Another busy week

I feel badly that I don't manage to get on here as much as I'd like to lately. The kids don't have to get up for school ... so I'm not getting up as early as I use to. Argh. I really like mornings spent on the computer before work. This week I probably did a little bill paying instead on mornings where I had 10 minutes instead of the school year hour and a half.

This week:

• Monday evening Jari brought Markus to the airport for a 1 am-ish flight
• In the same run he picked up Fred Kako who is now up here visiting
• Ben is still here ... wishing we could have gone to do something fun with him ... I think he and Brock drove MILES of ATV trails around here tho'
• Jari was working on a job in Whittier starting on Tuesday and Fred did some running to and from Whittier (2 hour drive) shuttling an employee who had to be in Anchorage for Wednesday morning (lucky Fred!)
• Wednesday nite Jari came home for a few hours to sleep and was gone again
• I managed to stick lasagne in the fridge for an "on call" Thursday and even put some pasti in the freezer!
• Thursday evening I was fortunate to not get called in ... Anna was off babysitting during the day ... company in the evening .... and then a run to the airport to drop off Ben
• Ben was flying standby .. quite a feat out of Alaska in the summertime .. Brock and I parked in the cell phone lot and waited for a call from Ben .. yay or nay on whether he got on the flight
• Yay was the call at 2:15 am-ish ... we were home shortly after 3 am
• So today I slept 'til 10 ... and then enjoyed my holiday off work
• Those of you who know me know how much I love extra days off
• I played with the charger on my cell phone .. it is giving up the ghost .. quite a pickle
• So if you don't get a text or something from me it's because all my numbers are in a phone that won't charge at the moment ... frustration central!
• Did some laundry today ... did some weeding today ...
• Snapped a few pictures today

We are fortunate in that our water at this house is good to drink. Not everyone has that luxury. We have a filtered line as well, but I like it straight out of the tap. Especially when you get the downright frosty stuff. Certainly didn't see this in Phoenix!

Today was also a day for getting a few "been on the list forever" projects done. My kitchen window is 2 stories up and can't be gotten to from inside the house. Trust me. I have tried. I almost fell in the sink that is in front of the window. I thought I was going to need knee replacement before I was done. I gave up. But ... I can't stand the dirty outside of the window. Fred put the ladder up there for me and I shimmied up the thing and washed the window. Not bad for a girl who isn't really fond of ladders. Going up ain't bad. Coming down stinks. Was worth it ... I now can gaze at a reflection of the window!

Another one of my summer projects. Mom use to always tell me that my plants would probably live if I remembered to water them. I think she was right. Between water and Miracle Gro ... I'm doing much better. My newest thing is rooting more of them. Maybe I'll eventually have a plant or two that stays alive in the house!

And off to cutting rhubarb. The ongoing project. Cut and use or freeze it. A little every week and the project isn't nearly overwhelming. Probably should start watering the stuff. We're not having nearly the rain that we had last year. Then again. The stuff comes up everywhere and doesn't want to leave. It is actually poking up in the greenhouse of all places. No wonder my peppers aren't growing well. Maybe the roots are all tangled up with rhubarb that is trying to pop through.

After dilly dallying the late afternoon away ... napping more of it away ... decided that we should probably have some dinner. It is summer. Doesn't matter what time dinner is, right? Fresh salmon that Fred caught yesterday, salad from the greenhouse ... delish! Strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert and all is right in our little world.

So after my sleeping in today. After my nap today. The clock now reads 2:19 a.m. What on earth am I doing on the computer? Who knows. I imagine that tomorrow I will sleep in again. Does it matter? Nope. Not a bit. So will my kiddos. I'll do some more laundry. Try freezing a batch of green beans. See what the rest of the day brings.

This one brought a few vehicular challenges. Jari's truck went to the Dodge dealer shop in Anchorage today. Something with the front end. Blayde's Subaru barely made it home today. CV boot or something like that. The car Alyx drives has brakes that are nonexistent. I think Jari's doing some car work. We'll celebrate Independence Day doing some car work and laundry. Then ... who knows. Maybe some fishing. Maybe a barbeque. Maybe some fireworks. Most definately a nap. Happy 4th of July!

