END OF FEB. MOOSINGS....

Good Morning folks,

The temperature this morning is -1°, and we are thankful for that!   Last week, the temperatures went as high as 38°, and we had rain.  As heavenly as that sounds, and it was wonderful, it is much too early for such awesome temperatures.  Everything started melting and getting sloppy; the road to the logger’s worksite (really Whitestone’s road) went out.  The loggers were unable to do their work and there was concern about how to get their equipment out of the work site.  Now, things are happily back to as they should be for the end of February temperatures. 

 Here’s the link to Shane Williamson’s family. .  http://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/support-shane-williamson-family-after-loss-to-cancer/311331/update/282957  Shane is the 3 year old grandson of Paul and Nancy Baltrum (their daughter Rachel's son - he passed away after a 3 year battle with an aggresive form of cancer). Thank you for looking at this.

We held Marilyn’s memorial on Sunday.  We had few guests since that was the morning we woke up to rain on ice.  It was a small family gathering that I think Sis Marilyn would’ve appreciated.  Our guests were Don and Liz Werhonig, David and Kim Johnson, Sue Brown, Seth and Ammy, Dora Lopez, Becky Riche, and maybe someone else.  Thomas officiated, Bill Casey spoke and read a poem, as did Griselda, Brad and Becky, Rich and Dora sang – if anyone wants a link to hear that, I’ll happily pass it along),then we had a brunch.

Jessy Geyer started her year with Michael Sowers last week (maybe the 17^th).  Then a few days later, Mike had to return to Canada for a couple of months.  Jessy still seems to be floating on a cloud of happiness. 

Carolyn is still under the weather with her fractured foot and flu problems.  Hopefully, we will glimpse her face again soon.

Kathryn and John’s wedding is a few short weeks away – April 4^th.  They've been diligently preparing their home in order for it to be ready for themselves but also for John’s family to stay there when they come to the wedding. 

Joe Allison is visiting for a couple of days or weeks.  Kelsey will be out on weekends when she can get away from work.

Bonnie went to Texas for ten days or so.  I guess Jim didn't behave; he got left behind.  :)

Bro Dan Riccardelli preaches on Sunday morning, but he’s coming on Saturday night.  We will have a sing along and dessert time with him at the tabernacle. 

Sadly, Rob's special ed teacher from the AGSD is not being retained by the district,  as his teacher. So we will be sad to see her go, she is a real spark plug and Rob likes her - which is important - last week she came out and they both made choc chip cookies in the Tab. Funny thing (and I'm certainly NOT a cookie baker), too much butter was used - or so say the experts - and Rob's final comment was "they are pancake cookies" ...lol..anyway fun was had and cookies were consumed.

Ani continues to enjoy her Panola College activities and courses. She keeps quite busy. Icy weather (amazing for TX!) has stranded students either at the college or at their homes...but she is happy. The college newspaper featured her in one of its recent issues. Ani is an Art major with a Choral Music minor.

http://pcponyexpress.org/student-spotlight-ani-buongiorne/

Still trying to get on to the ski trail, although the warmer weather has made it rather slushy.

SUN IS OUT! YAAAIIIII

!

Have a great day, and a wonderful weekend.

FEB. NEWS SO FAR...

local Delta photographer Sebastian Saarlos, does it again with his amazing shots of the Aurora's we've been having this past month.


Family and Friends,

We’ve had nothing but cold weather since the last time I wrote.  It's been mostly -35 to -40 degree weather.  Sometimes, when the sun does its job, we have temporary temperatures of -13 and -15.  The only redeeming factor about this weather has been that it has NOT gotten windy since it last snowed.  The trees are laden with snow, and we've been blessed with moonlit nights with auroras.  Everything, whether it be night or day, looks shimmery and beautiful although cold.

This photo and caption from Canadian poet Janet martin...captures my state of mind...

We heard from Sis Cathy Owens recently; she is slowly improving day by day. She thanks us for our prayers.  

The memorial for Shane Williamson was last Wednesday.  Stacey and Kenny drove fourteen hours to attend.  I’m so thankful that someone from us was able to support them.  Paul, Nancy, Paul’s bro, Bob, Charity, and Liz O Baltrum were there as well as some of the staff from St. Jude’s.  Rachael made a slideshow of Shane’s short life.  Someday, I’d like to see that.  All so very sad, losing a child has to be the most heartbreaking thing ever...

