Termination Dust

In Alaska summer isn't officially over until termination dust arrives. And what is termination dust? It is the arrival of snow on the otherwise green mountain tops. It arrived near the end of this week. We had a few days of heavy clouds and rain and as the clouds rolled away we saw what was left behind- termination dust. It means time to change from summer and prepare for winter. Everyone has begun pulling their lawn decorations indoors for the winter. I've seen more than one person haul out their snow tires and head off to the garage to have them mounted and commercials advertising studded tire sales. I read somewhere that it is legal to start driving with studded tires as of September 15th. Slowly we'll see that termination dust drift downward and before I know it there will be snow on the ground out my front door. The leaves have begun changing already and are about 50% or more towards peak. It's 9:10 pm and only the faintest light is visible. After the fall equinox the daylight will begin to drop off dramatically. I've begun looking for a "happy" light already to stave off SAD. Might as well be proactive!

Yesterday enjoyed watching Oldest Son's football game. They played against another team for their homecoming. ERHS is quite popular as opponents for homecoming games.. The opposing team's kicker kicked as state record field goal, 49 yards, against us and won 45 to 7. ERHS has a good quarterback and reciever who are leading the league in completions and yards. However, the rest of the league is focused on rushing yards. Oldest Son got alot of playtime yesterday. So we sat through the game in the rain but enjoyed it much more. Our old friends from Japan were there too as their oldest son, Oldest Son's friend, goes to the opposing school and their daughter ERHS. Next week ERHS homecoming but it doesn't look like we'll go as more than likely Oldest Son will return to Rochester this week.

Speaking of that, I nearly had a breakdown about it today. I was feeling out of sorts and like I was about to burst into tears all day and just couldn't figure out the reason for my turmoil. Finally it dawned on me that I am not doing so well suppressing my emotions over this upcoming departure. I'm sure going to miss that boy!

I had to go out today to buy contacts for Youngest Son. On my way home I spotted a large Mama Moose grazing off the side of the road. I quickly u-turned and pulled off to the side, got out of my van and started snapping pictures. She was just watching me and I seemed a bit jumping to I got back in the van pretty quick. I pulled another u-turn and it was then I noticed her calf in the woods not too far from her. Then I realized why she had been so jumpy. I guess it was pretty lucky of me that I hadn't hung around getting pictures longer. I tried to get a good shot of her and the calf but they were pretty well hidden.

We were going to go to Denali National Park this weekend for military day but I read the dates wrong and it isn't until Tuesday. So, since we're both working and the kids are in school we won't be able to go this year. I am hopeful this is a yearly event and next year we'll take leave and go out to see the park.

I had a BIG scare today with my cell phone bill. My friend Dawn will totally empathize with me on this one. I opened the bill to pay it today and nearly fell over when I read the total: $589.45!!!! It was data usage on one particular phone. So naturally I flipped out! I called our provider because we had paid for text messaging for this phone and our bill shouldn't be so big. It turns out it was for internet usage. I explained to the poor customer service rep that Sgt Dad and I had explicitly blocked internet usage with the clerk when purchasing the phones. She informed me that the block was removed when I added AOL instant messaging. Then explained that the charges are because using AOL also uses internet. I explained to her that I was not informed of this when I added AOL IM to the phones. After a long time on the phone and her speaking with her manager we got all the overage charges reversed and removed AOL from the phones. They can live with out it! Their service rep should tell people that using IM requires internet usage and you need a plan or you will incur these kinds of bills. In hindsight, I guess I should have realized that the aol im uses the internet but it seems that there should be some fine print at least stating that fact. Alls well that ends well I guess but I imagine that I have a few more gray hairs coming from this event. Sgt Dad actually grabbed the phone from me for a minute and let her have it! It was amazing! He was having a bad day. Our internet went out- again! They just can't provide us with reliable internet service! We have another service call scheduled for Tuesday. Hopefully they can find a way to keep us from getting booted so frequently- and despite how that sounds we are using broadband and not dial-up.

Finally, the last bit of news is that I'm officially an Alaskan resident. I got my driver's license and registered to vote.

Now, how long before I'm eligible for "free money"???