I am about to finish my third day here and I am about to drop. I have finally cleaned out my office enough so that the custodian can actually vacuum. I don't know how I would have done it without my wonderful student library assistants. They have really been helpful. Next week I start on the library workroom which has hundreds of videos, and the equipment room. I just want everything in place, in order and it is going to be a job. For those of you who are interested in this sort of thing, here are some of the issues:

1. They had changed almost (to the 800's) all of the Dewey Numbers to only three digits so the kids could shelve the books easier. No more 598.2 or 599.97 or 796.35.
2. Only certain sections of the books are in order. I mean the 800's are just on the shelves in any order, and also the 900's.
3. This is the best! There are 39,000+ items in the Alexandria database. There are no more than 10,000 books on the shelves.
4. The librarian got marc records but did not load them. Instead the aide did brief cataloging on the new books. By brief, she entered the title and the bar code.
5. Many of the bar codes on the books and the computer do not match. For example, on the computer a bar code will match one title, but that exact same bar code will be on an entirely different book.
Mary, RoseMary and Elizabeth, you guys will understand my frustration and also the job ahead of me. I want to do an immediate inventory - but we cannot locate the handheld scanner.

There are hundreds of little prairie dogs around the school. They make holes in the ground and just pop up everywhere. Roxie will go nuts.

Tom and Elizabeth are in Alaska. They bought a 2007 Subaru Outback today. I imagine they will drive to Delta Junction tomorrow. I hope Tom comes on back soon. Well, I hope he comes back period...

I have put in a total of 11 work orders for the technology department.

My aide lived in Anchorage for nine years. What a small world.

I love this very small school - except I have bus duty morning and afternoon with the principal. I like her a lot. She is shorter than Elizabeth.

We arrived in Zuni yesterday and it seems like two weeks ago. Our apartment in "to die for"! Brand new, twice the size of the apartment we had in Chevak. The grounds are landscaped and there is even an automatic sprinkler system. The air conditioner is a little funky. We turn on the pump fist to get some straw wet on the roof, and then five minutes later we turn on the air. It works.

It is so hot here. Hot like in "Larence of Arabia" hot. We are totally exhausted from the heat. My only relief is that it is going to get cooler in about a month. Today a Zuni man asked us to come watch the dancing in the square. Then he told Tom that since we were not Zuni that we would have to go up on the roof to watch. Uhh - it would be too hot for me on the roof and besides that, how are we going to get up there. We decided to wait till a cooler day. The roof....

My library clerk is fabulous. The library is beautiful. The principal took me to every classroom to meet the teachers and kids this morning. We have our checking account, our post office box, our keys and we are set. If only I could get my computer to print.

The track youngsters were running and exercising in the heat afterschool today. I don't know the temp but it is crazy hot here.

Internet might not be much of an option here. The school intranet is severely structured and my favorite sites are all blocked. I haven't tried Netflx yet - but if it is blocked I might start crying. There is internet available in housing but it is expensive and hardly ever works. So, I don't want to put money out for something that isn't usable and available. Then, and here is the worst - I cannot use my laptop to log onto the internet at school. UMPH! MY frustration level has been reached with the technology here.

Our apartment was not furnished so we had to drive to Gallup yesterday - our first day here - to get a new mattress. We then went to Goodwill and found a couch and two chairs and two endtables. Tom went back this morning (the mornings are cool like air conditioning) and picked up a few necessary items from Wal Mart.

Tomorrow I will drive Tom to Gallup where he will catch the train to Albuqerque - I will learn to spell that. He will then fly to Phoenix to meet Elizabeth and they will fly together up to Anchorage. He will be back in about a week. I'll miss them both.

Maybe I can get some photos loaded tomorrow. I have been swamped with stuff to do.

It is August 8th and we are spending the night at the Route 66 Motel on Route 66 in Tucumcari NM. We travel to Albequerque tomorrow and then on to Gallup tomorrow afternoon. We will be around an hour from Zuni and will head there Monday morning. I'll check in at the district office for some paperwork and then hopefully we will get into our apartment. Tom leaves Wednesday afternoon.

