Our Simple Life

Kitchen Pics

We did a little painting in our kitchen. Here are the before and after shots.

Sunday, October 12, 2008 .. Back in town ..

10:10 p.m. AKDT

We are back in town.  I just wrote a LONG message with updates and you guessed it the satellite signal went out and I didn't have it saved... so no entry tonight .. hopefully some pictures tomorrow

Blessings Abound, Teen

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008 ... First Snow ...

9:30 p.m. AKDT

Greetings for the Italio Cabin,

That's right, around 11 a.m., during my kitchen duty at the Camp I looked out the window and wet white snow was coming down.  It didn't last long but enough to say it's our first snow of the year!!!

The guys were all 45 minutes down the beach at the Old Italio fishing and froze there tooshes off.  It was blowing about 30 knots and the trip home with honda-atv and trailer was might cold.  Bob arrived back in wringing his hands and the call for hot coffee for the clients was a priority.  We always try to meet them as they are coming off the trailers with their favorite hot beverage.

I had two pans of hot steamy Lasagne waiting when they came into the kitchen after changing their waders, and it seemed to do the trick to bring them back to normal body temperature.  They stayed around Camp for a few hours to nap or play cards, so we had 6 around the kitchen table playing "9's".  Nice to step away for a few hands before returning to dinner preparations.

They packed up and headed out for a few hours of fishing locally.

Dinner was a hit, "Blacked Salmon with Tiquilla Mango Salsa, Buttered White Rice, and sauteed Zucchini/Yellow Squash".  Bob and I both say, "YUCK!" but it seems to go over really well with the clients.  Dessert was Lemon Squares.
This ends my dinner responsibilities for the rest of our season.  And only two more lunches :)  So I'll be with Bob tomorrow afternoon guiding :)  I hope I can find enough hand warmers to cover my feet and gloves... I'm sure I'll need them.

It was good to come back to the cabin to the kids and Grammy, unfortunately they've all caught my cold from last week.. ugh!  And no kids cold medicine was brought out with us.. ugh!

Well, it's time to settle down for the night.
Blessings Abound, Teen

Monday, October 6th, 2008

9:51 p.m. AKDT

A busy day at the camp, we had our group of 8 arrive and it's like Family Reunion with this group, lots of fun and full of pranks.  I'm on Camp duty, while Bob and Pat are guiding the first 3 days.  Then the last 2 days I'll be at Camp for lunch and then guide with Bob during the afternoon.

An interesting day weather wise, Summer is certainly over and I think Autumn/Fall too.  We had patches of thunder and lightning which we rarely see, also hail and wind, then of course rain, rain, rain.  The foothills which are 4700 feet tall are snow covered now and not just a light dusting.  The clouds briefly parted so we could see it's white layer.  It won't be long now before the rain is mixed with snow at this rate.

Ah, now all we need are a few more clear nights to crinkle up the leaves, and then a traditional SE Alaska wind storm to clean off the remaining branches.  It truly is an amazing time of year out here.  Everything is in full bud ready for the next Springs warmth to open them up again.  We have such a short growing season so nature takes care of it before it's dorman Winter.  Now if the stove fuel we currently have will last us this week.. crossing our fingers.  The oil stove in a necessity in this drafty, damp 300 sq. foot cabin... "home sweet home" on the Italio.

I made it through our introductory meal of Beer Battered Halibut, Seasoned Fries, and coleslaw with homemade dressing for 10.  Always a greasy, messy meal and it's a welcomed shower before we head back to the cabin on the ATV for the night.

Grammy and the kids had a good indoor day playing cards and keeping busy with school and such.  Both kids told us that they had 'time out' today, when we walked through the door.  We know Grammy handled the situation so when Eden was "trying" to tell us all about it, we put the cabash on that and said it's in the past and moved on.

All is quiet now.  Kids are down for the count, Grammy too.  Bob is just adding a blog entry/ river report to the Fly Shop website, so I thought I'd add a quick one to mind too.

Blessings Abound, Teen

This is too much FUN!

