Holding the World in a Paper Cup

Archive for September 2010

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Rocks in My Pocket

After arriving home from the Delta Fair one night in August, I began the routine of readying Huckleberry Pie for bed. In the process, I emptied her pockets. It was there that I found an astonishing number of rocks and miscellaneous other items. I don't even know how she kept her pants from falling down from the weight of it all.

It was then that I realized that Huckleberry Pie's rock collection was out of control. She loves rocks. Loves them. Because I love her, I cannot bear to throw any back. Even when she's not looking. In fact, I packed and shipped a shameful amount of her rocks from Alabama to Alaska. Ok, so I love rocks too. I understand what she sees in them because I see it too.

We've got rocks in a plate by the T.V., painted rocks on the window sill, rocks in a tin outside, and rocks in various different treasure boxes in her room.

And since one should not mix Alabama rocks with Alaska rocks (my quirk, not hers) and because our cabin's rock holding capacity had been reached, I came up with a solution.

It was time for a rock garden. Now, you'd be terribly wrong (and a little bit rude) if you were to assume that a rock garden is simply a pile of rocks in some random spot in the yard. Huckleberry Pie's rocks were artfully arranged with a great deal of consideration and effort. The spot where they are showcased was chosen only after much deliberation.

An unrelated side note: This us what I was wearing while Huckleberry Pie was arranging her rock garden. She said I looked like a "real Alaskan".

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Monday, September 27, 2010

Good Friends and Beautiful Skies

Monday, September 27

Jeff came by on Saturday and helped Chuck clean the wood stove pipe. He also brought all the tools we needed in order to get it done including a shop vac for the mess.

He and Chuck propped a ladder up against the cabin to reach the roof.

Then they hung another ladder precariously over the tin roof to serve as steps on the slick surface. In order to get it to stay there, they drove the truck up to the other side of the house, tied a rope to the trailer hitch, slung the rope over the roof, and then tied the other end to the top of the ladder. Chuck climbed onto it unsure if it would hold.

Jeff going up

I stood at the top of the ladder for a few minutes contemplating what it would take to get me to the top of the roof. My services weren't needed for the repair so I was trying to decide if going to the top was worth the risk. Chuck and I grew up climbing to high places for the sake of fun and in some cases, jumping off, so I felt the my youthful, carefree days pulling me up. In the end, I decided that it would be a whole lot easier to get up there if The Apple of My Eye was there teetering on the edge. Then I wouldn't have time to think about it so dang much. I climbed back down and decided I'd find a less dangerous way to feel young again. Later. Now, I'll curl up next to this wood burning stove and enjoy the warmth like a little old lady.

The stove is doing a fine job keeping the house warm and toasty. The bedrooms are still a little chilly but I can't sleep in the heat anyway, so it is kinda nice. I love, love, love not using the heat that requires pricey oil and electricity.

More winter preparations....

Earl and Cheddar came over yesterday to help Chuck winterize the truck he drove up from Alabama. They got started in the garage by firing up the wood stove and popping the hood. I made hamburgers and pie and brought it all out to the warm garage as a thank you. They had a man-style garage picnic while prepping the truck for temperatures below 10 degrees.

I've heard of people paying $500.00 for winterizing a vehicle so when Earl's girlfriend Jamie offered Earl's services up for the project (hehe) were incredibly grateful. Earl even looked over our other vehicle to make sure it was good to go too. Our new friends continually amaze me with their generosity.

I wouldn't let The Apple of My Eye take her tools out there to work with the boys and my heart hurt for her. If I had let her go out, she wouldn't have been able to control her constant rambling to Earl, whom she has a crush on, and that would have made it difficult for them to get anything done. I remember always wanting to be alongside Dad and the men folk while they were fishing or working on various motors out in the yard. I also remember how my heart hurt those few times I wasn't allowed to go out with them. But what can you do? Sometimes little girls can't find a place outside with the men.

Regarding the weather and the skies...
On Sunday, it snowed. It didn't stick and I was kinda glad. There is a small part of me that eagerly anticipates snow related activities, but the rational side of me doesn't want to rush it along. It is September for crying out loud!

One more thing. Chuck and I have seen the Northern Lights! I feel guilt ridden for not posting about this sooner, as we saw the lights on the evening of September 13th. We've been so busy around here, posting about it slipped my mind.

