Vacation Recovery
The past few days have been very low-key and restful. Steve’s still on vacation from work (until Thursday), and we’ve been taking advantage of the downtime to make the craters in the sofa even deeper, sleeping late, and burning up the batteries in the TV remote. It’s amazing how exhausting a vacation can be!
I had plans to work in the yard today, but that didn’t happen. What has me so pre-occupied is setting up my new laptop and getting used to the quirks of Microsoft VISTA.
I finally did it… I replaced my old dinosaur of a laptop! My old laptop was the one I bought specifically for the move to AK; the one I did all my trip journaling on, and then later this journal. It lasted more than 5 years, and served me well, but with its 40GB hard drive, and very slow processor, it just wasn’t working efficiently for me any longer. Lately it’s started shutting down when I asked it to do too many things at once - which caused me to launch into a long tirade of expletives that just might make a sailor blush. Steve couldn’t take it anymore. *grin*
I only hope that this laptop serves me as long as the last one did. So far, so good.
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While we were traveling, I received an email from THE STASH, letting me know that there was a proceeds check waiting for me at the store. That was exciting news, but I had no clue what had sold.
Steve and I stopped in, while we were out checking out laptops, and I discovered that several of my greeting cards had sold, as well as some notecard sets I had put together. Rachael (co-owner of The Stash) then informed me that some of my framed and matted photographs had sold earlier this month.
When I looked at my “wall”, I noticed that two of my largest prints were gone (11×14 mounted/framed to 16×20). A woman had come in and purchased both prints for her home! It is always so very satisfying to me, to know that my work is being enjoyed in someone else’s home. Of course Steve gave me a big hug and kiss and told me how happy he was for me. I should have been the one giving out the hugs and kisses, as he has always been my biggest supporter and cheerleader.
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We officially canceled our bear viewing trip for September 13th. I feel sad about it, but at the same time, we have to be realistic about the situation. There are no guarantees that we’d be able to fly to Katmai, and the money we’d spend on fuel and lodging to get to Homer - plus the cost of the trip itself - would pretty much fill our heating oil tank. With winter only a few months away, we have to prioritize. We’ll try again next summer - hopefully.
I’m just glad that we’ve been able to travel as much as we have. And we still have one more roadtrip planned for August - to Valdez. But it was sobering to see the costs involved in the two trips we’ve already taken. Fuel alone (the truck only gets about 10mpg when towing the camper), was a hefty $1300. This year’s summer trips were saved for throughout the year, so it was in our budget, but who knows what the situation will be like next year? There may not be much to put towards summer traveling with heating oil costing almost $5/gallon.
We sent in our applications for the Denali Road Lottery. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that we win this year. If we do, we’ll have one final trip of the season to do. Thank goodness Denali is only 125 miles from here. The lottery weekend is September 13th-17th. It just so happens that Steve’s off for his 7-days at that time, so any day would work for us.
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On a more personal note….
Please continue to keep my SIL Lisa and her family in your prayers. I talked to my brother Mike tonight, and Lisa is back in the hospital with a very low platelet count. She was admitted the first time because of seizures. She developed a brain tumor(s), from the breast cancer spreading. She had radiation treatments, which shrunk the tumor, but they think that perhaps the seizure medication she was prescribed is what is causing the low platelet count. I don’t know how much longer she’ll be in the hospital. Mike and I had to end our call, when Lisa’s dinner came. I’m going to try to call him again tomorrow and see how things are.
It’s been a real tough battle for Lisa, and she’s a real trooper. I am in awe of her courage and determination to beat this horrid disease. She’s fought so hard, and I know she’ll continue to fight. My thoughts and prayers are with her, my brother Mike, and their two sons, Michael and David.
