They are out there.

They’re the things that you see
When you wake up and scream
The small things that follow you
Down the boreen
They live in the small ring of trees
On the hill
Up at the top of the field.

Fall

Lots of changes around here.  School starting, becoming a single parent, fall, winter preparation.  See how I just snuck that in there?  Stay tuned for lots of pictures.  Sorry, I’ve been too busy to keep up with them all so this one will be picture intensive.

Any of these pictures are clickable to see them better.

First day of 3rd grade.

First day of 7th grade.  So far he is doing great!

We’ve had some magnificent sunsets.  Luckily, they are not that unusual here.

I’ve been spending time with good friends.  I’m lucky to have so many.  Yep, living in Alaska makes me a lucky, lucky girl.

Even in the rain…

Hennad my hand.

Hennaed my hair.

Even though we are about a week past prime color, this is the view from the top of my driveway.

Belive it or not, this is an unsual scene around here.  We don’t have much pasture land or cattle.

We spent Sunday out at the kennel.  I haven’t gotten to see much of Jan this summer.  We had a great time.

One of my girl friend’s son stayed the weekend with us.  He is such a sweet, clever boy that we always enjoy having him.  We got to help with a bit of clean up Eric was doing, mostly that meant the kids got to throw sticks into the bon fire.  They of course loved doing that.

We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and enjoyed the rays of sun streaming through the

smoke of the bonfire.

Jared, our handler, and Jan.  I thought it was funny as they were standing there, one with a big stick and one with a little stick.

Eric took the kids down the trail on his 6 wheeler.  He was checking to see if we can fill in some of the swampy portion of the trail with the brush he was cleaning up so that we don’t have to wait until we get so much snow before being able to take the dogs out.

They had a great time.  Olivia told Eric he was “awesomeness”!

Speak softly and carry a big marshmallow stick.

Thought I’d take a picture of this road crossing sign on our way home for my lower 48 friends.

On the way to drop Chris off at home in North Pole, we saw the mountains were out.  You have to click on the picture to really see them better.  Mt. Deborah (12,339 ft.) to the west, Mt. Hayes (13,832 ft.) to the southwest and Mt. Hess (11,940 ft.) between the two former peaks. All are a part of the Alaska Range, along with Denali (Mt. McKinley) which spans southcentral Alaska in a sweeping 600-mile arc.  Keep in mind that Fairbanks is only at 432′ above sea level.

Driving back to our house from North Pole we saw the hot air balloon that is a regular in the air around here.

We drove until we were right under it, then parked alongside the road and waited for them to light it up.   Once we were on the road again, we got another treat.

Sorry this is so blurry but they were running and I was trying to get them before they jumped the fence of this yard and got into the trees.  They are fast.

The baby moose.

Sorry for the power line but this was taken by the side of the road and I didn’t want to get out of my car.  That’s Fairbanks under the mountains.  I love it when they are pink.