It just seems to be a challenge

to get to this blog lately. Maybe not the blog itself, but to taking pictures to share with you! I need to just jump in the car and drive ... with a camera in hand. So in the meantime ... you get to walk around the yard with me.

The fish are running on the Klutina and Jari is planning on heading there tomorrow. Friday evening entertainment for me was defrosting the freezer. Crack. Me. Up. What happened to good ol' Friday nites ... those when you went out to eat or something like that. Now I'm thrilled to get the freezer defrosted! Maybe so I can go fishing?

The rest of the weekend was typically busy and so good.

Saturday:

• glasses in to get the bows fixed (I am now wearing prescription reading glasses)
• refrigerator cleaned (really need to hit the grocery store)
• stop in at a retirement party to celebrate a career in the Army
• laundry room mucked out (at least for the moment)
• our field of dandelions got mowed
• completely missed all the photo ops at the Colony Days celebration. Bummer.
• a trip to Target (it is amazing the things that I schedule into this life of mine)
• Jari finished building me this!

The space without plants has been Duke's space. It was his place to lay and protect "his people". Back against the house wall ... just as in our other house. Anything I tried to plant just didn't survive. He just laid on it and killed it. Sorry, Duke. It is no longer yours. I want to tie something around the joints of this little rustic fence. Either some young sapling branches or some birch bark. Either way ... I love it! The first half of the area is full of strawberry plants. I put them in the ground last year and they are really going wild this summer. Now to fill the other side with the same. I was told yesterday that I could do this

with the runners. I snipped off the ones that were headed in the wrong direction and we'll see what happens. I may not need to buy another plant. My strawberry rhubarb pie garden may just work out after all! Who needs a salsa garden, right?

Jari also made me something else that I was asking for ... but I need to take the broom to it before I dare post a picture. It does look quite sweet. Cost nothing, looks good and serves the intended purpose. Can't beat that!

Some things just take a while to get done. Why is that? We Jari put plastic up on one side of the porch over the winter ... the last of which finally came down yesterday evening. And several baskets went up. Now the flowers just need to grow!

Tom Huhta was here for the weekend (bringing along his 10 year old son who dreams of moving here someday) so we had a nice discussion Saturday evening, followed by a very nice Sunday afternoon. We had Steve and Jeannette over in the evening. It has been so much fun having them here in town. Moments like these ...

are pure priceless. (Anna, I pilfered a picture from your FB.)

Otherwise, I'm just enjoying summer ... and planning a wee bit for winter.

Was just pumped yesterday bright and early in the morning. Once in a while I hop on the airline sites to see if there is anything worthwhile anywhere. Last year I missed the deal because I didn't have time scheduled off of work. This year I got it! I've already scheduled vacation from work for the end of February and beginning of March. What would have worked as far as Spring Break last year won't work this year. SB is one week later. Kids are going to miss 2 weeks of school. Ouch. We'll just have to work and plan on that ahead of time. Two tickets down. Several more to go. Fly from Anchorage to Phoenix for 25,000 miles round trip (20,000 if you use a US Airways credit card for your $30 fee). Anna figures she can do the missing school thing. Let's hope the state of Alaska has some money come PFD time in the fall ... and maybe we'll manage to get a couple more flights scheduled. Now I have to just fix the vacation days at work. I have us leaving a day earlier that I planned on. Messes me up all the time .. this leaving after midnight stuff!

Off to work and then maybe some overtime this evening. Someone gave me a great idea for a chicken dinner last week. I can't remember what he mixed in with the honey! (I wonder if his wife remembers .. I know where to find her.) It is driving me crazy! I'll do what I can remember .. and put it in the crockpot instead of a baking bag ... and see what happens!

Have a great day!

Friday morning ...

I heard the oddest thing this morning. Was sitting out on the porch and I heard what sounded like a cow eating grass. Munch, Munch, Munch. I really have heard that sound before.
And. I. Don't. Own. A. Cow.
I had a moment of fear for my garden.
Then I realized that the sun has been in hiding and my garden doesn't really know what it should do without sunshine.
Whew!
So, what does a good girl do?
She grabs a camera.
And couldn't find any critters to capture.

