Swan Lake Boardwalk & Trail

Bryan and I went on a little exploratory walk after work yesterday. We both had endured a rather hectic day, so spending time out in Nature seemed like a particularly good idea.

The trail we chose to explore is call the Swan Lake Boardwalk & Trail, and they just happened to be having their Grand Opening Celebration this month. This area is the location of a former Dena’ina village site and holds cultural significance. It was purchased by the Great Land Trust company back in 2014; they have been developing numerous trails and wildlife viewing spots on the land since then.

It was nice, but I have to say the trailhead could not be in a worse place. It is right off the side of the road in a developing neighborhood. I mean, literally right off the side of the road! And there is no parking at all – apparently, they expect you to just park on the side of the road in the ditch, or perhaps in somebody’s driveway if you want to be That Guy.

But once you get on the trail, it is quite nice. They have boardwalks that keep you up out of the soggy ground and have a good gravel/dirt path for the places that do not get soggy. Oddly, the boardwalks are slightly wobbly. I am not sure if that’s poor construction or if they are supposed to be that way. They are brand new – so one would expect them to be in good condition.

If you take the first left hand turn and go for about 500 feet you end up at the lake (otherwise known as Quggesh Lake in the native tongue) with a grand view of the Palmer Hay Flats and the Chugach Mountains in the distance.

Heading back on the main trail, it takes you on a one-mile loop up a slight incline, periodically giving you a beautiful view of the mountains and the inlet.

It is very buggy. I had sprayed myself liberally with the insect repellent like normal, but Bryan (who normally prefers to forgo the pleasure) was being eaten alive. We had to move along at quite a clip in order to outrun the little beasties.

All in all, it was exactly what we needed to shake off the workday, and we topped it off with some sushi for dinner!

Our New Deck!

We got a new deck!!!

The old one was, well… old. It was a lot smaller, and had a ramp for the handicap person who lived here prior to us. For our purposes, it was just too small. So we hired Hatcher Pass Builders to build us a new one.

Bryan did the demo work himself, saving us a good $300.00 or so. We now have a pile of used wood: our lawn-mower man has said that he could use the bigger pieces, so next time he comes over they will be gone. The smaller pieces can either be taken to the dump or chopped up and burned (maybe).

Tom, the owner of the company we hired, came out on Friday to do a final check on his plans for our deck. He laid out markers for where he wanted the piles to be, and double checked his measurements. While he was doing that, the lumber was delivered that will be used.

The pile drivers arrived first thing Tuesday morning. It was really quite interesting to watch. Their pile driving thingy was much smaller than I expected, but the piles went 14 feet down – that’s pretty cool.

Wednesday morning had Tom back at our house, and he immediately got to work. It was just him, since the helper he had hired could not make it. Still, he made very good progress. He had the framework done by the end of the day.

The second day had the decking all laid out.

The third day was mostly just finishing touches on the deck itself, and installing the steps & railing.

All we need to do now is stain it!

Mother’s New Bed

Sister Kelly bought Mother one of those mechanical beds for her birthday this year. It’s pretty sweet! It sits up, it lifts your feet, it massages your back for you. It even has a light underneath in case you get up in the middle of the night.

They went to the store together to pick it out, and tried out all the different models & mattresses. They spent a good afternoon together, and had fun. The store set up delivery for a few days after that – which gave Mother plenty of time to rearrange the entire house in preparation for her new bed.

First she had to figure out what to do with her old bed. Move it upstairs into the Craft Room? Store it upstairs in Bryan’s Storage Room? Put it in the Red Room along with the bed that is already in there? 

Finally she settled on The Red Room, but had to take out THAT old bed to make room for HER old bed. The one that was originally in there folds up, so it’s now tucked away in The Bunk Room for future use. HER old bed got moved into The Red Room, and looks very nice even though it’s a bit bigger.

Once her room got cleared out she took the opportunity to mop the floors; it’s amazing how much dust can accumulate under a bed over the years. Her floors are a vinyl tile, so are very easy to clean.

The movers were a bit later than they said they’d be (an unpardonable sin, in Mother’s eyes) but they did finally show up with a big movers van. The two guys were impressive in and of themselves: huge Samoan guys who easily picked up the bed and took it in the house.

Half an hour later, and Mother’s bed was put together and in place! She had to let the mattress rest for two hours before using it, since it had been rolled tightly for transportation and needed to relax into its proper shape. She had just enough time for that before heading off to bed for the night.

This morning, she said she had the best night’s sleep!