It has been hot and super windy. The trees in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle actually lean toward the Northeast because of the wind. I would open the car door and my "literature" would start blowing everywhere and on a couple times the door of the truck would slam shut. It was 98º today.

Our route was - Atlanta, Montgomery, Memphis, Little Rock, Oklahoma City, Amarillo and now to Tucumcari. We are not making and unnecessary stops so I have no photos yet. I expect to get a few tomorrow. Our trip has really been uneventful. There was a major traffice jam in Memphis - two insterstates were intersecting and they were working on both at the same time and it was 5:30pm when we were traveling through. Traffic was at a standstill. I guess it took us over 45 minutes to go about 10 miles.

The transfer trucks on I 40 must number in the millions.

So, I have a little event to write about. Last night at our motel, Tom went out to the car to get toothpaste and another time to get a bag. Well, he was gone a long time both times. I mean a good 20 minutes. I just figured he was fooling around with the truck. Then this morning, he went to get coffee at the motel breakfast. He was gone a long time again - enough time for me to get a second snooze. Now, let me back up here to about four years ago , when I was discussing finances with my brother Mike, I told Mike that if I could keep Tom from drawing cash out of the ATM machine, that I believed we could save some money. I had no idea what he did with the money he drew out. Then Mike said " He may have him a girlfriend somewhere!" I'm lying there in the bed now, remembering that conversation and realizing that once again Tom has left and is simply not returning. I started imagining all the things that could be going on and started to get out of the bed, but then he returned. I told him my concerns and we got a good laugh out of it. Turns out he had been gassing the car, repacking the truck, etc.

 We have seen a dead armadillo and a very still huge turtle on the side of the road. We have seen over a million cows.

I'm going to change the photo on my blog - I'll have to take just the right photo.

It has been a while since we posted. We arrived safely in GA after eight days on the road back from Alaska. The trip was a quick one - stops were kept to a minimum. Our house was topsy turvy - I did manage to get the curio cabinets emptied before the painters got to them. We have stayed with my brother David and daughter Elizabeth several days and then we took a trip up to meet our longtime friends, Terry and Dee, at Amicalola Falls. We got back into the house last week and have been working hard to clean up and rearrange everything since.

Elizabeth is still planning to go to Delta Junction. She has an apartment now and is getting excited and nervous at the same time. Tom is planning on flying up there with her and getting her settled.

Roxie is now trim and lean - the yard is good for her to run around in and get lots of exercise chasing squirrels and birds. She is having a great time off-leash. At least we do not have to worry about someone shooting at her.

This will be my last post for a while. There won't be much to say this summer.

Tom and Roxie at Radium Hot Springs. The highway was cut out of the mountain behind him. This was a tough mountain to climb and descend. Trucks were having a really hard time. Glad I wasn't driving.


A young man had his friend take his photo while he was on top of this rock. I said "Tom, why don't you hop up there and let me take your photo, too!" And he did!


There are swarms of insects in Canada - they hit the windshield like the birds in "The Birds". There must have been a thousand on our windshield, the view was absolutely obstructed. Every stop we made, the windshield had to be scrubbed.


I have attempted to make Roxie as comfortable as possible. She is on top of two sleeping bags, a wool blanket and a towel - all of which serve to put her at exactly the right height to be near her "man", have a clear view out the front window, and take a comfy snooze without being too far from Tom. We stopped at Pet Land in Prince George and got her a new leash and some chicken snacks.

It took us three entire days plus half this morning to get through Canada. What a long trip! It isn't as much fun when one is just driving - not stopping to enjoy the sights. We got so tired of the bugs and the mountains just seemed to go on and on. I mean they were beautiful but there were so many of them. We were mighty glad to cross the border into Montana this morning. We entered above Eureka and drove through Kalispell and hit Interstate 90 at Missoula. The western part of Montana is just so much more beautiful that the eastern part - at least from what I can remember. These huge rolling hills - and the Flathead Lake was fabulous.

