Wintery Wonderland

Howdy!  Greetings from Alaska! It has been a wonderful last couple of weeks.  The weather this winter has been fairly mild.  We did dip to about -30 degrees last week, but the temps quickly rose again, and there's nothing to complain about now.  We're sitting at around 0 tonight, but it's lovely.  We have a light dusting of powdery white now, and today the sun shone brightly above in the Delta sky.  Ah, life is good.

I have to apologize are these pictures are about a week old.  I have been busy, and just haven't had the time to sit and blog.  You'd think with it being cold and well, wintery, there would be plenty of time.  But with wood to haul, dog to play with and moose to capture, there simply isn't enough time in the day.  

This is my morning friend.  Nearly every morning, this guy, and one or two of his friends, come to munch on the saplings and shrubbery and who-knows-what-else.  I snapped him right before he turned tail and ran off.  Apparently he thought my camera was a 30.06.  LOL.

The above photo may not look very interesting, but it's a close up of the crystally fluff that covers each and every shrub on Meadows Road.  They are placed in a little puzzle and fall off quickly to be nibbled up.  Beautiful.

Moose on Bolio Lake Road

These two are a cow and calf pair.  They frequent our road, and this photo was taken about 100 yards from our driveway.  Chessa and I were going on a walk and quickly changed our course of direction when we saw this mom and daughter/son pair.  It's hard to tell, but the calf is actually lying on the side of the road.  I guess he/she found a comfy spot to rest.  Eating is very hard work, for a little guy.

Brent and Ches looking for rabbits at Nickel Lake

The gorgeous Granite Mountains

Meadows Road moose

This past weekend we laid pretty low.  I had a busy day at work, so I came home, took Chessa out for a little exercise, and of course some play.  When Brent got home I made an easy, but yummy dinner of risotto with tons of veggies and some delicious prawns I picked up at IGA.  We're fortunate to have such a good grocery store here on the tundra.

Saturday woke to the howling wind.  Despite the breeze I decided to head to Fairbanks.  There were a couple of things I needed before this weekend's Festival of Lights Galleria.  The roads were clear, except for a spot or two, so I was fortunate.  Last year they were snow packed and slick, this year they're clear with occasional snow pack.  I met a sand truck at Birch Lake and managed to escape without a new windshield chip, how?  I'll never know.  

Once I was home I unpacked the car, admired Brent's ever-growing pile of wood.  We'll certainly be warm next winter!  And then I tucked myself in for a short nap.  When my nap was over I got up, and enjoyed what was last of the beautiful Saturday afternoon.  Later that evening we went over to meet Brad and Rose's new bundle of fluff.  He's adorable.  A six week old yellow lab named Charlie.  Oh, I'm telling you he stole my heart.  I nearly caved in to Brent's pressure for a new little labrador...but gained my sanity, just in the nick of time!

Sunday was a day of organization and relaxation.  We started the morning with a batch of homemade blueberry muffins, lovingly baked by my rockstar hubby.  And then we all bundled up and trekked the road for a walk on a brisk morning.  Unfortunately our jaunt was cut short by a pack of local dogs.  Pish tosh.  I'm all for a freer way of life, but roaming dogs are dangerous, for me, my dog, and for them.  I've nearly hit them a time or two, and I've shooed them from my trash bins one too many times.  Hmph.

Today was beautiful.  The sun was out all day long, and it was a lovely day.  Brent and Ches were home, and despite Brent's new cold, they got some wood chopped, and made me a lovely dinner of chicken fajitas, with a couple too many chipotle peppers!  Nothing like getting the metabolism roaring with capsacin.  LOL.

Life is good!  I want to give a shout out to my new friends, Hayley and her mom Estra, in Alabama.  Hayley and her family will be moving to Delta this spring.  Estra is a little nervous, which is understandable since Delta is a looooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggggggg way from Alabama.  Alas, have no fear, Delta is a friendly place, with friendly people just waiting to help out and make their stay a happy one. 

Have a happy day!

Back to life...Back to reality

Can you hear it?  The lyrics to the popular 90's song in your head...sing along... :)  lol.  Anyway, It's my first week back at my normal schedule.  I have to admit, I've been a little schlumpy (yes, that's a word...google it...lol) and slow.  But I'm hoping to get back to normal soon.  Very soon.

My job on Ft. Greely ended on New Year's Eve.  Fitting, I think.  Out with the old, in with the new.  Perfection.  As I packed up my things to leave, I couldn't help but feel just a little bit sad.  It was grueling, it was tiring, and don't get me wrong, I'm happy it's over.  However, I did enjoy the work, I liked having lunch with my hubby everyday, and I am going to miss the G's, the Benjamins, the MOOLA!!! lol.  However, as the old adage goes, money isn't everything, and I'm happy to be back at Durham Realty.

New Year's Eve I packed up my desk and headed home, for a long winter's nap.  It was fabulous.  When I woke we ate a nice dinner of moose ribs, au gratin potatoes and bleu cheese coleslaw, prepared by my loving husband.  When the feast was finished we packed up and headed out to Jeff & Courtney's for a little fun in sun moonlight.  When we arrived I kind of wished that we hadn't had such a lovely dinner as the ladies had knocked themselves out and prepared a veritable feast.  Next time... we visited, laughed, enjoyed some lovely caramel chickory and bundled up to enjoy fireworks on a frozen pond, in the middle of Nowhere, Alaska.  It was bliss. 

