Dub Dij

So I guess technically Joe wins the contest. But that isn't fair, because he actually knows the dude in the picture. D.O. was 1/3 correct and Mikey wins by picking himself. Nice job. Mikey and Joe can play rock, paper, scissors to determine the champ.

But Lara definitely wins the contest for the most thought-out comment about the fireweed. Dang. Nice job, Lara.

IT SNOWED YESTERDAY. It has been snowing all summer in the mountains surrounding us, but yesterday was the first day the snow made it down to our camp. I have 12 days left in Alaska and I think they may get pretty cold. Which isn't to bad, except I live outside. I don't think I mentioned that I moved dwellings either. When Mark got fired he left his tent and I commandeered it. It is a much bigger tent that he got at Wal-Mart for $100. That price also included two camp chairs that broke within the first week of use and two sleeping bags that are much like the one Jonny used in New Mexico (Mark tried using them while he was here, and every night he had very similar results to Jonny's. Crazy Kiwi.). I say that because the tent sucks too. It doesn't even really block out the wind. I don't know how that happens, but it isn't ideal for snow camping.

I read a book earlier this summer called "Lamb" by Christopher Moore. It is a book in the little library we have in our kitchen, and one night I picked it up to flip through while eating dinner. It is the funniest book I have ever read. Out of anyone, I think D.O. will appreciate it the most. The sub-title to the book is "The gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood best friend." The book is obviously fiction, and I am pretty sure Christopher Moore isn't a Christian. But if you don't get offended too easily, you should read it for a good laugh. I mean I was rolling hysterically more than once. It's a riot. Today I think I will finish "The River Why" by David James Duncan. Excellent book as well.

People who get the Sherlock Holmes Award for picking up on the subtle "hint hint" I dropped a few posts ago: Aunt Starla gets a massive gold star, Erin Dammon, Erin Tegt, Mikey Mills, The Supersinski's, Kelly Nall, Lara Johnson, and Mom and Dad. Mindy Gore gets an award for just being amazing. I received more fruit roll-ups this summer than you could imagine.

The title to this blog, "Dub Dij", was written in the language of Grant. That is where you shorten words with multiple syllables, and only use the first. Like, "You Beav that." He was talking about a beaver. So Dub Dij is referring to double digits. Today was my day off and I just took my tenth shower since being in this state. I am now in dub dij's for my shower count.

Here is the same fireweed that was in the last post. It has lost all of the pedals. Troub.


This will probably be my last entry from Alaska. I am leaving for a kayak trip in a few days and that will take me to the end of my time here. I cant tell you how much I appreciate all of the encouraging comments, phone calls, emails, and letters. That is the stuff that makes me feel like one of the luckiest people in the world, and loved. I will see all of you soon and get to eat my mom's cooking again.

So I hear that there is a heat wave down there.

Alright, time for another post.

The picture below is a flower called fireweed. It is a pink flower, not a red weed but still called fireweed. This is the most well known flower in Alaska, and all the Alaskans use it to judge when summer is over. The flower starts blooming from the bottom, and ever few days another row blooms. Once the flower has bloomed to the top, that marks the end of summer and you know it will be very cold pretty soon. Everyone gets a little more anxious every time another row blooms.

The next picture is a little fuzzy, so I apologize. I noticed this picture on one of our brochures the other day and it looks exactly like someone most of us know. So look over it for a while and see if you have any guesses. You may have to zoom in. Surely someone will get it, but if not I will start dropping hints.


Two of the gadgets that I have found the most useful while in Alaska:

#1.) A leatherman. I am not sure whose it is, but I have a pretty strong suspicion that it belongs to Jonny Williams. I think he left it in my backpack when it borrowed during spring break to go backpacking in NM. You know, the time he used the My Little Pony sleeping bag and almost got frost bite. Jon, Grant, you know what I'm talking about. Let's keep it down. I'm pretty sure he doesn't read this, so dont tell him I have it.

#2.) This $5 alarm clock that only has 4 mins. in between the snoozes. My old one went for 9 mins. With this one I can hit snooze like 7 times before I have to get up.

