Popping, Soldotna, Poker, Fast Eddy Fish Guts 7-27-10

Today was quite fun, after popping anyway. After working, I took a nice shower and headed for Soldotna. I didn't realize how tired I was until I found myself almost nodding off on the way there, but I made it.

We played poker at Ray's friend Jason's house in Soldotna. It was very nice to see Mike again, a familiar face after so many strangers! He's here this week from Leadville. Anyway, with countless pointers and tips from both he and Ray, I ended up staying in the tournament longer than either of them. Sorry, I HAD to throw that in since I NEVER beat them in poker. :-) Anyway, it was a fun evening.

Unfortunately, during the time we were playing, Eddy was outside playing with Raisin and ended up rolling around in fish guts. This is why he earned the mafia name of Fast Eddy Fish Guts a couple years ago when we were hiking in Leadville. I guess it had to happen in Alaska!

Two Sisters 7-26-10

Ray brought the kettle back to the stand for me today, but it was pouring rain and apparently no one was there, so we thought it would be a waste of time to pop.

Instead, I read a lot and drove down to Two Sisters coffee shop and bakery. It was amazing! They had filled cupcakes that looked deadly. I sat near the bakery window for a while on the internet, so I heard every cupcake described several times by someone who worked there to people coming in, and the one that kept catching my ear was the reese's one. I managed to not get it, but I may have to go back for it sometime before I leave!

On the way home, I picked up the first two discs of "True Blood," which had been recommended to me several times, mostly by Lance. I watched four episodes and thought it was entertaining enough to keep going. I do like vampires, I must admit. Not necessarily the "Twilight" ones, but the ones NOT involving a teenage girl giving up her life for the guy she supposedly falls in love with at 17. Don't get me started...

Rain, Another day off, Jog, Etc... 7-25-10

Today I got up with some motivation. I had a breakfast shake, walked to the car, and drove to the bike trail on East End Road. Eddy and I jogged a mile uphill, which for me is quite good, and then we jogged another mile back down the hill. I have to say I was rather proud of us, considering that we haven't been jogging for very long. I'm including Eddy in "we" even though he's in considerably better jogging shape than I am.

After jogging in the rain, I went to the grocery store, had a shower at the Washboard, and went home again, feeling clean and refreshed. I don't feel that way very often here. :-) Anyway, I spent the rest of the day reading my book. I know... something I could do in Colorado, but at the same time, it was nice and peaceful, and exactly what I needed. I also managed to watch "Inglourious Basterds," which surprised me as being a pretty good movie.

I really hope it stops raining soon.

Rain, Outlander, Forced day off 7-24-10

Well, I was thinking I would go to Seward today originally, but when I woke up to the sound of pouring rain, I decided against it. Unfortunately, I woke up at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I ended up watching a movie. After the movie, I was drowsy, so I went back to bed. I love mornings I can actually go back to bed if the spirit moves me.

Anyway, I woke up again and ended up reading for most of the day. "Outlander" isn't anything like I expected it to be, but I'm really enjoying it. In fact, it's been rather hard to put down.

That was pretty much my day - lots of reading. This is never a bad way to spend a rainy day - book, tea, blanket. All good.

Kettle issues, new book 7-23-10

Well, needing to make some money, I headed down to the spit to get some kettle corn started and finish cleaning. Once I had the kettle all bright and shiney, I started popping. Unfortunately, it seemed to be taking an insane amount of time to get the corn to pop. I was making half batches and my arms were aching by the time it finally popped, so I gave up and called Ray. He came to look, and said there was something wrong with the flame. After working on it for quite a while, he said he had to take it to Soldotna with him to figure it out with someone there.

He left, I returned movies, and headed home. Not wanting to watch yet another movie, I started the library book I'd just loaned a couple days ago. It's called "The Outlanders." I really haven't gotten far yet, but it's pretty decent thus far. A lady who stopped by my stand recommended it a couple weeks ago when she saw me reading "The Book Thief," so I thought I'd give it a go.

Perhaps I'll head to Seward tomorrow to see what's going on there. It looks pretty, but we'll have to see what the weather does! I could almost place a bet on the weather, actually...

LOTS of movies, more rain, recovery 7-22-10

Today was a movie day. I'm serious - we watched six movies in a row. I haven't done that since I lived in Ohio. It rained all day, it was cold, and we watched movies. Yep, that's about it.

