Yesterday the guys worked here at home prepping for the next job.
Lil Mister was entirely too pleased to be able to participate. He was both foreman and tool boy.
After an entire day outside with Dad he was tuckered out.
Check out my rhubarb. It is growing too fast to keep up with.
Both of these patches need to be thinned this year.
Made a little trip out to the cabin this past weekend. Had meant to spend Thanksgiving out there for the long weekend but the weather warmed up and we had so much rain I feared we’d get stuck out there. So we made the best of Thanksgiving at home.
Now that we’ve got our cold back and had a bit of snow, we trekked out. The trail was a bit rough after the thaw and refreeze, bumpy sled ride for the kids. But we made it in right at nightfall.
Spent a day and half out there, time enough to get stuff put away and then pack up to leave again! And much to my dismay, some idiots had completely tore up the trail the night before. They were trying to drive a couple of trucks out. Busted through the ice, made many a messy spots along the way. Made for a more bumpier ride back out. Some people. *sigh* But alas, such is life.
If it stays cold we’ll soon be able to drive the vehicle out soon. Which the kiddos much prefer! Something about a heater and no snow in their faces… gee whiz.
Summer officially begins here with the solstice, and solstice is a big deal in regions where there is limited sunshine in the winter. Many places have solstice celebrations and such. Kenai Harley Davidson had a Show & Shine car and bike show which we attended. On the way home after the show we stopped at this little tourist trap not far from our house. We’ve been meaning to stop here and take pictures for like, you know, two years. Well, finally we did.
It is a chainsaw carving spot and during the tourist season you can stop and see them working on carvings. It is pretty cool to see a dude with a chainsaw doing his thing and making a piece of art out of a log.
The big draw and sign out front is this giant chair.
The Big Chair.
And then there are various carvings scattered around, photo-ops and all.
Totem
It’s mine and you can’t have it bear!
The ol’ moose
Bear in a cave with a bunch of cave dwelling nymphs. The one getting her arm eaten on is quite amusing.
Then there is an old mock mine and when I went inside I found this Lil Bit of a bear growling at me…
Lil Bit bear growler
A bear bench full of nymphs.
Seeing the fall foliage starting to appear and realizing summer has disappeared… has me looking forward to snow!
We drove up to Cooper Landing this evening for a Recycled Fashion Show (more on that in another post) and along the way stopped to enjoy Nature’s beauty. The Chugach National Forest and the Kenai lake are here. It is a beautiful wide spot in the road. Enjoy some of the pictures we took.
Across the river, Chugach National Forest
Some fall foliage starting to turn.
A pretty little spot with fall foliage and a spawning salmon, can you see it?
Here it is!
Not the best for clarity but you can definitely see the salmon now!
Some exposed roots and a couple of small animal burrows. Neat stuff along the trails.
Dogwood
Wild rose hips.
All this and so much more. You have to see it to believe it and really appreciate the beauty that is our home. ❤ Alaska.
Up the road from us about 10 or so miles. Prayers for those in harm’s way. Rain would be good Abba.
Central Emergency Services from Soldotna, the Nikiski Volunteer Fire Department and Kachemak Bay Emergency Services also responded with engines and firefighters to assist in suppression efforts. Three air retardant tankers were called in to drop retardant on the fire and two helicopters conducted bucket work on the fire and another was enroute. There was also a U.S. Forest Service engine that responded to the fire.. Despite the aggressive initial attack efforts, the fire continued to grow and was estimated at 75 acres by 3 p.m.
The evacuation was expanded to include residential areas on the north and south sides of the Kenai River after the fire jumped the Kenai Keyes Road. The fire doubled in size to 150 acres by 5 p.m. and was estimated at 640 acres about an hour later. The fire was threatening to cross from the north side to the south side of the Kenai River but that hadn’t happened as of 7:30 p.m., though the fire had spotted across the river in a few spots. A helicopter was being used to extinguish those spot fires to prevent the fire from becoming active on the south side of the river.The Kenai Peninsula Borough Emergency Services Department set up an information center for resident to get information about the fire. The center can be reached at (907) 714-2495.
It’s that time of year again! Fun in the summer sun at the Kenai River Festival. The kids enjoyed the human Foosball and all of the fun activities in the kids zone. There is much to learn about our beautiful river and the salmon who come home every year.
Watching the game.
Licking the cotton candy off of her fingers.
The human Foosball arena.
All ready to play.
Something smells fishy!
Today marks our second anniversary in the great state of Alaska.
It’s raining.
Sorta dreary.
But I’m not complaining, because everything is so green due to all of the rain. It has been a dry two years.
Life is a lot like the weather. It changes. Sometimes it rains. Other times the sun shines, for 16 hours. Learn to enjoy it all. ❤
One simply does not grow weary of the view.
Sunset and the treeline on the north side of our property.
Photo by Thing 1.
Thing Two expressed an interest in legends this morning so as any good home-schoolers would do, we started exploring! He actually wanted to know what “legendary” meant, and then he wanted to know more about the legend of the giant squid. Then our discussion morphed into folklore and how legends come to be woven into the fabric of our cultures. Since we have the ongoing subject of Alaska history we delved into Alaskan folklore. Here we learned about Qalupalik. Watch a short animated narrative about her here: Nunavut Animation Lab: Qalupalik
She is a green-skinned sea-dwelling creature waiting to nab a wandering child at the seashore or exploring the sea ice.
She takes children who do not listen to theirs parents or elders.
She prefers the very young and avoids adults.
She grows young while the child grows old.
Qalupalik never blinks, she watches and waits…
Thing Two thinks Qalupalik is “kinda creepy, but also kinda cool.”
Alaska has a lot of wildlife that we like to see, and we see frequently. Caribou are one of the critters that we rarely see here on the Kenai. We have a small herd, and occasionally see them from afar. This morning we were blessed with a special visit from a small herd right here crossing our property!! So cool!
Bull, checking me out.
The dog was barking and caught the bull’s attention, then he spotted me. He kept a watchful eye on me for a few minutes while I snapped some pics from up the drive.
A few young ones.
My photos are grainy, that ol’ bull wouldn’t let me get any closer. I didn’t get an accurate count but I think there were 8-9 altogether.
Crossing the drive, headed for the trees.
They crossed through our pit then headed off into the trees.
Hoof print.
I could safely follow along now, and the neighbor boys joined me as we went looking for them. We spotted their tracks headed into the trees…
Tracks up the embankment.
And then we spotted them through the trees before they disappeared.
Bye bye Bou!!
It was so awesome to get to see them so close. The kids got to look at them from the window, they crossed over not far from the house so the vantage point was good. I love Alaska. ❤
Alaska on my mind... 