Things I miss: family, friends, flushing toilets, quality of conversation, stars and darkness, clean socks, running, roommate dinners, Asian people, rock climbing, and current events.

Things I dont miss: The heat, fake people, flat ground, how complicated things usually are, and the lack of really cool animals.

Only one month left here. I dont know yet if that is a good or bad thing. Its not like I am going back to the same old routine though. After all I am done with college. I have a few more exciting things lined up for a while. I'm gonna do my best to make the most out of this time, however I dont think this will be my last summer in Alaska. Maybe not guiding like this again, but this place is too amazing not to spend some more time. If anyone wants to make the trip up in August sometime they wont regret it.

-colby

The half way point

So I have two more pictures for ya.

At first glance this may look like a simple river bank. Even at second and third glances and it will continue to, because that is what it is. BUT, about three mins. Prior to this picture being taken I saw my first Alaskan bear at this location on the Little Susitna River. I had been fishing for a few hours and took a break to read on the river bank for a while. I heard something large tromping though the woods across the river and a few minutes later a bear popped out. It got a drink of water, looked around for a bit, and then stood on it's hind legs to smell the air. I assume it smelled me and then it took off back for the woods. It was probably 15 yards straight across the river, but it never saw me. But you better believe I was ready to take off if it headed my way. It was a black bear not a grizzly, but a bear none the less.

This picture is not quite as fun. Jess and I were fishing together the day after the bear sighting at a smaller stream. I was borrowing the boss' fly rod for the weekend and Jess had here own up here. I cast the fly in front of an eddy and let it slowly go into the eddy and I felt the fish hit. Not a big deal, I had caught trout before. I got the fish about half way in when boss' fly rod snapped in half. Sweet. That's what I needed. So I finished pulling the fish in with my hands, and wondering what could have caused the break. I talked with Jess about it, took a picture with the fish and broken rod, and wondered how much it would cost to replace. If you are familiar with fly-fishing, it was an 8 weight rod and could have easily pulled in a fish three times the size of that fish. (Although it was a nice size rainbow trout, if I do say so myself.) So Jess had an extra rod and I used it for the next bit until I caught another trout, a little larger, and broke her rod in the same place. Dang it. I couldn't believe it. Two rods? Is that a joke? That hardly ever happens, and if it does it always happens on the tip, not at the strongest part of the rod. So I pulled this one in with my hands as well. This quickly became a very expensive fishing trip. So on my day off today I am trying to figure out how to replace boss' rod (thankfully Jess' was under warranty), and still trying to figure out how it broke, twice. So if you have any clues, snide remarks, or anything, I will take it.

The 10-day trip I took after the fishing trip was great, except for the night we camped below the tide line while sea-kayaking. We were only 100 yards from a tide-water glacier, so that was a chilly-Rick. Two of the guests (that is what we are supposed to call clients) woke up floating in their tents at 1:40. You should have heard them. I thought the world was ending the way they woke us up. The other guide and I had camped on high enough ground, but still ended up sleeping in the wet sleeping bags so the guest could have ours. It wasn't funny the next day, or the day after, but after that it was funny.

So now I am back at the glacier for a week or two before the next trip. Hard to believe the summer is already half over.

-colby

Pictures!

With the help of a few people I have figured out how to put these pictures up, so here you go!


This is my living quarters for the summer.



This is the view from my front porch.

This is my office, with proper working attire.


Some of my co-workers.


The guy who was the Red Lantern Winner for the 2004 Iditarod. That means he got last place, but still finished. Really cool guy.


I just got back from a 4 day sea kayaking trip in Prince William Sound. You can see the clients ahead of me on the right while I look at the map and try to figure out where we are...


Our nation's bird in flight. These are all over the place here.


An interesting picture of an ice climb that Mark and I did. I talked about Mark some before and how we were climbing together a lot and he was starting to be a great friend. Yeah, he got fired last week and now he is in Canada. Dang it.

I'm leaving for another trip in two days, but before that I have two days off and I am going fly-fishing for king salmon. I will be away for two-weeks, so I will hopefully get to catch up with some of you then. Thanks a million to all of you guys who keep up with this and in contact. I love you all. My mind is still racing, doubting, questioning, searching, ect., but knowing that I have such quality family and friends helps a ton. Thanks again.

-colby

Bear count: 0
Fresh bear scat count: 1
Number of Grizzly bears sighted by our neighbor in the past 2 days: 3

A change of pace.

***I wrote this on June 21^st.

For most of my entries I have been writing about what I’ve been doing and my surroundings. After all the newness wears off of being up here it is hard to put much enthusiasm into writing about my daily activities. All of that stuff is just kinda like life now. When I talk to my parents on the phone I ask them how their day was and they just say “it was fine, and yours?” That is how I am starting to feel about life up here. It is just another day. Usually really good days considering where I am, but just another day.

So this entry may be a little different. Not really any funny stories or cool experiences. This one is going to be a little more personal. I don’t know if any of this stuff is anyone’s business but my own, or if you care to know, but here it is. Perhaps I can get someone else’s wisdom or encouragement who has been here. Isn’t that one of the main functions of the Body? There isn’t any of that up here.

In one of my other posts I alluded to how most people I work with are looking for something real, and I am too. This is about the “I am too.” I feel like most of my life I have just been able to feed off of the holy enthusiasm of the people around me. I could here stories of how the Lord works in lives. The common stuff like how a verse jumps out at you in a way you have never understood it, and the extraordinary stuff like lame people walking and blind people seeing around the world today. Hearing those stories, and even experiencing some, have motivated me to strive and work and dedicate myself to pursuing the Lord at the highest level. But to be honest I am feeling burnout. I know that probably isn’t supposed to happen, and a verses in the Bible contradict that, but it is. I feel like so much of what has happened in my life has been on my own power. I desire an earth-shattering, God-glorifying, slober-knocker, demonstration of His sovereignty. Something that shows me my inadequacy and his sufficiency on His own. That He is real. I know He doesn’t need me, but I don’t believe He will do it. It doesn’t have to be a crazy miracle or anything, that is all just sugar on top. But is does have to be something that is real. I hope that doesn’t take faith out of the equation. But I don’t think God wants us to have an ignorant faith, but a faith that is alive and active.

Lifehouse has a cd that they released a while ago called No Name Face that is maybe my favorite cd of all time. It has hit me in the right spot so many times. They do a brilliant job of explaining what I am thinking. If you have the cd listen to songs 2 (Sick Cycle Carousel), 3 (Unknown), then 1 (Hanging by a Moment). If you don’t have it, and this interests you, then borrow it or buy it or look up the lyrics on the internet because those words explain my thoughts much better and more concise that I can on this blog. If all those promises of God are true, and He really does sustain, then I can get off this Sick Cycle Carousel of striving in circles and let go to “fall into the arms of grace”. But that is so hard to do. Can we really let go and trust God? Is his grace really sufficient to cover our tiny little lives? What would happen if I not only begged for His intervention, but then stepped back and let Him do it? If the Bible is true (as I interpret it), His promises wouldn’t fail. I want to experience that in Alaska. I have to experience that soon.

I read a cool verse today that seemed to hit me perfect. Matt. 5:3. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” I thought a while about what “poor in spirit” could mean. I went around in circles for a while and then I had a really simple train of thought that made sense to me. Poor people are needy. They know they can’t do it on their own. Often they sit on street corners and beg for a little bit of grace from passers by to eat and live. Rich people think they have it all and don’t need anything. The whole “camel through the eye of a needle” thing. I kinda feel like I my thoughts above are “poor in spirit”. My spirit can’t do it. I am very needy. I need to trust grace and let go. Embrace my neediness. Along with all of this I will very quickly have to get an eternal perspective on life and quit only living for the present. I am certain that would solve a ton of Christian’s problems. Pettiness.

Trying to trust in grace and let go,

-colby

P.S. We did go white-water rafting last night until about 10:00.

