'Alaska' Category
Lunar Eclipse
There was not a cloud in the sky last night during the lunar eclipse, and we had a great view through our front windows. The last lunar eclipse to occur on the Winter Solstice was in 1638. Entering earth’s shadow. Nearing totality. Total lunar eclipse. Total eclipse and Orion. See Betelgeuse? Total eclipse. Emerging from [...]
Voting in AK
Once again, we had to make arrangements to vote outside the normal time and place. I applied to have mail-in absentee ballots sent to a location on our current journey. Mike got his ballot last week. When mine still didn’t arrive today, I called the election office in AK. Whoopsie! They never sent mine. Do [...]
After the Hurricane
A little wind, a lot of rain, and spotty Internet access, that’s what we got. Now, however, we have this: The weather forecast for today was rain, too. The only rain around here is spruce cones being hurled to the ground by industrious red squirrels. They clang on the metal roofs and thunk on the [...]
Hurricane a-Comin’
We are again at the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge for a couple of weeks doing some post-season work and post-season play. Even here, the sun’s been shining most of this month–and this is a rainforest. But no more. It’s been raining for two days, and this is the marine forecast for the weekend (the highlighting [...]
Changing Seasons
I think we set some weather records this month. Most of September was sunny and mild. Absolutely gorgeous. And then one day it was winter. Just like that. On Saturday, I gathered the last batch of peas, and on Sunday, Mike and I harvested the carrots, beets, garlic, onions, and potatoes–while it snowed. The freezer [...]
Cranberry Mystery
Last year, in an attempt to make jellied cranberry sauce, I discovered cranberry butter–or cranberry taffy, cranberry tar, cranberry glue, take your pick. I loved my cranberry butter. This year, I’ve picked a bunch of cranberries so I can make both. With the first batch, I aimed for jellied cranberry sauce and got it. Woot! [...]
Carrots, Cranberries, and Contemplation
To answer some questions from the last post… Yes, those are all really carrots. Yes, I grew them. The seeds are all from the same packet. I got the seeds at Bell’s Nursery in Anchorage. They don’t seem to have a website. ***** Fall colors are at their peak, and we’ve had insanely gorgeous weather [...]
Back to Business
So…it appears our regular blog schedule begins with dead air. Crack me up! Life, again, interrupts my plans. This time, though, it was just car trouble, but it took all day to deal with it. Now it’s back to business. Funk & Weber business? Uh…no. Stitching for Literacy business? Nope. Writing business? Negative. You know [...]
Blueberry Season Conclusion
I’m finished picking 2010 blueberries. That’s the year, not the number of blueberries. I have 12 full Ziploc gallon-size bags in the freezer. What do you think–will that be enough? There are still plenty of berries in fine shape to be picked, so it’s hard to stop. Pretty soon, I’ll start picking cranberries, though, so [...]
The Cucumber
Our first cucumber! I’ve been trying for several years, but it took the creation of a “warm bed” (raised bed covered with black plastic and watered carefully with warm-ish water, not freezing cold well water) to finally get something we can call a real cucumber. Mike’s been watching it, saving it, planning to pick it [...]
, by Ellen Ruppel Shell
, by Elizabeth Strout.
