THE HAPPY COUPLE

Hi,

Just thot I'd update you on who got married at The Land yesterday. Peter Casey is the 4th. child of Bill & Kathy Casey from Hoonah. They moved onto the farm about 10 years ago. Stacey is the third child of Brian & Vicky Lawrence who moved from the Wasilla area to the farm and stayed for about 5 years before moving back to Anchorage. Both kids are the first to get married in either family.

We have not had a wedding in 8 years, Pete & Stace are starting a new wave of possible weddings, but our oldest HSers are still too young. For like 5 years we had one wedding after another and then there were no more marriages until this one. So it was a great occasion.

Both Pet and Stacey have gone through our school system here at the farm and have been "walking out their year" for almost 2 years before they were OK ed to get married. The have been "an item" since grade school and have always known that they were going to get married to each other. When they graduated it was deemed that Pete was still rather young since he was not yet 19, I believe, so they waited for a further period of time until they both grew up (still quite young for a late bloomer like me, who got married in her mid 30's)....Pete got a job with the Priority First Medavac in Fbks and get well paid for flying around hanging from a chopper, saving people from the ocean and such...I think May wld love something like that!

I will say more of the wonderful and lavish wedding soon...still recuperating. I think the happy couple flies to Jamaica today. I was in Jamaica 25 years ago, and did not like it, since I was not treated to the touristy side of it, but saw poverty and cockroaches in the bed....I hope they have a better experience, at least nicer than mine was!

Here are some pics.

wedding prep on the waaaayy...

Good morning folks!



Wedding preparations are in FULL swing. The cake people have been working since Monday. They are trying out this new thing where you use fresh flowers, coat them in egg white and meringue powder. That makes them hold their color and freshness overnight? But, we’ve had to experiment a little. In the meantime, the greenhouse is getting fewer and fewer flowers in it. Tonight is the wedding dinner so food prep has been going on for days, as has been reception prep. Yesterday, Vicki and a bunch of kids decorated the tabernacle. Visitors have been flying in, tuxes are being rented and fitted, grounds are being cleaned, and much more.

Carolyn rolled her ankle this week so she’s been on crutches. Very frustrating to her since she loves to be involved in many of these wedding activities. Allyson is down in Tok refreshing her EMT or ETT cards. Yesterday she had one of her spells where food doesn’t do well her – I’m not sure what it is, but is a left over malady from her pancreatitis trouble.

Meg and I went out jogging/walking last night. On our way home we noticed a momma moose standing in the road staring at us. It went back into the woods so we went on by where it had been standing. Well, then it came back out of the woods and started jogging behind us – maybe making sure we were out her area???? We were sooooo scared. We quit jogging and started running. I was hollering thinking that maybe she would scare away. She was a little intent on what she was doing (chasing us down).

Tony and his boys have been busy till all hours of the night or next morning discing and planting the hay and grain fields.

Pat left for a short piano conference and workshop in Anchorage. He had to leave at 4 am to drive to the airport and leave the car there. In Anchorage he rented a car. I had to drive May to the Tok Clinic to finish up her EMT 3 testings. She and Ali will be coming back on the day of the wedding...barely making it...but this is important. I left Rob with Annie and when I got home everything seemed calm....Rob is sensing the pre wedding excitement and keeps taking off and trying to join some of the various groups of folks that have come for the wedding week. He LOVES meeting new faces!

I’m sure there’s more news, but this is taking me too long to write (due to interruptions), and I really need to get moving.

Something happened with the tent rental folks so people are going ballistic about it, glad it's not my wedding. It is rainy and cool so a tent is a must, of course they cld get hitched inside the church too....

Have a nice day.

It’s a little gray today ....

Here are some pics of the latest bonfire we had on cleanup day.

It’s a little gray today after the many days of sunshine. I guess we can manage without the sun for a day.

We had a wonderful school picnic down on the Johnson River bank. The kids loved all the space, the dirt, the water, and the sunshine. I’ve posted some pictures on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81465&id=674561568&l=57bfccaf54

Dad took Rob to the picnic and he thoroughly enjoyed himself it seems. I had to go into the big city with Flo and Annie for medicals and shopping.

