coastie

It's sooo much warmer. Well, we've had a cold snap this week, but other than that, I've only been wearing a windbreaker to work in the mornings. Ultimately, we're just psyched to be out of AK.

Thanks for the replies.

What a rough year 2011 was! I'm so glad it's over & 2012 is now upon us. Had a lot of changes take place last year, some good, most bad though. Last spring my wife was diagnosed with lupus. We still don't have a definitive diagnosis, or a treatment plan, but, we have since moved out of Alaska and now reside in the Virginia Beach area (interested in meetups here!). The Coast Guard Special Needs Program concluded that there was not adequate medical care available to my wife, so we were transferred early. Most of the bad things that happened revolved around this, and how my superiors acted after it was determined that we needed to be transferred. Let's just say vasoline was not used and I walked away from the ordeal feeling more than chaffed. But, since moving, the kids have adjusted to their new schools, my wife is feeling much better. She's on some meds that are controlling her pain better. I nearly have her conviced to move the whole family to a paleo diet!!! I started taking xyban to help me quit smoking (again), and am now ready and excited to get back to working out! Unfortunately I didn't get promoted like I was supposed to (a result from transferring), and won't be able to test again till this coming November, but, it's better than nothing. Here's to an exciting 2012!

http://morgsatlarge.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/why-i-am-not-worried-about-japans-nuclear-reactors/ Pretty good explanation of what is going on with the Nuke Plants. I'm no phd, but it makes sense to me. Not sure of the accurateness either.

I'm thinking about volunteering to go over as a safety officer. One of the cool things about being in the USCG. With my response history I'm hoping I can go. Already asked permission from the wife. She gave me the ok, now gotta find out if my command would let me go.

What branch of service?

I think 'Mother Nature' wanted me to get started with a bang. About 2' of snow got dumped on us over the last 2 days. This morning it turned to rain . Well about 4' of snow sluffed off the roof today. My thinking is that about 1500lbs of wet snow would be easier to get rid of than solid ice. So I started removing it with the shovel. What a workout! I'm about halfway done.

I think 'Mother Nature' wanted me to get started with a bang. About 2' of snow got dumped on us over the last 2 days. This morning it turned to rain . Well about 4' of snow sluffed off the roof today. My thinking is that about 1500lbs of wet snow would be easier to get rid of than solid ice. So I started removing it with the shovel. What a workout! I'm about halfway done.

How tight are you tying them? My thinking is that they should be tight enough to give support, but not so tight as to constrict your foot's natural movement in spreading out a bit on impact with the ground. I have wide feet, & normally buy my shoes an extra size wider to allow for that.

I'm getting a .30-06. Haven't picked out a scope yet though.

Welcome aboard. Seems like yo're in the right place. Motivation is always so hard to come by sometimes Most days, I think about working out, then think about all the things around the house that need to be done too. It's a constant battle for me.

Thanks. In Louisiana they called themselves the sportsman's paradise, so far, I'm thinking that Alaska is giving that title a run for it's money.

Hopefully I will be killing them myself. Living in Alaska, I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I didn't try these things. Only have 3 years to get out & see this beautiful state.

What to do with all that left over gumbo? Make some gumbo while gearing up for the Saints game tonight. Ok, to make things easier, gumbo consists of whatever you wanna put in it, so long as you have celery, bell pepper, & onion. Lots of those. Sausage is normally a staple as well. Start with a good dark brown roux. This is just flour & butter of equal parts. I normally do 1 1/2 cups of each. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly. I mean stirring the hell out of it. When you think it's burnt, keep going just a bit longer. I boiled my bird to get the meat off the bones, & now I have my stock. Boil your veggies, add your turkey, seasonings of choice, and whatever else you want. Then slowly add the roux to achieve thickness. Not really thick, but it should taste velvety, if that makes sense. Not water thin like regular soup. Serve over rice, dump in some hot sauce, & watch the saints beat up on the falcons.