Instead she captured a bit of everything else around here.

I have been assured that the lawn will be mowed on Saturday. I don't know that I would necessarily call it a lawn at this point. Maybe a weed patch. But it is green ...

and our darling Duke does love to smell the flowers ... he doesn't care what color they are.

Lilacs. Everyone else has lilacs in full bloom. Mine are trying to get there. I'll just get to enjoy them longer. :)

My mystery white tree that blooms absolutely beautiful and gives me no fruit whatsoever. She gives plenty of beauty enough without the fruit ... I'll keep her.

Strawberries doing a great job of growing ...

while I'm way behind in the zucchini department.

The nasty little critters are building themselves a home in the greenhouse. We kicked them off the screened porch ... looks like they found a new home. We're letting them stay a while. We even made extra holes for them so they could get in ...

and we're hoping they do the pollinating for me.

Dahlias probably won't grow for me. If my lilacs still aren't blooming ... is it any wonder that my tulips won't bloom? Why do I think that dahlias would?

Violas are just the daintiest ever.

The wooded areas are absolutely beautiful. Full of soft feathery ferns and wild roses.

You're not likely to catch me on a shopping expedition of any kind in my free time. Instead, perhaps I'll take a camera with me and head out on an explore through the trees this weekend ... seeing what I can find.

Another busy weekend around the corner. Jari went fishing today with Steve Forstie ... talk about a throwback in time. They use to fish together every Tuesday evening ... for years. Did they golf on Thursday mornings? I can't remember which day of the week it was. They'll have a great time, and if the kings are biting for them ... then it'll be what my dad calls a perfect day of fishing ... nothing to clean!

Visitors and rhubarb

The two together ... great combination!

We had a houseful Monday evening. Super fun. Thanks to all of you for coming over. Always a treat to have folks over.

My rhubarb doesn't exactly look like this picture. My rhubarb has gone wild and is being picked constantly. How much pie can you make and still fit in your clothes at the end of the summer?! Shucks! I tried something new last week and must share the recipe with you. We used it all up last night ... and it was a serious hit.

If you have access to rhubarb .... and need some other way to use it ... here's a great one!

Rhubarb Slush Punch

8 cups rhubarb, chopped
8 cups water
2 cups granulated sugar
1 3-oz package strawberry-flavored gelatin (dry)
1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice

Cook rhubarb and water in a large nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until very soft, about 20 minutes. Strain and discard pulp; return liquid to saucepan. Heat liquid, then add remaining ingredients; stir until sugar and gelatin dissolve.

Freeze mixture in a 2-quart plastic food container. When serving, put frozen punch in a punch bowl, and add 2 quarts ginger ale. Serve.  Makes about 1 1/2 quarts.

I did what the recipe said and ended up with twice as much ... my rhubarb is quite moist in the beginning of the season. Tonite I'm making more, but only adding enough water so the rhubarb doesn't burn in the bottom of the pan while it cooks. I added lemon lime soda to the frozen stuff in a pitcher ... and it was awesome! Good enough to use up every drop of it ... along with 8 litres of soda. I'll let you know how the more concentrated version works out. I plan to just add the water when I make the punch. I might have to start hunting another freezer ... just for rhubarb! Try mixing with lemonade ... (I'm seriously wishing I had a bunch of that in the freezer right now!) or anything else that strikes your fancy.

Let me know how it works out!

"I Can Explain"

Rearing of children is something else.

We go through all these phases of having "guests" live with us.

"Who?"

"Not Me"

"I Don't Know"

I'm sure there have been many others that have lived with us as well.

Friday evening Blayde brought me an industrial size back of Vermiculite for gardening purposes. I should have vermiculite for the next several years. I hope it doesn't go bad. Went to grab a pair of scissors and came up with with half a pair. I know that scissors are light, but it was sort of like lifting your purse when you didn't replace the wallet full of change in it. An expected light lifting.

