It’s a little gray today ....

Here are some pics of the latest bonfire we had on cleanup day.

It’s a little gray today after the many days of sunshine. I guess we can manage without the sun for a day.

We had a wonderful school picnic down on the Johnson River bank. The kids loved all the space, the dirt, the water, and the sunshine. I’ve posted some pictures on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=81465&id=674561568&l=57bfccaf54

Dad took Rob to the picnic and he thoroughly enjoyed himself it seems. I had to go into the big city with Flo and Annie for medicals and shopping.

Last night all the guys had a bachelor party for Peter. Seth Fouse made a seafood picnic for everyone. I heard they were going to shoot skeet, play softball, throw Peter in the creek, and other things. Rich came home at 10 pm. When my boys came home at midnight, it was to prepare to go out camping somewhere. Rob went out with his dad and was pretty proud of himself since his dad let him shoot the shotgun....in times past he has been too scared at the loud bang...he's growin up as he reminds me daily! :) I will post some pics soon....

Tonight, at 6 pm, we have a bridal shower for Stacey. Stacey Chartier, Bethany, and Melissa should arrive right before the shower or during.

Yesterday Tony and Wendy with Chris and Lindsey went to Frontier Days in Delta. They bring a horse wagon and horses and give rides all day. Sometimes they participate in the events such as “Kiss the Pig” contest. Last year, Seth helped hold down some pigs for a lady who participated in the contest, and she gave him a nice sweatshirt for his help.

Andy Trotter has been pretty sick (puffy and stuff) from the pollen floating around. He has never been this sick before – wonder what made the difference.

I better get to church and to cooking. have a good week end

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL...REALLY...

Here is one of Rob having fun at the pic!...his Dad took him since I had to go into the big city with Flo for medicals.

And, really, it can’t be counted too much as school since we’re going out for our picnic. We usually take grades 1 – 8, but this year we’ll be taking all the way through grade 11. Teachers and students alike are very excited to be out of school.

Garth and Jeni both cleaned so vigorously on the clean up day that their backs went out. They are both slowly getting better.

The loggers guys put up two small cabins in Tok this week. Then, some of them left tonight to put a small cabin up in Fbks tomorrow.

Kelsey leaves tomorrow for the summer. She’s going to spend the summer with her mom in Fbks; she will be working at Sophie’s as gardener for their grounds.

Sis JoAn Mourat is home from her six week stay in Wasilla. The high school kids had one last music class yesterday to practice the song they’ll be singing at the wedding.

Allyson left yesterday for a 10 day course in something related to ETT classes. Jon is doing alright with all the kids on his own.

Last week, Chris’s boss told him to be at work at 6 am. For those who aren’t familiar with our area, that means he has to drive an hour to get to work. I only get up some mornings with him. Four thirty am comes around awfully early.

I think Stephen flies in today, as does Bill’s brother, Ray. Wenda’s sister, Aunt Patty, arrived today. It is getting exciting around here with guests arriving for the wedding and with all the wedding prep going on.

Tony is busy discing and planting the fields across the road. I think Joey was helping him some. And, of course, his boys help him all the time.

I took my MIL Flo to an eye appointment and Annie came too...we left Rob home with Dad to go to the picnic...

More later...

another beautiful day....

Today is another beautiful day. It appears that the snow is finally behind us, but, then, one never does know with Alaska.

We had a great clean up day on Sunday. We were grouped into about five groups with various areas to scour and clean. There weren’t too many huge overwhelming projects, just mostly cleaning up after the winter. The farm does look nice with the lawns raked and big debris picked up.

Yesterday night we had a work night to clean up the raspberry patch. We were breaking off the old canes and carrying them out of the garden. Tomorrow night we plan on getting potatoes ready to plant and finishing up in the raspberry patch. Hopefully, we’ll get to have a huge bonfire with all those dried old canes, and if we’re really lucky, we’ll have found some marshmallows to go with our bonfire.

Three days left of school! Have a great Wednesday.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT...

Good morning!!!!! It is a beautiful looking day – I can’t wait to go outside today. Today is “farm clean-up” day. Garth usually organizes this and divides us into crews for various projects. We were going to do this last week, but I’m glad we waited since last week was snowing and wet and cold.

Steve and Judy should be home, although I haven’t seen them yet.

Pat Lou came home for a few hours this week. He came with the guy he works for to pick up horses. Mike McCann boards his horses here in the winter.

