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Category Archives: Family

Revive!

It’s been a year and 20 days since my last post! (well that was before I went back and post-dated some drafts.. but I digress.) I promise, I’ve not disappeared. Well, there’s lots to tell! Where do I start?
We’ve been working on the house (Aug-Sept last year Lil Bit worked diligently to help me get our kitchen floor finished!)
We went on a family trip to Oklahoma to see Ma & Rickerd and all the family. Stayed for two weeks with Claire & John. Had loads of fun. Also had a tornado near-miss, not so fun.
Last winter was blah. Not a single fun winter activity was had due to lack of snow. Well Lil Mister did build an epic snow man with the only real snow we did get.
I launched my solo businesses in January. That has been going quite well. Feeling blessed to have good clients!
Saw Thing 2 off to the Army, that did not work out, as he ended up with pneumonia in boot camp. Welcomed him home and then sent him to Job Corps were he’s currently becoming a world class welder. ❤
I’ve been hard at it all summer with little time for outside endeavors. We even missed the fair this year unfortunately.
Lil Bit is growing her skills on the violin. Playing in two orchestras and occasionally performing in smaller public affairs. She has quite the knack.
Thing 1 has her own life. Coming into her own, developing her culinary skills and building her own little circle in life. She’s close by but with our work schedules and such we don’t see each other that often.
It’s moose season and this is the second year I’ve not even been able to go out for a hike. Last year my shoulder was still handicapping my ability, (Which I’m grateful is no longer the case!) and this year I’m working hard to finish up a project before the snow flies.
This past year has definitely had it’s ups and downs. Many of which I wont post but suffice to say that one should always hold your loved ones close, and your enemies closer. Or is it the other way around?
I hope that you are blessed with enough! Enjoy the fall season and take a moment to sit by the fire and stare into the flames with a cup of spiced cider and good friends at your side.

Favorite Past Times

We’ve been especially busy working on our house, inside and out. We’ve still got work to do but we’ve surpassed a major goal, finishing our kitchen/great room floor. I told the kiddos once we got that done we’d ease up on the work load a little bit and enjoy some family time.

So in honor of a being a little less driven, here are a few things we’ve done recently…

Bear puzzle
Steampunk owl trinket box by Lil Bit
Wolf puzzle
Lil Bit’s first salvage and flip piece. She refinished for her bedroom.

Thing Two is here for a short stay and we’ve been enjoying doing puzzles with him. Lil Bit helps and even AK Boy (aka Lil Mister) does a few bits until he tries of it. It’s been a lot of laughs over silly voices and corny jokes and even a John Candy movie thrown in for good measure

Progress

Summer has been a whirlwind of activities for us. Mostly work activities, but still. We’ve spent most of every available day starting new projects, finishing old ones, yard work, garden work, tending our animals, renovations, new school year and little time for extra fun or adventures. Such is the life here occasionally.

The latest project that the littles and I have been working on since mid August is finishing the kitchen floor.

Our foundation is slab-on-grade and the entirety of the main floor is unfinished concrete with the exception of Lil Bit’s room being laminate. Well we did have laminate in the kitchen, but three days after it’s completion we had the chimney fire which ruined the laminate. 🥺 And we have been living with it ever since.

The main kitchen had essentially become a storage space for all our excess: tools, job materials, renovation materials, food storage and junk. Our first order of business was to empty the space out and tear up the ruined laminate. The kiddos were great at this and had it done rather quickly after the arduous task of moving out the stuff which took us a number of weeks.

This kitchen is large, roughly 17′ x 16′ floor space. There’s appliances, including two freezers, that I cannot move out so we had to do the floor in halves. Everything that can’t go outside was shifted to the west side and the eastern half was completely cleared out.

Then the prep work began on the concrete.  Identifying all the cracks that needed repair, we only had two main cracks from all the earthquakes, and a few minor cracks that really didn’t need filled. I fixed those up and began cleaning the slab. Lots of sanding & scrubbing! Unsealed concrete never seems to get fully clean.

Yesterday I began the final scrubbing with the degreaser/cleaner that came with the epoxy paint kit. And two rinses with water and two hours later, the floor was ready for dry time!

Let the fun begin! My helpers were eager to get started. They edged the entire space while I roller, sprinkled and sprayed the finish. Now it’s time to dry. This is the hard part, waiting to use the space that we’ve worked so hard on!!

In Remembrance


They say time heals all wounds, but I rather think that time just passes by. The gaping hole left in our hearts is still there, but it’s hidden behind the life that we’ve lived~the experiences, the joys, and the sorrows~ that have kept us occupied since that day. It’s a little less prominent in the landscape but still there, nonetheless.

Happy birthday Dad. Miss you still.

A candle flickers
out of sight,
but in your heart
I still burn bright.
Think not of sadness,
that I’m not near,
think of gladness
and joyous cheer.

An expert from “Light a Candle” by J., Family Friends Poems, July 28, 2008

2024 K Pen Fair

Another fair has come and gone! Winter is coming!! We all did really well with our exhibits this year.

The Fair board opted not to give out fair bucks this year, much to the little people’s dismay. So I made a deal with them. For every red ribbon they get a dollar. For every blue ribbon they get $5. And for every purple division ribbon they get their choice of an ice cream cone or Italian soda. That seemed to take the sting of no fair bucks away.

