Odds and Ends

Well another week has come to an end. Where did the time go? It seems like only yesterday it was June and here it is already the middle of October. It doesn't seem possible that the end of the year is in sight already.

Thursday evening we went to dinner at Shan and Eric's. They have Northwoods Lodge which we will be taking care of for them between Thanksgiving and Christmas so that they can take a vacation together before they lodge gets too busy with snowmachiners, mushers etc. Shan fixed us a wonderful dinner and we had a very enjoyable time just getting to know them better. We rode over and back on the ATVs and it was a little chilly on the way home but not awful. Right now it is a guessing game on how to dress as the weather changes. Layers are good but sometimes even that is a guess.



Friday morning when we got up it was 15 degrees outside and there was ice formations floating down the river. We rode down to the river, right down on the bank which in the summer is underwater and went down river a ways. You could literally hear the ice formations swooshing against each other and the rocks as they headed downriver. It was a really neat sound that they made. Hans was an absolute nut with the ice. He thinks it is a wonderful toy. And funny as all get out when he did a big ol' four paw sprawl when he hit a patch of ice on shore. We rode down the bank a ways to where Roger had found a water seep on his "in trouble walk" a while back. He had wanted to see if he could get there on the ATV to fill water jugs. Yes to the ATV, no to the wagon going also. 



The start of "Freeze Up"







Foraker (L) and McKinley



After we went to the river I went over to Bentalit Lodge to get our mail. Whenever one person goes to the post office they pick up every body's mail. Willy went up in his boat on Thursday but I think that was the last trip by boat for this year. Now that the river has started icing up Tom will fly up to Skwentna and meet Old Joe the postmaster at the airport after the mail plane leaves. Joe is 80 years old and still crosses the river twice a week to meet the mail plane no matter what the river is like. Sometimes he uses a canoe, sometimes an air boat, and he has been known to walk across on thin ice pushing his canoe with him in case he fell through. He talks of retiring but doesn't know what he would do. His wife wants to move into town and he doesn't so as long as he is postmaster he has an excuse not to move. Which really is OK with me as the talk is that once he retires they are going to close the Skwentna post office. If they do this we will have to go to Willow which is 63 miles downriver and then another 15 from the landing. UGH! Thank God for the Internet! It is a wonderful thing when you live in such a remote area.

Roger spent most of yesterday splitting wood so he has been TIRED today. He did finish the last few logs this morning and did some other stuff like filling generators with gas, the fuel tank for the Toyo heat stove. We listened to the race on the Internet this afternoon. It was different having an "afternoon" race. Usually we listen to it on Sunday mornings.



I have been busy finding homes for more stuff and getting ready to start sewing the curtains. That is in between cooking, cleaning, making bread, doing laundry, doing dishes, and on and on. Oh that and we have been doing a little more playing on the ATVs lately.

I did go down to the river for sunset last  night and took some pictures. Every sunset I have seen here has been so different it is impossible to describe. I also think it is interesting how the sun is basically setting in the south now instead of the west. As the days get shorter the sun will pretty much just be in the southern sky and not very high.



Blessings to all, thank you for sharing our adventure, Myra