Broken Promises

If y'all will recall, (wow that's a lot of els), when I started this blog I promised an update a week. I overestimated the excitement of our lives I guess. So, an update every month or so ought to do it I think.

Bonnie is doing great. She went into heat for the first time this week and has decided that I am not welcome in her barn when Dad is in there. She probably smells the testosterone. She should come out by the weekend cause today was her standing day. I would have had her bred today if she was old enough but it'll be quite some time before that happens.

We got some turkey chicks last Saturday, six of them. They are Bronze turkeys. If they are broad breasted ones then all six are going in the freezer around November. If they are the unimproved variety, a heritage breed, then I'll probably keep two of them to be a breeding pair since the prices for chicks will not go down for next year. Dad is worried about them being siblings so I'll probably look into the hatchery that's in Sterling and see what they have in the way of turkeys. We're getting a pig later on in the summer to finish raising and then put in the freezer. I guess Dad's fears of being married to the farm are coming true. It's not like we ever go anywhere anyway. I can't wait to cut into some home-grown turkey and to be able to have pork all year long will be awesome. Pork is really expensive up here so we don't have it very often.

Charlie is still living in Wasilla.

Dad is digging a cellar behind the house. With the prices of food set to skyrocket it makes a lot of sense to be able to store some when it's cheap. He wants to can some more fish and moose. I have to admit that I was not that excited about eating canned moose but it makes a great base for a quick stew. The juices are sealed in, have been getting nothing but better since it was canned and it tasted so much better than store-bought canned beef stew. Mom isn't thrilled about more canned fish cause she would rather eat tuna than salmon but it's hard to catch tuna up here. You'd have to have a really long net.

Mom took a second job at the Kasilof Mercantile for the summer. She goes to work for the School District from 6:00 am to 2:30 pm, if she take a half an hour for lunch, then works at the Merc from 4:00 pm to 9:00 pm. She usually stops at Kathy's to give her the mail and wind down and then comes home, eats supper and goes to bed around 10:00 pm. I'm exhausted just typing it! Thankfully it's just for the summer.

The weather up here has been cold...colder than usual anyway for those of you in subtropical climates. We haven't had as much rain as we would normally get and that, combined with the temperatures, has made things really slow to grow. My lilac hasn't bloomed yet and may not until August. Dad's apple trees are blooming, the two Norlands anyway. the Parkland that he got to cross with them isn't blooming so Mom and I went the the nursery today and bought a Freedom apple tree that has set some fruit and has some unopened flowers. Hopefully it will be able to pollinate the Norlands before it croaks over the winter. We've got the Arndt Family Farm and Orchard developing up here. Y'all should come check us out!

Okay, that's all my news for this month. If you have any questions or concerns then write your congressman. No really, you should write. That way they won't be so out of touch with the people that they supposedly represent. By the way, y'all should check out Bob Bird. He's running for the Alaska Senate and I really like his take on things. Let's hope he can beat Stevens this year!

~Pam

She's heeeeerrrrrreeeee!

Well, my May 12th plan didn't work so I got my cow on the 19th. It was a fiasco to say the least. We borrowed a gas guzzler to haul a borrowed stock trailer. $5.15 gas will really suck down the available cash. That's what it is in Cooper Landing where it's the last gas station for a couple hours and if you need to fuel they're it and they can charge whatever they want cause you'll either fuel there or walk back to fill a gas can! Okay, enough ranting.
I named her Bonnie, as in "wee bonnie lass". It means pretty or charming. I like it because it sounds like a cow's name, not a human name that got tacked onto an animal. She's now eight months old and the pictures that the Benjamin's sent me of her don't do her justice. She is a creamy yellow with faint red spots. Dad says she looks like a strawberry roan. Since I have no idea what that looks like I can't agree or disagree. I just know that she is beautiful and very laid-back. Her first halter was put on her in the trailer but we led her from the trailer to the corral with only one twitch that might have turned into a kick if she wanted. She is only waist high on me and if any of you have seen me standing up you'll know that she isn't very tall. Because of the shorthorn blood she'll probably be a round 1100 pounds, full grown. I'm already shopping around for baby-daddies. I'm pretty sure I want to breed back to Highland, especially for her first calf. Decisions, decisions...
For those of you who care, I have been watching Raisa fairly regularly. She'll be a month old on the 26th and I've had her for a couple overnights and one, "only for a couple hours". She almost has the new worn off and is looking more and more like India. I got a pictures of all three of them and they turned out great. So...Enjoy.
~Pam

Hold up a minute!!!!