They had to wait three days to find out the results. But boy oh boy, I think I got snookered.

First thing we see when we walk in the door.

First place AND division champion.

He was certainly proud of himself as well as tickled about his ice cream cone prize!

They both did well, Lil Bit had an amazing number of ribbons. She chose a specialty drink at the coffee shop.

[Posting a year late, apparently I saved all my last posts as drafts instead of publishing?]

More from our Kasitsna Bay Trip.

Photo dump!

Tree roots.
Looks like the perfect location for a little fairy village or a gnome home!
Near Jackalof Bay.
Tree creatures.
Each one teach one session.
Huge tree stump from selective logging.
Forestry hike

This was the first part of the journey, a little forest ecology field trip. We learned that there are naturally hybridized Sitka-White spruce trees here in this temperate rain forest. And they grow huge!

Tree roots bleached from the salt water.
The remains of an urchin, the test.
A sea cucumber me thinks.
Hermie the Crab.
So many barnacles.
Lil Bit walking in the deposits of broken shells. ASMR esq.
A boy in the cleft of the rock.
So many sea snails.
AK Boy found a skeleton of a sea star with muscles and barnacles attached
There’s a tiny little sea star right in the center, on the kelp.

Tide pooling adventures.

Afterwards it was back to the bunkhouse for some much needed rest. Walking miles in mud boots is not advisable. But we were ready for the next adventure come morning!

AK Boy at the microscope 🔬
Lil Bit zooming in.
What type of creatures we might see.
Alexa explaining how the plankton samples are taken.
Lab time!

Lab time was quite eye opening. 🫤🔬🤢 Remember that time at fish camp when pulling nets and a bunch of sea water splashed on your face and some got on your lips and you licked them… Yeah, you ate plankton.

Big chunky sea star.
Color stripes on this sea star.
Lil Bit stuck to the net.
This tank was full of sea stars that are in the stage 3 (super low) tides. Not usually seen but sometimes.
He finally worked up the nerve to pick one up.
The basic bish of sea stars. 🤩
There was a large table of readily found beach combing treasures. Labeled neatly for identification purposes.
A crusty crab! I think this one is a “decorator crab”.
Touch Tank & interactive lab.

That’s it for our end-of-year field trip. Lots of learning and fun was

Eleventh Alaskaversary.

It’s been a decade +1 now. Looking back over some timeline photos with gratitude and admiration for the many wonderful people in our lives and glorious experiences. And for the young people (grown-ups?!?!) my oldest two have become (the first becoming the “Legal” for sure grown-up age today!)

I’m often scratching my head in wonderment of how, exactly, the time has gone so quickly. The business of life steps on the gas when you’re not looking.

This summer is getting underway and we are trying to take advantage of every single moment of decent weather! (Two summers of rain and dreary days has us in a deficit !) We’ve got a to-do list a mile long to get done and life moments to pause and celebrate. Which of course leads to the aforementioned warp 9 speed of life.

Near Jackalof Bay, Alaska

I hope you take a moment today to pause, breathe deeply, walk barefoot and be grateful.

Quick Trip Outside

I made a quick trip to Oklahoma 3/6-3/13 to visit family after my mom had a health scare. When I left Alaska it was cold and snowy, of course there was a climate shock and jet lag to deal with upon arrival in the 63° Okie heat of early spring. It was nice to see my family and thankfully, B’H, my mom pulled through and is doing better.

While there I didn’t leave the farm except for a trip to the grocery store. I enjoyed the quiet solitude of the back road farm scape and the warmer weather was nice! I had more warm 60°+ days in one week than all of last summer. I should have brought better deodorant.

Some of the remnants of Vera sprinkled all around the farm.
I spotted three different colors of daffodils all totalled.
A crepe mertle in bloom by Uncle Steve’s (blessed memory) house.
These little wild grape hyacinth are everywhere.
Kitty, I got my cat snuggles fix with this one and Binx.

Spent as much time as possible with Ma and Rickerd while staying at my sister’s and enjoying their little homestead. Got to visit with lots of family as everyone came to see Ma and got to see me as a bonus. 😜

While at my sister’s  & John’s place I was able to help with her baby chicks and little kune kune piglet Mr. Wiggles.

Mr Wiggles has breakfast.

Between the chickens, ducks, goats, pigs, cats and dogs, there’s a lot going on! I baked a few loaves of bread in my spare time and tried to make some cherry mashes but that’s another story for another time. I made a few meals too. Normal stuff.

One week is a short time to fly that far but life back home calls. Return I must.

Waiting to board.

The valuable people were seen, the important things said. I’m grateful for the opportunity. 💞

Mom & her 4.

Back to the daily grind now. And what’s left of the snow, it’s rotting fast. I’ve got ducks, turkeys, goats, rabbits and dogs to deal with now. And children. Can’t forget them.

Tis the season.

That’s just one side’s worth

Link Up

Lil Bit is participating in the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra Link Up program. It’s a great opportunity for youngsters to hear the orchestra perform and participate in the performance, both in choir and playing recorders and violins.

The finale was a little touch of Boogie Woogie with Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry. It seemed like the kids really enjoyed it!

Tomorrow afternoon she plays the same program in Kenai with different school kids and a few other orchestra members.