Kalib suddenly walks; Lavina cries

Ever since Margie got hurt, Kalib went off to daycare and his parents started hanging out in town more, we have hardly seen him and I feared that we would probably miss this moment. 

But we didn't. At 7:28 this evening, Kalib surprised us all when he took his first step. I was about two feet away from him and, damnit! It was such a surprise that I did not have my camera in hand. I had to run and get it and as I did, he took a second step.

I got the third step, though, and then a whole series after that. I plan to place a larger selection from that series here and I was going to do so tonight, but I am simply too exhausted to edit them. So I grabbed just one for now - taken probably about ten minutes into the process, as he walks away from the safety of his mom, cautious but determined. She looks at the video she shot of him walking and weeps.

Tomorrow, I will start at beginning of my take and post the series.

Jack Russell puppies for sale; the boy is not sad to see the St. Bernard pup go... reflective Mocha Moose coffee girl

I got this bad headache, I am tired and the skin around the top of my head seems to be contracting in a strange way. I just want to go to bed without writing even one more word... or maybe not one more after this... but I have already placed these pictures. I suppose I should add a few words to them.

So here's the story above: once again, I coaxed Margie up off her convalescent couch and took her out for a fast food lunch, just so she could see something besides the four walls that surround her. It is a little hard to get her out the door and it is scary when she steps off the porch and onto the packed snow and ice of the driveway, but we are careful and it is good for her to get out.

We drove to KFC-A&W for chicken and cut through Fred Meyer's parking lot to get there. Before we reached the chicken, I spotted this guy, Lenny, trying to sell Jack Russell puppies, so naturally I stopped. He was asking $400 per pup, which he assured me was a very fair price, but it was too high for me, so I didn't buy one.

Of course, if Lenny had been giving them away I wouldn't have bought one either. There is no such thing as a free pup.

Although the lady is having a good conversation with someone on the phone and it looks like she might be telling whoever it is that she is bringing a Jack Russell pup home, she and the girls were pupless when they left.

Jack Russell butt. 

Lenny called his pickup the Jack Russell Pup Mobile, or something like that. When you have a headache as bad as the one that now smites me, it is hard to remember such quotations word for word.

Jack Russell ear.

Just beyond the Jack Russell Pup Mobile was another vehicle and in it this boy held this St. Bernard pup. As you can see in the windshield, the pup was going for $600. If Lavina had been with us, she would probably have bought it. She fell in love with it when I showed it to her on the LCD to my pocket camera. That was yesterday. This evening, she was still walking around, thinking about this puppy and sighing, wishing that I had bought it and brought it home to her.

Jacob strongly insinuated that if I really loved my grandson, I would have bought it for toddler Kalib. But, if a free pup is expensive, think how expensive a $600 pup is.

As for the boy holding the pup, you can see how sad he looks. "It must be kind of hard to know you have to give up the pup," I said to him.

"No," he said, "It doesn't bother me at all."

I had more questions that I wanted ask, but a grim and solemn air permeated the St. Bernard Pup Mobile, so I kept my questions to myself.

If I had shot these as a feature for a newspaper, I would have had to ask the questions; I would have had to write down names. But since its a blog - my blog - I can do whatever I decide to do.

And I decided to leave it at that.

The puppy pictures are all from yesterday, but now this raven catches me up to today. I spotted it as I took my walk. It is so good to have all this sunlight back, to see such a blue sky, but it fooled me a bit.

I did not wear my earband. My ears got cold.

Even so, the increased hours of sunlight is finally beginning to drive the SADS out of me. I am still lazy and listless, but new energy is radiating back into me.

A snowmachine trail across Little Lake. Little Lake is not really a lake at all, but a pond, a tiny pond. When my kids were small, they named it, "Little Lake." They even made a sign that said "Little Lake." They posted that sign by Little Lake so that all who passed by would know its name.

Serendipity. Damnit. That hill used to be mine. 

This dog came running from a house, barking at me with joy. He was so happy to see me. Or maybe "she." I didn't check.

Today, to get her out of the house again, I took Margie to Taco Bell. Right next to Taco Bell is this construction site. It will be a Walgreen's Drugstore. 

Wasilla grows ever more mainstream, but in a haphazard sort of way.

The coffee girl at Mocha Moose reaches out towards her own reflection to take a customer's money.

Headlights coming down Shrock Road. Click on the picture, if you don't believe me. And that is all I have to say about this day, which for me, in its entirety, was spent right here, in Wasilla, Alaska. Maybe not all within the official city limits, but Wasilla, just the same.