My Irish Sweater

Bryan took his mother to Ireland a couple years ago, kind of a Mother-Son Fling. She had been there several times herself, and wanted to show him all her favorite places. He asked me what I might want him to get me while he was there, so I of course told him to get me an Irish Fisherman’s Sweater.

So he ended up finding this little shop in Northern Ireland called Lucy’s Loom, full of all kinds of hand knitted items and yarns of all colors & fibers. He hesitated on picking one out for me, however, for fear of getting one that didn’t fit. The proprietor suggested that he go home, have somebody take proper measurements, and then email them to her so she could make a custom sweater for me.

“Really? You’d do that?!? How much would THAT cost?” he exclaimed.

Turns out, it wouldn’t cost any more than the other garments in the shop – so that’s exactly what he did. He came home, told me all about it, and had Mother take the required measurements. Then he emailed them to the owner of the shop and she got to work making two sweaters (one for me and a matching one for him, of course).

Less than a month later, Bryan got his in the mail – but mine never arrived. He emailed the shop again, and the lady said “Well, I’ll just make another one and pop it in the mail right away!”

So she did – she made another (at no extra charge, either) and popped it right in the mail. Not three weeks later, I finally got my Real, Honest To God, Irish Fisherman’s Wool Sweater!

I love it…

Birthday Surprise

For my birthday this year, Bryan surprised me with a 4-day Weekend Getaway in Homer! He had been down there by himself a few weeks ago and had come across a place he really liked, so he went ahead and booked us right then.

The weekend was actually a comedy of errors: there were a few hiccoughs with the reservations, a few misunderstandings as to what amenities were available and what weren’t, and we may have driven right past the place a few times trying to find it initially. We were adaptable, though, and just rolled with the flow. None of the issues were earth-shattering, mostly just adding a humorous side-note.

We took off from Palmer around 9:30 or so on Thursday morning, making our way leisurely down the coast and admiring the scenery along the way. We stopped in at Girdwood to grab a late breakfast/early lunch, then continued on in to Soldotna for a rest stop at Fred Meyers where Bryan went in for a potty break while I just paced the parking lot to work the kinks out of my hips. When Bryan got back to the truck, he had a large packaged wrapped in brown paper bags. More surprises to add to the list!

It was about 5:00 pm when we pulled into the parking lot at The Bear Creek Winery – and that’s when I found out that we were staying THERE! I have to admit, I was stunned. I kept thinking to myself, “We’re staying at a winery?!?” it was so NOT what I had pictured in my mind when he said he found the perfect place for us.

Honestly, though, it really was nice. They were just starting to open back up after having to close down for the whole COVID-19 thing and we were their first guests. As a matter of fact, we were their ONLY guests – the rules are that now they can only have one guest(s) at a time, and they had to wait 3 days after we left before they could have another guest stay there. That kind of sucks for them, but it was really great for us! We had the entire place to ourselves, and could use the hot tub or fire pit any time we wanted throughout the day or night.

Our room was small, but still large enough for a nice bed, a sitting area, a kitchenette and a small dining area. The deck outside the front door had a picnic table and a gas grill. And best of all, right off the deck was the goldfish pond, with a dozen of the biggest goldfish I’ve ever seen! It was so much fun watching them swim around all day! Our hosts even provided fish food we could toss out there occasionally.

For a Birthday Surprise (as if there wasn’t enough of a surprise already) he had arranged for them to place a vase with a dozen roses, a bottle of white wine, some fancy chocolates, and two crystal glasses on a lace tablecloth in the sitting area. And on top of that, the owner came over with another bottle of their special edition Pomegranate Wine and more special chocolates! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much wine in one weekend – but all of it was so good…

Remember that package Bryan got in Soldotna at the Fred Meyers? That turned out to be a portable DVD player! One of the “comedy of errors” I spoke of earlier… turns out the room did not come with a DVD player, but I had brought all these movies for us to watch while making cards and tying flies each night. So – now we have one we can take with us on all of our weekend getaways!

For our first day, we drove out to the end of East End Road to a little cove where we walked the beach for a good 2 hours. The day was just gorgeous with blue skies and calm seas. We were the only ones out there, so didn’t have to worry about wearing our masks – we just took our time and enjoyed the fresh air.

For our second day we walked the docks down on the spit. It was a little bit more crowded down there, of course, but people were really good about keeping their distance, so we didn’t feel endangered in the slightest.

We did get to see a huge sea otter, though! She was sleeping in the harbor at first, but then hauled herself up onto one of the docks and promptly went back to sleep. She was not at all concerned with us being right there watching her.