Last night all the guys had a bachelor party for Peter. Seth Fouse made a seafood picnic for everyone. I heard they were going to shoot skeet, play softball, throw Peter in the creek, and other things. Rich came home at 10 pm. When my boys came home at midnight, it was to prepare to go out camping somewhere. Rob went out with his dad and was pretty proud of himself since his dad let him shoot the shotgun....in times past he has been too scared at the loud bang...he's growin up as he reminds me daily! :) I will post some pics soon....

Tonight, at 6 pm, we have a bridal shower for Stacey. Stacey Chartier, Bethany, and Melissa should arrive right before the shower or during.

Yesterday Tony and Wendy with Chris and Lindsey went to Frontier Days in Delta. They bring a horse wagon and horses and give rides all day. Sometimes they participate in the events such as “Kiss the Pig” contest. Last year, Seth helped hold down some pigs for a lady who participated in the contest, and she gave him a nice sweatshirt for his help.

Andy Trotter has been pretty sick (puffy and stuff) from the pollen floating around. He has never been this sick before – wonder what made the difference.

I better get to church and to cooking. have a good week end

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL...REALLY...

Here is one of Rob having fun at the pic!...his Dad took him since I had to go into the big city with Flo for medicals.

And, really, it can’t be counted too much as school since we’re going out for our picnic. We usually take grades 1 – 8, but this year we’ll be taking all the way through grade 11. Teachers and students alike are very excited to be out of school.

Garth and Jeni both cleaned so vigorously on the clean up day that their backs went out. They are both slowly getting better.

The loggers guys put up two small cabins in Tok this week. Then, some of them left tonight to put a small cabin up in Fbks tomorrow.

Kelsey leaves tomorrow for the summer. She’s going to spend the summer with her mom in Fbks; she will be working at Sophie’s as gardener for their grounds.

Sis JoAn Mourat is home from her six week stay in Wasilla. The high school kids had one last music class yesterday to practice the song they’ll be singing at the wedding.

Allyson left yesterday for a 10 day course in something related to ETT classes. Jon is doing alright with all the kids on his own.

Last week, Chris’s boss told him to be at work at 6 am. For those who aren’t familiar with our area, that means he has to drive an hour to get to work. I only get up some mornings with him. Four thirty am comes around awfully early.

I think Stephen flies in today, as does Bill’s brother, Ray. Wenda’s sister, Aunt Patty, arrived today. It is getting exciting around here with guests arriving for the wedding and with all the wedding prep going on.

Tony is busy discing and planting the fields across the road. I think Joey was helping him some. And, of course, his boys help him all the time.

I took my MIL Flo to an eye appointment and Annie came too...we left Rob home with Dad to go to the picnic...

More later...

another beautiful day....

Today is another beautiful day. It appears that the snow is finally behind us, but, then, one never does know with Alaska.

We had a great clean up day on Sunday. We were grouped into about five groups with various areas to scour and clean. There weren’t too many huge overwhelming projects, just mostly cleaning up after the winter. The farm does look nice with the lawns raked and big debris picked up.

Yesterday night we had a work night to clean up the raspberry patch. We were breaking off the old canes and carrying them out of the garden. Tomorrow night we plan on getting potatoes ready to plant and finishing up in the raspberry patch. Hopefully, we’ll get to have a huge bonfire with all those dried old canes, and if we’re really lucky, we’ll have found some marshmallows to go with our bonfire.

Three days left of school! Have a great Wednesday.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT...

Good morning!!!!! It is a beautiful looking day – I can’t wait to go outside today. Today is “farm clean-up” day. Garth usually organizes this and divides us into crews for various projects. We were going to do this last week, but I’m glad we waited since last week was snowing and wet and cold.

Steve and Judy should be home, although I haven’t seen them yet.

Pat Lou came home for a few hours this week. He came with the guy he works for to pick up horses. Mike McCann boards his horses here in the winter.

