A Weekend in Pictures

 Last weekend:

This weekend, after an hour's work:

While Older Daughter went camping near Whisky Point on the Kenai Peninsula, she stopped at Cooper's Landing on the Kenai River:

As always, click to embiggen.

Ninety-Five Percent, Plus

It's astounding how much stuff our daughters managed to accumulate in just two years in their own place. We, of course, had practically nothing in comparison.

Yeah, right.If you believe that one, I've got an oceanfront lot just outside of Omaha ...

So we've knocked the Pile O' Boxes down to a couple dozen, plus odds and ends. The kitchen, office, dining area, both living rooms, and all three bedrooms are done - or nearly done. The house looks almost finished, except for artwork and decor touches.

The garage, which has served as our staging area, will be the last area straightened. Lots of tools and supplies to put away, and Older Daughter and I look forward to arranging our respective areas of the wrap-around building workbench.

But things are coming along nicely. Just a few more trips to the dump with flattened boxes (a lot of those) and left-over/surplus furniture which is past its expiration date.

Furniture is in place, and it looks like somebody's home. :)

Posting May Be Irregular

this weekend, due to a strong desire to finish unpacking the pile o' boxes in the garage. We've made quite a dent, but have a way to go.

The folks on the sidebar have plenty of free ice cream and cookies for you. Try them on for size, if you haven't already. :)

About the Lack of Posting

Sorry about the lack of posts, in the last couple of days. Too much to do, and not enough daylight in which to get 'er done.

We spent part of yesterday afternoon taking down the Christmas decorations; my wife was under the weather a week ago, and wanted to wait so she could oversee the packing away of ornaments and such. We didn't have much up, decoration-wise, as the daughters are grown and there are no little ones around. Most the tree, a wreath, and some candles, knick-knacks and a centerpiece on the table. Only took about 90 minutes to put everything away. That a far cry from a few years ago, when it seemed we changed out everything in the living room except major furniture pieces.

We're starting to organize for our spring vacations.  Wife and younger daughter will make the regular pilgrimage to Hawaii for a couple of weeks. But a few days before they return, older daughter and I will travel to the Midwest. She's been wanting to return to some of her favorite destinations when she was younger, and didn't get to explore to her satisfaction, so off we go.

That's about all I've got for now. Thanks for stopping by, friends.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We got a thin layer of light, fluffy snow on top of the small amount that's already here, which makes me happy. Anchorage is nearly two feet shy of the snow that normally falls at this point in the winter.

All the presents we've purchased are under the tree, more or less. So that's one less thing to think about.

Gasoline has dropped to $3.04/gallon; with a 10-cent discount (affiliated with a grocery store), the $2.94 I paid yesterday was the lowest it's been here in ... what? Two years? Three? I can't recall.

Meanwhile, there's a lot going on: weekend chores, grocery shopping (some holiday meals coming up, don'tcha know), laundry, cleaning ...

We're trying to take care of all the things that drive my wife nuts on Christmas Eve, so that she can relax and concentrate on things she wants to do - like fixing the Christmas side dishes.

Younger Daughter the Pastry Chef has offered to prepare the meat and desserts.

Older Daughter got in on the act last night. It seems there was a candy mold in the pharmacy lab where she works as a compounding technician, for preparing certain meds as lollipops for kids. It's never been used, and probably won't ever be.

So, with her supervisor's permission, it mysteriously wound up in her kitchen last night (heh), wherein she made strawberry-and-rum flavored lollipops.

Yum!

Meanwhile, my Christmas present from my lovely, thoughtful bride was just shipped this morning, and will be here between Dec. 29 and Jan. 5 ... or so says Amazon.

I'm okay with that. It's a thing I've been wanting for over 35 years, and can finally afford to afford it. There's always been something we needed first, or some lean years when I wouldn't even allow myself to think about it. But now we can, so ... pictures will be forthcoming, once it arrives. :)

The Weekend

Ours was busy, but good.

On Saturday, we got up early, got the oil & differential fluids changed in the truck, did some grocery shopping, cleaned a little, and drove to Big Lake.

Big Lake, with Mt. Foraker, Mt. Hunter, and Mt. McKinley on the horizon (click to enlarge)

This gave me a chance to get the new-to-us Explorer into 4WD for a bit, as we followed an ATV trail for a bit. Had to make sure everything worked okay, ya know? :) After a round trip of roughly 150 miles, it's safe to say the truck meets our expectations, and we can take longer trips without worry.

Yesterday, we cleaned the rest of the house, grilled a bunch of turkey burgers (beer & brat mustard, some local seasonings, and BBQ sauce mixed in - yum!), went to the wife's summer company picnic, and then back home to watch a couple of movies.

Oh - what longer trips?  We're thinking about taking the Alaska ferry from Whittier to Kodiak Island. It'll be nice to take the new truck along, so we can explore Kodiak in our own vehicle.

I hope all y'all had a good weekend, too. Thanks for stopping by.

Another Busy Day

First, please say a prayer for Brigid, her dad, and their extended family. Her big brother has left us; may he rest forever in the arms of God.

