The First

Well, it seems it's been a while since I've been here.  I thought I'd have more time, and I guess I do, I guess my time management is the issue these days.  I have been busy, but just doing the good stuff, the fun stuff.  Cooking, taking care of my family and playing with our sweet Chessa girl.

The great news is that the sun is coming back.  It's noticeable now in the morning and in the evenings.  The lack of light in the evening never really bothered me much, but the mornings were a different story.  I was definitely lazier, sleepier in the mornings, and now I rise and (almost) shine with the sun.  But it's nice to see what's lurking on the sides of the roads when I go to and from work.  And the moose are a-movin'.

We celebrated our 1st Alaska Anniversary on January 10th.  We went back and read through the blog posts from our trip.  I remember the stress, the excitement, the sheer panic of the trip.  Looking back, it's the gutsiest thing I've ever done, and now it really doesn't seem like a big deal.  Makes me wonder...what's next for the Kings?  In the present, we are truly enjoying every moment in Delta. 

We love this area.  We've been busy making plans for summer travel, and seeing as much of Alaska as we possibly can.  Last year we spent a lot of time in the Delta area, and we're hoping to expand our travel range this year.  There are so many beautiful places in Alaska to see, I'm wondering what/when/where we'll choose first.  Hmmmm....

This also leaves me to ponder...who (**hint, hint**) is going to be the first to visit us in Alaska???  There's a lot of talk, my friends, but not a lot of action.  Yet.  Come on over....we have a lot of places to see and a lot of things to do.  And a freezer full of salmon to cook for you.

Work is going well for both of us.  We've been spending our time endulging Brent's current WWII infatuation.  We are watching a lot of war documentaries, including the ever-hard-to-swallow holocaust recollections.  I'm personally intrigued by this bit of history.  I think we're both looking forward to a European vacation in the future to see first hand (again, for me) the camps, the devastation, the emotion.

In addition to war documentaries I've been taking advantage of my spare time to do some cooking and baking.  This weekend a made a large pot of ciopinno.  Since I'm relatively new to eating fish or seafood I was impressed that I even decided to cook it.  Ciopinno is a tomato-based seafood stew.  I made ours with crab, scallops, shrimp, mussels and clams.  It looked good, but wasn't really my cup of tea.  Brent, however, loved it.  So guess what he's eating for the next month??? lol.

Saturday and Sunday we got out and soaked up some sun.  It was lovely.  Sunday was warm, balmy almost, which is funny since the rest of the nation is having uncharacteristically crappy weather.   I really hope that means we aren't going to have a crappy summer.  I will really be sad if that's the case.  lol.

So, that's what we're up to.  How about you?  I promise to post pics soon... :)

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!!

Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock...

Can you hear it?  The clock keeps ticking away, and I am running out of time. 

Temp: -2F degrees  Sunrise:  10:29 a.m  Sunset:  2:47 p.m.

That's right, we're down to just over 4 hours of light.  Yesterday was the first that I noticed, it could have been that it was so darn gray and gloomy, or that I was home during waking hours.  I don't know, but it wasn't sooo bad.  I guess.

I'm exhausted.  Working so much is really not up my alley.  I've been trying to keep all the balls in the air, but I think I keep dropping some, and I rarely notice any of them, except when I trip over the vacuum cleaner on my way to the dishes in the sink. 

Yesterday I had high hopes of getting loads of things done, the house cleaned, laundry caught up, SASSY stuff organized.  None.  That's what was completed.  Not one thing.  I was beat.  I did a couple loads of laundry, and I cooked, which is something I rarely do anymore, but I certainly did not get accomplished what I set out to do.

I am hosting a Holiday Open House here this weekend, so I'll be super swamped this week.  I was hoping to just buy cookies, but it turns out, I'll most likely have to make them.  I'm not so excited about that either.  I have gifts to send, cards to write, and little time, so I'm hoping you all get your goodies on time.  If not, I'm sorry.  Truly I am.

Wishing you a happy holiday season!  See you soon!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Welcome to our winter wonderland!  It's Sunday, and we've had the most beautiful day.  Big, fat, fluffy flakes have been floating down to the tundra all day long.  It is possibly the slowest, most idyllic sight I've seen.  And since I have no place to go, let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Today has been a very uneventful, but particularly wonderful day.  I woke to an eerily quiet house, as Brent had planned to go hunting with a friend of his.  I knew that he wouldn't be home, but Chessa was gone as well.  So it was me, alone, with the day to waste away.

