Belated Summer, Fall, Early Winter News

Belated Fall and Early Winter News,

Apologies for bunching up so many months...it has been rather crazy busy around here!

The biggest, very biggest event since last time I wrote is Craig with the help of others from Whitestone and here has managed to give us normal internet!  It is so nice not to have measured bandwidth!  To be able to look up a recipe or pay a bill or look at a secure site without taking a nap while trying to load the page.  And… we can even stream anything - movies, news, music, debates, ball games.  It is GREAT!

We had a very rainy July (nearly 7 inches of rain) but ever since then, it’s been pretty dry. In the month of October, we received 1.5 inches of snow.  Last night another .5 inches fell.  It is supposed to snow a little more in the next day or so.  So far this winter, we’ve had maybe four days of -2 and -3 weather.  Otherwise, we’ve been staying in the teens and low 20’s.

Miss Ellie, from Maine, who visited last winter will be moving here soon.  Nic and Merlin VanderHart flew to Maine to pack up Miss Ellie’s things before driving her things here.  Miss Ellie will live with Jim and Bonnie.  

Speaking of Jim and Bonnie, they have the foundation laid for their new home.  It is smack in front of their old house.  Moving, when it happens, will be easier than some moves! And Pat was able to set down his base for their new shed…Jepsen’s old cabin came down as well and this rather large shed will be in its place, at some point next spring/summer.

In August, Kevin and Kelly had a little girl named Stephanie Adilyn.  Kenny and Joan visited for two weeks when Stephanie was born.  Just recently Julie Jepsen visited for a month.

Doug Keizebrink’s daughter, 19 yrs, is visiting us for a few months, its nice to have another young person to join our ever dwindling group.

Seth and Amy left here on the 24th of October. 

Ann’s father, Al, passed away last night at 8:15 pm.  Ted (Ann’s bro) and Ann were both with him as he peacefully stopped breathing.  Richard officiated a burial service this afternoon.  

We shot about nine moose this year - Lindsey Williams was one of the slayers of moose this year! 

Seth and Kevin killed all the pigs before Seth’s departure.  Now Tommy is into killing some of the cows.  We have no lack.  

Our garden yielded plenty of fresh food, we put up plenty.  May did a superb job on the garden as usual, and hopes to build a hi tunnel again for next garden season.

In September, Wendy Scott Gibby with her three daughters came to visit for two weeks.  Wendy is Cathy Purdy’s niece. 

OUTREACH AND RANDOM TRAVELS:

In August, Amanda Nerbonne went over to Indonesia for a couple of weeks with Karl Kady’s group (it’s the same group that Olivia Geyer went with a few years back).  On her way home, Amanda stopped by Japan to spend a week with her uncle and his family. Now our very own Maddie and also McCall Mitchell are in Australia on a mission trip.  Soon they are launching from there to somewhere else for a more intensive mission time.  

Rob is working at the mill for another stint at learning the ropes. He enjoys the guys and learns some life skills...THANKS, LMA GUYS!

Past summer was a busy one, as usual, twins came to visit with their parents plus their Nana from the UK. They were here for planting which was quite an event. 

Here are some random pictures. Enjoy!

MAY/JUNE

Chugiak Range

Morning!  I’m almost certain we’ve been having record highs for the month of May.  The highs have been in the 70’s, and yesterday I’m sure we reached 80 degrees with a promise of today being even hotter.  We’ll see.  The nightly lows have reached to 30 degrees but is usually closer to 32 and 34 degrees.  So far, we’ve recieved 2/10ths of an inch of rain for the month - everything seems very dry.  Forestry has a burn ban on for the entire state of AK.  If we want to burn in anything other than the boilers or our barrel stoves, we have to call Forestry for permission.  Unless there is rain, there will be no permission granted.  

Tomorrow is our high school graduation at 2 pm.  We have four graduates - Maddie Cox, Kerri Geyer, Amanda Nerbonne, and Nicolas VanderHart.  Maddie is saving money for a mission trip to Australia in late fall; Amanda is saving for a short mission trip to Indonesia in early fall; Kerri is moving away to work to collect money to begin college, and Nic is waiting for next year to begin college.  I’ve taught these kids off mainly with HS Spanish, and I have enjoyed them thoroughly. I will miss them.  

Last email I mentioned that Brad had a mass in his shoulder extending into his neck and arm.  After some appointments, surgery was scheduled for a few weeks ago.  The benign three-pound tumor was removed from his shoulder and other places; a tentacle had grown into his chest cavity!  Dr. Wade was able to get all the tumor but he might’ve gotten a major nerve and blood vessel that runs along the shoulder blade shelf as well.  Time will tell.  Brad has had the staples removed and is recovering well.  He didn’t realize it, but he’d been in a lot of pain previous to the surgery.  That pain is subsiding with only healing pain remaining.  

