Jim's Wild Ride

Furry Faces of the T200

2012-01-30T00:33:00.005-06:00

Most of the fun of going to the races is in seeing the sled dogs themselves. We love dogs and enjoy seeing the variety of color and temperament as they wait - patiently sometimes, not so patiently other times - to do what they were born to do: run.

This year, the weather was so cold that the transport trucks were parked close together and hard to get near due to the plowed snow berms, and the dogs were kept longer in their rigs for warmth. That made it harder to get good pictures of the teams. Once they were brought out, given a snack, bootied and harnessed, they were ready for the challenge ahead. Here's one of DeeDee Jonrowe's dogs, waiting for his booties.
And another of DeeDee's dogs. Legend has it that blue-eyed dogs can see the wind.
These dogs are certainly ready to hit the trail.... but one is readier than the others!
Such beautiful blue eyes in that serious face.
Aren't they lovely?
A handler calms and holds two lead dogs waiting in the chute.
A pair of swing dogs in the chute:
Two lead dogs in their jackets are ready to get this show on the road at last.
A pretty smile from a lead dog:
This team is being moved into the chute. The snow machine behind the sled anchors the team so that they don't have a false start. A determined team can move a parked car if they want to.
I think this dog is the most gorgeous one in the whole race. I could look at this picture for hours.
Yes, I do love the dogs. How could I not?

2012 Tustumena 200

2012-01-29T23:06:00.007-06:00

Winter can be long and boring in Alaska, if you let it. Fortunately, Alaskans know this, and once the excitement of Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's are behind them, the real entertainment can begin... Starting in January, with the Tustumena 200 sled dog race.

Jim and I go to the start of the T200 every year. Nothing gives us quite the same appreciation for Moya's quiet times as watching hundreds of other sprint dogs leaping in their harnesses, ready to run.

The T200 is a 200-mile race from Kasilof to Homer and back again. Mushers interested in running the Iditarod can use these 200 miles as part of their qualifying miles, so there are often big-name mushers competing. This year, we saw Iditarod favorites Jeff King:

And DeeDee Jonrowe. Here, DeeDee is booty-ing her dogs before putting them in harness.

DeeDee walks her own dogs to the starting line. Many volunteers help the mushers with the dogs, but the mushers are all very hands-on and care for their dogs themselves as much as they can.

These handlers are helping DeeDee hold her sled back so that there won't be a false start. Other handlers hold the dogs.

And away DeeDee goes! Unfortunately, this year one of DeeDee's dogs got loose and ran several miles alone, back toward the starting line, before being caught and returned to DeeDee, who scratched out of the race at that point.

We didn't catch the names of all the mushers. It was very, very cold that morning, and it was hard to hear the emcees through all our bundling, even though we were only feet away from the speakers.

Here are some of the mushers, on their sleds, headed to Homer:

Handlers hold the sled back while the guy on the right counts down until release of the dogs:

It's fun to people-watch the other die-hard fans who came out in the cold to watch the races. This woman's fur sunburst ruff is incredible!

Many volunteers who'd been at the trailhead all morning were covered in frost by start time. This guy's hat, beard and mustache are all frosty.

So are his:

And, to a lesser extent, so are we. Jim's got frost buildup on his facial hair, and I had it in my bangs and my coat collar.

In spite of the cold, we stayed to watch all sixteen mushers leave the starting line. We don't go back to see the finish, though, because it will take hours for all the teams to return the next day.

Congratulations to Cym Smith, who finished the race in 22 hours 26 minutes to take the purse, Jeff King in second place, and Dan Kaduce in third place. (Photo of Cym from the T200 Facebook album.)

Can't wait to see the race again next year!

Live Farm Animals Do Not Understand Portrait Sessions

2011-12-25T02:53:00.006-06:00

Molly is my favorite of our three goats. I technically own two of the three, one that I bartered for for my birthday, and Molly, who was an early Christmas gift from Jim. Since Molly is nice and portable, and (as far as goats are concerned) is cuddly, I wanted my picture taken with her wearing a nice red bow for Christmas Eve. And we got two really good shots. So cute.

But in the meantime, we got these shots:

Tiny goats can be very loud when they want to be. And crying goats look really weird.

"Oh hi, Mom. Got any more animal crackers?"

"I think we're both done here. Have James hold me."

"Oh hi, James. Got any more animal crackers?"

"Is that... Is that mustache wax?"

"Okay, fine, I think I have about 5 more seconds of 'cute' left in me. Get a move on before I start squirming again."

"Hmmmmmmm.........."

"I can manage a sweet face for Dad, since he usually slips me animal crackers when Mom's not around."
"But now I'm done. Take me home."

Holiday Portrait Outtakes

2011-12-25T02:17:00.004-06:00

It had been a couple of years since we took a photo of all three of us at Christmastime, and we decided to do that on Christmas Eve, when we would be taking photos of me with my Christmas goat anyway. It was a fairly nice day that warmed up to -2 degrees by the time we trooped out to the front yard, sans coats and hats, for our photo.

D'aaaaaawwww. How cute are we?!?!

But then... I got this great and dastardly idea. When the blinky light on the camera stops blinking, that means the photo is about to be taken. So I waited until the light stopped blinking and pushed my unsuspecting husband into the snowbank. I almost made it back into "innocent" position before the shutter released.

Then JAMES got a dastardly idea of his own. "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You pushed my father. Prepare to freeze." Okay, that's probably not how it worked out in his mind, but I got a snowball to the back of my neck.

This is something that cannot go unpunished, so I tried to push James into the snowbank, too, but alas, he was prepared for it.

Best. Holiday. Portrait. Session. EVER.

Merry Christmas to all...

2011-12-25T00:58:00.005-06:00

For most of our friends and family, it's Christmas day already, but for us here in Alaska, we have a couple more hours to go yet on Christmas Eve. It's been a lovely day, and has been a lovely year as well.

So much has happened, and I apologize that I'm very, very far behind on the blog. But for now, let me sum up:

* James is a senior at Grove City College and he will graduate in May with a degree in Economics. We are extremely proud of him, and he deserves nothing less.

* Jim has built a two-storey garage. He had some help but he did the bulk of the work alone. The bottom floor is for the cars and woodworking tools, and the top floor is the future home of Smiling Otter Studio. He's also built a barn and yard for the goats.

* We have goats. There are three of them; a registered Alpine, a registered Nigerian dwarf, and a kiko/boer cross who, despite her mottled heritage, is most definitely the herd queen.

* As for me, I've kept busy sewing, taught a few classes, and have enjoyed many of the new changes in our lives. Which, given that I'm the most change-averse person on the planet, is saying a lot.

* We even managed to take a holiday portrait this year! Yes, we did! Here we are, out in the front yard in negative-degree temperatures without coats, hats or longies, having a good old time indeed.

And this is Molly the dwarf Nigerian goat, my (quite) early Christmas present that I've had since November. I wanted Jim to wrap her anyway. ;^)

To all of you from each of us, we wish you a sincerely merry Christmas and a splendid New Year. We wish you a personal relationship with our Savior Jesus, whether it be new or renewed. Go forth and conquer your dreams, hold fast the ones who are dear to you, and find the joy in even the small things - perhaps especially the small things.

Love,

Deanna, Jim and James

Summertime Revisit Part 1: Kenai Rotary's Soapbox Derby

2011-10-31T02:30:00.001-05:00

We've learned that there are a lot of interesting things to do here, but it seems everybody expects everybody else to already know about them. It's not unusual for us to find out about something on the morning of the event, and have to make a snap decision about whether or not to try to go. The Kenai Rotary Club's Soapbox Derby was one of those things.

It was a lovely day waaay back on May 21. Jim and I decided to make a day of it by visiting the classic car show at Home Depot, visiting the Kenai Saturday Market, and watching the Soapbox Derby. Unfortunately for us, the car show and the derby were at the same time, but fortunately for us, the derby was getting a late start, so we saw about 1/3 of the cars that would eventually show up for the car show before coming back to watch the derby.

Most of the derby cars had professional paint jobs, and some of them included sponsor artwork, just like real race cars. Too bad I didn't get pictures of them all. There were a lot of cars; probably close to thirty. Some of them were dead serious about racing:

And some simply wanted to have fun:

Here's the launch ramp with two derby cars being loaded onto it. Throwing the switch in the middle lowers the stop between the rails and lets both cars start at the same time.

The racers are in their cars and ready to launch!

Jim and I found a nice place to sit, just past the bend in the road from the launch ramp. We were about 1/3 of the way down the road. You can just barely see the finish line in this video:

Because the derby was held on the road to a popular beach in Kenai, and the road was not closed for the derby, it took a long time to get everything set up and going. The volunteers would work a bit and racers would take a test run, then the traffic coordinators at either end of the road would clear the street and let the real cars come and go from the beach. Then they'd close the road again and the derby racers would take another turn. Due to the frequent stoppages to let real cars use the road, the race took a looong time, and we left before seeing the end. We had fun watching what we did see, though! Zoooooooooom!

Long time, no see...

2011-10-31T01:49:00.000-05:00

We had our first real good snowfall of the winter today, about an inch that stayed around and switched my brain over from Summer mode to Winter mode. And guess what?

I've managed to go the whole summer without a blog post.

Which is not to say that the summer has been boring. Quite the contrary. Most definitely not boring.

We have a mostly-finished new garage, partially-finished new digs for Smiling Otter Studio, new goats (yes, goats), taken road trips, and have had a lot of fun during this action-packed summer of 2011. Because winter is always a busy, gorgeous time here, I'm sure there will be a lot to post about, just like there was in the summer. I've got to catch up on the summertime posts but don't want to get behind on the wintertime ones, so I think I'll just mix summer with winter as I go along.

So, goodbye for now, and stay tuned for a Summertime Revisit real soon!

So, you think you want a nap?

2011-05-26T15:29:00.000-05:00

Good luck with that.

To Belle, it just looks like you're trying to make the couch softer for her.

Easter Break with James and Carl

2011-04-28T15:52:00.001-05:00

The pre-Easter week is highly anticipated around here, not just because this is a holy time, but also because James comes home! This year, James' college roommate, Carl, spent Easter break in Alaska with us. While April is an awkward time to visit Alaska (not much snow, mostly slush, and the tourist attractions aren't open yet), we were all happy the weather had warmed up nicely and we found interesting things to do...

Day 1 - Saturday
James and Carl left Pennsylvania at the same time, on the same flight, but due to scheduling difficulties with the airlines, they parted ways in Chicago. James arrived in Anchorage eight hours ahead of Carl, so we walked around the mall, ate at Harley's, and did some shopping while we waited for Carl's night flight.

Day 2 - Sunday

James and Carl got some sleep after their long, late night of travel and then decided to explore the area. James took Carl for a ride to see Mt. Redoubt from Cook Inlet View, walk along the Kenai River, see Old Town Kenai (including the historic Russian Orthodox churches), and then to some of the little shops in Soldotna. Carl saw his first moose!

Day 3 - Monday

What a gorgeous day for me to drive the boys to Homer... We stopped for lunch at Rocky's Cafe in Kasilof and took some photos there of James rescuing poor Carl from being eaten by a giant mosquito:

And both of them with a slightly-larger-than-life salmon:

On we went to Ninilchik where we visited the Russian Orthodox church overlooking the Inlet and Ninilchik Village.

Once in Homer, we watched the eagles swooping over the bluff on the outskirts of town:

I think we saw five or six right there at the bluff. This one has the mountains and Homer Spit in the background. Homer Spit has a lot of adorable tourist trap shops, eateries, fishing charters and kayak tour shacks along it.

We walked out onto Homer Spit for a different view of the mountains across Kachemak Bay. Another eagle flew right over us and landed on the roof of The Time Bandit (of Deadliest Catch fame) shop on the Spit. He was so close to us, and seemed to be posing for the camera!

James went across the street to take a picture of the whole building:

And then, just because you sort of have to say you've done it, we took the boys' picture in front of the famous Salty Dawg Saloon, one of the few buildings to survive the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964 and the resultant tsunami:

On the way out of town, we stopped for chocolates and souvenirs at Alaska Wild Berry. Sooooo yummy.

Day 4 - Tuesday

Early in the day, the boys worked on homework they'd brought with them, and in the afternoon Jim took them to the beach near our house at Captain Cook State Recreation Area.

Day 5 - Wednesday

I took James to town to shop for new jeans while Carl remained diligent to his homework here at home. Then they both helped me do prep for Smiling Otter Studio. They still had homework to do, though, with the boys often downstairs near the wood stove, working hard:

Day 6 - Thursday

The boys headed off on their own again, to finish shopping and to visit some attractions in Sterling, including the chainsaw carver:

They revisited the Russian Orthodox Church to see the interior, and visited the museum in the Kenai Visitors Center:

Day 7 - Friday

More homework for the boys! In the evening, though, Jim taught Carl to pan for gold. Jim's got an indoor setup for panning while he watches tv. Carl panned first while James put some hides on stretching boards for me, and then James took a turn.

Carl points out his first big "picker":

Day 8 - Saturday

James and Carl worked hard on research papers all day.....

Day 9 - Sunday

Resurrection Day! But also the day when we had to say goodbye to the boys and send them back to school. We ate a late lunch (early dinner?) of prime rib, grilled lamb, cheesy bread and apple pie before leaving for the Kenai airport. Rather than spend all day and half the night in the car, Jim decided the best way to get them back to Anchorage for their flight home was to fly them out via commuter plane.

We sure did enjoy having them here and were sad to see them go. We hope Carl visits again and are looking forward to having James back home at the end of May!

