Life is an adventure....this is ours.

2010 in review

SkippyNScoop — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 23:09:45 +0000

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 6,100 times in 2010. That’s about 15 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 34 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 282 posts. There were 148 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 127mb. That’s about 3 pictures per week.

The busiest day of the year was November 7th with 157 views. The most popular post that day was Moxie.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were skippy-n-scoop.blogspot.com, finnskimo.blogspot.com, facebook.com, yestheyareallmine-mom.blogspot.com, and megduerksen.typepad.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for alaska bush life, port alsworth, life is an adventure and this is ours, alaska bush living, and booster juice funky monkey recipe.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Moxie November 2010
12 comments

Welcome to the Alaskan Bush April 2010
30 comments

About Us June 2010
4 comments

De Nile September 2010
10 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

Danger Seeker August 2010
6 comments

The dark days are upon us

SkippyNScoop — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 08:28:21 +0000

Two more weeks until the shortest day of the year. After that the days get longer….slowly.

It’s cold too.

This does not take in to account the windchill. Today was the first day (of many) of indoor recess for the kids, which means the windchill was colder than -19.

We call it snot freezing cold!

Seven

SkippyNScoop — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 09:26:24 +0000

It’s hard to believe, but oh so true.

My baby boy is seven.

Seven is not really little anymore. But not really big either.

I think 7 is just right!

Click to view slideshow.

Dear Seven Year old Cooper,

Happy Birthday sweet buddy!

This year has been one of many adventures and changes for you and I have loved watching you embrace them all, fromcliff jumping to learning to read, like the courageous boy that you are.

You love first grade and are doing so well. Writing has become your favorite subject, second to recess of course, but your teacher and I both think the real reason you go to school is for socializing. You have good friends and are a great friend to many!

You have such a sense of adventure that can be seen in everything you do, but particularly in your birthday wish list which included a snow machine, a motorcycle and a four-wheeler. A seven year old can dream……

You LOVE to play out, especially sledding with friends and given the chance you would stay out all evening if I’d let you. Video games also top your list of favorite things to do when you aren’t able to play out.

These days you list your favorite foods as nachos with hot sauce, pizza and hot chocolate with “cool cream” (cool whip). However, you are not to picky and will eat just about anything I make as long as it doesn’t “come from the sea”.

It seems like just yesterday I was bringing you home from the hospital as my grumpy little jaundiced orange baby boy and now here we are at 7 years old. It is so hard to believe this time has flown by so quickly.

Little Cooper, I pray that this year is another adventure filled year for you! That you will continue to live life to the fullest and love others deeply. You are an amazing little boy and I am blessed to be your mom.

I love you so much Scoop!

There’s a new head chef in town

SkippyNScoop — Sat, 20 Nov 2010 07:02:36 +0000

I love milestones like this!

It means I’m doing a small part of my job right.

From start to finish. He did it all!

Smitten

SkippyNScoop — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 07:23:33 +0000

Dang. We fell in love last week.

Didn’t mean to. Didn’t go looking for it.

But it happened.

I wanted to call her Moxie, but her hero rescuer, Ben, wanted to call her Lilah.

So we call her Lilah Gotmoxie.

Her wound, that I thought would take weeks to heal, is nearly closed up. I am AMAZED!

She hardly resembles the scared, weak, wounded puppy that Ben brought in nearly two weeks ago.

These days she is a playful, rambunctious, dirty sock thieving puppy.

And we are smitten!

Click to view slideshow.

Great Giveaway!

SkippyNScoop — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 08:00:27 +0000

My favorite artist and good friend Michelle is doing and amazing giveaway right now!

She is uber talented and has great gifts on her website.

If you happen to live in the vicinity of Vancouver, WA her annual studio sale is WELL worth the time. Grab a girlfriend and make the trek out to Battle Ground to check it out, I promise you will not be disappointed!

Tell her I sent ya!