Late that night, Chuck was letting the dogs out for the last time before we settled into bed and when he finished (but not before) he told me the lights were out. I rushed outside, not taking the time to dress for the cold, and ran around the yard in awe. God had formed a green arch from one side of our little world to the other. The green ban spanned a great distance and disappeared into the treeline beyond our line of sight. It appeared to be perfectly arched over our little cabin alone.

I am sorry to say, at the time I was too tired to take pictures and I didn't want my first experience with the Aurora Borealis to be overshadowed by my photography efforts.

Being new to the world of the Aurora Borealis, I am constantly on the lookout for the lights. Earlier that same night, I told Chuck that the sunsets were so beautiful and strangely colored that sometimes I wondered for a second or two if I was seeing the Northern Lights. Of course I knew better but until you've seen them, it is hard to believe in their magnificence. I liken it to the way an expecting mother thinks of contractions before she gives birth. You know, you feel a hint of pain and wonder, "Was that a contraction?" and then another, slightly more painful feeling comes along, and you think, "What's the big deal about? I can handle this kind of pain." And then, a real contraction hits. Then you KNOW what a dang contraction is. The same is true for the Northern Lights. Once you've seen them, there's no mistaking them.

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Friday, September 24, 2010

The Weather and The Wood

Wednesday, September 22

The weather is changing fast around here. During these last few weeks, the mornings have been cold enough to freeze the dew on the ground and leave frosted streaks across the windshield. By lunch, it has been warm enough for a light jacket or in some cases, no jacket at all. But today, it didn't warm up like usual. The cold air lingered. According the my temperature gadget there is a 50 degree temperature difference between my current town and my hometown. It is 43 degrees in Delta Junction, Alaska (even at 1:00 p.m,.) and 93 degrees in Rainbow City, Alabama. I do not miss that Alabama heat but am a little fearful of the inevitable temperature drop that I hear is just around the corner here in Alaska.

We got the garage cleaned out yesterday so now Gingerbread Fred and I can park in there. I was hopeful that both trucks would fit but after driving the first one in, the possibility of fitting the second was just laughable. I guess garage parking in frigid conditions is another advantage of being a woman and child in the Burns' household. Poor Chuck. Before long, we will have to plug his truck in to keep it warm enough to start in the mornings. But he's tougher than Gingerbread Fred and I are, so he can handle it. There will be days that I do not have to work, so those days he will park in the garage. Dang, it must stink to be a man. OH and also, to be a family without a garage at all. There are plently of folks up here without that luxury.

Snow is predicted to fall as early as next week. Chuck, Gingerbread Fred, and I have been working as often as we can to collect firewood but still have very little by Alaska standards.

You need to have been here 2 summers before you can efficiently start burning the wood you harvest yourself, because the wood in needs to have time to dry out after it is cut or else it is considered "green" and won't burn well. Wood isn't our primary source of heat, but I had hoped we could burn it more often than we use the oil since it is cheaper and lots more cozy.

Donnelly Training Area permits those who ask to cut wood from military property. Only wood that has been burnt in past forrest fires can be harvested. This means most of the wood is spindly at best but because a fire killed it many years ago it will burn this year, so we are happy to get it.

Another disadvantage to harvesting wood from burnt fields is that the trees are sparse which makes for long walks back to the bed of the truck. Also, the land is littered with broken trees and other messy vegetation so when walking through with a heavy log in your arms you get the feeling that you are stepping over booby traps that if triggered could leave a stump size hole in your chest.

Before we get started, I set Gingerbread Fred up with a pallet on the ground with her snacks and a couple of miscellaneous toys that she packs before we go. She uses her toys like a scientist would use his tools and walks around collecting objects and drawing leaves in her notebook. About half of the time, she is content while we work. The rest of the time she impatiently wanders around feeling tired and aggravated.

We cut the trees into long but manageable lengths while out in the field. When we get back to the cabin, I take over the care of Gingerbread Fred while Chuck unloads them all and cuts them down to wood stove size pieces. He has started stacks of what we can get away with burning this year and what has to wait until the next.

Here's what I want to know. Wherever you live, do you have a fireplace or a wood burning stove? Do you use it? Have you ever used it as your only heat source throughout an entire winter?

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Sunday, September 19, 2010

An Employee

Yes, I wash out my Ziplocs. Why not? It takes one drop of liquid soap and about 15 seconds per bag. The quality is great so you can do it over and over again. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Ziploc finds out and reduces the quality. Wonk wonk.

We are cutting costs and supplementing our income in other ways also. One way in particular has changed life as I knew it for 5 glorious years. Now, 3-5 days per week I have somewhere to be at 8:00 a.m.