Peter and Stacey’s wedding is right around the corner – two weeks away. Preparations have begun in earnest – food is being bought, some being prepared and put away in the freezer. We are having a bridal shower next Sunday night.

Oh, and we have ONE week of school left – the last day being our picnic day! That is exciting. Rob will ge going too and he is very excited about doing so...shld be a great day for all! will post shortly about it with pics...

talk to you later. Gri

Greyness and chilly... :(

Hello People,

We’ve had nothing but grayness and rain for the last week and a half. Yesterday we awoke to another layer of snow on the ground that had melted by lunchtime; it rained and rained all day for the rest of the day. Today we did see the sun for a minute or two here and there, and it wasn’t quite so rainy.


Tuesday Pat, self, our kids and some other school kids went to a Steinway presentation and recital for a new Steinway which has been purchased by one of the local churches. I guess that when one buys a Steinway the manufacturer sends their own piano artists to try the instrument out. Anyway these two pianists are world class material with their own websites and recital schedule all over the world. A great treat for us and something we dont get to do often. Best of all it was free since Pat is the local piano tuner....

Last Wednesday night, I went over to Whitestone with Kimberli, Miss Jannis and a pile of the young people. We went to see their David musical. It was well done; I really enjoyed it. It was nice because they had all the kids from 3 yrs old through college age participating. I think my favorite parts were where the little kids had their carefree lines and dances. Nanette, from Whitestone is going to send me a few pictures to share with you all on the musical.

While we were at Whitestone, we missed hearing Lenny Banaszak preach here at home. I read through my students journals today; I think his theme was reminding us that God has a purpose for us, and He will help us in realizing our purpose. Lenny used to be Pat's classical guitar intstructor until we both merged into the Shepherds School of Music in BC, Canada.

On Saturday, I took another bunch of kids over to Whitestone for their graduation which was quite lengthy. It was quite a day. The graduation lasted four hours, then the reception, then visiting, then parties, then a bonfire (I didn’t go to the bonfire). Marlys Johnson, Lenny Banaszak, and Ernest Watkins were all participating speakers. All the kids that I took ended up being invited to spend the night so all of them except my niece and I stayed overnight.

Wayne Gentry preached here on Sunday. He preached on the pearl of great price clinching the message with “How Much are You Willing to Pay?”.

Luke Woolfolk, from Hilltop, came out to visit us on Monday. He was up for the Whitestone graduation too. He spent a lot of Monday with us before going back to Whitestone for one last night. I think he went home today. Someone from Hilltop, let us know when he arrives safely home.

We are in our second to last week of school. You will hear no sorrowing from my corner. Kids are in the "done with school" mode which is rather diff. for us teachers. Rob is almost done with his Math and Phonics but will have to continue during summer school...much to his chagrine...but he will do other things too, such as help out in the kitchen as a DD (domestic duty), various and sundries other chores like setting up chairs for church, mopping floors under supervision and of course his favorite "the horse wagon" doing water chores to the animals....



Pat and May just got back from driving school in Fairbanks. May is happy with the new experience she is gaining but bemoaning the fact that she felt very tense while driving in traffic, she'll get it eventually, just needs more practical experience. Her instructor is a Harley Davison fan and quite a character (an older man) said that she did fine...

We will be having a farm clean up day on Sunday (thus no service). Hopefully, the sun will be out, and hopefully, there will be no snow on that day!

Allyson had a health relapse this week, but I notice that she is up and running around again yesterday and today.

Hope the weather changes and we really get summer this year...right now it is lightly haling can u belive it?

Pat Lu called on Mother's Day to wish me a happy day...so sweet, he is busy taking folks on horse trails and such, he will be enjoying his summer and later on his hunting.

Ok no more for now, take care, have a great week. Maybe I’ll write again soon. One never knows!

goodby nice weather...

Good morning! Ugh! It is snowing out this morning! Monday and yesterday were both grey days; yesterday the thick clouds rolled in so that we couldn’t see the mountains. This morning is even worse with all that white stuff on the ground.



