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We flew in on July 18 so we've been back for awhile but I am finally catching up!  Here's our approach.

 Home, sweet home!

 Although there's still snow on the mountains, it's nice and green and the flowers are coming out.

 Shell is here this summer, getting ready to move to the Arctic. That's the Tor Viking.

 White and purple lupine

USAFV (Unalaskans Against Sexual Assault and Family Violence) had a bonfire and we released these cool lanterns with wishes for peace and hope in the world.

 And the Greenpeace boat Esperanza was here for a few days

while the Coast Guard kept watch.  Greenpeace has an injunction against it and cannot get close to any of the Shell boats or equipment. 

Last weekend we held the annual Tundra Golf Classic, a fundraiser for my job.  It's always a lot of crazy fun playing golf in the Aleutian tundra. We don't have a real golf course here so we lay out some astro-turf "holes" and people have a blast.  Unfortunately the weather was not the best this year. We usually work out of a big tent but with high winds expected, we couldn't take a chance on losing or ruining the tent. So we hauled all of our equipment in a 15 passenger van and used it as our office.  A little disorganized but at least we stayed warm.  Here's Melanie volunteering,  handing out golf balls and clubs in the rain.  We have some hard core golfers and still had 16 teams show up despite the weather.

We had high winds, driving rain, and moments of calm and clear skies.  But it was chilly enough for a hat.  :)  Below is a little glimpse of Aleutian style golf.  There are lots more photos on KUCB's Facebook page if you want to take a look. 

And our tomatoes are still going strong!  We have red tomatoes, ripening tomatoes, green tomatoes, little tomatoes and just-beginning tomatoes.  I'm so proud of them!

This Monday's One Fun Thing

Tundra Golf! Each August, Unalaska Community Broadcasting hosts a crazy golf tournament fundraiser in the hills of Pyramid Valley. As most of you know, there is no *real* golf course here, so we lay one out on the tundra and everyone has a blast trying to play golf as never intended. The weather is unpredictable--the last two years were mostly chilly and rainy and I was semi-miserable working the event for two full days.

This year we were blessed with fabulous sunshine and warm temps on Friday night and all day Saturday. Some of our local firefighters sunbathed during lulls in grilling food for the crowd. You don't see this sight very often in Unalaska!


I was very happy to be out in the sunshine all day!


Fireweed blooming
Sunday was a bit of a different story. The fog was so thick in the morning that no one could see where their golf balls landed. The first team tried to play and decided to come back later. Several more teams came in and made the same decision.

We had our own little "weather hold" for a few hours--it was just as enjoyable sitting and chatting with everyone-- and then the sun came out. The rest of Sunday was gorgeous and we were back on track!

Rich was working but stopped by to say hi after he got off, and brought me some iced tea. Our friend Tammy and her girls also popped in and soaked up some sunshine with us for awhile.

In the "it's a small world" department, some guys came by off a boat and asked if they could play even though they had not registered. I said, "sure!" and found them a tee time. They came back later to play and I was doing my usual promoting of Unalaska by telling them all the things that are going on in town. One guy looked at me and laughingly asked me something about whether I'd been in NJ recently. I was confused, like, how would this person have any idea that I'd been in NJ? I said, "Yeah, actually, I was just in Ocean City in July." He starts laughing and says, "I think you were sitting next to my wife on the plane!" Sure enough, I'd been sitting next to a woman who'd lived out here years ago so we'd been chatting about all things Unalaska and how there's so much going on all the time. She told me that her husband brought his boat out here fishing on a regular basis and maybe she'd come out sometime while he was here. I think I even gave her my card and told her to call me if she did. He was on the same plane but sitting further back and after they got off, she was telling him about our conversation. So he took my picture waving and saying "Hi Robin!" What are the odds?!

It was a very busy, hectic weekend but it went extremely well and I did not even mind all the hours of work because the weather was so fabulous! There are a ton of photos on KUCB's Facebook page (KUCB) if you want to check them out. Or go to KUCB's blog by clicking here.

And Another Week Flies By

I can't keep up! Too much going on, as always. Last Tuesday night, I finally made it back to the knitting club. Wow, I think there were 12 people there, including a guy. Andrea and Terri helped me get started on a little hat. Well, I had already started on it but I was doing it wrong. :) That meant tearing out my stitches and beginning again. Luckily, I hadn't done much. Wednesday night, we had a girls' night out at Andrea's. She made baked salmon with homemade pesto on top. It was delicious...I had to come home and tell Rich about it. We started a fire in her firepit outside and made s'mores (even though the graham crackers were old and had a weird taste so we ditched them and just had chocolate and marshmallows).

Thursday night I think Rich and I were both at home with nothing extra going on for a change. All week I'd been working on the final preparations for the annual Tundra Golf Classic, which is one of our fundraisers at my job. It was all coming together very smoothly till Friday when it seemed like there were a dozen little problems. Eventually, everything was resolved and Friday night some of our Board members, volunteers and staff had to set up the big tent, pick up a portapotty and get the course ready. It was cold, windy and raining while we were putting up the tent. I was really worried that the whole weekend would be miserable (and I had to be at the event all day both days).

My coworkers Anne and Alexandra helped out Friday night. Saturday I had to get up early and head out to the course to set up for registration and get everything ready for the day.

