FALL NOOS

Hi all,

The Jepsen/Nerbonne travelers from CA (Sarah, Kath and Liz) came home to shockingly cool weather of 35* which is plummeting to 28* or so at nights.  Happy to say that it seems that maybe we are having an Indian summer.  Last night, the wind blew all night allowing Tony to bale hay with the tractor long into the night (because his cool, awesome tractor has headlights and a cab).

School started last Monday  A couple of days, the highschool students have attended school till noon, then they been released to go work with Tony.  Yesterday the juniors and seniors didn’t have to report at all, but went straight to work for Tony.  Tony’s trying to combine the grain and get all the hay baled and wrapped.  Usually Ben does the grain, but he isn’t this year due to the accident earlier this summer where he fractured part of his backbone. 

My Spanish class using Rosetta is going very well. Jesse Geyer, Cody Williams, Alexandra Buongiorne (as a post grad student) and Rob enjoy it and the program can be set to different levels. Very nice! We also use some of the traditional book work.

This year I have Rob most of the day. It seems to work better for his speed although he mentions that he misses being with the his former classmates. I will try to make a bible unit to include all 3 probably when we get to MOSES. Abeka has some great visual aids which I plan to use as well as NEST animated stories and activity books. We concentrate on Computer skills, typing, the 3 R's and did I mention READING, READING, READING! Going through all sorts of basic to not so basic books, he seems to be wanting to read, so that is what we do first thing in the morning. His computer work is mainly centered around, phonology activities, grammar usage, sequencing and short term memory skills. We will be quite busy. In the afternoons he joins the highschool students for Spanish I & II. He really enjoys going into the BIG school since it is age appropriate for him! He is now in the HS for Music class which is a nice change. Also trying to do some Science and repeating the BJ Heritage which we never did quite finish.

For  PD I am planning on continuing the snoshoeing with anybody who wants to join and Rob does his treadmill in the morning as well. It will be hard for him to park his bike since he has discovered a new freedom riding it without the training wheels.

I took Rob to visit his sped teacher's place. She keeps 75 sled dogs which were quite noisy and I think rather overwhelmed Rob. He did well though and enjoyed interacting with some of the dogs. Most of them are chained up since they are working dogs rather than pets. Of course this visit brought about the endless chat we have about wanting a dog - he even has the breed all picked out! A Boxer.

PatLou was able to spend a few days with us before leaving for the UK, Beth and the girls. They have posted some very nice photos of the girls and Pat himself, holding them FINALLY! Ella and Esther are getting so big! Amazing how fast they grow. Hopefully we will be able to see the little family together in the Spring sometime. God willing.

Big Pat has been very busy with piano work, going out more than a few times each week for the last few weeks. Everybody is wanting their piano tuned for the school year, etc. Today he is in Tok and sometime later int he month he will be doing his Valdez/Glenallen run.

Matt Dean from Tok has come back for school this year; he is living with the Williams.  Melissa Lupo will be taking a couple of classes from us too.

Jarred finished redoing the tab septic.  He was able to connect the lines for the tab bathrooms if we ever decide to finish building that.  Jarred smoothed that whole area out so that maybe we can plant it with grass seed rather than letting it turn into weeds and little random trees. 

Also, Judy came home from visiting Hannah and family and Lauren and family.  Little Owen is nearly 11 pounds and is home and is doing great.
 
Garth and Kim and Kelly also arrived home from their summer trip of visiting family and preaching around the countryside.  They were gone for 4 months!

I guess Jennifer’s mom returned to New York too since I’m not seeing her anymore.

Seth Fouse landed a job in Fairbanks and will be gone for a couple of months getting that done.  He comes home some weekends or Kimberli and the kids go in there some weekends.

Merlin’s brother, Keith, was here for a five day visit.  He was a breath of fresh air with his inquisitiveness and interest in everything.

Potato harvest was good and we put quite a few tons away for the winter as well as all the meat from the 15 moose our hunters got. PTL.!

Well I think I've run out of things to say.

Have a great rest of the week.

Talk to you all later

ROBS RECENT SLEEP LAB...

We took Rob into FMHospital for a sleep lab clinic, to determine how to treat his mild apnea.

Here is a link to the FB album. He was such a trooper to be able to sleep through all that¡ Needless to say his mother did not fare so well. Ha!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2243189850996.120414.1585591801&l=52e142c272&type=1

CARIBOU HARVEST, ETC.

Hi all, It’s been a few days.  It’s that time of year -  harvesting, putting up meat, franctic finishing of summer jobs, etc.  We’ve had some nice fall weather lately with sunny skies and calm wind currents.  Rob is down with walking pneumonia, have no idea how he got it...he's never sick so this is a new one for us. I can count on 2 fingers the times when he has been really sick with high fevers and upper respiratory issues. He is one fortunate kid cause DS individuals are notorious for being plagued with URI. Anyway, he is OK on the whole, except that he gets run down and has to take a break. Have him on meds for a bit. Because of this Rob missed Sarah school photo shoot, hope he'll get it done sometime. Pretty soon his riding lessons in Delta will come to an end as he will start school, actually already has with Alaska Gateway School District.