Peter and Stacey’s wedding is right around the corner – two weeks away. Preparations have begun in earnest – food is being bought, some being prepared and put away in the freezer. We are having a bridal shower next Sunday night.

Oh, and we have ONE week of school left – the last day being our picnic day! That is exciting. Rob will ge going too and he is very excited about doing so...shld be a great day for all! will post shortly about it with pics...

talk to you later. Gri

Greyness and chilly... :(

Hello People,

We’ve had nothing but grayness and rain for the last week and a half. Yesterday we awoke to another layer of snow on the ground that had melted by lunchtime; it rained and rained all day for the rest of the day. Today we did see the sun for a minute or two here and there, and it wasn’t quite so rainy.


Tuesday Pat, self, our kids and some other school kids went to a Steinway presentation and recital for a new Steinway which has been purchased by one of the local churches. I guess that when one buys a Steinway the manufacturer sends their own piano artists to try the instrument out. Anyway these two pianists are world class material with their own websites and recital schedule all over the world. A great treat for us and something we dont get to do often. Best of all it was free since Pat is the local piano tuner....

Last Wednesday night, I went over to Whitestone with Kimberli, Miss Jannis and a pile of the young people. We went to see their David musical. It was well done; I really enjoyed it. It was nice because they had all the kids from 3 yrs old through college age participating. I think my favorite parts were where the little kids had their carefree lines and dances. Nanette, from Whitestone is going to send me a few pictures to share with you all on the musical.

While we were at Whitestone, we missed hearing Lenny Banaszak preach here at home. I read through my students journals today; I think his theme was reminding us that God has a purpose for us, and He will help us in realizing our purpose. Lenny used to be Pat's classical guitar intstructor until we both merged into the Shepherds School of Music in BC, Canada.

On Saturday, I took another bunch of kids over to Whitestone for their graduation which was quite lengthy. It was quite a day. The graduation lasted four hours, then the reception, then visiting, then parties, then a bonfire (I didn’t go to the bonfire). Marlys Johnson, Lenny Banaszak, and Ernest Watkins were all participating speakers. All the kids that I took ended up being invited to spend the night so all of them except my niece and I stayed overnight.

Wayne Gentry preached here on Sunday. He preached on the pearl of great price clinching the message with “How Much are You Willing to Pay?”.

Luke Woolfolk, from Hilltop, came out to visit us on Monday. He was up for the Whitestone graduation too. He spent a lot of Monday with us before going back to Whitestone for one last night. I think he went home today. Someone from Hilltop, let us know when he arrives safely home.

We are in our second to last week of school. You will hear no sorrowing from my corner. Kids are in the "done with school" mode which is rather diff. for us teachers. Rob is almost done with his Math and Phonics but will have to continue during summer school...much to his chagrine...but he will do other things too, such as help out in the kitchen as a DD (domestic duty), various and sundries other chores like setting up chairs for church, mopping floors under supervision and of course his favorite "the horse wagon" doing water chores to the animals....



Pat and May just got back from driving school in Fairbanks. May is happy with the new experience she is gaining but bemoaning the fact that she felt very tense while driving in traffic, she'll get it eventually, just needs more practical experience. Her instructor is a Harley Davison fan and quite a character (an older man) said that she did fine...

We will be having a farm clean up day on Sunday (thus no service). Hopefully, the sun will be out, and hopefully, there will be no snow on that day!

Allyson had a health relapse this week, but I notice that she is up and running around again yesterday and today.

Hope the weather changes and we really get summer this year...right now it is lightly haling can u belive it?

Pat Lu called on Mother's Day to wish me a happy day...so sweet, he is busy taking folks on horse trails and such, he will be enjoying his summer and later on his hunting.

Ok no more for now, take care, have a great week. Maybe I’ll write again soon. One never knows!

goodby nice weather...

Good morning! Ugh! It is snowing out this morning! Monday and yesterday were both grey days; yesterday the thick clouds rolled in so that we couldn’t see the mountains. This morning is even worse with all that white stuff on the ground.