Hope we can make good time the next couple of days. It is all interstate from here.

Elizabeth called and said she had a good possibility of a roommate. That was great news. Housing is quite high in Delta Junction - if you can find it at all. She said the gal she was going to room with was on a road trip this summer on her motorcycle!

Today, there was a beeping sound every ten minutes in the car - coming from the dashboard. As near as we could figure it was near the radio. We got into one of those arguments - Tom insisted there was nothing wrong with the truck and I was insisting that there must be, else why would this beep keep going off every ten minutes. I got the manual out and skimmed that thing from front to back - nothing about a beep. Every time it beeped we would stop talking and look at the dashboard to see if there was a warning light or a message. This went on for about five hours - from Radium Hot Springs to Missoula. We did not figure it out till we parked the truck at the motel, cut it off and were getting out of the vehicle when we heard it again and realized it was the cell phone telling us it had a low battery.

Spent the night in a pretty nice town - Smithers, British Columbia. Tom and Roxie are getting the truck gassed up - I think it is around $76 to fill the truck. Ouch! Not sure if that is Canadian or US but I think it is by the liter - and cannot remember how a liter compares to a gallon. I just know that the gas is expensive. Tom wants to get out of Canada as soon as possible.

Roxie will not let Tom out of her sight. She is obsessed with him.

Tom and Roxie posing once again. Tom is such a good sport.


Roxie catches up on her sleep in the back seat of the truck.


Huge rushing streams are everywhere. I've never seen so much water.

Below are some of the animals we saw on the Cassiar Highway. We really felt like we were in the wilderness here - not so many folks on the road. Weather was beautiful and the road was paved almost the whole way - contrary to what some people told us. The first hundred miles or so was a little rough - but after that, just fine.
Let's see, we saw a red fox, seven black bears, one moose, three reindeer, and four horses.

We believe these are female caribou (or reindeer).

This moose was certainly a familiar sight.

Tom thinks this is a male caribou (or reindeer).

I've never been so close to a black bear! She was really giving us the eye and I was pretty glad I was in the truck.

These great looking horses were just ambling down the middle of the road.

We are on our way home on the AlCan Highway. We were hoping to leave Anchorage early Friday morning – but there were too many issues to be settled and things to take care of and stuff we needed to do. So we ended up pulling out at around 3:30 in the afternoon. We did end up driving all the way to Tok at least.

On our second day, we have now passed Whitehorse and are heading to – rather wanting to get to Watson Lake tonight. Roxie is tired of the truck already. We are passing up all sight seeing on this trip – just what sights we can see from the truck.


The weather is just beautiful - sunshine, cool breezes and clear skies. Yukon is a beautiful place. Emerald green water some places and deep dark blue other places. We have passed so many huge lakes, several still covered in a layer of ice.

On the road just inside the Canadian border we saw a little blonde coyote. About 50 feet later we saw an ugly looking large wolf. He may have been after the coyote. Both were practically on the highway.

Tom is letting me help him drive. He drives a couple of hours and then I drive a couple of hours. We’ll see how long it lasts. The only caveat is that I cannot drive slower than 55 miles an hour.

I'll try to post a couple of photos tomorrow. We are leaving the AlCan and heading down the Cassier Highway. It is not entirely paved - but then we have traveled a lot of unpaved road today. We still don't know our route once we hit Prince George.

That is Tom Bender dancing with the natives at Saxman Village.

This afternoon we are in Vancouver at the airport waiting to get back to Anchorage. I am so impressed with Canada. We came through an inside passage last night - between Vancouver Island and the mainland, I won't be sure till I see a good map. IT was just lovely, so green and so many beautiful snowcapped mountains. Lot of gorgeous homes on the Island - all along the way as we got closer to Vancouver. Also, it gets dark here - really dark. The city of Vancouver is absolutely spotless and beautiful. So many lovely homes with great landscaping all through the city. The airport is huge and the waiting areas are spacious.

