Happy New Year!

As the sun sets on 2011, wishing you all the best in 2012!

Fun in the snow

Some videos playing ball in the snow at sandy beach and the ball park.

Covered in snow again

And more expected over the next week or so...

Weather for Juneau, AK

33°F | °C

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Overcast

Wind: E at 14 mph

Humidity: 82%

36°

30°

34°

28°

32°

18°

34°

25°

Christmas weather

After the mostly rainy morning, it snowed this afternoon and was so pretty...

And then the sun came out and lit up the mountains...

Christmas Day in Juneau

It's a clear-ish day at noon on Christmas Day in Juneau.  It rained all morning, sometimes with snow mixed in.  36 degrees.  I love the little cloud in the middle of this picture!
Warm Christmas greetings from Alaska!

Mary Did You Know?

Have to share one of my favorite Christmas songs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFPHIK9ann8

Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you.

Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again.
The lame will leap, the dumb will speak, the praises of the lamb.

Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I am.

Merry Christmas!!

Christmas greetings from Juneau, Alaska!!  As we celebrate the day that God came down to earth to be born in human form - fully man and fully God - may we truly be awed by His mercy and grace, and sacrifice.  And be filled with His love, joy and peace. 
Please enjoy this tribute from the Yupiq village of Quinhagak in Alaska.  As the post says on youtube.com from their teacher, "this video was intended for an audience of about 200 (it is now over 1.2 million).  The 5th grade kids worked very hard on this project. They put in 10 hours of work shooting all the scenes (on a weekend nonetheless!!) I am very proud of them!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyviyF-N23A

Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

Matthew 1:18-25

New International Version (NIV)

Joseph Accepts Jesus as His Son

 ¹⁸ This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about^[a]: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet^[b] did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.  ²⁰ But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus,^[c] because he will save his people from their sins.”
 ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[d] (which means “God with us”).
 ²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

Christmas Eve

Sandy beach, a week ago this was covered with snow and ice

It's Christmas Eve, and most all of the snow has melted with the rains and 40 degree temps this week.  I took the dogs to sandy beach yesterday to run and noticed that Pookie's left muzzle was swollen.  One phone call and short drive later, he was at the vet, diagnosed with an abcess from the porcupine encounter and into surgery.  He made it through fine and the vet found part of a quill inside his cheek.

I had an awesome video chat with family this afternoon/evening using gmail - our first and it was so easy, don't know what took us so long.  My Dad said it's because it is Christmas.  I suppose so.  I love this time of year and it is hard to be away from my family but the video chat filled a lot of that gap.  Nothing like the sound of my sister Jenny to  make me feel like I am right there.  Greg and Jenny, you know what I mean.  :)

I hope everyone's Christmas wishes come true.  Peace to you all, Linda



Sandy Beach looking south



Chinchilla

Someone brought their pet chinchilla into work.  Very sweet and soft. 

Shortest Day of the Year

Although the official winter solstice will occur at 5:30 am on December 22 (http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/december-solstice.html), today December 21 is the shortest day of the year here in Juneau.  Tomorrow will be one second longer - haha.

Rising and setting times for the Sun

			Length of day		Solar noon
Date	Sunrise	Sunset	This day	Difference	Time	Altitude	Distance
							(106 km)
Dec 20, 2011	8:44 AM	3:07 PM	6h 22m 37s	− 17s	11:55 AM	8.4°	147.179
Dec 21, 2011	8:45 AM	3:07 PM	6h 22m 28s	− 08s	11:56 AM	8.4°	147.169
Dec 22, 2011	8:45 AM	3:08 PM	6h 22m 30s	+ 01s	11:56 AM	8.4°	147.160
Dec 23, 2011	8:45 AM	3:08 PM	6h 22m 41s	+ 11s	11:57 AM	8.4°	147.151
Dec 24, 2011	8:46 AM	3:09 PM	6h 23m 02s	+ 20s	11:57 AM	8.4°	147.143
Dec 25, 2011	8:46 AM	3:10 PM	6h 23m 32s	+ 30s	11:58 AM	8.4°	147.136
Dec 26, 2011	8:46 AM	3:10 PM	6h 24m 13s	+ 40s	11:58 AM	8.4°	147.129

To celebrate the coming of longer days we are had, again, a pot luck lunch today. This must be our 4th pot luck in a month and a half?

I made tamales again, this time with chicken, cilantro, goat cheese, tomatillo sauce, and some kind of dried mexican pepper I rehydrated that really doesn't have a lot of flavor.  But the tamales tasted great!  Other dishes included a wonderful cucumber salad, tortilla pinwheels with cream cheese and ham, fruit salad, green bean casserole, and edamame.  Peppermint bark and banana split ice cream with nuts, chocolate sauce and whipped cream for dessert. 

Almost time to start that diet...almost.

Handel's Messiah

I am discovering that Juneau presents a very rich menu of cultural and artistic offerings.  Saturday night, several of us from work attended a performance of Handel's Messiah.  The voices and the orchestra were fantastic.  Loved it!