Spring Is Almost Here

I can tell it’s almost spring because Mother has been outside gardening almost all weekend long! She has most of the lawn raked and ready for grass to grow, and is even getting some plants outside in their winter pots, to toughen them up and get them ready to plant in the ground again. Temperatures are rising and it’s actually been raining enough that the snow has almost disappeared.

Bryan was out there with her on Saturday, getting the shed organized and the catio roof re-attached after the big wind storm. Fairly soon we’ll have to tackle the pile of lawn clippings and random twigs that piled up over the season last summer: load it up into the truck and take it down to the landfill. He’s also eyeing the old treehouse to try and figure out how to demolish it. it’s not safe for kids to climb on, so it’s best to just get rid of it. He even got Mother’s Lincoln out of storage and running again for her. It weathered the winter rather well, although it did have a severely flat tire.

Naldo and Viktor have been supervising all this outdoor activity from the safety of their catio, although I do have to admit that Naldo doesn’t really like going outside all that much. I think it’s still a bit too chilly for her. Viktor has a thicker coat, so he’s out there as much as he can be – as long as we’re out there with him, that is.

I can’t say that I’ve been out there much. Lawn work just really isn’t my thing. I’ll happily help out if asked, but much prefer to sit up in my craft room and play with my paper cuttings.

Actual Faces!

I’m actually getting quite comfortable with the whole idea of staying home to go to work. Things haven’t exactly been smooth sailing – but when you’re dealing with a computer, that’s to be expected. I think they are the most exasperating contraption that has ever been invented! Thank goodness I have my IT guy handy whenever I need him. There hasn’t yet been an issue he can’t fix eventually!

The biggest speed-bump has been connecting to the network in Anchorage. Apparently they installed the necessary software onto an old computer that doesn’t get used very often. We have learned by trial and error that the computer needs to be left on at all times, and cannot be allowed to go to sleep. I have only had to send a cry for help (otherwise known as an email asking them to turn the computer on again) twice today! That’s quite the improvement from Friday, believe me.

Other than that, work is going very well. The Architect sends me directions via email, along with red-lines that he’s scanned and any supporting documents I’ll need. Then I log on to the network, grab the files I need to complete the task and save them onto my computer. When I’ve completed the work, I just upload them back onto the network and email the Architect letting him know they’re ready for him to print.

My non-work hours are going well also. Bryan installed a video camera onto my computer this weekend, and that I think will be a HUGE relief to this forced isolation. Just this Sunday we had a Family Zoom Meeting, hosted by my sister-in-law Heather. We had all the family logged on: Reed, Heather, and their girls out in the Butte - Me, Bryan and Mother here at this house - Kelly, Tara, and Laurel up on the mountain - and Noel, Katy, and Lauren out in Anchorage. It was so nice to be able to see everybody again – we all chatted and laughed for a good hour.

I even got to do some Face-Time with my good friend Anne, in Anchorage. I used my phone for that one, however, so the screen was teeny-tiny. But She’s stuck in her house with two little boys (one almost 2 and the other about 6) so she really needed an adult to talk to for a while. It was good to see her again. 

No Zombies Here

Today was the first day I’ve left the house in over a week. Aside from a few brief walks around the neighborhood, that is.

It felt very strange – I was almost afraid, even. Of course, I know that’s silly – but I half expected to see zombies stumbling around! Thankfully, all I saw were fellow Palmeranians picking up their groceries.

We did the whole “order on-line, curb-side pick-up” thing earlier this week. It went surprisingly well. Navigating around on the website took some doing; it’s not exactly intuitive. We eventually managed to put our list together and then went to schedule a time to get our groceries – only to discover that the nearest timeslot available was 4 days later! That was a shock. We went ahead and scheduled it, though, figuring we didn’t have anything else to do – and anything we might consider “an emergency” could always be picked up the normal way.

When our scheduled pick-up time finally arrived, I got dressed (yes, I’ve been wearing my pajamas at work all week) and hopped in the car to head on down to the store. It was quite easy to find the designated pick-up spot, and I chose a space separate from other shoppers, just in case. A quick phone call alerted the store that I was there, and a mere 5 minutes later a nice young man named Hunter brought my groceries out. I stood well back and let him do his thing, figuring he knew what to do and how to do it safely. I even got my Monopoly Tickets – because, you know, you might as well have some fun in this time of uncertainty.

As a bonus, Viktor and Naldo got to play in the paper bags after I put all the food away!

My Second Week Begins

So my second week of working from home commences today. I must admit my first week went better than expected. I truly thought it would be either one big computer frustration after another, or it would be me doing anything BUT work (I have horrible self-discipline at times). But Bryan got my computer up and working, and the guys back at the office figured out how to log in to the network – so I have actually been hard at work.

