JULY EVENTS 2012...

Greetings all!  

I’m so sorry that my usual is getting to be not writing very much.  This past I was busy with hosting my grand babies and their wonderful mummy, plus taking Rob back and forth to Delta for riding lessons, plus celebrating my big 60, our 26th anniversary, keeping up with farm chores, managing the cabin alone while Pat was gone to a Piano Guild Workshop in Seattle...hummm...etc, etc. ...

I know, nothing new under the sun, and you all are just as busy...but ...just sayin'... 

Why has July gone so fast I wonder? And now almost August…yikes!

The weather has cooperated some so that we’ve been able to get most of our hay in.  It does seem that every time we’d cut a bunch of hay, it would pour for several days.  Finally the rain would stop and we could dry out and pick up the hay.  We’ve have finished putting up all the square bales needed for the summer.  We need the weather to stay nice for a few more days so we can finish the round bales. August promises to be lovely so far...hope it keeps up! Pat and self have tried to go fishing twice, lovely but windy! I don't mind, I just love floating on water!...

Let's see for some currrent events & farm noos:

• Pat came back from a good Piano Tech workshop in Seattle. He always learns something new at these things and enjoys them.
• Rus and Millie had a good trip to Anchorage.  They brought Bradie home with them.  Jannis will come home with Wenda who took JoAn down.  Wenda and Jannis will be coming home on the 31^st.  Wenda has become our farm chauffeur it seems..and here I am hardly venturing out into the big city alone…shame on me! cluck, cluck…and I used to drive amidst the crazy traffic in Madrid…oh well...
• The Milliron team has been working night and day on their various jobs.  To make it easier to work longer days, this week, their families went and camped at the job site to be with the guys. 
• Harvey and Linda Blevins with their 10 yr old grandson came out to visit on Wednesday.  We looked the farm over and esp the sawmill.  Linda wanted to show Bay the homes they had lived in while here.  Bay was more interested in wading in the creek. 
• Micah VanderHart had a couple of weeks of intensive physical therapy over the last couple of weeks.  And, last week, he had a hernia surgery.  Poor guy has been through the wringer. 
• Ben made some curtain rods for the Black Rapids Lodge and has had to go up there several times to install them.  This weekend, he is going again because they needed some sort of special wooden pieces installed for the rods.  
• Cathy made it home from Fairbanks after her knee surgery.  She’s had a tough week adjusting to caring for herself while still recovering.  Wenda and Emily have been good helps to her – bringing her meals, fetching things, etc.
• PatLou has come back from the L48, having been in Colorado, California, Idaho, Utah, and now perhaps Canada. Fire-season is still going strong down there, Alaska amazingly has been so damp that fires were not as abundant as in previous years, They might come back to visit DC, we shall see. I know PL would like to go hunting with his dad.

Black bears have been sighted near our dump and closer to the farm than is nice to think. Ani and self have had to watch our backs on our daily walks.

Please continue to pray for my BIL Don and my sister Alexandra Burgess, that the Lord heal and bring complete restoration to Don. They are both faithful servants in the Lord's work and have been for years in various capacities and ministries. They are being such troopers amidst their health battles…God bless them! That their faith fail not.

We also remember various ones that have come to our attention: Sis. Becky R, Bro. Tim H, Sis. Audrey S, that the Lord intervene on their behalf and that His glory might manifest in the midst of battle, bring peace, hope and healing. All faithful servants and well known to us.

No more for the time being.  Have a great week.  Here are a few photos for your enjoyment.

a 

mother's Day gifts from Ani

 
HAY BARN IS FULL! PTL

Well, our excitement about the nice weather was short lived.  Yesterday we brought in two wagon loads of baled hay before it became too cold to bale any longer.  Later in the evening, it began to rain, and it has drizzled all day today.  Everything is gray, wet, and socked in.  On a brighter note, Merlin did arrive home with salmon – 545 lbs of it.  We ate the King salmon for lunch; it was 22 lbs and was enough for all the tables to get just enough meat to eat.  Andy and Tommy will be home soon with another 100 fish.  We will have put up over 1000 pounds of salmon this summer by the end of tonight.  We are grateful! And we wish we could share with everyone, but it is impossible.

Yesterday, Mike and Ann Bear came out for a quick visit to bring Ann’s brother and wife out for a look around.  Garth and Kim hosted them. 

Becky Riche has a spot on her lungs that has been a concern to the doctors for nearly a year now.  She will be having surgery on August 1 to either remove a wedge or lobe of her right lung.  If you’d like to write Becky directly, you may do so at:  becky_riche@hotmail.com

Joey has already left us again to go to Anchorage to sign up or something like that with his new place of work.  He will be back. He will be working on an offshore ship as a medic...sounds adventurous!