Rondy '11 Part 4: The Running of the Reindeer Videos

2011-03-31T01:58:00.001-05:00

As promised, here are the videos of the Fourth Annual Running of the Reindeer. I highly recommend that you click through to watch them on YouTube, where you might be able to see them better.

This is the video of my run with the reindeer. In all the Military, Mens and Groups herds, the reindeer are released at the same time as the runners. In the Women's herd, the runners are given a 10-second head start. You hear the emcee counting down the ten seconds at the beginning of the video. Two deer ran past me within arm's reach on my right, and another one brushed against my arm on my left. That was totally cool!

This is Jim's video of his run with the reindeer, which he filmed by holding the camera over his head as he ran. You can easily see how close he was to the reindeer!

This is the Groups herd. This is where the best costumes are. Enjoy!

(In spite of the emcee suggesting there might have been an injury, there wasn't. There hasn't been an injury in all four years of RotR.)

Rondy '11 Part 3: The Running of the Reindeer

2011-03-31T01:30:00.001-05:00

I suppose The Running of the Reindeer needs some explaining.

Probably, it needs a lot of explaining.

Think of The Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. Now remove the bulls and substitute reindeer. Remove the certainty of injury by goring and replace it with a faint chance of injury by falling in the snow and being stepped on by another runner. Remove every shred of seriousness and replace it with the-sillier-the-better. Remove Pamplona altogether and replace it with the downtown Anchorage business district. In fact, remove all similarities except that people run in a street with hoofed animals.

Got it? Okay. Now we can begin.

Runners race down two blocks of Fourth Avenue with about a dozen male reindeer released behind them. At the other end of Fourth Avenue is a trailer containing a doe in heat, which keeps the males not only running, but running in a predictable, relatively straight line towards her. There are no prizes for winning or anything like that, it's just fun and wacky, which is honestly a point unto itself.

Last year, Jim and I were spectators. This year, we were runners.

Anyone can participate in The Running, and there are people who come for Rondy from all over the world, and some of them join in the race right along with the ~~crazy~~ fun-loving locals. The reindeer, by the way, are local, too. (I forgot where the ranch is located, though.) It costs $25 per person with proceeds benefiting Toys For Tots. There are four "herds" - the Military, the Men, the Women, and Groups. Here, the male reindeer are walked to the starting line after the first group of runners are already in place:

The race organizers decided to try something new this year - Antlercam! It did not go as planned......

He scraped the Antlercam off in the street.

This is my favorite photo of the reindeer this year. A young buck posing for my camera, wearing his purple RotR cowbell. Um, deerbell. Sorry.

The Military herd wasn't too exciting, because they were all dressed in fatigues and probably all sober. So I don't have any interesting photos of that. But up next, the Men's herd! The emcee asked all the men who were mostly bare to come to the front, where they proceeded to dance about in Rondy-spirit abandon, and were only too happy to oblige when the emcee told them to give him some pushups in the street. While they were doing their pushups, the crowd threw snow at them. Ah, good times. I should probably mention that although costumes are not required, they ARE encouraged, and you can (I highly suggest it, in fact) click on these photos to enlarge them and see some of the costumes better.

The men's herd runs past shortly before the reindeer catch up to them:

Yes, that's a banana. And a tooth with a giant toothbrush. The big plywood carrot (probably to lure in the reindeer? I dunno) is coming, and in front of him is the hairyman from my previous post.

When you watch the videos in my next post, you'll see Jim's point of view as he runs. You'll see the easy landmark of the plywood carrot go by, and that's about when this photo of Jim was taken. He's wearing his beaver trapper hat, khaki pants and a dark jacket and is holding the camera over his head, right in front of the guy wearing bib number 121.

The snow was very loose and slippery from having been spread out after the Iditarod ceremonial start, which was only a few hours before this. Lots of people fell in the snow, but other runners good-naturedly helped them up and retrieved lost bits of costumes, and the race continued with no harm done. This is the closest I saw to an actual mishap - when a reindeer ran between me (on the sidelines) and a cameraman, and the cameraman jumped back to avoid the deer and fell on his bohunkus. He got back up when the deer passed, though, and kept filming.

We don't have any still photos of me running with the Women's herd, because I was busy running and Jim was operating the video camera. We also managed not to get any stills of the Groups herd. I can't believe we did that. You'll just have to wait for the video.

As we were leaving the downtown area that evening, we passed a group of Rondy pin collectors, and asked to take their photo outside of the official Rondy store. Rondy pins are quite collectible if you're into that sort of thing, as these people evidently were!

In my next post, I'll have the videos of the races for you to see, and you'll especially want to see the Groups herd. That's where the best costumes are. See you then!

Rondy '11 Part 2: The Ceremonial Start Video

2011-03-28T16:09:00.000-05:00

Thank you, Jim, for this awesome video montage from the Iditarod Ceremonial Start!

Rondy '11 Part 1: The ceremonial start of the Iditarod

2011-03-27T01:51:00.001-05:00

I love Fur Rendezvous weekend. I truly do. I start looking forward to next year's Rondy on the ride home from the Rondy that just finished. Is it February again yet?

At last year's Rondy, we were fortunate that the two events we wanted most to see - the Outhouse Races and The Running of the Reindeer - were on the same weekend. This year, we weren't so lucky. Forced to choose between the two events, we opted to go on the last weekend of Rondy to see the Reindeer and the ceremonial start of the Iditarod dog sled race, and then go to Willow, Alaska to see the official restart of the race. Turns out to have been a very good choice.

We got to Anchorage on Friday night so we could be up early Saturday morning and have a good spot staked out along Fourth Avenue to watch the Iditarod teams line up for the ceremonial start. The weather was pretty good, bright and warm in the upper 20's. Exxon and Wells Fargo had a hospitality tent set up, serving free hot cider, coffee and cookies, and handing out blinkie pins and posters. The reindeer sausage vendors were doing a brisk business selling hot dogs for breakfast. Speaking of reindeer dogs, I have to stop and show you this:

Aren't they precious??? Elaborate fur costumes are the norm at Rondy (well, except for when elaborate costumes of any other sort are called for, but we'll get to that when we talk about The Running of the Reindeer). Seeing small children decked out in extremely wonderful furs, however, is unusual. I asked these little girls' grandmother if I could take their picture, and she stepped aside. As soon as she did, they moved their dogs away from their faces and posed, probably having been asked repeatedly for their photos over the weekend. My only regret is that I didn't get a picture of the backs of their parkas as well.

But, I digress.

The weather had been so warm and nice that there wasn't enough snow in the area to provide a snowy chute for the sleds to run on, so truckloads of snow were brought in the day before to make a chute from. The first sled to leave the start line was a ceremonial vintage freight sled. See how the sled driver is on a small ski platform in front of the sled?

Months before Iditarod, there is an auction whereby you can purchase the privilege of being an IditaRider. IditaRiders can bid on seats in their favorite musher's sled for the first 10 miles of the run, before the dogs are loaded up into trucks and driven to the official start in Willow. I can't find anywhere how much the auctions ended up at, but I found out that being in a *rookie* musher's sled can run into the thousands of dollars. I can't imagine what someone would have paid to ride with favorites like Lance Mackey or Martin Buser. Here you can see an IditaRider in the basket of Jamaican musher (nope, not kidding) Newton Marshall's sled.

We took a gazillion photos of the dogs and mushers. We took a gazillion more photos of more dogs. And then more of the mushers. We photographed the interpreter for the hearing impaired, the handlers that helped hold back every single dog in the entire lineup, and interesting people on the sidelines. But I won't make you sit through all of those pics... just a couple more. There will be others to look through when I take you with us to the official start. In the meantime, however, here's a dog that seems to sum up the feelings of every dog in the race:

Slobbering, jumping, barking, crazy for racing and ready to GO!

We heart Lance Mackey. He won four Iditarods *in a row*, people. In. A. Row. While dealing with the after-effects of throat cancer and the special problems that brings him, both on the trail and off. Want an interesting read? Check out his book and read a little more about him here.

We watched the first 17 teams go through the chute, including other favorites DeeDee Jonrowe and Martin Buser. Rather than wait three hours for all 62 teams to go through (they leave every two to three minutes), we left after seeing Lance start off. Although we were a bit sorry we left early when someone told us musher Wattie McDonald (bib #38) of Scotland wore his kilt, his dogs wore tartan coats, and bagpipers played as he entered the chute. Someone posted a video of his start here.

Here's Jim outside the official Fur Rondy store:

Me, with the statue of Balto:

Much of the fun of Rondy is seeing the costumes and furs, and I love it bunches. This guy was dressed as a "hairy man" or "bushman", the Alaskan version of Sasquatch, and for a donation to Alaska's Healing Hearts, you could have your photo taken with him. Without making a spectacle of myself by inspecting the costume, I think it was bear and wolverine fur.

After we left the race, we had only a few hours before we had to be back for The Running of the Reindeer. We needed to take a shipment of slippers to Alaska Fur Exchange and pick up materials for the rest of the spring orders. Then we ate at a new place, Harley's Old Thyme Cafe, which is awesome, and shopped at Black Elk for suede and beads.

Check back next time to see how the rest of our day unfolded!

The Six Sillies

2011-03-22T14:44:00.002-05:00

James the Storyteller performs "The Six Sillies" at Winterfeast 2011 at Grove City College.

The first few seconds of the story were cut off by the camera, and go as follows:

"Once upon a time, there was a young girl who reached the age of thirty-seven without getting married, for she was so foolish that no man would take her.

But one day, a traveler arrived to court her, and her mother sent her down to the cellar to fetch him a jug of beer. So the traveler and the girl's parents sat down upstairs and began planning and preparing... "

Turn up the volume and enjoy!

My Rondy boots!

2011-03-04T16:50:00.000-06:00

I did it! I finished my boots for Rondy last night!

These are by far the most elaborate fur item I've ever made. I already know what I'd change to make them better the next time I make a pair, but overall, though, I'm pretty tickled.

The furs, starting at the knee and working downwards, are: natural dark beaver, tanuki, bleached beaver, red fox, and natural red beaver. The pompoms are natural dark beaver and the toes are otter.

Rather than make a multi-layer leather sole, like the pair I was copying, I took apart a pair of Dearfoams slippers that had a sewn-on rubber sole. I hope the rubber sole will provide more traction than a leather one. When I took the slippers apart, two layers of foam remained with the soles, so I left that in place. I made linings of polar fleece around the calf, with foot uppers made of thick felted wool. The insoles are multi-layered, with heavy New Zealand sheepskin under my feet, two layers of polar fleece/felt laminate, and a layer of headliner foam on the very bottom. Added to the foam I left in when I took the Dearfoams apart, they make for a very cushy platform that's warm and comfortable.

The pair of boots I was copying had a beaded rosette on each shin, where the band of plain suede is, but I couldn't find any I liked. I bought two cross-sections of walrus rib bone to use there, but right before sewing them on I decided I didn't really like them for that purpose and left them off. I'll look for some nice beadwork while we're at Rondy this weekend.

Now, I've got to go finish packing! Woohoooooooooo!!!!!!

Ice Around Town

2011-03-02T21:09:00.001-06:00

Ice Around Town, as some of you might remember, is part of the festivities surrounding The Peninsula Winter Games. The PWG is a whole day of kid-friendly games, tournaments, outdoor activities, even an ice cream social. The Native Youth Olympics are also held that day in case anyone might like to go see traditional games being played. Last year's PWG is where I first saw, and coveted, a kicksled of my own.

Businesses in Soldotna and Kenai can commission ice sculptures that are carved by local sculptors from local ice, harvested from River Bend Lake near Beaver Loop Road. We look forward to seeing them every winter, and are sorry that the day of the PWG the weather was overcast and dreary, and subsequently our photos didn't turn out very well and do not show off the sculptures to their best advantage.

The main events are held at the sports center in Soldotna. The Monopoly tournament, hockey games, ice bowling, snowmachine sled rides, and kicksled rides are there. But perhaps the biggest draw are the huge ice slides. I can't believe we managed to avoid getting a single photo of the entire ice slide setup. AARGH. Trust me, it was awesome. There were two, one small one for tiny tots (which shot the kids out into the parking lot a respectable distance for only being about three feet tall), and the main slide complex. Ice stairs to one side led up to the slide on the other, with saddled sculptures around the base, to keep the kids entertained while they waited their turns.

Approaching the slides from the parking lot, a sculpture of a bear mushing a dog represents the Tustumena 200 race.

A closer shot of the mushing bear:

Nearer the slides was this bear:

OOH!! SOMEONE'S GIVING AWAY A FREE PUPPY! I NEED THAT PUPPY!!

Okay, I didn't bring the puppy home. But I was tempted. Oh, so tempted.

One of the saddled sculptures for the kids to climb on near the base of the slide:

I have no idea who this little girl is, but ain't she adorable? Get an idea of the scale of the sculpture from the adults standing behind its head.

Some of the sculptures just didn't show up in the photos very well at all, such as this saddled bear:

But by tweaking the colors a bit, even though it's not like in real life, you can see them better. The woman in the background is looking up towards the top of the slide, which you can see on the left. It was a long, tall slide.

The sledding bear at the entrance to the recreation center was one that needed some unnatural tweaking in order to show up much.

Leaving the rec center, we headed to town to check out the sculptures at the local businesses. The Soldotna Visitor's Center never fails to entertain with their interactive sculptures. This year, you could pretend to be frozen in a block of ice like a caveman.