Tony, Cody, Chris Williams, Sam Geyer, Jarred, Seth, Kevin, and Jonnie Mac have gotten caribou in the past week.  Jonnie Mac and Chris Williams were the first slayers of caribou.  Seth Fouse made a big batch of salami or pepperoni type stuff from some of the ground meat.

The cranberry picking craze has hit everyone – gallons upon gallons of cranberries are being picked and stashed away for the winter’s supply of cranberry juice and jellies and coffe cakes.  We’ve had several frosts over the past few days so the cranberries are getting good and ripe.

Judy has written to say that little Owen will be released on Wednesday – he has gone several days now without those Brady episodes, and he’s weighing in at 7 lbs, 5 ozs.  Everyone is real excited.   Tony and the kids are madly cutting, raking, baling, and wrapping the hay. As tradition has it, Tony and the other crews will leave here on 31st  to set up camp for moose hunting which begins on the 1st of September.  Thus the frantic work on the hay and other fall farming chores!  Tommy Geyer has an all girl crew going to Fish Lake; I foresee that being a lot of fun (or not!).  Pat and May will be going on the second group to East Fork. Hope everybody gets a moose cause our freezer is sadly lacking in that department! We actually ate through every single bit of ground moose this winter. Jennifer’s mom will be flying in on Wednesday for a couple of weeks.  Her dad wants to come up later.  We’ll have to wait and see how that works out. Garth, Kim, and Kelly are in the Shepherd’s Inn area of Canada.  Garth is ministering at all the communities in the area, and Kelly will be attending the youth camp there this weekend.  The youth camp will be held at Shepherd’s Inn this year since Headwaters has some complications with health needs and such. The guys are getting some gravel dirt to put on the roads around the community.  It’s quite the process – someone gets the gravel at the gravel pit and drops it on the road, someone else spreads it and grates it, and someone else comes along with a packer.  We’ve needed to do this for awhile. We’ve discovered that our tabernacle septic system is completely full after having it pumped twice this summer.  The guys are devising a plan for putting in a new septic system.  We just redid the wellhouses’ septic last summer!  What is up with all this digging and messing with dirt and overflowing septics?  Probably all that hideous rain we had this summer!

Irene, Bonnie’s mom, has been sick for a little while.  It was difficult to discover what the problem was.  She was diagnosed with several things – congestive heart failure, blocked arteries to the heart, and more.  Finally, it was discovered that her electrolytes were low.   After being put on an IV, she is much improved.     Seth and Jarred are working at Wainwright this week.  I think they’re doing something with roofing.

A lot of people got together this afternoon to roll tortillas for the hunters (spoiled guys!).  Jonnie Mac was the only male volunteer.  Go Jonnie!!! Annie and I finally made it up the second hill after Lisa lake, rather a climb for me but glad I did it, we took some photos on the bridge and the mighty Tanana flowing underneath!

Pat, May and self went to Lisa and caught some huge rainbows. Never have seen such big fish here before! 18 inchers for sure! Fried them up and seasoned them and are eating them for supper and breakfast. A lovely and peaceful day floating on the water..."

Bring on that sun and keep it here Lord! What a beautiful Indian summer we're getting. The creek is still flowing. More another time, have a great rest of the week. Nice? It's the ONLY thing,' said the Water Rat solemnly, as he leant forward for his stroke. `Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING--absolute nothing--half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing,' he went on dreamily: `messing--about--in--boats; messing----'

GOD BLESS YOU!

When God is about to reposition your life know that the devil will begin to attack! Read to the bottom - watch the water  If I don't get this back,  I will know you really  didn't read it. I got this from someone and  thought the last part  was really a good  thought....  Too bad that the person who sent it to me did  not know 10 people who  would admit to knowing  the Lord.  Do You Love Him?  This is a simple test:  IF YOU LOVE JESUS,  SEND THIS TO AT  LEAST 10 PEOPLE  The Poem  I knelt to pray but not for long,  I had too much to do.  I had to hurry and get to work  For bills would soon be due.  So I knelt and said a hurried prayer,  And jumped up off my knees..  My Christian duty was now done  My soul could rest at ease......  All day long I had no time  To spread a word of cheer  No time to speak of Christ to friends,  They'd laugh at me I'd fear..  No time, no time, too much to do,  That was my constant cry,  No time to give to souls in need  But at last the time, the time to die  I went before the Lord,  I came, I stood with downcast eyes.  For in his hands God held a book;  It was the book of life.  God looked into his book and said  'Your name I cannot find  I once was going to write it down...  But never found the time'  Now do you have the  time to pass it on?  If you look at what you do not have in life,  you don't have anything,  If you look at what you have in life, you have  everything.  Thomas Kinkade Paintings  (hope the water is moving!!)  READ THE FIRST LINE CAREFULLY. ....  If God brings you to it, He will bring you  through it.  Happy moments, praise God.  Difficult moments, seek God.  Quiet moments, worship God.  Painful moments, trust God.  Every moment, thank God.  This is a Thomas Kinkade painting. It's  rumored to carry a miracle!  The water is supposed to be running, so  if it's not moving then the picture  Didn't come through entirely.  They say if you pass this on, you will  receive a miracle.

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