The week behind us was a busy one.  We enjoyed our Thanksgiving day, just the three of us.  We slept late, played in the snow, and just enjoyed a day of rest.  I baked a coffee cake for breakfast, and then braised some grouse, which Brent provided for our Thanksgiving feast.  I cooked up some wild rice from home, similar to the rice dish that Grandma Adeline cooked every year.  We completed the meal with yams, green bean casserole, fresh baked rolls, and I even whipped up a pecan pie.  Needless to say, we didn't eat pie until  Friday.  We were too stuffed!

In the afternoon we hiked to the woods to cut our first Alaskan Christmas tree.  We haven't had a real tree in the house since our first year of marriage.  I believe we managed to ruin two vaccuums that year.  Apparently I thought "evergreen" extended into life after cutting, and there was no need for watering.  Or very little anyway.  Ahh.  Yes.  Lessons learned, indeed.

Well, this time around I was smarter about it.  But alas, we were both scared awake at 3 a.m. Friday morning to the sound of a crashing tree.  Needless to say, at that time of night, it wound up in the yard.  It has yet to come back in.  We'll see what happens next.  I'm guessing a much smaller, less messy tree.  Perhaps we'll go back to artificial (gasp!). 

So, we worked on Friday.  Came home to relax, then Brent had yesterday off with the Ches monster, while I plugged away at work.  Poor Chessa had a rough day.  She was attacked by a raven, good thing Brent was there to rescue her.  It got a hold of her when she tackled it, and had her lip in it's beak, poised with talons raised.  Brent helped him release her and gave it a little loft.  Hasta La Vista raven.

After a nice, relaxing day I'm planning to make dinner and then find my way back to the fresh Tide smelling sheets that have been calling my name all day!

Happy Day!!!

Winter Welcome

Hello Friends!

Welcome to winter in Delta Junction.  I'd like to post some photos of the freshly fallen snow, that is coming down at this very moment, but I've been a little busy, so perhaps this weekend I'll find some time to snap away. 

Monday marked a new chapter in my life.  In the past couple of years I've gone from working 1 job with loooong hours, to a reduced schedule, to absolutely no schedule, back to a part-time schedule, and now my schedule is working over-time.  Mind you, I'm not complaining, I'm having fun, I'm just needing a couple more days for adjustment.

So, Sunday evening I did not sleep a bit.  Well, just a bit.  About an hour and a half, to be exact.  But, I arose on Monday morning at the buttcrack of dawn to greet the morning with vigor and grace, and was bombarded with white.  White, wet, snow.  Which, of course, led to not-so-wonderful roads on my very first day of work, where I actually had to drive more than 5 miles.  Nice.  Or something.  Anyway...

Thankfully I was able to ride with Brent on this particular first day, which helped tremendously.  When I arrived it felt like the first day of school all over again.  Frizzy over-permed hair, a face that looked like it's a connect-the-dots puzzle.  I hate being the "new girl".  Luckily, there were 3 of us, and that made the transition a little bit better.

As first days go, it wasn't so bad.  We did a lot of sitting around, a lot of waiting, and a lot of laughing.  Sometimes all you can do is laugh.  But there was still a lot of awkward laughing, awkward silence, and introductions to more people that I won't remember, most likely.  But it was a good day.  And I was happy when it was over. Ha!

I have to say that I've been spoiled the last couple months, so I missed "my girls".  Especially since Monday was Courtney's birthday.  Bummed-ola. But I'll be back there in a couple of months...and I'm hoping the time flies by.

So, now that the first day is over, the rest of the days have improved markedly.  Today was better than yesterday, and I'm hoping tomorrow is way better than today.  But in other news, though the days are long, I occasionally get to squeak in a lunch with my hubby, which is a wonderful bonus. 

Other than that, there's nothing exciting to report.  I'm hoping that the bears are tucked away all snug in their dens, and that the moose will stay away while I'm traveling the road between here and Ft. Greely.

When I find time this weekend, I'll update some more, hopefully with some wintery wonderland photos. 

Oh, which brings me to another point...some people tell me that I may or may not glorify Delta Junction...I have a tendency to disagree, but we'll discuss it again in our next post... :)

Have a happy day!