The Duck Inn has a martini and two ducks wishing they could drink it:

KSRM radio's surfing moose:

Arby's curly fries:

Blazy Construction's howling wolf:

Alaska Open Imaging's teddy-bear-style moose:

An eagle at Soldotna Mini Storage:

A twice-vandalized walrus at the pharmacy was my favorite, even though we never saw it in its undamaged condition:

This photo of the walrus' missing tusks is from the Redoubt Reporter. The tusks were broken off, replaced, and broken off again. What a shame. Apparently it's quite rare that anyone bothers the sculptures.

Surfing puffin at the dentist's office (sorry you can't see it better):

The puffin's face:

The Cheshire Cat at another dentist up the street:

A polar bear texting on a mobile phone in front of Alaska Communications:

Dairy Queen's banana split:

The Kenai Watershed Forum's slots-playing bear:

Sweeney's leprechaun is showing his penguin friend a shamrock and a gold coin:

The sculpture at the airport wasn't finished yet, so here it is in progress:

And here's the finished moose flying an open-cockpit plane:

I think this catches you up on what we've been doing around here for the past month or so. See you next time!

The Tustumena 200

2011-03-02T04:08:00.000-06:00

I haven't done any blogging since, well, since my last post. Which was a sad one. But it's time to put some smiles back on faces again, and I don't know of a better way to do that than with lots of dogs showing off some serious joie de vivre.

The Tustumena 200 sled dog race, as long-time readers might remember, is a qualifier for the Iditarod. The two-hundred-mile round-trip race begins and ends in Kasilof. This year's race took place on January 29 - 30, 2011, and we were there to see it start!

I know there are some people who don't believe a sled dog enjoys his or her work. Surely a musher is a cruel person who forces the poor creatures to labor for miles pulling heavy weights, right? Um, no. Not at all. And if you have any doubt, check out this video of a team being held back:

Or this video of the same team being walked to position at the starting line. Notice the handlers with the dogs, and the snow machine behind the sled, weighing the dogs down so that they don't start running early:

Click on this pic to enlarge it. You've got to see the expression on this dog's face.

And, if you're still unsure whether or not a dog with pulling in its DNA really enjoys the job, come over to our house. We'll harness Moya up, hand you the lead, and wave goodbye to your rapidly disappearing form as she tows you out of sight in mere seconds.

Y'know, looking through the photos and comparing what I see here to the official start order list, I notice that nine of the fourteen mushers were men. But what has my dear husband decided to photograph?

Kristy Berington:

Her twin sister, Anna Berington:

Zoya DeNure:

And DeeDee Jonrowe, this year's winner:

And [singing "One of these things is not like the others..."] a lone photo of Gary Van Loo.

I admit, I never thought seeing the dog races start off would be much fun. "Yeah. Dogs. Running. Wooo." But I really enjoy it. And I don't think I would as much if I didn't have Moya at home. Seeing hundreds of Moya-alikes all in one place makes me feel fortunate that I only have one.

Having seen the racers off, we took our traditional arms-length self portrait:

But before we leave the race, here's something else for me to show you... A guy in a truly epic fox trapper hat, standing about 15 feet away from the race chute, with a large cardboard box. Of kittens.

The box says "FREE Kittens You Need to have good intentions or you can't have Them!"

As far as we know, he left with as many as he brought. He wasn't exactly playing to the correct market. But it was worth a try.

After leaving the race, Jim and I stopped at Rocky's Cafe for lunch. I love that the sign is modeled after the Roslyn Cafe sign from the tv show Northern Exposure.

Once we were full of lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon looking at the Ice Around Town ice sculptures, but I'll save those pictures for the next post!

Tate

2011-02-03T19:02:00.000-06:00

Tate O'Connor

March, 1997 - February 2, 2011

I'd like to sit here and write a tribute to our dog, Tate, who passed away yesterday. But I find I don't know where to start... How do I condense fourteen years of experiences into a few paragraphs? So I suppose I'll just ramble a bit...

She came into our home from a shelter, one of seven boxer/hound siblings. We don't know exactly how many weeks old she was, because the shelter and the vet disagreed on her age. So, we observed her birthday somewhere around the middle of March.

The photo above is Tate with her adopted brother Michael, in the crate she used for most of her life. She loved her crate, and spent most of her time in there as she got older, snoozing. Even when we passed that particular crate down to Moya, Tate still got into it whenever she had the chance. Gosh, she looks so little there.

Tate might technically have been my dog, but she took particular interest in James. They were puppies together, after all. James was just six years old when we got Tate. During the time when James was involved in Boy Scouts, and went camping often, Tate would refuse to eat until James got home. She'd go two or three days without eating a single bite. Eventually we realized that if James explained to her that he would be gone a certain number of days but he'd be back, she'd be fine while he was gone and wouldn't hunger strike.

She was good about letting us dress her up, too. Not that we did it often, but she'd let us. She's wearing the decorations from a luau party here, and we imagine she's singing "Tiny Bubbles" and pretending she's on stage with Don Ho.

We moved to Alaska when Tate was twelve years old. Boxers average out at about 10 years old, so even though she's a mixed breed, I didn't really think she'd survive the move. But she not only survived, she came through with flying colors, crossing America top to bottom, the Canada-USA border twice, and settling into Alaskan living as if it was no big deal. Here she is at a hotel along the way, obviously happy with her "globetrotting."

Shortly after moving here, though, Tate began to show her age, and we brought home two new sisters for her to interact with and give her something new to occupy her days, rather than just lay around and sleep. That plan didn't work out quite like we'd hoped. The new sisters each formed their own largely separate existences, and Tate went back to sleeping her days away.

Moya became a thorn in Tate's side, the older the two became. But it wasn't all bad.

I love this picture. A photo bomb from Tate on the way to the kennel in Sterling, the first time James flew to Pennsylvania for college.

Tate usually didn't mind the snow, but I adore the put-upon look she's giving me on this particular snowy day.

Many a time, as Tate grew older, weaker, and less healthy, we debated if this was Her Time. But our decision was that as long as she seemed happy, we'd let her continue, but if her health deteriorated too far, there would be no heroic measures. Her demeanor was usually one of contentedness if not happiness, and some days she seemed to have no clue about anything, just a generally senile outlook of being happy no matter what. Health issues restricted her to the downstairs nearly all the time, as the incontinence got worse and her hips got weaker and falls on the stairs increased.

But still she smiled and was glad for the times she got to come upstairs and be part of the pack, or sleep in her beloved old crate instead of her new one.

Then, yesterday, we knew things had changed. She'd been off her food for a couple days, which was highly unusual in itself. She was reluctant to stand, reluctant to walk when she did stand, and even laid down in the snow rather than walk into the yard to potty. She couldn't control herself and made some messes. She looked a bit scared and distressed. Not the happy-go-lucky she normally was.

It was time.

James called and talked to her on the phone and said his goodbye to her. She managed a last meal of favorite foods that had been off limits due to her sensitive stomach - marshmallows, leftover steak, and the oh-so-coveted rawhide treat. Jim carried her upstairs and she spent her last afternoon amongst the family, laying by her water bowl.

She died in my arms, with Jim at our side, before she had a chance to realize there was anything unusual about this trip to the vet. We petted her and told her she was a good dog. We buried her on the bluff overlooking the lake, wrapped in a blanket Jim's grandmother made, with her face to the rising sun and the view over the water.

She was steadfast, loyal, and even-keeled, and she was a good dog for sure. The house is emptier without her. We loved her.

And she is missed.

Back to school, back to work...

2011-01-18T13:42:00.000-06:00

Let me start by saying it was a perfect Christmas vacation. I can't think of anything I would change if I could, except possibly making it last longer.

Last Saturday, we packed up the dogs and took all three to the kennel in Sterling. You should have seen how crowded it was in Jim's truck, with James and three big dogs in the back seat. Tate had on her "giddy idiot" face and was just glad to be going somewhere like a "real" dog. Moya hogged most of the room and Belle stood where she could fit. In the bed of the truck were James' suitcases and two boxes of fur slippers and hats to be delivered to Alaska Fur Exchange when we got to Anchorage.

The roads were nice and clear on the way to The Big City. The weather was sunny and bright, and the drive in was uneventful. We considered stopping at the barbecue place at Turnagain Arm just south of Anchorage, but they weren't quite ready to open when we got there. We'll stop in another day. How could people with a sense of humor like ours *not* support a place with a name like this?

Our first stop in town was at Alaska Fur Exchange to drop off the completed items and pick up more materials for myself and for Lee. If we thought the truck was full on the way up, well, it was sure full now. I've got job security for a while longer!

Next we drove to Wasilla to look at some saunas. Jim and I had been talking about getting one for a few months, and he found a place in Wasilla that was selling some affordable ones that would fit indoors and were easy to assemble. We picked out one, and hope it will be delivered sometime this week.

With time to kill before heading to the airport with James, we decided to explore one of the big malls. Finally, a mall like the ones in Texas! The "mall" in Soldotna has a GNC and a Payless Shoes as the anchor stores, so that should tell you something about the shopping we have out here on the Peninsula. While at the mall in Anchorage, we found a store that sells nice hats for men, and of course James went in to have a look. James looks good in most things he puts on his head, but oh how cute is he in a bowler!

After the mall we ate dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then took James to the airport. I managed not to cry until James checked his baggage. Hey, I can only suck it up for so long! Here's James at the airport with a Kodiak bear mount. I think the bear would like to try on the new bowler.

Even making a crazy face, he is so cute!

Jim and I drove home that night, got home around 1:30 a.m. and tried to get some sleep before we needed to go to Sterling on Sunday to pick up the dogs. It was -18 degrees when we got up. Did you know that the foam seats in the car will get really hard when it's that cold? Yep, they do.

The kennel owners keep Tate indoors because she's so old, but the other two dogs stay in an outdoor run with a heated doghouse at one end. They share one run to help keep each other warm. We asked how cold it got in Sterling overnight (it's colder inland) and they weren't sure, but it was -22 when they got up. That may not have been the coldest night Belle's stayed outside in, but it was certainly the coldest Moya's been out for. All the dogs were so happy to be back in the warm car and they slept most of the rest of the day.

James made it safely back to campus by midday on Sunday. We hope he has a wonderful semester, learns a lot, and makes even more fun, goofy friends. He'll be back for Easter break in April.

The moose situation in the yard has gotten annoying. They're out there most days, making a mess even three dogs can't rival. There are lots of them lining the roads, making a hazard for drivers. We came upon the aftermath of a moose strike on the way to Sterling. Evidently a snowplow hit it and killed it. Moose are really big and can total a car, so we're thankful the plow was a substantial vehicle. Speaking of moose strikes, when you hit a moose with your car, you have to call and report it. You could face a fine for hitting the moose (which I don't think is fair considering the moose run in front of cars and it's not like you're aiming for one). The moose, if it died, is butchered and the meat is distributed to the needy. If you hit a bear with your car and it dies, the skeleton goes to museums and teaching institutes, and the hide is auctioned at the Fur Rendezvous. But I digress.

Now that the lovely vacation is over, I'll go back to nearly full-time work. James stretched a lot of furs for me and did a lot of prep work, too, so I'm good to go for a while. I'll also be working on a line of children's slippers starting this week. Jim's still chugging along at his work too, taking care of the chickens and keeping the fire going on the wood stove. So, I guess that's all the news I have for now. Stay warm!

Moya Pulls the Kicksled

2011-01-08T19:46:00.000-06:00

Teaching a dog to pull a sled is not an easy thing.

Sled dogs start training while they're still puppies, dragging pieces of snow machine track, and then training trikes, and all sorts of steps in the process until they become contributing members of a dog team.

We, however, have no earthly idea what we're doing. And a dog that couldn't care less if she puts you in a tree, as long as she gets to run. So it's a wonder, yet again, that everyone survived and had a blast while working on more of Moya's training. She did well pulling the plastic toy sled several days ago, and today she got to pull the nice kicksled. She still gets easily distracted and therefore needs to wear not only her pulling harness but also her EasyWalk harness, with someone running alongside her to keep her focused and on the road.

You might have already seen my earlier post about the moose in the yard. Well, it's still out there, just this time it's across the street in our neighbor's yard. Here, the whole gang is in the photo, with James guiding the kicksled and Jim running with Moya. Rosie the neighbor's corgi is joining in the fun and the moose has decided he'd better leave the area. Intrepid Rosie was ready to take on the moose alone, and Moya would have been happy to help her, but the moose couldn't be bothered to "play" with the dogs, thank goodness. You'll probably want to enlarge this photo by clicking on it.

Jim's steering the kicksled while James runs Moya up our street.

And coming back down the street. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Crazy Dog Face of Joy. She's not tired one bit. Delighted, but not tired. As our vet describes her: "Built for speed, that one."

Moya says "This is EASY. Why does there need to be eight of us to pull a sled?"

So pretty. She has frozen whiskers but they didn't show up in the picture. In case you're wondering, it was 14 degrees at the time.

Jim takes a turn keeping Moya in the road while James has a ride. Being pulled on a sled by your own dog... awesome.

I'm taking a turn on the sled seat while James steers Moya. This is what it looks like from the passenger's viewpoint. Gosh, it was fun!

Time to call it a day and go inside to warm up.

Good dog, Moya Moo. Good dog.

Mooses

2011-01-08T17:10:00.000-06:00

We know there have been moose in the yard again this winter - it IS Alaska, after all - but we hadn't often seen the actual critters, mostly just the hoof prints and other... signs... that they'd been hanging around. Moya found these two moose over the past couple days, though, so we were able to get some good pictures of them.

