Inktrails from Alaska

Changes in the BlogWorld: Welcome to Inktrails from Alaska

The sun is back here in Alaska, after a long winter and it is energizing me to switch things up in my online world.

This blog, as you can see, this used to be Jean's Northern Niche. This was a name I never liked and the URL was long and cumbersome. Inktrails from Alaska is the new name with the same URL. You can type http://inktrails.blogs.com and BOOM, there you are! I'll continue on the Alaska, nature, the Last Frontier and complaints about mosquitoes here.

I'm going to create a blog solely for the dogs and I'll post the URL here. I don't know if I can transfer all the Dog, Moose& Squirrel content (check the categories) to it, but I will try. I'm not posting the name of it until it's a done deal. But soon the dogs and Bucky Bird will have a blog all their own.

I have a new blog that is unfinished: Ask Mooom. This is inspired by my kid, grandkid, and all the grownups and young people who seem under the impression that I know EVERYTHING. So I'm starting a blog where people can ask (sincere or silly) questions and I will answer them. I've practiced this for my entire life so it should be fun!

I've got to catch up on Northern Book Review and consider what I ought to do with my media responses to TV shows, movies, computer stuff and all. No one reads general blogs where the content is mixed, so yes, I guess I will start a media blog at some future time.

All this and I do promise to write every day. I NEED to write every day. It makes my head better.

Permission to Point and Laugh Granted

So it was 50° today and so nice outside in the sun! I took the dogs upstairs and we went out on the balcony. I brought the comb and was all ready to give both dogs a good grooming!

Since even 50° isn't quite warm enough for a parrot, I closed the door and...you know that feeling you get when you know you've just done something you are going to regret?

I keep that door unlocked. But somehow, someway, the little locky turner thingy got turned the wrong way and there we were, out on the balcony, locked out of the house, with a dog comb, some dead plants in pots that had been there all winter, a bird feeder and that's about it. I didn't have my phone in my pocket for once, and my neighbor was at work.

I was in my slippers. The wind started blowing and it wasn't a warm wind. I had a light jacket on, and I had put on lined Carhartt pants so I wasn't too cold yet...

Of course there were all the various scenarios that were running through my head: what if my neighbor didn't come home until way late? What if she couldn't get ahold of my friend who has my house key? What if SQUIRRELS came and the dogs tried to jump over the balcony to get them? I can catastrophize with the best of them!

The first thing I did was try to MacGyver my way back into the house. That's just how I roll. The only thing even close to a credit card (those who have broken back into their own homes know why I needed one) was a plastic plant ID stake. But it was much thinner than a credit card and just wasn't strong enough to push back the tongue on the door knob latch.

I checked my terrible, old leaky wood windows. But I'd siliconed the glass in pretty darn good before last winter, and both were latched, too.

I went back to the plant ID stake and tried to make it work. No luck. I worked at this for at least a couple ten minute sessions. It was crumbling away...and in despair I put my hand in my pocket and-----
THERE WERE MY HOUSE KEYS!

So there ya go.