The end of the day at the Alaska State Fair

We've had a long day at the State Fair in Palmer.  We had the camper with us so we spent the night and left for home the next day.  We did a lot of walking and as you can see the boys bought these soft-sided, but still packs a wallop, swords.  They're not really swords but they boys are having a ball with them.  We all had a wonderful time and it didn't rain!

The caribou are here!

These caribou have been grazing here for some time now.  They've been very happy to pose for everyone's photographs.  They've been munching and filling their bellies with yummy grass.

Do boys enjoy scaring their mothers?

You can see by these photos that my boys are going to drive me to drink more then my usual Diet Pepsi.  I'm quietly working on my computer in my room and a movement out my window diverts my attention to it.  It is Martin climbing the 8 ft. high chain link fencing.  I do believe his goal was to get on the roof.  However, I'm just getting up out of my chair to go to the window and Martin slips!  His coat catches him and he is stuck.  His left leg is through the opening between the gate and the fence and he can't go up and he can't go down.  In following photos Hammie and Margy come to his rescue.  They do finally get him out but I thought for a while I was going to have to call 911!

He looks like Martin is standing on the snow but
he'sdangling about six inches above the snow and
his toes just don't reach.  This happened at
about 5:00 this evening.  It's not completely
dark outside...yea...it's getting lighter!

This is the view from the other side.  I went through
the laundry room to capture this picture.  We piled
some snow at his foot to get the pressure off his coat
and now we had to get his leg out of the narrow
opening.  Hammie and Margy were right
around the corner to help him get free.

Here they are to set him free.  They unhooked his
 coat and they tried several times to get his leg
free.  After the fourth try he was almost free and
then Margy (in the pink) slipped and fell.  Martin
fell backwards and his trapped leg just went sailing
through the narrow opening.  I thought for sure
he was injured when he hit the fence but he was
fine.  I went running over to him and his he's
laughing.  He says, "Mommy, that was really fun." 

Cordova, Alaska winter 2011-2012

Here are two photos of the Cordova school playground.

They've shoveled a clearing around the swings.

Where there's a will; there's a way.  I hope they don't bonk their heads while swinging!

It is still snowing!

We are now over 34 inches of new fresh snow since Saturday night.  I am very tired of shoveling snow and I'm also very worried about another power outage because of the heavy snow.

Here are a couple of photos of our snow fall.  I've got more but I'm having trouble loading photos and getting them to stay put where I want them.    Guess I need a blogging for dummies book!  

 View outside one of my bedroom windows.
Notice the icicle hanging off the roof.

This photo is from the door in my bedroom that leads to
the back deck and the kids' play yard.  To the left of
the tree is the top of their swing set.

This is a view outside the other bedroom window.
I usually have a lovely view of the lake.
Not now.  The gray color is from the snowstorm
going on as I took the picture.  This is the
window that a moose leaned up against and broke
the inner window pane. 

This view of our house is from in front of the
greenhouse. 



 

Moose vs. Hospital

No the moose isn't sick.  I think he was just being a moose wandering around the city.  This moose happened to wander into the parking garage at Providence Hospital in Anchorage, Alaska.  Watch out for those automatic doors; they let anyone or anything in!  According to the hospital this fella made it up to the third floor.  To keep him and people safe, hospital security took eight hours to quietly and carefully block entire areas to get the moose to turn around on his own accord and decide that he and mother nature were a better fit.  By the way, this photo was taken by nurse Leslie Bagley.

Newfound Mastiff puppies GROWING!

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Here’s more about those puppies that were born to our family about seven months ago.  They are growing up really fast.  Out of the 15 pups born to our AKC Newfoundland, Annie, we were able to find wonderful forever homes for all of them and then some.  However, we kept three of the pups and now we have the Three Musketeers.  We, of course, still have Annie, their mom, and together they are a handful.  I won’t mention the other pets we have but I will say that our entire family is very busy with our four legged and feathered family members.  These photos were taken while Evie and Hammie were getting supper ready for the critters.  Margy and Martin are entertaining the pups as they waited.  Martin finally came up with a plan to prevent his face from being “slimed”.  He put on his helmet that he found at the local Salvation Army thrift store for $2.00.  It worked!

Below are photos of Annie with one of her pups.  Annie is the bigger one but not by much!  The photos are a bit dark but it was snowing and at around 9:30 a.m. the sun is just beginning to peek through the heavens.  By the way, these babies just love the snow! 

       

Borough Plow Comes To The Rescue

We have a lot of snow.  Yesterday was Sunday and we left in the morning to head to Kenai to church.  We opened our garage door (we're blessed to have a garage where we can park our minivan...also blessed that we have a minivan) and was shocked at the amount of snow we accumulated over night.  We left our driveway and were actually able to back up, turn around, and head down the road.  As soon as we started down the road the snow was so deep it was slamming into our car and throwing it onto the windshield.  We were totally blinded.  We went off the road but my sister, with the help of our Lord got the car back on.  We amazingly made it the mile and a half to the main road.  That road was a little better but it took us double the amount of time to get to town.  We missed church.  I called the borough road department and told them that we need plowed; not knowing if we'll make it back home.  I left our name, address, and contact information.  The borough has a rule that they will come and plow the roads when six inches of snow accrues.  We had a whole lot more then that.  We also called our snow plow guy that plows our driveway and left a message...more like a plea for help!  :^)

We decided, with the weather turning bad, we better turn around and go home.  The snow was coming down so bad that it took even longer to get home. 

We finally made it home and as we turned in for the last 1 1/2 miles we were able to keep it on the road for the first half mile and then; like an angel emerging from a cloud, right before us stood the biggest and baddest snow plow we've ever seen.  This creature was as least two stories tall with a snow plow blade that could scoop up a shed or greenhouse in one scoop!  It could probably pick up a truck or two without any trouble.  The borough had come to the rescue!  The entire carload burst into cheers and we rolled our windows down and yelled many "thank you's" to him.  He smiled and waved back as he passed us with his blade held high.  I did call the borough and Mike Moore (our snow plow guy) and thanked them profusely.

We made it the last mile to our driveway without any trouble at all and our snow plow guy had made it in and plowed us!  What a blessing!  I haven't even measured how much snow we have.  During the night the temperature dropped to minus 20 F and the snow stopped.  Usually when it gets cold it doesn't snow...warming up starts up snow showers.  All day today the weather stayed cold.  School had indoor recess.  The weather forecast is for it to warm up tonight and we are expecting a blizzard with at least another foot of snow by tomorrow morning. 

Here's some photos of big snow plows.



This is actually a train snow plow.  That is one big wall of snow!



What's Under That Mound of Snow?

This mound is our Subaru Justy. 

We started the winter with three flat tires on our Subaru Justy.  I was planning on getting them repaired so I could move the car for the winter.  Well, snow came, then rain, then ice sealed it in.  The car is now there until spring.  You can see a bit of the driver's

side-view mirror.  Our greenhouse is in the background and the kids basketball hoop is in the back.  That picture was take at noon over Christmas break.  We've had much more snow since then.

Snow, Snow, and More Snow!

I really am ready for the snow to go away.  Last week we had a snow storm that gave us another 14+ inches of new snow over night!  We went to sleep after I spent about an hour outside chopping up ice and snow from the walkway to the garage.  I felt good that I finally got it cleared and that we could walk to and from the garage without having to tramp through slush.  We woke up the next morning to a white out snowstorm!  I couldn't believe it.  It was if bags of fluffy white craft stuffing had been pulled out puff by puff and it had all landed in our yard.

In the following days it snows more but only for little bursts each day.  I am really feeling the pull for spring!

This picture is looking down our road from our garage.  Our Suburban is on the right burried in the snow.  Our Toyota mini-motor home is down the road partially covered and Evie is taking a walk down the road.

Nature Quilt Square

I finished my sister's quilt square she asked me to do for her.  Judy needed a quilt square for her friend's son's graduation and she asked me to make it for her.  I only had a few days to make it so I didn't quite add everything I wanted to put in it.  I wanted to add the scripture verse that is his favorite and I also wanted to add some colonial knots to simulate snowfall.  I ran out of time.  Anyhow here's the picture.

Ross' quilt square

 Ross, the young man who will be getting the quilt is graduating from high school.  Acording to Judy, the ladies in his church make a quilt for each graduating senior.  He loves the outdoors so my sister wanted a square that would remind Ross of Alaska.