In that last post I made the comment that I don't really know what I'm doing in regards to a cow. I would like to clarify what I meant. I don't really know what I'm doing in that I have never done it before. I've never been in on the day to day care of a cow. I do have a plan that has been in the works for many years. I do have many years of cow experience living on the place (Dad and Kathy) and I have spent many hours researching, talking and discussing what will and won't work. My earlier comment sparked caring concern in certain family members who emailed me said concerns. Hopefully I have put some of their fears to rest and any others that just weren't said. Should anyone have something to say about this endeavor, I welcome advice and opinions be they negative or positive.

~Pam

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

Kiki and Tony have a new baby girl! She was born Saturday morning at 6:26. She weighed 6 pounds 6.2 ounces. I forget how long she was but I know she's long and skinny like her sisters. Her name is Raisa (Ray-zha) Alexandria. It has Hebrew origins, meaning "rose" but the English and Slavic version has Greek origins and that means "carefree". Me thinks they are using the Greek version because they both have a weakness for all things Greek. Phaedra is Greek as well. They are bringing her home today because Kiki had to stay two nights due to a tubal after the birth. I plan on taking lots of pictures so stay tuned. I still might watch the older ones occasionally and really, all I have to do is ask if I want them to come over. Kiki is nursing while she is taking time off so the chances of me glomming on to Raisa are slim. For some reason parents are really protective and stingy with their new babies. Kiki will have to go back to work eventually and since they are switching the girls every three days, I'll get her eventually.
Dad's shoulders are not getting any better. Erin (his doctor) said she was not comfortable giving him the cortisone shots so she referred him to a shoulder doctor in Soldotna somewhere. He just has to make the effort to call and make an appointment. It looks like it's not going to happen any time soon. He is going to work this summer though. The preacher down the road wants him to work on his boat this summer. Doing what, I have no idea, but at least he'll be out of the house doing something productive.
Mom's eyes have healed up and she is still getting used to having to wear glasses all the time. She can't focus on things close up anymore so she needs glasses for reading, looking at splinters, popping pimples and whatnot.
It looks like my dreams of owning my own cow are finally coming to fruition. On May 12th I might be bringing home a seven month old heifer. She's 5/8ths Scottish Highland and 3/8ths Shorthorn. She is really pretty. She's blonde and shaggy and cute. I advertised on Craigslist. I've been looking all over the internet for relatively inexpensive cows but couldn't figure out how to get one up here without mortgaging my firstborn. On a whim I advertised for a female bovine, less than a thousand dollars please and wouldn't you know! The very next day this girl popped up. Mom is less than thrilled that she is so young but I think of it as giving me time. First off, I don't really know what I'm doing. Plus, I don't have unlimited funds to get her and a calf out of the weather if need be. This way I have the time to build things right for a breeding operation. It'll be a year and a half before she can breed and then nine months before she calves so I've got lots of time to work the kinks out before a major kink puts two live in jeopardy. I'm really excited to say the least. If this is the one I get then I'll be posting lots and lots of pictures. If I get a different one then I'll be posting lots and lots of pictures.

Later,
~Pam

Update on Dad

The month of Celebrex is over and he is hugely disappointed because it didn't do anything for him. Mom found a nifty cream called Topricin that is working wonders on Kathy's back. Dad is trialing it on his shoulders as well so he might not have to go in and get shots in his shoulders. He's really hoping this stuff will heal on it's own so he'll never have to look at another needle in his life. We'll see how it goes.
~Pam

No Poo!!!!!!

I know that sounds really bad. Can you understand now why I haven't posted? Actually, that stands for no shampoo. I have boycotted shampoo, of all brands, types and formulations. About ten years ago Mom broached the subject with me and to be honest, it sounded horrible!! How can you not wash your hair? You HAVE to wash your hair... Don't you? Well, ten years of maturation, access to the internet and a whole online community dedicated to the eradication of chemicals in our lives has convinced me that this is the way to go. My hair had become limp, greasy at the crown, straw at the ends and no amount of product or conditioners could fix it. I cannot afford to go to a salon every week for treatments. I can't afford to go even once for a consultation. No poo is the answer for me. I wash my hair with baking soda, rinse it with lemon juice and leave honey in it as an humectant. I can't believe how much better it it, condition-wise in even two weeks. I haven't used shampoo since February 27th. Instead, I dissolve 4 tablespoons of baking soda in a half gallon of water and pour it through my wet hair. I let it sit for a minute and rinse it out thoroughly. I mix 1/4 cup lemon juice in a gallon of water and pour that through my hair. It gets rinsed out after 5 minutes. I mix 1 tablespoon of honey in 4 cups of water and use it as a leave-in conditioner. I only have to do this twice a week and my hair does not become a greasy, nasty mess anymore. At first I was doing this every day but have cut back cause my scalp is adjusting. The baking soda cuts the grease without stripping all the natural oils out of your hair. When your scalp realizes that you don't have to have so much oil then it cuts back on how much it makes. Really, it's a supply and demand system.
Baking soda is also a natural deodorizer and cleaner so my hair doesn't smell bad and I rinse with rosemary tea sometimes so it isn't itchy. This is soooo amazing. I absolutely love it. Y'all have got to try this!!!!
~Pam

