Misc

So after going to the Farmer's Market for the first time a few weeks ago and seeing how much further along the greenhouse-started seedlings were than my own, I kind of gave up and fed the majority of mine to Millie. It seemed that the effort of hauling water and caring for a garden all Summer would be better spent on more mature plants that would produce more. So all I kept were the peas and basil, which grow quickly enough to be worth my while, and my seed potatoes, which had begun to form their own ecosystem in the cupboard. Went to Calypso Farm today to pick up some tomato seedlings, and that'll be all I'm growing this year. I figure most of my veggies will come from my subscription to Rosie Creek Farm, which starts this week with, I was warned, nothing but salad and braising greens. Fresh salad? No complaints here!

Butterfly! There are hundreds of these fluttering about lately. I don't know what they are called, but they are very beautiful!


Bunn's final resting place. He loved to eat roses, so it's perfect!


Holly gave birth to the last of Calypso Farm's behbeh lambos for the season. That's three sets of twins, all rams! They say that they aren't going to wether them, though, and keep all six as fully functional rams. I don't recall the details why... Maybe they will make good studs? Anyway, they sure are cute!


Isn't he a-freakin'-dorable?

Orphaned newborn behbeh meese!

Ah! Orphaned behbeh meese! How heartbreaking!

The girls and I passed a newborn behbeh moose this morning when we were out for a walk. He was curled up, but looked at us as we walked by. I hadn't seen him until we were nearly upon him, so at that point there was nothing to do but quicken the pace to get away from him as soon as possible, before an angry mamamoose showed up. We didn't see her, but a few miles later, we bumped into a pair of mountain bikers who were concerned about behbehmoose because he'd been there for several hours and they hadn't seen any sign of mamamoose. They said they'd call Fish and Game if he was still there by evening.

It was my (perhaps mistaken) understanding that mamameese often leave their behbehmeese alone for extended periods. They hide them away in a safe spot (this didn't look like a well-hidden spot to me, but meese aren't that bright), go feed, and return to behbeh later. Is a few hours alone long enough to worry about? Well, I hope mamamoose returns to that adorable, fuzzy little guy. He was no bigger than Autumn!

Wild roses

In other news, the wind changed direction last night, covering us with smoke from the various wildfires. I hadn't known that a wildfire could die down and smolder beneath a blanket of snow all flippin' Winter, and then rear up again the following Summer!

Only in America

Only in Alaska (or Texas) can such an advertisement cheerfully show up in your mailbox. Earn rewards points, too!



I offer no opinions on gun control. I am not educated enough on the topic to give a good one. However, a totally unscientific quick glance at gun control laws by state and violent crime rates by state shows no correlation between violent crime rates and gun control laws. So people who swear that we need to outlaw all guns to eliminate crime are mistaken, and people who swear that we need to arm all citizens to deter crime are also mistaken.

Hot

It is hot. How hot? Not hot enough to impress Arizonans, but hot for May in Fairbanks. It's making for an early fire season.

The girls are dumping their Winter coats in clumps and gobs, which is just fine by me. The sooner we get it over with, the sooner my cabin will be clean again and free of fur clumps wafting around. Also, the girls will be comfy!

As for me, I am not uncomfortable. This is what Summer is supposed to be! Warm spells in the middle of Winter make me uneasy, and cold snaps in the middle of Summer make me irritable. But cold in Winter and heat is Summer is what the Good Lord intended, so no complaints here!

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

--Jenny Joseph

Spotted in the hallway

Hilarious, isn't it?

Photos from the weekend

Miss Millie Bunn:


Sam in conversation with her papa:


My girls, peacefully enjoying not being in the spotlight:


Miss Sam E. Pants, with her parents in a canoe on Chena Lakes:

I sent the full-size version of this photo to the Sam household. I insist that they make it their Christmas card photo!

Fishing in a slough:


Sam swimming:

My girls are completely indifferent to water. If water is in between where they are and where they want to be, they'll go right through, but they will neither seek nor avoid it. Sam, on the other hand, immediately makes a mad dash for any water within 100 meters. Even a disgusting, muddy puddle.