This youngster was coming up the embankment from the lake and munching his way towards the patio. It's a wonder any of our rose bushes survive from year to year. He had a lovely mane, so thick and full.

He's about 12 feet away from James at this point, and James was standing at the back door when he took this picture. The barbecue grill is between them, but that's still really close to be to a moose.

Poor James spent a sleepless night listening to him stamp around outside his bedroom window. There are no rose bushes on that side of the house so who knows what Little Bullwinkle was eating over there, but he found something to keep his interest until about 3:00 in the morning.

And then there was this older moosie today, in the strip of woods between our house and the next lot.

In other news, James will be home for another week before heading back to college. He's been a tremendous help to me in doing a lot of prep work for my sewing. I've got more work than I can keep up with, so having him take some of the first steps of the process off my to-do list has been important.

The dogs are all doing well, including Tate the Infinitely Prolonged. Tate went to the vet yesterday for her shots so she can go to the kennel with Belle and Moya while Jim and I make a long day of shopping in The Big City in the next few days. Tate is now 13 years and 10 months old. That's way old for any dog, much less a boxer mix.

I guess that's all I have to report for now. See you later!

Gratitude

2011-01-01T17:24:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! 2010 is already a memory and 2011 stretches before us like a blank roll of poster paper, ready to be filled in with new memories and second chances.

I'm not a "resolutions" sort of person. I never really have been. So I'm just going to add exercise to my daily to-do list and hope for the best. My health could use an overhaul and I'll start with exercise and fewer starchy foods and go from there.

Besides fitting into smaller jeans, one thing that's been on my mind a lot lately is gratitude. Such a small thing, isn't it, saying "Thank you" to someone who's been good to you? And yet it doesn't happen nearly as often as it should. I'm not being preachy here, at least no less preachy to you than to myself. My life overflows with an abundance of blessings that would take me the whole day to thank God for, only to need to start over with a new hymn of thanksgiving the next morning. I breathe clean air, I drink clean water, I have a comfortable bed to sleep in, indoor plumbing, I don't have to bang my dirty clothes on a rock in the river to get them clean and where I live has access to it by road year 'round. Being thankful for all the extras would take another whole day (my family! friends! online shopping! lots of dogs! airlines! a job!) and then I'd still need to thank each individual who's made those things happen. Being properly grateful could take the rest of my life.

On the other side of the coin, though, is ingratitude. I clearly remember, as a teenager, hearing II Timothy 3:2 and being struck by the fact that unthankfulness is a sign of the end times. Listed amongst other, seemingly more terrible, sins is basically an overdeveloped sense of entitlement.

There's one person I know who was injured during a fall, and I sent the person some chocolate as a little pick-me-up. A couple weeks passed with no word from the person, and I assumed the package was lost or delayed in the mail. Eventually I talked to the person on the phone and asked if the chocolate had arrived, and the reply was "Yes, but it was melted." Spoken in a tone that suggested I deliberately put the chocolate in the oven and melted it myself, and if you're wondering, no, there was no thank you for the treat (which was fine after a few minutes in the freezer) or for having thought of them, just a this-wasn't-good-enough dismissal. This person has made it a pattern to respond this way to gifts, and I've resolved in the past not to bother trying it again, and yet, after a year or so, I relent - because I like giving things and I love this person. This time, though, I mean to stick to it. Not to be vengeful or rude, but because my feelings get hurt at being all but told outright that my gifts are inadequate, and because I've begun to see it as being a bad steward of my resources to continue.

And this brings me back around to think about the abundant blessings God has brought into my life. If I can't be grateful to Him, what makes me think He won't decide to transfer those blessings to someone else who will appreciate it more? After all He's done for me, a word of thanks is literally the least I can do.

So, who's with me? Let's try to make 2011 filled with a conscious awareness of how good we have it, no matter what our circumstances are, and say thank you to someone who's made your life easier, richer, or happier each day.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and reading this post, and for being my friend. I may not see you in person but seeing your faces in my Followers makes me smile. Thank you for that.

James is home! Merry Christmas!

2011-01-01T15:24:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas! James is home between semesters, and I do so love having him around.

Christmas is a very special time of year for me, and I love it all. The lights, the music (well, okay, some of the music), the tv specials, the excuse to bake cookies, and to decorate the house as early in the year as I can feasibly talk my family into allowing. With James not arriving home until December 22, I had the perfect excuse to put up the trees a few days BEFORE Thanksgiving so we could do it as a family, rather than a hurried slap-together on Christmas Eve.

Most of you already know I started my business, Smiling Otter Studio, earlier this fall, and that the business takes up a good portion of the main floor of the house, so the trees are upstairs in the loft this year. Here's the family tree. Minimally decorated this time around, there are pine cones, beaded icicles, white brass snowflakes and turned wood birdhouses made by our neighbor Brad. Grandma's quilt hangs over the railing behind it.

This is James' birthday tree. I always love his birthday trees. He's so creative and fun with his themes. This year, there are Beanie-baby-sized stuffed animals with an Alaskan theme all over the tree - from the otter angel on top to the beaver gnawing the trunk of the tree and the eagle carrying off a fish. Too bad they don't show up better in this pic because it was so adorable.

Around the house, I got to use a lot more of my vintage items, some from my collection and some from my brother's. In the kitchen, a thrift store fiber optic tree in Dan's metal bucket, and M&Ms in his chick feeder look great. The bread box houses Jim's chickens' breakfast items, and the tin on top of it holds egg shells waiting to be made into calcium supplement to be fed back to the chickens.

And yes, those are bottle caps decorating the tree.

Another $1 thrift store bargain is the top of what was once a large artificial tree, but now is a mini tree in my brother's Karo Syrup bucket, decorated with vintage ornaments from Jim's grandparents. Copper cookie cutters given to me by my best friend hang in the kitchen window behind it.

I love decorating the Hoosier cabinet. The teddy bear and horse toys on top were Jim's childhood toys. I was trying to get a Christmas morning vibe going on here...

... Coffee and syrup and fresh eggs for Christmas breakfast, crayons with Scotch tape and tiny scissors for last-minute wrapping, and the preciously tiny egg beater and pastry crimper suggest there might be pie after dinner. The birthday balloons are in honor of James' birthday.

Speaking of James, here he is modeling his cross fox hat that I made him for Christmas. Flaps up:

Flaps down:

We've had snow off and on this month and the temperatures here at the house have been down into the teens below. A bit too cold to want to go out and play in, but not so cold that it keeps us from doing anything we want to do. The guys successfully got Moya to pull them in a sled, and have had the snow machines out for a ride on the lake. The snow is too deep for the kicksleds unless we play with them on little-used roads in the neighborhood, so going for a sled ride on the lake is probably out of the question unless we get some more winds to blow some of the snow off. It's been a good Christmas break so far, and I expect the rest of the break will be just as lovely.

Sending you all echoes of Christmas contentment and best wishes for a fabulous New Year!

What a nice surprise!

2010-12-19T14:34:00.000-06:00

Jim's flock of chickens has provided a lot of entertainment and a lot of eggs throughout the time we've had them, but this morning, Jim found out that they managed to provide something else as well:

We have Wyandott and Aricauna hens for their eggs, but we have the Silkie chickens for their ability to hatch eggs. Most commercial laying hens have had the brooding instinct bred out of them, but not Silkies. They'll hatch not only their own eggs, but other hens' eggs, too.

Although we didn't plan to have Silkie roosters, when we bought them, we didn't have a choice about their sex, and turns out we have two Silkie roosters. Jim tried to give them away, but there were no takers, so they got busy doing what roosters in a henhouse do. It wasn't long before a hen was sitting on a clutch of eggs and refusing to let Jim have them.

Over time, she lost control of the eggs somehow... either kicking them out of her nest accidentally or perhaps one of the other Silkies kicked them out when she got up to eat. Those were always sad finds for Jim.

But yesterday, Jim heard tiny peeping and today he found the source. He brought the little fuzzybutt into the house to show me and to take a quick photo. We wondered whether or not to keep him inside to make sure he gets enough water during the cold weather, but have decided to leave him with his mother for now and monitor him closely. Our temperatures have been well below zero lately, but the coop generally stays about 20 degrees warmer inside. If he needs to come inside, we're prepared, but we hope he can stay with his family.

Merry Cheepy Christmas!

James' Thanksgiving Visit

2010-12-08T01:53:00.000-06:00

By the time Thanksgiving break rolled around, we were SO ready to have James back home. Jim, Moya and I headed to Anchorage on Saturday to do a little shopping before picking James up from the airport. The frosty, snowy trees glittering in the sun along the Sterling Highway that day perked our moods even further than they already were. Just outside of Anchorage, we saw our first dall sheep. I know they're fairly common but we'd never seen any live ones before, so that added to the fun.

On Sunday, with above-freezing temperatures in the forecast, we decided we'd better get the sleds out if we wanted to use them while the snow was still thick enough for good running. Jim and I have matching Mountainboy Sledworks Silverton kicksleds, and man, are they fun! But first, James had a hearty breakfast of a double-yolk fried egg sandwich. James was already back at school when Jim's hens started laying their eggs, so this was his first meal from our own coop. Now that we had him fed, it was time to play!

James is wearing his new Christmas coat and the shearling hat I made for him this past summer.

We like to take the sleds to the next street over and ride them down the hill. Our neighbor's dog, Rosie, followed us and wouldn't go home, so we played with her or around her, whichever applied at the moment.

James is (so far) the only one of us who's decided to see what happens when you run into the snow berm.

Most of the week was pretty laid back. We had a lovely dinner on Thanksgiving with turkey as a side dish and a standing rib roast as the main course. The next two days were the Peninsula Art Guild's holiday craft show. I'd signed up for a booth before I got the contract making slippers for the store in Anchorage, so I didn't have enough stock to fill the whole booth by myself, so my friends Patty and Helen shared the space with me. We did well, and have reserved the same space for next year. See my new banner? James made it for me!

Santa made an appearance at the craft show before heading to the Kenai Visitor's Center for his main event. As soon as I could show Helen how to use my camera, I chased him down the aisle and had my picture taken with him.

After the craft fair closed on Saturday evening, the three of us went to St. Elias Brewing Company for pizzas before James had to go back to school. This week went by much too fast!

One more photo with all the dogs before heading to the airport:

Three more weeks of school before James is home again for Christmas. We can't wait to have him back again for a longer visit!

Summer's final post

2010-11-14T13:33:00.000-06:00

Soon I'll catch you up on the start of winter here, but I have a few pictures left over from summer to show you first.

Someone on the lake has a new sailboat. Preeetty.

We had some troublesome trees in our back yard - two cottonwood trees that were constant sources of messy yardwork, and a birch that was dead inside. The cottonwoods were to the left of the house when looking out the back windows (they're those two, close together, in the middle of this photo):

And the birch was almost straight out from the right corner of the back of the house.

Our firewood guy, Matt, came out and quickly dispatched the first of the two trees.

By the time he was ready to start on the second tree, the process had attracted some friendly neighborhood attention, with offers from neighbor Brad and his brother Gary to help tether the second tree to keep it from going down the slope with the first tree. Left to right, that's Brad, Matt, Jim and Gary.

Once the trees were down, Matt cut them into rounds and Jim hauled them away. Matt also cut down some tall stumps that were left behind by the previous owners. Then Jim tethered the birch and cut it down with Brad's help. With all the wood cleared away, the view out the back has opened up so nicely. I thought the yard would look so bare without those trees, but instead, it looks so much better. And Brad's already made me a new turned wood bowl out of the birch tree!

Here's the "after" pic showing where the cottonwoods used to be:

And an "after" pic of where the birch used to be.

That's it for today. Soon I hope to have more pics to show you of our first snowfall, new kicksleds, Jim's chickens, the dogs, and everyday life around our house.

Happy Termination Dust Day!

2010-11-02T15:03:00.000-05:00

I know what you're thinking - "termination dust" sounds like something that gives you a horrible disease, but it's not. Termination dust is the first light dusting of snow that tells us summer is really, truly over. Personally, I thought summer was over several weeks ago, but as of today, it's official.

The snow has already begun to melt, but here's what's left, as seen from the upstairs bathroom window:

This snow will be gone by the end of the day, but now we can expect more snow to come soon and actually stick round next time. I sure hope Santa brings me a kicksled for Christmas...

Dan and Jonathan visit

2010-09-30T18:43:00.001-05:00

Back in August (yes, I know, I'm very, very behind on my blog posts!), a friend of ours from back in our college days came to visit. Dan was teaching at BJU during the time Jim was a student there, and Jim worked for Dan for a while. About the time we moved out of the Greenville area, Dan's second child Jonathan was born. We saw him only once, I believe, until now. Dan brought Jonathan to Alaska on a father/son trip before Jonathan gets married this December.

I've never seen two people blitz the tourist attractions as devotedly and fervently as those two! Dan's quest for as much halibut as he could eat led them to some fine (and some, uh, local) dining establishments. They booked a halibut charter out of Homer and went salmon fishing on the Kenai River, both trips resulting in a nice big box of fish to take home with them. Hm, let me see if I can remember everything they did during the week they were here... They spent much of a day in Girdwood, seeing the resort and the skyway tram and the wildlife rehab center there; visited the chainsaw carver outside of Sterling; drove to Seward, hiked to the glacier, and went to the Sea Life Center; met up with friends-of-friends in Soldotna a couple of times; and took a flightseeing trip out of Anchorage.

