Our newest garden spot

Here are some pictures of the house and yard. We planted the plants mom got for her birthday today, so thought I'd post some pictures. The tree in the middle, is a weeping Caragana, then we have 2 lilacs, 5-6 roses, 2 blueberries, a low bush cranberry, and a mock orange. We're going to be getting some more landscaping stuff to fill in the gaps and keep the weeds down, but we'll have to wait until we get up to Home Depot or something. But we are really pleased with how it turned out so far. I don't know if you can see them well, but dad and I cut 2 sand hill cranes out of a piece of rusty steel, and welded them a "leg" so they can stand up in the garden. They look so cool! Really realistic. I drew the pattern, then dad cut them out, ground off the sharp edges, and welded the leg. They turned out super cool. We're going to do some more tomorrow. Then I think we're going to cut out some other shapes too, like fish, moose, etc. Fun! If all goes well we'll put them in the farmer's market over the summer.

Happy Memorial Day Everyone! We love you all. Alicia

Oh, the gate up there is one that we made last year, me and dad together.

Here come the big fish

We'd like to welcome you to fishing season, with some cool shots of dad's first king salmon of the year. It was HUGE! He got it out in the ocean, trolling on a boat with a new friend of ours (Mark). Mark is friends with the neighbor, and now friends with us. Dad's been out fishing with him twice already. Mark is from Anchorage and comes down a lot in the summer with his boat to go fishing. They've been fishing in the ocean out in front of the house here, and that's where dad caught this fish today. They also got cod and halibut. So it was fun!

Then mom and I went to a special nursery today and picked out the plants for her birthday. We got several rogosa type roses, a weeping tree, and a couple other fun things. We'll have to put pictures up once we get them planted and landscaped. Fun!

Summer Visitors Begin

The sweetest thing happened last night. We went out to watch the birds and Heathcliff and Dixie were just outside the gate and we thought Dixie had a duck following her up the path, but it turned out she had a male and female following her.

They were a pair of green winged teals and she had invited them up to the house for some dinner. They came into the yard and were looking around. She was very gently cooing - trying to coax them up to the house to eat corn, but they were a little shy about being inside the fence and then the cat saw them and decided they were small enough for him to tackle so we had to chase after him and they flew off. They are a beautiful bird.

We don't think they left permanent - when we got up this morning something had eaten more than half the duck feeder, so Dixie definitely had someone over for dinner last night.

Our Busy Pond

Well, our pond has been the place to be this spring. If you're waterfowl that is. :) We've got at least one wild pair living on the pond for the season, and I think we've got a couple more too. The pair living on the pond is a pair of mallards. Then we also have had a pair of green winged teals (which are the smallest of the pond ducks) that have been around a bit too. Other than that we have a pair of wigeons that seem to be around a lot too. Altogether we have had mallards, american wigeons, a pair of Barrow's Goldeneyes, 3 full size sandhill cranes, yellow legs, plovers, and green winged teals. Plus the usual bunches of swallows. So that is fun. We've had a lot of sandhill cranes flying over, but the 3 are the only ones that have stopped to visit. They stayed in the yard for a couple days, and they fly over a lot, but haven't stopped again that we have noticed. So that is our fun with the wild birds.

We really don't have a lot of news other than that. Mom had to go to the hospital this week for chest pain. After they put her on oxygen for a couple of hours, she was feeling better, so we're pretty sure it was her usual pleurisy, just more intense than usual.

Today at midnight started the King salmon fishing season, so dad went out bright and way early this morning, but the water is running really deep, muddy, fast, and cold, so the fishing was bad. He said no one was cathing any. There's still lots of time to catch fish though. He was going to get to go halibut fishing this week with his friend Steve, but he had to work instead, which is good and bad. Good for the money, bad for not getting to go fishing.

As for me, I'm not really up to much. I cleaned my room today, that was pretty exciting let me tell you. :) But it looks nice.

Mom and I went to a scrapbooking crop at the local scrapbooking store for a few hours last night, and it was really nice. We got a lot done in just a few hours, and it was really peaceful and nice. There was supposed to be 3 other people there, but they didnt' come, so it was just mom, me and Tracy the woman that works there. At the store, when you pay to crop, you get to use all of their tools, and die cutting machine, so that was really fun. We dont' have a die cutting machine, so that was fun, we cut out all kinds of letters, shapes and such. It was just a nice fun time. We are working on an album, mom and I together, about our family vacation to Las Vegas/Capitol Reef/Bryce/etc. from 1992. Lots of fun.