* * * * *

I went out early this a.m. to get the snow tires removed from my sedan; I hoped to beat the inevitable rush - the deadline for getting it done is April 30 - but was number 12 in line. There were another 20 or 25 folks behind me before my wife showed up, so we decided to do hers another day.

After getting that taken care of, we went to Lowe's, Wally World, Sam's Club, Fred Meyer (a Kroger-owned department store), and Safeway. Then we rearranged and cleaned the garage, installed three shelves and a clothes rod in the guest room closet.

And now it's time for lunch.


Brigid, we're thinking of you today.

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 
  
According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

~ 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, NIV

Weekend, Part 2

Murphy's Law has a corollary which states that "everything takes longer than you think" and another which posits that "everything is more complicated than you thought". Truth.

The eye doctor visit only took an hour, which was good. While I was there, my wife re-hung the art and photos which had been in the stairwell. That looks very good.

Then we started on the new desk.

It was clear that the boxes were too heavy to carry upstairs, of course, so we brought the desk parts up a few pieces per trip.

The assembly of just the desk (not the hutch) took until nearly 17:00, so we stopped at that point, and ate dinner.

We're going to wait until tomorrow to do the hutch, but will be tackling the art in the bedroom & guest rooms tonight.

Busy, Busy Weekend

Yesterday morning's unexpected snowfall (they said we'd get "less than an inch", and then warned it could be "three to six inches."

It was 16" at my house. (Since the local newspeople apparently don't do weekends, I've not seen any reports on an official total for Anchorage.) That ate up the first two hours of Saturday, when we typically do our grocery shopping. You know, before the reavers hit the stores.

After clearing snow & digging out the cars, we spent the next few hours investigating new living room furniture. We're downsizing, and wanted something along the lines of an extended loveseat with center console - cupholders and such - and a recliner. So that's what we wound up buying.

After that, I moved a bunch of things to the first floor. Then we watched a movie.

This morning, we moved the master bedroom to the first floor. The dresser & overstuffed mattress were a bit of a pain, but we got 'er done in a few hours. Then we moved the electronic piano downstairs to the newly-created guest room. I put my guitar & a small practice amp in the newly-created office where our bedroom used to be.

Things are starting to resemble what we've been dreaming about for several years. :)

Then I helped Older Daughter cut some carpet-to-tile transition strips for her new place, and assisted with nailing them in place. While I was doing that, my wife did the grocery shopping.

She's home now, planning a pasta dinner tonight, and the couch is calling our names. I think we're done ... for now.

Snowy Weekend, Part 3

We got about 16" of snow over the last 40 hours, although it's already compacted down to only a foot or so. Our circle drive and the adjoining streets haven't yet been plowed, so only the 4x4 vehicles are moving right now. We're going to clean off both our sedans and run the snowblower through the parking spots again this morning. 

That should be it for this particular storm, give or take a flurry or two. AccuHunch is calling for clearing skies - and the accompanying falling temps - later today. It's 17 now but should be in single digits, so they insist, by early afternoon.  Meh, whatever.

We have a bit more shopping for groceries and supplies, today, but should then be done with that for awhile.

I've driving Younger Daughter back to her job this a.m., and my bride is preparing to serve breakfast.

Coffee's on, so stop on by, hear?

Another Monday Morning

Over the weekend, my lovely wife helped my rearrange my office (her eye for spatial arrangement is much better than mine), and this morning I'm consolidating some things and reordering what gets stored where.

I hung a new painting behind my desk, so instead of the industrial/warehouse-type office I inherited nearly four years ago, it's now an inviting place, rather than what my wife described as "a soulless box that sucks the life out of you."

Okay, it wasn't quite that bad, but it was rather utilitarian. Her creativity runs toward decorating, and I'm liking the result.

* * * * *

The little car which we got for our daughters to drive is in the tire shop this morning, awaiting the seasonal change-over to summer tires. It's the last of the three vehicles, and then we're done until late October when the studded snow tires go back on.

It's to be above 50 again today, and AccuHunch predicts we'll flirt with 60 on Thursday. East-facing slopes are already sprouting some green; some of the trees are showing tiny buds, too. Summer is so lush and abundant here, it makes up for the long winters. June is a spectacular time to be in Alaska, as all the plants burst into almost-tropical growth as they soak up all the water and minerals left behind by the melted snow.

* * * * *

Speaking of daughters, they both went to the range yesterday and called for a ride home when they ran out of ammo. Between the two of them, I think that came to about 400 rounds of .22.  Now Younger Daughter, who used my rifle, wants one of her own.  I told her to remind me when her birthday approaches. :)


That's about it for this morning; thanks for stopping by!

Monday Morning

It was a busy weekend. It's good to be back at work, just for catching one's breath.

There was the trip to the range with my daughter, an out-of-town birthday party which required two trips totaling 220 miles yesterday, and other endeavors too numerous to mention.

Busy days, but good ones. It beats sitting around doing nothing, too. And best of all, vacation is only another 17 days.

There's lots going on, but nothing particularly blog-worthy this morning. Have a great day, folks!