked past the line, but ushered to the vip tent..well actually past the vip tent as the women assumed i was a staff photographer for abc. i got a front row seat in front of the fence. this didn't get me any closer, but it was an unobstructed seat for the most part.

the whole scene is absolutely crazy for this show. it's hard to fathom just home big of an operation it is until you see it up close. i'll post more on monday- more photos, behind the scenes tid bits, and more about the family.

for now- dea's cousin steve is coming into town in about an hour. we are heading to pinnell mountain for a backpacking trip in the morning. gotta pack.


dea's second husband


the design team.

julie is racing her first half ironman triathalon this weekend in fairbanks, so she tested out some final wetsuit stuff at a lake last night and all dogs went swimming. caz had her first big swim. (i know it's a super duper fuzzy photo)


beaufort and pella loved trying to drown each other in pursuit of the stick.


pella the big black cat.