Another closer loss we've suffered is that of one of our beloved grannies. Marilyn Hagley who came up with her daughter Ali  (Allyson Squires) like 40 years ago or so. I had the privilege of being with her and some of the other ladies singing and praising and helping in any way I could while she slipped away to be with the Lord. She will be sorely missed!

Here's is a short eulogy to her:

" Sis. Marilyn, there you sat on your sunny porch, surrounded by your lovely flowers and you probably never knew how much it meant to each one of us who stopped by for a chat, just to share something we saw or heard, get your input on this or that and then be on our way. Every time I lugged my laundry basket up the ramp I would look towards your cabin, and if you were there you invariably waved - our little secret message - just to say “hi, I’m here - all is well”…gonna miss that!

I think that mothers and grandmothers are one of God's greatest blessings, and you were no exception. Your smile, the twinkle in your eye and sweet voice made you a joy to be around. I will miss you dearly friend. Hope you're gonna tend those lovely flowers beds up there as well, 'cause I'm pretty sure that angels love flowers too!!

 "

Marilyn loved orange lillies like this one! Her's were always the best on the block...

It looks like we’re contemplating having another youth camp this summer.  We have a few things to do beforehand such as Kathryn and John’s wedding and Joe B’s graduation amongst other things like farming, etc.

It will be another busy summer it seems. Ani is planning on coming for the youth camp and then she, Rob and myself will be flying back to Dallas to visit with Ani's extended family in Jefferson (Tesis and my sister Karenza), before flying into Springfield for Rob's special needs summer CAMP BARNABAS on the Table Rock Lake, MO. We did this last summer and it went very well. Not sure what everybody else is up to but that's what we're planning

A guy, James Farner, has come to live here for a year while he establishes himself in the Lord.  He is staying with Kim and Garth mostly.  He is a construction worker, but he also wants to learn how to do anything and everything.  

We had a good convention - it’s so odd to have convention in the middle of the week.  We didn't get hardly any visitors so our convention was super small.  It would be nice if we could have a weekend convention every other year - like swap with Whitestone for the coveted weekend.  It was nice and intimate though and we had lots of food left over! If anybody is interested in the WSF convention messages get in touch with Jeremy Austin, he has a nifty dropbox link that one can download onto a laptop or mobile device...May went to their convention and was very impressed.

Garth is chauffeuring the Ministry around to the next conventions. They’ve been to Haines, now they’re at Hoonah. Soon they will be off to Whitehorse.

My time is up; I need to get to school. Have a great day and weekend.

One of our moonlit nights - see Orion. I love it. This month has been amazing for the auroras and even the Light Joy comet, which Pat and I braving the cold, went out and actually saw through our binocs...

THE KIDS ARE HOME...IT'S CHRISTMAS IN DRY CREEK ALASKA!

My humble attempt at a small Alaska style Christmas corner. The nutcracker is an antique that Ani sent us.

This week has been fun - earlier in the week Jessy and Olivia came home for a few weeks.  Jessy has been spending time at the Blueberry farm and is home for a couple of weeks.  I’m not sure of her plans yet; guess I should ask.  Olivia brought Jessy home from the airport; Olivia has had a successful semester at the U of F and will be home for a couple of weeks too.
John Venebles dropped in on his way home (Haines) from the U of F.  He dropped Lizzie Jepsen off.  He and two other college kids spent the night here before taking off early morning to head to Haines.  They were going to meet two other car loads of kids from the U in Tok and caravan to Haines together.

 Bradie Cox flies in today from Homer.  She’ll be home for a couple of weeks too.

Here's a link to some of the fun stuff we planned!

https://www.facebook.com/griselda.h.buongiorne/media_set?set=a.10204846371190830.1585591801&type=3

Annie Buongiorne came home from TX on Tuesday. She hasn't seen her Dad and Gramy Flo for over a year now...

It is super fun to hear all the kids running their mouths like magpies catching up on news and foolish life’s details.


Yesterday afternoon, Rich and Liz ran to Delta to bring Ella out for overnight.  She’s at a fun age, but I won’t bore you with stories.  Well, maybe one story.  Lizzie brought home this little chocolate covered acai candy things.  Ella is perpetually on high alert for all things sugary.  Ella smells the candy and gets down on her hands and knees to try to covertly peer between Lizzie’s ams and face (Lizzie was on the floor) to see what was there.  When asked, Lizzie told Ella they were little poops.  Ella sweetly kept asking about the “poops”, the "yummy poops”.  We laughed until we cried.  Lizzie finally gave Ella a “poop”. 

