We have thieves in our neighborhood. The go cart got stolen, gas cans & we think gas siphoned out of our trailblazer. Also our storage building had stuff shuffled all around in it. Stacked boxes piled and spilled all over the floor. Probably things stolen there too. My dad has stuff stored in there and I can’t remember what I have stored in it. Neighbor had stuff taken too. It really stinks because now we have to lock everything up and lost a sense of security & privacy. We used to leave our keys in our vehicles half the time. We also didn’t feel the need to always lock up. The boys (especially Tanner) are really worked up over it. We think the little shits thieves are kids because we had power tools, saws & other valuable stuff outside( and so did our neighbor) that wasn’t taken. IF they come back Jeremy & our neighbor have plans to make sure they don’t ever want to come back or steal again. Just really sucks.
1. Another hole in the wall. Yes a hole. From exhuberant boys running through the house. The approximate size of a door knob. This is why I am enforcing the no slamming of door policy. 3 holes now. Come on!!
2. Dishwasher wheels. They pop off and when you pop then back on the plastic do-hickey breaks. Now the tray doesn’t slide and is a big pain in the butt everytime loading and unloading dishes. Tried to order more wheels. They don’t have wheels on their parts list. E-mailed to get some….still waiting to find out if I can even get some.
3. TV. This is big. Not only a big problem but a big TV. Our power went out the other day for 2-3 hours and later that night when we went to watch TV it did not work. Even though it was plugged into a power surge protector something happened. Discovered our TV is no longer made because of so many problems. Discovered also out TV can be fixed by one authorized appliance dealer that just happens to be 40 miles away. Also discovered our TV is pretty big and won’t fit in the inside or our SUV. We brought it home orginally in the back of the truck. Yesterday morning it was raining so we couldn’t bring it in and yesterday afternoon when it wasn’t we didn’t have time because we had to be at baseball by 4. I could care less that we have a TV or not but the kids really want it fixed. Plus it is (was) a nice TV and fairly new so we should get it fixed. Funny thing our old 10 year old TV ( we gave away) is still working fine and has never had any problems. We aren’t completely TV less we do have a TV in my bedroom but there is no playstation, DVR or DVD. The horror! I’m sure the kids will survive for a few days or weeks.
Let’s see what else can I bitch about LOL. Nope that’s it for today. I’m really not bitching either…just sharing my JOY. It is all good. Everything else is just beautiful. Except for the weather. Our so called Summer. We have had maybe 3 sunny warm days. And with that I might be estimating a little high. Last night I wore a sweater to baseball. And other layers. Last night I enjoyed a nice hot cup of tea before bed. Who in the world has hot tea in JULY before bed?? Our furnace kicks on some mornings. Let’s see….going for a walk the other night I saw some leaves changing. Seriously. We are not having a summer. I’m hoping we’ll get hot, warm weather the next few weeks and August & September will be nice.
Other than that and oh gas prices…$5.19 for Diesel now and $4.46 for Regular…things are great…kids are happy, busy and most importantly healthy. Garden is slowly coming in. Ripley has been porcupine free for 5 or 6 days. (She also has been tied up) The cows have been back. YES. Actually had them in our drive last night. Pretty hilarious…who has cows in their drive??? I can just hear it…”You must be a redneck if you have cows wandering down your drive…” Jeremy and I heard them on our trail the other night and scared me to death. It’s scary having bears around. Scary about moose charging. But what also is scary is having a cow pop out on the trail and point it’s head down with big horns and stare at you. That is also scary. That and hearing 4-5 other cows thrashing through the woods. If Jeremy doesn’t get a moose or caribou this year there’s a pretty good chance we might be getting beef.
So there’s my update…I know it’s been awhile…just been busy with…LIFE! Happy Weekend!!
YES. You guessed it Ripley came home with more porcupine quills.
This is her weekly deal. We got 17 out of her face and she has about 7 left. Sorry no pictures it wasn’t really a Kodak type of moment.
Our fence is wide open in one area since Jeremy is changing some of it to wood fencing. I should have tied her up. I should have known better. It’s just one of those things…you think she would learn…you would think she could keep to herself and be good on 10 acres…you would think…..What sucks is if she was a puppy it’d be easy to get rid of her…give her away…but we’ve had her for 6 years. She is really a sweet dog & part of the family and we have never had too many problems with her besides her ignoring us when we call her and the new porcupine love she has. She has gotten better on coming when we call. We reward her with treats and praise and she has been really good on that. Porcupines…I think it is a lost cause. She loves the smell…they are slow and she thinks she can get them. Problem is they get her!