I asked Dan for some photos he thought were memorable ones from his trip here, and these are the ones he chose. This brown bear is at the wildlife rehab park. The animal Dan and Jonathan talked about most, though, was the porcupine. Or rather, the porcupine's stinky smell!

I'm surprised Jonathan was so easily distracted... He's engaged to a lovely girl, but one pretty face at the chainsaw carver's park could sway him so! (click to enlarge)

Bears on the shore during their salmon fishing trip (enlarge this one, too):

And of course, some crazy local people they encountered somewhere:

It sure was nice to see them again. We hope they come back soon, maybe this time for the Fur Rendezvous!

The end of summer was busy!

2010-09-09T01:18:00.001-05:00

Hello there! Did you think I forgot about you? Um, well, I sort of did. But it's just because it's been so busy around here for the past couple months. Here, let me catch you up:

After Big Jim's visit, a college friend of ours came to visit with his son Jonathan (more on that in another post). They were here for a little more than a week, and it was so nice to see them again.

We went to the gold panning club's claim on Crystal Creek to get some buckets of silt and dirt to sluice and pan at home. It was so lovely and lush out there, but far too mosquito-y for us to want to stay longer than we had to. Here, Jim shovels the dirt from the bank while James screens it:

James is panning:

And I'm just sitting on a fallen log hoping the bugs don't eat me entirely.

Might as well take James' picture, too. teehee

We made a trip to Homer once the summer's unusually rainy weather cleared up enough on one of James' days off so that we could actually SEE Kachemak Bay rather than just see the rain clouds. We took Moya with us.

Moya's first time on the Homer Spit was basically just us trying to keep control of her while she pulled us all over. Moya loves the beach and going for walks and it's not easy steering a dog as strong as she is! We lost her dog tags somewhere on this beach.

Jim and James have a little Captain in them, haha, in front of the famous Salty Dawg Saloon on Homer Spit.

Just gorgeous. Just simply gorgeous.

My big summer project was helping James work on his Dagorhir costume for his college role play group. I think we did pretty well, considering that neither of us knew what we were doing but did it anyway. He's got several mix-and-match costume pieces now and he can dress according to his mood and the event he's attending. I love this picture:

The vest and boots were made with elk that was a gift from my brother. There's plenty of elk left for me to (if I have time) make myself an outfit to wear while manning my craft fair booth this fall.

A more Barbarian feel to this outfit... ghillies, and a belt made from a wolf leg and paw.

A close-up of the Awesome Boots of Awesomeness:

A close-up of the ghillies:

And, through the miracle of time travel, I can show you how James will look at his first Dagorhir event. He's the one in the brown tunic and elk boots, with his back to us.

We've been eating a lot of quail eggs this summer, too.

Before we knew it, our summer was over. James had to go on back to college, where he will expand his horizons and have a grand ol' time. Here we are at City Diner in Anchorage, having dinner before seeing him off to the airport:

Have a great semester, James. We'll see you at Thanksgiving! We love you!

Big Jim's Visit, Part 6: Finishing Up

2010-07-30T18:11:00.000-05:00

The last few days of Big Jim's visit were pretty laid back, really... Sunday, he and Jim did some more fishing on the Kenai River, and Monday he helped us do some jobs around the house. We ate quail egg sandwiches and pancakes for breakfast, and salmon and steamed crab legs for dinner, and on Tuesday there was Kodiak scallops for lunch!

But also on Tuesday was Big Jim's flight back to Dallas. James had to say goodbye to his Gramps early in the morning before he left for work, but Jim and I got to be with him until the afternoon when he caught his flight out of the Kenai Municipal Airport (pictured below) to connect with his red-eye flight back home.

Thanks for coming to visit!

Big Jim's Visit, Part 5: Panning for gold

2010-07-26T00:19:00.003-05:00

Saturday morning, as you know, was full of parade-y goodness. After the parade, I took Big Jim to see Northland Furs and meet Leon, then to do his souvenir shopping and get a burger, halibut and breaded mushrooms at the Burger Bus. James got off work and met us at Town of Living Trees to learn to sluice and pan for gold. Dirt from Crystal Creek is available, for a fee, to look through for gold. We thought it would be a good idea to have someone show us how it's properly done before we ever head out to the river to try it on our own. Here we are, operating the sluices:

Big Jim points out a fleck of gold caught in the ridges of the sluice box:

Jim feeds some silt and rocks through the sluice:

James sifts through his sluice. He was also lucky enough to find several nice quartz crystals in his bucket of dirt.

I finished sluicing my dirt first, and the instructor showed me how to pan the silt that was caught in the sluice filters. There wasn't any extra gold in my silt.

James didn't find any extra in his silt, either.

However, when Big Jim panned his silt...

... he found some more!

As did Jim:

Here's the findings. Okay, so you can't see what's in the vials, but there is gold in there. This is just a bad picture. There are 11 pieces of gold in my vial but they're all small and they settled to the bottom. We're not about to sell our finds and retire on the profits, but it was still entertaining. Thanks, Jim, for the fun new experience!

Of course while we were at the chainsaw carver's, I had to have a look around at the new carvings. There was a chainsaw carving competition here the previous week, and this is the winner:

Another entry was "Poodle Panic." The poodle's owner is using a flyswatter to defend it against the giant mosquito.

SO CUTE. A saddled sea horse in progress.

I have a new friend. I think he likes me. :^)

James seems to be having different luck with his new, uh, friend.

Once we got James out of the jail, we headed home for a supper of steamed crab legs followed by ice cream, and I have introduced Big Jim to the joys of Nutella straight out of the jar. Life is so good!

Big Jim's Visit, Part 4: Progress Days Parade

2010-07-25T23:24:00.000-05:00

This is going to be a photo-intensive post. Brace yourselves.

Saturday morning started off with Canadian bacon from my favorite local meat market, garlic / white cheddar cheese, local tomatoes and fried eggs served on English muffins. Jim had to work again in the morning, and James was scheduled to work at 8:00 a.m., so as soon as I could, I got Big Jim out the door with me to see the Progress Days Parade. I admit that what I wanted most to see was Wienees On Parade - dozens of dachshunds strolling down the street sounded too adorable to miss. There were supposed to be Wiener Dog Races, too, but one of the dachsie owners told me they'd been cancelled. Bummer.

I also admit that I can get bored really easily with big flashy parades, but this small-town stuff is simply precious. You don't get this kind of entertainment and community togetherness just anyplace anymore. The parade route was packed with locals, and nearly every kid in the crowd had a grocery bag or a pillow case for carrying home the candy the parade entrants were throwing. Not just Smarties and bubble gum, either. They were throwing the good stuff, and lots of it. Balloon vendors and cotton candy vendors walked up and down the street and the ice cream truck sold goodies in the feed store parking lot.

The parade began with this flag-filled truck:

This train is awesome. American Legionnaires, you know how to trick out a truck! You can't see it in this photo, but the trailer they're pulling is mocked up to look like a caboose.

Parades need an appearance by the fire department. I couldn't get a pic of Smokey facing me, though.

This guy was really popular. He had a 49-star flag. Every few feet, he'd stop, show the crowd the flag, point out the number of stars, and finish up his short speech by reminding everyone that the country's motto is "In God We Trust." He got lots of applause.

Wienies On Parade!! Big Jim stopped counting them at 63. We assume that, with so many dachsies in the parade, not to mention the number of floats and entries that had the owners' dogs in them and the dogs who were watching the parade, we probably saw 100 dogs that afternoon. Alaska loves dogs.

You've just GOT to have some amazing wheels in a parade, and there were some sweet rides here. The Corvettes were in a show after the parade.

1960. < drool >

I have no idea why an older lady dressed like a cat was sitting on the back of a '68 Plymouth Fury, shooting bubbles out of a gun, but she was. [shrugs] Oh well, you don't have to completely understand something to enjoy it.

Aaaaaaaaw. The little old lady in the passenger seat seemed to be having a grand ol' time.

The Dairy Queen race car was followed by a couple of ice cream cones.

A Delorean. Say it with me and let the word roll off your tongue:

Deeeee looooooh reeeee annnn.

The breast cancer awareness group had some fashionably dressed golf carts.

Must... hug... tiny... tractor!!!

This guy had a penny-farthing bicycle! How awesome! Every little ways, he'd stop and get off and walk the bike around so that the crowd could see it better.

How on earth does he get up there?

The theme for the parade is Past, Present, Future. The trappers were a good reminder of the area's history.

And they weren't the only animals in the parade. There were horses from the rodeo and riding clubs, too. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of the dejected-looking young girl, maybe ten years old, walking behind all the horses pulling a garden cart and a shovel.

Check out this girly-girl pony (which, by the way, is a boy):

< squeal! > Want the tiny llama! WANT!!

The floats for the local businesses were several different flavors of awesome. I didn't get pictures of all of them, or all of the church floats, and didn't bother taking any pictures of the many political candidates marching for voters. These floats, however, were some of my favorites:

There's a person in the inflatable Shriner, waving the arms.

This cutie patootie was in a florists' truck:

The Fat Tires mountain biking club. I'd never seen a bike trailer that had pedals on it so that the kid in it could help, and I think that's a great idea.

The giant prospector was part of the float for a bank!

And because every parade needs a giant salmon and a Bait Bot, right?

Yes indeed, small-town adorableness abounded. Stay tuned to find out what we did Saturday evening!

Big Jim's Visit, Part 3: Going Fishing

2010-07-25T17:09:00.001-05:00

Friday morning. Sourdough pancakes made from a 50-year-old Alaskan starter, with store-bought maple syrup, birch syrup made by my friend Patty, four homemade jams, and peanut butter.

James had to work today, as did Jim, so shortly after James left for work, Big Jim headed out to see Soldotna. He stopped at the tackle store and got himself all decked out for wading in the Kenai River, and after stopping to get a sandwich at Jersey Subs where James works, Big Jim got to do some fishing. Unfortunately, the fish he caught were snagged, which made them illegal to keep, and he had to throw them back. Only salmon hooked in the mouth are legal to keep. He was given two nice salmon by the family he was fishing next to, though.

Meanwhile, I took Moya to the woods next to our house and "we" picked nearly two pounds of wild strawberries and rhubarb, and made pie.

By the time Big Jim and James both got home, it was too late at night to filet and cook the fish, so we had blue cheese burgers followed by strawberry-rhubarb pie and ice cream.

We didn't get any other pictures from today. But I *know* we'll get pictures tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Big Jim's Visit, Part 2: Skyline Trail

2010-07-25T16:59:00.001-05:00

Thursday morning. Scrambled quail eggs with sauteed mushrooms and Italian cheese blend, and toast with three kinds of homemade jam.

James traded days off this week so that he could have Thursday off to go hiking. We're so glad it was a pretty day and the rain held off until late. While I headed to Sterling to pick up Moya and go to the Alaska Horn and Antler store, the three guys and Belle were also headed to Sterling to hike Skyline Trail.

Skyline Trail is located in the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, and the hike is rated from "Difficult" to "Strenuous" depending on which guide you're reading. The trail gains 1800 feet in 3/4 of a mile, putting hikers above the treeline and looking down across the mountains and waterways well before the end of the one-mile-long trail.

Here's James and Big Jim, headed up the trail:

Jean Lake is visible behind James and Big Jim. You can get an idea of how far they've traveled upwards.

The effort has warranted Big Jim's shedding of his wool shirt. And you really should enlarge this photo to see the lake below them. No, that's not a camera trick. The water really is that jewel-y color.

The clouds are rolling in - below where the guys are standing.

Big Jim looks like he's riding an invisible bicycle on the top of the trail:

Down again at the trailhead, Jim and James look pleased with themselves.

As do Big Jim and Belle. She did a good job for an eleven-year-old!

Back home that evening, we put huge steaks and asparagus on the grill, with sauteed green peppers and onions and salad to go with it. Big Jim treated us to ice cream and fresh fruit for dessert. It was a good sort of day to start off our visit!

Big Jim's Visit, Part 1: Going to Anchorage

2010-07-25T16:18:00.000-05:00

We're feeling nicely prepared for Jim's dad to come stay with us for a few days, now that we've got the guest room finished. Jim, James and myself had planned a day in Anchorage doing some shopping while waiting for Big Jim's flight to come in on Wednesday evening, but an unexpected change in James' work schedule prevented him from making the trip to town with us. So Jim and I dropped Moya off at the kennel on our way into Anchorage Wednesday morning, leaving the two older dogs here for James to take care of when he got off work. The drive was pretty and free of rain, which was a very nice change from the drizzly days we'd been having. We stopped at several stores, including the Tandy Leather store for some suede for slippers to sell this fall, and Michael's for some soap molds. With our shopping done and still time to spare, we stopped at the Welcome To Anchorage sign to take some pictures of their flowers. So pretty. The pictures don't do them justice.

Anchorage welcomes you, and so do I:

Big Jim's flight came in at 7:00 p.m., which for him was 10:00 at night. With a three and a half hour drive ahead of us, we left Anchorage right away and headed home. We hope Big Jim has a nice time while he's here!

The guest room is ready!

2010-07-21T02:31:00.000-05:00

Jim's been hard at work, not just building the chicken coop (which is coming along nicely, thanks for asking, and is nearly done) but also on remodeling the guest room.

Here's what it looked like in there before we moved in: a long skinny 8x13' room with baby blue paint and spotty-patterned blue and beige berber carpet on the floor.