Day off, Birthday Bonfire, 7-21-10

It was a very nice day today. The sun was actually out for most of it, and it was relatively warm for being in Alaska. I didn't work due to some people working on the roof all around my tent. It seemed that if the tent was raised it would be in their way. I did clean the kettle out pretty well, since it was developing a nasty burn mark.

Ray and I decided to ride our bikes from the elementary school to the bonfire at Matt's place for his birthday tonight, rather than just driving. We had some really yummy thai food on the way, so it was nice to ride some of that off! We had the dogs on leashes and rode a bike trail most of the way. It was a little farther than we'd originally thought, but it was good.

The bonfire was beautiful. The tide was coming in this time, unlike the last one where it was out, so we had less room on the beach, but it was gorgeous. The clouds and the sun were playing together to make beautiful colors, and the moon even made an appearance. I feel like i haven't seen the moon in ages due to it being cloudy here most of the time.

We played a few different games - a strange version of cornhole, some game where you throw balls around a tall plastic thing, and a made-up game of throwing a frisbee at beer bottles on sticks in the ground. It was fun. We ended up crashing at Matt's place because we weren't really in good condition to ride bikes with dogs on the road. :-)

Cruise Ship Day, Rain Craziness, New Friend(s) 7-20-10

Well, today was much better in terms of business, which surprised me since it was cold and rainy most of the day. I actually had to close early because the wind picked up and it was blowing the rain into my kettle corn! I could hardly keep up with business before that though, which is always a good thing in the end. While working, a guy I'd met at a couple parties from my first week here showed up and re-introduced himself. His name was Dan, and we discussed things to do with visitors, since his cousins are coming to visit soon. He recommended a tour that sounded pretty fun. Apparently he'd just gotten back from Denali, where he had biked and camped for a while. He said they ran into a big grizzly on the trail, but after getting on his hind legs and looking them over, continued on his way. Heh, that's kind of scary anyway.

After getting shut down, I took a shower at the Washboard, and then met my new friend Pauline at Alice's for a burger and beer special for $10. This is a good deal around here, by the way! The burger was delicious.

On the way home, the sky was so beautiful over the water I had to take a picture, so eventually I'll get that uploaded on this post.

Popping not so much as sitting, Beautiful day, etc... 7-19-10

It wasn't a very exciting day. It was beautiful and there were plenty of people, and I couldn't understand why no one was buying kettle corn! It was very strange. I spent the day contemplating what fun things Jess and I will get into when she gets here. It should be fun!

After closing down, I went to Safeway, got a pizza, picked up some movies, and headed home. Eddy and I spent the rest of the evening watching a movie and relaxing. Nothing exciting, but I didn't spend much money today. :-)

Sleeping in, New tent, Karate Kid, Jog, Otters 7-18-10

Today was a fairly nice day, even though it was rainy and overcast. I slept until noon without interruption. I never sleep that late! We finally made it out of the house around 3, and set up my new tent on the Spit. My old one had far too many leaks and drips, so this will be very nice.

After Ray took off to do some stuff, I went to "Karate Kid" at the Homer Theater, which consists of one whole screen. It was the first movie I've been to for a long time without stadium seating. I'm going to tell myself that's why people don't know the etiquette for that type of seating anymore. After I'd sat down, and most of the theater was empty, a big group of six people came and sat right in front of me, blocking the screen with big heads. I mean... when I sit down in a theater like that, I make every attempt not to block anyone behind me. Isn't that the considerate thing to do? Most of the theater was empty!! I digress... The movie was awesome! I really enjoyed it.

After the movie, Eddy and I jogged down the spit again. It was pretty barren since it was about 9pm when we started out. On the way back, I noticed some sea otters playing in the ocean, so we sat on a rock for quite a while watching them and a passing HUGE cruise ship. I never realized how gigantic those ships really are. They seem to dwarf the entire spit.

It was a rather satisfying day, but tomorrow we need to work again, and clean! :-)

Street Faire, Jog, Darts 7-17-10

Today was pretty nice. The weather was gorgeous and I think it was the warmest day we've had since I've been here. It actually felt like it was in the 70's! I ended up at the street faire for quite a while. It was nice just hanging out and listening to some music in the warm air.

After that, Eddy and I went for a little jog on the spit. It was the first time I've done that for a while, but it felt really good, and the spit bike trail is beautiful.

I took a wonderful shower after that, and then Ray and I went to a bar to throw some darts. This time, I had my butt handed to me, but it was fun anyway.