Before I last wrote, Marilyn had her gallbladder taken out.  She’s had a rough couple of weeks here recovering.  Yesterday Jon took her back to Fairbanks for more tests.

Today it is windy and 11 degrees.  A couple of times this week, it has dipped down to -15 and -20 degrees but then it quickly rises to above zero when the wind arrives.

We had an nice sharing meeting this past week - Sarah Jane shared for the first time since she came home; Hannah shared too; Tommy, well……., he told his nightmare, I mean dream, about procrastination in order to make his point.

Cody Williams took a real nice photoshoot of Rob...

Rob and Michael Squries continue to have a good time in their archery classes with May. Michael has been taking Rob out to his trap lines in the woods...they go off together on M snowmachine...now Rob is saving up to get his own snowmachine...so far he has about $15 in quarters...haha

Have a great weekend.  I plan on it!  

DECEMBER...'TIS THE MONTH....REMEMBER THE REASON FOR THE SEASON

An early greeting, don't want to forget to do it with the upcoming whirl of events.

 FROM OUR CABIN TO YOURS. WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST PAT, GRI, ROB, MAY & GRAMY FLO

NOVEMBER NEWS

Hi all,

Above zero temperatures have continued until just last night.  Every time the temperatures have hovered around zero, a warm wind has blown in and warmed us back up to the 20’s.  Not so today.  We have slowly been dropping from 0 degrees steadily since noon time.  It is presently -9 degrees.  I overheard some of the guys talking about our lack of snow - it’s a record for the least amount of snow since the ’60’s.  

Hannah and Craig and family moved into their new house last week.  They’ve been bustling around all week getting settled and making their guest room suitable for Andy and Sarah Jane.  Many people have been supportive and helpful with packing, unpacking, carrying things, etc.  This afternoon, Masons left for Fairbanks to pick up Andy and Sarah Jane who fly in after midnight tonight.  

 Hannah announced yesterday that Andy has been cleared to come home!  I think that one way tickets were bought for the Monday before Thanksgiving.  We are alllllllll so excited.  Because of this…Hannah and Craig and family are on a big push to get to get Hannah and Craig’s house done in time for all to live comfortably there.

Mark Coy is still in Canada taking care of things concerning his father’s death.  I’m not sure when he’ll be home. 

Ben will be at a show next weekend to show off and sell his iron work.

Sis Millie is doing very well with therapy.  Lately, the girls have found a walker for her, and she’s attempting to push herself along with that.  She’s doing well.  I’m impressed.  She’s also been trying to do her own transfers from her wheel chair to her comfy chair.  She does ok! May works with her for an hour a day 2-3 times a week, the rest of the time she has other ladies doing some therapy with her.

Sis Marilyn has been sicker than usual lately and a little more housebound.  When it gets snowy and blowy, it is pretty difficult to get around.

Bro Bill Casey has sold two of his hot tub situations.  This weekend is a big push to get another one completely done for his client.  They are beautiful tubs. 



Not sure if somebody has a photos of them. Gotta see.

Cody Williams came back from his convention-southern jaunt and said he had a great time. He got to visit with Ani during convention in BM GA and then spent time with Katie Crossin and with Andy and Sarah Jane...before coming home. S

Our local IGA has been having sales of produce. many of us gals have gone in and purchased boxes of HoneyCrisps, Fuji, Purple onions, Yellow Peppers, etc. So much that we've had to process a lot of it. I've made lo sugar apple butter, quarts of low sugar apple cinnamon compote and frozen bags of sliced apples to use in pies, crumbles, etc. Of course apples are good to eat as is....

NEWS FLASH OF THE MOMENT...

Our Thanksgiving dinner will be  at four pm.  Kathryn and the kids will be cooking it for us.  Now that Andy Trotter is back I'm wondering if he'll roll his sleeves up and come into the kitchen to oversee proceedings as he's done for so many years....would be neat to see him in there again!

Sarah's calendars are out and circulating, put in your order FAST, cost $12.50 each plus postage.  

Nearly all the Casey children are here visiting their parents.  I guess Jewel and Andrew, the Fairbanks children, were here on the weekend but they had to go back to work.  Caseys are in heaven!  It is fun to have their kids here.  

Penny Clark got married this weekend.  Parson Tom Geyer ;) did the honors of marrying Penny and her honey.  :) Carolyn did the cake and probably a million other things.  

