Cont.Fall news from The Land, Alaska

A few belated tidbits from our last few weeks....I only have a few minutes before I need to get moving along.  Due to the crazy winds, we had a very warm September week.  This morning, it is 39°.  We will pick up potatoes across the road today.  Looks like it will be a beautiful day for such an event. 

We have had a busy week cleaning up debris and fixing roofs from the Sunday night windstorm.  Mostly, it has been the guys doing all the clean up and fixing.  Some of us girls/ladies went out yesterday to help pick up tree debris. 

We have been cutting moose like mad whenever it arrives down from the mountains.  We have one more partial moose to cut up before we are done with moose meat for the season.  Tony, Kevin, Chris, Cody, Benj, (and Seth went part way), and ? went to Fish Lake for the last moose this week.  They had to take chainsaws and it took them quite awhile to make it to the meat since they had to cut their way their after the windstorm.  Same thing when they went up for the last moose out of East Fork.  A bear had gotten to the last moose in the Fish Lakearea since it took the guys so long to get the meat out.  The bear hauled away the neck and a big hind quarter. 

Yesterday the Seegars and the Gormans were out to celebrate Grammy Irene’s 90^th birthday which will be next Wednesday.  They brought with them Eric Eads, Justin Bauman, and Tim Chavez.  These boys plus Laura Jennings came over to visit us. 

Sis Betty Hilliker turned 80 yrs sometime here in the past week.  She can be greeted by writing to: blouhilliker@starband.net

School starts on Monday.  We still have a few more work nights before all is buttoned up for the winter.  We appreciate the nice weather but can do without the wild, wild winds. 

Wenda went to the Anchorage area to attend Paul Lawrence’s wedding to a girl named Rebekah.  Some Millirons went down as well. 

Wendy and Paul Jennings just showed up for church.  Uh oh!!!!  But… Wendy wanted to let us know that her back troubles are 90% better, and she feels so much better in every area of her life.  She appreciates all our prayers.  Wendy is doing exercises that are strengthening her back. 

I better get making breakfast and getting off to potatoes

UPDATE

Taters were all picked and stashed away...we had quite a nice crop and a good turnout. You can look at some photos here

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4296200174971.163132.1585591801&type=1&l=9d3330de7b

By now you all know about our hurricane winds clocked at about 114 mph at some point. For photos on the damage click here

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4265561329019.162291.1585591801&type=1&l=cb57eaca2f

We are thankful that nobody was hurt and that our cabins were safe, some out buildings and some business premises were damaged and some of our neighbors suffered some damage to their property but on the whole we were kept safe and none the worse for wear...it could have been much worse!..PTL

The area where Pat and Beth live in Palmer and the surrounding areas has been hit hard with flooding from rain and swollen rivers. Praying for safety and for those who have sustained lost/damaged property.

First days of school have been uneventful  but full. Students seem eager but we know that will not last...ha! I am enjoying teaching 6 HS students + Rob. with the Rosetta Stone Spanish software. Have 3 computers with 2 students each, everybody seems happy with it.

Madly making plans for our imminent trip to the Spanish Convention in Seville. Hoping for a good and prosperous and safe time in the company of my sister Karenza and the brethren over there. 

Have a good rest of the week everybody and keep praying for my brother in law Don and my sister Alejandra Burgess...they are being faced with the trial of their lives...praying for peace, job and that their faith fail not.

Off to bed

ROB TURNED 15!!

END OF MOOSE AND MEAT...

Moose season ended successfully with us shooting 10 moose – we already knew about Kathryn, Tony, Chris, Brad, Tommy, and Rich.  Near the tail end of the hunting season, Jarred, Seth, Kevin, Cody each shot a moose.  We did have trouble with bears getting into the meat that was shot at East Fork.  One night when Tony went to get the meat, the bear and her cubs had hauled away and buried some quarters.  Tony and the boys moved the buried meat to a different location.  Once the bear figured that out, she was highly bothered.  Then when Tony went up to East Fork to get another batch of meat, the bear had gotten into that meat as well. 

Rus B had a successful lens transplant surgery.  He is very happy with his doctor, his treatment, his recovery, etc.  On their way home from Anchorage, Rus and Millie stopped at Sapa for Ted Hesser’s memorial.  While driving home from Sapa, Rus tapped the butt of a moose.  All passengers were unharmed; the car has a little body damage, and the windshield needs to be replaced. On the whole a productive  trip! When one considers that Bro. Rub is in his mid 80's it is amazing.

Garth took some folks to Sapa for Ted Hesser’s memorial.  I guess that went okay?  I never heard anything about it.

I think Kevin and Jill Brandes went home today. Olivia, their daughter, is staying with the Milliron seniors for the school year and I have a Rosetta spanish class with her...

