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Our First Snow

It snowed Sunday night, our first snow as Alaska residents. The kids got to go outside while it was coming down just for a few minutes since it was late and getting dark. The next day, I had an off day from work and after we tidied up the house they got to go outside and really play in the snow. We only got a couple of inches this time, so not really enough to make anything dynamic with it, but fun to play in none-the-less.

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The girls wanted to snowball fight but for some reason, their brother did not. Hmmm, me thinks they were ganging up on him.

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I asked “How much do you love the snow?” “This much” says Thing Two!

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Our backyard and the play set.

Today they are only enjoying the snow from the window sill, coughs and sniffles are keeping them inside. 😦
But we will survive by baking some banana bread!

Veteran’s Day

It is that time of year to remember and acknowledge the sacrifice and service of our Veterans. Remember, Veteran’s Day is meant to honor the living vets in our lives, and those who did not die during service (Memorial Day is for Vets who died in service to our country.) Our town has an avenue of flags down the highway as is popular in many communities across our nation. There are a large number of veterans in Alaska. Both of my vets are gone now, my Grandpa and Dad. Grandpa served during WWII as a forward scout and Dad served in the heavy artillery division in the Vietnam conflict.

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Dad

The fact that both of them survived their very close calls is nothing less than a miracle. Grandpa took  gunshots in the midsection. I remember seeing all those bullet hole scars in his abdomen as a child and asking him what they were, he always told us grand-kids that they were extra belly buttons. Talking about their war experiences was difficult for both of them. War is hell. There is no other way to describe it.

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Grandpa


There’s nothing glamorous about war. It changes people’s lives, for multiple generations. I look forward to the day when we have no more need for war. Even so, I am so grateful for the honorable service both of these men offered their country. I am even more grateful that they came home. They were scared, but not cowards, they did their “duty”, and they were changed forever for it. Their war experiences were passed down to the second and third generations, through the various ways that war changed them, it changed us.

Lavender oil to the rescue!

Sunday night I noticed something in my eye, I couldn’t find it or get anything out, but I certainly felt a scratch. Over night there wasn’t any improvement, my eye was matted and swollen upon waking. I had a few single use Boiron homeopathic drops that I used that day to keep my eye from being so irritated. All day my eye was sore, dry, scratchy and I felt like all I wanted to do was lay down and sleep!  Later, after work, I stopped and picked up some Similisan homeopathic eye drops (it’s awesome that several stores up here carry herbs and homeopathics!). I used them that night and all day Tuesday. My eye felt like there was sandpaper under my upper lid. The drops seemed to help but just didn’t get the job of healing the scratched area done. Weds morning I pulled out my handy EODR and looked up eye injuries to see if I had any oils on hand to help my sore, irritated eye. And of course Lavender was indicated! (It really is the “Jack of all Trades” of oils!) That morning, I rubbed  a drop around my eye, being careful not to get it into my eye. I could feel the vapors going into my eye, not uncomfortable but noticeable. I continued to use the homeopathic drops later that day, but my eye was feeling better. By the next day (Thursday) my eye felt normal and I discontinued use of the drops.  I can’t attribute my healed eye only to the lavender oil, because the homeopathic drops were helpful, but I do feel that the lavender brought a speedier healing for sure!

Brrrrr!

18 degrees on the way to work, 25 on the way home. Definitely winter now, but no snow… yet.

Satisfaction

There is something incredibly satisfying about working with wood. It is so natural, so honest, so real. To take a tree, standing, living, breathing just months ago, cut it down, mill it into rough cut lumber, refine and finish it into a home. It really is amazing.

You don’t fundamentally change it (it’s still wood) but you do change it in some ways. You leave a lasting product that has a legacy. You shape it, refine the rough edges off (if so desired), you finish it, giving it some level of protection from the elements, helping it to last longer.

It’s sort of like raising kids. 😉

English: Picea glauca taiga, Denali Highway, A...

White spruce, Denali Highway, Alaska; Alaska Range in the background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Most of the wood we are building with is White Spruce, just like these.

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Cabin in progress, August 2013.

This is the cabin we are just about finished with.

November Birthdays

Chrysanthemums are only appropriate for funerals.

Chrysanthemums-November flower (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Birthdays have always been important to me, one of the first bits of information I usually glean about an individual or new friend, “when is your birthday?”. November has always been a big birthday month for our family and extended family (friends) with many joyful celebrations going on. Couple that with Thanksgiving, Hanukkah (this year) and anniversaries and you have a really busy month. Plus I have added two new friends this year with November birthdays.