The new carpet throughout the walkout basement gave us a good excuse to spruce up the guest room and we decided to give it a new coat of paint. Yep, a new coat of paint, and one leisurely weekend. That's all it needs. New paint. So the guys took down the built-in shelves on one wall of the room so that when we moved the bed back in, it would fit better. That messed up some of the texture on the wall. Hm. That, in turn, meant it needed to be sanded down, but that's okay, we're going to paint anyway. The bed looks so much better on the wall where the shelves once were that it will be worth sanding down that wall. But that made the wall too smooth and it's going to need some new texture. Drat. Okay, new texture and then new paint.

But y'know, with the bed on that wall where the shelves were, now there isn't much room to open the closet doors. How about just taking out the closet doors? They don't work that well anyway. Yep, that's a good idea. So: new paint, new texture, closet doors out.

But that looks stupid over there, with no closet doors. Just a gaping hole with a clothes rod inside it. The room would look ten thousand times bigger if we just took out the closet door framing, wouldn't it? Yes, indeed. Too bad that also means re-sheet rocking the ceiling AND the three closet walls. That brings us to new paint, new texture, closet completely gone, new sheet rock, new ceiling.

Having taken out the old sheet rock inside the exterior wall, it makes more sense now why that room always seemed a little chilly. There's supposed to be insulation in there. In the whole wall, not just part of it. New paint, new texture, new sheet rock, new ceiling, new insulation.

Without the closet there, the former closet light fixture makes no sense where it is, and there needs to be a better place for the closet light switch, and why is that phone jack in that awkward spot on the wall where there's no place to set a phone? Um, where are we? Oh yeah - new paint, new texture, new sheet rock, new ceiling, new insulation and we should replace the light fixture with track lighting, move the light switch AND the electrical outlet since we're re-rocking anyway, and move the phone jack to the other side of the room.

Shouldn't new paint and new carpet deserve a new quilt for the bed? Naturally. After all, Jim says, it's what Alaskan women DO. They QUILT. Okey dokey. We bought fabric for a new quilt. And once Jim and James got all the sheet rock replaced and textured, now there's the glaring problem of that bent old breaker box panel and phone cable panel. What to do, what to do? The quilt will have a lot of pattern in it so we don't want artwork or the room might look too busy. The panel is too big for readily-available mirrors to cover. And we're used to the midnight sun, but we can't assume our summer guests will have an easy time with it, hence we need to make some blackout curtains to go over the window in there, since I'm already going to be sitting at the sewing machine working on the quilt, right? So let's review the list, shall we? New paint, new texture, new sheet rock, new ceiling, new insulation, replace the light fixture with track lighting, move the light switch and the electrical outlet, move the phone jack to the other side of the room, make a new quilt for the bed, somehow hide the electrical panels and sew up some curtains.

Nooooooo problem.

Fast-forward two months.

The paint is a shade of green that reminds us of the Kenai River water on our first trip to Alaska in 2001, and the blackout curtain is the same color. The carpet is a cushy brown plush. The phone jack is near the bed and the track lighting accentuates the word "Relax" over the baker's racks that are filling the space where a dresser or wardrobe will eventually go. The light also accentuates the first three rows of the quilt that will, someday, be finished and go on the bed. In the meantime, it's a wall hanging that covers the electrical panels.

There now, see what a difference a little fresh paint can make?

A Whole Year!

2010-07-09T18:00:00.000-05:00

Today marks the first anniversary of our arrival as permanent residents in Alaska. My, how time has flown. My, how our lives have changed.

While there are things we miss about living in The Contiguous States, like inexpensive fresh produce and toasty summer days, there are things we wouldn't have experienced anyplace else but here. Honestly, a year and a half ago, this was the last place on earth I wanted to be, but now I wonder if I could go back without experiencing a bit of culture shock already. I think we've adapted to our new environment quite well, and it feels so natural. As if we were headed here our whole lives and just didn't know it yet.

So, here I am, surrounded by my dogs, my men busy at work, the windows and door open to the sunshine and the sparkly lake beyond, the smell of wildflowers wafting in, yesterday's batch of soap waiting to be cut into bars, and I feel content.

Hello. My name is Deanna. And I'm an Alaskan.

My Hoosier cabinet

2010-07-06T19:12:00.003-05:00

Now that we've been here juuuuuuuust aaallllmmmmost a year, I've decided it's time to put my own style on the interior of this house, which will involve a whole lot fewer kitschy moose knicknacks than were here when we bought the place. When the new carpet went into the walk-out basement, all the furniture down there had to come out, and that seemed like a good time to rearrange some stuff. One of the things I really like about this house is that all those antiques and vintage oddities we've had forever look like they were meant to be here. It's not uncommon to walk into an Alaskan kitchen (or other parts of the house) and see vintage items still in regular use, and I've tried to copy that way of thinking and use my old things where I can. If they're still good, still useable, and still safe, what am I saving them for?

First up: The Bar. This was my mom's BFF's kitchen cabinet back in the day, and when her husband made her some built-ins, my mom was pretty keen on having her old Hoosier cabinet. I'm not totally sure why we grew up calling it "The Bar," but we did, and it stuck. That poor cabinet has a lot of miles on it by now, having been dragged from Kansas to Texas to Alaska and a bunch of stops in-between. Now, here it is, living in a log cabin in rural Alaska, and it feels like it was born to be here. I actually have a friend up the road who uses her Hoosier cabinet largely the way it was intended - in her kitchen, as part of her cabinetry. I've used mine in the past as a display case, but I can't remember actually putting my kitchen stuff in it, ever.

Until now.

It's not technically IN my kitchen, but it's just on the other side of the house (which really is only a few feet) from the kitchen. My dear brother sent me boxfuls of fabulous antique goodies that I've heavily mixed into my own vintage goodness and am having fun making displays of them. Now that I think I've got this batch the way I want them, I took a picture and am calling it done. The picture was taken from the bottom of the stairs that lead up to the master bedroom on the top floor. To the right of The Bar is Moya's favorite window that looks out over the chicken coop and the woodsy lot next to us. To the left of The Bar is the sliding door that opens onto the balcony that overlooks the lake. I keep my mixing bowls and some serveware in the skinny door on the hutch part, restaurant-sized rolls of plastic wrap and foil are in the roll-top part, and non-everyday kitchen utensils are in the drawers, including the electric knives and ice cream scoops and whatnot. The green scale is accurate and I do use it. In the jar are some of Jim's quail egg shells that we emptied and kept, just for fun.

I'm so entertained by the number of these products that are still available today. I use a lot of them regularly. Well, their modern counterparts, anyway. Remember that clicking on the photos will enlarge them.

The basket of chicken egg shells came from the hatchery where Jim got most of his birds, but our birds didn't lay these. Jim's aricaunas will lay blue and green eggs like them this fall, though. The mini cookie press was a thrift store find this week. I'm gathering up enough vintage cookie presses that I may "need" to make a display of them by themselves someday. The Miracle Filters Filt-R-Fat, but those aren't ones I use. I filter my bacon grease through modern coffee filters, which are pretty much exactly what the Miracle Filters are.

Now, if you turn away from The Bar and face the staircase, you'll see my wallflowers. There's a gap in the wood trim there, and I don't remember why I stuck a stem of silk sunflowers in the hole, but I did, and there these flowers have remained. They make me smile.

To the right of the wallflowers is a shelf that's even with the floor of the master bedroom. Here it is:

This is part of my wind-up toy army, with which I shall one day take over and rule the world. Fear the tiny whirring sound! Fear it!!

[ahem]

Too much caffeine. I should go get on the treadmill and try to work some of that off. See you later!

25 Wonderful Years

2010-06-29T02:03:00.001-05:00

You know you're in love when you don't want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams. ~Dr. Seuss

Twenty-five years ago today, I walked down the aisle and into the arms of my precious husband. I love that man so much it leaves me in awe. He is the man of my dreams.

My life has been a lovely mix of unexpectedness but evenness, of adventure but security.

When I was young, I thought people who were married long enough to have metals associated with their anniversary years must be soooo... old. I don't feel old, even though we've reached the magical milestone of our Silver Anniversary. I can barely remember a time before Jim. I met him in high school when we were about 16 years old and we've been a couple since we were 17. I've spent a total of 28 years (including dating) looking with love into his eyes, while he lovingly looked back into mine.

Thank You, God. I do not deserve this man, but I'm so glad I have him.

I love you, Jim. Happy 25th Anniversary.

Jim's Flock Update

2010-06-22T15:28:00.001-05:00

The chickens and quail are getting big now. I don't think I've mentioned yet exactly how many and what kind of birds we have... There are four golden Wyandottes, six Aricaunas, one Barred Rock (Happy Father's Day gift) and nineteen quail. That's a lot of poultry! Between the rain showers and in spare moments away from work, Jim and James have been building them the world's cutest 8x10' chicken coop. For those of you who've been here, do you remember that ugly shed in the back side yard? James tore it down and the coop is going where the shed used to be. This is what it will look like when it's finished, except imagine it has windows and is painted red with white trim:

Here's the progress so far, starting with Jim and James putting up the long walls.

The ridgepole is being set:

And the roof has been started:

Alas, the end of the weekend and more rain have meant the construction had to stop here for now:

Meanwhile, some of the older hens got a chance to go for a little field trip in a puppy crate, so that they could explore the grass and maybe eat some bugs. The white and the ginger ones are Aricaunas, and the spotty one is a Wyandotte.

Last night's surprise event was Jim's discovery of his first quail egg! We thought it would be another week before he would get any eggs, but evidently he's got some precocious ones in the flock. I love this egg, because it's smiling. :D And no, we haven't eaten it. Yet.

In other news, when it's pretty, I can take Little Sweetie out for a spin.

I went to a sourdough bread making class with the Back To Basics group, and one of the women shared her 50+ year old sourdough starter. I'm thinking I'll dry what I have left of the starter and reconstitute it as needed, because we just don't eat enough bread to need the starter around all the time. I've made sourdough pancakes, loaf bread, rolls, and soft pretzels.

James found work at Jersey Subs in Soldotna and this is his second day working there. So far he's got full-time hours and we hope that will keep up.

Gotta go now. I've got sewing to turn in tomorrow when I go to the workshop for my weekly lesson / work session. The cobbler's elves aren't going to show up and do it for me so I'd better get off the computer and go be productive. See you later!

Jim's Flock

2010-05-25T01:22:00.002-05:00

Two and a half weeks ago, Jim made the decision to start a flock of poultry. His goal is to move away, even if just a little bit, from dependence on the grocery stores. After talking to some friends who've raised farm animals for food, chickens for eggs and meat seemed like a good way to dip our toes into a new level of self-reliance.

It started out innocently enough, with an order for a dozen chicks from the local feed store. Poultry raising is popular here, and certain birds have a waiting list, such as the Aricauna hens that lay blue and green eggs. We have six of those, and four golden Wyandottes. They're all pullets and we can expect them to lay eggs beginning this fall. Here are most of them the day they came home:

A sweet yellow Aricauna:

There isn't much that's cuter than a sleepy baby chick.

Unless, of course, you're talking about baby quail:

Jim did some reading, and discovered that while we seem to have made good choices for our chickens, quail might be a better choice. They start laying eggs in six to seven weeks, and any excess roosters we might have are ready to eat in about the same amount of time. So he headed out to Sterling Meadows Hatchery to pick up a few. Yeah, a few. As in fifteen. Jim is ga-ga over the quail and when three of the first tiny chickies passed away a few days apart, he replaced them with 9 more. We've got a total of twenty-one of them now, and we know that when they're older and we discover how many of them are roosters, the quail flock will necessarily have to be pruned. Our variety is a Coturnix quail rather than bobwhites. Some are goldens and some are tuxedoes. The "feed dish" they're using in this picture is the lid from a Pringles can.

An inch and a half of adorableness:

Last weekend, Jim attended a class at the Hatchery about brooding. I admit I suggested that he might want to consider getting a Silkie chick or two *next year* but evidently I didn't make myself completely clear on the "next year" part, haha, and Jim came home with two blue Silkies. I apologize in advance for the diabetes-inducing sweetness of the following image.

Silkie hens are famous for brooding the eggs of other breeds of chickens who've had the brooding instinct bred out of them over the years. They come in other colors, but the blue chicks were the only ones available at the time. Jim's on the list for the next unclaimed golden one. They remain fluffy throughout their entire lives because they don't have barbs on their feathers, so they keep that downy texture. They have blue/black skin and meat, making them unpopular for eating in America, but they're considered pretty tasty in other countries. They also have five toes instead of the usual four.

Go ahead, little chickie, get used to sitting on those eggs.

The chicks all seem to like James, who's holding a Silkie here. Silkies are good pets and we're having no problems working on socializing them, since they're just so darned adorable and so soft you can barely feel them.

It won't be long before there are two coops in the yard - one for the quail, one for the chickens - and fresh eggs on the table. Yes, the first eggs we get will be so small we'll need a dozen per person, but that's okay. We'll get to the full-sized eggs before you know it.

Now, will someone please help me get the Super Chicken theme song out of my head???

Wow, it's been a month since my last post!

2010-05-25T00:27:00.002-05:00

It's been a long time since I posted last, but that doesn't mean nothing's been happening. Au contraire, mon cheri, it's because I've been too busy to post.

Let's see... Where shall I start my update? I believe I'll start with this morning's 4.7 earthquake. Since I've only been in small, wiggly earthquakes, I still think they're cool. This is the second one I've felt, the first one for Jim, and James slept through it. In his defense, it was at 4:00 in the morning and he was on the ground floor, so I can't blame him.

And oh yeah, you probably figured out from that last paragraph that James is home from college for the summer. Yay!! He brought home lots of happy memories and dirty laundry and I couldn't be happier to have him around again.