Initially I went out looking for work hoping for something that would help out with Baby Smurf's preschool tuition (and a number of other bills). First I went down to the Department of Children Services knowing they didn't have any available positions. I introduced myself to the supervisor and dropped off my resume. And since I am not looking for something full time, it was a bit of a relief to find there were no full time slots that needed to be filled.

Working in children services is not something I ever dreamed I would be interested in doing again after my experience at the DeKalb County Department of Human Resources. It was a poorly run facility and because of it, the caseloads were unmanageably high and the stress was off the charts. Now that the mortgage and health insurance don't depend on my job, I think my level of stress would be radically different if I ever decided to work in the field again. Maybe when Baby Smurf is in school full time, I will explore this path once more. Maybe not.

I had a great interview at the library but couldn't accept the job because the pay wasn't high enough to justify putting Baby Smurf in more days of preschool. I then applied for a Special Education Aide position in the Delta-Greely School District through an extensive application process online. They called me for an interview but I declined because I had already accepted a position at Baby Smurf's preschool.

So, I now work at Imagine and Learn Development Center. I was picking Baby Smurf up from school one day and casually asked if she needed any help. Before I knew it, I was filling out yet another extensive application and getting an orientation type tour of the facility. The pay is fair, and I couldn't refuse when she told me in addition to the hourly wage, Baby Smurf's tuition would be cut in half.

While it is difficult to pry my body out of bed and become presentable and level headed enough to care for 14 preschoolers, I am grateful for the job. It is only part time and I like that I can earn money all while being close enough to Baby Smurf to observe and help her in a classroom-like setting. I can't imagine being an employee anywhere else that would be more suitable for me this year.

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Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Birthday Girl

I don't know how I will ever catch up so I am just going to have to focus on what has been the main event in our lives over the last few days. The Birthday Girl's Birthday!

We threw The Birthday Girl a party on the Saturday before her birthday. We made the invitations and had them copied at the office supply store in town.

The Birthday Girl chose to invite just a few of her closest friends, which was great. We still had more than enough girls and one little lone boy for plenty of fun.

Although every mother would like for their party to look as if it was effortlessly thrown together...rest assured it wasn't. Even without planning activities into 15 minute blocks (a total waste of time in my opinion) parties can be a real bear to put together. I found that the most exhausting task was getting the house clean and keeping it that way.

Planning the party menu was a source of stress for me, as I am lacking in the kitchen smarts department. I needed to feed a gaggle of girls and their parents and do it without spending a fortune. Here's what I came up with.

For the Parents

Hot Dogs and Corn: We felt a little cheap serving hot dogs, so to class it up a notch or two we sprung for the thicker, polish sausage versions and added relish and sauerkraut with the usual condiments. Chuck cooked the hot dogs and corn out on the grill.

For the Kids

Mini Pizzas: I stole this idea straight from the virtual pages of Family Fun Magazine. Use English muffins to create personal pizzas. These got eaten up fast. The grown ups liked them too.

Animal Shaped Chips: Also, taken from the wildly popular Family Fun Magazine website. Using cookie cutters, cut shapes from flour tortillas. Spray them with Pam and salt and put them in the oven on 350 for 7 minutes. I sat these out with salsa dip. For some reason the chips were more popular with the adults than the kids.

Sugar Cookies with Chocolate: Since this is one of the only desserts I have ever made that has been nice looking enough to serve to others, I decided it would be a good "sweet thing" to add to the menu. Because I had reached my trying-new-things-in-the-kitchen threshold, I bought a roll of pre-made sugar cookies at the IGA (grocery store). I was trying to follow the instructions to the T, since I have been known to rush through the details and cause cooking disasters, so I didn't grease the pan. The cookie roll said to add the cookies to an un-greased pan. Well dang it those cookies didn't stick so bad that I had to dig them off the cookie sheet with my wilted spatula. So, I was forced to find a sugar cookie recipe online and make them from scratch! They weren't superb, but they were fine. I had planned to add Hershey's Kisses to the top of each, but since a small bag of Kisses at the IGA were $4.99, I searched the aisle until I found a more acceptably priced bag-o-chocolates. Most of which were nabbed shortly after I took this photo.

Peaches: I felt it was my duty to add at least one nutritious thing to the menu. I didn't want to buy an expensive fruit tray or deal with yellowed apples. My solution was a pretty bowl of peaches.

They are praying. Aren't they precious?

