Friday, June 19, 2009

Home again for a night

We had a wonderful time! I think the folks are a bit tired out ... but we saw and we did!

Camping in something other than the tent with bad knees, hips and sore ribs.
A moose just down the road as the 2nd carload hit the camp spot.
A bathroom right across the way.
The first truckload did an afternoon of combat fishing on the Russian River and has a whole new respect for slippery river bottoms and strong currents.
No fish.
Middle of the night fishing when you can't see your weight coming out of the water and learn to count turns of the reel to guestimate when it's coming up.
A drive to explore the City of Kenai and it's old part.
A trip through the Wildlife Conservation Center with the opportunity to view a grizzly as close as anyone ever wants to see one!
A jaunt to Whittier with glacier views, ice berg viewing, catching a photo of a Ptarmigan, seeing the small town itself.
A drive home along the beautiful Turnagain Arm.
Home to welcome showers and chili for dinner.

Next packing tomorrows gear for another jaunt to another fishing place.
Jari and Grandpa are heading out bright and early ... at least the sky will be light!
Grandma and I are heading to Anchorage to visit the Market ... never been there. Will be fun to see what we can find!

We're having fun and packing it in. Monday I go back to work and Jari heads to Whittier to work. Will give them some time to rest and do some local exploring and history investigating.

I put more pictures on livingthealaskadream.blogspot.com if you want to check them out.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Grandma and Grandpa made it here!

They arrived at our house Tuesday dinner time. When I called to see where they were at I caught them finishing laundry and a laundromat in Wasilla. WHAT???!!!? My washing machine still spins pretty good ... but they arrived safely, laundry and all. Grandpa was wanting projects to do while he was here. Felt like they were here about 30 minutes and he and Tia were outside helping Jari move the pile of tree stumps to burnable piles. :)

A little help with the truck ... and they got that bugger!!

Wednesday brought a bit of rainy weather, but we headed up to Hatchers for a look see anyway. Figured maybe it wasn't raining up there .. we got dribbles. No hiking for us .. just driving and jumping out to see. Grandma has a sore arm and ribs. She fell out of the tent several days ago. I'll let her share the story. Nothing broken, just bruised. Then there is that knee that just isn't cooperating like it should. At least all us aching joint folks are in good company! (Frans - Grandpa had his LEFT hip replaced. Not a good sign for you and I.)

I had to add this picture in here. I remember reading the Littles books. They were actually some of my favorites. When I looked at this picture ... I was back in a page of one of those books. Tia came along with G/G and I to Hatchers.

Any guesses as to what else has been happening around here? The Scrabble board is out and getting its wear.

It's even packed in the camper. This crew left Wednesday evening. That was last night .. in case anyone is confused. We went to Song Services last night and then packed the camper. These folks headed out about midnight and went south to start the fishing. Grandpa has his waders and license ... and is good to go! My girls are fisherwomen. :) Their mother needs to figure out how it's done. Maybe today! Grandma and I are leaving as soon as Brock gets out of school at 11 this morning. We'll head down south. Pick up Grandpa, drop off Brock, and head for a quick tour of Seward and Exit Glacier. Back to the Russian River for some more fishing and spend the night. Fishing on Friday and then head home with a stop at the Wildlife Conservation Center for some bear photos, maybe a drive into Whittier ... and home for some sleep. Jari will be behind us somewhere as he's going to meet a flight at the airport at midnight, come home to sleep for a little bit and then head for the Copper Center for more fishing on Saturday. Maybe we can have a wonderful salmon bbq on Fathers Day!

More updates after we get home!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Trapping Season

A few weeks ago our neighbor came over and told Jenny that we have roof rats. She told me when I got home and I figured no big deal. Then last saturday we were out on the patio and Jenny spotted a rat ran along the back fence. The next day I was cleaning the pool pump and the darn rat just walked right by me. I thought they are getting to brave so I better do some thing. Home depot rat trps are $1.50 but they only had one left. Ace Hardware they were $4.00 but had a lot of them. I went home with a total of four traps. last night I set them up this morning I had one and today when I got home from work I had another. Two down and hate to know how many more to go.

Frans

Monday, June 15, 2009

Look who is 3 months old....