The migratory birds are back, and we have ducks and terns and the occasional seagull on the lake. There was a beaver swimming in the lake one day, too. The grass and trees are greening up nicely, and that delicious signature Alaskan smell is in the air. Someone released four or five domestic rabbits and we see them around sometimes, especially this one that spends half the day, every day, in our yard. I told Jim he should pretend to be Elmer Fudd and set a trap for it.

Jim and James saw some wild caribou while they were out running errands one day last week. I wasn't with them, and am sorry I missed seeing them in the wild. After seeing the racing caribou at the Rondy, it's been a goal of mine to see the Kenai herd, but I've sadly managed to miss them so far. Well, spring isn't over, and I'm still keeping my eyes peeled.

After a lot of fun discussion on Facebook and through emails with my friends, I finally named my fur business. Look for the website for Smiling Otter Studio to be available soon. My task has been to make children's hats for Northland Furs in Soldotna, and I found out I'll also have some in Northland Wildlife Studio in Sterling. Lee says she'll be sending samples to Alaska Fur Exchange in Anchorage to see if they want to order some as well. I'm hoping to have a second project added to my responsibilities soon so I can have some variety. I've had my first paying fur work in the form of two bear pelts that needed repairs before being rugged. They were a lot of work which didn't pay much and the smell of bear was hard to take after a while, but if offered another bear pelt to do, I'd grit my teeth and smile and say "Yes, please; thank you very much." Anything I can learn at this point has benefits beyond the money, and who am I to turn that down?

The main thing keeping Jim busy lately has been his new flock of quail and chickens. But they're going to get their own post soon, so I'm not going to tell you anything about them just yet. You'll have to stay tuned...

Can this be Spring?

2010-04-23T17:03:00.001-05:00

I freely admit that I am quite finished with the snow for this winter. Yep. I'm done. Go away. Sooner rather than later. Don't let the screen door hit ya. And yet, it still comes down... Not that I've got the winter crazies, mind you. I'm perfectly fine, mentally, but the chore of cleaning up after going anywhere in all the mud and slush that the melting snow leaves in its wake is getting old. While the bad news is that I figure we're probably only about halfway through Mud Season, the good news is that the new snowfalls don't last more than a couple hours before they melt, and the snow is receding more every day.

Gardening classes have begun, but I've only been to one due to the flu that's going around here. There were lots of jokes during that one class, though, as a 6" accumulation of snow was falling at the time and the speakers laughingly told us what we should be doing for our gardens - just not today, haha.

Here's Jim, after plowing snow during that particular snowfall, so I could get the car out of the garage and go to class. The man has pretty eyes.

My tomatoes have outgrown two sets of pots now, while waiting for warm enough weather to start hardening them off outside. I'm already pinching off the flowers on them. Not only have my three-feet-tall tomatoes outgrown their pots, but they've outgrown their five-feet-long windowsill and I've had to drag a table over so I can put them in double rows. I have a black thumb. I kill plants. How can this be??

Here they are on April 10:

And here they are again today, almost two weeks later. A bit leggy, as they're reaching for what sun they can find, but doing nicely otherwise.

The retreating snow has also uncovered more of the woodpile, much to the delight of Tate and Moya. Sticks are Mother Nature's chew toys, and it was so cute the morning Moya came running up the stairs with the best stick EVER.

In other, non-snow-related news, we saw this in the parking lot at Home Depot:

I think they made it, don't you? And although I forgot to take a picture of it, if I ever need a pest exterminator, I'm likely to hire the one whose license plate reads "DIEBUG."

My fur venture is really on a roll now. The pattern I wrote for Arctic Designs' Musher Mittens should hit the store shelves by the end of May, and I'm working on the rough draft for a booklet on how to repair furs and pelts. Lee Martin, owner of Arctic Designs, is a wealth of information and is teaching me more than I could ever have possibly dreamed of learning on my own. Her partner, Leon Metz of Northland Furs and Artistic Taxidermy, has agreed to put some of my items on consignment in his store this summer. Now I just need to stop working on the writing part of it and work more on the sewing part of it! Speaking of that, though, I could use some help picking out a business name and would appreciate it if you'd weigh in. I'm considering a few different names but can't quite decide. Once I apply for a business license, though, I'm stuck with it and want to make it a good one. Tell me what you think of:

Treehouse Furs - because before we moved here (and even for a while afterwards) I told Jim we'd move to Alaska and we'd all go crazy and live in trees. Jim would prefer Treehouse Alaskan Furs.

Hairyman Furs - because Alaska's version of Sasquatch is called Hairy Man and sometimes, when Jim's decked out in his furs, that's what I call him.

Fox Pas Furs - sorta like faux pas, sorta like fox paw, only different. I might want to spell it Fox Paw Furs, though, because if you have to explain the joke, it isn't funny.

Of course, if you have other ideas, I'm more than happy to hear them.

For those coming to visit this summer (if you're still trying to decide, just come on up. You know you wanna), the guest room renovations have gone from a new coat of paint on the walls to the removal of a lot of sheet rock, moving of plugs and phone jacks, and the complete demolition of the closet that was once in there. We're planning to have it all finished by the end of May, in plenty of time for fishing season!

James Visits for Easter Break

2010-04-09T23:57:00.001-05:00

James came home for Easter break from March 27 - April 4. My, it was good to see him again!

The first thing Jim and James did together was to pick up the ATV Jim had chosen earlier in the month. It's got a plow on the front! Of course we all had to try it, and Jim graciously let me drive the new toy first. It was nice to push that snow around! Then he and James gave it a go.

The rest of the week was pretty laid back, on the whole. Sunday we went to the movies to see "How To Train Your Dragon." James was introduced to my whole new fur venture, and he looks better in Jim's beaver trapper hat than Jim does. I made James a possibles pouch for his dice, and he made a chain mail insert for it. Here's James, wearing a beaver face pelt as a beard:

Wednesday was the long-awaited opening of the Kenai WalMart Super Center! Of course I wanted to go on opening day, so James went with me. I'm still basking in the glow of having that WalMart less than half an hour away! Before, the nearest WalMart was a four hour drive. I read that there are only eight WalMart Super Centers in all of Alaska. [update: I got that info from the local newspaper. According to WalMart's website, as of April 2010, there are six, not eight, Super Centers in Alaska.]

The dogs were very happy to see James. Moya was with us at the Kenai airport to pick James up, and she was in puppy overdrive most of the rest of the visit.

"Put down that stick and play with me, James!"

"I has a James. I wanna keep him."

A rare puppy snuggle:

James went with us to Moya's obedience school on Saturday morning. Here he is working on "stay." James did very well, staying. Moya... well, this was not her best day of school...

James grouted the tile under and behind the woodstove while he was home, and so that's all finished now except for sealing the grout in a day or two. It looks great. I haven't taken a picture of it because the stove isn't hooked back up yet.

All too soon, it was time for James to get back on the plane and head for college again. We'll miss him, but this time it's only a five-week separation, and then he's back home for the summer!

Keeping busy as winter winds down...

2010-03-25T21:22:00.001-05:00

It's March, and all over the country, people are experiencing signs of spring. We are, too, but not like a Southern springtime. The temperatures are getting a bit warmer with highs in the upper 30s or low 40s. The snow melts during the day and freezes back up again during the night, giving us a good bit of ice that doesn't seem to be "right" for the long, mostly sunny days we've been having. There's still a generous amount of snow on the ground, but less new snow is falling, and that makes me happy. My brain still expects there to be green grass and daffodils, like back in Texas, and it seems odd to not have those things yet.

But there's still so much beauty around us. Remember this picture of Mt. Spurr from the Swanson River Bridge that Jim took back in September?

Here's that same view again, except it was taken last week on a bright wintery day:

Little Sweetie has also had his first taste of Alaskan snow. We drove around the storage unit parking lot to make sure everything was still working properly in the cold.

I've been working with fur since taking a fur sewing class with a local skin sewing instructor, and am working with another fur sewer to get her patterns published. I'm ghost writing the instructions. She also lets me do some of the tedious work for her in exchange for fur, which is nice, because fur can be pretty expensive. So far I've got three and a half hats finished, and a pair of slippers that I expect to finish tonight. Next up will be a pair of beaver mittens for Jim.

The dogs are doing well. Belle is still Daddy's girl and doesn't let him out of her sight much. She and Moya each have new pulling harnesses, and from what I've been reading, Moya should be old enough to learn to pull for real soon. We're not sure how serious we'll be with that, but she sure does love it.

Moya's started obedience school and has the teachers convinced she's a prodigy. She really is pretty smart, but if she doesn't want to obey, there's no way she's going to. She's the tallest puppy in her class, and her favorite part of school is recess! Six puppies having a free-for-all for ten or fifteen minutes before going home.

Tate has had a birthday. She's thirteen years old! Her health is deteriorating, but she's generally in a good mood and isn't letting life get her down. She survived to make the trip here and become a real Alaska dog, and we're proud of her for it.

Hm, it seems like there's something else big happening soon... What could it be? Oh, I remember!

JAMES IS COMING HOME!!!

He'll be here the day after tomorrow for Easter break, and will be with us for eight days before heading back to college. We'll get to have him with us for Jim's birthday, too. I've been without him for a couple months now and I am certainly ready to have him back for a while.

New snowfall, new snowshoes...

2010-03-04T21:04:00.000-06:00

Jim and Belle head out to get the mail through today's new snowfall. Lee's been by to plow the driveway, so Jim will be trying out the new snowshoes by cutting through the front yard.

Belle isn't sitting down, she's trying to bound up out of the snow. But Jim is high and dry on top of the drifts.

Fur Rondy - Part 7?: Jane Finds a Video

2010-03-02T15:06:00.000-06:00

Jane found this video of the women's Running of the Reindeer. She's running right towards the camera! LOL! The announcer is counting down the headstart the reindeer give the runners before they start off. There is a brief moment when the camera zooms in to a beige building at 1:15. The figure in black is Jim, and the one in blue just to the right is me.

Ah, good times!!

Fur Rondy - Part 6: Jane Runs With the Reindeer

2010-03-02T13:35:00.000-06:00

Jane wanted to run with the reindeer, but since she was flying standby, it wasn't really practical for her to register for the race in advance, and once she got here, she was told that she wouldn't be able to register last-minute. That was disappointing... But, before the races started, the announcer made a last call for on-site registrations! Yahoo! Jane can run!

Here she is, trying to get our attention. I've got her circled in the next few pictures, but I think you can find her on your own in this one. ;^)

Milling around, waiting for the race to start...

Getting into a better position to run:

On your mark..... Get set.....

GO!!!!!

Fur Rondy - Part 5: The Running of the Reindeer

2010-03-02T13:17:00.001-06:00

The Running of the Reindeer is patterned (loosely) after the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. Six reindeer (caribou) run two blocks down the road towards their trailer, which is scented like a doe in heat, while crazily-dressed people from who-knows-where run down the street in front of them. This was the third annual Running, with proceeds benefiting Toys for Tots. The crowds, both the ones running and the ones watching, were in high spirits and ready to see some action. I think the furthest distance someone traveled for this race was from Guam, and the oldest person racing was 63, I believe.

There were five races. The first was the celebrity race, the second was for the men, the third for women, the fourth was for couples and groups, and the fifth was a free-for-all where anyone who wanted to race a second time had a chance to do so. This was such a popular event, the spectators were crammed in as thickly as possible to get to see them. Jane's friends Rachel and Jeff graciously invited us to watch the race from the roof of his office building at the starting line, where we could easily see the race. Thank you, Rachel and Jeff, for giving us that opportunity!

These awesome butterflies were part of a group, obviously, and were certainly a crowd favorite.

The reindeer are being moved into position at the starting line behind the runners. Once the runners started off, they were given a few seconds' head-start before the deer were released.

Crazy costumes were encouraged. And given how cold it was, the less a person chose to wear, the funnier it was.

Here goes the men's race. You are definitely going to want to enlarge these pictures to get a better look at the costumes. While you've got the pictures enlarged, let's play a Rondy version of "Where's Waldo." Can you find the Easter bunny, people dressed like Pamplona bull runners, an anti-drugs sign, and Santa?

The deer are catching up with the men's group.

The women's group is waiting to start while watching the men run.

The deer are moved back in position for the start of another race.

The deer have caught up with this group and are right in the middle of the crowd already!

The couples and groups' race has just begun. THIS is where the really silly costumes were. Let's play "Where's Waldo" again... Can you find a package of french fries?

Can you find Sully from Monsters Inc, two bunches of grapes, an American flag shirt, and some Vikings?

How about Santa, some guys in red long johns, and and a guy in a pink skirt? The pink t-shirted women are The Happy Hoofers. And the stars of the show, the reindeer, are coming through the crowd, coincidentally in front of Santa. As it should be.

The butterfly group is coming through!

Run, people! Run! Those deer are way in front of you! Enlarge this one at your own risk, though. A group wearing fake bottoms was running, too. Pretty realistic from a distance...

After the group race, we bid our goodbyes to start home to pick up the dogs before the kennel closed. We were able to get a few street-level pictures of the racers as the free-for-all started. Chefs wearing sausage neckties, and a caveman:

The free-for-all has started! That guy in drag is about to catch up to the Viking.

Run, Sully! There's another Viking behind you!

That ballerina seems to be in no hurry...

And the deer catch up with the crowd!

I really had a great time all weekend, but this was the best part of the weekend for me.

Stay tuned for the next post, in which Jane runs with the Reindeer!