Stalking info: See my sig, but I'm gefox4 on google, & I started a tumblr account for use with a new twitter account. Mainly for creative writing/humor. Diary of a Snow Shoveler The Twitter id is Diary of a Snow Shoveler

Thanks. There is so much to do out here, I'm pretty excited to get started. The weather is now cooperating, think I might go start cutting down some trees this week!

I've been a member here since very early on, due to the Deep Water Horizon incident, moving, and a range of other issues, I wasn't able to be on here very much over the summer/fall. I'm now checked in at my new unit in Alaska, & have been trying to get outdoors & do my workouts outside. Doesn't always work. So, here's my info. - Pirate Ranger *now that I think about it, us coasties are called "Puddle Pirates" so I'll change my race to a pirate - 6' 0"/ 218lbs My fitness goals are to tone/strengthen my core muscles, as well as packing on some muscle to my arms/shoulders. My life goals are to get off my ass & install Linux to my new laptop, and with my new downtime at work & not being busy responding to oil spills & facility accidents, refreshing on BASH, & then starting in on Python. My family oriented goal is to get my kids to listen to mommy as well as they listen to me when I'm at work. This move to AK has taken a hard toll on my southern belle of a wife. She's never lived north of the "Mason-Dixon" line, so all this snow & cold is really an adjustment for her. Suffering from pancreatitis 3 days after arriving in AK, & then having her gallbladder removed in an "emergency" surgery didn't help things any either. So it's been rough on her to say the least. I've pretty much settled into work, now it's just working out the kinks on those lovely interpersonal relationships with my new coworkers, trying to find that cohesion that is needed.

coastie reporting in as a Ranger. I'm in no way close to being in shape as the guys from 300, but have lots of functional strength, & as a member of the smallest branch of military, am very adaptable. So, this is the best fit for me. I like Rangerous as well.

I'm in.

If all goes well over the next year, I'll be trying this with moose, caribou, & bear!

Here is one that is packed with veggies & lots of flavor. It doesn't have a name, but essentially it's sauteed cabbage. Cabbage Cajun seasoning Onion Garlic Celery Salt Bell Pepper Pepper Spicy Smoked Sausage Italian Seasoning toasted sesame seeds Chop everything up, toast the sesame seeds, then set aside. Combine all ingredients in large skillet sautee everything with olive oil until cabbage reaches desired tenderness. I didn't add any amounts b/c you can add as much or as little as you want. I always like a lot of sausage in mine though. I also add a lot of squash to this recipe as well. That's the beauty of it, you can pretty much add whatever you want. I just listed the stock ingredients though.

Personally I'm just glad that we don't get the snowfall they get in the mountain pass. 900"/winter. Makes our 300" average look puny! The shovel glove looks interesting, though, most days I can just use the shovel with snow. I did find out that they don't start closing things, like schools, work, until it is snowing about 8"/hour. So, basically whiteout conditions. The snow plows can't keep up with that much I can already tell a difference in my chest, back, & arms with the shoveling, and cutting down trees/chopping the wood.

Well, it's been a long time since I last checked in here. My military change of station had a bit to do with that, as well as my wife needing emergency surgery 3 days after reporting in to Valdez, AK . Now all is well in our house, well, if you count that we only get about 4 hrs of daylight, & are settling into winter life in the snow capitol of AK. Average snow fall here is about 300"/yr, that's 25 FEET OF SNOW :!: :!: :!: Since we are now getting some decent heavy snowfall, I have decided to incorporate it into my workout. They stage a snowblower in our housing area to use, but I hope to not use it all winter, though, it will depend on the amount of snow fall. Last winter they had a two day stretch where it snowed about 8 ft in two days And you would not believe how hard it is to run/walk in a snow suit :!: aside from that, the transition from the deep south to the far north has been interesting. We've already got 4-5' of snow on the ground! Really makes my run/walk to & from work a great workout. I did start a new twitter account to chronicle my snow shoveling experiences/stretching the truth a bit. Here's my inspiration for it. @Diarysnoshovel on twitter.

Oh, there's a lot of oil out there, but a lot of it is breaking up before it gets to shore. The ships are getting oiled b/c they are traveling through it.

Beaches are SOOO much easier to clean than a lagoon, or other type of marshy area.