Sorry for the long lapse in posts folks. I was waiting for the resolution of some issues so I didn't have to post a whole bunch of times.
Dad went to the doctor for his shoulders on Friday... Well, he and Mom drove to Anchorage on Thursday and the appointment was Friday morning. I couldn't believe it, 24 whole hours home alone. I did pretty much the same things I do when they're here. It sure is boring sometimes being a responsible adult. Anyway, Dad went to the same orthopedic surgeon who did Kathy's shoulder when she was in her car accident. (Kathy is the neighbor/cousin who lives at the bottom of the driveway) They x-rayed both shoulders multiple times and discovered he does not have arthritis, torn pieces parts, bone spurs or a partridge in a pear tree. The guy who examined him said that the tendon that connects his collarbone to his shoulder blade is probably inflamed. Gave him a choice of a cortisone shot in each shoulder or a month of Celebrex. Dad opted for the Celebrex. I guess pills are easier for him to handle then needles. Mom said that they were really surprised that he had almost full range of motion and he's still strong enough to choke a bear. ;) Mom said she had a really good time just hanging out with him and I'm so glad for that. With Valentines Day just around the corner maybe he'll remember to get her something this time. Just joking!!!! He usually remembers and gets her a card.
Charlie is still carless, not careless, car-less. Okay, maybe he can be careless but that is not the topic for this paragraph. The minivan that he was driving now has a rattle that he needs to identify and get fixed before he wants to drive it full time. He sold the Mazda that was wrecked and finally agreed with Dad that maybe he needs to get a Neon for his next car. We'll see.
McKinzie has his final vet appointment on Monday. He will be cremated and returned to us. I would say that I'm sad but it's such a huge relief that he doesn't have to live this way anymore that it's probably covering up the sad. It feels very different from any of the other dogs that have passed away. I'll probably post a ton of pictures of him soon for those of you that never saw him. He's a cool dog.
Okay, enough dwelling on the sad, on to the slightly aggravating. Mom has jury service this month. It's for petit jury so she has to call in every day to find out if her group has been called to go in the next day. Petit jury only lasts a month so she's hoping that any juries she may be called for are for someone she knows. I'm just glad that it's not me this time. I've been called for petit and grand jury service. Dad got summoned for District court last summer. He had to call in every week to find out if he had to go to Anchorage. He never did have to go and it was three months long. A very tense three months I might add. I really, really, really don't want to get summoned for District court. I hope they just lose my name and forget I live here.
I guess that's all the new news for now. If something pops up I may or may not tell y'all about it. Stay tuned!!
~Pam

Winter is officially here...

Well, winter has officially and really finally arrived. Mom-in-law said something the other day about it seemed like our snow had slid south this year cause everyone but us was getting hit. I'm here to tell ya - it found its' way back. I just went out and measured on top of the BBQ grill that was clean this weekend and we have gotten 8" here at the house in the last 24 hours - and it's still kinda trying to put some more down. Also measured on top of the smoker - which hasn't been cleaned or blown off since it really started snowing and there's 14" up there. Had to chuckle this morning when the Transportation Coordinator came in and was all atwitter about the snow chain not kicking in. I tried to tell her that the snow that fell last night was nothing but something to play in for those buses; but she has an altogether different idea about what the snow chain means than I do. And since my idea don't match hers and her desk is bigger...