Kalib at daycare - he seems kind of sad; scenes from the car - life as viewed through the rearview mirrors; the young mother who used to serve us coffee and her sleepy, handsome, new, baby boy

Yesterday, I dropped Margie off at the Alaska Native Medical Center for X-rays and followup orthopedic treatment, then journied elsewhere to take care of some business, returned for Margie, went and got Lavina and then the three of us ventured over to the daycare center where Kalib now spends his days.

It was sad for me, because he looked so sad. Given the nature of Margie's injuries, his parents had no choice but to enroll him in daycare. And he is learning new things and meeting new toddlers, but he is missing the love that his grandmother drenched him with everyday, after his parents went to work.

I kind of miss seeing him around the house, too, getting into cupboards, banging pans together, pouncing on Royce.

This shot is also through the door, as we had to try to keep out of his sight. If he saw us - particularly his mother or grandmother - he would likely cry, and beg to come home with us. In the morning, when dropped off, he tends to cling to his father's leg, and to cry; he struggles to resist the imminent separation.

His mother soemtimes comes by and when he spots her, he immediately starts to cry. In the evening, he is overjoyed when his parent's pick him up.

He is separated from his peers here because he is on a different diet than they, and so is placed at a different table.

Earlier in the day, after we drove to Anchorage and found ourselves stopped at a light on the way to ANMC. As you can see, the scene behind us was quite intimidating - yet, I felt no fear.

Boniface Road, Anchorage.

After I dropped Margie off, I found myself parked at another red light, with a red car behind me, to the right.

This guy jaywalked. The evidence is right here.

These big wheels aren't even rolling, but they soon will be. I am not stopped at a light this time. I am stopped because there is an accident ahead of us. Margie and Lisa are in the car with me and we are drinking coffee, purchased at a kiosk. We are taking Lisa back to work. Her break was short.

We pass slowly by the accident. I see no signs of injury, but it's possible.

Back in Wasilla, headed down Gail Street, on the way home.

In the evening, I drove to Carr's to buy a chicken, salad, rice, oatmeal, berries and such so that Margie and I could continue to eat. It was there that I met this baby for the first time. 

I first heard about this baby early in January, when a bunch of us went to IHOP for Sunday breakfast. There, the young woman pictured above asked me if I noticed anything different about her. Her name is Melanie, and she works at IHOP now, but we first got to know her well before, when she was a coffee barista at the kiosk across the street from the Post Office, the one that looks like a red caboose.

Melanie was always friendly and vivacious, and it only took a couple of visits before she figured out what Margie and I wanted every day. She knew how to make coffee, too - her brew was always good. That's not the case with all baristas.

I tipped her accordingly. 

Of course, I tip the ones who serve bad coffee equally well.

Then one day Melanie left to go work at Prudhoe Bay and we did not see her again until late last year, when we went into IHOP one Sunday and discovered that she was working there and that she was expecting.

And that is what was different about her in January - she was no longer expecting. She had her baby, and this is she and he. She told me his name. I guess I had better start writing these things down, because I have forgotten it. 

It didn't use to be that way, but it is now.

She gave me her phone number and I just called her to get the name and to let her know this post was going up, but I did not reach her.

I will try again later, and afterward I will put in the name.

At least, this is my intent.

February 22, 11:26 am: Donovan. His name is Donovan.

Insundry Images from today: Kalib on walk; Muzzy misbehaves; cell tower goes up, airplane passes by moon, cop-stop; kids on Schrock

This morning, I cooked eggs, bacon and hashbrowns and afterward I needed to go on a walk. It was a warm day, so Lavina put Kalib in his stroller and the two came with me.

Ever since Margie got hurt, I have had little exercise. I have taken only three walks and all have been short. I have eaten a great deal of junk food. I could feel it on this walk. My breath headed in the direction of short on slight uphills that, at the time of Margie's accident, I would not even have noticed.

Lavina asked me if I was going to go snowshoeing anytime soon. Ha! Before I even think about it, I've got to turn this around. Today was a start. A small start.

Muzzy misbehaved. But only because he loves to play with other dogs so much that sometimes he forgets who is boss. So he chased after a dog, hoping to play with it. The poor dog fled in terror. Afterward, Lavina reminded him that he is not the alpha male; she is. No striking, no violence - she just spoke firmly and he submitted.

A bit later, we saw some goats. She put the leash on him, just in case he forgot.

In the afternoon, I drove to Little Miller's to get some coffee for me and to bring back a cup to Margie. The coffee was very hot, much hotter than she likes, so I meandered a bit on the return, until finally I came down Wards Road. I was surprised to see the cellphone tower up. Given yesterday's entry, I don't know why I was surprised, but I was.