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Weekend Stuff

What a busy weekend we had-hence 3 posts in 2 days! Saturday, Hannah had a 4-H event.  It was a play day show-so no ribbons.  They had so much fun.  Hannah used a horse from the stable she takes lessons at because she wanted to do gymkana events.  Pat had to work, so Hannah & her horse got picked up by Danielle's grandpa.  I went later w/ the other kids.

That's Hannah to the left on the chestnut horse w/ white socks.  Her friend, Danielle, is on the white horse.  These 3 girls were getting ready to play a prank on the Dad who was helping with the barrels & other props.  He's a big prankster-he moved barrels, threw balls, stole horses and rode off with them.  So, the girls rode up to him and threw balls at him.  It was hysterical.

Here's Hannah on Tom.  They played basketball in this event, then ran back to the start point.  I love watching these things.  It was also a dish to pass for lunch & there was lots of horse talk, including the ever present topic of the price of hay & grain. I won't go there right now. LOL  At the show, Jonah rode his skate board & Susanna played on the swings.  Here she is:

Alyssa hung out in the stroller in her little bear jacket:

After the show, Hannah took care of the horse she borrowed at the stable & then went to Danielle's house for dinner.  The kids & I went home.  Jonah mowed the lawn while Susanna & I raked.  The horses were thrilled to have have the grass clippings dumped into the pasture.  Here's Susanna raking:

Jonah helped, too:

Here's the view from the porch-the leaves are getting so beautiful!

Sunday we went to Hollenbecks Cider Mill-we love going there to watch the cider being made w/ a really old press & buy hot donuts, cider, fudge & pie.  YUM!  We go every year w/ our neighbors.  Here's Susanna & Brooke trying to decide which candy to get-that took awhile:

 The rest of the day Pat & Jonah worked on fencing for beef cows.  Danielle came to our house-the girls played w/ the horses & she brought wii from her house.  I don't really understand all the hoopla over this game.  I would think it would be more fun to play baseball outside than to pretend to do it in the house.  There was also a game for Hannah Montana.  I asked them if they could make the girl hit herself in the head & trip over her feet, but no they couldn't do that.  Now, THAT would by fun. Anyway, they had a good time.

I took them to another 4-H event-making a window display at a local grocery store.  I found out that is absolutely the best fun ever to embarrass your children.  Not in a mean way of course.  Susanna wanted to listen to the "Amen" song by Steve Green.  So, she & I sang along to it and the windows were open at an intersection.  She & I really got into it & the 2 preteen girls were looking around & embarrassed because people in the intersection were looking at us.  Well, that really flipped a switch in me-I felt like I was living on the wild side a little bit-LOL.  The more they hid & laughed the crazier I got-and didn't care who saw!  And Susanna was screaming amen each time the song said it-it's fun having a 4 yr old to act insane with you. 

Hannah & Danielle were laughing the whole time & trying to hide under things.   Oh my goodness- it was so much fun.  I can't wait to do it again!  Hannah is now looking for a way to embarrass me, but I told her after her toddler years, she just can't top that. 

And then at the store I accidently knocked over a barrel full of caramel candy w/ the cart.  Then they didn't want to be seen with me anymore.  LOL I took them all to Dunkin Donuts after they were done w/ the store window since I had a coupon.  I really enjoyed hanging out w/ the girls -it was me, Hannah, Danielle, Susanna & Alyssa.

At dinner Pat told the kids the story about the first time he met his best friend's Dad.  Pat was wearing a shirt that said "instant swimmer-just add water".  So, this strange man dumped a glass of water on him!  They loved that story.  Dinner was a lot of fun-I love conversation at the table.  We brought Danielle home after that.  It seems we packed a lot of things into Friday evening thru Sunday. 

Life

Well, this bloggy break turned into a summer vacation!  Life has been more than full lately.  The economic toll has hit our family and I've been taking in more transcription leaving even less time for fun stuff like blogging!  Yech!