No, I could not just pick one...or even two.

The table behind them is actually the wooden box that encases our well.

I put a vintage twin bedspread over the top to serve as a table cloth.

Since we didn't have enough little people chairs, I had to think of an alternative. The girls are sitting on stumps from our woodpile. Chuck shaved them down and leveled them off a little for me.

The gifts were so thoughtful. The kids made their own cards.

I draped fabric over half of an old satellite dish to create a screen for the kids to dress up behind.

I left some clothespins out in the yard and the kids found them and created a tent.

I was so impressed.

I put our tent tarp down then added this rug to fancy up their dressing area.

The little rascals found the instrument basket.

There's that lone little boy.

Rachel

Chedric AKA Cheddar

Joan

And I failed to get Maria's photo.

Lucky for me, The Birthday Girl opted for a cake of cinnamon rolls instead of a traditional birthday cake, as she does not like icing (that's frosting for you northerners).

Once, I made her a cake with no icing at all.

And no, I did not make these from scratch.

The Birthday Girl is being shy because we are singing "Happy Birthday".

She had to "pretend" blow out the candles because the wind kept beating her to it.

The day of her actual birthday, I packed a picnic and we drove the Delta State Recreational Site http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/deltajct/deltasrs.htm . There we found the perfect fall backdrop for a birthday lunch.

We ate lunch while opening an overwhelming number of cards from relatives back home. I am still amazed by their thoughtfulness and generosity. Our Post Office Box was overflowing that day.

After we ate, we went for a short walk down a wooded path.

Found some squishy berries along the way

A Photo Essay

"A Girl and a Water Fountain"

After we explored the park we walked across Richardson Highway to the Delta River.

The Delta River looks a lot like Mars.

Rivers around here are definitely not what we are used to back home. Even without the Alaska Range as a backdrop, the water marked mud is beautiful in its own way.

I like these old vehicles.

They served their purpose on the road and now they are good for target practice.

That, or just reckless shooting.

You decide.

This is the only wildlife we encountered while exploring.

When her Daddy got home from work, we used Skype to video call Mom and Craig while The Birthday Girl opened the present they sent. Mom just wasn't satisfied, so they also watched while The Birthday Girl opened one from Aunt Janice and Uncle Charlie too (Aunt Janice and Uncle Charlie don't do video Skype calls yet). Then we Skyped Aunt Phyllis and Joseph while The Birthday Girl opened the gift from those Georgia in-laws. Shew. The gifts were abundant and it looked like Christmas morning over here.

Without time to open Big Mama's gift and give it the proper attention, we saved it for the following day, and the three of us left the cabin to celebrate at Pizza Bella's Restaurant.

The Birthday Girl loves going out to eat and often talks about how much she misses El Tapitio, Applebees, and Logan's restaurants from our life in the "city".

For those reading from Alabama, Pizza Bella tastes a lot like Maters (the wait is as long if not longer) and the setting is like Shoney's circa 1989. Everything was very clean and the owners were super friendly.

The cat was a gift from those Georgia inlaws. He was just born a few minutes earlier when we stuffed him with Polyfil. It is his birthday too.

Why not?

On the following day we had time to open Big Mama's gift

that was packed to the brim with goodies for all of us.

(I got a seriously long and sharp knife for my belt.

Let's all hope I don't get close enough to a wild animal to use it, shall we? Thanks.)

That night we were invited to yet another brithday party out at Jeff and Courtney's house. Courtney spent all day in Fairbanks buying party supplies (food) and invited Brent, Karla, Earl, Jamie, Carol, Jeff, and Haily out.

We enjoyed hamburgers, hot dogs, and good conversation out by the picturesque pond again.

Max

Austin and The Birthday Girl seemed to come into phase 2 of their friendship.

(Phase 1 was when they only partially acknowledged that one another existed)

The truck radio is playing.

Aren't they hilarious? Good times.

LOVE this one. Dancing to the music on the truck radio.

Here The Birthday Girl is telling everyone not to sing too loud.

There were gifts!

A gift from the Durhams'

I had to post all of the photos from the bunny presentation because I love the series of facial expressions.

Austin appears to be as happy to see her reaction as she is to see the bunny. And Courtney too!

Here, she is questioning the whether or not she really gets to keep this bunny.

It is just too amazing to believe.

His name is Hiskers.

What an awesome birthday. The generosity we've experienced has been overwhelming. Thanks to all of you who took the time to acknowledge my baby's birthday. Love ya'll!

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