And - Charlie finally did the big one. No. He is not married. Or engaged. Or hurt. He's one up on both his parents though, I believe. Maybe not on Frank (seems I vaguely remember hearing about something similar happening at some point in his younger days) - but I know for a fact he's one up on me. :) He was going home Monday evening and slid through the stop light at {I think he said}Benson and the Seward Hwy in Anchorage. A full size Ford pickup hit him pretty square on the left front tire and spun him so the vehicles were up against each other and facing the same way. When he called to tell us, the patrolwoman was still sorting things out and he was still pretty wired. The Mazda is totaled (as demonstrated by the pictures above) but he had a minivan in the wings getting new tires and brakes. When I talked to him last night, he was driving that. The passenger in Charles' car (another roomie - Jeremy) wasn't hurt, but the driver of the pickup got checked out by EMT's at the scene because he had a cell phone in his pocket and caught it between his ribs and the steering wheel. I told Charles he and Jeremy were both quite likely to find out just how hurt they were in the next couple days. I know it took 3 days for the ligament strain to my knee and whatever it was that happened in my neck to show up after I got hit in the bus the second time.

Well, it's pushing 8:PM and I have to be in a training session tomorrow from 8-6. We were there today from 8-4 and my brain was fried when I got home. Tomorrow is the budget stuff and payroll and expense cards and such - all the parts I do use on occasion, so I am going to bed.

Good Night,
Nema

It's picture time!!!!

This is from our front porch. It's not as much as we usually have and Dad's truck has been cleaned off repeatedly.


This is Jasher. He's the dog that needs a coat when he goes outside. This picture is a bummer because he has the deepest, darkest, brown eyes I have ever seen on a dog. It makes him look like a teddy bear. Well, a teddy pig (cause of his tusks). He inherited his mother's teeth. I think I'm going to take him in and make sure that his bite is okay. If it's not okay then he may need braces! That isn't a joke folks.
I'll take pictures of him in his coat and post them for you guys to laugh at later.





This is one of my cool toadies. I have four of them. I have to keep them in my room because they creep my mother out. She classifies them as "weird" pets. I don't think they are nearly as weird as the praying mantis' I had before them. Those could be called weird I guess.










This is after Phaedra's Atomic Fireball episode. I told her that it was really, really, spicy hot. I told her that it might hurt her mouth. India told me that she got a big bag of them for her birthday and she had shared them with Phaedra. Since neither one of the girls shy away from spicy stuff I let her go ahead and have one. She really liked it but couldn't finish it. She had almost all of the hot coating off but it kept falling out of her mouth and she was drooling something fierce. As she said later, "It burned mine ips!" As far as I can tell, her lips are just fine now.



Apparently India likes Veggie Tales. Miss Anita gave them these stickers and she couldn't resist the urge to stick them somewhere.









Well, another UFC has come and gone. I am a huge fan of the Ultimate Fighting Championships and have been since 1994. I know it's not everyone's cup of tea but it happens to be the sporting event that I love. I could do without the ring girls and the drunk yahoos mugging for the cameras though. I love the sheer energy of the whole thing and the training and discipline of these athletes.
I think Matt Hughes, former welterweight champ, is done in the UFC. It always seems to happen to the guys who claim Christ. Many of these athletes thank God after they fight but very few of them have any kind of testimony. Matt Hughes does. Also, Vitor Belfort does. He was the light-heavyweight champ for a very short period of time several years ago.
Many of these guys tattoo their own names on their stomachs, don't ask me why, but Vitor has Jesus tattooed on his. Granted, I think tattoos are worldly and ridiculous but it was interesting to have his beliefs be so obvious. Matt Hughes wears a shirt that says, "Army of the One". I really like that shirt and the play off the Army slogan. If I wore t-shirts I might consider getting one. Anyway, his website is really interesting if anyone's interested. It's matt-hughes.com.
Okay, my fingers are frozen and my back is KILLIN' me. I've done my best to enter the crippled club this past month. It's a long, painful story that I shall leave for another time.
Night,
~Pam

Merry Christmas Week

Okay, sorry for not posting anything sooner but I just haven't felt like it! I'm not sad, or depressed or anything, I'm just not ready to post anything. Um... I didn't feel like posting anything. I do now so here goes.

