Remembering Alaska

THE STRANGEST THINGS REMIND US OF ALASKA

Just the other day our neighbor was preparing his swimming pool for the upcoming season. As he was skimming across it with a long poled net it reminded us of Salmon dipping. Every year about this timeframe we would pack up our camping gear and head to the junction of the Chitna and Copper Rivers to do some "dipping." The Copper River is known to have the world's best salmon and we were blessed annually with getting some into our freezer.

Now when I talk about a pole with a net on the end, I'm talking a loooong pole with a HUGE net on the end. A pole with extensions that reach out 30 ft. into the rushing silty water. The sound of he silt hissing is an audio reminder that you've reached your destination. You skim your pole along the bottom hoping to find a salmon swimming upstream. If a "KING" salmon hits, you better have your footing or they'll pull you right in, because they can get huge.

Oh how we miss the summers in Alaska ~ now the winters, well let's just say that's a different story!

The Five Million Dollar Bridge, we camped right across the river and Thom "dipping" at Chitna.

MAKING THE BEST OF A RAINY DAY

Sometimes rain can be a good thing. Needing a break from yard work, I welcomed the rain we've had for the past few days. It was slow and steady yesterday and drizzling off and on most of today. It gave me a chance to catch up on some household chores and time in the kitchen. It's like my second favorite place to be. Outside, kitchen, craftroom, office, family-room, bedroom ... the order changes on a daily basis.

YUMMY, Nothing better than a good home-made chicken soup to take the chill off a damp day.

Can't you just smell that soup? And being that the rhubarb was just about crawling into the house on its own, I baked a strawberry rhubarb custard pie with struesel topping, and a pan of rhubarb cobbler. More YUMMIES!

Pictures Speak Louder than Words

Look at that van ~ Loaded with LOVE!

SIDEWALK CHALK ARTIST

Little loves and lots of laughs!

Projects Palooza

Look at what Santa's helper does in the off season ~

He not only builds gardens, he also builds bluebird houses.

And then "his helper" does a little wood burning adding her personal touch.

and then they built a frame for a swing recieved several years ago

as a very special gift ~ a gift from the heart!

If being retired means that one gets tired over and over again

then we are truly retired!

Gardening is a Hobby isn't it?

Gardening is a hobby right?

Due to the fact that our soil is mostly sand; last fall we decided to build a few raised garden boxe's. And because we happen to enjoy seeing the deer frequent our yard, we also built a 20' x 30' enclosure for the garden boxes. Now being anxious to get planting, guess who foolishly started "seedling" cucumbers, peppers, zucchini and hubbard squash in the house. You guessed it! I believe the squash could crawl out to the garden on their own. They've really thrived well in our east patio window. Being we are in the Upper Peninsula and frost could still occur; I plan to "baby" them until at least Memorial day.

So we thought we would have plenty of room for everything until guess who started ordering seeds. Yup, I did it again ~ so we already set out tires for additional planting and extended the fencing around them. Not only that, we had a bit of space in the enclosure that we hand dug, removing the grass, adding mulch and ordering topsoil for another space about 4' x 20' planting area. I already transplanted some of my rhubarb plants into additional beds to make room for those sprawling Hubbard squash.

Ah, but what if you have a dry spell you might ask ... that too has already been planned for. We put rain gutters on our small garage this spring with two rain barrels set up behind it. And a closer-to-the-garden barrel is set up and collecting rainwater off the house.

And being a true optomist, I've already purchased additional canning jars.

As I'm writing this it occurs to me that we could buy a lot of canned vegetables for the money we've tossed into our new "hobby" BUT the rewards just aren't the same.

Leaving My Comfort Zone

Well here I am, crawling out of my Hobbit hole and joining the big blog world.

I enjoy the little things in life like walking through the woods instead of pounding cement sidewalks. Smelling fresh air instead of auto exhaust. Homemade bread instead of packaged. Fresh vegetables over canned or frozen. Gardening vs. shopping ... okay, it's your guess.

You get my drift, I was born a country girl and I plan to die a country girl. This is funny coming from someone who's been confined within "city limits" most of her life. "City" meaning a population of 3,000 which in my world is still at least 2,990 too many.

So just like Frodo Baggins and Sam Gamgee leaving The Shire and crossing Farmer Maggot's fields into the unknown, so am I leaving my comfort zone and about to start a new venture.

Come along with me!