Saturday night Meg and a friend from work came out to visit. Oh, and Erica, my niece, came out to visit too. She is super busy with her cosmetology course at UAF, but lovin it! After church, Erica cut Seth and Chris’s hair – her first haircuts ever. Meg came along at some point and gave Erica some tips. Afterwards, Meg, the friend, and I took some kids out to Lisa Lake for a quick hike. I’ve never been out there at this time of year. There was a couple camping on the ice, ice fishing. The ice was still a good foot thick. We saw where the boys (Pat included) had thrown up a lean-to to sleep under the other night. I wouldn’t mind sleeping under that lean-to – it’s really neat.

The creek has come in and every day (until probably today), it rises higher and higher. Lizzie went out to get pictures, but got sidetracked by the sunset.

The cranes, geese, ducks, and swans are all flying in to rest in our fields across the road. Of course, the loudest and most obvious birds are the cranes since they circle overhead for awhile before landing and before leaving again.

Josh Hale, a professional ferrier, was out yesterday to shoe Mike McCann’s horses. We (as in Tony and S & K Farms) are boarding approximately 40 horses right now.

Sunburns last week; snow this week.

Pat finally left for the summer to work at Macarthy, and then out to the Brookes range by the Alaska Range to hunt with the rich hunters. He was pretty excited. Rob is gonna really miss him...he's agood big bro.

Tonight a bunch of us are going into
Tok to listen to a Steinway performer play on the new Stainway the local church got thre. Big Pat who is a registered RPT is going to be taking care of it and they invited all of us to attend the recital. We are pretty happy about that. Both my girls are players so they really want to see this.

All for now must rush on to school before Rob misses his mom..

have a good one

gri

and more sun.....

Hi! Yesterday was gorgeous, and today promises to be gorgeous too. If I can get away from my indoor duties, I’d like to go outside and work in my leafy yard. I’ve been taking my students out in the afternoon to brush up on soft ball skills – we’re all pretty rusty!

I am including some pics of our cabin up in the woods about 8 hrs away trekking up the mountain. We got a deal with the state so that they took all the wood and building materials up by chopper in exchange for something we did - can't remember what - anyhoo we go up there in the summer or winter (snomachines) and hang out also use it to take farm visitors and as a base while hunting nearby...I haven't been cause I can't do the trek anymore. I went up a couple times in the past when we had the old cabin. Kids say that this one is pretty nice inside...
the other pics are of the old cabin we use to have which is now in a sad state of disrepair...a bear got into it..


Last night, Pat Lou, Seth, Chris, Peter, and Joey overnighted at the Lisa Lake cabin. Chris said he slept out under the stars rather than in the stuffy cabin. I guess Pat Lou leaves either today or tomorrow to work for that man he worked for last summer – being a guide in Northern AK (up by the Arctic Circle and beyond). So, it was the boys’ last “hurrah” since Pat is going away, and Peter is getting married soon.

Pat is pretty excited about going hunter guiding for the next 3-4 months. He will go to McCarthy first to stock up on provisions and get the horses ready with his boss Mike McCain who is the Cabala's outfitter that took him last spring/fall....Pat will be "incommunicado" for the duration but I know he will have a good time and get some badly needed $$ for the truck he wants to get. Long term plans are to get a job with the paramedic corps...we will see what happens...

Today the young people are going over to Tony and Wendy’s to help them stack their next year’s supply of wood. Even Rob is gonna go and he shld have a blast....he is getting pretty strong and chunky...the outdoors will help to keep him trimmed down I hope.

The EMT people and the ambulance drivers are off to Tok today for another class followed by a barbecue. May is going too and she will get some added credit hours I think, she got her learners permit yesterday and is planning to spend some time in Fairbanks with her Dad going to drivers school...

Brad one of our veteran loggers, turned 40 yrs yesterday. Craig presented him with a walker at lunch for his birthday.

Cathy Purdy and my MIL Floan, are installing their pellet stoves. It is pretty sweet. Pat will not have to do so many cabins for firewood come next winter season...I think the count for pellet stoves is now at about 4.

I better get going before my day slips away! Have a great weekend. Gri

SUN...SUN...YAAIIIII

Longer sunny days at the farm...


Wow! The last three days have been beautiful and sunny. The snow has disappeared all so suddenly, and the ground is actually dry. It is wonderful. I hung my laundry out at 3 pm, and it was dry by after service tonight!

course now all the junk we left last year is showing up from under the newly melted snow...but we love it...I am itching to get out and clean everthing!!

We had short and to the point prayer meeting tonight. Thomas led worship; Ben led the prayer service.