I guess that is everything about us. I took some pictures of the cranes hanging out on the pond, but you'd need a magnifier to find them in the picture, so guess I won't post them. Oh, we also have wood frogs on the pond, and they croak and call all afternoon until late at night, so that is fun. They are really funny. Everytime the duck quacks, or the goose screams, the frogs answer back. Funny. Ok, well we love you all. Alicia

Juneau Pictures

I just had a few minutes tonight, and I've been thinking about my mission, since it was just a year ago, and I thought maybe I would start putting some pictures up for you to see. This picture is downtown Juneau, from Douglas Island. Behind the lower hill, just about the back row of houses is where the old gold mine is. My last monday in town, my companion and I did a quick hike up there, to the Silverbow basin - it was so BEAUTIFUL back there. I could have spent hours and hours back there just trying each of the trails and checking things out. I'll try and post more of those pictures later. But for tonight, i better get to bed, going to Anchorage tomorrow, just a quick trip up and back. Love you all lots. Alicia

WE MADE IT

THE SWALLOWS RETURNED TODAY. WE ACTUALLY MADE IT THROUGH ANOTHER WINTER.

Volcano #2

Mt. Illiamna - the one directly across the street from us - the one Alicia took the sunset pictures of below - has come to life. It usually will steam a little in the spring, but the last couple days it has gone bananas. The usual vent on the north side is about 10 times larger than normal. The vent on the front that we only see every couple years has been venting non-stop and then today, she started venting right out of the top, just like a real volcano. We checked the censor report on the internet and they don't have her listed as active yet, but the censors are off the chart for activity levels. We'll keep you posted !!! Pretty exciting for us.

Brian is doing well in Nikiski. It is crazy up there - one of those stand around and hurry up and do nothing companies, but the pay is good, so we can't complain. It should only be another week or so there, then they should go to another town and do the same thing. We don't know for sure. Love to all, Charlotte

Sunset in Anchor Point

Spring is full of birds!

I'm so happy to be able to say that the spring birds showed up last night! I was passing through the kitchen last evening, and looked out on the pond and there was a pair of wild ducks there. Of course, there was only about an inch of thawed water, but still that's neat. Then a little while later we heard the sand hill cranes passing over, so went out to see them. It was a huge bunch, they had lost the air current and were circling trying to find it. Then today when we got home from church and got out of the car, we heard another group of cranes go over. We ate lunch, and went out on the deck, and another set of cranes went over. So we've probably seen at least 200 cranes in just the last 24 hours. The last batch to go over were so low and right over our heads that we could even make out the darker wing patches on them and stuff. Its so cool! The swallows should be showing up soon too. They usually are here by my birthday, which is in about 2 weeks, so anytime they should be here. It is still a little cold for them I think, not many bugs have thawed out yet, but we love when they come.

My bulb garden has mostly thawed. I went out yesterday, and about a third of it was snow-free, and I saw one little plant starting to come up (I think it was a daffodil), then today a lot more snow is gone, but no more plants yet. Still its exciting.

That's pretty much all my news. The cat is worried about dad being gone. Also, the cat is having some troubles because usually at night he throws a big fit and wants to go outside just as you turn off the lights to go to bed. So, when dad is home, we usually spend a little more time trying to entertain the cat, or staying up so that he can go out one last time before bed, because he gets really LOUD when he wants out, and he just walks around crying and yowling. But when dad isn't here we just ignore him and go to bed, because dad goes to bed earlier, and he will wake dad up, but mom and I just tune him out. So the cat was a little upset because not only is his dad gone, but his usual tricks aren't working. :)

Well we love you all. Sorry I've been too lazy to put some pictures up lately. Now that it is spring, I hope to have more pictures to put up. Even is they are just of little plants trying desperately to grow. :) Hope you have a wonderful Sunday and week ahead of you. Love you. Alicia

ps: Brian's trailer

I forgot to tell you about poor Brian's trailer. It is about 60 years old or more and smells really really really bad which is kind of weird because it is so rotted your can see through all the walls and around all the doors and window so he can't see how any smell can stay in. It is really tiny. He took up a TV - they provide the Anchorage channels and the utilities and he took up a twin mattress and a sleeping bag for a bed. He didn't think a queen mattress would fit in the room. then he bought a cheap microwave and he's all set.

Brian is off

Brian is in Nikisiki for his new job at the refinery. He called them this morning about something and they said, Oh Yeah, you start in the morning, so we all jumped out of bed and ran around, HEAd less chicken style, and packed up all the stuff for his trailer and he drove off like a maniac and went shopping for all the cleaning supplies and groceries he needed and got settled in and they called and said he needed to come over and take another class tonight and he did and then they said he is going to be working nights instead of days, so he could have spent another night at home with us, but he's already up there, so it is too late.

He ran into a couple kids from Anchor Point he knows and a kid from Wallowa county that he worked with on the ice hockey rink last year so that will be good he knows some people already, so even though he knows absolutely nothing about his job, at least he knows some of the people.