Friday we just laid around like slugs, did laundry and I cooked.  Yes, this should be documented, I have done so little of it over the past couple months.  It was nice to be semi-lazy and get some things accomplished in the house.

Saturday morning we packed up bright and early and headed for Fairbanks.  Operation Organization was in full swing.  That is until we arrived in Fairbanks.  I have handled the lack of variety here very well, I think.  I tried for weeks/months to order a desk.  Nope.  No cigar.  No shipping to Alaska.  Pfffft.  Jerks.  But I nearly lost my marbles when I tried to find an economical solution to my lack of organization.  To put it lightly,  I was really frustrated.  However, in the end Sam Walton came to my rescue and I found a doable solution.   And we scored a great deal on a leather club chair for the living room.  Which led to the issue of lack of space to haul everything we needed to haul.

Brent had made plans with a friend, Trevor,  to hunt little bunny fufu (sad, tragic ordeal) that evening, so I decided to head back to Fairbanks for more storage goods.  Luckily Brent's friend, Trevor,  is married to my friend, Amy, so I convinced Amy to ride back with me. Thank goodness I did.  She spotted a wily moose that darted out in front of me, in time for me to hit the brakes and avoid his gigantic butt.  Bullwinkle lives!  So, I managed to score some loot and get home, safe and sound, in one piece. 

Sunday Brent set about assembling furniture, burning boxes and other fun stuff.  As you can tell by the photo below Ches was thrilled at the prospect of sitting inside, doing um, about anything.  Lol.  Poor girl.  She did get out in the woods to explore and hunt wascally wabbits, her new favorite past time.  Those poor little rabbits...Oy.

One of the things that I love most about Alaska is the moose.  I could see them every single day and it would not be enough.  They're so large and wobbly looking that it's hard not to love these dopey characters.  They're very large, and so quiet, that you can literally turn around and there they are.  Standing in the driveway.  These two younger bulls seem to be out on a Sunday stroll.  They meandered through the stand of trees in the center of the yard until Brent tried to sneak outside to get a better shot of them.  With the knowledge that he was outside they took off like lightening, big galloping lightening, and one of them totally diggered in the driveway.  Priceless. 

I'm happy to be back to life as it was. 

Sending a prayer to my Grandma Blanche who is recovering from a stroke.  Sending you lots of love and hugs.

Happy New Year!!  Wishing you all a very happy 2010!!

A Fallish Feeling

My favorite time of year is fall. So I have to say that I'm loving the temps the past few weeks here in Delta. A little more sun would be nice, but beggars can't be choosers, and well, sometimes you just have to find the silver lining. The days have been in the 60's, for the most part, and it makes for very nice working weather.

We've moved. We are settling in to our little log house in the woods, and we ALL love it. The biggest adjustment is that we are alone. All alone. And since it's a different house, the things that go bump in the night are different too. When we stand outside we can hear neighbors, running their chain saws, or driving nails to get the walls up before the four letter word beginning with "s" and ending with "now" comes. But the best part? We cannot see a soul. We are all alone. Except for the animals.

Brent has been busy cutting wood and cleaning up the yard. I estimate that he has cut about 6 cords of wood in the past two weeks. The yard clean up is moving along, but was slow at first because of the dry weather here in Delta. The weekend we moved was horribly dusty, and with the burn ban we had to settle for making mountains of dead limbs to burn when we finally received some moisture.

I'm happy to report that we have finally been blessed with some rain, and while I won't be needing Brent to construct me an ark anytime soon it has helped settle the dust. In addition to his Paul Bunyan duties Brent has been busy defending our home from visitors of the 4 legged variety. We have plenty of moose sign, but I have yet to see one in our yard, I'm thinking that will come later this winter. We have heard cows mooing, though that I don't suppose is so special, and we've heard the scream of a lynx, which is chilling but magnificent. I just hope they keep their distance. Unfortunately Chessa met up with a new "friend" and Brent had to shoot and kill a porcupine in our yard. It was a bummer, but since Mr. Porcupine was primed to fill our Chessa girl full of pointy quills he was left with little choice.

I have been busy readying the indoor space. We found a screaming deal, by my account anyway, on some gently-used furniture. Brent would have loved to have used milk crates, but since I'm not as inclined to having permanent diamond shapes impressed on my backside, I went against his wishes and bought some furniture. In addition I recently made an unlikely purchase. Unlikely because I have a serious lack of patience, but I did it, I bit the bullet, and I bought myself a sewing machine! Woohoo. I have yet to use it, because in my anticipation and excitement I didn't think about the lack of surface area to use it, but I will be heading back to Fairbanks soon to buy a table. I cannot wait to become the domestic goddess that lies within... watch out Martha Stewart...there's someone new in town!

So, after hauling wood, stacking wood, covering wood, and getting the fireplace ready to burn, we should be ready for winter. I just hope it doesn't find us too soon!

Have a happy day!