Saturday night Meg and a friend from work came out to visit. Oh, and Erica, my niece, came out to visit too. She is super busy with her cosmetology course at UAF, but lovin it! After church, Erica cut Seth and Chris’s hair – her first haircuts ever. Meg came along at some point and gave Erica some tips. Afterwards, Meg, the friend, and I took some kids out to Lisa Lake for a quick hike. I’ve never been out there at this time of year. There was a couple camping on the ice, ice fishing. The ice was still a good foot thick. We saw where the boys (Pat included) had thrown up a lean-to to sleep under the other night. I wouldn’t mind sleeping under that lean-to – it’s really neat.

The creek has come in and every day (until probably today), it rises higher and higher. Lizzie went out to get pictures, but got sidetracked by the sunset.

The cranes, geese, ducks, and swans are all flying in to rest in our fields across the road. Of course, the loudest and most obvious birds are the cranes since they circle overhead for awhile before landing and before leaving again.

Josh Hale, a professional ferrier, was out yesterday to shoe Mike McCann’s horses. We (as in Tony and S & K Farms) are boarding approximately 40 horses right now.

Sunburns last week; snow this week.

Pat finally left for the summer to work at Macarthy, and then out to the Brookes range by the Alaska Range to hunt with the rich hunters. He was pretty excited. Rob is gonna really miss him...he's agood big bro.

Tonight a bunch of us are going into
Tok to listen to a Steinway performer play on the new Stainway the local church got thre. Big Pat who is a registered RPT is going to be taking care of it and they invited all of us to attend the recital. We are pretty happy about that. Both my girls are players so they really want to see this.

All for now must rush on to school before Rob misses his mom..

have a good one

gri

and more sun.....

Hi! Yesterday was gorgeous, and today promises to be gorgeous too. If I can get away from my indoor duties, I’d like to go outside and work in my leafy yard. I’ve been taking my students out in the afternoon to brush up on soft ball skills – we’re all pretty rusty!

I am including some pics of our cabin up in the woods about 8 hrs away trekking up the mountain. We got a deal with the state so that they took all the wood and building materials up by chopper in exchange for something we did - can't remember what - anyhoo we go up there in the summer or winter (snomachines) and hang out also use it to take farm visitors and as a base while hunting nearby...I haven't been cause I can't do the trek anymore. I went up a couple times in the past when we had the old cabin. Kids say that this one is pretty nice inside...
the other pics are of the old cabin we use to have which is now in a sad state of disrepair...a bear got into it..


Last night, Pat Lou, Seth, Chris, Peter, and Joey overnighted at the Lisa Lake cabin. Chris said he slept out under the stars rather than in the stuffy cabin. I guess Pat Lou leaves either today or tomorrow to work for that man he worked for last summer – being a guide in Northern AK (up by the Arctic Circle and beyond). So, it was the boys’ last “hurrah” since Pat is going away, and Peter is getting married soon.

Pat is pretty excited about going hunter guiding for the next 3-4 months. He will go to McCarthy first to stock up on provisions and get the horses ready with his boss Mike McCain who is the Cabala's outfitter that took him last spring/fall....Pat will be "incommunicado" for the duration but I know he will have a good time and get some badly needed $$ for the truck he wants to get. Long term plans are to get a job with the paramedic corps...we will see what happens...

Today the young people are going over to Tony and Wendy’s to help them stack their next year’s supply of wood. Even Rob is gonna go and he shld have a blast....he is getting pretty strong and chunky...the outdoors will help to keep him trimmed down I hope.

The EMT people and the ambulance drivers are off to Tok today for another class followed by a barbecue. May is going too and she will get some added credit hours I think, she got her learners permit yesterday and is planning to spend some time in Fairbanks with her Dad going to drivers school...

Brad one of our veteran loggers, turned 40 yrs yesterday. Craig presented him with a walker at lunch for his birthday.

Cathy Purdy and my MIL Floan, are installing their pellet stoves. It is pretty sweet. Pat will not have to do so many cabins for firewood come next winter season...I think the count for pellet stoves is now at about 4.

I better get going before my day slips away! Have a great weekend. Gri