Phase 2: painstakingly put house back together differently

Well the house has spewed out all it could really, we are down to the studs and whatever that sketchy looking insulation in the back rooms is, I'll put on my haz mat suit on for that one.

Seth has gone from demo man to structural engineer (they should've asked him to structurally evaluate his own home on the big test, scary!) now he is electrician soon to be framer and could he evolve into plumber too? Yes, yes he can and will. Bonnie is still an ambea in the cess pool of skill at grunt laborer.

After Thanksgiving comes the INSULATORS! Than the DRYWALLERS!

Than Bonnie and Seth pretend to be PAINTERS!

Can you tell life has started to evolve around this project?

Still loving life staying at the Feje's with Uncle Bob's dinners, Erin's baking and Aunt Diane's cookies!

Looking forward to a visit with the fam soon in December and even sooner Thanksgiving at Grandma's house.

Phase 1: Rip the house to shreds

This week we officially moved out of the house and than proceeded to rip the c&*! out of it. I should've known what I was in for when Seth suggested we each have our own crowbar, mine is a feminine one, perfect for the girl about town. Turns out there was a lot behind those walls. First off the original house is a little yellow thing and you can see in these pictures where they just boarded up the windows and made the addition. Than the best part in my opinion (Bonnie) was yesterday when I was working to the groovy tunes of the Bee-Gees when I ripped into a mural circa 1960, a purple and gray hole of doom. As far as anything else uncovered unfortunately that is it. This weekend we'll take out the floor in the bedroom and rip into what will soon be a really big kitchen/great room. Get your crow bars kids it's going to be a dusty weekend!

morning visitor

new photo to old

the snow is creeping down the mountains

Well, my mom is in town and Larry was out duck hunting. It is getting colder so I spose it is only right that vegetable canning and pickling start happening. Seth has been hard at work studying but this morning he took a little time off to pickle beets and make a large batch of swiss chard soup, not sure when he'll process the apples but it will be delicious. It has been nice to visit with Ma and chat with the fam, only too soon she will be leaving.

We have new couches and the cat has already taken to them very loveingly.

Trip to Denali

Seth's Trip to Crow Pass for Pack Rafting

Rally against Sarah Palin

This morning here is the great scene we stumbled on.

Fall in Alaska

This fall has really flown by and now that the snow is creeping down the mountain we are getting ready for a fantastic winter. This weekend Seth and I headed to Denali for work and enjoyed the fall colors. Last weekend we harvested big time and I have made apple pies, carrot soup and lots of fresh salads! So fun to have local produce, even if only for three weeks.On Sunday last week Seth and two friends hiked up Crow Pass and pak rafted down, lots of snow we all had dinner together afterwards. Today on the way back from the farmer's market we found the anti- Sarah Palin rally and had a blast. Turns out all our neighbors were there with great signs and we all made plans to meet back on Oct. 4th for the big Obama rally. Tomorrow Seth and Bonnie decorate their bicycles and make signs for next weeks really big rally.

Since the computer went kaput.......

Lost Lake trail run with Ashely in Seward, Grandma's birthday, drive to McCarthy and Kennicott mine.

Ashley ran the 16 mile race with 600 people while Seth and I hiked the opposite way and cheered her on, our athlete did really, really well so I guess her training crew should feel proud. That was one of the most beautiful trails I have been on in Alaska.

A few weekends ago we headed to Grandma and Grandpa's compound for Grandma's 83 birthday celebration. She put on the shirt I gave her but has admitted it is now in the rag bin, at least I tried. It was nice to see all the cousins and Danis who lives in California was an excellent mix to the day as her family was on a visit.

We than floated down the Galkanna river with Brandon in a canoe, oh my. The reason you will see no pictures is we fell out of the boat three times within the first two hours of the trip and on one of those spills I barely caught the camera as it floated down the river. We saw Moose swimming across the river, beavers, caribou, eagles and lots of giant dead King Salmon. It was a gorgeous trip and with a less full canoe and less people in the canoe the trip would be a dream. I must saw roasting steaks over a fire on a stick with blue cheese for dinner was great, a real testosterone show steak on a stick, whiskey and wet socks.