So far, we have heard that the job will last 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 8 weeks, 6 months, and 18 months. We figured out how much money 18 months would be and got all excited about getting out of debt, but Brian was gone about 2 hours and I was blubbering about being apart and thinking it wasn't worth any amount of money, boohoo boohoo, etc. Then tonight after we had family prayer via the telephone, I really started to cry and fall apart .... and of course, on the other hand, if it is only 3 weeks, we won't have enough money to pay any bills and we won't be able to be solvent, etc., etc., so I'm just a mess and don't know what to do.

I started a new medicine and it is really hard on my system. Another one of Dr. Burgess' plans for me to lose 100 pounds. And I am teaching a lesson in Relief Society tomorrow for a woman who is out of town for a couple months for a wedding.
Keep me in your prayers, please, I really need them right now.

I'm kind of embarrassed. I promised Alicia that I wouldn't fall apart this time - that I was beyond that and that we needed the work and I was way too mature to let a little separation get to me. hehehe, boy is my face red. Oh well, nothing wrong with loving your spouse.

We got our first spring birds today. A pair of ducks tried to stop at the pond, but there is just barely an inch of water around the edge thawed so they landed and then left. Then a flock of cranes circled for a while and then we heard spruce chickens calling. YAY. The shore birds should be here this week or next, but the water is just thawing, we really need it to thaw quicker, so they have something to come back for.

Love you all, Charlotte

The Carper Family

Happy Easter ! ! !
Tonight we went into town for a Tax Day Dinner at Church. We had never had one before, so didn't know what to expect. It was quite random what folks brought. We were going to take deviled eggs on my new sky blue deviled egg plate that I just got in Anchorage, but Alicia couldn't figure out a way for the eggs to get to town without me wearing them by the time we got there, so she suggested we save that treat for tomorrow's dinner. So we just took a chocolate dessert which was very popular and very needed, there weren't very many desserts this time.

Coming home, we got to see Mt. Augustine blowing - the clearest I think I have ever got to see it. It was pretty cool. Then just before we got home, we saw something in the highway, and Brian slowed down in time for us to see a mother moose cross the highway and there was a pair of yearlings on our side of the highway, so he stopped the car and sure enough, they sprinted across the road to join her. They would have smacked right into us if he hadn't stopped. The cool thing was that we are sure they were our moose from last spring. We had several moose run over in our neighborhood this winter and we thought it was them, so it was really good to see them alive and healthy.

Brian was planning to spend his last free week fishing, but they called him today and he has to start his HAZMAT safety training on Monday morning for three days. He doesn't get paid for that. As far as we know, he starts work next Sunday.

We plan a quiet day for Easter. Just a Ham and Deviled eggs and fruit salad. The 4th of July salad is an Easter tradition Alicia started when she lived in Hawaii. It is a nice touch of spring we will enjoy during our Easter blizzard. Sigh. Happy Egg Day to you All. Charlotte

Home again, home again jiggety jig

Well, mom and I got home safe and sound. We had a lot of fun while we were there, got to do some good shopping, went to the temple, and just enjoyed relaxing. We were sad to hear that Grandpa Ted is so sick.

Dad stayed busy working while we were gone, he had a couple projects to do. Then he did some work helping a boy from church with his eagle scout project.

We're pretty excited to have some bare ground in the driveway to come home to. Its getting thick and muddy, but that is good too because it means spring is coming. We read in the paper today that they are expecting another hot dry summer, so we are going to plan for a nice garden and get our seeds ordered soon. We bought a couple blueberry plants and a cranberry plant for the yard this weekend too.

Just wanted to say we were home. Love you all. Alicia

Amazing

This is just so cool. I love the steam rolling off the mountain, the flows coming down the mountain. So amazing. There is a new night time camera for Augustine, which I haven't tried yet, but that is supposed to show the heat and the hot flows coming off the mountain at night. If you click on the webcam picture, then it will offer the night camera there somewhere. Its dependent on weather of course, but I hope to get to see something. The link to the page is on the top of this post, if you click the "Amazing". Hope you're all well. Love ya. Alicia

More Volcano!

I love these two picures. They are from the 24th, and in them, pretty much right in the center you can see the flows that came down the mountain. That is just so cool to me!! We've gotten to see the mountain a few times over the last week or two, since the weather is a little better now that Spring is coming. Although, it did snow today, so spring is taking its sweet time to get here. :) Oh well, I'm sure it will be all the better for having to wait for it.

I have been spending some time this week working on plans to open a catering business with a friend from church; Autumn and I went to high school together. So that has been keeping me busy. We've been looking around trying to find a good location. We have been to look at two places, both of which would take as much to fix for our needs as it would take to build a new setup just how we wanted it. We still have a couple of options left before we have to decide. We have a few "contracts" already, so that is great. Mostly this summer we will be starting with making baked goods to sell. Fun! We have some really good ideas for what we want to do.