This past week, Ben went into Fairbanks for a routine well physical checkup.  Due to some things and fasting for various tests, he was very weak.  He went to the ER and while talking to the desk there,  he fell.  The fall caused a concussion and bleeding in two places between his skull and lining.  After MRI’s and CT’s, he was said to be okay  and has been released to Melissa’s care.  He is VERY weak and dizzy and tired.  

And Pat Sr. had another episode where he ended up in the FMH ER. May, bless her, drove her dad in since Gri had to stay with Rob and it's easier not to disrupt Rob's routine. Dr. Kohler spent some time with Pat and gave her medical advice, now time will tell, as I type May and Pat are in Fairbanks at FMH.

I don't want to say : falling like flies : oops I said it...seriously what's going on one wonders?

Gri and Rob are planning a week-long Valdez trip with the REACH Academy homeschooling branch of the Alaska Gateway School District. Hope all goes as plans, crossed fingers. The last one was missed because of a medical emergency on Gri's part, at the last minute, but life happens.

UPDATE ON THE VALDEZ TRIP: All the kids and adults that attended had a good time. Alaska was at her scenic best!
Rob had his first ocean kayak experience and he did well.

VALDEZ HARBOR

 CROSSING THE SOUND

VALDEZ MUSEUM

MARCH/APRIL....ITS BREAKUP TIME IN DRY CREEK!!

This is the first time EVER that our snow has been gone by April 1st.  It has been amazing.  We’ve had a few gray days but mostly sunshine and relative warmth (never rising above 52 degrees but never reaching below 20 degrees).  Sunday we had a small hail storm and a small amount of rain which we probably need.

All of Tommy’s beef cows have done their thing and have had their babies.  Rich’s cows have had their babies too providing us with wonderful creamy milk for our various cheeses.  Tony’s horses are due to foal soon.  They are penned by my home so I like to look first thing in the morning to see if they delivered in the night.

The old elementary school and all the debris has been demolished and is completely taken away.  Except for the cement pad where the stove sat and a small indent in the ground without grass, one would never know it was even ever there.  Now the demotion team has moved on to old Harris/Grado/Jepsen cabin.  

——

We had a fun open house last Friday - Rob was proud to show off all his work from the past 2 years. We worked with Power Points to enhance some of the Social Study lessons...amazing all the good stuff one can find on sites on the web.

May had a great time in Mexico with the people in the community where Amaris grew up (and where Sarah and Paco Carbajal lived for many years).  She showed us pictures and talked on Sunday after our brunch.  

Miss Rose has gone to Anchorage for two weeks to be of assistance to the Gentrys.  Ann V will bring Miss Rose home since Ann will be coming home for her oldest son’s graduation.  The graduation of Maddie, Nic, Kerri, and Amanda will be on May 14th, the same day as Whitestone’s graduation.  Excellent bonding opportunity between Micah and Merlin this week since Merlin had to take Micah to his therapy sessions in Fairbanks.  

Ben attended the home show in Fairbanks at the end of March.  I forgot to ask him how he did, but I’m sure he did great.  A few years back, Ben purchased a plasma cutter which has been very helpful to him for some of his simpler things that don’t necessarily need a personal touch. 

Last week, Bob Hilliker, with his wife, Betty came to visit.  :)  He wrote a book on his experiences in Alaska.  I must say, I have enjoyed reading the book as has Rich.  Here are some pictures of Mr. Hilliker signing books for friends in my very own dining room.  The book can be ordered by calling ….. I forgot to write down the numbers.  Or maybe by finding the facebook page about it:  My Life in the Wilderness, An Alaskan's Story  or by writing eastfork73@gmail.com

I better get.  You all have a great week end

JAN/FEB/PART 2

When I first woke up this am, the temperature was an unbelievable 35 degrees, but it has begun to drop already.  It is now 23 degrees.  Last week, we had a few days of twenty below temps.  Of course, it’ll always warm up during the day so no temp is too scary at this time of year.  Plus, with some sunshine…. we can handle just about anything.

All is well here.  We had some wind in the past week that made life a little miserable but we have survived.  We are enjoying the Maine peoples.  Jairo Cruz is a professional photographer and marketer person.  In Rich’s words, “maybe he’ll teach me something”.  I’m actually excited about his being here.  He has a different take on things, and he can be helpful to my students and ex students where I don’t seem to have the time.

