Spring is happening

On Tuesday I measured the snow in one of the shadier spots of the yard, away from drifts or shoveling, and there were still 22" of snow there! But its's been right around 50 degrees every day this week so it's melting quickly now. Flowers started coming up last week in the 1" gap between the snow pile from shoveling off the roof and the front of the house. So on Monday I got in there and cleared off the snow from the rest of that flower bed as gently as possible and not we have dozens of flowers sprouting (most were already growing under the snow!) and a number of crocuses beginning to bloom. The next step is to carefully clear away the leaves I put down last fall over the flower beds as insulation, since now they are just insulating the soil from the warmth of the sun and blocking more flowers from sprouting. While I'm at it I will have to do the same for the leaves covering some new raspberry bushes that I transplanted from Bryn and Louis' yard last fall.

Some rhubarb was coming up along the south side of the house, but a moose ate it. Usually they avoid rhubarb because the leaves aren't very nutritious and are hard to digest, but with the deep snows and as cold as it was in January they have had a rough winter. With as warm and sunny as things have been I have a feeling that the snow will be replaced by new growth especially quickly this year, though, so soon the moose will be feasting again. And I'm not worried about the rhubarb - that stuff is the bamboo of the north.


Beth and I started some seeds indoors last week, which might have been a bit too early as they will probably outgrow their containers before they can be replanted outdoors. But yesterday I actually planted some spinach and kale outside (big difference between the 22" in the shade and the sunny part of our yard, which has been bare for almost 2 weeks) along our tool shed. It still gets pretty cold overnight, so I laid down some clear plastic sheeting right on top of the dirt to essentially make a 2-D greenhouse. We're probably going to rebuild that shed when Beth's folks are in town over Memorial Day and we'll have to take out the garden then, but I figured there's no harm in planting greens, which can be harvested and eaten anytime. The raised beds near our back door are nearly snow-free now, too. So last night I cut up a whole bagful of seed potatoes and covered them with wet paper towels to get them to start sprouting. After they get a bit of a headstart I'll plant them deep enough that by the time they come up they should be past the danger of frost.

The deep snow insulated the ground this winter, so the soil didn't freeze nearly as deeply as last winter in spite of the cold. This has let meltwater drain and prevented a repeat of last year's "Loch La-Poo." Man am I glad about that because with all the snow Beth and I weren't able to doo much mid-winter cleanup before Bella's business got buried. We're trying to keep up with the situation by spending Wednesday evenings "poop mediating" (since Thursday is trash day) and hopefully once the snow is gone the lawn won't be in too bad of shape.

Speaking of poop (even if you would rather we were not) I have recently been alerted to the fact that my poop-based estimates of the moose population is probably overstating their numbers. The moose that ate the rhubarb also made its way into the backyard and ate most of a pile of branches that I needed to clean up this weekend (thanks) as well as the stubs of last year's veggies from one of our raised beds and a few branches off of one of our cherry trees (boooooooo!). It also left piles of turds everywhere, which I had to clean up before Bella did. Based on that I would not have guessed that just one moose spent only 8 hours in our yard...

Yesterday Beth and I sat outside and drank a couple glasses of wine while soaking in the sun and I was actually quite comfortable in a t-shirt. The grill has been busy again recently and on Wednesday our Christmas tree, planted in the snow in our backyard ever since mid-January, finally toppled. All together, these are definite signs of spring - way more important that the 22" of snow along our fence...

Travel woes

Amazingly, 3 Delta planes broke down over the course of our 6 flights this weekend, which meant that Beth and I took off on the originally scheduled plane for a grand total of ZERO flights, and spent about 44 hours traveling compared to just over 60 hours at the scene of the party.

Let it be noted that the party was a smashing success and a ton of fun, even if the travel was rough.

I took this picture in the Minneapolis / Saint Paul airport on the way home. Suprisingly, given the picture, this was the only airport where we didn't experience any drama on the return trip!

As I was watching I was sure this was a tornado sweeping through downtown Minneapolis (you can see the city skyline under the clouds right in the middle of the horizon), but despite the strong winds, hail, lightning and heavy rain I don't think there was actually a tornado reported. Either way, this was about the most dramatic view I've ever had of what exactly people mean when they talk about a weather "front."

Honeymoon post #2 - getting there

Even though this is a post about traveling to Fiji, I thought I'd start with a picture taken right here at home-sweet-home:

Here we are in the backyard, enjoying some sunshine for the first time in months along with some nice frosty libations. As nice as this was, it only lasted about 20 minutes before we got cold and had to go back inside. But by the time the middle of March rolled around, this winter with it's coldest January in 50 years and it's 2nd most snow ever (as of 10 AM today we were 0.9 inches short of the record and its been snowing ever since, but I haven't seen an official update saying we've broken the record) was getting to us to the point that we were bursting at the seams to start our trip.

