Jimmy

This guy was one of my favorite at the Anchorage Daily News when I worked there. His desk was right in front of mine and some of the highlights of my days were listening to him cuss out people on the phone. :)

CLICK TO PLAY KTUU VIDEO

Definition of the week: Love

One of the teens at work, 17-year-old Cooper Galvin, interviewed some seventh grade girls at Steller Secondary about their definition of love. I just really dig this interview. It is silly. :)

Owl cookies get the thumbs up

My mom taught me how to make these owl cookies when I was little. They were one of my favorite things about Halloween. I remember being really particular about which cashew beak went with which owl eyes. Good times!

I took a bunch over to Brian and Roland's party tonight and they were a hit. Alex Post suggested candy corn would make a good nose as well. I have this weird feeling I am going to see someone in the grocery store and they're going to be like, "Hey, aren't you that girl from that party who made those owl cookies. Magical!"

I feel the need to share the magic!

Duck and cover!

So, I went to go drop off my summer tires at my mom's house this morning and was greeted by a very vocal duck. Shouldn't all the ducks have hit the road by now? It came right up to me and poked by feet with its beak. I think it was trying to eat my toes.

DUCK


I called the bird treatment center and they said I should catch it in a towel, put it in a box and bring it to them. Well, this is what it looked like when I tried to do that.

ANGRY DUCK

So, I kind of gave up on the idea.

He had the clots (A little story)

He was about 35, wearing an Enyce velour suit and an worn leather Raiders jacket. He was in the same predicament I was, he had "the clots." (Blood clots.) I wasn't in a velour suit, though I wondered if I might be more comfortable had I been. I was in a black, dot wool coat and jeans with a purple pattern scarf around my neck. No, I was comfortable enough.

"You here for your Coumadin check?" He asked.

We were at the family medical center to get our fingers pricked to make sure our blood was good, both thinking it was probably going to be too high. See, we are going for numbers between 2 and 3. Last time mine was a 3.6 and last time his was too high as well.

"I sure love my vegetables! Can't eat 'em. I love greens. Can't eat collard greens," he lamented.

You have to watch your diet when you are eating the rat poison, Coumadin. If you eat too many greens your blood numbers will be too low, your blood too thick. If you were to have a shot of whiskey or glass of tea, your numbers would be too high, too thin.

Both of us had to be to work soon and there were two ladies in wheel chairs in line ahead of us, along with a pregnant woman and a woman who had already been there for three hours getting other tests.

"Hurry it up folks!" Enyce grumbled. "They need more nurses 'round here."

"I miss cranberry juice," I related.

"Oh yah, I had some of that yester...Oh shit!" He said. "It's going to be high. And I had tea this mornin'. Damnit, why do I keep messin' it up."

"Hmmm..." I mumbled. "This is my last week!"

"Watch that. They'll get ya." He warned. "I was off it for a while too and they put me back on."

The nurse called my name, "Elizabeth?"

She pricked me and squeezed my middle finger until she had enough.

Reading, 2.9.

That'll do! On my way out I waved bye.

Oct. 22 is the last day I take Coumadin, hopefully.

I guess there is no promise that I will never have to take it again. But the outlook is good and the end is near. It has been six months since I had a good dose of whiskey, a glass of cranberry juice or a nice big helping of broccoli. And if I so desire, I can get in on those collard greens as well. Perhaps I should have asked for his recipe.

Oh, sweet summer in Denali.

So, it is snowing. I'm dreading the line to get my snow tires put on and dreaming of the warm sun on my back. Then I remembered this slide show the kids at work put together after our trip to Denali National Park in July. I don't think I ever shared it.

DENALI SLIDESHOW