Moxie

SkippyNScoop — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 09:55:08 +0000

CAUTION: Photo’s in this post are very graphic.

mox·ie (mks)

n. Slang

1. The ability to face difficulty with spirit and courage.

2. Aggressive energy; initiative.

3. Skill; know-how.

Ben has been wanting a dog for so long that I can’t remember a day that he hasn’t asked for one. Today he found one. He was out back sledding and came running inside practically in tears. “Mom, mom, there’s a puppy outside and it’s hurt real bad. It has a big sore on it’s neck. Mom, can we bring it in and help it.”

My first response was no. I don’t need some mangy mutt with a “sore” in my house. My response took him from the brink into full blown tears. He really does have a tender heart.

“Alright.” I said. “Bring her up.”

I was not prepared for what I was about to see.

In he came with a small, adorable but severely wounded puppy. She was wearing her collar, but underneath the collar was a large, oozing, gaping wound. And I mean LARGE, OOZING, GAPING wound.

I immediately went and grabbed a towel to wrap this small puppy with a large wound in. Ben wrapped her up and sat down holding her in his arms like a baby. The puppy did not move. She just lay there with a blank look on her face. No whining, no bark, nothing but a blank expression and shaking like a leaf.

Now, as I have confessed before, I do not possess the ability to be a nurse. My mind is good, but my stomach is weak. I can’t handle blood or vomit or pus or snot or body fluids of any other nature.

First thing that needed done for this dog was to remove the collar, but there was no way that I could hold that dog, see the wound, get the collar off and still keep the contents of my stomach down. So I did what any other gag reflex challenged person would do and called our neighbor. Great neighbor that he is replied “I’m not sure why you think I’ll be able to get her collar off without puking either, but go ahead and bring her down.” So Ben carried her down the stairs, still wrapped in the towel, still motionless except the shaking.

Chris was able to cut the top side of her collar, but we were not able to remove it because it was imbedded in the wound.

We brought the puppy back upstairs to decide her fate. One thing was obvious. She needed a vet. Badly. I made a phone call to a friend to inquire about a vet in this bush town. Yes, there is a traveling vet and he happened to be in town this week. Good News. A phone call to the vets office, only to discover from the answering machine that he was indeed in town this week, but had left to go back to Anchorage on the mid-day flight about an hour before and would not be back again for three more weeks. Bad News.

Another phone call to friend looking for more options. No other vet in town. However, the vet’s assistant did live here, maybe she could help. Or Animal Control.

I called the vet’s assistant. Explained the situation. Told her of the direness of the wound. Explained to her that I was not a “pet” person, nor was I capable of cleaning up a wound of this magnitude. Her recommendation was Animal Control.

In this bush town Animal Control is also the police. I called the non-emergency number, talked to the operator, told her the situation. She asked me to call back in 1/2 an hour because her officers were out taking care of a DUI.

For the interim we decided that puppy needed to be made comfortable, so we made her a bed of old towels in a Rubbermaid tote. While we were preparing her little resting place Ben set her down on the floor and she somehow managed to work the collar out of the wound and to the ground it fell.

We made her as comfortable as we could in the tote to wait for Animal Control.

I knew what her fate would be with Animal Control and had to explain that to Ben. More heart break and tears. His crocodile tears brought me to tears. Could we do something, anything to save her.

Another phone call. This one to the emergency animal clinic in Anchorage. Explained the situation to the tech there. She said that first thing would be antibiotics. Could we get our hands on anything?

Called vet assistant here in town again. Yes, she had some amoxicillin.

Dialing emergency clinic in Anchorage. Told her we could get the antibiotics. What next? Clean the wound.

Clean the wound? I can’t even look at the wound without gagging. Cleaning would not happen under my watch. So I called another friend that I had heard was an animal lover. Could she come help with the cleaning? Yes.