Tom and I are now sold on cruising. The first couple of days were tough for me - I am not fond of crowds -but we soon found our own spots and were able to relax. The room service is addictive and free so we really took advantage of that. We liked our little Indonesian steward - he called us Mrs. Annice and Mr. Thomas and came to clean the room twice a day. The water was so beautiful and relaxing - I can't wait to go on another cruise.

I will post a few more photos today. Can't wait to see our Roxie and get started home to Georgia.

Tom enjoys his third beer at the Alaskan Brewery.


Tom Bender at Ship Creek - a really famous landmark in Ketchikan.

We are leaving Chevak for the last time, never to return. Roxie is in the kennel on the ground beside Tom and is not a happy camper. This particular scene is one I always enjoyed.

Chevak seems so long ago.

We are on the last day of our Southeast Alaska cruise. There were not so many tourists up here this year signing up for these cruises so the prices really went down. I’m not sure we are getting a great deal but I think we are. We have a lovely spacious room with a deck. The food is never ending and the weather has been clear and sunny all week except for our visit to Ketchikan.

Roxie is staying at the kennel in Anchorage – she is pretty happy there. We are already anxious to see her – we are really obsessed with the dog. It’s comical.

Let’s see, the first day was “at sea”. The second day was spent in Sitka. We simply got off the ship and walked around there. The third day we visited Juneau – where Tom and I went to the Glacier gardens. This man had reclaimed an area that was destroyed by a landslide and just landscapes the whole place with rocks, streams, and beautiful plants. We rode to top of the mountain in a small vehicle in which Tom and I were sitting in the front seat and higher up than everyone else – pretty exciting and pretty scary. There was a great view Juneau and the harbor. Our ship actually looked small. Later we went on a tour of the brewing company where they make Alaskan Amber beer. They had free beer and I think Tom had three different ones. He said he was wobbly on the way out. The fourth day we spent in Skagway – on my gosh – nothing but tourist shops. We could’ve stayed on board. We did go to the historical museum which was housed in this old college building. It was nice – there were two dolls there from Chevak made by Ursula Pingayak. That afternoon we took the White Pass –Yukon train and it was worth the whole trip. Tom and I stood out on the platform the whole time in awe and taking photos. It was loads of fun and so beautiful. Lots of snow was at the top of the pass.

Yesterday we landed at Ketchikan. We went to the Saxman Native Village to see dancers (Tom joined them) and some really interesting and old totem poles. Later we saw the Lumberjack Show. I could not enjoy the show for worrying about those young men getting hurt. It was fascinating – swinging axes, climbing tall poles, dueling banjos with the chainsaws, and much more. Tom had a ball and the crowd was really into the show. Great fun.

Tom has been going to sauna and the steam room everyday. He knows every inch of this ship.

I shall post a few photos. Tomorrow evening, we fly back to Anchorage and pick up the dog and the truck and head home. We are not yet sure of the direction once we hit – well we aren’t sure of the route yet. We’ll know what it is once we take it.

We love this cruising. There are people on this ship who cruise a couple of times a year. My time on the internet is charged for on ths ship - so will have to put descriptions under the photos in a couple of days.


Tom in Sitka. He liked this statue of the old prospector.


The bear is not real or Tom would not be smiling.


Tom is on the pool deck on board. He spent a lot of time here because this is where there was 24 hour free ice cream and pizza.


I had Tom pose outside the ship before we boarded.




We each posed with a totem pole. Notice Tom is "Low man on the totem pole!"

As we came home from school on Friday, it was actually snowing here. I've never seen so much snow. I believe it will still be on the ground next August when school starts again.

Good news. Elizabeth is now certified in the state of Alaska and also has signed a contract with the Delta Greely School District Delta Junction is at the very end of the AlCan Highway - between Tok and Fairbanks. It is on the road system so she will be able to drive out of town if she wants.

Can't wait to get on that plane Saturday.