Aaaargh!

Ahoy, all ye mateys! Be ye knowin' what today be? It be International Talk Like A Pirate Day! So I don't want to hear any of ye speakin' the King's English, ya hear? No proper pirate be loyal to the King!

'Twas a foggy morning on the Lake of Wik....

When Cap'n Jim and the Salty Dawgs gathered on the poop deck. What mayhem might them bilge-sucking scallywags be a-plottin'?

Avast! The scurvy dawgs have the glow of the sea witch in thar eyes!

Them bad eggs 'ave set the First Mate adrift in a rowboat with nary a bit of vittles but that thar bear! How long kin he last on such meager fare an' not even a piece of eight to trade fer his fill? 'Tisn't fer a good pirate to worry on them thoughts....

Appears the cabin pup has pity in her landlubbin' heart fer the Mate an' sends a rescue to the rocky shore whar he be landed.

A happy endin' fer the First Mate, and a happy TLAPD to ye landlubbers. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

Cookies, Soap, and stuff like that

Hello, everybody!

Well, much to my dismay, I have to admit that fall really is here. There are yellow leaves all over the yard and the evenings have a decidedly chilly overtone. On the bright side, the varying shades of green, yellow, and a bit of red in the trees is actually quite pretty. On the down side, the lovely red highbush cranberries and rosehips won't be ready to pick until after the first frost - meaning the anxiously-awaited pickings will be accompanied by cool-weather clothing and chilly fingers. Not exactly having my cake and eating it too, huh?

Speaking of cake, I haven't found a casual excuse to bake and decorate any cakes since we've been here, but I did decide to decorate some cookies for a Homemaker's Club potluck for the firefighters last week. I got this awesome folk art bear cookie cutter in Homer last month, and had been itching for a good reason to use it. So, I made polar bears and piped on Eskimo-style hummingbirds. Not bad, but a lot of work:

After doing a few, I switched to quicker silly bears instead. The one on the left is blue with cold. ;^)

In other news, James has been going to the Mt. Redoubt Baptist Church for the past couple Sunday nights to play music with some guys who gather for a bluegrass jam. He's been helping Jim put up the portable garage for when Little Sweetie comes home, switching out faucets, and stuff like that, as well as his Small Business Management class at Kenai Peninsula College. Jim is looking into buying some metal stairs to make getting down to the lake shore easier. That'll make getting ready for kayaking go quicker and make sitting out on Brad's dock a more appealing idea.

Me, I've got raspberry jelly in the cupboard now and am thinking this week I'll put up either an apple maple jam or something else apple-y. Yesterday I took a cold-process soap making class. Reading up beforehand on cold-process soap making, it sounded scary and dangerous, so I'm glad a near neighbor teaches workshops on it. Turns out it wasn't so bad at all, just as long as you're careful and take your logical precautions. I split my batch of soap into lavender and patchouli scented bars with an oatmeal exfoliant, and wintergreen and peppermint scented bars with glacier silt exfoliant. They have to cure for six weeks before we can use them, but I can hardly wait. They smell SO GOOD.

Happenin's

Hello there. Just another chatty update...

If you read this blog a couple days ago, you probably noticed that Little Sweetie went to the body shop. Perhaps you also noticed the update that we're having some... issues... with the first shipper's insurance company. So the repairs are on hold until at least after the long weekend.

Jim and James went fishing this morning with neighbor Lee. The photo below is where they went. You should really enlarge this picture so you can see the mountain. The guys missed seeing the black bears that were there, too, but some of the other people fishing off the same bridge saw two, including one that walked across the road behind them. Never let it be said that my guys don't concentrate on the task at hand, huh? Jane, if you're reading this, they went fishing off that bridge just before you get into the Captain Cook State Recreation Area, not far inside the State Park.

This is their catch. Yes, James' silver salmon is larger than Jim's. I almost typed in "much larger" but decided that marital harmony was not worth sacrificing to point that out. ;^)

And my big adventure today was my first kayaking lesson. I did not take to it immediately, but after a while I warmed up to it. Jim's a good teacher. The lake was so pretty and smooth tonight. Notice some golden on the trees?

James got this pic of a woodpecker working on a tree out back. I wonder if it was the same one that was trying to peck a hole in the house this afternoon?

