Thanksgiving weekend

We had a nice thanksgiving, darling husband, cooked the whole meal, other than the pie. It was just the two of us, but we were thankful for lots of things. Being healthy, so far, we both have a job, and oh the list could go on. He made a smoked paprika turkey, which was a rub all over the turkey--and it was yummy.

Then let's see, Black Friday, well, we did not get up early to go check out the sales, have no real desire when there is only 2 stores to really hit, Fred Meyer and Walmart! So---sleep in we did, then we went shopping. It was a great day, even though we didn't buy much except for us LOL--

We did go to the public market. I felt like a salmon going up stream, holy crap there were a lot of people there. Didn't see anything that went hey buy me....but I did find a person who is selling Watkins, so bought some grapeseed oil and took her catalog. Pretty cool.

Yes, this is Casey, hanging out on one of the wind turbines--this picture actually gives the perspective how big they really are. He is about 280 ft high. Not a job for me. No thank you. But I bet he has a view from hell.

Here is our daughter and her family! Sure do miss all of them.

Look, Santa came in to the mall by helicopter, as you can see at around 11:00 how dark and raining it is up here. It is a good thing that Santa made it.

We sent up the house to be totally wireless. Since Santa brought all those goodies early and a little purple netbook to play with. This wireless thing is pretty nice. One can be out in the garage surfing the net and it is fast!

We got our tree all decorated up. A little 3 to 4 ft'er. It is all decorated in purple this year, lights and bulbs. Next will be do decorate the outside house in lights....need it stop pouring rain.

Here the husband is also planning on his hunting adventure for 2010--oh my, if he gets all the permits he is putting in for.....lots of meat! Moose, Elk, Caribou---maybe even a bear!

Other than that, I think we have updated everything that has been going on for the last week anyways. Now to get ready and mail out the packages and Christmas cards and we will be all set to enjoy the holidays.

Busy doing what?

A lot has been going on--but what? The snow has been slowly inching it's way down the mountain. Today it has been snowing on and off down here in the valley floor. Trying to get things ready for winter. Cleaned the carpets! Number one on the list. Shrink wrap the windows etc. etc.

Our granddaughter is in swimming and she totally kicked butt at her first swim meet.

Pretty good I think for a 7 year old 25 Free 30.27 S197 7 11/06/09Collins, Kamee L Female (12 & Under) 25 Back 30.63 S197 7--what is so great, she even beat the times of other swimmers that are older than her, like 8 years and up! Way to go Kamee. When I talked with her she said, first, Grandma when are you coming back down to visit us and then she said that swimming was awesome and that she had so much fun!

Here I am with the lady that came from Longaberger--she made the basket that I won. Kind of
neat.

Basket

I'm a winner! of a Longaberger Basket. How cool is that. I actually was able to watch the lady make this basket. They had a big cancer connection fund raiser awareness at the Jordan Creek Center put on by Longaberger rep.'s--Pretty cool. It is a nice size basket, now to find a place to put it and use it.

Hubby has been sick for about a week. All signs and symptoms, pointed to the swine flu. They won't test for it up here, they figure if you are sick with the symptoms you have it. They have had just so many cases. I just am hoping that is misses me. He ended up missing a whole week of work and even after that, he still isn't up to par.

The weather has been mainly rain for the whole month of October. I see last night that Thunder Mountain has snow about quarter of the way down.......so, it is getting closer to us having, I am afraid snow on the ground.

New quilt

Oh my goodness, have been busy. But when I ask myself what, I really don't have an answer, just know that I have been sewing, cleaning, all the usual things I guess one does daily. I did get the carpets cleaned this past weekend. They look so nice when they are clean. Take my advise and don't ever have a cream/white colored carpet.

Here is a new quilt that I hope to have done for the granddaughter at Christmas time, if not, maybe for her birthday in February. I still have to work on one for the grandson.

Here is the front of the quilt--

The back of the quilt.......

The quilt will fit a queen size bed. It is hard putting the layers together when you don't have a huge quilting machine, which I would love, hint hint.

Blackberry Wine

Look at all the wine that is getting ready to bottle.

Not much going on up here in Juneau. We bottled another batch of wine, Blackberry this time. We got about another 25 to 30 bottles.

This actually tastes pretty good. I like this one also.

Look at all the different mushrooms

The rain stopped for awhile on Sunday afternoon, so I was able to go out and empty some of my hanging baskets into the compost pile and walking around the yard, there were all of these mushrooms. Here a few pictures of some of them and there were probably 4 other different kind that I couldn't get a good pictures of.

Oh and this is my comfrey plant, still a few pink flowers on them, and of course the mountain ash berries. They say we are suppose to get a light frost tonight. Which I believe it will happen, it is starting to clear up outside and the air has been getting a little bit more frigid out there. Really need some frost to kill the remaining plants so I can clean those up.

Another project done

I finished one more project. Finally put the back on this one and sealed it all up. So the cat's meow is all done. I like doing these zig zag quilts. They go together pretty fast and they have a neat design about them. Couldn't do much outside this weekend, since all it did was rain.

Front and close up of the zig zag.

The yellow that you can sort of see, is actually piping that I put around the edges. Turned out rather cool.

and of course the front and the back.

And I am still working on this scrappy piece. I will put 2 more rows across the top, so it will be 8 rows long and 6 blocks across, and then work on the same thing for the back so it will be reversible. I have enough scraps to that won't be a problem that is for sure. LOL And as you can see, it has Marvin's seal of approval.