Work, etc... 7-16-10

Well, I basically just worked again today. I got the wonderful news that Jess booked her flight to visit and drive back with me though, so that was awesome! I was not looking forward to doing that drive alone again... it was long enough the first time. It'll be way more fun with company.

Work was much better in the sense of money today, so that was good!

I came home this evening and messed around on the internet. That was my day! Tomorrow I'm going to the street fair for a while before I open the stand. I love street fairs! :-)

Work, Work, Work...and Bishop's Beach 7-15-10

Today was rather frustrating at the stand. It was really slow, even though it was beautiful and sunny, which is really kind of weird. After work, Eddy and I went to Bishop's Beach (a relation, Andrea?) and walked around there for a long while. It was a nice day to be at the beach. Well, is there really a bad day to be at the beach?

Propane Leak, Beach Day, Work, Dinner 7-14-10

Today I got up fairly early and actually wanted to get to the stand. I'm feeling the need to catch up on some money-making. Anyway, after I got everything set up and did my daily routine of wrestling with the tent, dragged the HUGE propane tank out of the car and rolled it where I needed it to be, I figured out I had a leak with the connector. When I opened it, there was way too much of a gassy smell (and no, it wasn't me, thank you very much). After calling Ray, he said I'd have to wait a few hours for him to get there and check it.

Eddy and I threw a "wall" back up on the tent, and headed to the base of the spit. I unloaded my bike from the car, put Eddy on a leash (since he broke his biker dog), and we rode down the spit. When Eddy started looking tired, we stopped and played on the beach for quite a while. He met some new doggy friends, which made him happy. He also repeatedly chased a stick into the waves, which was amusing for me.

After that, we met up with Ray at the tent where he confirmed there was a leak in the connector, gave me another one, and I went back to work. I did pretty well for only working a few hours, and then we had pizza at Starvin' Marvin's, which was delicious. It was a decent day. :-)

More rain, a day off 7-13-10

I drove back from Soldotna in the pouring rain, and after checking out the spit, decided to take the day off. There was no one there anyway, and it was cold, wet, and miserable. I went to the video store and got a couple more "Grey's Anatomy" DVD's, and watched them most of the day. It hasn't been an exciting day, but I'm okay with it.

Anchorage and Poker 7-12-10

Today I got up early and drove to Soldotna to meet Ray and head to Anchorage. He was nice enough to drive so I could check out the scenery and take pictures, and fortunately, it was another gorgeous day!

The drive to Anchorage is apparently the fifth most beautiful scenic drive in the world, or something like that anyway. I believe it! We drove along a beautiful, aqua-marine river - I think the Kenai River, and then we drove between the bay and the mountains. It was simply gorgeous.

On the way there, I called to re-order my camera battery charger, because apparently they were out of the one I had previously ordered. They found a more expensive one, but it plugs into the wall and the car, which is pretty nice. After we had lunch, I went to the car and was looking for something under the seat, and found my original charger. I couldn't believe it. Unfortunately, they'd already shipped my new one, so now I guess I'll be double-covered. Typical me!

Anyway, after we went to Sam's and picked up more product and stuff, we also hit Best Buy, where Ray finally bought a decent digital camera. When we got back to Soldotna, we went straight to Ray's friend Jason's house to play some Poker, at which I lost sorely, but it was fun anyway.

After that, we came back to Ray's parents' house. It was a great day.

Propane, Diamond Beach 7-11-10

Today did not go as I had planned, but it turned out better than I thought it would! I had a rough start this morning due to some weird pain in my chest when I breathe waking me up all night, and feeling even worse this morning. Fortunately it goes away a bit with Ibuprofen, so that's what I've been living on today. While waiting for the pain to go away, I talked to George Finnell on the phone about the strange bird I've been trying to figure out since I got here. We went through a list of birds on a really cool website he knew, listening to their calls. We still haven't figured it out, but I guess I'll keep trying!

When the pain was finally subdued, I headed for the stand. After it was all open and ready to go, and I had made two lovely batches of kettle corn (which were bought the minute they were on the table), I had to stop due to running out of propane. Ray told me to take it to get filled, etc... so I loaded the HUGE thing in my car and dragged it to the gas station, where they refused to fill it because it was more than 12 years old. Go figure. So we loaded it back into my car and we are going to swap it out tomorrow in Soldotna.