An article about the performance:
http://juneauempire.com/art/2011-12-15/handels-messiah-returns-town-after-long-absence

And if you are interested, the wiki link for George Frideric Handel, very interesting and new knowledge for me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frideric_Handel

Mendenhall Glacier in the winter

View from the covered observation deck

Went up to the Glacier on Saturday morning.  It and the surrounding areas were beautiful as ever!!

More feast-a-thon

Snacks brought in by someone as part of the feast-a-thon.  And then the pot luck today.  You cannot go hungry around here...

Making tamales for the office Christmas party

Roasted butternut squash, black bean, green chili, goat cheese tamales.  My first time ever to make them.  It was fun and not as hard as I had always imagined.  And the tamales were yummy!!  Served with sour cream and tomatillo sauce (freshly made at the downtown grocery store).  Some co-workers had never had a tamale before.  They liked them!

How Juneau got its name

Joe Juneau (prospector)

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Joseph Juneau

Joseph Juneau (1833 or 1836–1899) was a miner and prospector from Canada who was born in the Quebec town of Saint-Paul-l'Ermite (later renamed Le Gardeur and now incorporated into the city of Repentigny) to François Xavier Juneau dit Latulippe and Marguerite Thiffault Juneau. He is best known for co-founding, with Richard Harris, the city of Juneau, Alaska, United States. The first major gold discovery in Juneau or Douglas Island (across from Juneau) was circa 1880. It has been the political capital of Alaska since 1906.

His Native American guide in southeastern Alaska was Chief Kowee. Kowee is credited with exploring much of the Juneau area. Richard and Joe were sent with Kowee by George Pilz, an entrepreneur and mining engineer from Sitka. Richard and Joe traded with the natives much of their grubstake for hoochinoo. When they returned to Pilz empty-handed, he promptly sent them back to the Juneau area. There, Kowee took them beyond Gold Creek (which today flows beside the city's United States Federal Building[1]) to Silver Bow Basin. Today, a creek on Douglas Island is named Kowee Creek.
After the discovery of gold in Juneau, Richard and Joe loaded approximately 1,000 pounds of gold ore back to Sitka.

The town was originally called Harrisburg or Harrisburgh, and then Rockwell. Miners often called it "'Rockwell' also known as 'Harrisburg'" in their mining records. There was also a proposal to name the town Pilzburg for Pilz. It did not take up its current name until a miners' meeting on December 14, 1881. The name Juneau received 47 of the 72 votes cast while Harrisburg received 21 votes and Rockwell only 4.[1] Joe Juneau reportedly bought drinks for fellow miners to name the city in his honor.[2]

Joe Juneau traveled to Dawson City, Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s. He usually spent gold as fast as he got it but at the end of his life he owned a small restaurant in Dawson. Juneau died of pneumonia in March, 1899 in Dawson. His body was brought back to the town that bears his name and was buried in the city's Evergreen Cemetery on August 16, 1903.

His cousin Solomon Juneau founded the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.[3]

November snow

Yep, I thought we had an above normal snowfall for November.  NOAA weather reports Juneau wtih 50.2 inches of snow in November, while the average is 13.9 inches and last November (2010) Juneau only had 7.7 inches.

The majority of the snow is now melted.  Snow is forecasted the next few days, but then mostly above freezing for highs through the end of the year.  Sure hope we have a white Christmas, but it looks iffy at this point.

Weather for Juneau, AK

36°F | °C

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Light Rain

Wind: E at 6 mph

Humidity: 93%

38°

27°

34°

28°

34°

30°

36°

34°

By the way, today at lunch I found another porcupine quill inside Pookie's mouth.  It was easily removed with tweezers.  Everyone at work said they were really that there were not many quills and that they were so small.  Older p'pines with longer needles can cause a dog to be covered and need anesthesia to remove.  We are lucky that the barbs (the black part) did not break off when I pulled them out.  Most people go to the vet. 

I have a nice collection of...

Porcupine quills.  When I let the dogs out this afternoon (in the dark - lol), they took off for the neighbor's yard under the tree.  I thought they were going to see if their neighbor dog was out.  There was some coughing and sputtering, and when they came back Pookie had three and Pepper had eight sticking out of their muzzles.  They were quite agreeable to stand somewhat still while I pulled them out.  I suspected it was a porcupine - a quick google search confirmed that yes, they were quills.  Never a dull moment!

The squeaky thing...

The dogs might be a little bored.  While I was doing laundry, Pookie was working on a squeaky toy.  He loves to find the squeaky part inside the toy and then put it is his mouth and squeak about.  He pulled all the cotton suffing out and Maggie played with that.

