Alaska on my mind…

Today marks the ninth anniversary of my Father’s, of blessed memory, passing. As is our custom, we spend this time at the cabin to remember the man the best way we can, in his element. We will lift a glass of rhubarb wine around the bonfire and tell tall tales. Hopefully a friend or two of his will stop by and join us.

I usually plan some sort of project to do while there. Two years ago it was his memorial scrapbook. This year, I’ve got a couple of projects in mind. I’ll put a new wreath up too, of course.

My memorial project is a memory box for Fritz. Dad kept his collar and of course lots of pics of his best friend. I made a dog tag for Fritz and bought some pet themed scrapbook supplies to finish the shadow box frame I picked up for this project. I’ll be able to display it on the wall. Something that was important to Dad, in honor of both of them.

My other special project is going to be updating the 12v lighting. I purchased some light sockets to convert the 3 propane lamps to battery/solar power. Everything I do will be reversible as I don’t want to permanently alter them. If need be, I’ll be able to pull the sockets out and replace the mantles and use the propane again. I also got a switch so these will be able to easily turn on/off.

Over the years I have installed a hodge podge of 12v lighting, over the sink, stove and sun room. I’ll be replacing the lights over the sink and stove with these nice RV lights. Easy single or double light switches for adjustable brightness. Then I’ll update the sun room with one of the lights I took down. That way the kids will have a light over their bed. Every light downstairs will have a switch instead of alligator clips! 👍🏼

In addition, I want to make a hanging light for the center of the cabin. It will be something like the one I made for Jake’s cabin. I just have to finalize a design. I want it to be dual power, AC & DC so either way we can have the light on. But this project will probably be done at a later date.