Rich and some of his coworkers decided to have a team this year, calling themselves the "Salmon Poachers." At first I was a little shocked and said, "oh, you can't call yourselves that!" Rich laughed and reminded me, "We're COOKS." Here are Lisa, Rich, Kayla and Glenn.

The first day was chilly and windy but the sun kept peeking out and it didn't rain so I was counting my blessings. We had a lot of fun but it was a very long day with 26 teams playing in the tundra of Pyramid Valley. The last team didn't come in till almost 10 PM! Boy, was I happy to get home and get warm.

My friend Judi's sons Jacob and Steve are here visiting and took time out to volunteer.

Alexandra and Paul

We woke up to rain, fog and blowing wind today. It was COLD. I was surprised at how many hard core tundra golfers came out and played anyway,

including the Salmon Poachers with Vinnie subbing in for Lisa, who volunteered to work at the "Closest to the Pin" contest (in the rain....we have some dedicated volunteers!)

It was a great event for our TV and radio station and I always have a lot of fun interacting with all the people who come out. I have about 80 photos that I am going to post on the KUCB blog tomorrow so check that one out!

I got home about 7 tonight, Rich made tacos and I've been editing and resizing photos the rest of the night. Right back to work tomorrow!

Tundra Golf, Blooming Flowers, and Visitors Arrive

Last weekend, I worked at the annual Tundra Golf Classic, which is an Unalaska tradition and always a lot of fun.  We had some fog and some cool temps but the sun came out on Saturday afternoon and at least we did not have rain and high winds!    I have a ton of photos from the two days but will be posting most of them on the KUCB blog so check that one in the next few days.   www.kucb.wordpress.com

Melanie, Sonia, Erin and Alena, aka "The Screaming Banshees" get ready to rumble.

Rich was working all weekend but showed up with a sandwich and iced tea for me.  What a nice husband.

Even the Burger King came out to play golf.

Anne with her team, "Attack of the Sea Kittens." 

Aleutian style golfing....
Our Wyoming wild flowers are finally blooming in their pots.   I didn't think anything was going to happen but they are suddenly all shooting up and going crazy!

That's my sister, niece and nephew's plane coming in for a landing on Wednesday night.   They left Austin on Tuesday, spent the night in Seattle, got to Anchorage on Wednesday and were only delayed a little bit getting to Unalaska.   We'd had no planes for a couple of days due to weather so were really excited that they had no issues.  They even got to have the little adventure of stopping in King Salmon for fuel.  

Welcome, Eli, Kathi and Alana!  They didn't arrive till after 9 PM so we checked them into the hotel, Rich made them all some fabulous veggie sandwiches (they are all vegetarians) and then we took a little drive around the island before it got too late.  It was the warmest, sunniest and prettiest day I've seen all summer. Kathi claims that they sent the sun ahead of them from San Antonio.  We are grateful!

Yesterday we met for breakfast, ran a few errands and then took them out to hike Ugadaga since it was another gorgeous day.  Two sunny days in a row?!!   This is our favorite hike so we didn't want to miss a chance to go.

They were all duly impressed with the scenery and we even took off our hoodies, we got so warm!

Rich and Kathi along the trail.

Enjoying the sunshine and the view.

Hiking back from the Pacific Ocean.

After a quick rest, we went out for Mexican food and then took a drive to Summer Bay, Humpy Cove and Morris Cove.  Really hoped to see the wild horses but they were not in the vicinity.  We saw some salmon and a few eagles.  On the way back, we spotted a seal and two sea otters in the water.  

We are having a more lazy day today,  stopped by my office and went out to Alaska Ship Supply to do a little shopping, drove along the spit and came back to the hotel where our visitors are currently napping.  I think jet lag and yesterday's hiking wore them out!   Rich is working so he is not having a lazy day!  It's Friday night deck bbq at the hotel tonight so we will be enjoying some more good food and visiting with friends later.

Golf in the hills of Unalaska?

Aidan went with Lauren, some board members/volunteers and me to do a walk through of the Tundra Golf Classic site up in the hills behind Westward this evening.

Tundra Golf is an Unalaska tradition. You will never have any more fun playing golf! Lauren and Aidan are scoping out the site while looking for lost balls from previous years.

The hills are getting greener and all kinds of little plants and flowers are popping up.

Bryan brought his new little puppy with him.

There's still a little bit of snow to be seen. But not much!

Aidan found one golf ball, three tees, and was the recipient of a donation from Bryan of another ball. Lauren paid him a dollar for the "ball bounty." He couldn't wait to go to the store and buy some candy with his winnings.

The two of us are on our own for the remainder of Aidan's time in Unalaska. We received a phone call yesterday that Rich's brother George is not doing well and Rich caught a plane out of here last night. He made it to Portland early this morning and then drove to Sutherlin, OR, where George and his wife Nadine live. I am glad he is able to spend some time with them and am sorry that I couldn't go with him. We are sending all good wishes George's way.

I find myself wondering every day where the time has gone. I can't seem to keep up with all that needs to be done. I've been working on the newsletter for work and was determined to have it mailed out today but, as always, there was some little glitch or another causing me to keep revising and redoing all day long. Not to mention trying to learn a completely new program in which to create the newsletter in the first place. We picked my friend and coworker Anne up at the airport today--she's been on a trip to Mexico. It was cute when we were waiting and Aidan thought that Grandpa Rich was coming home. (We miss you, Rich!)