This is SO sweet! Really touched me this morning! Sniff! Sniff!!
We had another successful float trip down the Little Su. 3 nights, 4 days, approximately 55 miles and 18 hours float time. When we left our house Saturday morning it was 45 degrees. We bundled up with layers and were on the river by 10:30 am. We floated 8 hours then set up camp for the night. We had a great camping spot and we could see the Kings roll. The next morning we woke up to rain. Decided to hang out at our camping spot until it cleared off. We hung up a tarp and hung out outside staying dry. We had breakfast & lunch and fished until it cleared off and we could tear down camp. From there we floated another 3-4 hours to our next camping spot. This camping spot was up on a hill over looking the river. We had camped there before and really loved the spot. We saw Kings rolling again at this spot and decided to stay for 2 nights. We had beautiful weather and went from long johns and polar fleeces to t-shirts and shorts. Beautiful and sunny. Warm! :) It was a nice change since this has been one of the coldest summers I can remember. 
Lots of fishing was done.
But unfortunately no success of bringing one in. We had lines snap several times. Here is Tanner bringing in the biggest fish of his life. He had to fight it for quite a long time and it looked to us to be about a 30lb King Salmon. This bad boy bent Tanner’s swivel on his line and broke free. He was pretty bummed on that!! But still had fun. It was pretty exciting!
Tanner did a lot of rowing so Jeremy could fish. He is becoming quite experienced at handling the Kataraft and reading the river. Hunter had some practice too. By the time the boys are adults they will have quite a bit of experience. They have become very experienced campers and can pretty much take care of themselves on our outings now.
Some beautiful scenery. Just so relaxing floating along….Haley came up with a new word on our trip for when you are chillin’ and relaxin’….CHILL-LAXIN! 
Our cozy tent where everyone pig piled. And I mean everyone. Dogs included. The kids had fun each night rolling all over us and our cozy, cuddly togetherness. 
Haley loved the flowers. We made little homes for forest fairies. This provided hours of fun and imagination. Tanner decided to make a big home for squirrels. He even made a swing, football field, moat and a tiny little garden for his. At 12 it makes me wonder how many more moments he will have like this. Childhood goes by so quickly.
This was the first float with 2 dogs. It was a little interesting just because of limited space in the front of the kataraft. Also the kids have grown considerably from our last float 2 years ago. Future floats will have some changes so everyone is a little more comfortable. Ripley has done 3 or 4 floats with us and is an experienced traveler. Ginger did pretty good but wanted to jump in the water a few times. I guess it’s being a pure bred yellow lab. Water lover. Ripley looks like a black lab but has a breed in her that doesn’t draw her to the water.
On our second night of camping just minutes after the tent was set up and I was starting dinner….Ripley came back to camp with porcupine quills all over her face. Unbelievable!!! I think she is the dumbest dog ever. Just doesn’t learn. This was her 5th or 6th encounter since May. So after quill removal we tied her up to a tree and she remained tied up to something the remainder of our trip.
What’s amazing about a trip like this is the remoteness of it. We are totally out of cell phone range. We hardly see anyone on this trip of 55 miles down the river. Where we put in we see a few jet boats and then we see quite a few where we take out but the middle stretch of the river we see very few people. The second day we saw only 2 people floating by on single katarafts. We didn’t pass any other campers until the very end of our float. It is quite beautiful and pristine. We saw a couple of moose, eagles soaring overhead and nesting in trees, a variety of ducks & birds…and thankfully no bears or bear sign. Kids wanted to see bears but I sure could pass on that.
Real “roughing it” camping is a great reminder to what is really important to make you happy.(And what you really need) Out in the wild the most important things are food, warmth and staying dry. The rest is all a bonus. It is amazing how happy and content you can be with just those 3 things. Simplicity at it’s core.
Still cold. Still not summer. And if you can believe this our family is going on our favorite float trip this weekend. The forecast says rain. But then the forecast has been wrong a bunch. Decided this morning to join Jeremy on a trip to San Diego next month. Just a few days on the beach and heat is all I need. Heaven.
NOT!
