Out of the Office | Homer News

Michael Armstrong is properly outfitted for an Arctic summer hiking trip in this photo taken in 1989 along the Wulik River in northeastern Alaska. (Photo by Charles Barnwell.)

Out of the Office: Living in Alaska is a lifetime in learning

From boots to parkas, there’s lots to figure out about surviving in the Last Frontier

The author works at her former desk at the Peninsula Clarion in 2017 in Kenai, Alaska. (Photo by Ben Boettger)

Out of the Office: For good, for now

“Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes.” If that figure immediately transports you to the famous number from the musical “Rent,” you’ve caught my drift.… Continue reading

Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion
The author gets warm with a mask at Alaska’s Matanuska Glacier on Sunday, March 7, 20201.

Out of the Office: Warming up to masks

A March 3 lead paragraph in a news story in The New York Times asked, “When can I throw away my mask?” For me, the… Continue reading

Mar 18, 2021
by Jeff Helminiak
Sports Out of the Office Outdoors Recreation

A day on Kachemak Bay. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Out of the Office: Water taxi talking

Reporters spend a lot of time talking to people: people they don’t know, people they do know, people who really don’t want to talk to… Continue reading

Feb 17, 2021
by Ashlyn O'Hara
Sports Out of the Office Outdoors Recreation

Fletcher runs through the snow on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021, on Diamond Ridge near Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Out of the Office: How all the dogs in my life have kept me sane and happy

I have written before about the virtues of big, rowdy dogs in developing an exercise plan. In my more than 40 years in Alaska, I… Continue reading

Bottenintnin Lake, seen on Nov. 24, 2020 near Sterling, Alaska. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak/Peninsula Clarion)

Out of the Office: More questions than answers

The only place life makes sense anymore is the outdoors. How do we balance the needs of students and parents with the safety of school… Continue reading

Moose are seen eating on the shoulder of Kenai Spur Highway on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2020, outside of Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Out of the Office: Into the office

An ode to Kenai Spur Highway

Out of the Office: Two weeks

I’ve been thinking a lot about the 1986 film “The Money Pit” lately. If you’re around my age, I’ve probably lost you already. But if… Continue reading

A section of the Diamond Creek beach has built up, with plants growing where 10 years ago there had been bare mud, as seen here on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020, near Homer, Alaska. (Photo by Michael Armstrong/Homer News)

Out of the Office: Annual CoastWalk beach trek reveals changes, transformation

Volunteers in annual Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies program clean up, monitor beaches

The author hikes up a ridge on the way to Lost Lake on Aug. 28, 2020 near Seward, Alaska. (Photo by Lauren Jerew)

Out of the Office: Out of your bubble

People say that Alaska is their backyard, their playground — that they know this or that mountain like that back of their own hand. In… Continue reading

A sign welcomes travelers to the Kenai Peninsula on Sept. 1, 2020. (Photo by Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)

Out of the Office: From Anchorage to Soldotna for the 1st time

Beauty overwhelms on initial drive

Out of the office: Checking items off the list

Hail to the king

Out of the Office: COVID camping is about slowing down and relaxing

Recreating during a pandemic presents some challenges. Is the great outdoors great enough? How do you social distance on a narrow wilderness trail? How toxic… Continue reading

Out of the Office: There and back again

In a recent display of tenacity, mediocre coordination skills and a deep love for the outdoors, some friends and I strapped on our packs for… Continue reading

The view from Slaughter Gulch trail on June 20, 2020 in Cooper Landing, Alaska. (Photo by Brian Mazurek/Peninsula Clarion)

Out of the Office: Life on the Edge

Are you a planner? An organizer? A list-maker? I’m not. I love not knowing what tomorrow will bring, and when it comes to taking a… Continue reading

Out of the Office: In the midst of a pandemic, birds are constant

Scattered on my desk I have three journals: my bullet journal, the daily planner that sort of keeps my life in order; my bird journal… Continue reading

Out of the Office: Trails that wind, hearts that find

As with a lot of things, Alaska has been lucky to be far removed and largely untouched by the disastrous effects of the novel coronavirus.… Continue reading

Photo credit: USFWS A morel mushroom grows in disturbed gravel on the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

Out of the Office: Morels surge confidence

I’m writing this in the car on the drive to Anchorage. My boyfriend, Nate, and I are in the process of moving back to the… Continue reading

Mills Creek on April 29, 2020 in the pass between Cooper Landing and the Turnagain Arm. (Photo by Jeff Helminiak)

Out of the office: Summer arrives

What was I doing? I asked myself that as a struggled frantically to wiggle my telemark boots into the bindings and continue down the miners… Continue reading

A painting by the author. (Photo provided by Erin Thompson)

Out of the Office: Painted blue

I went to Homer a few weeks ago to find blue. For weeks I had wanted to paint nothing but blues and purples, but I… Continue reading