Patrick made it home from his Cordova trip. The night before Patrick came home, Griselda dropped some firewood on her foot. Pat Lou and Peter decided that Gri needed to be taken to the Tok clinic the next day in our new ambulance.

Tok has “given” us an ambulance to aid injured people on the road near here or for our usage. We had to have drivers for the ambulance, other than the EMT people. Last night the designated drivers went to Tok for a class on ambulance driving. Of course Pat is and expert now...hehe...

We had another excellent service with Bobby and Cathy Owens on Sunday. Sis Cathy continued with her theme of reflecting Christ’s life. We had a ladies’s meeting at Kim’s in the afternoon with Sis Cathy.

Rus and Millie leave tomorrow for a couple of days in Wasilla visiting their grandkids. Jannis caught a ride to Big Lake with Sandy Sutherland; then she will ride home with Rus and Millie.

Have a great remainder of the week,

The lazy servant takes eight steps to avoid one.
~Proverb, (Portuguese)~

OUCH!!

Hello there!

Well.... things happen when u least expect it...

As u all probably know my husband Pat has been down in Cordova, a small fishing community only reached by ferry or plane, tuning pianos. This time because the ferry broke down he was a day late taking it from Valdez (another fishing community and the place where the Oil Refinery is situated), so long story short, Pat has been gone for almost 10 days, which is unusual for him.

So I have been home with Annie (16) and Rob (11 and DS), Rob has been sick with a croupy cold and flu things that has been going around for the past few weeks...actually folks have been sick with it for quite a while ever since we came back from our trip down south. Staying at home was kind of a bummer but we managed OK I guess, knowing that everybody was going to come back eventually. Because of our almost 3 weeks down south visiting relatives, Rob has been out of school for almost a month!

Yesterday, Sunday, both my older kids Pat (21) and May (19) came back home from being at the clinic in Tok, working and getting more hands on experience as EMT 3's. Big Pat called saying he was on his way back home too.

Well.... everything was hunky dory and I was enjoying listening to the big kids tell me about their Tokian adventures. We had just come back from the Tab having enjoyed a scrumptious Mongolian Moose dish put on by one of the Sunday cook crews....

At about 10 pm. the big kids May and Pat went outside to do some hatchet throwing with May's new hatchet and I proceeded to stoke the wood stove one last time before we all turned in. I have been doing this for many years and what happened next is totally unprecedented for me...I consider myself an Alaskan- bush-mom-veteran by now after over two decades living in this semi primitive environment.

...But as the fates wld have it...when I opened the wood box door which is about 5 ft higher than the floor, two huge green pieces of firewood which were apparently propped up against the door (and shouldn’t have) attached me and came flying out of there and fell on my unsuspecting right foot....
The pain was severe as I hopped around the living room uttering unmentionables.... I finally hopped out on to the porch and summoned my two kids who were merrily playing with their tomahawks...

Fortunately for me, they are not both EMT 3's so they went into immediate medic mode and carried me into the house again. Pat was in command; he amazed me with his strength (I am no fairy princess) and efficiency, as did May who kept the records and vitals going. They called their instructor at the Tok Clinic and asked her advice as to what to do…I was given a morphine pill and the foot was elevated and iced accordingly. Amazing what a pain it is to have to hobble along with crutches especially at our cabin with all the different levels…. May helped me take a shower and then helped me get to bed. So in a few minutes my normal bedtime routine was turned into something short of a nightmare…

It was a weird feeling to be taken care of by my own children…I kept thinking of them as babies and when I was nursing them or taking care of them…. had these flashbacks of when they were all little and so dependent…and then I wld look at them and realize that my babies are all grown and responsible young adults…can I take some credit for that? I hope so…although it does take a village…. as the saying goes…

We tried to get in touch with BP who had disconnected his cell phone (bad habit)…and woke somebody up close to where he was staying thinking that he was there. Anyway word got around and he must have been notified of our family emergency and called us.

Anyway long story short is that after giving me the morphine pill I was finally able to get to sleep and then the next morning we asked Annie to miss school and stay with Robin so we cld get to the clinic.

The neat thing about it all is that because my kids are part of the EMT TOK EMT squad they have given our community a fully equipped and operational (second hand) ambulance, so Pl drove the ambulance to Tok and May rode behind with me checking my vitals. I found out that this was their first run in our own ambulance and that I was their first real patient. Together with Jon Squires they got me onto the gurney and into the ambulance.



The trip by ambulance was very bumpy, I think I prefer the chopper ride I got when Robin was born 11 years ago.

The staff at the clinic was quite efficient and after I was examined some X-rays were taken while May and Pat waited outside and filled in their paperwork and reports. It was determined that I suffered a bad traumatic impact and nothing was broken. Again, it was neat to see the rapport and camaraderie that my kids enjoy with the medical personnel at the Tok EMS clinic. Who wld have thought? My Kids? EMT 3’s…makes a Mom sooo proud!

So I was prescribed some pain medication, bought a nifty air Velcro splint and sent back home in the ambulance with Pat as my driver.

All in all quite the experience and hopefully my foot will be good not too far off, after some R&R…

So glad all this happened when May and Pat where here to take care of me….
☺

SORRY NOT MORE FREQUENT...

MY SWEET SIS ALEJANDRA AND SELF...WE HAD SUCH A GOOD TIME!







Hi All,

Life has been hectic up here on the farm....after our trip life started getting messier and messier, tons of folks were sick with a nasty virus which first attacks the bottom half of u and then goes up to the top half of you. Kids out of school, teachers too, classes cancelled.
Usually my hardy Welsh/Argentinian/Italian ancestry weathers these kinds of things well, but this time even I got the bug slightly. Only lasted 2 days for me. Robin is another story...he NEVER gets sick...and I am not used to this. It has been a whole week for him since Open House at School. Nasty croupy cough which wont go away. Girls have asked me to let him sleep downstairs on the couch poor thing! So he has been holed up for a while now.

Pat Sr. has been in Cordova working on pianos for a week too and still has another 4 days. PatLu has been at the clinic in Tok for 2 weeks catching up and getting hands on time...May left today with Jon and Joey to take some additional courses at the clinic, and Annie is out doing the cattle run/rodeo...here I am with Rob trying to catch up...

OK NUFF' ABOUT THE BUONGIORNES, SOME FARM NOOS NOW .....

Good morning everyone! It’s been way too long since I’ve written. Sorry about that.

Just a few minutes ago, my house was all quiet while everyone snored (quietly) away; now, in a matter a minutes, it is a quiet again after a five minute burst of doors slamming and some yelling. Tommy, with the help of whoever would go out, is moving his beef cows and calves across the road. Before my kids left, Chris and Cody were sitting on our porch humming and singing waiting for Seth (who I was supposed to wake up). I guess they are going out to catch and harness the horses being used for the round up.

Bobby and Cathy Owens are here for the weekend. They preached last night, and they will preach again on Sunday.
Sis Cathy shared on being a reflection of Christ.

Yesterday we woke up to a fine layer of beautiful, unwanted snow. Yesterday was terribly gray day. This morning, I can see a few sunrays making it through the clouds. I know I haven’t mentioned it, but spring has finally arrived to the north; the snow is slowly melting.

We had school open house last week. It was a great event, as always. The kids always love it the most; but the adults are the ones who make it fun for the kids – thanks for all the great participation from you all who live here. I do have some pictures, but don’t count on seeing them ever – I’m so back logged on my pictures.

Patrick B is in Cordova tuning pianos for 10 days.

Several people here, including me, got this stinkin’ flu bug, but we’re all getting better, and hopefully, it quits passing itself around. (That’s a great run-on sentence.)

Steve and Judy will be back home before I ever mention that they’ve gone to the states to visit their kids for a few weeks. Sorry Bro Steve and Sis Judy – hope you’re having a fabulous time!

Ben is in Fbks at another show this weekend. I think it was held on Eilson.

Merlin has finished building his house that he has on a plot in Delta. He has put the little plot with the house up for sale just this week. Even though I helped him make the fliers, I can’t remember what he’s charging.

The greenhouse is up and running. Kathy Casey and Wendy with the help of Bro Rus and others have seen to that. Jarred got the batteries in our well house replaced. We have needed that to be done for awhile. Yeah for Jarred!!!!

As u probably have heard my two nieces have gotten job in Fairbanks and living with their mother. Erica who graduated with my May is taking a one year accelerated beauticians course offered by UAF and her younger sister Kelsey is working as a landscaper thru the summer months to save up for her Paramedic career int he future...

I’m sure there is more news, but I should get myself moving along here. I hope everyone is doing ok.

The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it,
to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not,
and never persist in trying to set people right.
~Hannah Whitall Smith~
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