Sam looking like a calendar dawg:

One more week...

... until I get my fresh greens! I've decided to subscribe to a CSA this year, so signed up with Rosie Creek Farm, mostly for the propinquity factor; they are located past me on the road on which I live. The creek that flows through the bottom of my property also flows through theirs. So, you know how you are always being told to think hard about what you put into the environment, because in the long run, it affects your own health? Well, in my case, it can affect my health in the very short run, because if I were to dump pesticides on my land, it would flow right to the farm from which I get my vegetables! I guess that's why tree-hugger-type folks encourage everyone to buy local; it's not just better, fresher food--it does make you think!

I'd held off on subscribing to a CSA because I like going to the Farmer's Market, and choosing my own vegetables. But I've come to the realization that the local farms tend to save their best produce for their subscribers, and bring extras to the Farmer's Market. I'd often see Autumn and Linden's former mom there with nothing but turnips! So now I want in on the first pickings! Also, my sister pointed out to me that getting vegetables you wouldn't ordinarily buy for yourself is actually good for you because it adds variety to your diet and makes you a more creative cook!

Here is a photo of my American Meadow Garden:

The Dispatch of Creepy-Crawlies in the Cabin

Those that get carried outside:

bees
ladybugs
moths
butterflies
pill bugs
inchworms
caterpillars
most non-flying unidentifiables


Those that get squished:

mosquitoes
wasps
mosquitoes
flies
mosquitoes


Those that are left in place and revered as allies:

spiders



Edited to ad an irrelevant tidbit for the day:

I know it's been about four years since Pluto's demotion, but this just fell across my desk and made me laugh:

Source: greedoneverfired.com

This and that

1) Well, I guess our two weeks of Spring are over. Summer has come to Fairbanks.

2) How freakin' cute is this behbeh elephant?

3) Schadenfreude is bad! The next day after a peaceful night's sleep, being lulled into dreamland by the shouts of my neighbor chasing his dog up and down the road, I was once again chasing my own two girls after they took off on their grandest adventure yet. They were hanging out with me while I split wood. Autumn was comfortably relaxing, and Linden was sitting looking very ladylike as if she would never run off! Then I blinked and they were both nowhere to be seen. I tried the usual suspects--my next-door neighbor, who sometimes gives them food scraps; my neighbor across the road, who has a very bouncy black lab that Linden adores; the neighbor across the other road, who has a yardful of dogs that the girls love to visit. No sign of them. None of the neighbor dogs were barking. After wandering the neighborhood hollering after them for close to half an hour (Ahh... dignity! You give it up quickly when you're chasing dogs!), they came racing back from heaven-knows-where, with Autumn carrying--get this--a wolf paw in her mouth. WTF? Dogs! I swear...

4) Mooseyness on my commute:


She had twin behbehs that were too far off the road to photograph.

Zipper pull

Problem: Zipper pull vanished somewhere in my yard while walking around.

Solution: Key ring!



There, I fixed it!

In other news, I must confess to a certain I-had-thought-it-was-just-me pleasure when I hear other people in the neighborhood shouting at the top of their lungs for their dogs. Huskies are terrible about running off when they get bored, and you know I just feel like a really brilliant person when I am running up and down the road shouting for them. I'm sure it gives the neighbors a really high opinion of me, and just makes me feel like such a respectable human being!

But when I am lying under the covers late at night, with my dogs peacefully lying on either side of me, and I hear somebody else out there hollering their dogs' names, I just snuggle deeper and think, "ha ha". :)

Meese

As I got home last night from the last of three graduation parties, I found a mamamoose with her twins in my yard, munching my aspens. They were far enough from the cabin that I figured it would be okay if I just drove right past them and walked straight from the car to the door. But when I pulled into the driveway, they walked away. I took some photos as they crossed the street:



The second calf kept looking over his shoulder at me:


Then I curled up on the couch with my book. A few moments later, I happened to glance out the window and see a brown line of fuzz pass through the lower part of the window frame. I got up and looked out, and sure enough, there was another moose walking along my path around the cabin.