Pat had a good time at the convention and called to say that he had arrived in Fairbanks, HOWEVER...when he arrived in Fbks, the airplane had misplaced all his tools and luggage.  Talk about a headache. We played phone tag for the rest of the day and finally a call confirmed that his luggage had been found. In the meantime he had had to go to SAMS to get his meds and ask for a new prescription, after the pharmacy heard his drama story they gave him a new one..thank goodness. IN THE MEANTIME...Pat found out that his ACS phone was not working due to having his account mixed up with PatLou's, talk about ditzy people...the ACS folks somehow punched in the wrong middle initial, not that hard to do really, instead of an F they punched in an L...but he got that straightened out and is now home, safe and sound.

Pat said that one of the highlights of the whole convention was that the daughter of Clair Davis the piano tuner who wrote the books on TRIGGER POINT THERAPY, was there to follow in her father's footsteps and have a "hands on" workshop, showing tuners how to fix their various joint and muscle ailments and how to work on themselves. There was a variety of small balls and Theracanes and a variety of equipment that is used with this type of therapy. Pat and I have been working on our own shoulders, hips, etc. using the trigger point therapy approach...it works if one is consistent. I practically have gotten rid of my frozen shoulder which I have had for about 3 years - it only flares up when I am overworking it or not paying attention to how much I am using my arm.


Here's Pat with all the Alaska Chapter of the Piano Techs Guild. They had a good time. Later on they were invited to an Irish Pub with live Celtic performances...now THAT SOUNDS LIKE SOMETHING I WOULD LIKE! 

Bethany and the girls are heading out to Dry Creek this evening, driving through the night and getting here at 1am. which will technically be Tuesday. GOD SPEED!

I forgot to mention that on my birthday Flo, Ani, May, Rob and self all trooped into Delta and had  a nice steak dinner at the Alaska Stake House. Pretty nice! Here's some photos of what the girls gave me. Ani made the necklaces.

I better get to supper and then on to cleaning the next batch of fish.

Have a good week y'all.

THIS WEEKS FARM NEWS

I woke up this morning to winds.  I was immediately happy to hear them since hopefully, the wind is drying out our hay.  We had nice weather on Thursday afternoon and since.  So, the haying guys have been mowing and teddering the hay.  If all goes well, we’ll bring in our first bales tonight. 

Also, coming in tonight will be 175 fish from Chitina.  Merlin, Tommy, Andy, Jonnie, Nic, and Benj went to the fish wheel on Friday afternoon.  Merlin and his boys will be home with the first batch tonight. 

Sis Marlys Johnson, from Haines, was here for service this morning.  She preached on the signature of God in our lives – what is God’s signature on you? And are you yielding to it?  Sis Marlys is staying with the VanderHarts; since some of them are gone (to Chitina) and Ann is busy in the kitchen, it was left to Micah to take Sis Marlys touring around the farm. 

Yesterday a group of us headed out for a cook out at Whitestone.  We felt doomed from the beginning.  After loading up in the 15 passenger van, Mark went to turn the key in the ignition and only the battery came on, the ignition would not “catch”.  (I really don’t know what I’m talking about, but I can pretend)  So, we swapped to different vehicles and headed into Delta.  Right in front of the Tesoro station, Craig’s truck got a flat.  We barely got into the Tesoro driveway.  Changing the tire was a joke since Craig had lost a tool that was to release the spare tire.  Then, his jack was too small; we had to borrow the Chrysler’s jack.  We were only ½ an hour late for our boat trip into Whitestone.  Not bad, really.  I’ll attach a photo so you can see our fun – Chrisand Bekah stopped by to help so we had six guys brainstorming and trying to get that tire changed as soon as possible. 

HOW MANY GUYS DOES IT TAKE TO CHANGE A TIRE?

I did need to mention that when the Caseys and their friends came out to the fourth of July that they brought oranges and bananas to add to our feast. I forgot about that since that all disappeared so very quickly.

Also, Joey has finished his Mississippi stint and drove himself home by way of Kansas to see the Chartiers and Washington to see his relatives that live there.  He came home just in time to jump in with the farming where he is badly needed. 

Here are some links to some recent pictures that I’ve posted to facebook – one is of the mowing and one is of the Whitestone Band Concert that we attended in the spring. https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150934695311569.404337.674561568&type=3&l=8316d42301 and https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150938417926569.404720.674561568&type=3&l=58458ee30d

Cathy Purdy is doing very well.  She will probably get to move from the hospital to the DenaliCenter soon if she hasn’t already. 

Bethany Buongiorne and her twin girls will be driving from Palmer to here tonight.  We will finally get to meet the twins.  Pat Lou is in Idaho working as a firefighter.  Also,  Big Pat is inSeattle, WA, attending a Piano Tuning Convention.

Ben M went to Anchorage to see a back doctor as a follow up of his injury from last summer.  His report from that was very good.  While down there, he is attending a blacksmithing convention.  (so many conventions going on)

Kathy Casey was happy to report that her mom has completed her last day of radiation for breast cancer at a few weeks shy of her 81^st birthday.  She has passed what cancer people call “graduation day” and is doing very well.  (Did I say that right, Kathy?)