I know I promised to post pictures of the first big snowfall and I as yet have not done that. That is because we haven't gotten a big snowfall that stuck. It snowed three times before any of it stayed put but it was about a quarter of an inch. Around here that does not qualify as big. On Christmas we got about four inches. That's respectable and I'll try to get pictures of it on here soon.
Christmas was Christmas. It was only the three of us because Charlie couldn't make it down and Kathy said Justin, Katrina and Jaddrick(sorry if I spelled that wrong) were planning on stopping by her place so she wasn't here. We opened presents at noon cause that's when all of us were up at the same time. I got really cool scrapbook paper from one of my cousins' children, Robbie. It's very retro and it'll be perfect for Mom and Dad's scrapbook. Also, a pack of loose papers in different colors and a sticker-maker. I have one and I really like it. And really, can you have too many scrapbook tools? Mom made me a jumper, got me a rice cooker/steamer (which I really, really wanted), and my favorite candy in the whole world, Almond Roca.
Dad got a really cool flashlight with red and blue filters. He almost blinded himself when he was looking at it and turned it on. He also got little sculptures of a wolf and a bear from his niece, Amanda. The sculptures are already on the entertainment center, which, by the way, holds our new television!!!!! It's amazing! When you info a program on the satellite, the info box is bigger than our other tv! It's really nice because this tv is a stereo tv which means that the sound is much lower when it comes out. There's a lot more bass. Apparently, Dad was having a hard time hearing the other tv because it was so high-pitched. He doesn't need this one turned up nearly as much. I can actually lay in my bed, three feet from my own television and hear what I'm watching instead of what he's watching.
Sorry, back to Christmas. Mom got a Jo-Ann's gift card, a sewing stiletto and serger tweezers. She asked for the stiletto, and if I couldn't find that, then the tweezers. I found both and that's what she got.
We all got a family picture of the Selbys (Amanda, Clint, Robbie, Glen and Brytni). Grandma Love sent us a calendar of some of the pictures that Uncle Dave has taken. One of the "purtypurple flowers" is an orchid, I'm sure of it. I was a little bummed that I didn't get an orchid calendar this year but I guess I did huh? Mom also got a quilting book that she spent the day poring over. Me thinks she likes it.
Grandpa and Grandma Arndt sent us candy, scarves, brownie mix and an oven mitt that is too cute.
I'm sorry if I forgot anyone. Normally I write down who got what but I forgot this year.

Oh! I got my dog the cutest little snow suit! I know, I know, you're all thinking "Clothes for a dog? What a weirdo!" but you have to understand that he is only a foot tall, doesn't have much of a winter coat, fur-wise, and it gets downright nippy around these parts. Because he is crated most of the time he needs to get out and run sometimes. With McKinzie in the house, it's just a lot easier to let him run outside. McKinzie can't focus on fast moving objects so he gets really frustrated when he can't catch the furry little blur whizzing past him.

We haven't had much excitement this week but Kathy had a lot more fun than we did.
Last week she went to Anchorage with her son, daughter-in-law and their two children. Mom was taking care of the house and the dog while she was gone. Unfortunately, when Kathy got home she had a chimney fire! She called Dad and he grabbed the ladder and me and we went to rescue her. She was remarkably calm, considering her house was on fire. Dad climbed up on the roof and poured water down the chimney until the pipe was cool. Two days later Dad and Tony took her old stove out and put the one that Mom bought for us four years ago in. It is too little for our house but it's just perfect for hers. She had run out of heating fuel and the old stove just couldn't keep it warm in that one room. Now, you have to understand the dynamics of Kathy's house. She lives in a trailer with an add-on and a shell over the whole thing. The circulation isn't that great. She has a Toyo stove in the trailer and a wood stove in the add-on. Together, they keep both buildings quite warm and comfy. Okay, she had run out of heating fuel... She put a sheet across the doorway into the trailer to keep the heat in the add-on and because there's no heat in the trailer, her water froze. She also has Bryan and Mary Beth's camp trailer hooked up to her water and septic. Where the septic lines connect, because she wasn't running water through there, it froze. So now her water and her septic are frozen, she has no heat in the trailer and the wood stove needs to be nursed through the night to put out enough heat. Exciting, no? Well, the day that Dad and Tony switched the stoves, Bryan and Mary Beth bought 100 gallons of heating fuel. So, her heater was working, the wood stove was working and just a day later her water thawed out. The only thing that was wrong was the septic. I had forgotten, but when Jim and Kathy had their well drilled they were able to find a bowl of sandstone. Their water gets filtered by the sandstone before it gets pumped to the house so, ordinarily, they have really good water. If it's not run for a couple days however, it gets really rusty. Kathy says it'll take about ten gallons to run the rust out. But she couldn't run her water because the septic was still frozen. She came up here to get water a couple of times but I think it's thawed now because the last time she came up was on Christmas. She said the pump truck would be out the next day to thaw the system. Hopefully she's all working again.
That's all the news I can think of for the moment.
~Pam