In the meantime, the traveling vet that had just left Bethel a few hours ago returned my call. I explained the situation to him, he confirmed the antibiotics dosage and the cleaning regimen. Off I went to pick up the medicine and some puppy food. A $50 commitment to try to save this puppy’s life.

Also, while we were making decisions and phone calls, the police/Animal Control officers showed up. Funny thing, one of the officers in this small bush town is also a teacher’s aid at Ben’s school. Ben was excited to see him and showed his first smile of the tearful afternoon. His second smile came as I was telling the officers that we had decided to try to save the puppy. The officers still examined the dog to file a report because it was obvious this was an abused and neglected animal.

My friend Angie made it over a little later and I prepared her by showing her pictures that I had taken of the puppy a little earlier. We then formulated a cleaning plan that involved Dave and Angie and the puppy in the bathroom and me over at the neighbors. We moved the puppy to the bathroom where Angie gently finger fed her soft food mixed with crushed amoxacillin and got her first glimpse of the actual wound and gasped. It was way worse than the picture showed. And much deeper. She did not feel comfortable washing it out for fear of further hurting this poor puppy.

Another call placed to the traveling vet. No answer, so I left a message. Then Angie called the vet’s assistant here in town looking for advice. She still recommended that the wound be cleaned, explaining that is what would be done at a clinic. So Dave and Angie carry on. Puppy goes in the tub, gently held by Angie while Dave does the cleaning with gentle shampoo and warm water. In the middle of that process, Mr. Traveling Vet returns my call and again confirms what we are doing. At the same time that I am on the phone with the vet Angie and Dave discover what has caused this severe wound on the poor puppy. Some IDIOT has put a girls pony tail holder around this puppy’s neck. Seriously. A rubber band has grown imbedded into her neck and caused this large, oozing, gaping wound.

After the rubber band is cut away from her neck and pulled out of the wound (as told to me afterwards by my husband) and puppy is cleaned Dave applies neosporin to the wound, they gently dry her off and set her again in the tote to rest.

Not for long. Within20 minutes of her first dose of antibiotics and having the rubber band removed this puppy is up and moving around. Climbing out of the tote on her own and exploring the house. A completely different pup than the one that Ben had brought in the house four hours earlier.

Still, her wound is bad. We are certain that in a normal situation she would require many, many stitches to close it up and likely a much stronger antibiotic than what we have. But this is Bush Alaska, so we work with what we have.

She has a long road ahead of her. As does Dave, because her wound will require cleaning and neosporin application three times a day for a long time. But we think she’ll survive and if she does, in three weeks she’ll meet the traveling vet.

In the meantime, I think we’ll call her Moxie.

And now the pictures. Be warned, it’s not a pretty site.

Click to view slideshow.

Another ten meals

SkippyNScoop — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:39:26 +0000

I did it again. Yay me!

Another two weeks worth of meals and the shopping done too.

Here they are (again in no particular order, because I am not a rule follower):

Homemade Pizza – Sometimes I use Pioneer Woman’s crust recipe and sometimes I use this one from Our Best Bites. Both are very good and very simple, yet they are very different tasting. Pizza for the boys is usually 1/2 Canadian bacon & pineapple and 1/2 cheese. I, however, am addicted to this Carmelized Onion and Gorgonzola pizza. I have adapted that recipe a little by adding spinach and leaving off the olives…….Soooo good!

Chicken Tortilla Soup – This is a carry over from the last menu (ten meals planned for two weeks and we had a carry-over? We obviously had a few cereal or “fend for yourself” nights) The good news though is that there was enough of this leftover to freeze some for another meal!

Sloppy Joes and Fries – This is a standby and usually what Dave makes when it’s his turn to cook. I don’t always dig it, but tonight I totally devoured it. I guess that’s what eating only a bag of peanut butter M&M’s for lunch will do to ya.

Orange Beef and Broccoli – I LOVE THIS!! It is one of my favorites and a little labor intensive, but so worth the effort. I begged this recipe from my friend Amy, so if you want it you have to beg it from me.

