Wedding Pictures!
A Photo of Sonja and Annie!!
March 20, 2005
Happy equinox to anyone bored enough to visit this lonely corner of the internet. Things are going quite well for us lately. I just got back from a two-week workshop with the National Park Service's Interpretive Development Program. I am now a curriculum coordinator and certifier for the NPS. I also recently accepted a job as the lead interpretive ranger for the Exit Glacier District of Kenai Fjords National Park in Seward, Alaska! So we're headed back up north, this time relying on the Alaska ferry system to take us most of the way.
Sonja also got some good news last week with a job offer to be a sea kayak guide out of Seward with Kayak Alaska! She is really psyched about the job and is looking forward to a summer getting paid to paddle with whales, sea otters and puffins! I'll be sure to stick some pictures of our new place and our new jobs once we get settled in (probably sometime in late April).
November 23, 2004
We're not in Wyoming anymore, either. Now we're in Idaho. And in six months we'll probably be living somewhere different yet again. Not much to add. Trying to finish my Masters degree, looking for a job with the National Park Service, contemplating a move to Canada...same old stuff.
February 5, 2004
Figured I'd spend a couple minutes and update the site, not that it really matters. Well, if you do happen to stumble upon this site, you might be interested to know that we no longer live in Alaska. Nope, we moved temporarily to Jackson, Wyoming, while I attend graduate school at the Teton Science School. Then in August, we'll be moving yet again, this time to Moscow, Idaho, where I will complete my master's degree in Environmental Interpretation. Keep checking back over the next couple weeks to see if I got around to putting some pictures of the Tetons up here.
April 8, 2002
Spring in Fairbanks comes around very, very slowly. On Saturday, Sonja and I were walking around in t-shirts while we walked Harvey, and today the temps plunged back down to -15F. Well, we recently acquired a Fish and Wildlife Rehabilition permit (we spend a lot of time rehabing fish up here) and we already have our first victim...er, I mean patient. His name is Apollo and he is beautiful Northern Hawk Owl who loves to torture our little mice by pulling their eyes out and crushing their tiny heads with his beak so he can swallow them whole. Anyway, here are some pictures of Apollo: (click on each one to see a bigger picture)
You can also go to Owling.com and select Northern Hawk Owl to hear its cool ufo-like hoot.
December 17, 2001
AHHHHH! Winter in Fairbanks! It's amazing how, after three weeks of high temperatures hovering around -20 degrees, once you finally warm up to -5 it actually feels ... well, warm! Of course, we haven't warmed up quite yet. And unfortunately, it looks like it's gonna stay butt-cold at least through the New Year. Don't believe me? Well, check out the Fairbanks forcast. Another Fairbanks anomoly is how badly I spell, as well as how the forcasters can get away with giving a range of about twenty degrees for the high temperature. Just this morning I heard on the radio, "Expect the high temperature in Fairbanks between -20 and -38 degrees." Have you ever heard someone in the lower 48 say that? It might sound something like, "The high today should be anywhere from 60 to 78 degrees!" I think they just grab random numbers out of hat and use them.
When it gets this cold for so long, all of the trees get covered with a 2" layer of frost. It gives everything a winter wonderland feel to it and makes skiing out on the mushing trails almost a magical experience. See?
Just yesterday Sonja and I took Harvey out ski-joring (1. put harness on dog, 2. attach dog to human, 3. put skis on human, 4. laugh at human as they are dragged for several miles by dog). It was a balmy -36 degrees, and by the end both Harvey and I had snot-sicles hanging off of our noses.
At least the Solstice is almost here. On Friday the sun should peek above the horizon for just over 2 hours before plunging us back into frigid, aurora-filled darkness. It's customary to go outside at noon on the Solstice and celebrate the first day of winter. HA! Too bad winter has been here for three months already. At least the day will be longer on Saturday....by a whole two minutes!
August 19, 2001
Well, we're back from our backpacking trip through Wrangell-St. Elias National Park (if you didn't notice, that is a link to go see some pictures from our trip). We made it back alive and well...minus several camera parts. It was an amazing trip, so be sure to check out the pictures. You can also access them through our Alaska page.
Let's see, what else is new? We adopted a new dog named Harvey! Here's a couple of pictures of him from a hike we did north of Fairbanks in the White Mountains (as always, click on the image for a larger version):
In addition to Harvey, yesterday we adopted two parakeets that some mean, nasty person dropped off at Sonja's work. We've named them Harold and Maude, but don't have any pictures of them yet. We also might be adopting another kitten that a woman brought in after finding them in a dumpster. But we haven't quite decided whether or not to take one yet.
