Pan's First Snow

Well finally we had some snow late last night. Pan loved it as one more thing he can eat. This is actually good for him as he has to be tricked into drinking water here anyway.

Trip out on the Bay

Click to enlarge. This is an active volcano in the Cook Inlet called Ilamna. This range can be seen all the way up the Inlet on the drive to Anchorage it's just spectacular on a clear day.
Pastor Rick pulling in his crab pot.
Moon over the Kenai Range in Kachemak Bay
A view of the Cook Inlet side with Augustine in the distance, another active volcano which we call the 'floating volcano.'
Below a crater is clearly visible in this mountain across from the Homer Spit. I had not noticed this crater prior to Bob's photo.

With temps in the 20's Bob and friend Dee went fishing with Pastor Rick about 10 am. The boat has a heated cabin which helps. They caught King Salmom and Rick had his crab pot in. Bob brought home a King and several Rock fish. He took a few shots of the day with the sun going down at 5:11 pm.

Birthday Event for Marie

She came into this world 254 years ago and the world is still talking about her. Born on November 2, 1755, she was a tiny and healthy infant and the 15th child of Queen-Empress Maria Teresa. I do enjoy reading and seeing movies made about Marie. I like using her image and colors in scraping. She still has a lot of fans out there today.

Spicy Chicken Vegetable Soup

Our order from Full Circle Farm arrived on Thursday so I'm now forced to use more greens in our diet which is a good thing right ! You understand being this is Alaska we often do not get the best in produce. They sent me Yukon Gold potatoes, celery, red onion, Golden Delicious apples, Orange Carrots, Bartlett Pears, Chioggia Beets, plums, mushrooms, kale, escarole and Romaine lettuce. This is an order for two people and it varies each time. I get mine every other week. By the way it's all organic.

Spicy Chicken and Vegetable Soup

by Nan

In a small amount of olive oil saute a couple slices of onion and a tsp of chopped garlic. Move this to a large soup pot.

Then in the fry pan saute chopped up chicken pieces. I used flash frozen breast and thigh pieces cut into strips then smaller sizes. Set the chicken aside when done and add to the soup pot the following.

Tiny whole potatoes (I used from our garden)

1 or 2 cups beet greens

1 or 2 cups Curly Kale

Couple slices red cabbage

Couple Sliced carrots

A few Cremini Mushrooms or other type

Celery chopped small (I use as a base powdered chicken stock without sodium making about 4 cups of stock.)

I added cayenne pepper, black pepper and some salt, Aleppo Pepper by Penzy Spice, and some oregano flakes. Cook this until until the potatoes are almost done then add the chicken and a couple ounces of Chinese Noodles and a 1/2 cup of canned kidney beans. Simmer a few until the noodles are done.

This soup went in a day for two people it was so good.

Mountain Ash & Rose Hip Jam

It says in my Alaska book by Janice Schofield Discovering Wild Plants that jam can be made using rose hips and mountain ask berries. They both should be picked after a frost which we have had several hard frosts by now. Pan likes to eat the berries which are to me very bitter. We're going to get them out of his yard today. Bob will have to lop them all off the tree as they continue to fall.



Well as it turns out after all my work of gathering and processing the jam it's extremely bitter ! I thought 4 cups of sugar would cue anything but I was wrong. I guess I'll have to just toss it darn it. I can't bring myself to do that yet, I'll let it sit around for awhile then toss it lol..

Pan's New Collars

This dress up collar is so sparkly with peridot and AB crystals at 1 inch wide.

In the sun it comes alive with sparkles.

The other is an everyday collar with turquoise dotted ribbon over a turquoise colored nylon collar. These collars came from a really great on line store called Dog Collar Fancy. Here is the link...

http://www.dogcollarfancy.com

Pheasant Morning

Four pheasant boys out my window this morning.

Ready for Winter

We've been getting ready for winter here by putting up the Christmas lights early when it's still fairly nice weather. I wrapped the aspen trees to protect them from the moose who come by in the dead of winter and eat the bark. There is new snow on the mountains and the air is cool and cloudy today. Pan has yet to see his first snow.