*** I wish I could say since writing this everything has gotten better…

Hint, Hint

colby ivey
c/o mica guides
P.O. Box 1134
Chickaloon, AK
99674

notes of encouragement, fruit roll-ups, loose cash, books, anything funny or suprising...

Not much to add this time, but I am due for a post.

For the first half of this entry, I want to tell you about Mark Iverson. Mark has to be one of the funniest people currently in Alaska. O.K., so I have only met a handful of people so far, but he makes me laugh a lot. Mark is from New Zealand and this is his first trip to the States. Mark and I have become pretty good mates since he got here and we have all been introducing him to how things work in America and he is flabbergasted by a lot of it. It is just hilarious to see how an objective outside mind views the way we work. From politics and bureaucracy, to driving on the "wrong" side of the road, to passing gas, and everything in between. (I feel like I was in his position exactly last summer in China.) Today we had the day off together and took the community Subaru back into Palmer for some shopping and such. Now this next sentence some of you might have a hard time believing, especially if you are an Ivey (Get over it. You suffer from it too.), but I am not a very good driver. I tend to not pay attention very well. But these steep, switch-back, mountain-side roads provide beautiful views when you drive. Watching the road is just so second rate. But Mark almost had a heart attack a few times. Then I just started playing with him and he didn't think it to be that funny. Mark and I have had a few adventures together already. A few days ago we went rock climbing until midnight (the sun still hasn't gone down), and had an epic rappel down. I'll save you the details, but the worst part was when were only about 100 ft from the ground and some how we got stuck on the same bolt. After going from laughing to yelling to almost crying because we couldn't feel our legs, Mark came up with a genius idea to get us down. It all worked out, and at least we can laugh about it now.

My grandpa gave me a copy of "The Di Vinci Code" before I left, and I finished it yesterday. I haven't read much fiction, but I thought it was a well written book. Is every Southern Baptist Church still preaching on that movie? But I need some good recommendations for books. I am going to try to order some while I am up here since I have some time to read. I think D.O. has inspired me to read some Mark Driskill stuff, and Erin is talking about some Watchman Nee. Let me know what you think. But hurry before I spend all my money on pro deal stuff.

I have taken some wonderful pictures, but I just cant figure out how to get them on the blog. So if anyone can help I would appreciate it. This blog says the pictures have to be less than 50 kilobytes, but all my pictures are 2 megabytes. Help me please.

I miss you all and I am tired of communicating through the internet once a week, but I am learning a lot and having a great time. So I will stay here.

-colby

Bear count: Still 0. Dang it.
Moose count: Way to many. I will stop putting it down here.
Eagle count: 1
The ugliest looking squirrels you could ever imagine: 3
Mice living in our kitchen: 2

The Two-Week Synopsis

Wow. Thanks everyone for the little notes of encouragement. I wouldn't quite say I am homesick, but it feels really good to have some sort of communication with all of you guys. I miss all of you.

With that gushy stuff aside, I will try to fill you in on the past few months. Well, it feels like months, I guess it has only been two weeks. Today has been my first day off and I took the community car from the glacier and headed up to the big town of Palmer. (The two Kiwi's -people from New Zealand, not the fruit- I work with call it "Pama". Lots of times I need a translator for my Texan ears to understand. Apparently I talk to slow. And it is not a "gla-sure". It is a "gla-ci-er". Three syllables, not two. ) Palmer is about an hour drive, and not a big town. About like Gunter or something. The drive is on the Glenn Highway and with the Chugach Mountains on the north and the Talkeetna Mountains to the south. The Matanuska River feeds off the Matanuska Glacier (that I work on) and flows in between the mountains. I say all that to tell you it is a beautiful drive. I have all of today off and I plan on shaving (you know how fast I grow facial hair), grocery shopping, and spending lots of time with Jesus.