After that, I went back, completely closed down the stand, and decided to go on a hike Ray had recommended. Eddy and I went down the dirt road and found the trail at the end of it. We headed down the trail (yes, literally down), and eventually got to one of the most beautiful places I've ever been in my life. It was called Diamond Beach. Eddy and I pretty much had it to ourselves. I sat and wrote in my journal for a while, barefooted on a rock, while Eddy played in the waves. The pictures attached to this are from that beach. It was fantastic. I really needed something like that today.

I haven't been to a beach with crashing waves for a while. This was the highest I've seen the waves since I've been to Alaska. They were actually rolling and crashing on the shore. It was so hypnotic. What a gorgeous day. All the rainy, cloudy days here really make you appreciate days like this.

Slow day, more rain, more Grey's Anatomy 7-10-10

Ok, today wasn't very exciting either. I made kettle corn, not enough people bought it to make the day worthwhile, so I closed slightly early. I rented the next Grey's Anatomy disc, got some chicken tenders at Safeway (a real Safeway, unlike Leadville's ghetto Safeway), and came home. Once again, a rather boring day. I think this will be my last boring day. There's time after work to make any day interesting. I didn't come here for boring days, darn it! :-)

Back to the grind, Grey's Anatomy 7-9-10

This wasn't really an exciting day in any respect. I got up, made kettle corn, came home, and watched a disc of Grey's Anatomy. Yep, that's pretty much it. :-)

The ferry back to Homer, recovering 7-8-10

We woke up in the morning (not much earlier than the previous day) and started packing up to leave. We had slightly lighter packs this time due to having eaten a lot of our food, which was very nice.

As we were getting our bikes ready to go, I let go of mine for a second after Eddy was clipped to the Biker Dog, and he chose that moment to go on his own. He pulled the bike over, which scared the crap out of him, and he got away because he had actually broken a piece off his biker dog. I was less than impressed.

After we rode back to town, we hung out at the little cafe and had lunch for a bit until the ferry was ready to go. We all slept most of the way back on the ferry, staying inside this time for warmth.

When we finally arrived back in Homer, we jumped in the car, took a shower, and went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. We went straight home and watched a movie.

Rain, Camp, Cards, Linwood, A dark and scary bike ride back 7-7-10

We slept in really late this morning. I guess we were tired! We decided that since it was raining we'd just hang out on our beach for a while. It was nice. We played cards, made up a "throw the rock in the pot as many times as you can" game, played some Poker for dog food and cereal "chips," and roasted brats on a little baby campfire. We did all this in our natural dry place that was protected from the rain by some overhanging rocks and trees. It was really nice to have that spot, as everywhere else was very wet.

After a while, we took the bikes and headed back into town. We had dinner at the Mad Fish again (there really weren't many options). This time I wanted to try some fresh seafood, so I had scallops with fettucini Alfredo. It was amazingly good. I never thought I'd like scallops, but they were sensational!

We ended up back at the Linwood, played a couple games of pool (Ray one the first game, and I won the second only because he scratched on the 8 Ball). We threw some darts, which I won 2/3 games, bought sweatshirts that say "Linwood Bar. Drink like a local," and in a very drunken state got on our bikes to ride back to camp in the dark. Ray fell off his bike twice at that point, and I almost did a couple times as well. It was hard to see, and we were a little inebriated, but we made it! I'm pretty sure we crawled into our tent around 3:00am. Ouch...

Oh, and I just thought the bathroom doors of the Linwood were funny enough to take a picture, as you can see above, and apparently this town has something for decorated fire hydrants.

Ferry to Seldovia, Outside Beach, Linwood 7-6-10

We got up early today to finish packing and pick up groceries for our camping trip to Seldovia. Seldovia is a cute little fishing village across the bay that apparently you can't get to other than by ferry or plane. For this reason, I was surprised to find so many vehicles when we did arrive. Anyway, Ray checked in while I searched my bag for the dog leash I bought and thought I'd packed somewhere. We let the dogs run on the beach for a few minutes before heading to the ferry. We were carrying huge backpacks, pushing our bikes, and holding dog leashes (I used a rope and carabiner). For a second it looked like we wouldn't fit on the boat, but they helped us on and we ended up outside in the front, which was exactly where I wanted to be anyway.