Carolyn is going to Fbks tonight for a couple of weeks to help watch Sam and Marki’s children.  Marki is going to Seattle with her mom who is having surgery.  I’m going in later this week to babysit Jake and Phanta’s children as they have a wedding to attend in Anchorage.  If I remember correctly, Jake is the preacher man!  Jake and the kids were out this weekend while Phanta was in Anchorage helping with pre wedding things.  Jarred took the kids out sledding for awhile on Wednesday afternoon. Then Seth and Ammy had Ethan and Zayden over on Sat night because they had Nikoli Chavez out from Whitestone.  

Wenda is improving every day.  Getting stronger and stronger as the days pass. We are thankful for all the prayers on her behalf.

Garth is home from his chauffeur job.  He left the ministry after the Whitehorse convention.  The tour continues on, but I’m not sure where they go next.  

Last weekend, Toby Stoeber, Flori, and his fiance, Carolyn Hall, came to church and spent the day at the farm.  It was a truly pleasant time.  We haven’t seen them in so long esp Toby.  

Ann had a nice short visit at home.  Now she’s back in Anchorage continuing her studies.  Al, Ann’s dad, is keeping track of things in the house when Merlin is not around.  Al hurt his shoulder awhile back so we haven’t been seeing much of him, but I see he’s coming out again now.  

Erica went to Tacoma, WA, this past weekend to collect some of her things since she is staying in this area for awhile.  Ben with Kathryn’s help kept Caleb while she was gone.  

Betty Venebles passed away at I’sot on February 12 (I think).  There will be a memorial at Whitestone on Thursday the 25th and at I’sot on Sunday the 28th.  

Millie was taken to the ER last week because she passed out during therapy.  After a very thorough check, nothing was found.  She was declared healthy and has come home again.  

May, Gri, Tony, Wendy, Lindz, Cody and Chris Toby Williams, all attended the Delta Farmers Forum. S&K was elected as farmers of the year so May, Wendy and Tony put a slideshow together about the greenhouse (Wendy), garden (May) and ATR stuff on the other side (Tony). They talked for about 28 minutes dividing the time between them. Gri took a video of the event and perhaps they will do it again for the family so that we can all be informed on what goes on in that department. It was quite an honor to be awarded this and May especially wants to continue to take courses and hook up with experts and horticulturists and growers here in Alaska. People were asking her questions and she was fielding the answers quite expertly.  This is the second year in a row that they’ve been presented with the Cooperator of the Year award from the Salcha-Delta Soil & Water Conservation District.  

More on the home front and rather belated news: Ani came from TX on college break. It was nice seeing her and having her at the house. We went out on a couple of snowshoe ventures but mostly she just wanted to relax. Quite a few of the ex grads came back for Christmas break. Also, Pat, Beth and the girls came for New Years and I had a good time taking the twins out on snow adventures and Pat took Beth's cousin, Rob and twins on a snow machine ride pulling a sled behind. Family reunions are memorable aren't they? Kids grow up so fast and move away and its nice when they can all come back at some point.

This year I tried the ice candle thing again. I remember making them when the kids were little and they came out quite nice. May made me some as well with home made candles.

MARCH ALREADY?

Last weekend we had some amazing 40 above weather but soon reality hit and we went back to having -11 and -14 degrees each morning but warming up that same name number but above zero weather in the day. This morning is the first time all week that it’s been above zero in the morning.  We’ve had no new snow in weeks.  The winter accumulation was at eleven inches but with the wind and some slight melt-age the level reads at nine inches. 

So, as usual, last week I gave out some misinformation - I wrote, "This is the second year in a row that they’ve been presented with the Cooperator of the Year award from the Salcha-Delta Soil & Water Conservation District.”  My bad.  It should’ve said it was the second time every that Tony and S & K have received that award.  We are especially proud of our own May Buongiorne - our garden manager who was also a part of the award ceremony. The Williams and May put together a short PowerPoint explaining what the farm is all about, Tony talked about what goes on in the large crop and horse farming arena, Wendy talked about her greenhouse projects and May talked about her gardening and what she has learned in the last few years managing our 3 acre community garden. projects. 

There is a short video if anyone would like to see it. It is rather grainy since the lighting was poor. The PowerPoint is also available. Here is a photo of the group presenting. Taken by the local news rag so not super clear.

Our cheese lady Sarah, recently found a guy who paints canvases of cheese, doughnuts, meat cuts, etc.  He painted her spicy Gouda which we named Winter Fury and Amaris’ Toscano Pepato.  Here are the links to his canvases.  http://mikegeno.com/catalog/art_viewer.php?artworkID=345&sortBy=0&category=0&startNum=1 and http://mikegeno.com/catalog/art_viewer.php?artworkID=347&sortBy=0&category=0&startNum=1

Miss Elle from Maine has gone home.  We enjoyed her visit, and I’m pretty sure that she enjoyed her visit with us.  Jairo Cruz is still here.  He is jolly fellow who has fit right in with us.  He is a photography pro and brings  his enthusiasm and know how that the HS photography class and to all those who do photography.  He’s been teaching the students how to take environmental portraits with flash and lights.

