Happy New Year!

Happy New Year’s Eve tonight and a wonderful start to 2014 tomorrow! This time last year we were in Hawaii visiting our friends and enjoyed the fireworks show on Waikiki Beach. We sat out on the balcony New Year’s Eve to watch the local fireworks displays and the Chinese lanterns drift across the sky. Life changing moments sometimes happen at the start of a new year and I wonder what this year’s new start will bring.

Whatever comes our way we will embrace it wholeheartedly and we will always relish in all our blessings. May you always see the light and have peace in your heart knowing you are loved.

Let the Joy In

Let the joy in and let it warm your heart!

***

During the long Alaska summer months it always seems as if our days are endless, as if we have time too spare. We think to ourselves that everything will get accomplished before the long and dark of winter settles in around us. Nevertheless this is not the case. With summers closing our days grow shorter and our to-do list seems as endless as ever. Proof once again that my Grandmother was correct. “Your dance card will always be full,” she would say to me, and now I think I know the true meaning in her words.

If your dance card is always full then enjoy each dance, as you never know what delights will be hidden in the melody.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

We wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas & peace on earth to all!

High Five Friday for Winter Solstice

High Five Friday for Winter Solstice

Sunrise today 10:57 am

Sunset today 2:40 pm

It might be a good sunrise, if so I will amend this post to add a photo.

Happy winter solstice everyone! It’s all gain from here!

***

Photo taken at 11:36 am ~ 20 December 2013
Oh happy day in the glow of the sun.  Which did not last very long and is now behind all those clouds.  Happy light is on in my office and I am thinking happy thoughts.  Hope you are too!

Christmas is coming!

***

Cabin Project ~ Mud & Tape

As you can see we have caught up with the summer time part of the cabin project and now it is winter. Dark and cold winter. After Thanksgiving we were at the property hanging sheet rock, mudding and taping. This is the point in the project where I wished we could just pay a guy to finish for us. But we push forward and persevere.

Brett is hanging the remaining sheet rock in the kitchen ~  in this photo you can see all the dust in the air that looks like it is snowing inside.

 Mudding and taping the loft bedroom.

 Look at all the beautiful snow out the bedroom window.

 There never seems to be a tape measure in arms reach but that is okay I work well with the visual make it just long enough style of working anyway.

 This is not clean and tidy business ~ messy ~ messy ~ messy!

You might be thinking yup that is a corner.  Well I am here to tell you that is not just a corner it is one skippy fine super duper corner!

 Looking down from the loft ~ everything is coated in sheet rock dust.

In this photo you can see the power box and the built in outlet timer. This is the outlet where the vehicle(s) will be plugged in during the winter. With the built in timer you can set the timer for the power to come on at the appropriate time. Most folks have to have their timers outside as their homes do not have built-in timers on the inside of the house. Alaskans have gotten smarter over the years and if you take the time during new construction you hard wire the timer inside the house.  This insures that the timers itself does not freeze and you do not have to go outside to check it before you go to bed each night.

Plugging your vehicle into a timer will insure that it gets one hour of heat for every 10 degrees below zero without having to have it plugged in all night and too long. Our vehicles have what I call umbilical cords; it is their life blood, as in source of heat, in the winter. Each vehicle has a combination of a block heater, an inline circulating pump that keeps the antifreeze warm and moving through the engine block, a battery pad heater, oil pan heater and a transmission pan heater. Without most of these your vehicle will NOT start in the morning at temperatures like -40 Fahrenheit/Celsius.

This concludes the lecture on surviving winter in the interior of Alaska and making it to work on time!

Happy Thursday everyone! 

Winter Storm Clean Up

 

The amazing master of the chain saw!

 Just another reason why we appreciate you and all you do for our family!

Thanks Drew!

Summer Cabin Project ~ Winter Storm

The winter storm that blew across the interior of Alaska left its mark all over our town. We are not accustomed to winter storms with wind gusts up to 40 knots and neither are the trees. If an old spruce or birch tree was ailing it did not make it through the night. By the next morning there were trees downed all over town, some of which landed on power lines, houses and sheds. Power outages left homes and businesses without light and heat for several days. Part of our neighborhood was out of power from Wednesday early morning until the following Monday morning.

We had five very large spruce trees at the property that gave it up. Two of which were just off in the woods, two landed where they could have been a problem but were not, and one landed in our neighbor’s yard. We were not expecting to have to run the chain saw this winter but there is no time like the present to take care of business.

Our oldest son took the lead with the chain saw, which is back breaking work, and mastered over those trees.  Thank you Drew!

Our strong Bear, his girl Colleen and her sister Shannon! Thanks you guys for your help and company! I enjoy you!

Guess who bossed Francesca (my car) up the driveway? Me! Did I mention the foot plus of snow on the up hill driveway? Well I should have because this is a big deal... for me!

Quick work was made of the days task and two trees are limbed, bucked, stacked and burned.  Just in time to watch the full moon rise over the ridge.  It was a great day and a beautiful evening!

Enjoy your Tuesday everyone! 

Summer Cabin Project ~ Insulation

On one of the first snowy days of winter we were putting in insulation and installing the vapor barrier. I think that this was September 21st. This snow did not last and in fact a few days later it melted and we had one of the warmest Octobers on record, third warmest October since 1904 to be exact. It did not start snowing again until October 31st and November ushered in two winter storm. Heavy wet winter snow!

I hope winter has been treating you well.
Christmas is coming ~ life is good!

High Five Friday for Ekman Layer's

Have you been wondering what the oldest son Drew has been up to these days? Wonder no more. Click on this LINK that will lead you to the Rotating Tank Experiments web page. Follow the links marked by the colored arrows and explore what the Ekman layers are all about. Find out how Drew and his lab partner constructed the fluid tank (also known as MIT’s Weather in a tank) and the third arrow will lead you to the experiments they posted.

High five Friday for a hardworking, smart thinking young man who never ceases to amaze me!

Happy Friday the 13th!