A few summer shots of life at our house.

Weeds. They are an essential part of living. My favorite saying use to be "Green is Good". That was when I was desperately trying to grow grass in Phoenix. Green is still good, but holy cow! These lovely weeds are blooming nicely. They just happen to be just as tall as I am. There is a limit to this "good" thing. A bit beyond weed whacking.


Summer = fishing. Fishing just as much as you possibly can. Hopefully you catch something along the way. This house loves the activity. This households mother would really like to catch something one day. I'd be thrilled with one salmon this year. Doesn't need to be a king. Doesn't need to be big. Just ONE would be swell. My goal for the summer. Manageable ... don't you think?

Then there is the gardening. Experiments in progress. This is our potato project. If this works I'll start running ads on Craigs List looking for tires. You put your potato plants in the first tire ... preferably at the bottom. When the green is growing wonderful, you add the second tire and fill with dirt. Continue 'til the tires are all stacked. Now the potatoes should fill the tires. Will see how it works.

First year for these gizmos as well. The tomato plants are growing nicely and starting to bloom. These things are suppose to hold 70 pounds of tomatoes. I'm not greedy. I'll take a few tho'!

THIS is what I could garden for ... almost this alone. Zucchini. Bread. Muffins. Tried frying it for dinner tonite. Must have cooked it a bit too long. Will have to try it again. Maybe next time I'll try the grill.

Then there are flowers. This is the first bloom on flowers that I started from seed. Ahhhh. So special. Not sure I'll do that next year. Too much time and energy. Much easier to buy the 6 paks from somewhere. Fun to try tho'.

Time to head back to the kitchen. I have bread dough in the bread machine. This is a cheat thing. 1/2 of my favorite bread recipe into the bread machine. Have it make the dough. Move the dough to pans. Bake. I need to teach Anna how to do this. :) My mouth is watering.

Somedays I'm not sure what I should admit to ...

Like ... would you admit that you gave birth to this goofball? The getup looks sort of lady like. The Pepsi could pass for a torch. Voi etta! Must have just a wee bit of his goofy dad in him.

And then there is this one. The obstacle course at this Carnival included a rope thing that she couldn't manage. So they allowed her to ROLL down the muddy hill instead. I shudder to think where those clothes went. 'Cuz I don't think I've seen them since then.

Then there are those 2 yahoos. Note the ones who seem to be supervising the construction here. The brown/white stripe sweathshirt and the red sweatshirt. I'm betting that we could almost count the number of times they've actually held a hammer in their hands. Brown/white stripe Brock was put on the winning team tho'.

They were the quickest to build a chair, haul him across the field and have him still sitting in it with the chair holding his weight. Congrats!

Then there's the other one. This is our rent a child. He's up here hanging out for a bit. I think he's acclimated since he came. He said our house was cold when he came. Today he had his sweatshirt off ... I think. So this kid is tall. He has stretched like a weed since I last saw him. 6'2" with size 13 shoes. Stilll he braved it to play the high heel race game. Gotta love a challenge.

That was our Friday evening ... how was yours?

Freedom evening

Freedom evening is on when you're On Call at work and don't get called in! Pure bliss. Doesn't take much to keep this lady smilin'. Time to clean my bathroom ... vacuum my room ... digest several pages of a book and skip cooking dinner.

Come to think of it ... I still haven't eaten and it's 10:33 pm! Time to head back to the salmon dip. Jari came home today with some yummy salmon dip that is totally delicious. My secret treat.

We have a crew heading out to hit the Russian River here in about half an hour or so. None of my offspring are going. I think Ben and Brock are fished out. Is that possible? Only a nibble in the last several days. HOURS of driving ... HOURS of fishing ... ONE nibble. Maybe more than one.

Let 'em rest. Tomorrow evening we attend a fundraiser carnival at the Laulainen household. Ought to be a fun evening.

Saturday I think will be another Freedom Day.

Celebrate it with laundry ... cleaning the oven ... moving tomato plants ... fixing the lawnmower.

The lawmower. It sort of got diesel fuel in the gas tank instead of regular gasoline. Oops. I wouldn't have known the difference between a red and yellow gas can either. The dandelions need mowing.

