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Tag Archives: Alaska life

Power is out.

Again.

Wind storm tonight, first quarter moon and overcast so it’s really dark. Odd day it’s been,  started off with a pretty good little earthquake. Temp got up to 44° today, really Old Man Winter?? First time I’ve seen the end of October this warm.

Felt this one really good.

We were working up the last of our meat chickens, that we slaughtered on Sunday evening, we were on the second to last one when the final flicker happened. Thankfully I had filled some reserve jugs of water earlier and with what capacity we have in the lines/pressure tank we had enough water to finish the job.

I already had the canner prepped with a batch of canned chicken meat (I had run a batch of chicken broth this morning!). Propane cooktop still works, just have to manually light the burners. We know how to make do!

Chicken broth in progress, made 2 gallons.

So here I sit in the darkness, with a headlamp on for light when I need it, a phone with half a charge, listening to my canner weight dancing around its 11# psi. Watching the blue glow of the burner flame faintly illuminating that portion of the kitchen. While the dog prances around wondering why it’s so dark. Waiting for my 90 minute timer to go off.

Power should be restored by 3 am the Power Company says. Not that I’ll care at that point, hope to be sound asleep before then.

I probably should consider a generator for times like these. However inconvenient losing power is, it kinda brings a sense of calm, a slowing down, a moment of pause . I’m not so sure I want that generator after all.

I remember back when we were kids, living on 6th street, when the power would go off we’d get so excited! We busy ourselves with grabbing the candles and lighting them only for the power to always come back on within very few minutes (our close proximity to the hospital meant we were never down long).

Awww, those were the good old days.

#alaskalife #canning #poweroutage #foodpreservation

We were pushing it but thanks to Old Man Winter for delaying his arrival we managed to get all of our birds dispatched and into the coolers! We started at Mo’s house and her 30 birds then moved over to ours and our hodgepodge of  18 or so birds. Nearly 50 birds done, mess cleaned up and only one minor boo-boo. (I cut my finger a little!) All finished before it started to freeze.

Good job!

#Relieved #grateful #fillingthefreezer #stockingthepantey

Mo’s happy hens

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.

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…

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

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?]

Taking Moose to meet his new people and go to his furever home.
Pup #1
Spinning demonstration, he was full of questions!
Processed 30 fish: one canner's full fileted and ready to process tonight & one canner's full worth in the freezer for another day...

Solstice means fish in our family!

Memories from 5 years ago.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dEqTreyrgTMRxz33A