**A short disclaimer: This post is probably going to be long, so I apologize. A lot has happened. Read until you are tired of reading, don’t feel obligated. The future will have much shorter posts.**

First, a funny little story. The owners of MICA Guides/Exposure Alaska live about 45 mins from our command post at the glacier. They life right off a little river and built their home from scratch. Very modest, but very cool. The grow lots of food and live pretty sustainably on their own. They have this wooden hot tub that is heated by a fire pit inside of a metal box that is attached. The first night I arrived and meet everyone we had a BBQ at their house. (Most of the guides here are vegetarians, so the only meat we had was salmon. Different style BBQ than in Texas.) After dinner everyone was sitting around the fire and a few people talked about getting in the hot tub. I wasn't feeling it, so I stayed at the fire. Then out of nowhere, the Kiwi guide takes off all her clothes and got in the hot tub! So I said to myself, "Man, those New Zealander's must not know that in America we wear our bathing suits when we get in the hot tub. Crazy Kiwi's." So I kinda laughed it off, kinda impressed that she was that bold. Then all the sudden I saw both of my bosses butt naked! They hopped into the hot tub and then Mike (another guide from Colorado) went in as well with nothin’ but a smile.

So everyone here has gotten pretty close pretty quick. (If you couldn’t guess from the story above.) We all work pretty hard and don’t take many showers, and it is amazing how living is such close quarters and smells can unite a group. I wonder how long it will be until we have a big argument. It is bound to happen. But as of now, everyone is really laid back and cool to everyone, even if they completely disagree with you. We have had tons of great conversation about anything you can imagine. Spirituality, politics, climbing, cooking, and how to get good tips. Telling people about Jesus has to be done different in this context, and it is. And it is going great. The Holy Spirit has done some amazing things already, and I am getting pretty excited. It is so relieving to realize that He is in charge and sovereign over salvation. And since I have submitted to that and quite striving so hard on my own power He has done more than I could have imagined. Again, prayer is huge, and do it all you can. This is at least as big of an opportunity as I had in China. People are hungry for something real. I am hungry for something real.

The port-o-potties are amazing here. (Good transition, huh) That is our facilities for the summer, and they are not your normal port-o-potties that you find at construction sites. These are really clean a well kept. And they even smell good! I don’t know how it happens, but they do. I look forward to using them. They are much warmer and feel good on chilly mornings. OK, maybe that was too far.

I have more stories, but I will get them to you soon. I am tired of typing now. But before I leave you, I thought I would let you know that moose kill more people in Alaska than bears do. They are really protective of their young and will stomp you to death if you come up on one. But they only have a two second memory, so if you can run behind a tree and hide for two seconds, they will forget what they were chasing and leave you alone.

We have a few moose that hang around our campsites and two nights ago, at about 2:00 I heard a massive one (it must have been 20 feet tall by the sounds of it in the night) right out side my tent. It was walking circles around my tent, and eating for about 10 mins. I am pretty sure I didn’t breath or move the whole time.

-colby

Bear count: 0
Moose count: 3

Don't worry mom, it's not me in the profile picture

I just thought it was a funny. I had intended on updating this thing a few times before I got to Alaska, but I just never felt inspired enough to write. So this is my second day in Alaska, and we are headed to the glacier in about an hour. Probably wont get to use the internet for about 2 weeks, so I expect lots of comments telling me how much you miss me and how hardcore I must be to be here. Ha.

I stayed in at the Spenard Hostel last night awaiting my pick up this morning. Everytime I woke up during the night to shift positions and such I could see the sun blaring through the window so I was sure I over slept. It really is true. The sun doesn't go down AT ALL during the summer. So the sleep wasn't the best, but all the adrenaline of being somewhere new and the 3 months ahead of me has gotten me through the day. Tonight I will be utilizing my "Siesta Sleeping Mask" in my tent to sleep better.

I was picked up by the rest of the interns this morning, and they are all tree huggers. I love it. They are all really cool and I feel like we will get pretty close this summer. Don't worry Daddy Joe, I stand my ground. I will keep my tree hugging to a minimum, but can't promise too much.

I got to go, but I probably love everyone reading this. Your prayers are coveted.

I hope to go into more detail as the details and experiences arrive. And if I can figure it all out, pictures too.

-colby

Bear count: 0