Other than that, not much is going on around here. We've been having fun learning how to use Ebay. I've been looking for jewelry, and we've been buying/bidding on a set of books that dad has been wanting. They are about the man-eating leopards and tigers of India. So that has been fun for all of us to poke around and see what we could find on ebay. Wow - anything you could possibly ever think of needing is on ebay. Its amazing!

Oh, I should have explained in my earlier post what vintage meant to me. I would say it means pretty much anything before the 1960's or so (maybe early 70's, I'm not sure). Mostly I like stuff thats earlier than the 60's, from the 20's-50s-ish or before. Its not really a hard and fast rule, but that's kind of an approximate guess to me. I'm still just learning. :)

Well, we love you all and hope you're doing good! Alicia

My New Hobby

Ok, so I added a new hobby to my list. I am starting to collect costume jewelry (mostly what is termed "Vintage"). I've been spending time on ebay looking at all the cool stuff there is to get. People up here don't have that kind of stuff to sell at estate sales & auctions, so there isn't anywhere else to get it. I just have this fascination with it. SO - if you any of you have any that you ever want to get rid of, think of me please!! I promise I would give it a good home. :) Its so fun. Love it!

Still snowing here. snowing, and snowing, and snowing. SIGH. Other than that, not much new. Love you all! Alicia

Augustine, the dirty mountain

Sorry if you're getting tired of the augustine pictures. Its all still so cool for us. We can't see the mountain from our house, but we can see it on the way to town. So we rely on the "professional" pictures, mostly these on here are from the on-island webcam. I love the silouhette of the sunset picture.

Its a bona fide jimmycane

Wow - what a winter storm we are having today! Our driveway is completely drifted shut, chest deep. Our nice neighbor came this afternoon to plow part of it out, but within 2 hours it was completely closed again. Its nuts! Its been blowing so hard at times we haven't even been able to see the road, or the back yard. Its incredible. Sure glad we didn't have to go anywhere today. I wanted to put a picture of the drifts in, but its blowing so hard you wouldn't have been able to tell where the drifts even were, so I just ran back inside.

Other news this week: I got quoted in the Anchorage Daily News!! We had that shooting here in town a couple weeks ago. He was a drug dealer, wanted by the US Marshalls, and they cornered him at the airport, he pulled a gun and started shooting, and ended up killing himself after he had been shot by the cops several times. But, the local people went on a rant about how the cops should be fired and basically ran out of town on a rail for shooting this nice, drug dealing, wife beating loser. So I wrote a letter to the paper that said we needed to give our cops the benefit of the doubt and that it wasn't their fault that the criminal pulled a gun.

Well I sent that to the local paper, and the Anchorage Daily News picked it up and used it in their story about the shooting! Which I thought was pretty cool. The whole article in on the Anchorage Daily News website, from the March 17th Edition, in the Kenai section, if you wanted to track the whole thing down. But, here's the quote: "Letters to Homer's two weekly newspapers have been similarly divided. The first week's letters expressed outrage at the bust gone bad. The second wave of letters sprang to the defense of police.
"I trust that they did everything they could to keep as many people as possible safe," wrote Alicia Carper. "And, if you don't like that, then just remember this -- it is their right and their job to defend themselves and the community -- even if that means using deadly force."" The letter was longer, but that's the gist of it. I just thought it was cool!!

Then dad finished his project this week, so that is exciting. He has several other things on his plate too to keep him busy working for the next little bit.

Mom and I are going to be going to Anchorage the last week of the month. We're going to go and just enjoy some time in the big city. Should be a lot of fun.

Blake and Johanna took a quick trip to Las Vegas for a week. It was their 10 year anniversary, and the completion of a long project Blake has been working on at work. Glad they got to go and have a trip!

Well, we're just busy trying to stay warm. Sorry I don't have more interesting pictures to post! I'll try and get a picture of the drift when it calms down a bit out there. Its pretty impressive. We love you all! Alicia

Finally, A direct View

Today we finally got a good personal view of Augustine. It has been too hazy since it started erupting for us to get a good view. It really stands out in the ocean because all the land and mountains around it are solid white, but it is brownish-black. The Indians used to call it the Brown Mountain because that's how it looks when covered in Ash.
So when we went to town, it was just the mountain and then when we came home, it was erupting, so we pulled over and watched it sending its plume of ash and steam up. It was REALLY cool to watch.

Surreal picture

I just thought that this image from the Augustin Island webcam was so surreal - the greys and mists. Very cool.

Not much going on today, just got back from church, and now mom and dad are watching the NCAA Basketball selection show. They love college basketball.