Evan and Luce Gorman with their daughter came to eat lunch with us.  Pam and Tom and Drew Gorman brought them.  Always fun to have them. I got to talk some spanish with Luz S (can't remember he last name, but she had met both my sister Karenza and my daughter Ani..

Judy and Steve have checked in from Atlanta.  They are having a busy and great time with their daughters and their families.  

Garth and Kim spent the weekend in Anchorage with Wayne and Ann and others. At the Robin house.

Tommy and some of the guys slaughtered some cows recently.  I’m sure Tommy will be calling meat nights to put up the beef.  

Mark Coy has returned from his trip to Canada to attend the events surrounding his father’s death.  He had a good report on how everyone is doing.  

Some of our grown kids who've kinda flown the coop are coming back for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everybody is agog waiting for them to arrive. It will be like old times with all the young'uns together again...

Jesse Geyer is coming form BC (Blueberry Farm - being a walkie with MSowers

Bradie Cox is coming from Homer (Bible College)

Ani Buongiorne is coming from Jefferson TX

Lizzie Jepsen is coming from UAF

I don't think I'm forgetting anybody.

PatLou surprised us with a short weekend visit from his chopper hoist man job at Fort Greely base in Delta. Although this means that he will not be bringing Beth and the girls for Thanksgiving as they have been doing for the past few years. He has to work and 6 hours of icy roads with a car load of little úns is no fun on your own.

Rob is enjoying is very full academic school year. He is actually trying his hand out in painting landscapes which we copy from photos or pictures. Most of his work is online for Math, Reading, Geography and Work History. Big Pat is taking a science course with him on Electricity, they seem to be enjoying themselves.

He is aldo doing a woodworking class with his buddy Michael Squires and Archery with his sister May.

As with most days but especially with thanksgiving approaching, I am grateful for friends and family (friends that sometimes sharpen the countenance) and for the continuing freedom to worship God. 

Aurora and skies have been amazing!.

LATE SEPT./OCT NEWS...sorry long!

Ok,

I know I have been remiss with my blogger new. Crazy busy as usual. Our family has been facing some medicals as far away as the big city of Anchorage, but all seems fixed for now. PTL.

Looks like last time I touched based was to talk about the craziness of HUNTING! Wow...

So here's some updates on what has happened since then...

After two weeks of tiny snowfalls and then meltage, this morning we have a couple of inches that just might stick.  The current temperature is 33° with gray skies.  The mountains are unseeable.  Despite all that, there is an eerie lighting that makes everything look fresh and beautiful because of the new snow.

The hunter’s breakfast is this morning.  I was asking for news on who won the antler derby but that news hasn’t been released yet.  By the way, we “bagged” ten moose this year.  The shooters were Tony, Chris Toby, Tommy, Jarred, Kerri (on the runway), Benjamin VanderHart, Jonnie S, Michael S, and Kevin.  All the meat was excellent this year – no bear spoilage or heat spoilage and excellent butchering by the guys!  It sure helps the flavor of the meat when it all goes well.

School has been in session since the start of October after we finished the tater harvest.  Without the Fouse children gone, our elementary count is three – Angelina in fifth grade taught by Jeni; Ethan M and Julie S in third grade taught primarily by Jo Co.  Robin spends a little time both schools and at home doing his online courses.  The highschool has plenty of children!  Ann, Sis Margaret, and Kathryn are the main teachers.  Sis Margaret is still our faithful principal.  I’m teaching two jr high classes and a photoshop class.  We did school pictures last Sunday.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to editing my photos so don’t hold your breath on any pictures.  

Here's one of the BLOOD MOON by Sarah Jepsen

A good one of that eerie early winter light...

This morning, much to my shock and dismay, the temperature plummeted to -2°.  Before going out to run errands this morning, I had looked at my thermometer, and it read 3° which I thought was plenty cold.  This afternoon, when I took the official high and low from my important equipment at the highschool, it told me that at some point the temperature had reached -2°.  Shocking!

Over the weekend, it snowed plenty. My calculations for that period equaled 8 inches.  Now we have a slight breeze that is blowing it all over the place and possibly melting some of the snow. Pat is hoping for plenty more so we can hit the trails with skis and snowshoes.

 Also, Jarred won the antler derby.  I think his moose’s antlers were in the 65 inch range. The young girls made an inreadible spread for the hunters and we all went to it. Rob had a good time and even spoke about going hunting with his dad, with some embelishments!!