I have lots of neglected photographs that need viewing so I might start inundating you with photos.  I hope that won’t be a problem.  Also, don’t hold your breath, because I’m easily distracted. 

Have a great week. 

It has been one rainy week.  When I say “rainy”, I don’t mean gray and drizzly, I mean downpour after downpour.  It has been awful (well, not unbearable, but very close to it).  This afternoon, the clouds dissipated some, and the sun came out.  I sure hope it stays out some. 

I’m not feeling very inspired tonight so I don’t know how much news I’ll be able to think up. 

…

The above was written about a week ago.  I became easily distracted and never came back to this letter.  Sorry.  We seem to have been having lots of rain this summer.  Yesterday, Monday, was beautiful, but in the night, the rain came back.  Yesterday, Tony and the guys started cutting the hay.  L  We need some dry weather now. 

Concrete trucks rolled in yesterday to pour the concrete for the new greenhouse.  The new greenhouse is being placed right next to the present greenhouse (which is near Floan’s and Cox’s homes). I think it will be used to house our flowers and leave the bigger one for peppers, cukes and tomatoes. According to those who are in "the know' it is not good to mix veggies with flowers because of the different pollination times, hummm...a mystery to me...

We had a great July 4^th celebration.  Jennifer and Gri with the help of Annie, Kelly, Kerri, and some others made a wonderful spread.  Nathan and Melanie donated chicken and watermelon for our feast; Lauren and Dwayne bought us a beautiful huge grill for such occasions.  We didn’t have many guests, but it was still a very nice celebration.  Guests were Nathan & Melanie and family; Jake, Phanta, & Zayden; Andrew, Kylin, & Landon; friends of Caseys (Holly, Matt, and kids); Paul & Mary; Hillikers; Toby & Marie; Sam, Marki, & kids; and maybe someone else I missed? 

Garth and Jarred have a huge construction job for the summer.  They are having a hard time getting some of their work done because of all the rain.

Our garden is coming in wonderfully, but we haven’t gotten as much weeding done as we’d like to… due to the rain. 

VanderHarts are home from their summer trip – they had a great time touring the western coast of the US.  Andy and Sarah Jane have arrived home more recently.  We are happy to have everyone coming home. 

Miss Jannis went home yesterday with a violent flu bug.  I hope she’s the only one to get it.  (I must mention that she spent the weekend at Whitestone this past weekend.)

Jake and Phanta and Zay spent five days here; Zay actually came home with me a few days before his parents to have some farm fun.  He told everyone he was staying here for seven more days they day he was leaving, but I guess that didn’t happen because he’s gone. 

Cathy Purdy went in on Sunday/Monday, and had her knee surgery on Monday.  I haven’t heard anything today, but yesterday it seemed that the operation went as planned.  She will have awhile of recovery probably in Fairbanks and staying at the Denali Center where they will make sure she gets the post op therapy she needs. I’m sure she’d welcome some comforting emails.  cathy.purdy@gmail.com

Christine (nee Jepsen) has been released from the hospital and is doing well.  Thanks for all your prayers for them and emails to them.  Richard’s parents have gone down there to visit (which was previously planned) and will spend some extra time with the Moores. 

Kathy Casey has gone to Washington to visit her folks for a few weeks.  

Rob came down with a mild case of strep after DCYC but is getting better now, still has a few days left of meds.

This week end Bethany Buongiorne and the twins will be travelling to the farm, we are all looking forward to that! Bless her on the road and give them travelling mercies, it's an 8 hour long drive from Palmer to Delta and then another 45 miles to the farm.

PatLou was supposed to fly down to Colorado or Utah to help with fires, but now the monsoon started down there and they called that off. Their fire station was vandalized recently which is a shame....this has slowed the activity of the crew somewhat pending investigation. Cannot believe some people have no other thing to do but take what does not belong to them, especially from a place where workers are involved in keeping the rest of us safe from wildfires...what a world! He is on call so will not be able to come down with Beth and the girls....too bad about that.

Rob has started his riding lessons with Stardust Stables in Delta Junction. He does quite well and has progressed to where he controls the horse on his own...well...kinda...ha!

I have been busy making and editing slideshows of our Youth Camp, and now helping others to make their own from their various adventures. I enjoy this but does take time! 

NOTICE: IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A COPY OF THE DRY CREEK YOUTH CAMP ACTIVITIES, I STILL HAVE A FEW LEFT. LET ME KNOW at 

alaskamama@gmail.com

or contact me via FB.

Pats'gone to Seattle for a piano guild convention. He will be back on Sunday. Sounds like he is having a good time. 

Today is a lovely sunny day!...PTL

All for now, hope everybody is doing well and enjoying their summer.