Ketchup Day

We slept in a little after going to the Alaska outdoor theater version of "The Taming of a Shrew" by the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theater last night. The acting was very good (as usual) but the theme of mistreating a woman to make her obedient and compliant is so offensive as to make me discredit the efforts. I know it is reflective of the times, but I think it was even wrong then.

The Taoist Tai Chi group met on Farmer's Loop Rd to pick up trash along our mile. It wasn't too littered- just 6 bags for the mile- but the cigarette butts were really everywhere. What could be dirtier? They were in your mouth for heaven's sake- and they really don't biodegrade all that quickly. I don't know too many smokers, but please, clean up after yourselves!

Paul picked up some lumber to finish our deck. We really need railings and another stairway. I think it will be done in about a week with some help from Ralph (thanks, Ralph!).

I am trying to figure out what to do with my round trip free ticket from Alaska Airlines. One day last September, I was heading to Mekoryuk with 20 goldfish in a small carry case. My husband told me that they would either not let me on (with the liquid) or would charge me $25 (for handcarrying a pet). Apparently the fish were like the canary in the coal mine...if they could live in the water, it must not have been too toxic. So TSA let me through and the fish were transferred from my hands to theirs to mine. Much to my delight, my lucky day continued. AK Airlines was calling for voluntary bumps. The Princess tour people were overbooked. I could take Frontier Flying and arrive in Anchorage about the same time. For the first time it worked for me, so I volunteered. No, they said, they had enough volunteers. But when I was boarding, a AK Air service gal found me and said, "Hey, lady with the fish, can you still bump?" Oh, yes. So,....I have a ticket and must use it before Sept 11 or extend for only a month for $75. Such a deal!

Speaking of flying, I remember one very long flight from Fairbanks to Seattle when my 2 year old tried to pick lint off the sweater of a long-suffering college student sitting beside us. I finally got her to put her hands on her head. That was a really long flight.

Then, on another flight, 10 year old Erin sat up a few rows so that Ben, the 3 year old, could sit between us. The flight attendent came back and asked if Erin could have the coffee she requested. No, she could not. Then when the flight attendent got to our row, Ben tried to order a beer. Fortunately, he was working on speech and was rather difficult to understand, so when the flight attendent asked in amazement, "What did he say?", I was able to say, "Oh, he wants a Coke", while he protested wildly and repeated, "No, beah, beah!". Gotta love those 6 hour flights!

One last blast. We went at 11:00 to get an iPhone and came home empty handed. They only got 25 of them. You could prepay and wait for 7 days or you could return on Saturday to compete for one of the next batch of 25. There was rumor of a "secret shipment" coming in by FedEx at 2:00. When I was on the way to the library, I didn't see a line, so I stopped in to ask. No, she said. We are not "giving out" any more iPhones today. I didn't know they were giving them out- I thought I had to pay $199! Makes me not want to buy one, but it will be handy for hiking.