When I was a kid in Fairbanks, growing up, we had a meat cache in our front yard.  It was a little log structure up on stilts. In the bush, people would have stored meat in them, and sometimes we did that.  But mostly, it was mine.  It had a window in it, something you [...]

 There are ten calories in a maraschino cherry. The serving size is ‘one cherry.’   So, if you were allowing yourself 2000 calories a day, you could eat 200 maraschino cherries and call it good. Does anyone besides me ever stop to think about strange things like that?  

 This year, we will see an increase in motorcycle related injuries and fatalities in the United States. City buses will become more crowded. More children will be riding the school buses this year. Fuel oil and natural gas prices will go up this winter. The number of pages of foreclosure notices printed in the newspapers will [...]

That’s such a cheery way for Livejournal to greet me.  Especially when my only friend is my othe self. Ah, me!  But that’s not really what I was thinking about tonight at all. I had a long day today, one with no writing at all.  I’ll still get my 1000 words tonight, but I’ll get [...]

Today we made blueberry, peach, and a peach-raspberry mix to use up the very last raspberries on the vines. Jam is wonderfully easy to make.  Measure the crushed fruit and the sugar.  Put the crushed fruit and the pectin in a pot, bring to a boil, then dump in the sugar.  When it hits a [...]

 Does this economy seem familiar to you?  It sure does to me!  And I find myself defaulting to old habits and ways of thinking.  Conservation.  Suddenly I’m more consistent about turning off the lights.  No dripping taps.  I organize my errands to conserve gas. Walk more. Bike more. Cook from scratch more often. Drink chilled [...]

 It takes up an intimidating part of my house.  On every floor, there are at least three bookcases.  Here in my office, there are five.  In the livingroom, three.  In the guest room, three.  Upstairs, in the bedroom, three.  They are big book cases, tall, and stuffed full. Some are packed several layers deep.  Some [...]

 photo credit: K. Ogden, copyright 2008.  I love the city I live in.  This is me, near Oldtown.