The most important November birthday will probably always be my Mom’s. She even shared it with me.

I often wondered why chrysanthemums were the chosen birth-month flower for November? Seems like these days, these flowers are only given to folks who are sick in “get well” bouquets or in funeral arrangements.  And have you ever smelled a chrysanthemum? Wow. I really feel cheated in the floral department.  I mean really, June gets warm weather and roses. Although I guess if I consider the meaning behind the flower I should feel quite relieved. The language of flowers they say, meaning “with love and cheerfulness” the chrysanthemum was a good choice for Victorian era lovers, who were bound to silence their feelings and not express them verbally, yet a bouquet of flowers could say it all. Thus the chrysanthemum was preferred to express the sentiment “with love & cheerfulness” from the sender, as opposed to “with love and depression” such as Romeo might have sent to Juliet.

Birthstones go along with birthdays you know. I’ve always loved February and August’s stones, although I never really cared for my birthstone. I always thought it drab and boring until I discovered the wide range of colors that the Topaz can range in (yellow, pink, purple, gold, brown, orange and blues). Citrine, also considered a November birthstone, can be quite lovely as well. I’ve heard it said that citrine is the amethyst without the purple color. Two stones of the same substance only in different hues. Now I prefer topaz and citrine in jewelry and one of my favorite rings has Amethyst, blue topaz and Peridot, the perfect trio for me!

Now, if I just had me a bouquet of chrysanthemums…

So for all of my fellow friends and family celebrating November birthdays, happy day of your birth and be blessed!

The end of the month, already?

Wow, we are at the end of the month. Seems like this month just zipped by. Probably because we are rushing to finish this cabin we’ve been working on since July (well, since August for me).  But wow, tomorrow is November, then we are on the count-down until the end of the year.

Time seems to fly these days.

Add the end of Daylight Savings time on Sunday, and the days will really seem short for us.

Our daylight hours are slipping away fast.

But the good news is that when the winter solstice arrives, we will be back to adding minutes instead of subtracting them. 🙂

 

Snow??

It’s mid-October and we’ve seen the trees transition from bright green foliage to gold, to no foliage in a matter of a few weeks. The wind has kicked up and it can really blow here. The average temp range for October looks like highs in the lower 40s to upper 20s for lows, with an average snowfall date of Oct 17th. This past week we’ve been experiencing unseasonably warm weather, highs in the 50s and lows in the 40s.  It has been great weather for working outdoors at least.

Last year Anchorage had its first official snowfall on Sept. 29, 2012. Parts of the greater  Anchorage  area did have snow a couple of weeks ago but not on the “official” NOAA measuring site, so no “official” snow fall yet this year. And we haven’t even seen a snowflake fall down here yet.  And it’s not looking like we’ll see any in the next few days either.

Although, one can see fresh snow on all the peaks round about us. They are bright and pristine white with their new winter coats on. That is, one can see them when the skies are clear, not too many of those days here lately.

Our forecast is calling for warmer temps and rain, only a slight chance of snow mixed with rain showers later in the week. Not so fun for people waiting for their first Alaska snow! 😉 You know, the ones with the snow boots and warm gloves and   waiting to play in the snow…

This is a eight-photo panorama of Cook Inlet's...

This is a eight-photo panorama of Cook Inlet’s Turnigan Arm, a few miles south of Anchorage, Alaska. The tide’s out. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My Seester

Yeah, I know I already wished her a happy birthday in a prior post, but I just had to go ahead and dedicate a special post to her.
She’s getting older ya know. She’s a Grammy already for Pete’s sake (who is Pete anyway?). So here’s to my little sister, who is slightly younger than I…
Happy Birthday to you Cletus.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

She and I used to fight like cats and dogs. She was forever getting into my stuff, ruining my make-up, wearing my clothes, messing up my stuff, a real nuisance. It took many a year for us to become bestest friends. I sure do miss her. Love you Seester.

4 Months

Thursday marked our fourth month here. Wow, time flies!
We have seen the seasons change from late spring to summer, then fall. We are staring down Old Man Winter, but he seems to be holding off a bit, thankfully. I am sure that we will be excited come spring to see the end of winter’s grip, but first we will enjoy our first snow and have fun playing in it!