Recently, we had a nice, short visit from Keith VanderHart.  It was pleasant to catch up with him again.  Erica and Caleb have been home for a couple of weeks.  Also, Wenda just spent a week with us.  It hardly seemed like she was here a week and poof, she was gone.  When Wenda left this spring she was very sick with something akin to pneumonia.  It was great to see and to see that she was feeling better as well.  We sure do miss her, I guess I did not realize that she had been with us for about 20 years! Wow...

Bradie took off for a Bible college in Homer a few weeks ago.  They must be keeping her busy since we have hardly heard from her if at all.  I guess she does call her parents now and then. 

Miss Irene Grahm passed away at the beginning of September.  Bonnie and Jim and Pam and Tom (from Delta) flew to Maine to meet her ashes to take care of them.  Just this past week, Cody and Bonnie (with separate flight plans) have gone to the Bowen’s Mill convention.  Cody is hoping to see Andy and Sarah Jane before coming home. UPDATE: Cody and Ani met at the BMC and they had a good time together, then on the way home Ani, Karenza and Mark Steiner stopped by to see Andy and Sarah Jane. That was such a blessing all around. :)

I haven’t mentioned that when Miss Val was here in August, we had a small ceremony at the gravesite to inter a little bit of Bro George’s ashes. 

We’ve been having a cold bug and other infectious bugs running around.  Hopefully all that dies out soon enough. 

LATEST NEWS:

Hi folks,

Our temps have been dipping to 10 and 12 degrees each night, but during the day, the temperature rises to 30 degrees or so.  Last week, we received three inches of snow after it rained and sleeted and melted all our previous snow. 

School seems to be going well.  This year, I’m taking Excel from Sis Margaret.  It’s a very intriguing class. 

Bro Andy had a scan of his liver last week and everything looked well.  He is scheduled for a pet scan on November 5^th.  We await good news from that scan as well.  

Craig and Hannah are pretty busy getting their house into a livable state – floor tile, painting, plumbing, garage, etc.  Bonnie and Wendy and Jim have been helping them out too.  Soon, I need to investigate for myself. 

Cody is still on his states trip – he went to the Bowen’s Mill convention, saw Katie, sawChris and DeAnne, and should be seeing Andy and Sarah Jane soon if not right now.   He’s been posting some fun pictures on facebook.

Hope went home to Maine on Friday; Chris flew out today.  I heard they will be back sometime next year.  For a week, Lindsey will be an only child.

Kels, Joe, and JJ were out for overnight.  They took Erica and Caleb back to Fairbanks.  Sometime this week, Erica and Caleb fly back to Tacoma. 

Rachael and Grant Williamson wrote to say that Shane’s treatment has been adjusted, and it seems more tolerable now, and his tumor is shrinking some. 

Mark Coy received word this morning that his father went out hunting yesterday and didn’t return.  It appears that his father had an accident with a quad and a creek and passed away out there.  Jay was found this morning by Kenny Gong and Ethan Coy.   Mark is going down to Headwaters tomorrow.  I don’t know anything about a service yet.

Also want to add that Robin has a full fledged curriculum and is officially in grade 9 as he will be graduating by the time he is 22. He has about 5 years to acrue 22 credits so we are working towards that goal. He does his core - Math, Science, Lang. World History - online. Then we do Rosetta Spanish, Life Science experiments, Handwriting, Typing, ART, PD and ARCHERY in the pm.

His sister May is taking his Archery classes and it looks like its going to be a great course for him plus giving him the required credit. We were able to get a very nice archery kit for a youth size and May is busy setting up the archery range down at the hangar. He will also have a class mate - his BB - Michael Squires. I will post photos as I get them.

He is also enjoying is ART classes and we are experimenting with diff. mediums, he does quite well and seems to like painting straight onto the white paper...

For Life Science we are doing the http://www.academyofscienceforkids.com/ and currently working on DISSECTION and making a volcano. The kits are complete and easy to navigate plus they save time since it is all together in a box...pretty cool! He took part in an experiment with the HS class on making a cell.

In order to document Rob's COMMUNITY SERVICE credits we are making an album of photos. So here's Rob with Michael S during our tater harvest, helping out with wood chores with the guys and taking part in the annual DRY CREEK CATTLE RUN in which the cattle are brought over from ATR to our side of the property and kept in smaller pens.

WOODWORKING 101

You all have a great week!!!!!