Chili and Baked Potatoes – Nothing fancy, just a basic homemade chili, but I love how the toppings for these two things just go together. Or you can make the chili a topping for the potato. We ate this this past Sunday and had invited two guys over that we met at church. They are Optometry interns here at the hospital and work as the AWANA game leaders too. They are really neat guys and my boys LOVE them. They just kept raving over dinner though, and finally I said “thank you guys, but it really wasn’t that fancy” to which one of them replied “anything eaten at a table off of real dishes is fancy”! Ah yes, I seem to have forgotten college days.

Chicken Parmesan Bundles – Found these while looking for a different recipe. They looked good, so they are our token “new” recipe this go round.

Taco Salad – a family favorite, but not made very often because I can’t stand paying over $8 for a bag of chips.

Potato Soup – I am on the hunt for the “perfect” potato soup recipe, so this is a new recipe too.

Chicken Enchilada’s - These are already made and in the freezer and will probably become my dish for this weekends church potluck. (shhhhh, just between me and you……..I don’t like potlucks.)

Biscuits & Gravy – by request from Ben. Total comfort food and mmmmmm, good! I used Elena’s biscuit recipe (except I did not roll the biscuits in crisco and flour, instead I just brushed them w/ a little butter) and I pestered my friend Craig for his Sausage Gravy recipe that Ben had declared “the best”. There is no recipe, but there were helpful hints. And while I did not unseat Craig in his reign as King of B&G, I was told it was very good!

So there’s our ten for two more weeks.

I could use your help though…..I need a couple of “Rice and Beans” type of recipes. Got any to share?

Danger Seeker, part Deux

SkippyNScoop — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:59:53 +0000

I have two boys.

One of them has an affinity for jumping off of things.

I blame all my gray hairs on him.

Ten Meals

SkippyNScoop — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 04:07:40 +0000

I like to be organized. That’s not to say that I always am, but I like to be.

Especially with meals. Flying by the seat of your pants on meals can get expensive, especially here.

So today I wrote out ten days worth of dinners. It took me a while, but I thought of ten!

Then I shopped for all ten meals. Uggghh. Talk about painful (on the wallet).

Because I like you all, I’ve decided to share my two-week menu with you:

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches and Salad – this was my husbands idea, and he wanted them with Cheez Whiz. Gotta admit they were good!

Thai Peanut Salad – one of our very favorites! Ben and I fight over who gets to lick the spoon after we make the dressing

Black Bean Soup – This is new to our menu…..hope everybody likes it.

Tacos – an old standby

Spaghetti/French Bread/Green Beans – another old standby. I actually highly dislike spaghetti, but my family loves it so I put up with it once in a while.

BBQ Meatballs/Rice/Broccoli - these are THE BEST meatballs ever, but they take some time to make. Definitely a “Sunday Dinner” meal. Hmmm, we should find a family to invite over for dinner next Sunday.

Chicken Tortilla Soup – This is my own recipe and it’s good! I’ll have to share it with you sometime.

Grilled Cheese/Canned Soup – just like it sounds.

Fauxtisserie Chicken */Mashed Potatoes/Green Beans - anyone care to guess how much a whole chicken is here (per pound).

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (with left over fauxtisserie chicken)/French Fries/Salad

So there is our ten for the next two weeks. I don’t plan out what days we eat what because I’m not a rule follower, and if I had a menu that said “Monday – spaghetti, Tuesday – Thai peanut salad…..etc”, you know for sure I would not want to follow it. I am going to try to do as much prep as possible though. Like browning the ground beef for tacos and spaghetti, chopping the veggies for salads and soups, and forming the meatballs and freezing them. That way dinner is mostly done when I get home from work.

You’ve also got to know that at some point during the next two weeks I will tell my children to just eat cereal. No shame here.

Now it’s your turn to share a meal from your repertoire!

*Note to self: Don’t forget there’s “goodies” in the chicken.