And in other miscellaneous news, we've been eating salad from the Aerogarden and peas and potatoes grown by a neighbor across the main road. Strawberry leaves are dried for tea for the winter, since it will help with eczema, which Jim gets on his upper arms during cold weather. Peach freezer jam is in the freezer (obviously) and today's salmon catch will be in there soon, too. The ladies I meet are having an endlessly fun time asking me to define what I mean when I say "fall." Mentioning that I'd be willing to teach a cookie-decorating class "in the fall" so that the knowledge is fresh in their minds for making their Christmas goodie baskets got me some funny looks, I assure you. For me, in my mind, fall comes in October or November. For the locals, fall is pretty much this week and winter is next month. Although I've been told we may be having an Indian summer. Nooooooo, this should be REAL summer for at least a couple more months, right? Right?

I guess that's about it for this evening. It's getting late, and I'd still like to get some knitting done before bed. See you all later!

Get well soon, Little Sweetie!

I am happy to report that the movers have come through with a check to pay for Little Sweetie's repairs. Hallelujah. I was mentally prepared for a battle to get more than the 60 cents per pound that would have been the least they could offer, but they ponied up for the whole amount of the estimate. In my previous post when the damage occurred, I did not tell the names of the umbrella shipping company who organized the move, nor did I tell the name of the subcontracted shipping company who ruined the car. I do not know at this point if the responsible party has paid for the damage, but the main shipper, Alison's Relocation in Anchorage, paid it up front and is waiting to be reimbursed by the other company. Thanks, Alison.

So, today, we met Denny of Denny's Auto Body at the warehouse to pick up the Met. Of course he had to joke that he might need to go back and get his bigger wrecker. Nobody ever gets tired of making those jokes. (And I admit I think most of them are funny, too.)

I sort of like this picture because it's the only one I have, and probably the only one I'll ever take, where Little Sweetie looks big:

Uuuuuuuup onto the wrecker. Notice Denny's got latex gloves on. I know that's to keep oil or whatever off his own hands so he doesn't get grease monkey fingers, but what it means to me is that he's neat and clean - meaning my car will probably stay neat and clean, too.

And off he goes. I don't know when the work will be done, but I know the new headliner has to come out of Dallas from Kip Motor Company, where Little Sweetie got fixed up in the first place. And that will take some time. I figure I've got no less than three weeks to be without the car, but that's just a guess and certainly the soonest I could expect to have it back.

As for the shipper who did the damage in the first place, well, I decided not to say who that was. I don't want to get in trouble for libel or something, because they supposedly are in the process of paying Alison's back. But if you really want to know, these pics are enlarge-able and the guy who did it is wearing the light blue company-logo shirt.

UPDATE:

We just got a letter from [on Jim's advice not to be snarky, I've taken out the name]'s insurance company saying not to do any repairs on the car until they've had a chance to review the claim. Three days after being paid by Alison's and one day after having the garage pick up the car. So we had to call and put the Met's work on hold until the relevant parties get back from long Labor Day weekend. This is NOT my happy face.

A busy few days...

Seems like it never rains but what it pours, and this past week has been no different. Not so much with actual rain (although we did get our share of that) but with being so busy all of a sudden.

We decided against going to the real actual state fair on the other side of Anchorage, because it would be a four-hour trip each way, and no dogs allowed, and we knew we couldn't leave the dogs at home without potty breaks for so long. So, we decided to go to "The Biggest Little Fair in The Kenai Peninsula" in Ninilchik instead.

Ninilchik (population just under 700) is a tiny Russian fishing village. The fair and the Russian Orthodox church on the bluff are pretty much Ninilchik's only claims to fame. [Jim is waiting to see how much of a hard time I give the fair, so I'm going to be diplomatic. I am.]

Here is the entrance to the fair. And that's about a quarter of the fairgrounds in the picture. It was a bit of a shock to see such a teeny fair attract people from all over the Peninsula. There were two exhibit buildings, one for the 4H and quilt exhibits, and one for the vendors selling crafts and whatnot. Another small barn held the 4H animals, and there was another barn for the animals being auctioned. A few tents outside were for vendors, too, and there was a corral where the rodeo and horsemanship shows would be held later in the day, but we didn't stay for those. There were also a couple small stages for music.

Here's Jim and James in the main entrance corridor.

And this is the Midway. Yep. All of it. There was a mechanical salmon ride on the other side of the fairgrounds, but this is where most of the fun 'n' games took place. That's a mechanical bull just out of frame on the right.

It was a bit odd to finish seeing the entire fair, with the exception of the rodeo and horse show, in just over an hour and a half. But, with time on our hands and being already halfway to Homer, we decided we'd go there for something to eat and to see the scenery. It got drizzly and cloudy though, so we didn't stay long in Homer and didn't bother taking any pictures.

