Waiting for snow

Spent time cutting wood today for the wood stove. It has been clear and cold lately, perfect for evening fires! We are lucky enough to have an endless supply of downed beetle kill spruce behind the house. We are enjoying a late fall up here with cold temps, but no snow. I was talking to Justin Moore today at the gym and he is still riding his bike every day and it's almost November! The garden is put away and I'm all ready for deep snow and ski turns!

Josh

Brad's Wedding

Here's a few pics from the time we spent in Colorado for Brad's wedding this 4th of July. The weather was great, and it was a great opportunity for all of us to get together again. It was also an opportunity to show everyone how bad my golf game is. Brad is teaching at Cherry Creek High School, and his bride McKenna is a nurse. Hope all is well, we are enduring the dreary days of the in between time of fall and winter. Clear cold and windy today!

Josh

Katie (Burck) Stafford and her Husband

Monterey to San Diego - Sailing - Spot
Katie and her husband are sailing around the world in their sailboat, At least that was the plan last I heard. You can follow their trip via their spot adventures page

Back to Chickaloon

Took advantage of the good weather today and flew back to the Chickaloon area. Dave was at the airport when we took off and was headed out the same way so we met at the Pincher Creek cabin, same one that Gregg and I were at. Another great fall day today, we are lucky ones this year. The pictures are of Dave's 180hp Cub. If anyone has one that they want to give away, call me.
Josh

Back to the "New" Cabin

It was an amazing day today, a little fog hung around for a bit, but I was able to sneak out from under it and fly over to the new cabin. I went armed with nippers, shovel and chainsaw and a select few power tools. The goal today was to figure out how to get the new floor underneath the cabin. While clearing room to do that, I found why the door won't close; the nearby tree has put down roots through the threshold. That is a problem.... The solution will be to move the cabin backwards a bit. The lowest rung of logs is rotten so we will jack up the cabin underneath the lowest row of good logs, add about 3 to 4 feet of structure, and slide the new floor underneath it. Today I covered the windows with plywood and blocked the doorway as well as I could in prep for winter. The cabin is going to be a lot of work, but it's better than starting from scratch! Photo's are of the tree in the front of the cabin that is rooting through the doorway; All the necessary tools for cabin renovation, Old baking powder, and making my way back to the plane on an amazing afternoon in ALASKA!!!

I love this state,

Josh

Liver Update and Pictures

This spring I flew up to Anchorage to visit my liver specialist in Anchorage, Dr. Geronimo Sahagun. Dr. Sahagun is great because he is willing to take the time to answer questions, and goes above and beyond, taking time out of his schedule to respond to emailed questions. He encourages me to research my condition (Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis) independently, and then takes the time to answer the pages of questions I bring to my appointments. My last visit this spring spurred a visit to our local branch of the Alaska Open Imaging Center for an MRCP. Our Soldotna office uses the Hitachi AIRIS 2 open imager, you can take a look at it HERE. The MRCP took about an hour and they took about 140 images of my liver and it's bile ducts. Hitachi Medical Division is designing open imaging machines to create a more comfortable environment for the patient during what can be a nerve wracking and long process. The technicians fasten a strap around your chest to monitor your breathing, and at the trough of an exhale the images are taken. The images are then sent to a specialist who analyzes the images, drafts a report and sends it to Dr. Sahagun. Let me assure you, MRCP's are not cheap, but in exchange for your thousands of dollars, they give you a CD with all your images on it. A program called eFilm lite is preloaded on the CD and allows you to scroll through your cross sectioned Liver and Bile ducts. While Dr. Sahagun felt my case of PSC was fairly mild, he wanted to confirm with an MRCP. Thankfully the MRCP confirmed his belief. What was so interesting about this conclusion was everything I went through leading up to my trip to the Alaska Open Imaging. I went through countless rounds of blood work, doctor visits, a colonoscopy and even a liver biopsy; all revealing very little about an existing condition marked by my abnormal LFP numbers. SO, final conclusions: My liver condition is relatively mild. PSC is known to increase chances of Colon Cancer. Recent studies have shown that Urso Forte (Ursodiol) the medication I'm taking, is largely not effective in managing PSC, however it may help prevent colon cancer. That's it in a nutshell. I will post one photo from the MRCP. My liver is the bright white organ. The image is one in a series that rotates around the body showing all sides of the liver and the ducts.

Hope all is well, foggy and cool today,

Josh

P.s. Where The Wild Things Are comes out today!

Chickaloon

The weather broke today after a seemingly endless string of foggy days, so the natural thing to do is head for the plane. I pulled into the airport and Gregg was fueling up so he waited for me and we took off north bound to explore. Gregg had mentioned it had been awhile since his last flight so that spurred me to look back on my last flight on Oct. 3rd. That last break had probably been my longest between flights all year. Gaining flight after a nice long break like that really rejuvenates a person. Great times today with a good friend,
Enjoy the pics,
Josh

Tree on fire

This is a great tree my mom planted out behind the old raspberry patch. It's name eludes me right now and will try and look up some info on it before she catches me in my ignorance. I mainly posted this now because i'm sure Jenty doesnt think i'll get to it. Rainy AK fall here.
Cheers,
Josh

Mt. Hunter

Here it is.....

Skyline Training

Skyline is a classic place to train for Alaska range climbs. In preparation for Mt. Hunter in May, I have been using it for my conditioning climbs. Tonight I went up a bit later than usual and was able to grab a few nice sunset shots. I'm sure I have taken these shots a million times, but they never get old.
Cheers,
Josh

My new cabin!

Mike found this cabin, spotting it from the air by chance. We're calling it Josh's cabin by default really as it is everyone's cabin. It looks as if it was built about 40 years ago based on some of the contents scattered around. This fall I hope to get in before the snow comes and clean out the interior and get it ready for a new floor and interior next year. It looks rough now, but give it a year or so!
Cheers,
Josh