I was asked to put out these new contact phone numbers for the Gentrys:  new Robin House Tel. is 907-332-2017 and Cell is 907-885-8140

Some of the loggers are doing a logging job near Fairbanks.  They will be gone for three weeks or so.  They may be home some weekends.  I heard they are staying with Jason Tate.  Only a couple of loggers are there actually.  They rest are still home.  

Carolyn came home after a  week of babysitting her grands in Fairbanks.  She will have to do more babysitting later as the surgery for Sam’s mother in law was not able to happen yet.  The surgery was rescheduled.  Bonnie has taken off for a trip to Maine.  

Rob and Gri continue to travel back and forth to the Dot Lake school for what is called e-therapy. This is a new online tool that makes otherwise unavailable therapy - to school that live in outlying areas and not connected to a large town/city - our school falls into that category. We make use of the faster internet service and are able to offer our high school students online courses and in Rob's case some speech therapy done in the style of "skyping". It's actually quite cool.

The backyard creek is starting to show its existence and the ice is slushy...some of our snowshoeing and skiing trails are unusable but we continue to go out as much as we can.

Have a great day!

Here’s a pic of Bro Rus and Sis Millie deciding when they will go home after supper.

JAN/FEBRUARY...

Hi  all.  It is February which means hardly any snow (at least this year) with lows of -15 and highs of +15.  Each day when it’s not too cloudy we receive a few more rays of sunshine.  The guys would like a little more snow fall for their skidoos or snow machines. Today it is 17 degrees above zero)

We had an excellent convention.  I’m sorry that I didn’t give a report sooner and now I’m a little rusty on what it was about.  I’ll check out my notes.  Bro Bill Grier preached on prayer and intercession; a quote from him is, “Intercession does more for history than culture”.  Steve Arsenault’s text was from Ezra; Bro Andrew closed with a plea to seek God, cry more, and to ask God to search us.  David DiGloria preached on fusion and related it to our daily lives.  Bro Joe closed that meeting with an exhortation for intercessory prayer.  Bro Andrew Giles preached from 1 Thess “faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it” and he used the story of Legion as one of his text. Bro Joe’s text was the Mt of Transfiguration story with his point being warfare is necessary to take the visible from the mountain top experience as we walk in Christ.  John B compared the fear of God with the Love of God.  A quote from John Basalyga is “Terror does not constrain you; it may stop you, but it doesn’t constrain you. Only love or fear will”.  John Jeffreys talked about gold going through the refining process.  My interpretation of his theme was just as Jesus has been tempted and tried, so will we, and wouldn’t we rather that trying be done now rather than later.  It was nice to have some of the Delta people here for some of the services.  Many of them were able to attend since we had a weekend day along with our week days.

Cody came back from his Peru trip right before convention.  He presented us with a slide show and talked to us about the trip.  Very uplifting presentation.

We have an influx of Maine people here and there are more to come.  Joe Brandes went home for the holidays and brought his sister, Olivia, back to live here. Jairo Cruz and eighty year old Elle came with them to visit for awhile.  In June, Joe’s parents and younger sister, Emma, will be driving up the Alaska Hwy to live here.  

Wenda is being released from the hospital today!!!  In case you hadn't hear she had a bad case of pneumonia. She’s a miracle - really and truly.  One minute there was no hope, and the next, she was off the ventilator and slowly but surely making improving progress.  Stacey and Kenny will pick her up today and take her to Stacey’s at their home in Hernon, Kansas, while she continues to heal.  The altitude in Colorado is difficult for Wenda who is having problems getting over the pneumonia, etc.  

Bro Andy is still waiting for his test results.  In the meantime, he feels and looks fine, he says.  

Kelly and Kevin Jepsen are due to have their first baby in August.  

Ann VanderHart has been in Anchorage since January studying and working on her internship for PT.  She will come home this weekend for a little bit (not sure if it’s just the weekend or if it’s for a few days).  Shhhhhh…. don’t tell Ann but I heard some negotiations with Lindsey to help the menfolk tidy the house before Ann’s imminent return.  

Floan has been chronically sick with various infections this winter. We hardly see her out but when we do it’s usually because Gri chauffered her to and from the tabernacle.  She is getting better though, and will start venturing out on her own, at least walking up to the Tab which is good for her.

The loggers are very busy doing what they do - logging, hauling firewood, cutting lumber, and Rich making pellets.  :)

Here's a photo of Bro. Buddy and Joe from last year. Missed Buddy.