Close Encounters!

This is what we saw this weekend! We took off and went to the Swanson River Canoe trails which are north and east of the Swan Lake trails that we went on over Memorial Weekend (which I still haven't gotten my film back yet). This weekend was a little cloudy and rainy so we only went on 12 lakes! We do have this nice lighter canoe and less gear so we only portaged once most times. It was still quite heavy with all the gear in one trip! As you can see, we did get a little close to some critters! We first came close to the loon on Lure Lake while we were fishing. It kept swimming around & under us to see what we were and what our spinners were! It was pretty amazing! We camped at a great site that had this fabulous view! We didn't see this bear until we were driving out today. It was actually the 3rd black bear we saw off the road! He didn't seem too bothered by us, as he was mostly interested in eating the dandelion heads! We stopped in the road and took a few pictures and still he ate! It was incredible to be so close to him! I guess there really are bears out here!!

He is Smokin'!!

Monday night I came home to the smell of something sizzling! Pat made this smoker at work over the spring and brought it home the other day. (He unloaded it himself and consequently, the 1/4" steel plate box was bent slightly as it was the piece that hit the ground first out of the truck!) Let me tell you that it cooks/smokes just fine! This chicken was absolutely mouth watering! He thought it wasn't as good because of the charcoal and not wood fire. I thought it was great! Where the charcoal is sitting is also where the grill function can be utilized! You didn't think that we'd go without a smoker/grill here did you?!! Oh, yeah, in the background you can see our new canoe hanging over our car!! It's an Old Town Penobscot 16, for you canoe enthusiasts! It's 22 lbs. lighter than our Coleman! We'll take better pictures when it's out on some water! Should be soon! I hope to get our pics of the last trip soon, but we'll be out on another back-country trip this weekend! A little more back than the last time! We'll be breaking in the net!

landing net

I made myself a landing net this month. I cut a spruce sappling for the hoop and another for the handle. I used 180 feet of braided nylon for the net. It took about 580 double- overhand knots to complete the netting.

Fuchsia Fever!

I brought home this fabulous fuchsia from the greenhouse yesterday! Isn't it gorgeous?!! It has to come inside overnight until it's hardened off. It still gets into the 30's overnight here - yuck! I'm ready for WARM!!! Warm being relative, of course! You may be asking why I didn't put this into the greenhouse? Well, my greenhouse is full of other plants! My previous effort of starting plants from seed has failed miserably, but I still have lot of other little plants growing well! My seeds died from neglect when we were off on our canoe trip!! Perhaps next time...! Oh, and for anyone wondering, Pat's "chin" will likely not grow any longer as it sticks out of his helmet and below the face-shield and tends to burn off!

Swan Lake Canoe Trails

This is where we went this past weekend! We took off with our 80lb. canoe, loaded down with supplies for 2.5 days from the west entrance. We traveled down to the fork on Spruce Lake on Friday night. We took off the next morning, early as the sun is up over 18 hours, and traveled through the upper loop through Swan lake, and down to Loon Lake. We stopped at the island and camped for the 2nd night. Sunday morning we headed home, but not before taking some extra time to fish and nap! We had an amazing time!! We traveled through 15 different lakes, 5 twice, and portaged for 5 miles - 3 times as we had two loads! We took our "real" camera as our digital only holds battery power for about an hour! We hope to get more photos to you as soon as we can!! I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with my personal ability to make it that far!! Oh, yeah, that photo is not of us!!! Our big red/orange canoe will be obvious!

Sunday Afternoon

This weekend we took the afternoon and went to Engineer Lake. Supposedly there are trout there, and though we saw many in their acrobatic feats, none seamed to be interested in our flies or spinners. We did seem to find a way to spend our time, though!

Melli's Garden...almost

Greenhouse Needed!!! Actually, we are going to get a heater tomorrow so I can move some of these kitchen plants outside! I have a lovely array of plants including, but not limited to, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, lettuce, daisies, forget-me-not, hollyhocks, pansies, columbine, & dianthus! I have seedlings and potted plants, so I'm definitely needing to spread out!! Fortunately for me, my fabulous husband has provided me with a greenhouse! Someday soon, I will be picking tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, lettuce, and smelling lots of blooms!! We'll see how things go this year of the "Potted Garden"!!! I hope the moose don't get any of it!!

It's not easy being ... brown

Okay, here is where our climate leaves us! There are a few little buds starting to show, and some green beginning to grow! Pat's surprise that he made for me is this great mini-greenhouse! I love it! It's just big enough to hold a tomato or two, some peppers, and my little seedlings!! I have to get a heater for it before I put those little plants into their new home! Isn't my hubby wonderful!! He's already making plans for next years' model!

Ol' Wollynimblebuggerbeater egg-noodlingwickybomble

Hey, Adam - Is this what you were talking about?!!! It is a particularly large "fly" that uses a hook about 4" long!! If you have any other suggestions, please let us know!!!!

egg-sucking girdlebooger!!

