FIRST SNOW, ETC.

Hello Friends,

Yesterday was gray with a smattering of little hard snowflakes. This morning, we awoke to a white world, there are no mountains to be seen, and visibility is on the low side. The temperature is holding at 22*. See, I knew spring wasn’t really on the way yet. I actually don’t mind the fresh snow. Everything was so dirty looking after that wind blowing dirt everywhere.

Tony’s job with his Dozer is somewhere between Delta and the Gerstle River. Wendy says he is just laying down the trees and brush, that his blade has to up a certain amount of inches or feet. He was working in a brush-y area and it was a little dangerous since the little branches were brittle and were breaking off and flying everywhere. Now he’s in a bigger tree area.

A few people asked about our indoor picnic. We just ate picnic food but buffet style as if we were going outside. We could sit wherever we wanted, and the tables had vinyl table cloths on them. Oh, and we had plastic plates and silverware. Sis Jannis came with her summer gingham shirt and a straw hat with feather. The Fouse children wore tank tops and shorts. After supper, before dessert of home made ice cream sandwhiches, we had a time of reading jokes or stories. Sis Griselda and Sis Jannis read us some things they had stored up for such an occasion. Tommy and Sis Millie read little stories too.

Have a nice day.

LATER...

Hi. Yesterday for approximately 24 hours, we had a warm wind whipping through here, melting snow and throwing trash around. Last night when I went to bed, it was 47*. Right now, at 10:45 pm, it is 41*. The loggers got busy today and pulled all their equipment out of the woods and moved it to this side of the Tanana River. I heard that just today Whitestone’s road went out. They are back to boating.

Because of the warm weather and because Tony’s dozer is a cold weather cooled piece of equipment and because Tony is mowing down brush and small trees that get stuck in the tracks of his dozer, Tony’s dozer caught on fire the other day. Then while Tony was trying to get the fire out, his hand got too near the fan belt that is slipping and he nearly crushed his right hand. His hand is very swollen and all the skin is scraped off the back of his hand, but nothing was broken.

We have a rash of birthdays on Sunday. We are going to make a little bit of a deal of Bro Rus’s birthday because, if we have the year correct, he should be 80 years old. Hannah Mason is making a nice dinner with the Basalyga’s traditional mint birthday cake for dessert.

The ground is one big pile of slush. It’s awful. But, it should be dry soon because there is not much snow to melt this year.

More another night.


LATER.....

Good morning. Just a quick hello to brag about our gray but 34* weather. We have lots of slushy snow; the mud hasn’t quite arrived yet and maybe it won’t since we didn’t get much snow this year.

Marilyn is taking a pile of boys to the base to go swimming today. They are all pretty excited about that. Poor Tony was going to go with them as one of the adults, but his boss is making him work today. L

Some of the ladies went to Delta this week to get haircuts. The farm’s a new place with all the beautiful, bouncy, fresh ladies.

I have company coming over tonight so I better get to the cleaning and cooking.

Have a great weekend.

LATER........

This morning it was -2*. Can you believe it? I couldn’t, except I had to go out in it, so I remembered real fast. It warmed up in to daytime to nearly 40*, and now at 10:30 pm, it is 18*.

We had a nice, small celebration for Bro Rus’s 80th birthday on Sunday. We managed to surprise him. Sarah Jane got him a nice flower arrangement and Carolyn decorated a special cake for him. We all had a cake from a recipe that is a traditional birthday cake for the Basalygas. I noticed he had some cards by his plate, and we gave him his photo book. I think he was pleased, even though he is the staunchest hold out on not celebrating birthdays. Earlier in the day, I asked him if I’d gotten the date right; he snapped at me saying that of course I knew I had it right. I knew that I had the date right, I just worried that I’d mixed up the year. But, I didn’t mix that up. I guess Bro Rus’s sister called him on Saturday, and she asked him if he was going to have a party. He told her no, that we didn’t do birthdays. J
Hannah, Jeni, Kathryn, and Ann made a really nice dinner along with the cake and ice cream.

Tony’s dozer broke down yesterday. Today Thomas went out and helped weld the track back together. Tony has 60 acres till he is done for this year. I guess he can do more in the spring time of the following years.

Well, I had something else to say, but the thought left me. Sorry about that. It clean went out of my head.

Talk to you later,

LATER..............

Hi. Our day started out beautifully enough, but it has turned gray and windy! We had several projects to-mostly clean up things. We put black paper around the greenhouse and put rocks on it so that we could maybe cut down on the weeds around the greenhouse. We cleaned up around the hockey rink, around the garden, around the shops, and much more. The men tore down the steps the old elementary school and finished cleaning up Cathy Purdy’s old house that was burned down in the spring.

Some of the ladies help Bro Rus put the hanging baskets out in rows for easy retrieval. We were all given several hundreds of dollars’ worth of hanging baskets today. In a few more days we’ll get flowers to plant in our flower beds. It is truly amazing.

Last night I had the privilege of taking some of the older kids out to Lisa Lake. We were there for hours—fishing, playing air soft, eating, canoeing, and talking.

Kimberli and Seth have gone to Fbks to await the arrival of their baby. In the meantime, Erica and Stacey and the Millirons are keeping the Fouse children.

Lonnie has a website for her bed and breakfast. Here is the website link: http://www.hillcrestbnb.com/index.htm Be sure to pass that along to anyone coming to Alaska. J

Thomas is planting the potatoes today with the help of Chris and Kathryn...who as you all know are first cousins....

Over the past week, Andy has been teaching a Hunter’s Safety class to some people (mostly younger kids) around here. This afternoon was test day – written and actual shooting.

LATER.........

Hi. I forgot to mention that Kimberli had her baby last Wednesday night/Thursday morning. Jordan Ryley Fouse. He’s extremely cute. I thought I took a picture of him, but I can’t find it right now. I’ll have to re-find it. Kimberli was home from Fbks later that same day!

We didn’t have service tonight because we’re going to have one tomorrow night with Jairo Roberts. Griselda will have to interpret for him since he preaches in Spanish.

We had a good service last Sunday. I was really proud of Erica, she led praise all by herself.

Everyone has been busy planting flowers and trees around their houses. The cooperative extension in Delta had a bunch of trees they were selling for $3 each. They dumped their extra choke cherry trees on us. I did my best to sell them around the farm and the ones I couldn’t sell, I planted. We’ll see how they do.

More tomorrow.

HI AGAIN!!

We had an excellent meeting with Jairo Roberts. Patrick led worship for us. I oiled my spanish lingo up and interpreted for Bro Jairo. He preached on patiently waiting to hear God’s word, and he exhorted us to stay on the path of the just. Sis Blanca shared this morning at devotions.

Chris is home from his first week of welding class. He stayed with Lonnie and Jay Miller. He caught a ride home with some boys from Tok who are also taking the class. These same boys were in Jon and Pat Lou’s EMT class taken in Tok earlier this spring.

Garth and Kim are home from Chicago. Garth won’t let too many of us near his newest grandson. He’s being a hog.

Jeni’s brother, Mike, is here visiting for a couple of weeks. He teaches HS spanish in California...speaks quite well with a slight accent....had a good time chatting w/him.

Sis JoAn is home from her trip. And, Andy and Sarah Jane have left for a two week trip to visit Bro Andy’s mom.

We got some much needed rain this week, but it still wasn’t nearly enough.

More another day.



Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
~Helen Keller

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