Oh the rain keeps coming

I guess we are getting pay backs from all of the nice summer we had with no rain. It sure is not letting up. I think it stopped raining maybe for part of a day since we have been back from vacation and that was Sept 9th. So, have been busy sewing.

My newest project, it is a bird quilt.

Golf anyone

At least someone is enjoying the sunshine somewhere. Darling husband was out golfing today back in MN, in the sunshine. Oh his arms hurt.....after 18 holes and it was so hot BOO HOO--here is was raining, turned to sunshine for a bit. At least him and his brothers are having a good time.

Rain and more rain

It is the fall time here, and of course, true to mother nature and Juneau weather, it has been in full force. Rain and wind. We have had almost 10 inches of rain since August 20th. The days are getting shorter and the nights longer. Then of course it won't be long and good ole daylight savings will kick in again. Which makes it worse up here.

Darling Husband (DH), is on his way back to Minnesota for a couple of days to wish his grandmother a 95th birthday. She will be very surprised to see him. No one knows that he is going back except for his two brothers that are picking him up.

Two projects done

Doesn't this remind you of the old wallpaper that were in the older homes? It does me!

Finshed two UFO projects this weekend. Yeah. The flowered one will be going back to MN for DH's grandmother's 95th birthday. The other one??? Not sure. The tumbling blocks was a lot of work. But it is done and now I can move unto some other UFO project that needs to be finished.

I'm Back

Here's looking at you. A beluga whale at the aquarium. This aquarium is huge and amazing is all I can say. I really wish we would have had another day or two, there was so much we both would have liked to have seen and visited as far as sights go.

Jelly fish at the aquarium

Made it back from our mini vacation. We went down to see the kids in Wyoming and then from there we headed to Atlanta, GA to see a Nascar race. It is so amazing how the grandkids have changed since even in March when we seen them.

Backyard BBQ, lots of good eats!

Like always, the trip was way to short. We had a wonderful great time. The weather was great, 86 for highs and the lows maybe 70--lots of sunshine. Oh it felt wonderful to be out of the rain in Juneau.

Tobee is helping grandpa, notice he is also wearing rubber gloves

In Wyoming we were able to visit with my dad, brother, Scott who came from Minnesota and of course the daughter, son-in-law and the wonderful grandkids. How great it was to walk into the house, go into their bedroom where they were playing and have them look up with this shocked look and scream Grandma and they both come running to give me a hug. It was so wonderful.

Us girls went and had their nails done. Kamee and Kristine had a manicure, I had a pedicure. Oh how wonderful it was for all of us. Oh and I have to mention that my dad did come along to get a pedicure as well, no nail polish but clipped and massaged.
Yes, that is a crew!
We went and checked out the wind turbines where the son in law works--pretty neat. As you can see, we all tried to get a group shot. LOL

Kamee going to school.

a giant sting ray
Then when we arrived at Atlanta....we went to the Nascar race, went to the Georgia Aquarium, and the World of Coca Cola, where we tasted all the different kinds of coca cola products around the world. One will never look at a soda pop quiet the same again. It was a pretty amazing tour. We also walked through Olympic Park. At the motel walking around the sites we kept hearing this chatter, not birds, I guess it was the locust. It was really a different sound. Never really did see any of them, but we heard them as they chattered from one group of trees to the next.

downtown Atlanta

the world of Coca-Cola and the giant polar bear.

Headquarters to CNN, we were not able to take this tour, we ran out of time, but we did talk to someone who did do it and said it was great.

We were brave and even took the MARTA train. There form of a subway. For two people from little town USA up in Alaska, let me tell you this was an adventure for us.

Night race at Atlanta. Man the cars were loud.

happy Anniversary to Us

Can you believe it, 32 years today, my DH and I have been married. WOW, pretty amazing. I guess you can really say that we are in the 3rd ring, first is was the engagement ring, then the wedding ring and now the suffering. LOL.

We had some friends from Jackson, Wyoming stop in on Tuesday on a cruise through Alaska. It was a short 5 hours visit but it sure was nice to see them and catch up on things and show them around the town. Wish they could have stayed a day or so, but even a little time is better than no time.

Poor sunflower, he needs a little bit more sunshine and I don't know if he is going to make it our not to open up. Hope it does that would be rather neat. But we are in the raining season now, so....but he is trying.

A few more pictures of a few flowers--after our down pour of rain that we have been having. The sun came out for a little bit after work yesterday so we were able to do some lawn mowing and weed wacking before the rain came back. The flowers still have rain drops on them. Over 5 inches in a week of rain is what we have had so far.

Oh, and this is not one of my flowers, this is a mushroom plant of some sort that is growing in the back. It just started growing with all of this rain and moisture that we have been having. It is kind of a neat design.

They came

It sure was a wild Monday today at work. So much to do and so little time, wanted to take of tomorrow since we have friends coming in on a cruise ship, but I will have to go back to work once they leave. Dang! BUT


the good news is, my books came. The Twilight series. Now I will have something to read on vacation.

where do the weekends go?

Once again, another weekend come and gone. It is amazing how fast 2 days can go. Was a great weekend, despite the rain. In just a little bit over a week, we have had 4.93 inches of rain. Oh my goodness. Make it stop!
Made some more bear skins today. Stuffed a few of them as you can see from the picture above.