Meese are charming (and tasty) neighbors, but I hope I never inadvertently get too close!

Spring Springs on Ester Dome

Driving up the Dome Road:


View from the top. I'm sure I've posted this before, probably in every season!



(OMG I think Linden is taking a crap in this photo!)



Linden is happy!


Alaska-Blue sky:


The girls have only just begun shedding their Winter coats, so they overheat easily. I sat down to take a breather with them, and they sat down very. close. to. me.








This is the first thing I see each morning:


Taking Henderson Road down:






The highway home. I have a difficult commute, but I suck it up. :)


Looking up in my yard. I have sad, spindly aspens. :/


A ladybug!

My Commute

This is my view during my commute:





Here is the last piece of log of my Giving Tree. The tree had died standing last Summer, so I had it cut down so it wouldn't fall on the cabin. Then finally last week I had that nice man come cut it to lengths for me, and I split it last night. It took me about 4 hours, a quart of water, two bowls of chicken rice soup, and a fried egg sandwich.



See how it split clean in two? That is a great wedge! I love everything Estwing makes, and I wish they made more stuff instead of just a limited product line. But I have their hammer, axe, and wedge, and I'm absolutely drooling over their beautiful little hatchet. But how could I justify buying a little hatchet? What would I do with it?

Here is my pile, as I'm about two thirds done. That was a big tree! Thank you, tree, for giving your life so I could burn you for warmth, and use your stump for picnics and for splitting wood.

I drew a line

I still had wood that needed to be cut to length. Maybe a third of a cord of full-length logs that were cut and stripped when the land was cleared, a pile of miscellaneous 2-foot logs, also dating from when the land was cleared but heaped into an unexplainable pile, and finally, a giant black spruce that had died standing, and that I had cut down last Summer. It was in 4-ft lengths.

I have never used a chain saw, so I figured I'd hit up Sam's dad, who used to work for a lumber mill, for lessons, then rent one.

Then I actually began to think about the reality of me + chain saw and thought... meh. I went to Craigslist and found a guy who cut all my logs to length for $60! Totally worth it. And I still have two arms and two legs!

So... sorry to disappoint those of you who root for kick-ass Alaska girl to do everything, but I think my chosen course displayed the better part of valor. :)

Path of Least Resistance

Problem: The screen door catches on one spot near the top, so when you open it, you need to push or pull on that spot along with the handle.

Solution: Measure the amount of the screen door frame that needs to be ground off. Then shrug and move the door handle to that spot.



There, I fixed it!

It helps if dogs supervise:

Comments

Blogger is eating my comments, so here are some comment responses:

1) Mudder: Those comment counts include the ones that Blogger ate, so that is the reason for the discrepancy.

2) Rena: I adore giant dogs and would love to have a malamute or a newfie, but unfortunately they have shorter life expectancies and and prone to a host of health problems that even slightly smaller dogs escape. And yes, I could easily spin the girls' undercoats into yarn as I comb them out in the Spring, but then I'd smell like a dog! There is a woman who sells knit husky hats at the farmer's market. She's actually quite skilled and even weaves patterns of grey and white. :)

3) Dingo Dave: Sorry, no P-rated photos for you!

Huh

After fielding a few confusing blog posts, I've figured out that Dingo Dave has tagged me for the latest and greatest meme. You're supposed to go to the eighth folder of photos, pick the eighth photo, and talk about it.



It's the girls' butts while 'joring. :)

Behbeh fuzzy behbehs and lambos and behbehs!

Yesterday was the best day ever for fuzzy things. The Farmer's Market opened for the summer, and for opening day, they had a petting zoo. Certain friends of mine were there, partially growned up. There were also woolly woollies from White Fireweed Farm.

Duckies!


Woollies!


Behbeh human meets behbeh woollies:


Then I headed to Calypso Farm to meet the new lambos.

Awwww... he's shy.


Sunning themselves. They are already bouncing and binkying!


Sabrina nursing. Sabrina's funny, isn't she?


Bridget's a happy mama:


She smiles at her behbehs:


And who can blame her?


I got to hug a lambo!


And of course I had to make my obligatory goat visit: