High Five Friday for Orchids

A huge high five Friday for a dear friend who gave me a blooming orchid.  Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a great holiday week ahead.  What do you have planned for the 4th of July holiday?

Spontaneous Combustion

There just might be evidence of spontaneous combustion around here if we do not get some rain.  Well more than some rain, we could use two or three days of flat out cloudy raining weather. How hot was it yesterday you ask, well it was 91.4 F. which is 33 C. which is icky hot for us Popsicles.

Looking to the Southwest towards the Healy area and Denali National Park. The smoke is climbing up to Chena Ridge from a fire near Nenana.  Someone on the bus this morning said the fire was close to Skinny Dicks.

Looking to the Southeast as the smoke drifts towards town, North Pole and the road to Delta.

Check out this local newspaper article:Two wildfires reported off Nordale Road - Fairbanks Daily News-Miner: Local News

Click on this photo to enlarge

 We do have a good resource for information about Alaska Wildfires and all the updated information.  Check out the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center web site HERE. My cousin used to work for BLM ~ busy summer job!

Stay cool, drink plenty of water, and think rainy thoughts!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Tip Tuesday ~ Goal Setting

What is your next goal?

Flight Back to Civilization

Flying just North of Denali National Park.

The village of Nenana and a view of the Tanana River, the railroad bridge and loop.  The Alaska Railroad has been going strong for 100 years.

Where the Chena River ~ on the left ~ meets the Tanana River ~ on the right!

Back home in Fairbanks looking down at Everts Air Cargo! 

If you are in town stop by for a visit and a flight around the area!

Lake Minchumina

There was still ice on Lake Minchumina June 8th.

Fishing is a highlight for most visitors and the few residents that live here.

Hooray for boats from Minnesota!  Now if you think about it just a bit and look at a map of Alaska you will realize that there are no roads to Lake Minchumina.  So how the heck did a boat get all the way out here from Minnesota? Well the facts are these... there are tons of transplanted folks from Minnesota that have made Alaska home on account of the weather here being better. So someone moved here from there, drove the Alcan Highway and brought their boat with them to Fairbanks.  Then they had a wild hair to live at Lake Minchumina and why not this place used to get mail delivered here so how remote could it be. So in a load of goods in a large transport airplane, out flew the boat along with all their other worldly belongings.

Do you notice the placard on the door of this truck?  It once belonged to the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) now it is owned by Denali West Lodge.  Sometimes Alaska is like a third world country in the fact that once an item has been transported to the remote areas there it stays and is utilized until it cannot be used any more.  Then it is left to sit and become part of the scenery. Alaskans are among the best recyclers.

Someone else landing here to have a look see around. 

A beautiful day beside a beautiful lake. 

Lake Minchumina ~ if you ever get the chance to visit this place ~ do it! 

Flight Seeing Trip

Fueling Pumpkin Girl in the final preparations for a sightseeing flight.

It was a great day to be out flying and we were not the only ones to get in line to take-off.  Actually it is a very busy airport that connects Fairbanks with many of the villages downriver and to the north.  

Hey I can see the building I work in form here! Have I ever told you I have the best office window with a view on campus?  It's true!

Flying over Chena Ridge looking North where the borough ends and the wilderness begins.

Warm Summer Day

What a difference four months makes when it comes to the weather in Alaska.  Which is a true statement wherever you live on this great big planet!

So which day do you think I was in a better mood?

You guessed it TODAY!  You are good at the guessing game.

Happy Wednedsay!

Tip Tuesday ~ Affirmative Reminders

What is your favorite part of you?

Summer Photos

Canadian Tiger Swallowtail ~ right place at the right time kind of photo!

We flew out to Lake Minchumina recently and it was a wonderful day trip filled with hundreds of photo opportunities.  Here are two of my favorite shots of the wildflowers and insects that just happened to pass in front of my camera.

High Five Friday for 1000 Posts

Yesterday marked an amazing anniversary for my little spot on the inter-webs ~ 1000 posts!  Hooray for Mistletoe & Juniper!

We toast to you and a blessed future!

PS: Thanks goes to Libby for the perfect photo for today's post!

Lucky Day ~ No. 13

You know it is going to be an awesome day when you go to the store to buy something you need and the 73 cents you get back in change has three pennies that were minted the same year.  Two Denver's and one Philly.  How cool is that!?!

Tip Tuesday ~ What Holds Us Back

What is holding you back?

Coffee Toffee

At the end of the semester the university that I work for has staff appreciation day. There are tons of fun and educational activities to part-take in and one of the ones I selected was toffee making.  Now this was a fun hour and a half learning some of the ins and outs of making toffee but it might have been a bad idea.  You see toffee is silly easy to make ~ for the most part.  It is quick to put the ingredients together, boil them on the stove and before you know it time is up and the boiled mixture is ready for the pan to set and cool.  The only trick is getting it to the correct temperature so that it sets up properly.

A friend directed me to the Smitten Kitchen and I just had to try to make this coffee toffee.

I did not put the nuts on the bottom or the chocolate on the top.  Being a beginner at making toffee I wanted to get the toffee part right before I complicated the kitchen.

Buttery sugary goodness!  Good thing I have my boys (young men really) and husband Ken to help eat the goodness ~ thanks for helping me out and making sure I do not eat myself silly sick!

Happy Monday everyone and high five for a GREAT week ahead!

High Five Friday for Parades

High five Friday for summer parades and the marching band and tractors and handing out candy! And this song! 

Tumbleweeds

Some days I find that I am jogging along the road happily watching the scenery go by. I am feeling productive and actively in charge. Then it happens, tumbleweeds start to come into view. They appear lifeless, aimless, and dead. I try to fight them off, push them away from my path; I have a direction, I shout to them in the hopes of intimidating them into submission. As they close in there is a point where I can no longer defend myself and my forward motion comes to a screeching halt.

What do I do next? 

You guessed it, I avoid the issue. Bury my head in the sand.

Time to change this particular behavior into something more fruitful!

Qiviut

Photo from White Falcon, White Wolf  Musk Ox of the Arctic

The musk oxen has a two-layered coat, and qiviut refers specifically to the soft under-wool beneath the longer outer guard hairs. The musk oxen sheds this layer of wool each spring known as Qiviut. Qiviut is combed from their coat during the molt or gathered from objects the animals have brushed against.  Qiviut is an amazing fiber, it is like cashmere or a super fine merino wool.  Light, incredibly soft and very warm.

There is a herd of 22 musk oxen at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Large Animal Research Station and each year they comb the qiviut from the animals and sell the fibers to local hand weavers.

They have put together a YouTube video showing how the process works.  It is entertaining and educational plus we know the young lady, Emma (in the green shirt), who is doing the work in the video.  Go Emma! Nice to see you!

Enjoy your week ahead and all the joy each summer day may bring your way!

June at Long Last

I do love June!

The green, the warm breezes, and the clear blue skies 24 hours a day!

What is your favorite part of June?