in texas this is how we "cinnamon" roll

Well it's vacation time!  I packed lightly and flew on down to good ole Texas.  Since summer time is so busy at the center the only time I really get to visit home is Christmas time.  So this next blog is going to show you a little bit of what I do while I am visiting Texas.

But first thing is first...what is going on while I am away?

The day I left Girdwood and Portage, Alaska there was a storm that left them with about 30 inches of snow! FINALLY!  Now I can't wait to go to Alyeska and do some skiing or snow boarding!

let's see what the animals thought of this storm....

the musk seem to be enjoying it. After all, their natural environment in the wild is in the Arctic.

Nelson and teddy seem to have a fairly good coat of snow on them.  However, if they didn't like sitting in the storm they have a barn right behind them.....

 The Bison herd also prefers this type of weather.  Instead of laying down in the wind they actually stand right in the middle of it usually and herd together.

All 4 previous photos were taken by Doug Lindstrand.  He is one dedicated photographer!  He is out in the weather on all sorts of days.

Ok so back to Texas....

One of the main things I miss from home is church.  My family goes twice on Sundays and Wednesday nights.  The fun thing about Wednesday nights is sometimes there are suppers before church.  I was lucky enough to run into the lady that was preparing this weeks meal and invited to help.  If you know me; I love to cook and bake.  Also, this week just happened to be my favorite meal: Mexican pile on and cinnamon rolls! Mexican pile on is basically nachos.  One of my favorite foods :)

So as I was helping yesterday; I wanted to show you just how much work goes into preparing a meal for roughly 200 hundred people.

the Mexican pile on part wasn't too difficult.

Dice Tomatoes.

Dice the onions.  Yes, I cried a bit.

And use about 50 avocados to make guacamole.











mmmmmmm. cheese.  only needed 2 blocks of this stuff and 4 huge cans of rotel.

ok here comes the demise of my sweet tooth.

First you need dough.  I was too busy crying with the onions and stealing bites of avocado to pay attention to the dough making part.









Then all the ladies making the cinnamon rolls grabbed their amount and started rolling.  Once the dough was rolled out we added the good stuff.  Butter.

                                                                        Sugar.

                                                                     Brown Sugar.

This is Mrs. Blake the lady that was in charge of this meal.  I think all the helpers were trying to pay close attention to how she makes all her recipes.  They are so good!!!!!!





Once you add the cinnamon and roll the dough up you have the rolls!

 mmmmmm.  We made just over about 200 rolls I think.  they were a hit.  I mean who can resist that smell any ways?

After a full tummy and church I slept very well last night.

goodnight lower 48,
Erin

snow finally arrived....but now I'm visiting texas.

 OK I have to give a shout out and credit to three hardworking gals before I say any more.  The past couple of months there has been fence building on some forest service property that the AWCC is now using to move some of our Wood Bison onto.  We have 6 people working on the fence project and they are all very hard workers.  After all, to work with frozen grounds, below 0 temperatures, wind, and even freezing rain you sort of have to be hard core.

From left to right: Kayla, Teal, and Kara.  Once spring time arrives this new fencing will allow the AWCC to spread out our bison herds on bigger pastures.  We are still re-introducing bison in 2015 this will just allow more room for herd growth in the mean time.



One thing you get very good at when working in the elements is figuring out the right type of gear and clothes.  A good pair of rain boots (preferably insulated) is a must have thing when living in Alaska.





I love, love, love this photo of Kara with the 2 musk ox calves that were born in April.  Look how big!
I can't believe they weighed just 20lbs at birth!

The above 3 pictures were taking by Kara Robinson.  Hope ya don't mind that I borrowed these Kara :)

 Goldie Locks and the 3 bears.....well minus the Goldie Locks part.

The 3 bears made an appearance a week or so ago.  Our brown bears do still hibernate even though they are in captivity.  The time however is about half of what a wild bear hibernates; which is about 6 months in the wild.

photo by: Doug Lindstrand

I like this photo that Doug Lindstrand captured!  As you may figure but working with animals they can be unpredictable.  Well, last week a young bull elk decided that he wanted to be in the musk ox enclosure.   At least they get along right?

I think he basically claimed the haylage pile.
Mukluk is in the background eating what she can of the haylage he didn't claim.

I kept this blog short and sweet.

Merry Christmas and goodnight lower 48,
-Erin