We did stop on the way back through Ninilchik, though, to go up on the bluff to see the Russian Orthodox church that overlooks the Inlet. These churches are so pretty, and so old. I forgot when this one was built, but it's over 100 years old.

The cemetery beside the church is for veterans.

This is the view over the bluff from the church grounds. Oh, had the sky only been clearer, what a view this would have been...

Y'know, I take it back - we DID take some pictures in Homer, and I think they'll be especially interesting to my soul sister, Amy G:

The Yurt Village was not just a place that sells yurts, but there was also a collection of touristy shops inside them.
So, that was Saturday.

On Sunday, we went to a new friend's house for a cookout. It poured down rain, and 23 people were trying to fit inside his single-wide. That didn't work very well, so a couple people stayed outside pretty much the whole time manning the steaks on the grill, and nearly all of the kids stayed outside playing.

We have discovered Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and have the songs stuck in our heads. ("The world is a mess and I just want to... rule it.") Jim has watched and/or listened to it four or five times. I'm only admitting to twice. Okay, two and a half times. *

Monday, classes started for James. He's taking Beginning Japanese Cooking and Intro to Business Management at Kenai Peninsula College, which is a division of University of Anchorage. He's also doing a distance class on website design at Collin College back in Texas.

Tuesday, I went to a class on making jam with the same ladies who taught the salmon canning class. Only one person attending had never made jam (and it wasn't me), so there wasn't a lot of learning to do, mostly just seeing how someone else does things.

Today, Wednesday, I visited the Redoubt Homemaker's Club meeting. Many of the ladies who come to the classes are members of RHC, and they've all been very nice to me, so I tagged along. The main focus of the meeting today was planning out the activities and fundraisers for the rest of the year, but it was still nice to get to visit and get to know the other ladies better. I'm not sure if I'll join, but I'm leaning towards joining for a little while at least. I may not be up to THAT much volunteering.

Okay, so, we have a couple days of "leisure" and then on Saturday we're planning to go to Industry Day over near the Kenai airport and see what-all's going on there. Evidently it's a community appreciation event that the petroleum companies and the local government throw with a lot of free food and stuff. Never pass up free food. ;^)

* Captain Hammer makes some sexual comments so don't watch it with your small children. Thanks.

Moya's Day Out

Ah, today was one of those days when just being outside makes you glad to be alive. Except for having to go to the warehouse store for more dog food, but you do what you gotta do, right?

James and I took Moya with us on our errands, which has become the norm for any outing that involves the two of us. On a day so pretty, and so clear, it was too hard not to divert ourselves a bit and enjoy the scenery.

Here's James and Moya at the scenic overlook off Bridge Access Road. A long panoramic view of the mountains across the Inlet, including Mt. Redoubt which you can barely see next to Moya's right ear, is beyond the plain where the caribou herd is sometimes seen. (Not seen by us yet, but we're hoping to see it someday.) Just peeking into the lower right corner of this picture is a big metal telescope that you can look at the volcano through.

Here's some of the mountains beyond the plain. You might want to enlarge this one so you can see it better.

Driving towards Nikiski from Kenai, this mountain seems to block the road.

After lunch, we decided to take a quick trip down to Captain Cook State Park and let Moya have her first walk on the beach. But first, we noticed McDonald's had a 50 cent special on ice cream cones in honor of Alaska's 50th statehood anniversary. How can you resist such a deal on a warm summer day?

Moya shared James' cone with him. She seems to like her first taste of ice cream!

Here they are, on the path to the beach at the state park. Moya is uncharacteristically standing still at the moment!

This is what we came to see - the mountain range across the inlet. (Enlarge this one and get a better look!) I'd have preferred it if the tide were in so that Moya could have played in the water a bit, but this way she had a lot of rocky beach to explore instead. Just stay off those mud flats!

James evidently doesn't walk fast enough!

"Look! I can take a rest in this tire track!"

Climbing rocks is fun!

Isn't this an awesome rock? The middle is smooth but the edges are like ribbons... like a slice of the sun with part of its rays still intact. Or a piece of pie. Use whichever imagery suits your fancy. ;^)

My first earthquake!

Okay, so it was a little bitty one, but at 10:19 this morning, there was an earthquake in Cook Inlet! It felt like someone was downstairs shaking the foundation of the kitchen, and the plant on top of the fridge was wobbling. The guys in the front rooms didn't feel a thing, which disappoints me a little bit, because (since this was a very tiny, non-damaging quake) it was kinda cool.