I wanted to try get some photos of our baby girl who turned 3 months old......
She continues to be a happy, alert little girl
And a real "thinker"..... Actually, she is sneakily putting her finger in her mouth. She has decided that the thumb, blanket, - well, everything - tastes better than her pacifier.


She did very well for her photo shoot!!!!


She enjoys her toys now and it is so fun to "play" with her now. I'd pulled her toys out a while ago and told Shawn I was trying to play with her and she just wasn't intersted. She is very interested in EVERYTHING now.

Life on the farm....

Our yard is becoming that of a zoo!!!
The goose, tom turkey, and male duck have bonded as the females are on eggs or carrying for their young. I'm not sure the gender of the goose - I think she is female.

2 ducks layed on eggs - this one is running around with 14 baby ducks. The other one had 11 - I think as it is so hard to count them running everywhere - not sure how many of the other ducks babies are still around. This one keeps close tabs on hers, so will be interesting to see how many survive.

This turkey was laying on nothing as we had picked her eggs and put them in the incubator. Shawn put chicken eggs under her and she hatched them. She ran around with her chicks, but was losing them so we took them away and have them in a tank in the garage. Another turkey came out with baby turkeys, but we lost them - I think the Tom Turkey killed some of them and hawks, etc. may have gotten the rest.
Currently, in the garage we have baby chickens, turkeys, quayle, and pheasant. Outside we have baby geese and ducks in a pen. Roaming around we have 2 ducks with their babies. Our last pregnant cow had a calf this weekend and 2 pigs had little piglets this weekend and one pregant pig left to go. I don't know how pigs make it - the sows have already killed a few of them - they step on them, lay on them, ..... We have 15 baby pigs alive currently.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Back Yard 2

Sorry this took so long, I kept forgetting the jump drive at the house. I hope this turns out ok, I have never posted pictures on here before.








This is the first tree that we cut down. There were four or five more branches when we started! We found that most of those branches were hallow and filled with these white slug-type things.









Here is the second tree. Professionals cut this one down!





This is just one of my three Bleeding Hearts. They are still kind of small and leaning a bit. That is thanks to some strong wind we had, and Ivan running them over with the hose!




Here is the Arbor Bed. It is kind of hard to see, but there are Peonies on the sides, Morning Glories next to the arbor and...








...Spreading Double Petunias inside the arbor.





This is the Corner Bed with Moss Roses, Impatients and a Verbena. The Verbena is now in a hanging basket because the bush started hanging over it and hiding it.


This is the patio. Those stumps/logs are part of the first tree we cut down and are waiting to be burnt in the fire pit outside.
And finally, the whole back yard. Doesn't it look nice?
Hopefully this all worked,
~MISSI~

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Back Yard

Wow, it has been a while since anyone has put anything on the blog. And a real long time since I have. We cut down two trees about a month ago, one ourselves and one professionals. The one professionals cut down was split all the way through for most of the trunk. It could easily have fallen on the house or the road (and anyone in it.) Ivan alread dug out one stump so the yard would be ready for sod.

A couple weeks ago we laid sod in our back yard, it had been dirt for about a month prior. Ivan didn't like the uneveness of the yard, so he insisted on grading it flat! That is Ivan for ya! It was great to have Dave there to help with the smaller details of how to put it down.

We also have a garden of Bleeding Hearts (my favorite flower). I got a pink, white and another pink one of a slightly different variety. I hope to get a couple more, then the whole east side of the house will be lined with Bleeding Hearts! Next to the garage we have a bed with the arbor that Ivan built for the wedding. There are blue Morning Glories climbing up it, with purple Double Petunias under it and a red Peony on each end! Ivan wanted the Peonies, they remind him of his childhood! Then we have a smaller corner garden with Moss Roses, red and white Impatiens and a purple Verbena. And finally across the back we have a half finished bed with a Candycorn Vine and a Potato Vine.

After we laid the sod, we were going to wait a while to put in a patio, we waited one day! The sod looked so nice we just wanted to finish it off! So now the patio table is actally on the patio and it all looks great.

I left my jump drive of pictures at home, so I will try to bring it tomorrow and if I have time, post some pictures of the yard.

We are basically done with the yard, at least for this year, so now we are heading back inside to try and finish that. Insulation and sheetrock are next!