THURSDAY NIGHT...

Hi everyone,

While I have a moment of peace and quiet, and while I’m still revved from my two cups of coffee during our pea picking and shelling work night, I think I’ll write to you all. 

Everyone here is in rush mode – the nights have started getting colder signaling the end of our gorgeous summer which means it is time to finish harvesting the garden, to get ready for hunting, to start preparing for school, to button up unfinished projects that have to be done before the ground freezes.  Besides, next week, Tom and Sarah (Nerbonne, they are siblings) take 13 of our hard working youth away to the youth camp in Canada. 

Annie will not be going on this one, she can't take the long van ride (can't blame here there!) on those awful Canad roads...May wanted to go and she got squeezed in somehow, although technically she is not a highschooler. 

Everybody was rushing around and spending a considerable amount of $$$ trying to get last minute passport cards and passports. Turns out they really did not need all this, just birth certificate and photo ID...oh well, passports come in handy.

Garth and his boys are in the middle of working on three different septic systems on the farm.  There are deep holes and ditches everywhere. A bathroom is trying to be put in beside the Tab but has some probs related to the very bad, awful, rotting base logs and foundation of our 30+ year old Tab. building, so the proverbial can of worms has been uncovered....hummm...

Some of the guys have been caribou hunting.  Seth Fouse, Jarred, Chris Toby, Cody, and Seth have each gotten a caribou.  Of course, starting the first of September till the 15^th, will be our moose season.  I’m so not looking forward to that!!!!!  Maybe there will be a shortage of shootable moose this year.  (Sorry, I just hate cutting up and putting away all that moose meat!). Plus the house is always a mess with bloddy stuff all over, nasty damp clothing and boots, etc....am I complaining enough??? ha! 

Both girls are gonna get to go out with their Dad this time. Well realy May will be going with another crew when she gets back from the Canadian Youth camp. Annie and Pat will be on the first crew. She is pretty stoked about it, although her Dad is not so much. Getting old I think..haha...Annie is already all packed and ready to go, a bunch of stuff was given to Tony (horse guy) so he can take the first batch of stuff up with the horses. That way backpacks are not so heavy going up the mountain trail. 

I hope Annie does OK, she hurt her hip somehow and has been limping along, hope she gets over it before they have to leave next week and I pray they have good weather. Sometimes it can be quite miserable up there when it gets socked in and cold or rainy...

Funny story from Sara Jep – the other night she took off at dusk (9:30 pm) to run errands using Richard’s (hubby) high, nearly brakeless bike.  As she was riding at top speed around the corner from Rus’s house by the garden, she sees these long legged creatures ambling along.  She knew she couldn’t stop so still at top speed, she just wheeled in front of them while screaming like a banshee.  Looking closer she realized it was Tony and Cody (son) on horse with a third horse in tow.  ha Sarah good one!....I can picture you right now...tearing down the path, yelling like a mad woman, thinking you were gonna crash into a pair of moose...too funny... 

Tommy G met Meg (daughter) in Delta and went with her and her friends from work to Valdez for some fishing.  As mentioned earlier, Kelsey M (niece) starts college in Fairbanks next week.  She has been taking courses online to prep up and hopes to get into Paramedic school soon. Peter Casey and Jon Squires started last week.  At the last minute, Jon got accepted to the same class that Peter is taking – something to be a paramedic. 

I was hoping May would follow that path but she tells me that the hectic and rather stressful life of a paramedic is not attractive to her...I have to respect her wishes. For now, she is happy to fill in at the farm and has taken the rather daunting task of helping to manage the large vegetable garden. Wenda L is teaching her all she knows...which is a rather copious amount of accumulated knowledge on the mysteries of growing things. something that, - my daughter tells me - judging by my flower beds- eludes me...unfortunately I have not inherited my mother Stella's or my sister Karenza's green thumb...things do tend to look rather poorly after a while under my tender care...oh well...one tries...

Ann VH is in the middle of doing some sort of intensive therapy in Fairbanks with Micah (mild case of CP).  Each summer for the last couple of years, Ann takes Micah in for more of this therapy.  Sometimes he gets a cast on his right arm, sometimes just a partial cast.  This year, he has a partial cast that Ann can take off at night.  Very demanding therapy and hard work. They both look exhausted poor things! She is a very dedicated mother. Thankful that Rob does not need that kind of therapy. Have enough with his academics as it is.

Have found a small, simple riding stable in Delta. The owner is a young woman with 3 small girls (preschool age) and she has a love of horses and kids. I have been looking for some riding instruction for Rob for a while now and just now found her. We go into for a 2 hour session once a week and Rob is doing very well. Learning voice and body commands, learning how to make a horse turn in the right direction with leg pressure, etc. I think he is liking the one to one attention and his instructor is very patient, but firm as well.

The Poseys have returned to Citra.  Jon Leo has returned to his mom in Canby, CA.  I sorta miss that little guy with his impish face!

Pat has come back from the fires and is now working at Foresty in Wasilla until they release him. Him and Beth are planning on spending some time together here at the farm, before she returns to the UK. She needs to tie loose ends over there with her univ. getting her degree and possibly further surgery on her leg which is not healing very well. Pat is thinking of spending the winter here with us which will be a change to our family chemistry...seems he has been gone for so long.

Pat took self, Rob and May fishing to Lisa. Possibly the last time. I can never get enough of the place, so lovely, pristine and peaceful. May got an enormous trout, which is the largest I have seen so far it was possibly a couple of feet long. Then she got another one! So she was pretty pleased with the outing. I think I got one and Pat did too. Rob got bored on this trip since he was not getting any bites. They were all eaten at breakfast the next day with some left overs...they were so large. One could tell that the weather is changing, because for the next 4 hours we did not catch a thing, it was rather choppy and coolish, but since it was gonna be the last time, we stayed until almost 10pm and getting dark.

Pat and I have already gone cranberry picking and got 2.5 gals and May has brought in at least a gal. of blueberries she picked on her mountain treks...she's funny how she ventures out on her own. I am not that brave. Course having a new rifle like she just got, does help one to feel rather more confident.

The kids are home and my house is chaos – I better go!!!  

another time...have a great rest of the week...

gri