Where are the the warm sun-shiny HOT summer days??? Not here in Alaska that’s for sure! We had a couple nice days last week. But not HOT. Not days to say,”I just LOVE summer here in Alaska!” Or days you break a sweat in. No days like that HERE.
I better stop at that or this could go on and on into something to the effect that I need to move somewhere tropical like Hawaii. Not that I have been thinking that or anything……..just sayin’….
So… here it is today “officially” summer and the boys and Jeremy went off King fishing and Haley & I decided to stay home. It doesn’t sound fun to go stand outside when it is raining and chilly. So us girls are hanging out at home and going to snuggle up in just a bit to watch a movie. If we can’t have a hot warm day nothing better than a lazy day at home relaxing!
This morning Jeremy & I went to a few nurseries and bought some perennials and trees for our landscaping. I’m planting as many perennials as I can. So easy to plant once and be done with it all!
We bought:
2 different Columbines and forget-me-nots for one of my flower beds.
A new mug-ho pine to replace one of ours in front of our house that looks like it is dying.
Kiwi plants. You have to buy a female and a male. Plant them together and then it grows really tall together up to 10ft. This is going under our deck with hopes that it will grow up the side of the stairs.
A May Day tree because they grow really good in Alaska and will fit nice near our patio. Well patio area…we still need to put in our patio. Goal for this summer.
And a plum tree. Why?? Because it’d be cool to try to grow plums in Alaska. We’re weird I know.
So now we have a small little orchard of trees….a variety of apples, cherries and a plum tree. Can’t wait till they produce one day and we can do things with our bounty!!!
Garden is slowly…slowly growing…need warm weather soon!
That’s about it for now…send warm weather north!!!
I spent the last two nights up late reading Summer Sisters. It’s a great book and I was sad to finish it! Sometimes I hate finishing books just would love for them to go on and on and on. Sigh. Will have to find a new book today.
We had a couple warm days at the beginning of the week and now it’s back to our drab cool weather. Tuesday was really warm and so on Wednesday the kids wanted to go to the beach. We went even though it was only in the 60’s. The water was really cold and I only went in it once and that was to get my nephew’s ball for him. Glad we went though because the kids had fun and living in Alaska I know we just have to take advantage of the nice days we get.
Our garden isn’t doing too much. We put plastic over our beans and corn to warm up the soil. Finally we have seeds popping through the dirt. As they pop through I have been cutting slits in the plastic to let them through. Our lettuces and peas are doing pretty good and some of the herbs I planted next to our house. Not sure how our tomato plants will do without a greenhouse and our cooler weather. We have tomatoes on many of our plants but they just don’t look healthy too me. We saved one tomato plant to grow inside and it was doing awesome and now has blite or something.
Tomorrow is the longest day of the year. Right now it never gets dark and the reason our schedules are all screwed up. We’re staying up later…sleeping in later…it’s hard to get bed when it is light out. Last night I found myself wandering in the garden after 11pm. Kids need their sleep though so I’m trying to keep them on somewhat of a schedule. Haley has gotten overtired and difficult to reason with when she hasn’t had enough rest…Hunter too…yesterday he was so tired and wanted to go with Tanner to Boy Scouts because he didn’t want to miss out but then didn’t want to go because he felt tired. He was upset because he didn’t know what to do. I let him make his own decision which was to stay home. Tanner just gets irritable without a full night of sleep as do I. The kids went to bed after 11 last night and now at almost 9 am they are still sleeping.
I’m about ready to get started on my day. Off to workout, get ready, run errands & baseball later tonight. And search for a new book….
A mama & calf visited us. This was taken with my NEW camera. Could have been better if I would have had the other lens on. By the time I switched lenses the moose moved on. My moose pictures will improve this year!!!
View from Camp. How incredible is THAT??? Living here I still am in awe at all the beauty!!!
Here’s me and my Dad! We celebrated Father’s Day on Saturday. I goofed and invited some friends to dinner on Sunday not thinking it was Father’s Day so we did a family day on Saturday with my Dad, my niece, Jeremy’s bro, Nicki & my cute nephews!
It was a very easy going weekend. Wish the weather would warm up!! The weather people LIE. This morning our heat actually kicked in. Yea…not a warm June so far. Hopefully the week will shape up. Our garden is very slow due to the cold weather…not much growing. All my basil I planted outside looks horrible. My basil inside looks awesome. Just never know.