Getting ready for vacation!

Oh and look who is already for pre-school! Amazing, he is already 4.

Rain in full force

Good bye summer, welcome to fall? DH put up our rain gauge collector for the weather station and since Friday evening, we have had 2.5 inches of rain.
Not only are we getting the rain, we are getting the wonderful winds. We have had gusts from 3.3 miles to 9.7 so far out in the valley. The rain is so bad that you can actually see it coming down sideways.


My poor plants are not liking this weather at all. Here is a picture of my dahlia that measures over 7 inches across before the rain hit, but now, his head is drooping. Guess I need to cut him off and bring him in so we can enjoy him for a little longer now that we can not be outside.

Oh and look at the new cherry wine that is coming along nicely. It is a real pretty color and will be ready to rack into bottles within the next couple of months. Strawberry and Blackberry are also waiting to be bottled. So much wine, so little time.

New Waterfall Mendenhall Glacier

The new waterfall out at Mendenhall Glacier. It is really coming out from the glacier. It isn't just a trickle.

I kept hearing about the new waterfall at the glacier and thought, WHAT? I thought it was just one of those little run offs that you see, well.......I took a walk out to the glacier and oh yes there is a new waterfall.

The first picture was taken July of 2008 and then the one with the waterfall was taken Saturday the the 8th.

It is rather amazing to see how much the glacier has receded in even a one year time frame.

They are working on building a new trail out to the waterfall. It is going to be really nice, you can even walk now over the rock slide. They cut through some of the rock to make a path way. I am sure they will make it wheelchair accessible.

Been having some rain, I guess we needed it, but it can go back to sunshine and warm weather now that everything has been watered.

I am going to try and can some pickled green beans. See how the little process goes today.

Haze from fires

What a difference a day can make. Woke up this morning and it was like is this fog, well turns out it isn't fog it is haze from some fires that are burning in Canada. I guess there are several large fires in the southern Yukon including a very large one just south of Whitehorse. So, we are getting some major smoke action. This is looking across the channel from DIPAC to Douglas Island. Believe me, not even on a heavy overcast day is it this bad to see the mountains.

Oh and look, my rose that I planted this spring decide to bloom. No, it is not the yellow rose of Texas, it is Donna's yellow rose of Juneau. I just hope it makes it through the winter. Now I have to get me some Sitka roses and plant around the back of the house.

OH OH! and it looks like a cruise ship lost a passenger. A cruise ship passenger reported missing by Holland America's Zaandam after it left Juneau bound for Glacier Bay late Sunday night. Beth Ipsen of the Troopers says they're told Mulkuch made a phone call to the ship's purser at about midnight or one a.m. She was also seen about that same time by other passengers. The woman wasn't noticed missing until ten this morning. Ipsen says the crew is searching on board and the Coast Guard is conducting a search in waters between Marmion Island and Glacier Bay. If she is not located by the time the Zaandam arrives in Sitka Tuesday, Ipsen says an Alaska State Trooper will board the vessel there to investigate. That investigation will include talking to the woman's traveling companion who was not identified.

Fireweed in bloom, patio privacy

Oh look what the DH put up for me on our front deck. Bamboo shades. Now we have a little bit more privacy from the neighbors when we are cooking out on the grill. Then I put up some outdoor lights, they have dragon flies on the covers. We sat out there last night well he cooked dinner. Was rather nice and peaceful. Now we just need some type of little heater for when it starts to cool down outside.

Here is one my flower baskets

When I was up at the glacier the other day, here was a family of ducks in the stream, look that is sunshine that you see!

Fireweed along Egan drive just across the road from Fred Meyer, looking towards downtown

Fireweed at the Brotherhood Bridge trail

Fireweed along Egan, looking toward Douglas Island, I see I also have a picture of one the helicopter tours coming back from the tour of the glacier.

As you can see the fireweed this year sure is in full bloom. It has to be at least 6 to 8 feet tall. Fields of it every where, it sure is pretty this year. As you can see in the pictures, no sun this weekend. Just heavy overcast skies. We did break records though for the month of July for the warmest days and I would say for the most sunny days.

Looking towards the Mendenhall Glacier from Brotherhood Bridge parking lot.
Busy weekend, my the DH some banana bread, a double batch of that. Will be sending some to my dad by in MN.

Made some doggie biscuits and kitty treats. If Marvin eats the treats, then I know they are good, since she does not eat kitty treats at all. I think I will try and sell them at the craft fair or worse case, x-mas gifts. Worked out in the yard a little, along with the wonderful house work that I so enjoy doing every week.

I went to a memorial service on Saturday evening. A friend of mine her brother passed away and his memorial service was Saturday. It was a very nice memorial. I have been to more funeral's up here in Juneau in the last 8 years we have been here then the 18 years that we have lived in Jackson.

DH's wine is coming along nicely. The strawberry and cherry look very good and even at this early stage of the game, they taste pretty good. So now they sit for another 3 weeks or so before getting put into the next phase.

50's quilt

Working on my 50's quilt. It will be made from the fabric that decorated my office for my birthday, as it was all done in a Hawaii 50 theme. Thought what better way to save the memories of that year and that day. I made the back out of the same material so that it could be reversible, both sides will have a different design. I think it will turn out ok. As you can see, I have my big helper! She just loves laying on the new material.

