Only in Alaska

We've been here a few months and there are a few unique things about this place that are definitely worth noting:

*Christmas lights are up already (some are kept up year round) because it gets too cold/snowy to put them up around the holidays.

*I witnessed the beautiful Northern Lights for the first time, early this morning.  Fantastic.

*A moose road-kill list was passed around at church last Sunday...we were number 60 on the list.

*Many times it is easy to tell the tourists because they are smiling, residents normally aren't.

*Everyone, and I mean everyone has at least 1 dog.

*We pay extra to recycle

*About 1 in 3 homes has an RV or boat pad (or both),  a truck, a couple snowmachines, a couple 4-wheelers, a flatbed trailer, and a huge rack of antlers somewhere on/around the house.

*S.A.D. lights are common in homes

*The US outside of Alaska is called "the lower 48"

*Carhartts are "name brand" up here and much more common than jeans

*Snow is called "termination dust"

*FedEx and UPS trucks are at least half the traffic going through any given neighborhood

*Buoy swings rather than tire swings and piers with nets for yard decor

*We have garbage men (that ride on the back of the trucks). I thought that was over in the 70's.

*It is very common to get your driveway dug up and repaved in the summer due to shifts/cracks throughout the winter

*No sales tax or state tax--we are a municipality, I believe

*Personalized plates are extremely popular. More common to see them than regular plates.

*Owning a gun is not really an option due to moose and bear

*Road rage isn't so much a problem because everyone owns a gun

*Many folk's second car is a float plane

*Seeing moose 10-20 feet away while driving, biking, jogging around town happens weekly.

*It is not common to see "bottle blondes" or people in trendy ensembles.  Outdoor gear/clothing up here is haute couture.

*You do get paid to live here, called PFD or Permanent Fund Dividend. Each member of the family gets a check, no matter how old BUT you have to live here from Dec to Jan, so we have to wait until next year

*Many times 1 spouse lives in the lower 48 and 1 lives in Alaska.

Those are a few things I've noticed.  The other interesting thing is that people still have a bit of the claim stakin' mentality.  There's kind of a sense that if you're crazy enough to make a life for yourself up here, you better have the guts to survive it.  Folks up here are very real and there is no "putting on airs".  People and environment are a little more natural and wild.   You ALL need to come to Alaska at least once!

Finally, we have video!

Well, I've tried to post a couple videos of the backyard with the fall leaves and Caleb playing, but I keep getting "canceled" feedback. I am able to post a video of Caleb babbling himself to sleep. Very sweet.

Fall is almost over, so we're milkin' it...

(For some reason Blogger is giving me grief when I try to post videos so I'll try again later.)

Yellow is the new pink...

...as far as the trees are concerned. So many beautiful leaves the color of gold are fluttering around that we decided to take some pictures on our bike ride. We put Caleb in the bike trailer and off we went. I have a lot to learn about Alaska and I was afraid that winter would come on as suddenly as summer did. With "green up" happening in a matter of days, I worried that there would be a "green down" where all the leaves would fall off in a matter of days.
Fortunately we've had a full month of beautiful fall weather. There is a path behind our houses that is wide enough for a bike and short enough to take the little guy out without him getting too restless. Usually he falls asleep anyway.

Red Rider would be proud

These boots were made for dancin'!! Ha, ha!

He likes 2 things for sure..

Oreos...

...and Lolly's bed! We call our guest room "Lolly's room" because she was the first guest. We use her bed for the clean laundry that needs to be folded. There should be a comforter on the bed, but I'm sewing a new blanket. Mostly I'm ripping out the stitching and starting over...not a lot of sewing, just seam ripping. Caleb loves to just hang out in that room, usually hanging over the edge of the bed. This morning he fell asleep that way and it was unusually early in the morning for him to be taking his nap. In this pic he's not alseep, just hanging out, or over...

Obviously he's asleep in this one...

Snoring buster...(video just for Lolly!)

The Piano is Tune-ed (said like Inspector Cluseau)

Buster makes a fine Beathoven, that's right BEAT-HOVEN.

Fall leaves+crisp air+sunshine=Homesick?

I haven't experienced a Fall season for years and today was the perfect Fall morning. Brilliant sunshine peeking over the huge Chugach range, spilling onto it's hills and valleys, already painted intense hues of red, yellow and orange. The air is crisp but not cold and the clouds are fluffy like meringue. So I found myself at the grocery store, shopping for items which would be used for creating the ultimate Fall smorgasbord. Frozen noodles, crisp pink apples, chocolate, bananas...I came home and stirred up some semi-homemade chicken noodle soup (if anyone has a GREAT recipe for the stuff, send it my way). My totally homemade soup always tastes bland....
...then it was on to some chocolate pudding (totally homemade) from www.joythebaker.com There are no words to describe it's decadent, divine texture and flavor. As I was stirring, I called my sis and it turns out she was making soup too! We realized that we are homesick!

Homesick? Yes, homesick! For some reason Fall makes me homesick and I've deduced that it's because somewhere in my definition of Fall the words "cozy" and "comfort" are found...two words that also = home (and family and friends *sigh*). So my sis and I are going to do our best to make our own homes as comfy and cozy as the home (in AZ) that we long to be in right now! And I'm headed back to the store to get some caramel for those apples...and later today I'll be baking up some whole wheat banana bread. Mmm...Fall!

Sniffles

Buster woke up with the sniffles, or to put it delicately, "the crud". I'm sure I'll get it in a matter of hours...it's kind of inevitable, no matter how many Clorox wipes I use around the house.


And what is it with highlighters? I've got electrician tape on it now, but had to capture his "I'm perfectly pleased" pose first.

Laundry basket busyness

I was on hold with our phone company and decided to fold some laundry. Whenever I do this, Caleb finds a laundry basket and promptly dumps out the clothes and uses it as a mini-play pen. He is limitless in his uses of the basket. First, he found that empty "Emergency Chocolate" bar that I mentioned earlier and took out the wrapper, biting it, trying to get whatever chocolate off the wrapper he could find--he is truly a little bear cub.

He gave up with that idea (did he really think I'd leave even a shard of chocolate?) and threw it out of the basket, then started babbling to me about his disappointing situation. I caught him making an adorable face as he was babbling to me! This captures his personality perfectly!

After standing for a few moments, it was time for him to take a nap...nigh, nigh!

After his 10 second nap, he decided that chewing on the blanket was the best thing to do.


Then more standing and bellering...
Followed by some nose smashing and head slapping (couldn't get the slapping on camera)...

Then some rubbing of tired little eyes...


More faces and chomping on fingers...
Pretty soon, "Hey ma, I'm giving you all the tired baby signs..turn that thing off and put me down for a nap!"

He's sleeping peacefully now in his real crib and if he's any son of mine, he's dreaming about a place where the streets are paved with dark chocolate. (Older pic from this summer at the cabin)