Termination Dust and Pixie Dust

O.k....I don't know why I put pixie dust on here.  The termination dust has arrived.  What may you ask is termination dust?  I did not know either until a friend educated me. For those new to Alaska or looking in from the outside, termination dust is the first dusting of snow on the tops of the mountains. In Anchorage it's most evident on the tops of the Chugach mountains. It not only is a heads up that fall is here, but a sad notification that it won't be long before that snow is everywhere. Compared to most of the state, Anchorage has pretty mild winters as far as temperature and snow fall, but it still gets darker and darker from here on out.

See it yonder in thar mountains!!!!

It's coming.  Just a matter of weeks!

 I wanted to add this picture of the other side of the mountain range.  Have I told you how beautiful it is up here?

The baby ate the Dog food!

See this dog?  Yeah, I have a love/hate relationship with Mr. Klause.  We got him from a family member in Maryland in July and since then he has not left my side.  No, seriously...not once!!!  If I go to the bathroom, he must go. If I lay down, he must as well.  He constantly is by my side to the point I have tripped over him many times.  He's a cute dog.  A good dog, for still being a puppy.  He will not give me a moments rest though.  He will not listen to anyone but me and the girls and Neil get annoyed because he's all about Momma.  If I leave to go shopping, he will try to sneak out of the house really fast and jump in my car.  When I tell him to stay, he will go by the window and will not move until I get home, regardless that he has other people in the house to play with him.

We lost power the other night due to a horrible wind storm up here.  At 3 in the morning I was going into the babies room to feed him a bottle and stepped in something that did not feel like carpet.  I hurried and got a candle, put it down to the floor and noticed he had gone poop.  I WAS NOT HAPPY to be cleaning dog poop up on my brand new carpet at 3AM.  Much less sticking my foot in the shower to clean it off.

On top of all of this, never owning a dog before, I am becoming more aware of stuff.  I have to remember to put his dog food up before I let the baby crawl around.  I made that mistake and found my sweet little boy splashing in his water bowl and munching on his food.  YUCK!!!!  I tried to clean everything out of his mouth and then give lots to drink.

                                                          I can't deny how cute he is.
                                        
I don't know how I'm going to handle it when it snows and I have to clean up his paw prints and such from him being in the snow.

      Just wanted to throw in some pictures of our wonderful backyard.  Wonderful backyard which is now                 Klauses pooping ground.  I go out everyday with a plastic bag wrapped around my hand to explore where he's marked his territory.

Alaska is NO JOKE when it comes to preparing for Winter

So we are realizing that Alaskans really take getting prepped for winter to a whole new extreme.  There is so much that needs to be done before the snow hits...and it will be soon.  EEK!!!!

 This is just one side of our garage with the cord of wood we got.  Neil plans on going out with a friend soon to stockpile some in our back yard so that it will be "seasoned" (not with salt and pepper...LOL...Erin Humor) in time for winter.

 We need to clear out all of our summer stuff, (especially all 3 of Neils bikes) to make room so that both of our vehicles will fit in our heated garage.  The last thing we want to do every morning before school and work is clear the snow off our cars.  We are already going to have to shovel the driveway each morning.  Up here, having a block heater for your vehicles is essential.  No telling where you will be and your car will be to frozen to start.

 

Junk

 So thanks to my father in law, Lees's recommendation, I got a wheat grinder as a present from my parents.  I love this thing.  It is so quiet and I love making fresh bread and waffles.

                                      

                                                          Hard White wheat is our fav.

You know what I LOVE about here...you can buy bulk food storage at Wal-Mart.  At great prices!!!

                                                                       And viola!!!!

Getting a jump on our food storage

I'm part of a freezer meal group in our church and I LOVE it!!! Basement freezer stocked with fish and yummy meals.

                                  One of the silver fillets that was a gift to us from my fathers catch!

So...I started canning.  So many people do it up here so I jumped on the bandwagon.  I have made Red Pepper Jelly, Christmas Jalapeno Jelly, Fireweed Jelly, Neils Beets (Neil LOVES beets with sour cream) and Sweet Cucumber Relish.

Made a couple of batches of freezer Strawberry and Raspberry/Blueberry with berries we picked up here.  I have about 6 more containers in our basement freezer which I was to lazy to bring up for this picture. (those stairs are killer) We LOVE freezer jam better than canned jam.  To us...it tastes fresher.  Now we can enjoy it all winter long...although I give it to February before we run out.

My friend Manda showed me some cute labels she made up for her jellies. Neil helped me and this is what we came up with.  Family in the lower 48...this is your Christmas gifts and they are DELISH!!!!!

Birthday Girl, Sleeping Boys and Happy Sisters!

                                                                     Irelyn and Gage

I LOVE it when they Love each other

                                       This is what I found one Sunday afternoon.  Priceless!!!

 Ella has been waiting for her 6th birthday for what has seemed like years!!!  Happy Day!!! You can see Irelyns excitement.  She thinks it's always her birthday when it's another family members and she gets so upset when we don't sing Happy Birthday to her and she does not get any presents.  Just you wait little girl...your time will come soon!!!

                                                                 Such excitement!!!!

Franklin Family Visit

Erins Parents and brother came out to visit in July.  It was so good to see them. Although they came during a cold streak.  It had been gorgeous weather before they came and then cold and rain.  The day after they left, the skies opened and it was in the 60's.  We told them they have to turn around and come right back to experience the gorgeous Alaskan summer the right way.

                                                                Going on a fun hike.

                                                      I LOVE Jon's..."come hither" look.

                                                             Our Sweet Gage!

 The girls were the leaders and our protectors from bears.  We saw quite a bit of bear scat on the trails.  When we first moved here the girls had a "Be Bear Aware" class where they learned this song to sing while hiking to keep bears away.  It's a fact...when the Viens kids are around..I don't think a bear will come with all the noise our kids make.

                                                        Jon does NOT look amused!!

One of the many waterfalls that are everywhere around here.  Freezing cold glacier water 

             
.

                                                    Linny Lou LOVES her Grammy!

 We went to Seward a couple of days and this was taken at our campsite.  It rained on us the whole time but we were camping right on Resurrection Bay and we saw so many whales and belugas which made it worth it!!  AMAZING!!!

                    This picture is with Thunderbird Falls in the background.  Another hike we took.

                                                          This picture melts my heart.

                                                          As does this handsome man!!!

Dall sheep grazing on Turnagain Arm.  They are the most incredible climbers.

My father chartered a salmon fishing excursion for silver salmon.  He was the only one of the boat to catch       his limit!  Yup...he's pretty amazing!

                           Our kids adore their Uncle Jon.  He was so good with them and had no problem making                       Gage smile.  We miss you Jon Boy!!!!

First adventures in Alaska

Here is a quick glimpse of what we have experienced the first couple of months of living in The Last Frontier.

We went clamming in Ninilchik, Alaska with some new friends..  It was about 3 hours away and the most beautiful drive ever.  Wildlife and gorgeous scenery every way you looked. 

Uhhh...Yeah...LOVE this man!!!

Neil and Robbie did pretty well with getting the razor clams.  We came back to the house and I fried some up for Neil ( Ashley loved them as well.  I have yet to acquire a taste for those little creatures)and froze some for later use in clam chowder.

 

Neil fitting right in. 

Beautiful Sunset overlooking our cabins.

                                      
I've been salmon fishing for reds 3 times so far and have been "skunked" every time  That's the term they use up here for not catching any fish.I've gone to the Russian River which is about 3 hours from here and it is the most beautiful river ever!  It reminds me of that movie, "A river runs through it".  It did not take me long to get the hang of "snagging" down.  Catching reds is not a bait and hook deal.  It's more like fly fishing and it is fun!! My first time going down to the Russian, within 30 minutes, we had a Grizzly with her 2 cubs come about 15 feet from us out of nowhere and started catching the fish I was supposed to be catching. Anytime anyone spots a bear and they are in the water they yell upstream..."BEAR" and then the people upstream in turn yell it and most everyone gets out of the water until the bear is out of sight.  It was a really unnerving experience.  We have yet to buy or carry a gun on us and I did not have any bear spray at the time so I stayed close to my friend who was packing a gun.  We've had so many friends load us up with salmon from their dip netting adventures so we should be set through out the winter.  Maybe next year I will catch a red.  The trick is to go when they are running strong and you have to calculate it to the "T".  We've been told that when they are running strong, the bottom of the river bed is like a red carpet with fish.  I'm excited for the fight.  Sigh...maybe next year for me.  The crazy thing is...Neil loves salmon but hates to fish.  I LOVE to fish but have yet to again...acquire the taste.