Summer Plan...

Here are a few photos of our new addition.  We have taken Bessie out twice and had a ball.  (hope the photos are all here, I only see one...)

Quick update

Well, despite my best efforts there is not the promised update from KM. I have badgered her about it to within an inch of my life, so I am now done. We will get some Haiti pictures up here eventually, no promises on when though. I will however update everyone on all the other stuff that has been going on around here.
First when KM came home from her trip she was having severe shooting pain in her left arm, shoulder and neck area. An MRI revealed that she has a ruptured disc in her neck which will need to be removed and either replaced or fused to the next one. This was not an injury that happened in Haiti, it probably happened long ago and is just now becoming a problem. Assuming we can get the insurance company onboard she should have her surgery on May 3rd and at this point it is supposed to be the disc replacement with a downtime of 3-6 weeks for her. It has been a long 6 or 8 weeks for her waiting to have it fixed as sometimes it hurts so bad that sleep is nearly impossible. After my episode with back trouble and shooting leg pain last summer I can definitely empathasize and say that it REALLY sucks, so hopefully she will get some relief after the surgery. I just wish for her sake that she didn't have to wait so long for a surgery date to have it fixed.
Second, last week I went on a snowmobiling trip with some friends. We were supposed to go to ArcticMan and ride up there, but the snow reports were so bad that we opted to go to Valdez instead. It was truly unbelievable, I thought that our mtns around here were great, Valdez puts us to shame. Plus there are tons of opportunities to backcountry ski using the sled for access, something I most definitely intend to do next winter. I made that decision right after I rode my sled up the mtn about 4-5000 ft and as I arrived at the top a helicopter landed right next to me and let all his skiers get out. I was in awe the whole 3 days that I was there. However on the last day as we were headed to the truck, I was within sight of the parking lot when I let my guard down and drove the snowmobile into a ditch. We made it through okay, but the impact of the handlebars on my right wrist ended up tearing some ligaments and possibly damaging some other stuff, soooo that means surgery for me on Wednesday the 21st of April. So much for my spring snowmobiling and skiing plans, oh well there's always next winter I guess.
Third, then to top it all off, KM's parents were planning to come and visit to help us out during our recoveries. In fact they had just made their plane reservations on Wed morning, and then on Wed afternoon KM's Mother Barb tripped over something and landed on her ankle wrong and it broke in several different places, so surgery for her as well.
Definitely not a good month healthwise for the Carls/Meadows. The good news is that we should all be back up and running near full strength in 6-8 weeks or so. They say that bad stuff always happens in three's...well we are hoping that is true. I hope that everyone reading this has been able to avoid all pitfalls that we have run into lately!!
Have a great spring and we'll keep you all updated on our status, they might be short updates if I have to type one-handed though! See Ya, Storm

Final Haiti Update

Hello Readers, KM is back on US soil and no worse for the wear. She is in NY tonight and then on her way back to AK tomorrow. Her flight out of Haiti was delayed a day due to the weather in NY so that sort of messed up all the travel plans. Plus she got to spend an extra night in a wet tent....sweet! Anyhow, thanks for all those that have been following this and the next entry about Haiti will be written by KM and should be a good read. Thanks, Storm

Spring Break

While Kerry has been slaving away in the heat, we have been enjoying the snow and cold. I have said many times that we can't possibly get too much snow, well it turns out that I was wrong. On Tuesday we were supposed to go skiing at Alyeska which got 40 inches of powder the night before....but we couldn't get there because the Seward Hwy was closed due to an avalanche covering the road. Bummer for us. We ended up skiing on Thursday and the snow was great but the temps were really cold. Too cold to get the camera out much that is for sure. I took one picture looking back up the mtn because Max wanted me to prove to everyone that he skied a black diamond run. I'll post it up, but I'm not sure we'll see much because the light was pretty flat by that time of the day. On Friday we went sledding in Hatcher Pass and it was awesome. The boys and the dogs absolutely love it and for awile we had it all to ourselves. Take Care, Storm

Haiti #3

Hello everyone. Well I talked to Kerry today for about 20 min and she sounds good. She's tired from the long hours and the heat, but feeling fine and eating well. She said the heat and humidity are pretty bad and feeling sweaty and sticky all day is getting old. On her journey from Port-au-Prince to Jacmel, which covered 81km of dirt roads in about 3.5 hours on a 1970s school bus with vinyl seats...some of which weren't even bolted down (of course does it matter when you are averaging less than 20mph?) she got to see a lot of the countryside and a more extensive view of the damage from the earthquake. She said the countryside has some beautiful aspects to it, but it has been so badly worn and denuded of all burnable materials that it is really pretty ugly, and then throw in the amazing devastation from the earthquake and the whole place looks really bad. She didn't talk much about their current living conditions although it is in a hotel of some sort rather than a tent. She did say that the people that run the mission houses in Haiti have been feeding them really well. In fact she said that they had a ham of some sort (roasted maybe?)the other day and it was the best she has ever had in her life. So food and clean water have not been an issue, which is a good thing. As one would expect she has mixed emotions about the mission. Good feelings from helping so many people, yet some frustration that her group isn't more efficient and utilizing its resources in a better manner. I'm sure she'll have more on that when she returns.
On Saturday they are going to another refugee camp to administer aid there. She said if its anything like the last one its going to be a very long and difficult day. Then on Sunday morning they are getting back on the bus to head to the airport in Port-au-Prince where they fly directly to JFK and then she'll spend the night there before heading back to Alaska on Monday. If I hear anymore I'll put it up, otherwise expect a short report once I hear from her in NY and then she'll have to post a big debrief for us all to read.
We here in AK are definitely looking forward to having her back. Storm

Haiti #2

Hello All. I just talked to KM on the phone and she is doing great. They worked in a refugee camp today and she said it was just like on the UNICEF ads. Nasty conditions, tons of people, lots of flys, oppressive heat etc... She said it was her hardest day of work in her life and she saw over 350 patients. Fortunately she doesn't stay there full time, they get to retreat to the mission to eat and sleep in relative comfort. So far the trip has been everything that she hoped, very rewarding, tiring, and full of new experiences. So far she has access to plenty of clean water and more than enough food. Tomorrow they leave the Port-a-Prince area and head over to a smaller city called Jacmel. I may not have any updates for the next few days as Jacmel is much more rural and may not have phone service....it may not have the same comfort level as PAP either, but we'll get some info on that when we hear from her next. That's it for now. See Ya, Storm