Pretty laid back weekend all in all. Did some weeding in the garden since it wasn't raining. Had a BBQ at some friends on Saturday. They made some yummy pork ribs. DH was called into work today to try and get the shock box for the fish going. Seems they are having some issues.

Oh, and I am glad that Palin is leaving as our governor. You know, it is pretty sad, that she has to have her farewell party at Anchorage, Fairbanks and Wasilla. Come on, Sara! I guess she figured no would go to it in Juneau, the capital, the governors mansion so why have a party there, not enough fame for her. Good riddness.

Fiesta Ware

It is done, 10 bobbins later, I finished it.

I was following this quilt along. My quilt took a little longer than I think of some of the others that were in the quilt along. I just finished mine. Course there was a small break in there due to the nice sunny weather. But this was a lot of stitching on the top of quilt. All I can say is I am glad that I am done. Now onto another project.

Bears and Fish

Well we were awaken this morning by our friendly bear that has been roaming the neighborhood on and off all this summer. He decided that he needed to check out the patio window and of course Marvin the big tuff kitty had to hiss and hit the window at him to get away and of course made him look at her even a little bit more. He decided to leave once he seen me.

The fish are moving back in at DIPAC. There are all gathering around to get into the race way to end up in a holding pattern to meet their demise.

Did the survivor walk today for the relay for life. You would think that after 7 years of being cancer free that the walk wouldn't be hard, but I always cry. It is very emotional for me. I guess I try and not think about it and then just being out there by myself knowing that I am alive, thankful that I am alive. I donated this quilt for them to raise money. The picture doesn't do the colors justice. I named it HOPE.

Craft Fair

All I can say is, this has been one great summer so far. The last time I remember a summer like this I think it was back in 2004! Love the warm and sunny days.

Had a busy weekend. I did a craft fair. My first one. This is what the table looked like, it was a little neater than this, but you get the idea. Everyone loved the bears. I only had two of them to sell and I sold those.

I did better than I thought I would, which is a bonus, especially since it was sunny and nice outside. The last place people want to be is inside, since you never know when the water spigot may come back on here in Juneau and we have rain and more rain. I may have sold more rain jackets for dogs if it would have been raining and dark outside! LOL, but, I will try and do one more come November 21 & 22nd.

Taking today off, Monday, since I was tied up all weekend. Need to put my things away and in some type of order. LOL and do a few things around the house that the DH didn't do. He did do a great job though with the laundry and dishes and cooking dinner, so that was a plus.

Can you say HOT?

What a great week it has been. The weather has been more than wonderful.

We have a burn ban on, since it has been so dry and warm.

We broke a record on Monday, with the high of 85! Can you believe it? Yesterday it was 84, but we didn't break the record for that day, the high was 90 back in 1975. But that is OK, I will take the 80's.

They say we are suppose to have great weather all the way into next week. All I can say, is bring it on!

Here is a picture from July 2nd of one of the Ferry's coming across the channel out by Auke rec.

Wow it is the 4th of July 2009

Here is the 4th of July weekend. Man did it go fast. Had a wonderful long 3 day weekend. Oh and Sara Palin resigned for those who did not hear. Amazing to run out on her commitments, must have a pretty good job offer!

Love three day weekends, guess I just need to take more of them off. I can get so much more accomplished and cleaned up. Felt good. Was able to visit with friends, BBQ, and still had time to relax! It was a great weekend.

Packaged up my bath bombs, and my DH made me these racks to hang my tote bags from when I enter the craft fair this weekend. Trial run for the Christmas season.

Now that is a basket of bombs.

I do have a lot of tote bags and also doggie jackets! And look we have a little visitor checking in.

Oh and my garden is doing great so far. Here is a picture of the brussel sprouts, look they have sprouts on them!

New neighbor

We have a new neighbor. This visitor likes to come over and see Marvin, but Marvin doesn't like to play with the new cat. They sit outside and just stare at each other, until mom comes out and chases the cat back to it's home. Marvin is 14 years old and this cat is way bigger and younger than Marvin.

Oh to decide what to do today? Sew on the quilt, make some bath fizzes. I think I will be entering a craft fair July 11th, so I need to get my ducks in a row and get some product out there to try and sell.

Golden Girl Today--and a little bear

Yes, today I am the golden girl! 50 years ago, at 6:15 AM central time, a beautiful child was born, that child is ME.

Today I am fifty years old. Wow, amazing. I have to say, it feels pretty good, being golden and all. Thanks you mom and dad for having me.

Oh and this is what I came to this morning at work. They had decorated my office all up in the Hawaii 50 theme, they are having a potluck and everyone is dressed up in Hawaiian theme shirts. Very nice surprise. As you can see, there are flowers and fabric all over in a Hawaiian type theme, which of course, I am sitting here thinking, wow, this will be great to make me a scrappy 50 quilt for me. I will use the same layout that I am doing with the quilt along that I am in. This will be perfect! Not the best pictures, it was taken with my cell phone, but you get the idea. Oh and they also had a small potluck birthday party for me at noon. So that was nice.

A co-worker made me this blanket and picture, which was really nice of her. And of course my Cake.

Oh yes, and we had a visitor on the street yesterday. We were just coming home from work and I spotted this black thing turning into the neighbor's drive way, thinking, that is not a dog, and sure enough. It is not a dog. A little black bear, checking out the trash cans. I think this must have been the same one that had it's way with our compost box.