So, I graduated. And no cracks about how long it took, either! I'm done, and that's all that matters! I also got a job at the Northern Alaska Environmental Center as the Membership and Communications Director. So everyone has to become a member. I'm also the webmaster for the Northern Center, so be sure to check out the website at www.northern.org. We have also recently been granted subpermits to do wildlife rehabilitation out of our cabin. We took in several dozen baby birds this summer, including Cliff Swallows and Dark-eyed Juncos, like this little guy that we named Tom Bombadil:
We tried growing a garden, and for the first month everything seemed to be going great! We had radishes the size of softballs and tons of lettuce. Then we had a couple of visitors:
Needless to say, our garden didn't hold up very well against the onslaught of hungry mooses. She brought in her twin calves to help her devour it. But about a month later we glanced in and found a cucumber about the size of a large watermelon, so things turned out ok afterall.
April 24, 2001
Spring is here! Well, sort of... It stays light outside until well after midnight already, but there's still quite a bit of snow on the ground. Things couldn't be better for us, though. Sonja is enjoying her new position at Mt. McKinley Animal Hospital, and is currently being trained in as a Veterinary Technician! As for myself, my tenure at KSUA is almost over (I'll still have my radio show, however, so there's no excuse not to tune in and listen up! Listen to KSUA here!). I will be starting my new position at the Northern Alaska Environmental Center as the Membership Director the day after graduation. Ok, shut up. I mean it this time! I WILL be graduating this May! WOOHOO!
umm, I hope... *runs off to study for his Genetics final*
Ok, so if you want to see our Hawaii pictures, click on the nifty little animated porthole below. Oh, and I was firmly scolded and told to put a disclaimer in here regarding one of the Hawaii pictures that may not be completely...well...accurate. So here it goes:
In the "Exploring Hawai'i picture page, the last picture isn't labelled correctly. Instead of saying, "A turtle," it should instead read, "A really cool green sea turtle named Harvey that accidently spilled sour milk on Sonja's sandals making them smell really bad, which later caused the Delta Airlines guy to notice that what Sonja was actually wearing were slippers, regardless of any claims Birkenstock Sandals may have regarding the proper labelling of their products. oh, and I might have accidently...adjusted...that first picture of me and Sonja near the cool erupting volcano. we may not have actually been that close...
Some of the same picture pages are still here, so if you haven't seen them in a while, we are constantly (well, maybe not constantly) updating them:
Great Hiking Spots
Sonja & Paul
Alaska!
You can check out our plumbing-free cabin (Click on the image for a larger version)
Or, click here to see it as is normally looks...covered in snow.
Ok, so I was wrong, this isn't the Episode II trailer. But you have to admit, it's a pretty darn good fake!(you might have to right-click then "save target as..." in order to view the quicktime movie)
Star Wars: Episode II trailer??
Here's one more fun one. This is a SNL skit featuring Kevin Spacey: (this one you most definitely will need to "save target as..." before you can watch it. It also works best if you view it in Windows Media Player, even though it saves it as a Realplayer file)
Kevin Spacey's Star Wars Auditions (from SNL)
Fairbanks, Alaska!
Check out the LIVE
Fairbanks Cam!
The camera is located about 1/2 mile from campus
A look at some of the places we've explored
Hawkwatch International
1997 Fall Raptor Migration Pictures
Wildlife Camp
Paul's Favorite Movies
The Official Star Wars Homepage:
the X-Files Homepage
National Geographic Online
The 'Bert Is Evil' Page
These next few are homepages of family, friends and organizations we are involved in:
The Steve, Deanna, Matt and Lauren Ollig Homepage
Blak Byf of the Purple Horde
Rick C. Petty's Homepage
National Wildlife Federation
Wildlife Camp and Teen Adventure
HawkWatch International, Inc.
University of Alaska Museum, Mammal Collection
Wilderness Education Institute (Western Wildlife Camp)
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center
KSUA Radio, University Of Alaska Fairbanks
If you are a friend or family member who has a page which we have not included here, let us know, and we'll stick it in!
Giraffe Foundation for a Fig-Free America.
You are the
visitor to this site.
© 1997: Paul & Sonja Ollig