CRANBERRIES!!

Folks,
For those cranberry pickin' fans...well, we have found out that this is a BUMPER CROP YEAR! the rains have made them grow like crazy, they like the shade so they are just carpeting the trails we like to venture. Pat and I went out just twice and got 7.5 gallons...enough for the winter juice we enjoy. Just lovely weather...a full month or two of this kind of weather would be SPLENDID! THANKYOU LORD...and no mosquitos for some reason....maybe it's too cool or something...we are not complaining! ha...

Here is a link to some photos on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1465946900408.60367.1585591801&l=eccc9cfdd7&type=1

SUNNY SUNDAY...PTL!...

Good morning folks,

The rain did let up towards the end of this week.  In fact, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday have been mostly nice, although a little windy.  Today looks gorgeous – blue sky, sunshine, and 45*.  During the last couple of weeks, there has been a subtle but definite change in the weather.  We have definitely gone into the fall season with a cold bite in the air and yellow leaves sporadically appearing here and there.  All the domestic flowers are looking very sad, having never recovered from the severe winds followed by excessive rainfall. 

Marilyn is still home and doing okay.  Allyson has gone to the states to meet up with her brother to take care of their recently deceased sister’s estate. 

Jon, Peter, and Joey all graduated this week from various programs having to do with the paramedic schooling they’ve been attending.  I guess Jon and Peter graduated from their year long paramedic class complete with hands on training that they fulfilled while in the states this late spring.  Joey graduated from Hazmat and structural fire school training.  He will start Paramedic school this coming with week.  My niece, Kelsey will be taking some of the same classes. 

Hannah’s baby, Owen, is 7 lbs but is still in ICU until those Brady episodes stop happening. 

Brad went to Ketchikan this week after the loggers came home from building the cabin kit in Fairbanks.  Here’s a quote from Tom on what Brad is doing in Ketchikan.

           

            “Brad is a member of the governor’s timber task force at this time.  He’s presently in Ketchikan for a face to face meeting with the governor’s other state appointees.  Brad has to be involved with two face to face meetings with these folks within the next six months.  They’re making policy recommendations for timber harvesting and job creation to submit to the governor.  Brad is ‘hanging out’ with many big name guys.  Meanwhile….”

Thomas and his humble sawmill buddies (Rich & Tommy) are holding down the sawmill at home. Seems like finally LAM (Logging & Milling Associates) is starting to hang out with the big guys. …WTG…and to think it started out with 4 highschool chums so many years ago.

Last weekend some of our guys were involved in a softball tournament in Delta.  They won one game and lost one game.  This weekend, Seth Fouse, Seth Jepsen, and Kevin Jepsen were involved in a soccer tournament in which they placed second.  These guys played on the Delta “Red” team.  They played against Whitestone, Fr. Greely, and a couple other teams.  Whitestone’s team placed first in the tournament. 

Tony took his boys (Chris and Cody) and Jon Leo and Nicholas into the mountains on Thursday for some caribou hunting.  Chris was the only one to shoot a caribou.  Tommy took his girls (including Meg) to Fish Lake to look around for caribou.  I haven’t heard if they shot anything or not.


We celebrated Floan Buongiorne's 80th. birthday! She got 2 cakes and a very nice flower bouquet courtesy of LWM. 

Rob and I have been going into Delta twice weekly to continue with his  riding lessons. Amanda Brown, owner and operator - and no - not a relative of the Amanda Brown from Whitestone Farms…took my Annie (18) on a 5 hours trail ride in the backwoods of Delta. Amanda is just amazing, she is game for adventure, when I mentioned that Annie does not get much of a chance to ride well trained horses, she just made arrangements for sitters for her 3 young girls and took of with Annie! THANKS AMANDA…needless to say Annie had a great time and hopes to be repeating another trail ride before winter sets it.

Annie got back from her time at the Fairbanks fair. She went with Sandy, our local beader, to help with her booth and try and sell some of her own beading and dreamcatcher items she has been making. Annie came back with a Rex rabbit which looks like the velveteen rabbit! 

MEET AGGIE...

And also a short haired American cavy called Petunia to keep our male Reepacheep company...lol

She is sooooo cute! but rather skittish...

MEET PETUNIA

Today,Pat, Rob and self went out into the woods for our first cranberry picking. We picked about 3 gallons in 2 hours...lots of berries and very nice!

Here are some more snaps of the girls...not sure when we'll see them now. Paperwork still in progress .

Ella,  Esther snoozin'

ELLA AWAKE, ESTHER SNOOZING

                                       awww...I wuv you sisi...

 I better feed my family so they can get to church.  Have a great weekend

RAIN, RAIN GO AWAY ALREADY!!

I cannot tell you how sick and tired I am of rain.  The roads and paths are just running with water – literal rivers.  The creek is high, the mountains (what mountains?) are completely “socked” in.   
It just makes me so sad.  And, then, tonight I saw my first batch of cranes going over.  I think it’s much too early for that to begin happening!  It all makes me so sad that I have no strength; I will have to go to bed soon to hope that tomorrow is better. 