Happy Father's Day

Father's day today. I have to say happy father's day to my dad. I hope he is enjoying his day and is out golfing or doing something fun. Speaking of a father................here is DH enjoying his day.
.

Look, Marvin is even wishing the DH happy father's day. Resting her head on his shoulder, saying I don't want you to be alone, just to let you know that I love you also.

What do these two photo's have in common? Yes, two good friends with a cat! See the resemblance?

"Did you feel it?" my friend Sue, asked on June 20, at about 9:45 p.m. on a sunny Alaska night, as we sat outside drinking DH's skullberry wine that had made and waiting for the BBQ to be finished. No it wasn't another earthquake. At that moment, the sun paused on its journey around our northern horizon, and we, for a second or two, experienced summer solstice.
Solstice is the precise time when the top of the world nods deepest toward the sun. Here's what it's like when solstice (a word derived from Latin words meaning "sun standing still") arrives in Alaska. Now, the days start getting shorter. And after saying that...........

While out on a walk took these pictures of the wild phlox that grows around town, it is sure a pretty flower and it smells so good. Also as you can see the fireweed is starting to develop it's buds. They say once the fireweed turns to cotton, Alaskans say there are about six weeks until winter begins. Oh dear. Don't even want to think about that yet.

First Pedicure

Tonight I had my first pedicure, and here I am, almost 50! But hey, I can cross this off the bucket list!

Oh and let me tell you, it was wonderful. The chair I sat in had one of those total up the back and down massages. Oh how great it was, especially after a full day of work. Soak your feet in warm water, with some pretty colors. Get a little massage, trim the nails, get all painted up. Pretty nice. And as you can see, purple toe nails. Yes, purple, not red. Can you see them smiling?

Mr. Bear and crock pot goes bad

Well, we had a bear last night come through the place. Not sure what time, but I thought I heard something around 2 AM--guess I should have gotten up. But, he hit our compost box. Broke open the boards on side and pulled things out he wanted to eat. Wish I could have seen him.

Still raining here, feels like fall. Been around 42 to 54 degrees all week with rain. Sure do miss the sunshine and the warm days we had, but..........it was better weather than we had for the last 2 years that is for sure.

Guess what I will be getting for my upcoming birthday present.....a new crock pot. We were lucky--I had food cooking in the crock pot yesterday and after we were home I could smell something, well, seems like the controls decided to burn themselves out. Nice little electrical fire. Glad it happened when we were home.

MN riders claim world record for longest ATV parade

Way to go, this is so great.

SILVER BAY, Minnesota - All-terrain vehicle riders who formed a parade along Minnesota's North Shore are claiming a world record for their turnout.
The All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Minnesota tried Saturday to line up more than 2,000 ATVs in Silver Bay into the longest parade documented for Guinness World Records.
Group spokesman Les Schermerhorn said they fell short, but their count was 1,632 ATVs. They hope to have the Guinness organization verify the claim in the coming weeks.
The current record of 1,138 ATVs was set by the Harlan County Ridge Runners of Evarts, Kentucky, in 2006. Three-wheelers and side-by-side ATVs do not count.
The Minnesota group's attempt last year fell 55 four-wheelers short of the Kentucky group's total.

go to their website atvparade.org

Can you hear the grunting?

Oh, you can see his smile for miles. A new lawn mower. What more could a man ask for? Self-propelled, goes like the wind. You should see this bad boy go. It just cuts the grass and you almost have to run behind it to keep up. You can push it with one finger. Pretty nice, I will have to say.

Our storybook

I haven't told you about the story book I had made from Stories by Everyone.com. I had this book made up from when we were in Disneyland. What a great thing! It is about 30 pages, it has 55 pictures from our trip. You right the story or captions that you want on each page.

I had one made for us and one for our daughter. It was funny, when they received the book, Tobee is looking at it and he says, " Mom, we are in a book." How great is that?! They did a wonderful job, the price was good. Plus, no photo albums laying around, and people just do not throw books away. A perfect little memory piece. You could do this for anything. Love the idea and I am sure I will have more books made.

Where is the sunshine?

Oh Marvin, she is such a helper.

Well, here we are day two of no sunshine and a light drizzle of rain. Man, things are so dark, the furnace kicked in this morning. We had 50 degrees on the thermometer this morning. Suppose to be like this for the next week or so.

Like I mentioned before, I am in this quilt along. Which is going rather good I would say. Each week we have a new task to complete. She is giving us complete instructions to go follow. So far things have worked out great for this project. It was rather easy and everything went together rather well. The best part, is, it is made from material that I already had, so right now, NO,! extra expense. Of course the DH loves that part, no more material in the house.

Here is a close up of the quilt.

Sunday Sunshine

Wow! What a wonderful morning. Wake up, look out the window and see clear blue skies with lots of sunshine. You have to love. I read the Sunday paper out on the porch, already 61 degrees at 10 AM this morning. Keep the nice days coming. After 2 years of nothing but rain and cold, this is great. My plants are loving this weather. I did lose a few plants from the rotten weather last year. Yes, those are tulips around the mountain ash tree. They just came up not to long ago. Most other places around Juneau, their tulips have been done for weeks now.

Brussel Sprouts are looking great, so far 9 inches long--


and the Rhubarb and the comfry plant are in competition on who is going to grow bigger this year. This is the best my rhubarb has been for years.

My nasturtiums are growing great. I guess they can read the sign that says grow dammit. You can tell, but there are marigolds and Rosemary mixed in with the nasturtiums.