Working, Playing, Living

Now that I’m adjusting to working, I promise to get better at blogging. I have been slacking a lot. Of course, it doesn’t help that Brent has been working a lot, and we just don’t have time to get out and see things. So, I promise bigger and better things from here.

This week has been great. I am enjoying my schedule, I enjoy my work, and I especially enjoy the work environment that I’m in. It’s less like work, and more like hanging out with friends, with work mixed in. Okay, even I know that doesn’t make sense, but the bottom line. It’s fun.

In addition to work we’ve just been having fun on the farm. It’s always entertaining here. This week we’ve had quite a bit of rain which of course means wet and mud. In addition to that our satellite works, or doesn’t work, depending on the amount of moisture in the air, or the cables, we have 1-100 channels. It’s just great! (insert sarcasm here). We are really hoping to find a new place to live this weekend, and hopefully we’ll be moving in August. Yet another perk of working for a real estate company. LoL.

We are growing increasingly impatient. There are so many little things adding up to our move towards moving. The best is the toilet. It seems that somewhere along the way someone decided it would be best to take the bolts out that hold the porcelain god to the slowly rotting floor boards. In addition to the cold sweats it has in 50 degree weather it also wobbles, bobbles and pivots as you sit, or stand. It’s GREAT! Sometimes in the middle of the night when a person is particularly wobbly and hits the seat too hard it will even growl at you! Last week I was convinced that something was living in the bathroom because I swore I heard something growl. Well, I did. It was the toilet. You might be a redneck if… I’ll let you fill in the blank.

As of tonight we’re playing farm. The neighbors are out of town so we are doing chores for them. I lack the equipment it takes to be a farmer, that equipment being the snazzy rubber boots of my youth, but I substituted my snow boots instead. I hauled feed, cleaned out water dishes, watered the horses, scratched the pigs heads, made wallowing holes, and got covered in mud, and whatever else there was in it.

It was fun except for the mud (poop) portion. When I looked in the mirror to see speckles of said mud on my face I had to remind myself that some snooty chick in NYC would pay gobs of money for that kind of spa treatment!

After I cleaned the mud (poop) out from under my newly growing nails (aren’t you proud Mom?) we scrubbed up a dozen freshly gathered eggs and headed to a friends house for fresh baked carrot cake. Oh, it was heavenly! We enjoyed a fresh made organic carrot cake made with spelt and cane sugar. They served raw milk on the side, and I don’t think I’ve had that wonderful of a treat in a long time!

I haven’t had raw milk since I was a youngster romping around in Grandpa’s barn, trying not to get hit by flying poop from the Holsteins. Of course all that flew out the window when I landed in a gutter full of poo in my poo brown snowsuit. OH WHAT FUN!

Brent is working tomorrow so I plan to do a little cleaning, a little cooking and a little baking. Then hopefully we’ll get out and SEE something to take pictures of! Have a happy day!

Last Day

This Crazy Bunch

As you can see in the photo above, I work(ed) with a crazy bunch. See that Santa in the middle? He's the boss. You can use your imagination on his style of bossing. Ha! This crazy bunch sent me off with a top-rate going away party, complete with a big, unpackable gift. Huge. I cringed a little when I saw the box. Just a little. I thought- 19 totes and this is going to take up one whole tote! AWWWWWWWWW. I should have known. I should have...

My gift started out big, and got smaller in succession of um, 23 boxes. I swear. Me in the front of the entire room, with way too many pairs of eyes staring at my backside. (Although some would say it's my best side.) So I unwrapped, and unwrapped, and unwrapped, until my fingers bled, to find the nicest gift. Cash. Which is easily packed. It wasn't necessary, by any means, but it was greatly, GREATLY appreciated.

I left with such a warm send off, that I almost wanted to put back all the staplers and tape dispensers I made off with. Oh wait! I don't think I'm supposed to tell people that. Ha! No seriously, it almost made me want to take back my resignation. However, the commute is just too long. Too long. So, I bid farewell to the craziest, funniest, smart-assiest bunch in the land. And I'm sure some of them are cringeing about now at my spelling and grammar errors. They're probably going to go back and retract everything I've proofed in the last 6 months!

Thank you. Seriously, thank you. For making my stay sooooo much fun. And I can guarantee you won't like my replacement nearly as much as me. You're soooo gonna miss me.