Currently: June

Currently regretting: Not being able to stick to my blog schedule & get this up on July 1!!!

Currently living/working: We’re in the thick of it, although I keep pointing out to Justin that I am working more hours at my main job than he is, yet his paycheck is higher than mine! Gotta love nonprofit work (I do!). I’ve spent a lot of time in my role as an Alaska Geographic science educators at the front desk of the newly reopened Murie Science & Learning Center inside Denali National Park, which has very science-based exhibits, and it’s been fun to entertain thoughtful questions from visitors (that I don’t always have the answer to & forces me to learn more more more about Alaska). 

Current mood: I oscillate between feeling very zen, and feeling very frantic. Summer is certainly speeding by and Summer Solstice marks a mourning period because I know it means we are officially losing light! (By August, we will be losing 6 minutes of light per day!!!!)

Currently worried about: I used to love thunderstorms, but here in Interior Alaska, it marks a time to constantly check the fire map. Here’s your science lesson for the day. When we have an extended period of warmth (our warmth = 70s), the ground surface heats tremendously, which builds the thunderstorm energy. That started June 16 for us, which led to at least 5,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes per day for a 10-day period. Not all lightning is created equal. “Cloud-to-cloud” or “in-cloud” lightning discharges do not reach the ground, but our “cloud-to-ground” lightning is a risky combo with the warmed ground surface. This summer, the closest fire was 40 minutes north of us in Anderson blazing about 600 acres—thankfully now contained. Our temps have since cooled with more rain, so we might be in the clear. (I shouldn’t have typed that last sentence because I probably jinxed it.)

Current confession: Every spare minute has been dedicated to getting yurt #2 up and going to be rented on Airbnb, but every project is taking twice as long as anticipated (Murphy’s Law is alive & thriving)! I do believe tasks like hanging pictures and TVs were designed to test marriages, but I digress. In any case, it’s coming together. Our conservative goal was to get 20 nights rented this summer, so we shall see if we can pull that off. 

Currently excited for: Speaking of our second yurt, I sent Justin up to Fairbanks for a major supply run for things like a water heater and futon couch. He returned with a side-by-side vehicle. Okay, okay, the truth is, we’ve been talking about buying something to shuttle water & laundry back and forth the 1/10 mile from our cabin to the yurts, since gas is a wallet-crushing $4.75/gallon, so I admit it wasn’t exactly an impulse buy. Bonus: it came with a plow, so we are more than ready for this winter!

Currently thankful for: Our friends, Laura & Landon, got married at Otto Lake on Solstice!!!! These 2 were our very first friends we made here in Healy back in 2019! More specifically, Laura is the reason we own our cabin, as she gave us the insider scoop that it was going up for sale (eternally grateful to her)! Fun to witness their official union.

Current guilty pleasure: We finally checked an item off our bucket list: morel mushroom hunting!!! Morels commonly grow after a fire, and well, if there is any silver lining to our area’s recent fires, Mother Nature rewards us a plethora of morels! We first went foraging June 11, but came back with zero. Turns out, we needed some insider tips about where to look specifically, and it was probably too early in the season. We went June 27, and scored big time! If you’ve never tried morels, they are chef’s kiss.

Currently not excited for: We need to start rationing the 20 filets of salmon remaining in our freezer. Justin was set to go dip net fishing Monday to try to get our household limit of 35 salmon. However, salmon returns are down by 21%. Alaska Fish & Game said the numbers are the lowest cumulative count on record for this date in 40 years. So they closed subsistence fishing for now. Even if they open additional dates, there’s no guarantee they’ll line up with his group’s time off, so we shall see. #firstworldproblems … or #alaskaproblems

Currently proud of: In my last Currently post, I mentioned I would miss doing guided hikes, and I declared that I wanted to hike for fun this summer. Readers, I’m actually doing it! I logged 26 miles in June, mostly by sneaking out on my lunch break for solo 2-mile hikes on my lunch break in the park. 

Currently amazed by: Summer is about 3 months too short for outdoor home improvement projects in Alaska and we are always incredibly ambitious. And since we’ve been pouring all our free time into the second yurt, our cabin projects are slipping down the priority list. However, the to-do list for it keeps multiplying. At this point, I might just start crossing things off—not because they are complete—but because they will be relocated to the 2027 list.

Currently reading: I’ve been wanting to read another one of Barbara Kingsolver’s “heavy” books, and The Poisonwood Bible became available via my library holds. Then I realized it was 546 pages!!! UGH. I nearly decided to DNF because I wasn’t really enjoying it, but I stuck to it. It tells the story of a family who moved to Congo as missionaries in the 1970s. There are elements that paint the picture of Congo’s destabilization of its government, but the plot is more about the tragic experience for the preacher’s wife and four daughters, as told through a split narrative. I feel this might be my last Kingsolver book (it was my 4th) unless someone sells me on one of her others. 

Currently watching on Netflix/Peacock: I thoroughly enjoyed the second season of Four Seasons on Netflix, which accurately portrays the dark humor realities of midlife crap. Justin liked it too, but kept commenting, “this is depressing.” And there will be a season three!

I’ve read Harlan Corbin books before, and there seems to be a string of series based on a few of his books on Netflix. We watched I Will Find You and enjoyed it.

We did not finish Boots on Netflix. The main character poked fun at life as an unplanned military recruit, but we only got halfway through before deciding that we don’t enjoy seeing the torture that boot camp is. It made me think of my dad & how F%&$# up he got from his Army experience.

And I have one movie shoutout. I am a sucker for “based on a true story” movies, and Unbroken was one of those stories about human resilience that just doesn’t seem like it could be true. Go watch it if you haven’t!