Look at this cute little kitten. Carla, who moved to W. Virginia, just adopted this little kitten. She is so cute.

And speaking of cute, here are the two cutest grand kids in the world, according to this grandma.

Talked with them on the phone last night. Asked Kamee about being done with school. I was informed that she is only on a break and she is not done with school that she will be going back after the break is done. She is still going to swimming and is doing gymnastics, which she says, " I guess it is good for me to go to." and she has been going to church and told me that she learns about God and that he sometimes answers your wishes. Tobee, well, he is Tobee and he follows his big sister around.

More sunshine

Yesterday, Friday, was great. More sunshine and it was warm. When we came home the inside temperature of the house was 79 degrees and we live in the shade from about noon on, plus we had the windows open. So it had to have gotten very warm out here in the valley. I don't think I have seen our house that warm, well, I have, when mom was up here and she was tending the wood stove. I think she had it above 80, but that was in November. This is June. Don't get me wrong. I am sure loving this sunshine and warm weather, after 2 years or more of rain and cold, this is nice. We are breaking records.

Record high reached Wednesday in Juneau, another record could be in store today.The record high temperature for the date yesterday was tied. The Juneau Forecast Office says it hit 79 degrees at 4:46 p.m. That matches the high reached in 1954. Another record could be in store for today. The high today is forecast to range between the upper 70's and low 80's. The record for this date is 80 which was also set in 1954.

Went to a BBQ last night. Of course, as always, was a great time. The only thing one could complain about is the mosquito's and noseams, man, they are hungry and big this year. Other than that, it was great.

I really don't like spiders, but, this web was hanging between the railing, you do have to admire the spider on they can create there webs. Pretty amazing.

Oh, yes, Guess who has taken over another quilt, and of course laying in the sun. Thanks mom.

A co-worker made us this pie, out of rhubarb. The story behind it--well, she needed rhubarb. I knew a couple of patches around town that were on the hillsides and no one was taking care of them--so we went for a walk and picked some rhubarb. Actually,we saved the rhubarb. Thinned it out so it could grow some more. And this is what I received for being a partner in crime. No keys in the middle!

June 1st, Happy Birthday to the Darling Husband

Well, what do you get a 51 year old for a birthday gift. Why not a new toy, a monster sandwich and an apple tree.

Yes, this is one big sandwich. Cut a round bread roll into 4 or 5 layers--layer with your favorite sandwich meat, this one has ham, turkey, hard salami and bacon. Left off the roast beef this time. Course each layer has to have a layer of cheese, I used pepper jack, medium cheddar and Swiss and what sandwich isn't complete with layers of onions, green peppers and oh yes, horseradish, mustard, 1000 thousand island dressing and spicy brown mustard, put on each different layer. And to top it off, last layer, meat, onions and bacon. I have also put tomatoes on the top layer. You can bake it in the over at 250-300 degrees for about 45 minutes. This way it melts the cheese nicely and the meat is warm all the way through. This sandwich though was cooked on the gas grill--it was 80 degrees and did not want to turn on the oven.
Can you say most delicious?

Marvin is also enjoying the DH's birthday by relaxing in the best chair outside. She looks rather excited about the birthday.





Oh and the new toys. yes a remote control helicopter. I think I have him a little scared to try and fly this one. He is still reading the manual that came with it. Big dollars to fix this one if it falls and tumbles to the ground. Look at the remote control,Oh my gosh! They say it is like flying a real helicopter, you must do all the checks and balances etc. I know I won't be flying this one, since the one I got for Christmas is now in the trash. It can not be repaired any more. maybe now I can have the DH's old one.

and what birthday would not be complete without an apple tree. Our friend Wendy, grew this from and apple. If anyone can grow things it is her. But the funny part of the this story, is that we both bought apple trees 2 years ago on Mom's day. Well, for some reason, my tree died and hers is still growing great. So, she gave this tree to DH for his birthday. We will see what happens to this tree if he can keep this one growing.

Still enjoying the sunny warm days. Loving this week. 70 to 84 degree weather. Bring it on.

How many bottles of wine?

How many bottles of wine does a person need? LOTS! And we have another rack this size that will be filled up in the next couple of weeks.

We ended up bottling the next batch of wine that was done, Peach flavored. It is very good.

Here is some pieces of fabric that I cut up, going to try and make this quilt with Old Red Barn. and her quilt along. It was hard to cut fabric when the sun is out in Juneau. It is suppose to be warm all week, they say the high could be 86 by Thursday. Bring it on! After the last 2 wet, cold summers, this is great.

Looking up at a wind turbine down in Wyoming.

When bombs go bad!

Well, not sure what happened here, but I believe that by me putting a fire in the wood stove and trying to dry out the bombs a little quicker was not a good idea!

As you can see. I believe that they dried way to fast and now I have bad bombs, but they still work, just not to pretty to give away or try to sell any. Our daughter will be happy, she will have more bombs to soak in.

This is my very first batch of bath bombs, they worked.

Then of course today, made 3 double batches of bombs. Which was great, but I also shampooed the carpet and it is raining outside. Did I say raining, the skies have opened and said let there be rain for the last 30+ days you had of nice sunshine.

So the first batch is drying nicely, the last two, not so good.