I guess I might be a little bored too, since this is my post today!  :)  Christmas party tonght...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

View from the door to the office

We are getting in the Christmas mood with decorations and lights in the office.  We are in an informal contest with the project management office.  :)

View from my cube out

Feast-a-thon

The Department of Finance has an interesting tradition called the "Feast-a-thon" during the month of December.  Instead of having one Christmas party where everyone gets together, the employees sign up for one day of the month (until the holidays) to bring in a treat for the entire department, including our project.  Everyday a goodie is delivered to our office.  Today was peanut butter and chocolate fudge (see picture).  Earlier days have included cookies, tangerines, brownies with whipped cream, tarts and other sweets I cannot remember as we are all in a pretty deep sugar coma at this point. Seriously...

View to the south

This picture was taken from the 10th floor of the State Office Building in downtown Juneau on 12-6-11 about 9:00 am when the sun was coming up.  Looks like a Christmas card!!

Governor's Cookie Party

Some of us from work went to the Governor's open house on the 6th.  We even got our picture with the Governor, First Lady and the Lt. Governor.  The Christmas mood continues to build!

Gov's Holiday Open House Set for December 6

[From the Juneau Empire] November 30, 2011, Juneau, Alaska – Governor Sean Parnell and First Lady Sandy Parnell welcome the public to the Governor’s Annual Christmas and Holiday Open House at the Governor’s House, to be held Tuesday, December 6, from 3-6 p.m.

The line outside the Governor's mansion 12-6-11

People with special accessibility needs are invited to contact Erika Fagerstrom at 465-3500 to arrange entry from 2:30-3 p.m.

“Sandy and I look forward to this wonderful Juneau tradition and invite everyone in the community to the open house,” Governor Parnell said. “During this special time of the year, we keep our service members and their families in our thoughts and prayers. On behalf of my family, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”

Janelle, Lt Gov Treadwell, Linda, First Lady, Governor, Jeannie, Chaille, Mike

The Governor’s House was built in 1912. The first open house was held by Territorial Governor Walter Eli Clark and his family on New Year’s Day 1913. The traditional event has been held every year, with the exception of two years during World War II. The Parnell family is the 11th family to live in the Governor’s House since statehood.

More than 24,000 cookies are being prepared for the event, and more than 100 pounds of fudge and chocolate candies will be served. Members of the governor’s cabinet and staff will serve hot apple cider and holiday treats to guests waiting in line outside the residence.

Entertainers from local community and school groups will perform both inside and outside the residence. Gingerbread houses made by students at Dzantik’i Heeni Middle School will be on display.
Capital City Republican Women volunteers decorated the interior of the Governor’s House. Department of Administration grounds and maintenance crews decorated the exterior.

First Friday

The first Friday of every month, the art galleries and other downtown Juneau businesses open their doors and serve appetizers and beverages to the public.  A group of us from work went last Friday.  It was a good time.  These carolers were singing in one of th open malls.  Juneau is getting in the Christmas mood!

Havin' a heat wave..

The snow is melting and the temperatures are warming up.  Yea!!  I am finally getting the snow and ice in my driveway under control.  Forecast looks pretty good:

Weather for Juneau, AK

33°F | °C

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Light Rain

Wind: SE at 5 mph

Humidity: 100%

39°

32°

41°

36°

41°

34°

43°

34°

Everyone has been saying that we have had a lot of snow for this time of year.  And after a little research, it appears true.  NOAA reports month-to-date snowfall of 48.9 inches, normal is 12.5 inches, and last year at this time Juneau had only 1.9 inches of snow for November.
Haines, just north on the ferry route from Juneau, has received record snowfall lately and it looks like more this week:

http://www.chilkatvalleynews.com/story.asp?Story=1942&Record-snowfalls-wallop-town

Weather for Haines, AK

26°F | °C

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Clear

Wind: W at 12 mph

Humidity: 88%

27°

18°

32°

25°

32°

23°

31°

27°

 

It's all good!!!

Juneau Public Market 11-25-11

Juneau's version of Black Friday is the Public Market.  I fought the crowds for a bit and found a few gits items.  It really wasn't that different than markets I have been to in Canada and even Texas.  YOu know, the jams and soaps and glass and pottery and knit items and calendars and jewelry.  But it was a nice experience.

http://juneauempire.com/stories/112808/loc_361083079.shtml

A red-tailed hawk was being shown in the Raptor Room.  I didn't even notice the cool picture on the handler's shirt! 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was spent at the home of a friend, with her husband and another friend from work.  They are renting an awesome house on the northern tip of Douglas Island, and these pictures were taken from the window facing north.   In just a few hours the tide went out and land began appearing.  They say at low tide you can walk across the water to the Juneau airport.  The Mendenhall Glacier is in the distant right in the lower area between the mountains, kinda visible.  Even though it was cloudy and snowy on the south side of the house, the sun actually came out to the north and we could see the mountains.  So pretty.

The afternoon was a lot of fun - the traditional turkey feast was wonderful, the company was great and we even made snow angels in really deep snow!  Hope yours was a memorable day as well.



Taken at 1:30 pm




Taken at 3:00 pm

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