The ferry ride was beautiful, as you can see from the pictures. We saw sea otters, lots of seagulls, puffins, tufted puffins, red-faced cormorants, cormorants, clam catchers, magpies, crows, bald eagles, weird diving birds (I don't know the name), and best of all... a HUMPBACK WHALE!! It was so amazing. The whale was a check off my bucket list, but I really want to see some up close. The sea otters were fun to watch too. They floated around eating fish like they didn't have a care in the world. I was almost jealous.

When we got to Seldovia, we put our packs on, got on the bikes, and headed for Outside Beach, which is where we were planning to pitch the tent. Riding bikes with those huge, heavy packs proved to be rather challenging, but we made it eventually. At one point we stopped at a campground thinking it must be ours, but turned out we'd passed the beach entrance and had to go down a rather treacherous path to get to the beach. At one point, I over-compensated when my bike slid and actually fell off, pulled by the weight of the backpack. It had to have been rather comical. I laughed. :-)

The ride was worth it when we saw the beach. It was beautiful. We saw a camper pull away as we were riding down to it, and no one else was there, so we claimed it by putting up the tent and leaving some stuff on the picnic table. We were lucky we got there when we did, as multiple vehicles came driving through to check it out. I'm starting to think Marmot should hire me to pitch their tent in random beautiful places and take pictures of it for their ads. Just a thought.

After Ray hung our food in a tree to keep it away from potential bears, we rode our bikes back to town with the dogs running alongside, and went to a cafe for a sandwich. We then went to the local bar, which is apparently the place to go for locals. It was okay. We had a couple drinks and headed to the Mad Fish for dinner. It was a delicious burger! We rode back to camp and went to bed after a few Reese Cup S'mores. They were an end to a fantastic day.

Day off, catching up 7-5-10

After yesterday, I was so exhausted I decided to take a day off. This wasn't a very exciting day, but it was rather theraputic for me, and for my aching body. I did laundry, took a hot shower, bought rain gear, walked around the spit, had a cup of love (from the coffee shop), walked with Eddy on the beach, re-scheduled our ferry trip to Seldovia, and basically just took it easy.

I woke up wanting to get a glue gun to put things together. There are many ways to psycho-analyze this, but my original idea involves shells and cool rocks, and other such things from the beach. Stupid, maybe, but it sounds like fun, so I also bought a glue gun. I also bought socks. :-)

When I got home and Ray arrived, we re-packed, planned for tomorrow, and watched a movie. It wasn't very exciting, but it was a nice day.

Lots of kettle corn, crazy bikers, lost camera battery charger 7-4-10

I worked hard today. Ray said it's the record for working a stand alone (where profit/money is concerned). It was insane. I was practically taking reservations two batches ahead of the one I was making for bags of kettle corn. I had no idea so many people were so crazy about the stuff! I hurt.

Dear Harley-riders,
Do you really have to be so obnoxiously loud everywhere you go? You don't need to make an entrance. No one cares if you are there or not, other than the fact that you are disturbing the peace for EVERYONE. Compensate in some other way, please. Oh, and get your fingers out of my fresh kettle corn. It's not yours yet, and it's not in YOUR bag.

Sorry, I was a little irritated today.

So one big problem for me is that I seem to have lost my camera battery charger. Those of you who know how much I LOVE to take pictures might understand what a huge loss this is for me. It HURTS. I looked it up on Canon's website today, and they don't appear to have it for sale. SERIOUSLY, Canon?! Oh, and they are taking tomorrow off, even though it's NOT a holiday, so I can't even call. Jerks.

Yep, a little irritated today.

If anyone is reading this, I hope you had a great 4th!

Busy day, Alice's, new friends 7-3-10

Today started pretty badly since it was raining and wouldn't quit. During the rainy slow time I continued with "The Book Thief," which started making me cry a little harder than I would like while trying to sell kettle corn, so I had to stop. It's probably a book better finished at home!

When the sun came out, business picked up enough that I could call today my biggest day by far! It was nice keeping busy, and the weather was beautiful for a while.

After work, I took a nice, hot shower at the Washboard, and after having debated all day about what to do after my shower, I decided to go to Alice's for a beer. I figured it couldn't hurt, and if it sucked I could just leave. After sitting there for a while, listening to the band (which wasn't bad), and drinking my beer, the girl next to me started talking to me. As it turned out, she was also from Colorado and had traveled up here alone for a little adventure. She was touring Alaska. She ended up buying me a beer and giving me her bear spray, since she's going home soon and won't need it. It was really nice. Someone else who stopped by and chatted for a while was Pauline, a lady who works at my favorite store on the spit, the Better Sweater. She's really nice too. It was great having people with whom to talk, instead of just sitting there by myself and wishing more of my friends were here.