Cellphone tower and moon. The coverage here is still weak and spotty. I wonder when they will turn it on?

As it looks now, coming down Wards.

After I park the car in our driveway and get out, an airplane flies by. Moonlight grows.

Come night, Margie and I needed to eat. Everyone else was gone. So I went to Carr's and bought some food, including fresh raspberries and blackberries. They were identical to raspberries and blackberries that I had bought in Washington, D.C. and that Mary Ann had fed us in Salt Lake City.

As I drove home, I passed a "cop-stop." The officer had just returned to his car from the Chevy Trailblazer that he had pulled over and was about to get into it. I can only speculate as to why he had pulled the Trailblazer over to begin and that speculation could be completely wrong. On the other hand, it could be absolutely true, too.

Still, I will keep all such speculation in my head.

As to this photo, I place it here only to remind myself that it exists - assuming that one day, I will come back and read this post, because I will forget all about it, otherwise. It is a picture that I think has potential, but the foreground is severely underexposed and the sky, overexposed. So here, right now, it will look like nothing.

But one day, maybe, if I can spend some time working on it, drawing out what is in the foreground and smoothing out the resultant noise a bit (this will be difficult) and bringing the sky back in line (this will be easy) it just might be a good photo.

It might not be, either. It might be beyond hope.

Right now, I don't have the time or energy to fool with it.

Speaking of energy, sooner or later I must deal with Margie's accident in here, and the aftermath. Maybe tomorrow. No, wait! Grahamn Kracker has been promising to get a certain post up on his Kracker Cat blog, so I think perhaps I should hold back here, keep tomorrow's entry simple, and let him get it done.

Kalib, held by Caleb: A brief moment of respite

Notwithstanding the fact that this blog and a huge part of my mind and pysche has been stuck at the Inauguration of President Barack Obama for two weeks, life has continued to move on and all the while I have been taking snapshots of what I see around me.

So I am way behind. I still have more from DC that I want to include in this blog, and there are images that I have photographed since my return that I also desire to post, along with the stories behind them - such as Melanie's birthday and Frankie's goodbye, Muzzy's encounter with a moose - various things that I have seen as I have moved about and sprawled across the couch.

I will probably manage to post some of it here, but much of it will likely just slip away into the back regions of my hard drive space, perhaps never again to be seen by anybody.

And I am tired. Exhausted. Oh, God, am I exhausted! I have spent my entire career exhausting myself, pushing myself through insane 24, 36, 48 and even 50 hour plus workdays, sometimes back to back; almost never getting a good night's sleep, for I am that kind of person. I have not done anything like that, this time, but our life since we departed for Washington, D.C. on January 17 to the present has been such that it has left me exhausted, beyond recovery. it feels like.

But I don't believe it. I will recover, and I will yet do great things with this blog, the kind of things that I had in mind when I created it, but which a lack of time has so far precluded.

If some kind person out there would just send me $1 million dollars so that I could put aside all other concerns, save for this blog, Grahamn Kracker's cat blog and the canon of books that I am working on, then I would get right to it, and I would start sleeping well at night, too.

Hell. I'd settle for $100,000. 

What are you waiting for, generous people? Hop into your online bank account and transfer the money to me, right now. I will put it to good use, I promise. I will not squander more than 50 percent of it!

As to the picture above, I took it yesterday, right after Muzzy's encounter with the moose. Jacob, Muzzy and I had been out walking and we had returned home through the marsh, which is where we met two moose. There used to be three - a mom and two calves. Now there is only a mom and one calf.

Absent minded me! I had not emptied the card for my pocket camera and I was not carrying a spare, and so I filled up the SD card and missed the best part of the Muzzy-moose encounter - the part where the moose was chasing Muzzy and Muzzy was running straight towards me. I furiously pushed the shutter, but nothing happened - no image.

That was when I discovered that I had filled the SD card.

Afterward, we approached the house through the backyard, and I spotted Kalib in Caleb's arms, up against the wonderful reflection of the trees that stood behind me. 

Damnit! No space on the card! Hurriedly, I found an image to delete. But it did not free up enough space! I found another, deleted it. Still, the camera read "Memory card full."  I found a third image, deleted it, and now the camera gave me one frame to shoot.

Not knowing how long Kalib would keep his hands raised, I lifted the camera and shot that frame instantly. Kalib then lowered his hands and did not raise them again.

Jacob and I entered the house. Margie was sitting on the end of the couch, her injured leg propped up on the ottoman and her crutches nearby.

I tracked snow onto the floor and she scolded me for it - but it was a gentle scolding, as are all her scoldings, and I deserved it.