This last weekend we drove to McCarthy with Aunt Bonnie, 8 hours each way but the colors were great and nice to get out of Anchorage. McCarthy is a funny little town, town being too large a word, maybe outcropping would be better. The old copper mine was neat and who would guess the weather was fantastic, we laid on the glacier and napped, here in Anchorage one could guess.. it was ugly clouds and rain.

Last but not least because of the Palin disaster Alaska is no longer a swing state and so our fantastic Obama campaign worker Melanie is leaving next week, she will be missed although I imagine I count the number of times I actually saw her on two hands. They work the Obama kids hard so I hope they can turn someone else's state around, we'll just keep being embarrassed by our right wing wack job with large hair.

SNOW IN JULY

Yesterday the city of Anchorage woke-up to snow!! That is right more than termination dust on the mountains, and the bigger problem it is staying!2 days and counting!

This has been the worst summer most people can seem to remember, some think we are just spoiled from above normal temperatures in the last two summers, two weeks of rain is no friend of mine! Riding a bike in rain boots, pants and jacket not to mention gloves! Stink.

Sun was reported being seen if only briefly

Well, this weekend we begged for sun and had it for about 25 minutes I believe. Seth, Ash and I headed to the Van Hemert's cabin for a little R&R. We brought 3 dogs and a very full car but had lots of fun. Ashley and I eked out a little suntan time on the floating dock, Seth set-up the mini sailboat and held a one man regatta, setting no time records. Geronimo followed us everywhere in the water, flailing in the water, jumping in awesome belly flops off the dock and came to check on us girls on the floating dock every 15 minutes, all this means that yes, again his tail is broken, that is right, no movement, not even a wag, as Ashley says,"He just has no sense of self preservation."

I on the other hand didn't break anything, it being my birthday on Saturday woke-up to good friends, Ashley's lovely German pancakes and wonderful presents oh my!

Thursday night ball and pie

This Thursday Ashley and Seth did some tricky planning had a little birthday for me, Bonnie. Delicious halibut, steak, salad and veggies, lots of beer and tasty raspberry margaritas. After dinner we headed to the park for some kickball and than home for rhubarb pie, it was a really great time! We head off now to the Van Hemert's cabin tonight, the fish counts are very low on the Kasilof so no dip netting this weekend.

These pictures will reflect us doing a lot of negotiating, how to play the game "Pickle" and how to get the deaf dog out of the middle of the field.

Booze and Bottle Rockets

We went to Bob and Diane's Cabin at Watana Lake for Indipendence Day and for a mini family reunion. Even in Alaska this is a remote isolated cabin. The three days that we were there we saw only one plane, the one that dropped us off. The flight is over an hour north from anchorage over the Talkeetna Mountains near the upper Susitna River. We were in the company of swallows that nested in the eaves of the cabin, caribou, wolves and loons, of and of course arctic grayling.

Fishing will never be the same. If we went three or four casts without a fish it was definately time to move spots.

On the 4th we had 80 degree temps blue skys and in honor of our fuel rich state dumped gasoline in to the lake. latter around the fire after a giant gourmet meal of encheladas we had a great time launching bottle rockets in to the lake. Bob snuck the last 15 rockets into the flames, we all hurled ourselfs behind sheds and old snowgo's hidding from the blasts and reports that followed.



Forrest and I went on a hike up Mt. Watana. in direct view of the cabin so that all could keep tabs on us and yell cat calls to us from the lake. From the top of Mt. Watana we had views to denali, the eastern alaska range, and the alpine plateaus below.




After we a quick refereshing swim in the lake we headed off to the kosina river, all thirteen of us on our own mini migration. Bob calls it the Death March or the Ho Chi Minh trail, following caribou trails throught the tundra to the final 500' plunge to the river valley below, we renamed it the Bo Fe Man Trail (Bob Fejes Man). Hotdogs and a fire on the river were a great idea until we had to crawl back out of the canyon and almost lost Katie and Erin to the tube sausage syndrome.