"Sitka's very squally."

October 22, 2008
"Rain. Very windy. Highs around 49. Southwest wind 45 mph with gusts to around 60 mph."

Sunrise:	7:49 AM ADT
Sunset:	5:40 PM ADT

Last night a storm blew into Sitka, making our house creak and leaves swirl madly through the air outside my second story bedroom window. I vaguely remember being woken by the storm in the middle of the night, at 3:00am-ish. As I ate breakfast, I watched the wind buffet sheets of rain on our neighbor's roofs, and send items on our deck almost into flight. As soon as I opened the door to take them in, I was met by the loud "whap whap whap" sound of the tarp covering flapping against our neighbor's boat.

I took my time getting ready to go, hoping that the wind would die down long enough for me to bike to work. When Whitney opened the door to walk to work, the door flew wide open with a "fwooosh!"followed by Whitney's shocked "Oh GOSH". I seriously considered walking to work instead of biking, and borrowing a co-worker's car to get to court hearings and meetings that afternoon, but praise God, my procrastination leaving the house payed off. The rain had stopped and it wasn't gusting when I biked in. Yesterday I went on a walk with a friend who grew up here and loves the wind, so as I peddled I tried to tap that Sitkan spirit of, "Wow, feel the power of that wind, isn't it amazing?"

"Sitka's very squally," was how one co-worker put it. Unfortunately, this squall is going to last until Friday, but fortunately, my coworkers are looking out for me. Kathy is going to let me borrow her big red truck Clifford to run my errands today, and Becky is going to pick me up for work tomorrow.

On Friday early, early in the morning the five of us Jesuit Volunteers are flying into Anchorage for our Fall JVC retreat (actually held in the infamous Wasilla, AK). The fact that our flight is on the last day of the storm is a little exciting, but Becky reassured me that flights are more affected by bad weather when they are trying to land on our island airstrip than when taking off. As long as our plane comes in Thursday night at some point, we should be good to go. I'm looking forward to the retreat, it will be good to see the volunteers from the other Alaskan JV houses, and spent time learning about the focus of the retreat, community.

Most Wednesdays the woman at my office go on a hike at the trail near our house. I'm curious to see how wild the "Wild Women's Wednesday Walking Group," truly is :)