I am, however grateful that while times are thin, they are hardly tough as I'm blessed with an extremely talented flexible hubby!  He lost his job a couple of months ago (I think the company is tanking in slow motion!), but has kept quite busy with odds and ends.  For instance, this week he is doing sheet rock and mechanics and while he enjoys the variety, he would really like to get back into the computer game. 

The kids have been keeping busy as well.  Rebecca is on a new Robotics team and she is really enjoying that.  She has been quite ill this last week, however, and hasn't done much of anyything.  I took her to the doc on Monday and he did a rapid strep and some test on her ears to check for fluid and then basically said she has some sort of "throat virus" and to take it easy and return Friday if there was no improvement.  The child has mostly slept this past week missing all activities and not caring one whit.  She has improved the slightest, itsy bit each day, but Friday she tried to do school with us and made it through scriptures and some spanish stem changing verb review.  After that she took a two hour nap.  She's more chipper today and wanted me to get her up on time tomorrow.  YAY!

Elizabeth is in the advanced guitar class and is feeling a little overwhelmed now.  She has asked for private lessons on top of the group lesson she is taking through our homeschool band.  I told her to find out how much her teacher charges and where he does the lessons and then we would see.  I would really like to see this happen, but it will depend on the cost and how committed the dear child is to REALLY practicing. 

Josh STILL does not have his driver's license.  A year ago I was pretty okay with that because I wasn't totally comfortable with him  driving without me.  Now, as he approaches his eighteenth birthday, I'm wishing he had it or at least was motivated to get it because he is very nearly an adult and driving is something adults need to do!  Also, it would really help me out if he could drive himself to work sometimes. 

Dirt-biking

Last week we had a little girl named Libby(9) over.  She is Jonah's best friend's sister & their family homeschools, too.  Anyway, she loves horses and had never ridden one.  So, we invited her over to ride.  She had a great time for over 3 hours w/ Hannah- brushing, picking out feet, riding Slugger & even cleaning a stall.  She loved it all & we invited her to come anytime.  I love doing this kind of thing because I didn't have horses as a girl and wanted one so badly I actually felt sick over it.  Hannah enjoys doing this, too.  She hopes to start helping one of her riding instructors w/ therapeutic riding lessons soon.

Anyway, Libby's family has dirtbikes & treated us to an afternoon of dirt-biking on Friday.  Hannah has wanted to ride one for the last year & of course, this was right up Jonah's alley. (This is the family that took him scuba-diving this summer). Here's Hannah:

She was so funny-she was very content to stay in first gear & couldn't remember how to stop.  Here's Jonah:

They also rode the bikes on the many paths in the woods there.  And here's Susanna w/ Ollie-Libby's little brother.

Susanna's Birthday

She turned 4 a few days ago-I can't believe it!  We had a really nice day.  The older kids had music lessons early in the morning, which is a highlight for Susanna because there are 2 little girls there for her to play with.  Then Grammy came over to spend the day.  They went to the store to pick out what Susanna wanted for her cake.  On their birthdays, my kids all like to make their own cake-they always pick box cakes w/ ready-made frosting & candy pieces.  Susanna picked Barbie.

Then, Susanna & I left the house just us.  We went to Dunkin Donuts & ate inside.  We went to TSC & she bought a horse w/ her birthday money.  I bought her one, too-along w/ a dog collar & cable & chicken feed.  (Abbie chewed the collar right off of Freya.).  The horses are $5 each & don't break, like the Breyer ones do.  We stopped at a couple other places, too.  It was fun just me and her!  She's such a little chatterbox & informed everyone that she was 4 yrs old that day.  She doesn't normally talk to strangers much, so this was different.

While we were away, Grammy & Hannah & Jonah decorated the house.  Grammy brought all the party decorations. Susanna loved walking thru the door like this:

And the party table:

Daddy brought home pizza & wings and some friends came to eat & celebrate with us.  We sang pretty loudly:

She loved her ariel color & paint book:

Alyssa got into the celebrating also.  I think she would rather have been stuffing cake into her mouth instead of a bib, though!

Happy Birthday, girlie!

Saturday, October 4th .. Crystal Clear ..

9:35 p.m. AKDT

Hello from the Italio Cabin,

Well for all of you who have been awaiting some more photo's you'll soon be sick and tired or them when tonight's blog is done.. I'll write below the pictures .. enjoy.

Here is a picture of Eden tying flies at the Shop in late August.  I finally downloaded Bob's camera and these were too cute not to include.  Isn't she a peach!and round two.. look at that precision and focus.

Friday, October 3rd....

This was taken during the afternoon of guiding.  We woke to a very cold morning with frost and clear skies.  You already read about our adventure getting to the camp with the high tide.  So Tanis, Bob and I covered the lunch shift at the Camp and then it was our turn to head out and do the afternoon fish guiding.  This is a picture of Tanis with a fish on.  Honestly, Richard standing in the background with me had it on and handed his rod to Tanis to bring in.  It was a hoot to watch the expression on his face. (Both Richards and Tanis').And here's Tanis working another fish that he had on.  You can see that it's about high tide and we are waiting for the water to drop back out so the fish can begin moving up again.What at happy camper, even with this very blush Silver (Coho) Tanis shows his "stuff" standing beside it.  Do you think he named it?Well I did, "Slapper" because while Bob was taking the picture it wiggled heartily and slapped and slimed Tanis in the face before he released it to head on it's way to it's place to spawn.Tanis wasn't very prepared to be in the water most of the day and we didn't bundle him up in layers under his waders.  So Tanis and I took a time out to sit on the bank and cuddle.  You can see my SIMMS Jacket around him which helped.And Bob couldn't help taking time for a photo op.  Check out those waders :)  We're having a ball.It wasn't long before he was back down off the bank and trying for moreanother fish.  I also took some time to gain confidence in my casting technique I have so much head knowledge from working in the Fly Shop but now to put it to good use.  Bob was working with the clients (Richard, Charlie and Calvin) while I hung with Tanis most of the afternoon.

We knew one of the clients was having a tough time with his back so while we worked our way down the fishing holes on the middle Italio it was decided that I'd walk back to camp along the Honda trail and collect the Honda and Tralier and meet them at the bottom at the Spruce hole.

It was an interesting, beautiful, prayful walk for me.  The bear tracks were fresh, lovely indents in the sandy trail where it's nails dug in... hmmm.  Fresh root holes that had been dug up also.  I'm comfortable being around bears when I have a LOUD ATV 4-wheeler under me, but walking ALONE and only my waders to protect me is another story.  There wasn't an incident or siting (thank You Jesus) but always keeps you on heightened alert.

I arrived just a head of the group coming down the river.  Here is Tanis posing for a photo at the Spruce hole.After a while of fishing, it was time to take a load off and relax into some conversation.  Charlie still wanted to fish so we enjoyed the conversation until he was ready to head back with us.  Tanis was definitely ready with purple cheeks and hands - even with the extra coats and gloves we put on him. 

We'd thought this group would be with us through Sunday morning but turns out they'd be heading out Saturday morning instead.  We ended the evening at Camp with a good dinner of Halibut cheeks, mixed rice and peapods.. yum, yum!

Saturday, October 4th (today) ....

It was a crisp, frosty morning with clear skies.  A nice easy crossing for the ATV through the Middle Italio River out front but still a brisk ride to the camp 1.5 miles away via the lagoon/dunes.

The clients were collected at 9 a.m. by the air taxi and it was time to change out beds and get things washed, swept, wiped, ready for the next arrival (Sunday night or Monday morning).  But Bob and I arrived back at the Cabin around 10 a.m. which was a welcomed surprise to the kids and Grammy - we were all so excited to have a full day together.  Well it will be two now :)Bob took this picture of Eden this afternoon.  She wants to grow her hair out again so we'll have some interesting pictures for a while as it comes back into it's own.  Still cute as a button!