To much moisture in the air I am sure. We have 84% humidity. So, now I have the De-humidifier going to try and dry the carpets and my bombs. I would hate to lose another 2 double batches. I made patchouli, Ginger and bergamot (suppose to be a citrus smell)--In Witchcraft, bergamot is used to control or command and for this reason is used in a variety of spells and formulas in which a practitioner might wish to subdue another person. Wow, pretty amazing stuff.

Memorial Day Weekend

A pansy from my garden


Memorial Day, here is to all of those that have fought to give us our freedom. Thank you.

So far it has been a great weekend. We had a couple of BBQ's, that we were able to visit with friends and have a good time with. There were a few rain drops late last night. Just enough to put spots on the car. Otherwise, sunny and dry. Amazing.

I went for a walk yesterday up by the glacier. I took the Moraine Ecology trail, or as the forest service labels it the ME trail. It is about 1.5 mile loop trail. It is a real easy hike. There are few other little trails that I think I will have to go and explore that come off of this one.

Oh, and some pictures of my garden and flowers that are finally popping through. It is great.

We have garlic, which was planted in the fall

We have brussel sprouts, here are two out of 3 plants


we have radishes and green onions


gladiolus and dahlias trying to grow them in buckets to keep them out of the rain and rotting the bulbs, which seems to happen or it gets to cold and they don't flower. One more try this year and if I don't get flowers, NO more!


and just what do you do with old cement blocks, but use them to plant flowers in!


Yes, we have lettuce growing also. Put them in these containers on the railing, in hopes that we can keep the slugs away from the food.

Finally, I have tulips coming up and look, just off to the left side of the tree, my blue poppy made it through the winter, now to see if will continue to grow.

My rhubarb is trying to come up
and last but not least, the hops, which seems to grow over and inch a day--amazing plant.

and we have nasturtiums, rosemary and marigolds

What a weekend

Man, talk about a busy weekend. I feel like I accomplished so much. But looking at the clock and seeing it hit 5:00--knowing that the weekend will soon come to an end and i still could be doing so much more.

Let's see, washed the windows inside and out. I emptied out the spare closet of 2 1/2 very large garbage bag full of clothes, that somehow, managed to shrink in the closet. So took those to the salvation army along with a box of miscellaneous items. Declutter! Well, I am trying anyways.

Put the compost dirt that was ready all over my flower beds in hopes that the plants will grow even better. Finished raking the piles of leaves that I had in the back yard.

We have onions, radishes, garlic and lettuce starting to pop through.

I sewed on some more of little projects, table runners etc that need to be put together.

We filtered the pear and peach wine. MMMMMMMMMM it does taste rather good. Won't be long and those two flavors of wine will be ready to put into bottles. Now we are trying to find places to store another 60 bottles of wine and there is more brewing away.

Before and After

Happy Mother's Day

Here is wishing a Happy Mother's Day to all of those mom's out there. I received these lovely flowers from my daughter. That was very nice of her and her family.I called my dad to wish him a Happy Mother's Day, told him since I don't have a mom to call, that I called him to thank him for marrying mom and having me!

Plans for today, oh yes. Running around to the nursery's today to pick up a few flowers to plant. Then plant the flowers, potatoes etc. since we have a beautiful sunny blue sky day. Yesterday, I planted some wild flowers, my brussel sprouts, carrots and onions.

Last week, I had to make a trip up to Anchorage for business. Here are a few photo's from the airplane. Talk about rugged country.

Wonderful Saturday

This little crocus in the front yard is saying I know spring is over in some areas of the country and Juneau, but I still want to come out. We still have a few piles of snow in the front yard as you can see below with the crocus trying to pop out. But with the sunshine today you can see it melting away.

And WHO could complain with a 75 degree day in Juneau, Alaska? Not me! Well I do have one complaint, I did not win the Nenana Ice Classics, it went off on May 1st, and I had May 2nd. Oh well, guess I will have try again next year.

I just worked all day long in the yard. Busy day, we had to go shopping so I could get some flowers to put into my hanging baskets. DH need oil, plugs etc. to tune up the car. Once we got home from running around, I was busy planting away in the dirt. The sun felt so good. Then the best part at 4:30, DH said stop working and handed me a cold beer. Oh did that go down good, but there was still daylight and warmth to be had, so had to continue with more things outside. Even if that was taking a broom to all of the rocks on the main road and sweep them into the driveway.

Along the front of the house and at the end of the deck, has always been a sore spot. So, I found some azaleas and planted them there under the window. This place never received much sun, but since the neighbors trimmed up the pine trees to do their roof, we get a lot more sun. So, with the pine trees and more sun, I figured that the azaleas would do OK, since they like high acid and the pine trees give that off.

As you can see BEFORE:

And AFTER:

They will be so beautiful. If things go well, they should get about 6 ft high and about 4 ft across, so that should fill that area in very nicely!

I planted my hanging baskets. In the long baskets, I am going to try and out smart the slugs and plant lettuce, onions and radishes in those.

I also put in a burning bush in the front of the house by the deck and along the side of the house along with yellow rose bush. Not sure how well that will do, but.........we will try it.
Some more flowers in a pot.

Our son-in-law, was hired at EnXco, this company makes those wind turbines that supply solar energy. He will being doing maintenance on them. They sent us some pictures of them around the area. They have 156 of them around the arehe works at, and they stand 280 feet in the air. I know you won't catch me at the top of those!

If you look close in the picture with the semi, there are 4 or 5 antelope running in front of the truck. I am going to assume that they made it across!

