Monthly Archives:November 2006

The local emergency responders, CERT teams, and Civil Air Patrol are holding a mass immunization exercise today. The scenario is a bioterrorism threat with resultant immunizations needed by the entire community.

Two locations have been set up with a goal of seeing 500 people (between the two locations) going through an hour.

The pull? Free flu shots.

I was there bright and early this morning and was able to make it through all five stations (greeting, check-in, immunization, checkout, survey) in right around 5 minutes. Everyone had big smiles on their faces – broadened by my own quirky sense of humor, of course. 😮

Our receptionist went by about an hour or so later and discovered there was no way to get into the parking lot – so that is a good thing – that they are busy, not that she couldn’t get into the parking lot.

People are encouraged to go through the exercise even if they don’t want a flu shot. The big push is to see how many people they can accommodate in the 6 hours or so the exercise is going on.

I’ll show you my special bandaid later.

:moose:

a weather blog . . . but, really, folks . . . how could I NOT talk about the weather? We are having terrific – horrific – wondrous – awesome windstorms this week. Not sure how high the gusts are, but it makes for interesting wind chill factors. Must protect those extremities, people!

And, I am not a great example, either. I happilty wander around all winter bareheaded, light jacketed, bootless, and often, mitton/glove-less. Of course, the extent of my outdoors forays is from my house to my car (previously plugged in by hubby Moose – and auto started from my living room – how spoiled can a moose get?) then from my car to my office – reverse that at lunchtime – reverse again homeward bound.

I am that unusual Alaskan who does NOT play outdoors in the winter months. I am happiest curled up with a poor man’s mocha and a book or my knitting – or a bowl of popcorn (liberally buttered, thank you very much) and a favorite movie or tv program. You can find me thus most evenings.

Of course, you must remember, that this moosie is getting up into her dotage years – hahahaha – it takes a youngun to play in the Alaskan wintry out of doors. Oh, wait, I didn’t do much of it when I was younger, either. Too busy raising my own younguns and making sure their faces and such didn’t freeze when I forced them to go outside to play.

🙂 heh

And, to add to our weather related topic, we awoke this morning to hear, first, that a tsunami warning had been generated due to an 8 point something quake in Japan – and, second, that said warning had been cancelled because the biggest wave was only about 16 inches.

Gotta love those ups and downs, right? Right.

Have a great day, everyone!

:moose:

. . . and electric cord tails????

Yes, welcome to Alaska – where men are men and women win the Iditarod – and cars MUST be plugged in when the temps dip – as they did last night – into the teens and below. (Anchorage will even help folks get a block heater)

Hubby Moose went out into the biting wind storm last night and plugged in the vehicles so they would start more easily this morning. His parting words to me as he left for school/work were “don’t forget to unplug your car.” Erm, okay.

It hasn’t happened to ME, but it has happened to folks around here. They plug in the car the night before – we have something called an engine block heater – and then even after tripping over the cord on their way to start the car in the mornings, they will forget to unplug and drive off into their day . . . after pulling the cord either out of the garage wall OR the front of their car.

Now, if it is the garage wall, that’s an easy fix. But if you pull it out of the front of your car, well, that could be a bit spendy. Not to mention the sight you would make as you drive down the streets with this cord just flopping around under your vehicle, or wrapping itself up and around the axle of your car – or the car next to you.

Yup, we live in Alaska – we make our own fun.

And, yes, Lessa . . . I remembered to unplug before I drove off. And, may I say again just for the record . . . the BEST birthday gift I have ever gotten was about 3 years ago when hubby Moose had an auto start installed on the car for me.

There are three or four of us here at work who have one – our cars light up and start up with a push of the button – from inside where it is warm. We really do sympathize with the others who must brave the cold and the wind to run out and start their cars by hand while we sit inside where it is warm and cozy.

Speaking of Lessa . . . wander over to her site and do the ChipIn thing for the Boy, okay?

Dare I say it again? I live in Alaska – I make my own fun.