So when we did start the trip it was all smiles. Here we are just before take-off in Anchorage:

I should mention that we flew first class(!) for the first leg of this trip, which was a great way to spend 6 hours on planes without freaking out that we still had 10+ hours of flying to go. The first class tickets also let us hang out in the Alaska Airlines lounge between flights - another great perk. Still, by the time we were on board the plane for the flight from LA to Nadi, Fiji, we were exhausted from a full day of travel. After watching the first 6 minutes of "The Neverending Story," it was lights out and we both ended up getting a solid 7-8 hours of sleep (hooray Xanex!).

Crossing the international date line meant that we took off on the 22nd and landed on the 24th, skipping March 23 entirely. Here's a picture of the plane:

And here's a picture of us, feeling surprisingly good after the overnight flight.

Initially, it was kind of stressful to be trying to figure out where on Earth we had to go next. We had been thoroughly warned about hard-selling timeshare agents who would accost us in the airport and we also had no idea where to catch our next flight, since it wasn't with an actual airline. Eventually we found the right person to ask for help, got directed to the travel company responsible for our next flight, and once we made it to the gate for that flight we found ourselves reassured that the flight wouldn't be leaving without us:

We had a couple hours to kill, which we spend at a small cafe. After looking forward to this trip for weeks, being stressed at work and home trying to get everything ready to be totally out of touch for 10 days, traveling for a full day and worrying about how to make our connection in Fiji I found all my worries suddenly evaporating. Somehow, sitting in the airport cafe and waiting for our flight actually became an incredibly relaxing experience...

This picture mostly serves as a reminder of how badly I was going to require sunscreen.

Once the ticket counter opened, "Ben" (pronounced Bean) checked us in, which included not just weighing our baggage but then weighing ourselves as well, and directed us towards security. While waiting on the other side of the security check, we saw Bean walking by outside carrying our two bags. Then Bean came back and told us we could follow him to the plane. I should mention a couple of other things here, one being that Bean was to be the pilot, two being that this was my first experience as clearly the oldest person on an airplane, and three being that Bean gave us 3 different options for our flight path: direct to the harbor, scenic along the coastline and scenic along the coastline with a detour out to do a fly-by of the resort itself. We took the direct option, Bean loaded us onto the plane and we put on our headphones as we taxied along with the door to the plane wide open to prevent overheating in the passenger compartment.

Which was also the pilot compartment:

We both had cameras out to document the flight,

which was quite scenic despite the fact that we had chosen the less scenic route.

We were also, um, well within picture range, particularly as we crossed the top of the mountains.

More scenery:

Sometimes, as a passenger, its less comforting to be able to see the pilot's instruments.

But Bean skillfully avoided the terrain and brought us in for a smooth landing at the Pacific Harbor airport. See, there's the runway straight ahead:

And there's the airport: 

Although I guess you could say the airport was appropriately scaled to Bean's plane.

After about a 4-minute drive to the marina, we boarded the Royal Davui boat to head out to the island. Believe it or not, we actually stayed awake the whole time despite our past track record with boat rides.

 

After about 15 minutes the island appeared above the horizon:

Before long we were there. Julie (one half of the management team, a native Pennsylvanian who had lived in Australia long enough to have a pronounced accent) met us on the jetty to guide us in.

I don't have any more pictures from the rest of our initial tour. But moments after this picture a group of the resorts employees sang a song to welcome us to the island. We were handed a pair of tropical fruit smoothies and cold towels and given a quick tour of the restaurant, pool, and marine center while our bags were taken to our vale. A few minutes later we arrived at the vale, and the honeymoon had officially begun!

Honeymoon post #1

Beth and I got back late last Saturday night from our honeymoon in Fiji. It was an awesome trip and we took hundreds of photos, several of which actually look good! I thought I'd start sharing them by showing a few pictures of our vale (aka: villa):

First off, here's the island itself. There are a total of 15 vales, all with oceanfront views,  plus a bar/restaurant, spa, marine center (basically a shack where you could pick up equipment and sign up for activities) and a combo administration/welcome/rainy day activity/movie/game room building.

Here's a picture of our vale from the beach. It's almost its own little duplex, with the bedroom/bathroom on the left and the living room on the right in this picture. Each side has its own porch, with one porch covered and one right in the burning sun.

The porch off of the living room. This view sure does make the water look inviting, no?

The "scorch porch" off of our bedroom. Actually, nobody ever called it that, but it has a nice ring to it in my opinion. Beth and I pretty much avoided this one except in the evening once it was shaded.

The living area, with a bar/water/coffee area in the back right corner and lots of windows to let the breeze through. 

We actually woke up before sunrise most days and spent leisurely mornings sipping coffee on the porch and then reading once the sun was up. The entire wall between the porch and living room was a series of glass panels that could be opened up, so that the entire side of the vale felt like a big covered porch.

Tucked in next to the covered porch was a wee tiny infinity pool. We didn't think we'd get much use out of it given that it wasn't heated, but in the end we often jumped in for a minute or two after getting back from swimming in the ocean.

Beth on the lookout for sharks...

  

Watching the sunrise...

Reading the kindle after rotating just slightly to the left...

"Just happy to be here," she said.

Also, the vale came with a bottle of Champagne. Hooray!!!

So thats a quick little tour of our home-away-from-home while we were honeymooning. Much more to come including the rest of the island and all sorts of aquatic life.