We’ve been cutting meat several times a week to put away our many moose.  We lost most of our carrot crop this year due to weed spraying followed by rain.  Whitestone Farms generously gave us 30 bags of carrots equaling ¾ to one ton of carrots.  This coming Sunday, we should be harvesting our potatoes. 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4236750728772.161505.1585591801&type=1&l=b1ccd29471

We had super high winds on Sunday night.  Andy said the winds were 60 mph, gusting to 114 – 117 mph.  It was a miserable night if winds are bothersome nobody could get a good nights sleep, in our house the kids came downstairs and tried to sleep in the living room... When we woke up, several of our large spruce trees were down, Cathy P’s back porch mostly blew away, one of Garth’s dormer windows is damaged, Ben and Tom’s solar panel poles were injured.  Along the creek bank, there were so many trees down that it looked like a logging site.  Bob and Betty’s road was un-drivable.  Tony and Kevin were going to go meat packing up East Fork way, but they had to return home in order to get chainsaws to clear their path.  The trees that fell were all so huge that the horses could not step over them.  Big messes!  The guys all stayed home from work on Monday to clear the roads and paths and to pick up all huge fallen debris.  Some of the women went out in the afternoon to help pick up some of the smaller debris.  We haven’t had winds like that since ’76; it was definitely worse than the windstorm of ’81.  I posted some pictures on facebook so I put the link on here for you all to see.  As far as personal dwellings are concerned, nobody's got damaged, as far as I know, but the LAM kiln lost its roof and some other stuff got damaged and thrown around. Some folks had large trees fall on their roofs but thankfully nothing got badly dented.

I went about, as did others, and took some photos. Click these links if you want to see some.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.4265561329019.162291.1585591801&type=1&l=cb57eaca2f

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151059383746569.420931.674561568&type=1&l=7f38a06f94

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151044002856569.417983.674561568&type=3&l=ab283c6d10

Ok, more another day.  Have a great week!  

COULD NOT PASS THIS LOVELY STORY UP! ENJOY... 

WHEN WE ALL GET TO HEAVEN

By Al Keeney

I had noticed the young man bagging groceries before. He took his job seriously and worked at it diligently. It's not easy for a person with Down's syndrome to find a job and he appreciated the opportunity to do something useful and earn his own money.

That particular day he bagged my groceries and placed them carefully in the cart for me. I thanked him and moved to push the cart out the door. After all, I'm a man! I can carry my own groceries. But he would have nothing of that. He informed me that that was his job.

I said, "OK," and he followed me out to my car. I opened the trunk and he put the bags in. I smiled and said, "Thank you."

Suddenly, he put his arms around me and said, "I like you!" I said the only thing I could say; "I like you, too."

Over the years I have read hundreds of books on a wide variety of subjects: I have heard countless sermons and preached hundreds myself; I have witnessed several remarkable, even historic events. But you know, I don't remember any of those things as clearly as I recall that simple expression of innocent love.

Now, some will say that when I see that young man in Heaven, he will have been made whole. In other words, they think he will be like the rest of us. But I wonder.

I wonder if, when by God's grace I am made whole, I won't be more like that young man than he like me. You see, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control [Galatians 6:22-23]. My friend the bag boy was blessed with all those qualities and none of the pride or meanness that so often afflicts me.

When we get to heaven, few of the abilities we value so highly here will matter very much. And honestly now, would you like to spend eternity debating the finer points of physics or theology or fine art with some world renowned authority, or would you rather spend it singing in the choir seated next to a kid who is not embarrassed to give you a hug and tell you that he likes you?

FALL NOOS...

Good morning!  We woke up to a super hard frost yesterday morning.  There was a tell tale layer of frost still on the ground at 7 am.  I heard that the temperature went down to 24° and happily stayed there for a while.  Also last week sometime, we woke up to a lot of snow on the mountain tops.  It was pretty, but unwelcome.

We’ve been busily putting up things from the garden since it is that time of year.  Last night we picked peas.  If you picked the peas that were buried under the plants, they were large and untouched by the frost; the top peas were that great.  We’ve put much greens, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, and much more.  Jeni has figured out a recipe to make smoked salmon which is then canned so that it’s cooked as well as smoked.  We don’t have the right equipment to smoke it and cook it too. 

  

We had an excellent visit with Sis Janet, Bro Art, and Sis Sarah.  Sis Janet and Bro Art both preached on resurrection.  Sis Janet came over to our house and ended up telling my kids and their friends about her experience when her husband died.  I was blessed with the story, as were they, and it was an excellent testimony of God’s love and care.

The first hunting crews go out on Friday since moose hunting season opens on Saturday.  We have to be there for the first hours of moose season, right?  Tony and his help are frantically packing in camps and supplies, raking hay, and trying to bale it with broken balers. 

So far no crews reported any moose...hoping that changes soon since the season is not all that long and we need at least 10....

Tommy and his girls, Jessie and Kerri went up, as did Brad Coxand all his family, Tony and his boys and am not sure who else. May is waiting for her dad to return from his piano trip to Valdez so she can go hunting with him. The weather is absolutely gorgeous and we are hoping it will stay this way for the whole month. A true "indian" fall, and excellent for hunting. PTL.

Lawrences and Pete and Stacey stopped by and did some quick hunting by the bridge and the river.

Geyers have put up an internet dish!  Yay!  But, Tommy has to cut down trees that are blocking the signal before it works superbly. Some kind of grant from the state which is helping folks get internet and covering some of the equipment and installation.

Not sure what else is happening, I cooked this past Sunday and there was a bunch of people and guests, so that all the ones who are hunting were actually not missed....Today it's back to normal and there are empty spaces where hunters and their families should be....weird.

Next week we start Teacher's Prep and all the teachers start to madly run around in circles and put their neglected classroom and paperwork in order for the new school year. I will have a rather light schedule, only one student for Spanish and 3 others who are just doing the Rosetta Stone. Rob will continue with his academics which actually never stop!...lol

Hard to believe that is turning 15 in a few days! wow...

I tried to take some photos of the "blue moon" we had a few days ago...

I should get going.  Have a great day! 

Rob and the bison at the local truck stop...he thinks it's cool!