Fur Rondy - Part 4: Meet the Reindeer

2010-03-01T21:53:00.002-06:00

One thing I was most looking forward to this weekend was seeing a real caribou in person. The caribou, or reindeer, were available for a meet-and-greet before the Running of the Reindeer race, so I was only too happy to participate. These are ranch-raised caribou from Palmer. I learned that their toes (which are pretty weird looking) flatten out and act as snowshoes when they're on snow, and when they swim, the deer can cross their long front toes to help them paddle through the water. They have really sweet faces, I think.

Here's Jim with a four-year-old. The ranch-raised caribou aren't as large as wild ones are, but I was kinda surprised they weren't taller. However, if you take the antlers into consideration, that adds a lot of height!

Jane took this picture of Jim and me next to a trailer of more reindeer:

Jane meets a caribou:

The deer are being moved into position at the starting line of the race.

"Neener neener, I'm gonna getcha!"

Next up: The Running of the Reindeer. Stay tuned!

Fur Rondy - Part 3: The Hide and Horn Auction

2010-03-01T18:48:00.000-06:00

If you're not someone who tolerates fur, this isn't the post for you. But then again, if you're not a fan of fur, the entire Rondy is probably not an event you'd enjoy in the first place. Use your own discretion regarding whether or not to continue reading...

The Fur Rendezvous began when trappers and miners would bring their wares into Anchorage for sale. Seventy-five years ago, an enterprising Alaskan decided to make a bigger event out of it and organized a three-day sports competition to coincide with the incoming fur traders. Before long, we had the Rondy as we know it today.

This is the auction. We thought about buying our souvenir fur here, but many of the hides were untanned. That means an extra expense and a long wait until summer before the fur would be ready. We decided not to buy anything that wasn't already tanned.

The second day of the auction was a lot of large bear hides. Oh, and see the guy in the fox hat in the left of this photo?

He had the best hat at the whole Rondy. Awesome. All four paws, tail, and taxidermied head.

This weener dog is wearing a dyed rabbit fur coat with a crystal fox ruff. As much as I love my dogs, not one of them are getting a fur coat. Nope.

Here's Jane on the left, in her new fox hat. Jim's wearing his beaver hat that I made for him during my fur sewing class. I'm wearing my "Illiamna Grandma" work hat, which is shearling and raccoon trim.

Here's a better look at my work hat. Very warm, and quite nice on my second ride on Jim's snow machine.

I brought this beaver dress hat with me, but I didn't wear it at the Rondy. I wanted something to cover my ears better in the low-20-degree weather. James got me this fur for Christmas.

Jim and I decided on these two fox pelts - a blush fox, which looks white unless you stroke the fur or the wind blows it, and then you can see the reddish undercoat. The other fur is a crystal fox. It has a lavender look to it when the light hits it right. Jim will probably have something made of that, and I'll have something made of the blush fox.

I'm really glad I took the fur sewing class. Now I know how to treat the furs and make the things we'd like to keep us warm and stylin' through the winter.

More Rondy posts are coming, so check in again later!

Fur Rondy - Part 2: The Outhouse Races

2010-03-01T17:28:00.001-06:00

You can't take yourself too seriously around here, especially as winter nears its end and cabin fever can start to set in with a vengeance. Imaginative Alaskans are always thinking up some strange and hilarious way to stave off the crazies.

Or embrace them. Same thing.

The Outhouse Races involve a team of five to ten people, depending on the division, pushing a person on a toilet seat in an outhouse on skis. The monies from the entry fees and pylon fees go to University of Alaska students going to disaster-stricken areas to lend aid. The rider in the outhouse must remain on the throne for the entire race, which is up and back a one-block course. The outhouses must make a loop around a pylon at the end of the block. If the outhouse comes in contact with the pylon, the team must forfeit the $10 bill clipped to their outhouse as a donation to the Architecture and Engineering club. The $10 bill must be replaced with another before the outhouse can run again. This is a single-elimination race, so the outhouses might make more than one run.

The military teams went first. We didn't get a picture of the other military outhouse, but it was pretty cool. Shaped like a fighter plane. This is the one that won the military race:

The more outrageous the outhouses, the better. At least two Boy Scout troops had outhouses. One was called the Turdinator 3000, and the other troop had this pioneering project:

Other notable outhouses included a women's hockey team dressed as brides:

La Mex Mexican restaurant entered their "Montezuma's Revenge" outhouse:

A very woodsy one, indeed - much like you'd expect to find in the bush, I guess:

Random silliness:

A play on the movie "Cool Runnings":

The people in yellow were from a hospital group, and are walking behind their outhouse. I forgot what PCV stands for, but it's a volunteer organization of some sort:

"Go #2" is a team from Seattle that won last year's race:

The Tyvek-wrapped outhouse here is a tongue-in-cheek jab at the tendency of Alaskan houses to be wrapped in Tyvek for a while before they get around to having siding put on:

Crowd favorite - The Fabulous Flying Duck Farts.

Before the race, all 43 outhouses paraded through the course, so that anyone who wished to pay $1 for the privilege could vote on People's Choice. The pushers threw candy to the crowds and hammed it up.

We didn't stay to see who won, but that's okay with us. Our main focus was on seeing the fun of the outhouses and the zany ideas that people put into play.

Check the blog later, because I've got more to tell you about!

Fur Rondy - Part 1: Overview

2010-03-01T16:44:00.003-06:00

For those of you who haven't yet clicked on the link to learn more about the annual Anchorage Fur Rendezvous, here it is again. This was the first time for Jim and I to attend, and I have to say, it was fabulous. I'm already looking forward to next year.

On the way out of town early Saturday morning, the moose were just everywhere. We saw eleven before we got to Kenai, and three more before we got to the kennel, for a total of fourteen. Once we got to the kennel, all the dogs knew the routine and got into their runs without a problem.... And then we were off! No dogs. Just the two of us. For two whole days. It was wonderful already!

The drive into Anchorage was uneventful, although we could see where some small avalanches had occurred on the sides of the mountains. We got into town around noon and looked for a place that might be able to work on one of Jim's computers while we waited, but that didn't work out, so we went to Alaska Fur Exchange to look at pelts. My, but they had some lovely things in there. We plan to go back again on our next trip for another, less hurried, visit.

We went to Sam's for some groceries, Sportsman's Warehouse for a pair of snowshoes (haven't tried them out yet), Michaels to look at craft stuff, Pack Rat's collectibles store (where they had one of those lever-action aluminum ice cube trays! Brought back memories, that did) and puttered around town as much as we liked. Dinner Saturday and lunch Sunday were at City Diner.

Our Texas next-door neighbor Jane and her friend Amy flew up for the Rondy, and we met up with them on Sunday and met their friends John, Rachel, and Jeff. We saw our Nikiski neighbors Jo and John there, too.

Some big events of the Rondy are going to get their own blog entries, such as the Outhouse Races and the Running of the Reindeer, but there were other events going on, too. Such as these Aleut tribal dancers:

There was the dogsled race, which we didn't stop to watch. It was taking place over three days. Here's a team coming across the finish line:

And a team being unharnessed after their run. Once again, we're astonished at how much they look like Moya.

This statue marks the start of the Idarod, which is coming up soon:

There was also snowshoe softball, ice bowling, blanket toss, the horn and hide auction, fashion shows, beer belly contests, frostbite footrace, snow sculptures, photo contest and more. At the sled dog rides, we were able to ask the mushers where to get a harness for Moya. The line was too long to get a ride on the sled before the Running of the Reindeer, so we skipped that, but even Jim had a hard time resisting the sled dog puppies. So sweet.

I'll have more later on the separate events, so check back in a bit, okay?

More moose and stuff

2010-02-26T20:19:00.000-06:00

We've got more snow! After a whole week last week of temperatures in the 40s during the day (melting the old snow) and nighttime temperatures in the 20s (refreezing it), we've got fresh powdery snow on top of several inches of ice. Oh yeah, good times. The main roads like the highway and Holt-Lamplight are pretty clear, but our residential roads are treacherous.

(I love the word "treacherous." I can't help but think of Frau Blucher when I hear it. But I digress...)

Moose have been particularly plentiful in our yard lately. Here's one, leisurely strolling across our lake in the morning. I don't know if it's the same one or not, but a lone moose went back and forth across the lake several times.

This moose spent a large portion of her day in our yard, two mornings ago. She's between our house and Brad's, considering going down the slope to the lake to escape Jim's intrusion on her privacy. Instead, she continued through the back yard and into the wooded area on the other side of the house, where she stayed for quite a long time, right where Moya could watch her best.

Oh, how Moya wanted that moose. She kept her eye on it as best she could, going from window to window to watch all that free-range food wander around the house eating our bushes. Once it settled into the woods, she pretty much stayed in her windowsill, keeping vigil.

She's watching the moose in this pic, but the moose is too far to the left to be in the view of the camera.

Tomorrow morning, Jim and I will take all three dogs to the kennel in Sterling on our way to Anchorage for two days at the Rondy. I'm so excited. I'll let you know how the weekend goes!

It's Been a Month

2010-02-15T17:32:00.000-06:00

A whole month since we took James to Grove City College. It seems so much longer ago... So, what's been happening in the past month? Hm....

James seems to be doing well, from what we can tell, haha. Thank goodness for Facebook, because that's the easiest way to get ahold of him and to see how he's doing. He's got a blog going at Pookie Must Be Heard! and I'm hoping he gets some more entries and photos up so we can see a bigger window into his campus life. He's met some nice people, joined some groups, been to a contradance, met Dr. Guido Hulsmann and had dinner with him, and likes the assortment of food the school has to offer.

Here on the home front, there's been moose spending the night in our yard off and on for a while now. Sometimes only one, sometimes two. There have been a lot of moose out along the roadways, too, and here's one we saw just feet from the road on Saturday:

I've got a new blog going, this one to replace the craft blog I started a couple months ago, which I thought was too blah. The new one, AlaskaGirl Crafts! is tied in more to my life here in Alaska as it relates to my recipes and crafts and whatnot. I guess it's much like this blog in that it's conversational and laid-back, but is less about our family. I'd be glad for input on it if you have any to offer.

Jim took me out on my first snowmachine ride a week ago. It was pretty nice. I'd never been all the way to the other side of the lake before. Jim's also been out riding with our neighbor Lee, and Lee showed him a good shortcut to get to our property over on the other lake.

My newest big project is the fur sewing class I'm taking in the evenings, twice a week. Class is half over, and I've finished a pillbox-style beaver dress hat and a trapper-style shearling hat for myself, and am working now on a beaver trapper hat for Jim. I hope to have that done within the week, because soon it will be too warm to wear it! Our temperature right now is 42 degrees (that's ABOVE zero) and our snow is melting so fast it sounds like rain falling outside.

Our next adventure will be the Fur Rendezvous - more commonly known as the Rondy - in Anchorage later this month. A festival that began as a sporting event coinciding with the trappers bringing furs into town at the end of the season has become a weeks-long event with Outhouse Races, The Running of the Caribou, blanket toss, weight-pulling contests for dogs, fashion shows, Cerveza belly contest, carnivals, dancing and more. We need to hurry up and look for a hotel, or it might be too late!

The dogs are doing fine, albeit a little stir-crazy. Belle spends most of her day avoiding Moya, haha, and Moya spends most of her day looking for mischief. Tate... is slowing down. Her 13th birthday is next month and it would be nice if she makes it. As long as she seems happy, we're letting her be. Occasionally Moya will put her arm around Tate, which, considering Moya's extreme self-centeredness, is pretty adorable.

I guess that's about it for now. I'm gonna go look out the window and watch the snow melt. Just a reminder, though - it's not too early to start making plans to come up and visit us this summer. Get those plane tickets early while you can get a good price!

Ice Around Town

2010-02-04T18:10:00.003-06:00

Last Saturday, Jim and I took a day to go see the Ice Around Town ice sculptures being put up in conjunction with the Peninsula Winter Games and the Native Youth Olympics. The PWG is a children's carnival-type event where the kids can play ice bowling, go on snow machine rides, kicksled, and have all sorts of fun. If you have children and plan to be in the area at the end of January, this is definitely the place to bring them!

We were more interested in the snow sculptures than anything, though, and made it a quest to see them all without benefit of the not-yet-posted-to-their-website list of locations. Turns out we saw all but one - the one at the Kenai airport - even though we've driven past it twice since then and still haven't seen it! Oh well, on to the ones we *did* get to see... And you're gonna wanna enlarge these to see them better.

This one is in front of the Arby's in Kenai and is their oven mitt mascot:

Here's the Dairy Queen's ice cream cone man:

In front of the radio station is this cute retro transistor radio:

The Duck Inn's karaoke duck:

The Binkley Street dentists' office chose Scrat from Ice Age holding a tooth:

The Soldotna Professional Pharmacy has a leaping salmon:

The Peninsula Food Bank has tomatoes, onion and corn (not breaching whales):

Sweeney's and Mikel's combined to put on this sculpture of a mountain man sledding downhill behind a penguin:

Trustworthy Hardware has a fisherman with a nice big salmon:

The Soldotna Chamber of Commerce has an interactive sculpture that Jim posed with:

The Kenai Peninsula Borough has their logo:

And once you get to the Sports Center where the games were held, there were even more! This is the logo for this year's games - an ice skating polar bear:

Peak Oilfield Service has their logo outside the sports center:

A sled dog for the Tustumena 200:

The ice slide for the children to play on couldn't be done justice with just one picture, so we took several. Here's the bears that marked the steps to climb up:

And the salmon at the bottom of the slide: