just a few more

Well, the picture of me with mom under the sheet has a funny story. We were trying to get some good pictures of me, and so I was sitting next to mom, while she had her breathing sleep mask on, and I leaned my head against her shoulder and reached out and took a picture, and it looked good, but mom didn't like how she looked with the mask on, so she pulled the sheet over her head, thinking it would look better, like I was just leaning against something, but you can see in the picture that she's under there, and it ended up looking like I was leaning up against Charlie Brown dressed up as a ghost, only without the eye holes, its so funny! I love that picture! Its the middle one. and the last one is just a pretty tree outside the Tillamook plant. We saw a lot of cheese being packaged too, it was really cool. and we had a lot of good ice cream. yum! :) Alicia

More of the Coast

Tomorrow we're heading back to Portland, but wanted to share some more pics of the coast and stuff before we go. Had a lot of fun touring the cheese factories today. I love cheese factories. Gotta go back to Tillamook tomorrow to get some squeeky cheese, they were out today. But I should be able to get some tomorrow. YAY! I love sqeeky cheese. :D Anyway, hope you like the pics. :) Love ya! Alicia

Random ocean shots :)

Devils Punchbowl

Devils punchbowl park was started in like 1929, but now it is basically an afterthought to a housing development, and no campgrounds anymore. It was really sad. A lot of places that used to campgrounds or sites to see, or other fun "coast" stuff have turned into condos and vacation homes for the rich. It was really sad to see it all disappear. But I guess that's the way it goes......

Oregon Coast

We took a little sunday drive today, and ended up going all the way from Rockaway beach to Newport. It was a long drive, but we saw some really cool stuff. and we didnt' even stop for half the stuff we wanted to. It was one of those trips where we thought "oh it'd be cool to stop there...ooops too late." :) oh well. It was fun

Here's the Boiler Bay area.

Here's the 3 capes.

Seattle, and Blake's house

Here's Blakes house, and some pictures of the snow. We got about 10 inches of snow while we were in Seattle - CRAZY!

Funny airplane moment

So, we flew into Seattle tuesday morning, and we tried sleeping on the plane, but didn't have much luck, at least I didn't. Mom did a little better. About 1/2 hour before we landed in Seattle, mom sits up, and taps me on the shoulder and says "I don't know how to make punch for 30-50,000 people! How am I supposed to make punch for all those people? I can't make punch for at least 30,000 people!" and it was just so funny. She didn't think she was asleep, but she was, and she'd been dreaming about getting stuff done for the wedding, and in her dream she needed all this punch, and it was just funny. One of the random moments that comes only when you've been awake an obscene amount of time. :)

But anyway, we're here and safe and sound. Had a great time visiting with Blake and Johanna today. They live in a beautiful neighborhood and home. And they have SUPER fast internet that I've been enjoying.

Anyway, just wanted to share our funny story, and tell you we were safe and sound, and sleepy. :) Love you all. Alicia

Off on our trip

Just wanted to post a little message before mom and I head off on our grand adventure. We'll be gone for about 17 days or so. We're going to Seattle to see Blake, then to Oregon for a scrapbooking convention and to see a few family members. Other than that just SHOPPING!! :):) I'm just looking forward to being able to go to some fun stores, and relax and enjoy some fun times, and some time with family. Should be a really good time. Plus we'll be doing some stuff for the wedding, so that's exciting :). Justin and I are thinking June 15th for the wedding date, in Anchorage, with a reception here either the next day, or the next saturday, depending on how the schedules work out. But, its an exciting and interesting time! Justin went to Paul and Nicole's tonight for dinner and canasta, sounds like they had a good time. :) Justin really like Paul and Nicole, said they were really nice and really neat. If you check out Paul's blog there's a picture there from tonight.

Other than that, dad's going to be here living the quiet life, just him and the cat. Well and the duck and goose. :) We're still waiting for the temperature to come back up, its been really cold here the last few days, but that will mean good road conditions, its been really dry and cold. We'll drive to Anchorage tomorrow, then fly out late monday night/early tuesday morning, and get to Seattle early in the AM. Then we're just going to hang out with Blake and Johanna and see Seattle. We've never spent any time there, so we're looking forward to that, and really glad to see their house, and hang out with them.

We'll try and keep something on the blog or email to let everyone know whats going on and how the trip is. Love you all! Alicia :)

Valentines Story

So I'm totally excited because this is the first Valentine's day that I've ever had someone to share it with! :) Its been so much fun. I ordered a package for Justin yesterday, a little candy basket with a stuffed moose and a rose.

Then tonight at the end of Mutual (I knew something was going on, because mom's been covering her email every time I come in the room, and emailing Justin, and making all these secret phone calls), all the young women and leaders went into the young womens room, but they wouldn't let me in. So I waited in the hallway for a couple minutes, until they had everything set. Then when they let me in, they were standing in a half circle around this chair, with a video player. So they had me sit down, and they hit play on the vcr, and it was cued up to the scene in Seven Brides for Seven Brother, about being a June bride, and they each had a copy of the words, and they sang it to me, along with the video, then gave me my flowers as they sang. It was so cool!! Justin put so much effort into coordinating everything and getting everyone involved. It was so sweet and so AMAZING!!

So here are some more pictures from my awesome day. Justin also got mom some flowers, and arranged for me to be able to sign the card too. its a tradition from his family, where you give the mom flowers on valentine's too. So much fun! I hope I haven't forgotten anything - it was a great day and I'm so happy and excited!!

Valentines Day!!!

Some Changes are comin' around here

As many of you have heard, Alicia has found a young man on LDS Singles. They started "chatting" on December 9th - and have spent all but one or two nights talking back and forth on the internet or on the phone for at least 4 hours at a time.

His name is Justin Clark and right now he is living in Blackfoot Idaho - but he has lived in Alaska before and is moving back up here next month. He has a job with one of our bigger road building companies here in the Homer area that will start when he gets here. Our good neighbors, Ron and Lydia, have agreed to let him rent out their cute little house next door (the white one in the back - not the one right next door to us). Justin's parents live in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico - and he was born in Deming.

So as Justin says on his blog, they were just sort of talking one night on the internet and they started feeling all mushy and now we are making lots of plans. It still doesn't seem completely real since they haven't actually met in person, but because of the timing of things, we are announcing their plans to be sealed in the Anchorage temple - assuming of course that they both feel the same way when they see each other. (save a date somewhere in the middle of June - we have to work around girls camp, youth conference, and king salmon fishing season - yes, he fishes and hunts like Brian does so she still has to plan her life around fishing and hunting seasons).

Alicia says he is the nicest, most considerate man she has ever met and everyone at church has been noticing that she smiles ALL the time and now that word is out, they all go, "Ahhhh, that explains the smiling and the spring in the step...." It's like she is gliding all the time about 3 inches off the floor.

It is scary for both of them to make this type of commitment long distance, but it is kind of a tradition in the Carper family. She was thinking up other family members who had done this kind of marriage, and she came up with almost 20. They have prayed a lot over this relationship and this decision and both believe that it is the right thing to do.

Cousin Paul met him for a few minutes and he said he was a nice cowboy type guy and from what he knew about Alicia, they seemed like a great match. thanks Paul and Nicole for the test run.
We'll keep you all posted as things unfold. Charlotte

Kitchen re-do, still halfway, the afters

Here's the yellow contrast wall. I didn't want the kitchen to be too dark, with too much red, so I used the red on the back wall, since it was limited in size anyway, from the cupboards and window. Then I used the yellow to lighten it up. So, on the left wall is yellow, the back wall is red, and the right wall is the green that comes in from the living room. It sounds convoluted, but it all seems to go together. And we have this fabric wall that I pulled the colors from, and we'll use the fabric to make some small curtains on the window, so it makes more sense.
Here's a good look at the red back wall, sorry about the glare from the flash. I didn't want to use paint with gloss in it, but since its a kitchen, we didn't really have any choice.
here's the rooster and chicken back up on their roost. :)
here's the back corner.

So the master plan is to add a black granite backsplash, we already have the granite and everything we need except the wet saw, we just haven't had time. Then we want to put a black laminate counter - everyone else is going granite, but we still like the formica laminate stuff. Then I'm going to sand down the lower cabinets and seal the or stain them or something. The black granite goes really well with the appliances which are basically black, well the stove, ovens, and dishwasher anyway. I'll post some more pictures when I finally get up the gumption to try working with the granite tiles. :)

Oh, I forgot the reason for all of this was so that we could get the house reappraised for mom and dad's refinancing, which went through, so that is good. We only had about a weeks notice though, so we had to squeeze this all in between Christmas and New Years. We also repainted the master bathroom a nice cheery yellow, and did a lot of de-cluttering, which in some parts of the house included taking everything and stuffing it into a box. :) But everything looks nice now. Just a few more projects to work on, something to keep us busy in january I'm sure. Anyway, thanks for checking the blog. Love to you all. :) Alicia

Kitchen re-do, half way, the befores

Pantry wall and door before.
Looking at the refrigerator and pantry, patched wall and all.
More of the befores. Don't look to closely at the counter, it was a bad mix of the stuff from on top of the cupboards and the stuff that I bought at the grocery store that day.
Here's part of the kitchen before. I forgot to start taking pictures before I took the wallpaper off, well as much as I took it off anyway. :)

Quiz - Charlotte

Family Christmas Countdown: "
1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot chocolate with a scoop of ice cream on cold December nights - but then egg nog from Christmas Day to New Years.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
At our house Santa wraps the presents. He doesn't come on Christmas eve - he leaves them there before Christmas
3. Colored lights on tree/house or clear?
Colored for me. All the businesses do clear and they all look the same. Although, we usually do tiny clear lights on the tree so that the focus is on the ornaments
4. Do you hang mistletoe? NAH. If you've ever lived where mistletoe grows, you know it is a fungal parasite that grows on other trees and that kind of ruins the mystique of it.
5. When do you put your decorations up?
As soon as Brian will let me. If it was just me, I would decorate on Thanksgiving weekend, but he doesn't like that. Now Alicia does most of it.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Baked Ham, I guess
7. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
We switch off between all the funky old folk ornaments we have collected and made over the years or we do the tree all in blue and silver. We decorate it on the second Sunday of December during the National Finals Rodeo.
8. When Did you learn the truth about Santa?
I don't remember how I learned. When I was about 8, I got to stay up for the first time to be an elf, so it must have been around then. What I learned is that Santa is very busy and he needs lots of elves to help him each year. I still believe he is real.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
SIGH..... Brian's family opens all their gifts on Christmas Eve - some years we have opened them as early as 4:30. GROSS. But I enforce a rule that no Christmas present can leave the living room area until the day after Christmas.
10. Favorite Holiday memory as a child:
Probably the year we were really poor and I got the hand made marble game that made a lot of noise and some how mysteriously disappeared.
11. Can you ice skate?
Indeed I used to. I learned how in Montana - where the towns have the coolest public ice rinks.
12. Do you remember your favorite gift?
Little House on the Prairie books. I'll write about that later.
13. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Helping those less fortunate to have a good holiday - Angel tree, or Adopt a family, or whatever.
14. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
Homemade ice cream - made with -20 degree snow instead of ice.
15. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
the Angel tree shopping or the adopting a family
16. What tops your tree?
I prefer a pointed glass tree topper like we had as kids, but I am stuck with that stupid lighted, tin foil Mexican star.
17. What is your favorite Christmas Song?
OH HOLY NIGHT.
18. Which do you prefer giving or Receiving?
I like them both - there have to be recievers in order for there to be givers.
19. What is your favorite gift you’ve ever given?
One year, when I was 16, Earlene liked this blouse that was really in style and I was making one right in front of her, and I told her it was for me for a party I was going to after Christmas, and then on Christmas morning she opened it and it was for her all along. I like gifts like that that are such a surprise to the receiver.
20. Are you ready for Christmas this year?"
Ummm, I usually start Christmas prep in January, but this year has been a particular year for us, so I'm sort of running around in my brain going AAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!! Although we did get the box to Iraq sent on time.

Check Holiday blog

During the holiday season - keep up with us and our family by following the family holiday blog. the link is to the right on this page. HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!!!

Christmas Cookies

We started our holiday season with a new project. We usually make all our candy on Thanksgiving weekend, but this year, we ate Thanksgiving at the Bishop's. So then on Friday, we spent cooking our own turkey and such, so we didn't make candy - just one batch of million dollar fudge. We made caramel corn last week to send to Spencer in Iraq, so we didn't make it this weekend.

Anyway, we wanted to be creative in the kitchen, so we invited the missionaries over to make cookie plates for them to take to people. They ended up not coming so we went ahead and made the cookies and they came today after church and Brian helped pack them up. Then we tied pass along cards for the Nativity video on to them. It felt good to do a little service. We are trying to spend our holiday season this year focusing on other people and on things we can do for others with materials we have at home. It was a very good and satisfying start to our holiday season. I highly recommend it!!!!!
LOVE Charlotte

BRRRRRR!!!!!

WOW - it has been cold here. The wind has been in a hurricane pattern - circular, just off shore - sustained winds of 76 mph and gusts up to 94. And it is zero degrees out. If you don't have a windchill chart handy I can give you the exact windchill factor - STINKING COLD!!!!!

It is dumping massive amounts of snow in the Juneau - Sitka area (not really part of the state - just our capital, we all think we should give it back to Canada - it's way over on the continent). anyway, the rest of us here in the south central part of the state don't have that much snow. We had 2 inches, but the wind has taken it all and put it in like 3 drifts that are about five feet wide and maybe 6 inches deep. the rest of the ground, is barely white.

As you all know, our house leaks on the north side and it has been very cold in here. We have 3 space heaters (which I worry about all the time) that we have to use to keep the bathrooms and our bedroom inhabitable. Not too much worry about them starting a fire actually - they are on the same circuit with half the first floor. If i use my hair dryer, or my stereo, or a breeze causes both heaters to kick in at the same time, the circuit flips. So we end up never leaving them on when we aren't here and awake. We always have to turn them off to leave the house, because I have to turn on the light and use the hair dryer and I can't do that without turning off the heaters. It is a very effective system.

Brian got home from his long haul trucking trip on Tuesday morning. He flew down from Anchorage - Ray's granddaughter was having an operation there, so he stayed and Brian flew. He started the next day at the school. He is glad the job is indoors in this weather. We are all adjusting to the hours. We had lots of practice with swing shift when he worked at the mill. He works with nice people and he has great benefits. He did well truck driving, he missed us a lot.

Alicia taught a class at the scrap book store on Saturday - it ended up lasting all day - it was a Christmas card marathon. We spent weeks preparing the kits for it. We had 7 different card styles and each person was supposed to make 4 of each card and we were expecting 6 to 10 people. (try the math on that - some of the cards had like 30 pieces to them). It was a lot of cutting and folding and punching and counting. WHEW. We will post them on the family Christmas blog - they are in the other computer. We had fun at the class. It was close friends and we had the run of the store for the day. I couldn't walk after I got home, but it was probably worth it. It was the first time I had gone out in the cold weather. Too hard on the arthritis.

then this morning, she made me go to church. I was really sore, but I really wanted to see our friends' baby blessed in church and they had come all the way from Maryland (Army), so the least I could do was drag myself down there. I was glad I went, I haven't been able to go to Sunday church for almost 3 months. I really felt out of the loop. It was fun to see the kids again, but made us all sad that we don't get to see them any more since they moved away.

Someone stole Alicia's identity on e-bay, so she has been dealing with that all week. We had just checked our credit ratings for the first time last week, so we hate to waste another check with the credit bureau, but we really would hate for her credit to be compromised. E-bay assures us it was a "contained" breech in their system and that she isn't at any other risk from it. but she had to change all her passwords on all her accounts everywhere. that took hours and now we all have to stop and lookup every password, where as before we had them all memorized. Welcome to the 21st century, I guess.

Well, that is about all our news. Oh, the single guy in our ward passed away this week (he was 73). So I don't know what the single women in the Homer area will do. Pickings were slim - now they're dead...... what are you gonna do. Looks like no grandkids for us this year...... (and Alicia will KILL me for this paragraph. She doesn't find humor in her plight as much as we do. )
LOVE< Charlotte

Whiskerless dad

I took this picture last week or so, to send in with a job application, and we were thinking that most people hadn't seen dad without his whiskers in a while (if ever). before he shaved last year I had never seen him without a beard, so it was totally different, but its nice, easier to see his smile and tell when he's joking. But anyway, just wanted to show you all what he looks like without whiskers. We talked to him for a few minutes this evening. They are in Seattle and he was hoping to get to see Blake but the traffic was so bad that they couldn't get to see each other. They talked for over an hour and in that time, Blake had been able to go 2 blocks, and dad hadn't moved at all. So it was a bummer they won't get to see each other - to be so close and so far apart! We also found out his hours for his new job. He will be working monday through friday 4pm-12 am. It'll be hard to have him on the night shift (and weird too) but i think he'll be glad to have a steady job. I don't think this truck driving thing would be good for him full time. I guess they had some nasty snow storms on the way down there, and he swore after we got up here (13 years ago - half my life, can you believe that??) that he would never drive the Al-Can again, but you do what you have to. So anyway, long story short here's dad without a beard. :) Love you all. Alicia

Prayers are answered

As you know, Brian got his CDL license last week. On Saturday, last, he helped drive a semi-truck of food storage down from Soldotna to the church house. The friend who owns the truck liked the way he drove and he asked if he would like to drive a haul to Seattle this week... so Monday night, they took off at midnight for Seattle. It is 6:00 pm on Wednesday, and he just called. They are in Houston, British Columbia. They have been in -15 to -30 degree weather with ice and snow for most of the way, but it is going okay. He doesn't know how much turn around time they will have in Seattle, but we hope he will be able to at least talk to Blake on the phone... He would like to see him if it will be possible, but they just don't know what their schedule will be so they can't make any plans yet. It depends on when they can drop the load they have and pick up the load that is coming back up.

He was going to drive to Utah next week and I was excited about him getting to see my folks, but that isn't going to happen because he just called me and said that the school district called him and he got the custodian job in Homer. he will be the custodian at the high school and middle school. It is less money than he usually makes, but it is steady and indoors and at home. It means he won't have to go to work on the Slope, so he will be home every day. We don't know yet how many hours a week it is or what benefits come with it, but we think it is full-time with school district benefits. he will start as soon as he gets home. he said they wanted him yesterday, but he of course was in Canada, driving truck.

so all our prayers are answered. We really didn't want him to work away from home. This way he can still be around to take care of the Elders' Quorum and here to see us and help around the house, and still have the time to build up his welding business in his free time and in the summers. We had been praying and paying our tithing and doing everything that we could think of to earn this blessing. the final answer came on Monday morning and we had a family conference and decided that while we were waiting for a job to come, we needed to dedicate more of our lives to helping other people. so Brian cut wood for one of his home teaching families and I was crocheting a baby blanket for the pregnancy center and Alicia was quilting a quilt for Humanitarian services, and the phone rang...... it was the final key we needed to add to our prayers. We are very blessed..
Not gonna talk about the elections - some folks are happier and some aren't. We got the governor we wanted, so we are happy. Love you all and thank you for all your prayers. Charlotte and Brian and Alicia

The Great Bean-capades

Ok, so here's the rundown. A friend was telling me about how fun it is to have canned beans around the house, and how you just take dried beans, soak them, and then a couple steps later you have quarts of cooked beans. Well, there was a little more to it that than, but it was still fun.

I looked it up in my cookbook and had a recipe for what was supposed to be 7 quarts (just enough to fit in my new canner), and it took 5 pounds of dried beans, which sounded fine to me. So, I weighed the beans, and then had to figure out how many cups of beans that was. 5 pounds of beans = 15 cups of beans. Then I needed to wash and rinse all the beans, and then cook them a couple of times (to do the quick rehydrate instead of the overnight soak). To do that you need 3 cups of water for every 1 cup of beans. Let me sum that up - 15 cups of beans, and 45 cups of water. It took 3 big pots to soak them and cook them.
After all the cooking, soaking, and waiting, it was time to put the beans in jars. I don't know where they got their measurements in my cookbook, but 5 pounds of beans, is enough for 14 quarts, not 7. So then I had to bust out the other canner, and run 2 canners of beans. (pictured below)
And here is the finished product - 13 quarts of pinto beans. Now we can just pop them open and use them to make bean soup and stuff anytime. Long messy process, but fun!

Well, I hope you enjoyed this little episode of the great bean-capades! :) Alicia

Brian's Birthday

It is late Thursday night - minutes away from Brian's birthday. We have a surprise place we are taking him for dinner but other than that, it is pretty low-key this year.

I talked to Blake on Saturday when the Beavers were knocking USC into 9th place in the Bowl Standings and he didn't know that his email was on the fritz again. He was still getting spam and unimportant mail and he thought we had all just collectively stopped writing to him and he wondered why we were all mad at him. So he is going to look into getting it to be a more stable server. He said he would send out an email letting everyone know - but he hasn't yet - or he sent it and it didn't get out of his server.

anyway - they are fine and he isn't being anti-social, he really thought his email was working and we were the ones being anti-social. So don't count him out of the holidays - he wants to take part.

Quiet Halloween - we had 2 trick or treaters. Margaret's kids came over. Joshie doesn't like chocolate, so we always make sure to have skittles for him, and we give him extra because you know when he gets home his older siblings sort out everything that is chocolate, or nuts, or spicy. He told his mom that he thinks Alicia knows he only likes vanilla things because she didn't give him chocolate and she gave him THREE packages. We just laughed. He is the cutest kid. Anything that is not chocolate or nuts or cinnamon is vanilla to him. I like to practice speaking German with him - he is the only one in their family who isn't fluid in German and so we are trying to help her get him used to hearing German. He is 6 - he got to go to Germany this summer for the first time since he was 2, so he is picking up a little of the language, but needs to hear it more often.

We spent today working on scrap book projects. Brian went up toward Cooper Landing for his big fishing trip of the year - he went with a guy from Church. they had a good time. they were out in a boat on a lake, so didn't see any bear prints to report. I forgot to ask what fish they found. I'll have to report later.
That's all for now, I guess. Oh, he got his CDL license on Tuesday, so all he has to do now is get fingerprinted - new homeland security rules.....truckdrivers have to be cleared thru TSA and be fingerprinted and background checked. So getting his license is a good step toward future employment. Have to resend all the applications .
Thinking of you all ---- Charlotte

Another week goes by

Brian has been in Palmer all week at CDL school. He drove for a while today and has at least another day of driving before he can pass the test, but they are booked up there, so he will come home in the morning and practice his driving and take his test down here. His instructor actually lives just a couple miles from us, so they will schedule that when Jo is down here and can work with him. He likes it so far and has passed all his written tests.

Alicia and I have been busy all week. Monday we cleaned all day - you know how it is when your schedule gets all out of whack because an extra person is home - well our house looked like a bomb had gone off in the living room, so we worked and got lots cleaned up and put away. then Tuesday, we spent in town for payday and Family History. We are getting more patrons from the community to come in and that is always exciting and fun. then yesterday, we went to Soldotna to get our oil changed and our tires swapped - sigh- necessary pre-winter chores. Brian had his tires swapped in Palmer one night after class, so we are all set.

They have predicted that because of El Nino - we will either have warm rain or tons of snow. Not really an exact science, I guess. We haven't had snow yet down low - the mountain tops all got dumped on for a couple weeks. It's pretty up there. I don't mind if that is where it stays.....

We are bummed that Jeffrey won Project Runway instead of Michael, but what are you going to do???? Hate to admit in public that we watch reality TV, but we do !! Project runway and Top chef are our favs in reality TV. We don't watch survivor or fear factor or the bachelor shows. We have been watching lots of shows about flipping run down houses - at first it seems like a good idea, but they have been showing more honest examples lately, about people who miss out on the market or who end up with surprise bad news when they tear into the house. Our housing market here is too unpredictable for it to be a good business for us. Plus with the intense moisture you get in a coastal area, you never know how much mold and water damaged wood you will find - not to mention all the amatuer done electric and plumbing you will run into up here. Ahhh, no zoning or permits required..

We are fighting a real estate developer who wants to vacate the pretend street that fronts between our house and the little white house on the highway. We were all for the vacating until he presented it to the borough - showing that he gets all 70 feet of the vacation. So we stopped him this month and have another hearing to go to in November. He can vacate his half of the street and keep it, but he wanted to keep our half, too, without paying us a reasonable price for it. Obviously, he never tried to take land from a Carper before. the land is in our blood. at the hearing the other day, they read in our letter and said they couldn't vacate unless we agreed to it, so that felt better. No worries.

Well, take care and keep us in your prayers to find work soon. Love, Charlotte

More Rain and wind

We are in the middle of a tropical storm. We have had typhoon after typhoon, but this one is the worst. Winds up to 75 mph and Seward got 9 inches of rain yesterday. We don't know exactly how much we got, but it filled the pond overnight, so it was quite a bit. Seward is all flooded out, but we aren't. That's why we live on this side of the mountain!!!

Alicia got a new calling in church on Sunday. She has 6 callings now, but I think she will have to give up some of them because the new job is first counselor in Young Women's. It is a very time and energy consuming calling. The girls she will be the leader of are 14 and 15 years old - the same girls she had 2 years ago, when they were 12 and 13. The girls are really excited to have her back. The other 2 women are my age so she is the only young blood in the presidency.

Brian has signed up for CDL school (truck driving school). He always swore he would not do that, but all the companies on the North Slope are requiring their crews to have CDL's, so he had to change his mind. He will be up in Palmer for all next week. We hope it will help our situation.

Nothing new in Charlotte's life - she started a new med to help her have more energy and it is working - first 2 days, I was up for 22 hours out of every 24. I finally slept a few last night. It is helping a lot with the depression and malaise.

The wind was really blowing the other night and Alicia went out to see if the cat wanted to come in for bed and all she could see was his little paws hanging on to the rail of the deck - he had been sitting on the deck rail and the wind blew him off and he was barely hanging on. Needless to say, between the wind and the rain, he is quite disgruntled and having a hard time with life. We are getting used to loud, odd crashes in the middle of the night - when he gets bored or tries some new exciting move to get from point A to point B.

Hope you are staying dry and not getting blown off your deck - Love, Charlotte

October 1

I still don't have any photos to post, Brian didn't take his camera up moose hunting so I'll just have to tell you about it. He went moose hunting with a friend from here and with a childhood friend from Joseph - Larry Shirley.

They had great weather this year and all the burned areas are regrowing so there was plenty of vegetation. They shot 2 smaller bulls. They didn't see any bear. they were hoping to get a bear this year also, but that didn't happen. It was too warm for the caribou to be in that area, too. But the moose meat is really beautiful and tasty. They do such a good job of taking care of their meat.

We bought a home grinder this spring on e-bay and got to grind our own hamburger for the first time in 15 years. We used to have a friend in Joseph that had a grinder that we used there. It saved a ton of money to grind the burger ourselves, but he said it was a lot of work. Our burger that we paid to have ground last year was not as well done as this burger, so I'm very pleased. It is really well done. Good Job GUYS!!!

We sent out about 50 pounds to get made into pork sausage for pizzas and stuff and we made jerky, but it was SOOOOO good, I don't think there is any left. We made ourselves sick eating it the first couple days. We hadn't made jerky for years either, so it was a treat.

Brian is busy with his fall fishing - steelhead, dolly vardens, rainbow trout. Last year he was able to fish until November, and it looks like he might be able to do that again this year.

Alicia's first class at the scrap book store was a huge success. She made cards that look like purses. We had 9 people there -which was the biggest class they had ever had there. She has several classes planned for October. A card class and a crop for cancer and some other stuff.

I'm hanging in. The grey of the typhoon season is a little depressing, but I realized this morning, we only have 11 weeks until the sun comes back, so I think I'll make it.

Happy October to you all, Charlotte