Monday, 5/28 AM

          Today, Memorial Day. It doesn’t feel here like Memorial Day at home feels. That’s not bad. Or good. It’s just an acknowledgement that a) Memorial Day in Belfast has a certain “feel” to it (like Sundays in the summer did, when I was growing up)and that b) I’m definitely someplace different today.

      But it is sunny, and beautiful. A lovely and joy-filled treat after yesterday’s soaking, nonstop rain. I was beginning to think yesterday that perhaps I should think about building an ark for the pups and I. Their dog yard was a little soupy. In fact, it’s a good thing dogs know how to swim, because poor Kobe, in the back, was creating a vortex in his moat as he ran around and around it at dinnertime!  No, it wasn’t really all that bad. But it did rain, and has rained, a lot. Or so it seems to me. Two different days it was just constant all day long. But I think it’s probably a good thing here, a jumpstart to the short growing season coming up.  And anytime I was tempted to feel disappointed with the rain, I realized I would still rather be here, right now, in the middle of this rainy day in Big Lake, than home where it is sunny and 80 degrees. It will be warm and sunny there all summer, but I won’t be able to be HERE all summer. Perspective. It’s easy to find it when you look for it!

      So I did what I needed to do yesterday, and have needed to do all along – what any sane person who also happens to be a teacher on a two week hiatus who has three weeks left to teach when she goes back – would do on a rainy day: I corrected papers for  12 hours.  Yep, sat at the kitchen table with coffee and a pen and corrected ALL DAY LONG. I started after morning feeding, and ended with the last set just after evening feeding.  It actually feels GOOD. I was THRILLED to be done. (Don’t even ask why I have twelve hours of correcting to do in the first place, or why I brought papers to Alaska with me to correct. These things happen. And then, they have to be taken care of!)  So, before going to bed, I packed them in a box, along with my Carharrt coat which is unneeded here, and a few other things that I don’t need, and am going to just mail them home tomorrow, to save weight in my suitcase.

      It’s funny, because when I packed, at home, I had in a pair of Bog boots, which are waterproof, warm, and a little heavy. I also had my work boots.  Kristin said she had Bogs here that would fit me, so I took them out, and at the last minute, also took out my work boots. I figured I could get by for two weeks with her Bogs, and my sneakers. Well, at the last minute, I also added IN that whole pile of papers to correct (decided I wouldn’t likely do them ON the plane, but I would maybe do them here, so I transferred from backpack to checked bag.  )  When my bag was weighed at the airport, it weighed 49.2 pounds! WITHOUT the boots!  Whew. So, I think mailing that huge stack of heavy papers home will save me a few pounds.

     I spent a long time in the dog yard this morning, to make up for a shorter amount of time yesterday. I don’t think the dogs missed me all that much yesterday, as long as they were fed and cleaned up after, since THEY spent the whole day in their houses, too. Some of them didn’t seem to even come out to poop yesterday. I guess if you don’t REALLY need to, why get wet, and cold?!  Except Jack. Oh Jack. He stood outside in the rain ALL DAY LONG. Every time I looked out there, he was just standing there, next to his house, looking puzzled. Maybe wondering where everyone else was? Remember this is the same dog who, the other day when it rained all day, stood with his HEAD in his house, and the rest of him out in the rain. Zumi, the other “rain dog” from the other day, was tucked away in her house yesterday. And Tricky? He slept in here all day yesterday. I had no idea dogs could even sleep that much, or stay that quiet. He moved around – from living room bed, to footstool, to upstairs bed, but pretty much slept until middle of the afternoon. He is SUCH good company. He woke me with kisses this morning, which I thought was pretty funny.

     I had thought long and hard about going to Anchorage for the public market either Saturday or Sunday this weekend, but on Saturday, decided the traffic would be too crazy (I’m not worried about driving itself, just worried about driving someone else’s really nice, new truck) so I thought, maybe Sunday. But, it just didn’t seem worth it yesterday. Rain, worried about leaving the dogs here alone for that long, worried about driving Kristin’s truck in the rain with a lot of Memorial Day weekend traffic, worried about whether Tricky would want to walk around with me, or could sit in the car for a couple of hours. All in all, as much as I LOVE the public market there, it just seemed like a really bad idea. So once I gave up on the idea of maybe going, I actually felt better. So I KNOW it was the right thing, not to go. I think I can catch it for a couple of hours next Sunday, on my way back from Homer. I won’t be worried about the dogs alone that day, won’t have Tricky with me, and have to go to Anchorage to the airport anyway. Seemed like pretty logical thinking. (Whoa- did that just come from me???)

       Now what to do with today. Dogs are fed, watered, cleaned up after (I even dumped 4 buckets of old poo in the dumpster – heavy! ) and super played with, for now. I got face and ear licks from EVERY SINGLE DOG this morning. And hugs. And we had great conversations. I was very aware of just how lucky I am this morning to just BE here. I feel like it’s important I don’t take a single second of this for granted, how lucky and blessed I am. It is going to be very hard for me to leave this place, these dogs. I love these dogs.

     I am thinking a walk around the pond, maybe.  And maybe I will run to Three Bears (the grocery store) for some food for this week. Guess I’d better think what I feel like cooking, first. OH, the ONLY picture I got yesterday, because of the rain and my hibernation, was a picture of my dinner. OH. MY. GOODNESS. It was SOOO good. I made those Kodiak Cakes Flapjacks, with blueberries? Yeah, cleaned the whole entire plate. YUMMM. They may not look beautiful (the prettier ones were underneathe, the top ones I just filled the pan and then cut them apart to flip them. Not pretty at all, but boy were they good. ) And flapjacks DON"T taste just like pancakes. They are less sweet, less fluffy, more hearty somehow. The syrup seems to give it the right amount of sweetness, without being overly sweet like pancakes with syrup can be. I think I'll be eating these again, AND taking a box home with me!