Outside Projects

Tuesday this week Bob and I installed this portable fencing that was shipped here from Palmer. This is a potty pen for Pan so I don't have to watch him so closely. We can move this later to another location.

Picnic Napkins

http://chezbeeperbebe.blogspot.com/2009/09/tutorial-and-pattern-cloth-napkins-5.html Check the link for some neat napkins to make for perhaps Christmas gifts this year. They are fast and really look great with the rick rack and white lining of muslin. She uses a fat quarter to make these napkins which makes it easier. I set this up to photograph and look who jumps up here to be in on it !! That's a Weim always in on everything I do.

Stairs are finished

Bob finished the stairs today. A job which involved two 150 mile trips to buy the supplies. They are more slippery than carpet but much prettier and easier to clean.

Mamma Bear & 5 Cubs

These photos were taken on the street over from us called Bear Creek Dr. My friend Linda had been seeing for several days this sow with 5 cubs of various sizes in her yard. She missed getting a photo of all 5 together unfortunately. Obviously the sow must have adopted some of those cubs.

PFD's have arrived

In case you are not familiar with this every man, woman, and child in the state of Alaska who qualifies shares in the Permanent Fund Dividends each Oct 8th. The invested money varies each year and this year we thought it would be very small but we ended up with $1305. So in our account we now have $2610. we didn't have the day before. Parents with 8 kids would take in $13,050. *Let this NOT be a reason for you to think it would be worth moving here. The cost of living here is very high in the first place so we need anything extra we can get to make it work.

http://homertide.blogspot.com/

Check out my friend's blog Homer Tide for some cute videos he took of his dog talking and a mother bear with three cubs crossing a river.

Stair Project*Life in Alaska

We went to Kenai on Friday to buy materials for the steps. This house is 8 years old now and we decided carpet on steps gets dirty and it's hard to clean so we opted to do wood similar to our flooring. The materials are two packages of flooring material and several packages of stair end trim, padding, and then a sheet of wainscoting which is real wood unlike the flooring material which is a snap together laminate.

The next project is a portable cyclone fence for Pan. The 4 foot high, 10 foot long sections plus a gate will be made for us by a fencing company up in Palmer. I'm still working on shipping it here. Palmer would be a 2 day trip and we need a larger truck to haul it. I'm checking with a shipping company for prices now. This pen would be attached to the house so he can go down to the potty without me watching him so closely.

Golds

We ate this white king for the last two days taking in our Omega 3's. I baked it whole.
The setting sun was so pretty the other evening turned everything a deep gold.

An oil tanker out in Kachemak Bay waiting on a pilot to guide them up the Cook Inlet.
Some of the many pheasant we have around the yard this fall.

Bob's Fishing Trip in the Bay

Oyster beds in Bear Cove. Click to enlarge photos.

Eagle on a rock
The big glacier Grewingk with all the Fall colors
How about living here? You'll have to boat to the store.
Some images Bob took yesterday on his trip to the head of the bay for fishing. He caught a white king. *FYI the glaciers we see from our home here, 5 of them, are connected to the Harding Ice Fields which run the full range of this Kenai range. You can see all of this on Google Earth, it's quite amazing to view them up close like that.

Beautiful Fall Day

Pan checking out the Fall view today. Below he's helping me quilt.
Two shots taken from my kitchen today.
Bob is out fishing on the bay today. Said they were going up to the head of the bay and also taking the camera along so maybe he got some shots of that.

More Pan Tricks

Pan's eyes seem to have a hint of green at times.

He is one gorgeous boy.

Pan in his brand new upstairs bed.

Nothing Gold can Stay

Our aspen trees, three on either side of the driveway are now very gold.

The tree in the bottom photo on the far left is still green, out of the 6 that one always stays green until way late, don't understand why that is?

Pan doing his roll over trick

This is Pan's roll over trick we've been working on. He also does sit/stay and come when I call him. He sits & waits off from his food until I tell him 'okay'. We'll work on more fun tricks as it entertains him and he likes to get the treats.

I bought this book called 101 Dog Tricks....

Step by Step activities to engage, challenge, and bond with your dog by Kyra Sundance and Chalcy (a Weimaraner who happens to look exactly like Pan.)