"Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest."

So true, so true.  In honor of the anniversary of my birth and that of several others, and in celebration of finishing a test I didn't study enough for, I decided to post a post.  The birthday has been pretty good to me, so far.  I've been celebrating since Tuesday when my mom, step-dad, and nephew came to stay with us for a couple nights.  My nephew has been so excited about my birthday since he got here (ahh, to be 4 again) that I got excited myself, and was actually giddy this morning when I woke up and saw that it had snowed!  It's 10 a.m., and 6 people have already wished me Happy Birthday (2 of those were due to Muss exclaiming it in a whisper in front of our class this morning).  Last night I blew out candles on a cake that had my name on it--IN PINK(!!)--and then ate it with cookie dough ice cream (approximately the number one food on the planet).  The birthday cash total reached 75 last night, and then Muss gave me 2 hundred grand this morning, so I'm loaded.  To top it all off, I may have a brand new niece or nephew today.  He/she will most likely choose to come into the world on the one day of the month when it has snowed significantly in NW Oklahoma, and his/her parents have to drive 30 miles to the hospital, so I figure the chances of having another person born on this wonderous day are pretty good.

Now, for the bad news.  At our current rate of deforestation, our forests will be gone in 30 years, Norman is on the verge of allowing a major housing development in the flood plain, North America's biggest freshwater aquifer is at its lowest levels since the dawn of man, China is still pumping CFCs into the atmosphere, 3 major car manufacturers are introducing their own hot new giant SUVs later this year, and our nation's leader has assured everyone that "technology is the answer."  Suuurrre, there's no need to worry anyone!  Go on and live any way you like!  Our scientists will solve all the environmental problems with fun new gadgets while you just keep on pouring your concrete to build your huge houses and leaving all your exterior lights on so your house looks pretty at night and driving your giant cars every chance you get.  Everything will be just fine if we all just completely ignore what's going on around us!  I'm not advocating that we all live in caves and never cut down another tree or pump another gallon of oil, but someone needs to tell the First World to stop being ridiculous.

Okay, I'm done.  I now intend to stop worrying about all this for a while and continue having a Happy Birthday...

I'm posting again because someone told me I should.  This morning I woke up at a leisurely 10:00--3 hours later than I've slept in weeks.  Aaahhhh...  But then I got a phone call from my husband. 

"Hello?"  (Why is that first hello always a question? Why not just,      "Hello!!!" ?)

"Cheerful greeting" 

"Hi!  Bla bla bla..." 

"Wa wa wa." 

"Hey babe, you didn't take your car keys with you this morning did you?" 

"Yep." 

"Crap."

And thus began my adventure.  You see, MY car keys were left in the car last night.  The car was locked, of course.  And, having a somewhat nicer car than any car I've ever driven, it was very much a challenge to get the wire hanger into the space between the window and the rubber thingy.  But I did it.  Half an hour later.  Victoriously.  And then I danced (LITERALLY).  And I didn't care who was around... I just danced.

"Welcome to Raising Cane's where the chicken is kickin', may I take your order?"

<Giggle, pffff..> "Uhh...give us just a minute.."

"Take all the time you need, and if you have any questions, please let me know."

<more giggling>

"Okay, we'll take 4 fingers."

"That's 4 fingers, would you like anything else?"

"Oh, does that come with sauce?"

"You can buy sauce - they're 29 cents each."

<Brief pause>  "Those really should be free."

<Slightly longer pause>  "I guess I can give you one free.  That'll be $3.41, please pull up to the second window."

That's right - it works.  You just have to ask.  Quit getting ripped off!

I'm not going to make any of the dorky comments I usually make when I haven't posted in months, cause it's always been months since I've posted.

Well, camp is over.  Actually, it was over almost 2 weeks ago.  Since then it's been interesting.  Did I tell you guys we were spending all summer living in a 19 foot 1978 motor home?  19 feet of motor home translates into less than the size of our dorms.  Anyhow, it was fun, but the motor home barely made it the 350 miles back to Fairbanks to Andy's grandpa's house.  Why, you might ask?  Well, about 300 miles to go, we found out that gasoline engines do not, in fact, run on Diesel.  "The pump handles were ALL GREEN, Andy!!!"  Anyhow, 2 days and much carburetor cleaning out later (Andy is even hotter when he's working on cars, by the way), we had the beast cruising again. 

Then it was on to a week in the Grizzly-infested Denali National Park.  There are no trails in Denali National Park.  Have you ever tried to walk 25 miles through blueberries without passing out or getting eaten by a bear?  (Blueberry plans are basically really thick, thick, thickets).  Nevertheless, it was the most amazing trip I've ever been on. Denali Mountain (aka Mt. McKinley, if you're into that whole stealing things from Natives thing) is incredible.  I've never seen anything like it.  We didn't climb the thing (that takes a lot of money), but we did spend a lot of time gazing upon its majesty from the tops of other nearby mountains.  Because of the whole no trails and blueberry thickets thing, we spent a lot of time either walking in freezing cold glacier-melt rivers or climbing up and over mountains.  Cassie:  "So, this valley just ended; what now?"  Andy:  "Well, I think we need to climb....that,"  pointing, of course, at the large and most intimidating peak I've ever seen.  Imagine climbing a ladder made of gravel with 35 pounds on your back.

Anyhow, like I said, amazing trip, and we survived.  We didn't carry nearly enough food for 6 days, and so by the end my hiking pants were just kind of hanging on my hip bones.  Lovely, I know. 

We're coming home in a week!! One week, and we'll be spending 18 hours on a plane.  Woohoo!  Is anyone gonna be near the OKC airport next Saturday at 10:30 am? Anyhoo, I love you all and miss you all.  Hillary, I'm sorry you're hot.  You should come to Alaska.  Eileen, I hope you recover soon from all the craziness.  Alex, I have a great story involving the hat you gave me.  Everyone else, we're planning a homemade ice cream party (thanks you guys!) when school starts.  Will you still be my friend even though I'm married? 

Well, that's done.

Hello everybody!!  I miss you guys so much (at least those of you I actually know).  Things are great here in Alaska, as well as in the state of Marriage.  No major fights yet, which I thought was great considering we've spent about 70 hours in the car in the past 10 days.  Right now we're in Valdez, AK, getting ready to do some deep sea fishing tomorrow.  I'm gonna catch the Big One, I just know it.

I'm glad that one person's actions can make everyone around her feel so old.  Everyone needs to feel old now and then - it'll keep you young.  Anyhoo, for those interested, I'll start work soon on Nuts's first ever adventure slide show.  For those of you who didn't hear already, Andy almost killed him.  Nuts really wanted his picture taken riding on the luggage rack of the Bronco, and he was having so much fun that he didn't want to get down.  Well, when it came time to move the car, we had forgotten he was up there.  It was Nuts's helmet that saved him from sliding under the rear bar to certain doom.  Anyway, so he's had a lot of fun, and we've had a lot of fun taking pictures of him having a lot of fun, and it'll be a lot of fun to show you all these fun pictures when we get home.

Hope you all have a lovely indefinite time period until I communicate with you again.  Lots of love!