Have a great Friday!

... and on they go ....

driving their way toward Kluane Lake for a camping spot tonite ... about 580 miles. Then off to Haines the next night to catch a ferry to Juneau on Saturday morning. Interesting that the 49th State of the Union will be the 49th state capitol photo that they take on Saturday. It has been so much fun having them here. They leave without colds from no sleep ... a tent heater to keep them a tad bit warmer tonite ... and still room in the car for some more goodies!

My camera needed a battery charge this morning when I went to shoot a few last photos so Jari got these on the phone.

Last night we went to Bible Class and then managed to squeak in 2 last games of Scrabble. We may need to just keep that board out of the closet! We've thoroughly enjoyed it.

Tuesday evening ...

These 3 yahoos ran to 3 Bears for sugar. :) They don't look like they're having any fun do they? They declined coming with us. We went looking for Beluga Whales. It ended up being a goose chase instead, but we had some really good chuckles. After going down a few roads that went no where, we headed down to the airstrip instead. Those roads ... they went places. Folks' lived at the ends of those roads. Just couldn't find the water we were looking for! This is the airstrip at Point McKenzie. 3/4 of a mile according to Markus and the iphone. :) Our pilot was a bit on the wild side. He gunned the engine and we did a serious takeoff. Tia had needed a restroom on our bumpy trip ... this certainly wasn't helping the situation.

At the end of the airstrip is this place littered with shell casings and shot up trees. I think we're going to go out there shooting with the kids ... along with trash bags and rubber gloves ... and do a bit of cleaning up. This view sort of makes you wonder how close you really dare get to the edge ...

In case you end up down there in that Citation ...

My pictures are a bit deceptive. This is a long way down there. My short lens was in the car.
Boys and girl having some fun trying to get the cars down below. Our high powered stuff was left at home .. they got rocks instead. :)

Anchorage across the way. A bit further than this looks, but much further by car.

Grandma was a wee bit chilly. 37 degrees outside this morning ... no wonder she's chilly! Add tired to that and it makes for an interesting combination sometimes. Maybe next time we'll have to go on a whale watching adventure. I'm hoping they see plenty of them on the ferry to and out of Juneau.

A stop at the Knik Museum that was closed. Great for photos tho'.

I really like this boat. Wonder what the story behind it is.

A stop at Fred Meyer so Markus could get another King tag and go fishing today. Check out the snow on the top of the mountain in the background. That is new. It wasn't there the day before. It has been raining and the mountain is looking white. Voi etta! Not yet! Here, that stuff is called Termination Dust.

So ends a Tuesday and begins a Wednesday. G'ma and G'pa are packing a car today. :( Bible Class this evening and tomorrow they have a long drive ahead of them.

Tuesday morning and my 2nd day back to work

Thank God for a job. That's all I have to say on that one. :)

Saturday fishing for the guys yielded a fish big enough to taste on Father's Day. How fun to spend Father's Day with my dad. That doesn't happen very often at all. They guys had a great experience on Saturday, even if the fish catching left a bit to be desired! Jari did a late night trip to the airport to pick up Markus. Along with him came a surprise visitor for Brock ... Ben Wuollet. We really tried to get Brock into the truck to help dad stay awake but it didn't work ... and I didn't want to tip my hand. Boys are having a blast.

Sunday we had the Ross & Denise clan over in the afternoon. Some bbq, some visiting, lots of fun with lots of little people. Services at 6 pm and then another crew for coffee afterwards! We're on a bit of a sugar high around here. Rhubarb ... more rhubarb ... add some chocolate. :)

Monday evening we ended up staying home. Played a good game of Scrabble and then Jeff & Alissa stopped over. More rhubarb mixed with sugar. Can we just call it a vegetable?

Speaking of vegetables. I'm waiting for these things to bloom. The stalks are what I consider huge. Isn't nature amazing? The intricate way they wrap to keep themselves upright just amazes me.

Off to brush my teeth and head to work. Was suppose to have stew in the crockpot for dinner. Oops! Was too lazy last night and morning just isn't my favorite time for cooking. Plan B ... whatever that is! If you've got any ideas ... please share!