Sunshine and more sunshine

What a great week. How could it not be, with all of this sunshine that we are getting here in Juneau. Plus 60 degree days. Wonderful.
The first hummingbird made it. We seen him last night on the feeder. They are one day late, last year they arrived on April 29th. But---they are here. I have 2 feeders already out, I guess, now that they are here, I will get the third one out.

I actually have tulips popping up out of the ground now, they are about 2 inches high. Just maybe I will get some this year. My rhubarb is about 3 to 4 inches high. It is great walking around the garden and seeing things come to life.

This weekend, yard work, raking, burning of sticks and leaves, getting the compost dirt out and on my plants. Planting my hanging baskets. DH will be working on my car, new oil, plugs etc. so I can zoom down the road faster.

Not much for sewing when it is sunny outside.

The Mad Vintner

The mad vintner is going at it. Doesn't he look like a mad scientist with his project. The blueberry wine is now getting filtered after what about 9 months of sitting. It sure is a pretty color and it actually tastes real good! Not to sweet which I am glad for. It will have to sit for a couple of days and then run it through a finer filter, then we will be able to bottle the blueberry and let it sit for a month or so to let it settle down. We should get about another 25 to 30 bottles of wine.

Dancing Skeltons

I love this quilt. I love the colors, how bright they are, how the back with the hearts seems to go perfect with the skeleton's. This quilt is actually going as a wedding gift. I hope they like it as much as I do. Maybe today will be designated sew the backs on to the other quilt tops I have done, or maybe, start creating something else!

Another note, the snow is melting. I can see the fire pit now, so I can make fires. I can start raking some the yard and burning the leaves and the tree limbs that have fallen all over the place.

Earth Day

For Earth day, our Department (Dept. of Environmental Conservation) had a garbage pick up day. We gathered together at 11:00 to collect our bags and gloves and hit the block's around the DEC building to gather up trash, and there was plenty of it. Amazing how people just through things away anywhere, verses finding a trash can. And then at noon, we all gathered together for a pot luck after we washed our hands, even with gloves on. Did not mind picking up the trash, what better way then to get outside for an hour and enjoy the sunshine and not have to deal with paperwork etc. it was a gorgeous day. Yes that is me with the BP bag, the third largest oil company.




It was also Admin Professional Day. I received flowers from the Director and how fitting is this, a quilting magazine. I gave one of my admin staff hazelnut coffee from Heritage and a new coffee cup and the other admin staff, a tea cup with a tea holder along with some new teas to try.

Oh and well I was waiting for my DH at his work--I was walking around and took a few snappies. They have the net pens up and loaded with their little baby chum salmon, and here is an old boat that low tide is showing and the sea is trying to claim.

Spider Web Quilt

I found this quilt pattern on Mary Quilts. I loved how it looked, so I thought I would try it. Oh my goodness, it came together like magic, like we were meant to be! My DH says I need to applique an spider on it and then make like a spider web design going out from it for the quilting part of it. I guess he has more faith in me than I do. The best part is! I did not have to buy any NEW material. This is all from my stash that I have. I have been saving this material for about 2 years now--knowing that I was going to make a quilt, but could not come up with any design etc. that I liked and then, here it is. I don't think it turned out to bad. Oh and don't mind Daisy, she should have had her head on the outside.

Oh and such a wonderful day today. 60 in the sun and 41 in the shade. WHAT! for Juneau. Loved it. I went over to Wendy's place to show her the quilt and she the let the chickens out. Yes, they loved the sun and the dirt. They are such babies. I keep telling my DH that I need at least 2 chickens, but he isn't buying it so far. If they eat slugs. I want them!

And the mad vintner, is busy making another new wine. Blackberry pinot noir. Sounds good to me. Keep them coming baby!

Varied Thursh

What a way to wake up in the morning to the wonderful signing of the varied thrush.

They were just singing away this morning, and last night. I was standing outside and you could hear them singing, in all different directions. If you want to hear how these birds sound follow this link.


Then little missy girl decided that she could go outside for longer than a minute. I guess she is sensing spring is in the air. She is finally able to see something else other than a wall of white snow. She jumped up in the chair on the porch and enjoyed the morning.

Two days of sunshine and a Robin

I spotted my first robin, it was downtown, but all the same. As you can tell not much snow is this yard.

Two days in a row for sunshine here in the capital city. But, I guess this could be short lived since they are saying rain tomorrow. Which I guess is ok, if it melts the snow, but I like the warm sunny days. Which to me are long over due here in Juneau.

I walked around today on my lunch hour and took some pictures so you can see where there is snow and no snow. Looking over towards Douglas on blueberry hill, they have snow. And looking towards the Federal building none. All along this stretch of walking it was amazing to see flowers growing, people out painting their homes, cleaning up the yards.

I heard that the hummingbirds are in Ketchikan so it should be about a week before they arrive here. Usually by April 29th I have my feeders out and I have hummingbirds, but this year I think I will get them out by this weekend. Not sure if they will come around with all of the snow and the pine siskins and redpolls that are out there.

As you can see the snow is slowing melting out by our house. Downtown there are hardly even snowbanks left.There are crocus's coming up. I won't see that for awhile that is for sure. The backyard is just as bad as the front as far as snow goes.

I have been checking out areas for us to move to. I think next year, a vacation will be planned to go to Washington and Oregon and make a drive and see if we like the area's--and if so, which ones. Time for us to get closer to the family.