SJ's cousin, Dick, went home after two weeks visiting.  We roamed the farm and investigated as many things as we could find; we went to Trotzkes once for a night of fellowship and to Eagles’ Ridge Ranch for supper and fellowship.  Then Andy, Tommy, and Jonnie went to Chitina to try the fish wheel one more time this summer.  They took Dick along with them.  It was a success all around – the guys esp my cousin had a great time.  They caught over 500 fish – we canned 400 lbs of salmon and put up 80 canned jars.  I made a slide show of Dick and Tommy’s photos, and I’m trying to upload it to facebook, but I think that this rain is messing up our internet a little, thus I can’t seem to upload it. 

In other news, it is still POURING out there!

Also, Marilyn went in last week to have surgery.  The Dr took out a big kidney stone and her stent.  Marilyn was discharged yesterday and is now home.  She says she doesn’t have pain, mostly she lacks energy. Ali has been back and forth with her mother, now she has to go back to Fbks to bring her home.

Hannah S. Davis’ baby is still in the hospital because he’s waiting to be a certain weight before they discharge him.  Judy went ahead and flew down to spend time with Hannah.  I’m not sure how long she’ll be gone.

Steve Aresenault was here for the weekend, with his son, Dillon.  Steve preached at devotions on Fri morning and then for service on Friday night and again on Sunday morning. 

Annie Buongiorne has been at the Fairbanks fair with Sandy Sutherland.  She’s helping Sandy run her booth and also selling the dream catchers she’s created. When she came back she surprised me with a cute female guinea pig and a lovely Rex bunny for herself! We made another hutch over the week end, despite the pouring rain…she is keeping it in her room for now. I named my new guinea Petunia, she is red with black markings, cute but very skittish, and not too keen on Mr. Reepacheep (Rob's male guinea pig) who is trying his hardest to make friends with her…cooing and chirping at her…but all she does is run into her dark little corner, totally ignoring him! haha...

The loggers are up in Fbks putting up a log cabin kit.  They will be gone a few days.  Lizzie is milking for Rich.  Her arm is improving a lot, she just can’t still open and close it completely, and she can’t do things that pull it out like that. 

Floan turned 80 yrs old today.  I have some birthday pictures which are on FB. Pat had to drive her to Anchorage (8 hours away)  due to a sudden worsening of her "good" eye - hopefully they will be able to find a solution for her…there is no specials who can do the procedure here in Fbks. 

Brad and Jo and their girls went hiking out to Fish Lake last weekend.  They actually had great weather and had a great time.  I’m so jealous.  Maybe someday some kind hearted pilot will fly me to Fish Lake sometime in the summer before I am too old! I did the 8 hr very grueling trek before the kids were born and it almost did me in, so I know I can't do it now…

Jon Squires, Peter Casey and Joe Casey are all graduating this week at UAF, for Paramedic and Fire School. Congrats guys…you earned it!

Pat Lou got a maintenance job up on the Slope  (Prudhoe Bay)…he says he likes it, general maintenance plus helping the camp cook since he knows how to cook!  :)

I’m sure there’s more news, but like I’ve already mentioned, this rain is making my brain full of melancholy.

More another day…gri

WIND WIND....BLOW ON ME....

Hello,

Tonight is breezy, 69*, and the sun is shining as it sets. We’ve had some cool, overcast days with the sun appearing at night for the last two nights. It’s very aggravating! I would like the sun to shine all day long. I hardly slept last night everything was banging around the cabin outside so much!

Del and Virginia Buerge were here this past weekend. They went back to Whitestone last night but now have come for tonight. They will begin their drive home tomorrow morning from here. The service with them was very good. 

Sarah Jepsen's aged cousin Dick (relative to Aunt Em) have been having fun. He likes to walk all over the place all the time, so they’ve been exploring the farm and places nearby. We asked Seth Jepsen to take us to Squeaky’s yesterday. He put us off and put us off. Finally at 8 pm, he wanted to know if we were ready. !!!! So, we went with the kids. They went on up to the Plateau, arriving home at midnight. We stopped at Squeaky’s to come back home, arriving home at 10 pm. For those who don't know, Squeaky's is a hill nearby about 1200 ft I guess, where people who have the energy can climb and look out on the Tanana River and the farm...most of the panoramic photos of the farm are taken from there...awesome scenery! A family outing with kids is usually a must a couple of times a summer!

Craig Mason poured his foundation for his house this past weekend. He will have a basement, I noticed. 

My BIL Ben, does have a fractured vertebra from the aftermath of the accident.  He is wearing a brace to keep his torso from bending too much. He is not supposed to be lifting more than a pound, and he’s not supposed to be bending over very much. 

Jarred, Steve, and Jim were working on putting a roof on the new tack shed which is being put up by the root cellar and the old tack shed. I see some of the younger men spending time pulling staples and nails out of some ¾ in plywood which the guys plan on using on the tack shed. Jarred got the used but very nice plywood from one of his demolition jobs. 

Bonnie Mason went to California to attend a family wedding. I think she comes home tomorrow.

Our family went to the Delta Fair last week end. It proved to be rather a fiasco since it was dismally gray and drizzly. Also, the main attractions of the rodeo shoot out and Lumberjack challenge, a favorite with Pat and May for years, was cancelled. The horses are a great attraction for Robin. However, it was not all bad, since Rob's riding instructor and her small school of riders got him and the girls on the back of her truck and they all took part in the parade...that was fun!

Annie with her new Tony Lamas hat that I got her from Kansas City

here is one of the twins Ella and Esther. Aren't they adorable? I think their mummy was playing dress up...haha!

Have a great week...Talk to you later