Sunday, June 6th My Dad’s Birthday!
So, this morning Penny Loafer decided to rise on an Alabama schedule. That means that she was out of the bed around 4:00 a.m. Chuck had offered to get up with her since I was running on less than 2 hours sleep and he kinda followed through by getting in the bed with her and drifting in and out of consciousness while she got in and out of bed and roamed around the camper.
What say me about a camper? Our new friends, Jeff and Courtney, graciously offered to let us stay in their camper in their front yard until the current occupants move out of the house we are renting (also from our new friends). Nice huh? We are warm and dry and very appreciative.
Early this morning, Jeff and his oldest son, gave us all a lesson in egg laying ducks and chickens. Penny Loafer got to collect the eggs, feed the birds, and hold a bunny. Did I mention they have horses, mules, four dogs, and two cats here too? Yeah, if Chuck wasn’t already getting short tempered because he is having man nest and remote control withdrawals, we might just stay a little longer.
Soooo, now I want chickens. Well that isn’t new. Actually I think I’ve written about it before. But now, I want egg laying chickens instead of meat chickens. I would still love to explore raising meat chickens in the future, but for now I am going to focus on obtaining 4-5 laying chickens and/or ducks. I learned the whole chicken business doesn’t make a lick of financial sense, but I know Penny Loafer would absolutely LOVE tending to the flock like they were her very own babies and I know Chuck would love putting together their pen and winter home.
After leaving the chicken coop, we got a tour of the property where we currently reside, courtesy of Jeff the owner and our 9 year old chauffeur, the son of the owner. Yes, he’s 9 and drives. Very well, in fact. We got a better view of the mountains, learned about various flowering plants on the property, got a close up view of the worm that feeds on those leaves I was talking about yesterday, saw a tree that the bears that walk through the property love to use to sharpen their terrifying claws, walked down to the pond, met the horses and mules, and learned a little about cross country skiing. Penny Loafer was in her element. She walked around picking flowers, moss, and paper birch bark and passing them off to her Dad and I for safe keeping. A couple of times she told me all about a certain things she just learned a few minutes prior, right in front of me, from someone else, like she invented it. She’s the expert now I guess.
Also today, Chuck took us on a tour of the areas he frequented back when he was a temporary bachelor.
He is very excited about his new land and was eager to show us where his been catching fish and making family camping plans. We brought the canoe and fishing rods along and he decided we’d put in at Chet Lake. Since I don’t have a license, I didn’t fish. Chuck and Penny Loafer didn’t catch a thing, but weren’t deterred. When Chuck was about to wrap it up, Penny Loafer told him that catching fish takes time and that she was actually enjoying sitting there watching her bobber.
As Chuck’s paddle cut through the water in Chet Lake, I noticed its color seemed to turn to a silky black just under the surface. I also noticed that the water in Chet Lake is super duper cold and that our canoe is getting smaller. Not that I was ever worried about tumping, but I did notice Chuck was strangely focused on keeping us steady. I think his focus may have been concocted to help his recent rally for a bigger canoe. He is convinced that now that Penny Loafer is bigger, we need a bigger canoe in order to have the utmost family lake and creek fun.
After the short boating excursion, we found ourselves on the roads Chuck frequents just looking around. Since we couldn’t exceed speeds of 15 mph because the roads were covered in rocks and a few 4 wheelers, we let Penny Loafer sit up front, unharnessed. She even got to drive a little. And we saw another moose! He was a great distance from the truck so he stood there unmoving and staring at us long enough for Penny Loafer to grow bored of him. I blame the Pine Mountain Wild Animal Safari in Georgia for that. Feeding bison, zebras, giraffes, camels, elk, antelope, deer, and ostriches from the window of a zebra striped van seemed like a good idea at the time. Now, I think it straight spoiled her into believing seeing wild creatures in their habitat is no big deal. I hope getting a closer view of something wild changes that. Of course, I’d prefer that encounter isn’t too close and not a bear.
It is a beautiful country and impossible for me to photograph. It comes as no surprise that I am unable to capture the beauty of God’s creation because, well, God created it and because I’ve never been great at landscape photography. Being surrounded by so much beauty and being unable to capture it correctly, is incredibly frustrating. I need a class or something. I hope to meet Susan Stevenson one of these days and I hope that during our visit she can teach me a few things. Check out her photography over at http://susanstevenson.com/blog/She’s an incredible photographer.
Last night we enjoyed sitting around a fire with friends while Penny Loafer slept soundly nearby. The setting was very much like what we often find ourselves enjoying back home, except for that instead of a fire pit, our fire was in a barrel. I found myself hovering close to the fire while all the other hard core Alaskans (Chuck included) sat at a distance that told me that weren’t in the least bit cold. I’m not going to lie people. I was a little cold. I am new here. Being cold doesn’t mean I’m a sissy. It only means I am cold. Got it? Good.
Since it is fire season, the burn barrels are a safer way to enjoy the heat. They have barrels for leisure burning and trash burning (there is no city pick up). My Dad and Uncle Sonny Boy were the only people I knew back home who always had one or two burn barrels sitting around. Gotta get us some of those.
Though the sun officially set at 11:57 p.m. tonight, the sun remains low on the horizon providing light through the nighttime hours (please correct me if I am wrong Alaskans). Also, the sun rose around here at 3:58 a.m. The light in the night (is it still called night?), didn’t seem to bother Penny Loafer in the least which is surprising since she’s accustomed to sleeping in almost complete darkness. The sun and the need for a time difference adjustment played tricks on me a little and I stayed out around the barrel fire a little too long. But after I went to bed, the brightness didn’t bother me in the least. I just hope we still don’t mind the sun creeping in when we aren’t suffering from sleep deprivation.
Early in the evening, the sun had me believing it was early and I spent too long without looking at a clock. My stomach sank when I looked at the time and realize I let it slip away without calling a couple of family members before their bedtime.
I have been missing my internet connection, so this afternoon I asked Chuck to give Penny Loafer a shamefully long overdue bath while I went down to the library to connect to their internet waves from the parking lot. When I got there, I realized my laptop battery was dead so my freedom was wasted on the drive. I considered getting out to sit in the grass and plug up to one of the outlets provided for plugging in vehicles in the winter, but chickened out. I don’t know if using them for anything other than vehicles is allowed and don’t want to be known as the poor planning, weird girl who sits uncomfortably on a slight slope of grass at the library with a computer in her lap. I’ll connect another day….until then I am collecting my thoughts here in Microsoft Word for later blog posting.
Chuck is off washing our clothes at the laundry mat. I know, he’s a keeper. He’ll be arriving shortly. Better get up and faux clean or something. You know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout ladies.
I loved this entry, Hayley. Your photos are great because they tell a wonderful story. I love the way you 'see' things.
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for your sweet words about my photography. I also hope that we can meet up sometime.
Oh, and just so you know... when we first arrived in AK in June 2003, I was wearing a light jacket and was freezing all the time. It took a year to adjust to the coolness here. Now I can go out in a t-shirt when it's in the 30s. :) In time you'll be the same way.
Best wishes to you and your family!
Susan
I am so glad you liked it Susan! Thanks. Oh and I fixed your blog link so it is actually click-able now.
ReplyDeleteIf you check back in a few days, you will soon read about how we made a trip to Fairbanks so I wanted to tell you that I will have to contact you for a visit when we are going for leisure. This trip was definitely not for leisure. Hope to meet you soon!