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Category Archives: Outdoors

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.

First day of February. Brrr. But on the bright side, it's warmer than yesterday...
Wolf moon setting.
Beautiful hoar frost backed by a clear blue sky day.

Do you ever see wild animals?

Well actually….

Everyday.

That’s part of the reason I live here. Nature is a very present danger albeit a beautiful one. As long as you venture outside, you can usually see wildlife, some more frequent than others.

Abundant ravens, seagulls, salmon, crows, eagles, moose, caribou, squirrels, the wiley coyote, a cautious lynx, feisty and playful marten, the occasional black bear, the more reclusive brown bear (I’ve only ever observed two in my decade here) and the even more hidden wolf (which I’ve yet to see one, although I’ve seen their tracks and heard them howling).

It’s always a sight to behold and be in awe of.

I’m grateful for the opportunity!

#alaska #wildlife #thegreatland

Old Man Winter showed up yesterday, about 2-3 weeks behind schedule. We had a winter weather advisory to expect 1-3 inches and possibly ice. Well that turned into a good 8″, maybe 10″ with wind.

It’s wet and heavy.

And the power has been out since the wee early morning hours.

The kids were outside yesterday playing in the snow while Dean and I buttoned up the shop walls. We managed to get all the metal on and enclosed, all but the end where the garage door goes eventually.

Yeah! No more snow all over our stuff!

Once we get the woodstove installed we’ll be able to work in relative comfort this winter. I’m super excited.

We salvaged a shelter logic frame from the dump earlier this season and erected it to store our camp trailers and 4-wheelers. There was a good 10″ of snow saging the tarp down so the kids and I worked on clearing it off before chaos and collapse happened.

Now we need to shovel copious amounts of snow away from the walkways and drive. We won’t be getting plowed anytime soon so we must use good ole man/woman/child-power to move white stuff. All while Dean works pushing snow with the loader for our commercial client.

Life in Alaska.

Now we’re inside warming up next to the wood stove. B’H for non-electric heating. Times like this remind me that I need to install a 12 volt power and lighting system with a small solar array. Then at least we could function relatively normally without power.

But that’s a project for another day.

The grader finally came through at 5 pm. At least we could get up the road now if we had too. The oldest kiddo might be able to make it to work tomorrow.

In the meantime, we’ll light some candles and lanterns and play some games!

Playing Farkle in the darkle.

Enjoy the snow & stay warm!

The rotund snow person the kids made yesterday. It's actually taller than he is, he's just standing on about 10" of fresh snow.
Ready for the cement truck!
Warmest morning this week
Burning brush in preparation for snow. It's difficult to burn brush during the summer due to fire danger so we wait until fall rains completely hydrate the environment. Clearing our snow machine trails so we can enjoy riding around the yard this winter.