Fun at the Beach!

Juneau,Alaska
Spring  at Auke Village 

This weekend we and a couple families from our homeschool program enjoyed low tide at Auke Village or lovingly know as Auke Rec.


Days with low tides are enjoyed by both kids and parents.  Everyone picks up a bucket, rubber boots, and a shovel. It's great when the kids get there.  they come running down the path with buckets all excited about the morning.  We get a fire started, put the goodies on the picnic table and get dragged down to the water for the hunt.


I just noticed how well my little boy has adjusted to the chilly weather.  He is wearing a t-shirt and it must have been in the 50's with a drizzle.  I wore a jacket.


The beach was covered with muscles and seaweed.  Every time I would take a step I felt like I was destroying a muscles life.  It was unavoidable.

Muscles on the beach.

There were so many interesting creatures to see both on the beach and in the waters.  There were porpoises fishing for something probably a school of fish (duh).  Did you know that hermit crabs are very alien looking?  I had no idea that the end that is in the shell was the way it was.  I'm not even sure how to describe it.  

The "Alien" hermit crab without his shell

See how it resembles a snail shell but it's soft and wormy looking.  Weird.  

It was a great beach day, great company, great fire, and those pesky crows.  That's another posting.
When was the last time you were at the beach?

Metal Festival (is that what they call music?)

Last night was fantastic!  Our young family friend is a dynamic man.  I first met him when he was stage managing Mikado. I remember him making an impression on me because he here was a high school student working with and managing an adult production.

Now here he is producing, probably Juneau's first, Metal Festival. And it rocked!  That says alot for someone who has never, even when I was young(er), liked metal.  There had to have been from 50 to 70 young people there along with several overseeing parents. 

Hopefully in the next few days I'll have photos to post because my son was the videoographer.  We will surly miss our friend when he heads out to my home, California, to go to Camp Pendleton for Marine boot camp.  Serving our country.

Watch out California because here he comes!

Favorite Coffee Stops

Well, we thought today was going to be a rainy day but the sun managed to sneak out.  I love to see the sun here in Juneau.  When the sun shines it makes you want to get out of the house even if it's to run errands.

Of course, you need a cup of coffee to get you out of those rainy day moods and bring in the sunshine.  I actually needed two cups of coffee.  I started at Vintage Fare in the Nugget Mall.  They always have a experimental coffee drink. I think todays was called Banana Split.  I didn't try it.  I bought my usual soy latte with sugar free caramel.  It sounds like I'm on a diet.  Nope. Just getting older.

Then later in the day it was time to stop and get another cup of coffee.  This time I went to Thibbs drive-thru.  They are on Vanguard.  They always ask me how I want my drink.  And I always have great conversations there.  Very brief but always good.

Heat My House!

I haven't posted in a long while.  Partially because I have been so frustrated with heating the house we are renting.  Can you imagine paying $700 to pay for home heating?  Some people are paying even more.  That's is outrageous to me.  When I lived in the Florida Keys I paid less to keep cold.

Of course it is due to the rising costs of oil.  Right now a gallon of gas is $4.14 at the local Fred Meyers.  I know that gas is at $4.25 in Lake Forest, California.  Crazy!  


The break down was $400 for electric and $465 for oil last month.  We are applying for heating assistance through the State of Alaska.  The deadline ended in April.  The other option is a program called RurAL CAP.  They will come to your home and evaluate it's energy efficiency.  Depending on many variables they can help you weatherize your home.

We started thinking the best option for us was to relocate ourselves.  That is a whole other story.

RurAL CAP

State of Alaska Heating Assistance