Monday, August 4, 2009, Fairbanks, Alaska, 3:41 a.m., Alaska Time~

Dear Journal~

*Yawn*  Good morning, everybody!  LOL  Hope this finds y'all well; the reason I'm up with the bears (and the night critters) is because Junior was howling; he was hungry!  I just put him back to bed; he's since drifted off to dreamland.  (Wonder what little babies dream about?  Hmmmm....)

The northern lights are tickling the skies; very pretty.  Blue, pink, white, even green.  At first, when I came to Alaska, I was terrified of them; I thought they were silent aliens coming from outer space to take over the world!  LOL  Now I know better; when they get exceptionally bright, I do get a little nervous, but at least they're a lot better than those awful hurricanes I had to put up with when I was living in Louisiana!

Here we don't get hurricanes; we only get northern lights and an occasional earthquake.  I have felt a few already; there is something totally unnerving about the ground rippling under your feet and hearing a distinct low rumble, not knowing what it is.  Yikes!  I don't know what we would do if we had a big 'un; guess that means I'm out of luck as to where to move to next!  LOLOLOLOL

Okay, so I lied.  We also get thunderstorms here.  I am not crazy about thunderstorms; living in Louisiana did me in on that!  When it thunders/lightnings out, I'm doin' everything I humanly can to protect my family; Katrina has given me a fight-or-flight kind of attitude:  when I see even as much as one little flash of lightning in the sky, I'm herding my little family to the basement, for shelter's sake!  LOL

Healthwise, we are doing great.  Frank is still as fit as a fiddle, I'm more like a well-played Stratavarius, and Junior is as fat and as adorable as ever.  At nearly nine months of age, he weighs 22 pounds; he's a regular little butterball!  LOL  He eats good; people see him, and they're like, "What are you feeding that kid??"  LOL

We still have our kitties, our Norwegian Forest cat, "Aurora Borealis of the Far North" ("Aurora" for short), and our Ragdoll, "Raggie".  They keep us laughing with their kitty antics; never knew something so small could get into so much mischief:  it's like having two extra kids, excepting these "kids" have fur! 

The other day, Junior did get scratched by our Ragdoll.  He pulled the kitty's tail.  Kitty did not like that.  He reared back, hissed like a snake, and struck about just as fast.  Junior howled in pain as three long stripes magically appeaered on his arm.  He tried to smack "Raggie", and "Raggie" hissed again, sending Junior scuttling back to where I was, big old tears on his face.  He looked so pitiful! 

Having a baby and two cats is never dull, even for a moment!  This is when I'm glad Frank can watch them on weekends, when we are not at work, because then mommy (me) can sleep in!! 

The weather here has been cooling down.  Temps in the sixties, seventies, lower eighties, with lows in the forties or fifties.  It was in the eighties or nineties a few weeks back, but I honestly think the hot weather is about over here, thank goodness.  The hot weather just wipes me out anymore.  Guess I'm gettin' old! 

The other day, I was asleep in our little bungalow when I heard a noise comin' from outside.  When I peeked out into the early-morning darkness, I saw a big, brown bear.  He'd gotten into our garbage.  Frank forgot to lock up the cans again.  There was trash strewn everywhere, as far as the eye could see.  I knew he had a big clean-up job ahead of him when he got up that morning.  I was not amused.  Dumb bears!  Why can't they leave our trash alone??

And just last week, a very large moose poked his long, brown nose into our kitchen window as I was cutting up carrots and potatoes for our soup.  About scared the hell out of me!  I don't know why Frank doesn't put the screend down, to keep the animals from poking their noses where they don't belong! 

Well, I hear Frank stirring, so I guess that means it's time to get up and get ready for work.  We go in at six, open the store at nine, then work 'til five.  Then we come home, spend time with our son (and each other), and go to bed, then start the whole process all over again the following day.  Then on weekends, we don't get out of bed before noon (that is, if Junior doesn't wake us up first!).  Until later, this is Katrina saying so long and God bless; take care and be good to each other!