Showers

In one of my more normal weather-centric posts I could blather on about the snow showers we have been getting everyday in March (yes, almost two weeks straight), or the rain showers that take their place in the times it gets warm enough to stop freezing.  I could also probably come up with a post about our somewhat irregular bathing habits while living on a boat in Alaska in the winter, but I'm thinking most of you are not all that interested in our hygiene.

Instead, I will continue on with a subject I hinted at last week, and broach the subject of baby showers.  If you happen to be waiting anxiously for an invitation to our baby shower, wait no longer.  No really, stop waiting, there isn't going to be a shower.  Not that we wouldn't love to see everyone, but we are not exactly easily accessible here in Sitka, and a themed event really leaves too much to chance in terms of tackiness.  (See included photo)
And now that I have broached the subject, some thoughts on baby showers and gift giving.  Several friends have already asked about ideas for baby gifts, and we would like to stop the madness before it starts.  In case you forgot about all the posts we have done over the past year, we live on a boat and really, truly, honestly, absolutely have no room for stuff.  We have several very good sources for second-hand baby stuff (Hi Tor and Jess), and if you know anything about my mother (Hi to you too Mom) you know that she has stashed away enough stuff for a possible grandchild that we could probably outfit every kid in Sitka.  The few things we will buy ourselves will be out of the ordinary or specific to our wants and needs, like a combination car seat/cradle/baby carrier/automatic diaper changer that dispenses hundred dollar bills on demand.  I'm still trying to source that particular item as Amazon.com seems to be out of stock.  On the other hand, I never want to be seen as someone that would dissuade people from giving me free stuff, so Nicole and I have talked it over and come up with what will hopefully be a reasonable solution for all.
My first suggestion was to have everyone send coffee and booze, as I see a specific need for these items in my near future, but Nicole is avoiding both right now so it seemed a bit unfair to her.  My second idea was to set up a registry for all the baby things we want, but the first thing I suggested for the list was a jumper that read "recently evicted" and Nicole put a stop to the list before it went any further.  Seems I may not know the items we would need most.  On the other hand, if you think you know more about having a baby than I do (that would be most people over the age of 8) and have an idea of something you think we would really like or need, run the idea by us.  This is all new to us and anything to make our lives easier and/or better is worth hearing about.  Instead of stuff for a baby, we are hoping you can give us the gift of your time and attention.  We are trying to work out the logistics of doing a holiday trip to show off the little rugrat, Alaska to Seattle to Minnesota to Maine and then back to Sitka, figuring we could see the majority of friends and family at those three stops.  Being semi-professional vagabonds we try to avoid travel that is easy and/or sensible so this trip will probably turn into quite a production.  A planes, trains, and automobiles kind of deal, with boats, buses and horses thrown in to make it interesting.
If you are disappointed in our choices of stops for the trip because you live somewhere like Colorado (Hi Adam and Ellen) you have a couple of choices:
1. Sell your house quickly and move to one of the places we mentioned.
2. Arrange holiday travel to coincide with our plans and meet us along the way.
3. Take a trip to Sitka to visit us here.
4. Charter a jet for us and we'll alter our travel plans to visit you where ever you are.
Let us know if you think you will be able to visit with us at some point in the trip, that way we can keep you updated as planning progresses.
(And if we visit, don't forget about the coffee and booze I mentioned earlier.)