Well, I actually have an excuse for not posting this time. Last week was pretty much a blur of activity getting a new washer and dryer and then packing for a 5 day camping trip with the kids. I never knew I would appreciate a dryer so much before! My old one broke back in October and we spent the winter drying clothes on a piece of cord wrapped around the room, drying clothes by the heat of the wood stove. It was a serious pain in the butt! I just considered it another character building exercise, though. It was another thing that we made it through, just like cutting wood for heat at -30 and surviving the first year without Glenda. All I could think about (When I wasn't cussing the dryer for dying) was "well, at least the washer didn't go too.." My thinking has become that a lot lately. Things that were earth shattering 2 years ago have become merely annoying now. I've realized that in the great scheme of life most of the things that used to absolutely drive me insane really aren't that big a deal. I must say, though- I now appreciate dryer technology as well as clean, dry, non- stiff as a board clothes much more than I ever did! The camping trip was good. I don't think it ever hit the level of 'amazing' that the trip did last year. A bunch of people didn't make it and the weather beat us up a couple of days, but it was a great trip none the less. Just being able to disconnect from the world for a little while and wholly concentrate on the business of living is a nice thing sometimes. My tattoo appointment got rescheduled for next Tuesday which is, ironically, the day after Glenda's birthday. I say ironic because she always wanted us to get tattoos to commemorate and honor the move to Alaska. It was the point in our lives that we stopped one life completely and started a new one. It wasn't a gradual change, we went from a job offer to all of us living up here, knowing not a soul in just over a month. We completely upheaved everything we knew and it turned out to be the best move we had ever made as a married couple. We learned to rely on each other, wholly and completely. Moving here changed both of us a lot and she always wanted to commemorate that change by getting a tattoo. Well, She can't anymore, but I can. In a way I'm getting this for both of us. I didn't get a bear this weekend, but I'm not giving up hope, I'll go out and try again in a different place. Its a strange thing, being under pressure to provide food for your family. I can't go to the store and buy this stuff, I have to hunt it down, kill it, gut it, skin it and butcher it if I want to feed it to my family.  It really makes you appreciate where meat comes from. There are no small, sterile white styrofoam containers of bear in the store. Anyway- I should go, the dryer just finished its cycle and I have to switch loads out. I'm still catching up on all the clothes that didn't get washed while the dryer was DOA. Have a great day, everyone! I'll talk to you soon.