With the lightly overcast day, but still calm and a delight it was priority to get the cabin surroundings "winterized" and put away with the end of the season upon us and knowing that it'll be a very quick departure to town once we close out the Camp season.  So we moved totes back up to the cabin, stored commercial fishing nets, anchors, boyees, you name it.  With all of us working as a team it really only took just over an hour to complete.

Then while Grammy and the kids watched a movie, Bob and I stole a nap for an hour before enjoyed the remainder of our afternoon and evening together.

Being the last time this year we'd have the skiff out and operational it has become tradition that the last day at the river we go and clean out the Spruce Tree Hole (Trees) of their snagged lures and flies, broken off and left by the Day fisherman. Of course we are a week early this year.  Also an opportunity for the kids to grab their poles and get some fishing in.  Just not enough space in the skiff to have fly rods flailing :)

We waited for high tide and headed up the Middle Italio a little ways to the first deep hole where the fish LOVE to sit.  It's the perfect spot for the Sporties (sports fisherman) to cast at the base of the Spruce trees to catch their limit.  Alas with the pines once a lure or flie catches them it's time to just break off the line and tie on another for another try.  And in return we usually have branches of colorful ornaments to collect.  By the look of the same style and color you can tell there are some slow learners :)  This year we've seen less day fisherman so definitely a decline on the "ornamentation"... but still....Flie on!  Tanis holds the first treasure.. you can tell they have an absolute blast, and I'm happy to sit back and snap away at the camera.  The branches are really spiney.You can see the elves going to work - Tanis, Bob and Grammy untangle their treasures.  Emma (our Weim) came along for the ride too.Eden was more interested in fishing then lure hunting, so here she is practicing with her spinning pole.I couldn't resist sharing this face with you :)  What a doll!Tanis soon finished up clearing out the tree and was onto fishing too.Eden watches some fish swirl.. "Get them bwodder!", she exclaims.It was a lovely afternoon to relax and float our way back down to the cabin.  You can see I'm decked out in layers, Mary Ann too :)  What a beautiful afternoon to spend together.Ok, here's the real story.  It was time to start the motor and get us back into the current and back to the cabin.  As Bob turned to start the motor, Eden had a fish-on!  So of course everyone stopped what they were doing to watch. She struggled with it for a few minutes and then gave it to Tanis to land... and of course she began calling it "Sidney Fish".What a good team they make!Look at that excited face.  You can see the fish in the background slapping around.  I know what THEY're having for dinner tonight!Look at that fish!  Gorgeous and bright.. that's our girl!Proud Daddy with his Girl and her "Sidney" Fish!  The blood is from the gill being broken and "blead".

We motored back to the Cabin and pulled anchor.  While we finished up some storage...the kids took a honda ride around the sand spit in front of the cabin.  We call it the landing strip because it's where the air taxi's land.  As they drove away from the camera I could hear Tanis saying, "Eden, NOT SO TIGHT!  Loosen up your grip on me!" and they were off....We also built a fire to burn off some garbage.  The kids took time to play in the sand.and on days like this it's always good to sit and appreciate where we are and what a blessing it is.And as our tummies begin to grumble it's time to get a last shot of Eden, Daddy had her "Sidney" Fish before it's time to fillet it...Bob goes to work taking the head off...and slitting the belly.  Eden kepts saying, "That's so cool!"Daddy is ripping out the insides and the egg sack...Eden wanted to help "release" the eggs so they would grow into new baby fish.. UM.... we'll save that biology for another lesson...."Hey Mum, where's the cookie sheet for our Fillet's?"and our proud girl points to her dinnerIt wasn't long before her hands were washed and she was onto seeing if she could play Great Grandma Mable and go over her boots.  She wasn't up the challenge and stayed dry, but found some clay to collect and build with it.  Tanis caught on quickly too and they were having a ball finding it while Bob fogged the carborators on the engine of the skiff.and a final photo of the night of the family.  You can't make out the Fairweather Range in the background, but it's there along the horizon.

Blessings Abound, good Night. - Teen