Fairbanks, Alaska, Sept. 24, 2009,  12:36 p.m., Alaska Time~

Dear Journal~

Katrina here.  A very annoyed Katrina, as a matter of fact. 

I'm annoyed because I'm not ready for winter!!  Not even the end of September, and already we've had some snow here!  Not a lot, mind you, but enough to remind us that winter is quickly approaching!

The other day, I woke up to a world of white.  I'm like, "What the hell??"  Snow!  We had an inch of snow on the ground; it's since melted, but there's still reminders of it by the bushes, the trees, and on the rooftop of our house.

The highs have fallen into the upper thirties/middle forties, with teens and twenties for lows.  Brrrr!!  I want my summertime heat back; I'm not ready for subzero conditions!!  I still want to move back to the southland, where it is a lot warmer; these cold temps play havoc on my fibromyalgia!!

Meanwhile, when it is hot, my MS suffers, so there you go.  No happy medium for me.  No wonder I'm always such a grouch; Frank calls me "Hurricane Katrina" when I'm in one of my moods.  I'll show him "Hurricane Katrina" when I storm surge all over his happy butt!!  GRRRR!!!!

I'm just glad we have two nice, warm, fat kitties to snuggle up to.  Yes, we still have Aurora Borealis of the Far North ("Aurora" for short) and "Raggie".  They are fascinating creatures; always on the go, entertaining us with their nonstop kittycat games and adorable antics!

And yes, we still have our baby boy, Junior, who is now a whopping 25 pounds.  He's a lump.  Ten months old now; he'll celebrate his first birthday on November 1, 2009.  He's already started to say a few words ("mama", "daddy", "kitty," "pretty", " 'no"  ["snow"], "go-bye" [his way of saying "goodbye"], and "bottle", as well as "bah'rum" ["bathroom"]).  He is a very bright little boy; life for him is nothing but one long, neverending adventure!

Frank has been dropping hints he wants to make another baby.  I told him to wait until Frank, Jr. is a little older.  He has been feeling rather amorous lately.  Hmm.  What to do about that??  (Wish I could snip, snip, snip him like a dog, put an end to his baby dreams!  We already have more than enough now with just one kid and two cats!!  LOL)

And one big, overgrown kid (aka, my husband)!!  LOL  Sometimes he acts worse than little Frank!!  LOL

Frank wants a girl.  I want to wait.  What part of 'no' doesn't he understand, as it says in that country song??

I don't mind the nightly lovemaking, but frankly, I'm not ready for another baby!  At least not yet!  Wait until Frankie, Jr. is a year and a half, maybe two!  Maybe we'll try then!

We also keep having a problem with "peeping toms" (or should that be "peeping moose" or "peeping bears"??).  Just about every night, we wake up sometime to find a bear or moose looking in our window.  My screams usually send them running for cover, and my husband is then ready to kill me for ripping him right out of a nice slumber.  And then Junior starts wailing like a fire engine.

I tell you, life isn't dull here at the Hammer Haus!!

The northern lights have been rather slow lately; they are since getting more active.  Saw some beauties last night:  magenta, pink, white, even green.  Very spectacular lightshows in our northern skies!  It is becoming prime season for the auroras; we should start seeing them just about every night when skies are clear!

Well, I am going to go.  Time to make lunch for husband; he's home with the stomach flu.  I'm home, too, playing nursemaid to him; he's such a big, overgrown baby when he's sick!  I just pray I or Junior don't catch his bug, or else we're in a world of hurt!  I will write again soon; until then, this is Katrina saying so long! 

~Love, your friend in Fairbanks, Alaska, Katrina Hammer.  :)