Now that I'm home, it's bedtime, and I'm still a bit tipsy from the beer. I really am a lightweight, and I think it's getting worse! Weird, considering how I live at 10,200 feet, and now I'm at sea level. What's up with that? I seriously hope I don't end up with altitude sickness when I finally go back to Leadville.

Long day, Tired Hearts, etc... 7-2-10

Today was basically just a long blur of selling kettle corn. Ray went back to Soldotna to sell some corn and get ready for the weekend in Seward. I spent an extra two hours at my stand for a couple reasons - to see how much corn I'd sell after I'd usually pack up and go, and to keep myself entertained instead of coming back to hang out with "Grey's Anatomy" again. It was actually the most kettle corn I've sold yet, but not really due to the last two hours.

While I was not busy, I spent some time reading more of "The Book Thief." It's really an awesome book. Anyway, the girl in it, Liesl, mentions that she is reading a book that talks about tired hearts, and how her heart feels tired too. I'm thinking anyone could probably relate to having times when his/her heart feels tired. Sometimes I think mine is exhausted to the point of just being in constant survival mode. Maybe that's why I feel the constant need to "shock" it with different surroundings like I always do, hoping it finds the energy for another round if it's in a different place. Am I being too metaphoric or open for a blog?

When I finally got home I watched two episodes of "Grey's Anatomy," now I'm writing this blog, and I'm probably headed to bed soon. I'm still debating between doing laundry and finding someplace to go out tomorrow after work.

Rain, sugar, and Kenton 7-1-10

Today Ray picked up the fixed kettle and we put it back in the stand. He was still not feeling well, so he went home and I sold kettle corn. It was pretty rainy today, which always seems to hurt business, but it wasn't bad for a rainy day. I spent the extra time writing postcards, and realized when they were finally done that I'd forgotten to bring stamps with me. I guess they're going out tomorrow!

I had a customer today that said he'd been looking for "the kettle corn guy" all winter because he really wanted double-sugar kettle corn. He was very excited when I said I'd make it for him, and he ordered two extra large bags. These are HUGE bags, by the way. He said he'd be back next week for more.

A very strange moment happened when I was in the middle of writing the zip code on a post card going to the LaVergnes in Kenton. I was interrupted mid-zip code when a couple came up and wanted to buy some kettle corn. They happened to mention they were from Ohio. Of course after that we have to share where we are all from in Ohio. Randomly enough, they were from Kenton! I had to pick up the postcard I'd just written to show them how strange it was that I was mid-zip code on a postcard to Kenton. I don't know if anyone else finds that strange, but I'm still greatly amused by it.

After closing the stand, I came home and was very happy to find that Ray had rented "Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief," since I'd wanted to see it, so we ate brats and watched the movie (which was really not very satisfying since they changed half of the book). I hate it when they change movies so much from the books.

We are now watching "Hot Tub Time Machine." It's actually pretty funny thus far. Tomorrow, more work!

Day of rest, a pretty drive 6-30-10

We didn't end up going to Seldovia today since Ray is sick. We vegged in front of the tv and watched several movies instead. I spent some time on the porch working on my current book of choice, "The Book Thief." It's really good, by the way, but rather sad. We drove a way down the coast on a road called East End. It led to a gorgeous view. I forgot my camera, of course, but I took one on Ray's phone so eventually I'll load and post it.

Speaking of cameras, I seem to have lost my battery charger, so if my camera dies, I might be at a loss for a while, which might nearly kill me. I'm going to do a detailed search (again) tomorrow, and if I don't find it I guess I'll have to try Wal-Mart (an hour away), and if that doesn't work, I guess it'll have to be ordered online. Grr....

On the way back, we picked up a pizza and a couple more movies. It's been a nice, restful day. Tomorrow I'll be back on the newly fixed kettle, hopefully making some money. We re-scheduled Seldovia for next week, which fortunately means we can camp there for two nights instead of just one, so that will be fun anyway. :-)

Oh, and I visited the post office yesterday and decided that those wretched places would be so much more friendly and nice if they would just play some music. It always feels like you have to be quiet in there, as if you were at a funeral, church, or the library. Is there any reason a post office can't be a little more pleasant? Just a thought...