Probably because I came up with half a pair of scissors.

Mom: "What on earth happened here?"

Brock: "I can explain."

And so we move on to the next phase of life. The "I Can Explain" guest is here. We really like this one. It takes responsibility for it's actions. It keeps us from wondering .. although sometimes it probably leaves us guessing for a little while. If in the end "I Can Explain" owns up to their mistakes ... we all learn from it.

I could write so much on life lived with teens, but won't do it at their expense. That's not fair to them .. and none of them are illiterate.  I should secretly be writing a book or journal somewhere ... published when they are all gray haired like their mother. I'm not doing that either. I figure that God gave us memory relapse in our old age for a very good reason. I'll remember the fun stuff and forget the things that are best forgotten.

This weekend, tho', we had a very good lesson in "I Can Explain" that went well beyond the scissors coming out of the cup as half a pair. Somedays you just have to smile when you see your young people turning into responsible young adults. Makes parents smile and their hearts warm ....

It is raining!!

Second day in a row with rain.
The firefighters fighting the blazes certainly need the rain.
The grass will love it.

Let's hope the vegies outside agree with everyone else!

If it keeps up .... I'm going to warm the house with some pulla baking tomorrow.

It has been a while.

Rain, rain, come our way ....

It looks like ... we just may be getting some rain today.

Cross your fingers.

We desperately need some.

The cucumber plants are nearly all blooming.

The pickling cukes even have what looks like little starts of cucumbers.

Mmmm ...

Tomato plants are growing like crazy, but not yet blooming.

Carrots are up in the greenhouse and I may have seen a few outside. Need my spectacles on to see if it is a weed or not.

Strawberries are blooming and shooting runners. The plants are large and luscious!

Rhubarb has gone wild.

The flowers I am planting this year are planted and/or potted.

Next come the peas ... and the peppers need to make it into large pots. I bought marigolds to try and keep the aphids at bay. Should probably go get another couple of 6 packs of those for tomato companions as well.

The lawn is mowed and looks beautiful!

Couple of hostas in the ground and hoping to see something wonderful out of them so I can split them next year.

Next year ... a larger cleared spot for a garden ... moose fencing ... and canning jar shopping.

For the moment ... I love going out there after a day at work to see what else is popping up ... and what I need to thin.

The truck lost the serpentine belt yesterday.

Don't ask me.

I don't know about these things.

I do know that it had worn away the top of the pulley that it rides on.

And I do know that it picked the most convenient place to quit.

Not at home.

It picked the parking lot of the Super Shops ... where it should be getting new pieces today.

We cannot hardly believe that we made it home from Valdez on Monday. We haven't a clue how that happened. Well ... we do have a clue. We have a mighty big clue. Remember that Finance Department that wasn't sure it should be going? That one couldn't have handled a breakdown somewhere between here and Valdez. God was watching over us.

After waking up to a nightmare that "Charlie the Bear" (grizzly kind, mind you) had me in his arms sometime at about 1:38 a.m., I was up at 5:30 this morning. Laundry is spinning this bright and early morning. Anna & Tia are over at Jolene's and going to help her do some packing for a move to a new place of living. They'll have a grand day today!

Me, I'm just hoping for rain ... and to work 'til 11pm tonite!

We made it!!

The weather was absolutely beautiful! Not a stitch of rain, the sun was bright, the air was warm ... wonderful camping weather! We camped at a campground that I would definately go back to again ... even had a shower facility for our use.

The Marina in Valdez.

Taken from the Old Valdez townsite that was moved after the '64 earthquake.

Plenty of s'more makin' going on.

Waterfalls unlike anything I've ever seen in my life.

Thompson Pass covered in snow.

Barely inhabited God's Country.

The Marjanen crew that camped the weekend with Matanuska Glacier in the background. Was a fun weekend!