Today Melissa and I went to Sport Lake to do some trout fishing. The last of the ice cleared off the lake today and we were exited to put the canoe in and do some fly-fishing. The weather was nice, 54 degrees and just a little breezy. We launched the canoe and paddled across the lake to a calm cove. Melissa had a fish in the boat before I could even get my fly line in the water!! she boated three small Kokanee salmon and released them before I had my first fish on. Some popular fly patterns here are the egg sucking leach, the girdle bug, and the wooly bugger. I figured I would cover all the bases so I sat down at my fly-tying table in the tackle room and invented the egg-sucking girdlebugger. It was the only fly that produced fish, we were there for two and a half hours and caught nine fish. I now have a lot of egg-sucking girdlebuggers to tie before our next outing!!

Posterity

It's snowing right now! Big Fat Flakes! It won't stick, thankfully, but thought I'd keep you up on our weather!!!

It's Begun!

We have been out! The ice is breaking up and this weekend we got out and worked out the kinks in our canoe skills! We tried a little fishing, but it seems we will need much more practice on this one! In fact, Pat is out as I write honing his fishing skills at a different lake!

4TH BIRTHDAY AND 1ST TOOTH!

Here's what's happenin' in Kansas! Jackson is now the full, fabulous FOUR! Sydney is now one tooth shy of a full mouth! Fortunately, the replacement tooth isn't far behind!! Her "6-year-old" tooth is coming in!

My California Trip!

The many adventures of my California Trip! In addition to spending time with Adam and Becky, I was able to do some sweet bonding with my niece, Mia (almost 8 months) and nephew, Toby (20 months)! I had such a good time! Those kids are just the sweetest! Okay, Toby may have his moments, but just look at that cheese he gives the camera! How can you resist! As you can see, I was able to take a quick trip up to see the monstrosities they call Sequoia's! Are they really trees?!! I also had the opportunity to see my old college roomie, Merv! Her real name is Miriam Hofer, but you know how college nicknames stick! In fact, she's the one who "christened" me Melli! My entire trip was wonderful with only one exception, that I missed my hubby! Later I'll show what he was up to while I was gone!! I know the suspense is torture! Thanks Adam & Becky for such a wonderful time!

Trinity Greenhouse

Here are some photos of where I'm working Monday's and Thursday's - Trinity Greenhouse! The top pictures are of the soil machine that we fill our flats with! The lower photos show where I've been working, specifically potting plugs of flowers, and then a beautiful potted Passion Flower that is growing in one of the greenhouses! It is a beautiful place, and since I can't have a garden (since we rent), this is the next best thing! I am enjoying the greenery and bloomin' things, especially since we still have the occasional snow fall! At least half of the snow has melted showing more ground than snow, but I'm getting excited for summer when it's all green and lush!

$$$ Pipe Welder $$$

I'm now a certified pipe welder!!
I hired on as a structural welder building cat walks, stair towers, and other large structures associated with the oil field. Now, after much practice and help from the more expierenced welders, I have passed my pipe test. In the oil field, a welder who only welds structural is really handicapped because so much of the welding has to do with actually moving products through piping. To pass the test, I had to weld two pieces of thick walled pipe together beveled end to beveled end. Sounds pretty easy, but it's not so simple. The pipe was clamped at a 45 degree angle which is the toughest position to weld in. The pipe wall is very thick, so about 15 welds stacked on each other were required to fill the "v" shape. A quality control inspector examined the welded pipe inside and out. the inside of the pipe must have evidence of correct weld penetration. the other "filler" welds should flow together to form on nice piece. (The pipe in the picture is not complete.) The test piece was then split with a saw into four pieces and the pieces were bent with a hydraulic press to find weakness and impurity in the weld. None were found, so I passed the test.
Pipe welding can be very stressful. The welds are x-rayed at night after the crew goes home. A welder has all night to think about welds not passing. Any little impurity in the weld zone will cause a weld to fail, and that goes on a welder's record, but pipe welders draw very high wages.

Affinity Salon

Here's my work pals! From left/back: Ann, Jasmin, Danielle, Michele, Me!, Katie; front: Laurie (my boss), & Jessica
This picture is now on our work website, so I'm out there! Work is going well. I'm getting a little busier! I have also taken a job at a local greenhouse on my Monday's and Thursday's! I'll have a busy summer!!

Lot's of Light!

Just to let you all know, there is an hour more SUNLIGHT here than in Kansas!! It get's light around 6:30 and gets dark around 10:00! Click the title to go to the website and check your daylight hours!!

Busy Week!

This week Pat had a few days off, so on Wednesday night, we left and drove to Seward! We stayed the night in a lovely hotel right on the coast with a view that was breathtaking! Seward sits right on the tip of Resurrection Bay - appropriate for Easter time! It looks out on the Kenai Fjords. It is gorgeous! We spent some time at the Seward Sea Life Center, ate some fudge for breakfast, and enjoyed the day! Then this weekend we took off after church up past Cooper Landing to Kenai Lake. Where the lake turns into the Kenai River is where we launched our canoe and began our first river fishing! We had a tough time on the fishing end, but the canoeing was unbeatable! We ran a few rapids and remained in awe of our surroundings! We felt so good, that we let up on our paddling intensity and hit a rock a bit sidwards and almost tipped! Oops! We made it back safely, and felt good about our first experience of the season!! We will likely not go much more on the Kenai as it will get very fast and deep with all the snowmelt! When the lakes open up, we'll head out there!