Viktor is an issue, of course. He insists on sleeping on my lap ALL THE TIME – which makes typing difficult. But he’s relatively tolerant, so I can usually type around him. Thankfully Naldo has chosen Bryan's lap as her napping spot, so I don't have to deal with both kittens.

I thought Mother would be another issue – I’m right out in the living room, and she does love to clean/move furniture around. But she’s been keeping herself occupied either in her room or upstairs in the craft room most of the time, so I don’t even see much of her.

Being “locked up inside all day” is an issue for life in general: this whole Social Distancing thing is hard to take at times. Bryan and I have tried to get out for a walk each day at lunch, but now the wind has picked up so we can’t go outside. So instead, I’ve been doing “stairs” as often as I think of it. It’s not much, but at least it gets me moving.

My weekend was spent over in the other living room, watching Harry Potter movies and Making Cards. I will probably end up with like a million cards before this is over… I made roughly 40 of them just this weekend! Just let me know if you need any cards: I can easily send a dozen or so your way.

As mentioned earlier, we’re currently hit with a rather major wind storm. Palmer blows pretty much all the time – it has to do with the geography of the place - we’re in between three major mountain ranges, all with multiple glaciers which create their own weather patterns. Right now, we have gusts up to 75 mph – which is, I believe, hurricane force! Bryan had to brave the winds last night to go out and repair the roof over our new catio. It’s a temporary fix, but I think it will hold until the winds die down enough for him to do a real fix. Sleep is almost impossible with all the howling going on all night. I keep waiting for a tree to fall on us!

How has your week gone?

Social Distancing

It’s our new “normal” I guess.

What does that even mean? It’s an oxymoron, really. How can one be social and yet still be distanced.

Mother is having a hard time with the concept. She understands the concept why people are doing it - and yet, her she still goes out visiting and invites her friends over for coffee. AND THEY COME! How can I keep her safe when she won’t keep herself safe?

For myself, I’ve actually brought my work computer home and have an “office” set up here in the living room. When the architect has work for me to do, he emails the red-lines to me. I can log in to our network remotely to get the drawings I need. Then I just put them back when I’m done and email a new set of PDFs to the architect to check my work. 

Bryan has his office set up back in the bedroom and is busily working away back there. His work is a lot easier to do remotely, so he hasn’t had much of a disruption in the work flow.

This cuts way down on our commute time, that’s for sure! And, coincidentally, it also cuts down on my reading time.

But hey, the cats are ecstatic! Naldo had participated in several work conferences already (Bryan is so happy) while Viktor has staked his claim on my lap permanently.

The Big Project

I’ve got a big project going on right now that is rather fun. It’s multiple steps, each one a project in its own right.

Step one: go through all my paperback books and pick out the bare minimum number to keep, then give the rest away. And while we’re at it, go through all the rest of my books as well, and weed them out too.

Step two: clean off the bookshelf that’s in the storage room upstairs, finding a logical place for all the stuff that was on it to go so that we can find it all later. Then move all the paperbacks up there that I’ve decided to keep.

 Step three: get new blank DVD cases to put all of Bryan’s movies into. Make covers for them all using colored papers from my craft room, writing the titles in such a way that they are readable when placed on a shelf.

Step four: reorganize all our movies into the bookshelves in the hall (that used to house my paperbacks). Place them in a logical order so we can find movies easily.

Step five: reorganize all our cookbooks, expanding into the shelves that used to house some of our movies, and clean up all the loose papers into binders.

Step six: get new blank CD cases to put all of Bryan’s music into. Make covers for them all using colored papers from my craft room, writing the titles in such a way that they are readable when placed on a shelf.

Step seven: move the tower that used to house movies out of the living room and into our bedroom (and reorganize the bedroom to suit the new furniture), then reorganize all our CDs onto the new bigger tower.

Step eight: find a use for the revolving tower that used to house some of our movies. Perhaps in the craft room? Whatever, I just don’t want to get rid of it.

Currently I’m in the middle of Step three, and I’m really liking how it looks so far. I may have to dip in to Step four, however, while I wait for more blank cases to be delivered. And I haven’t figured out how to make covers for the CD cases yet. The spine is really tiny… not sure if I can legibly write that small.

My Brother Is Pretty Cool

I had such a good time last night over at my brother’s house. He’s a pretty amazing guy, I must say.

We started out the evening in the kitchen talking about cooking and recipes, then we moved into the dining room where he got out his microscope and we looked at slides of a green algae called Volvox. Next, he got out several of his favorite books to show us, What If by Randall Munroe being his current favorite. Then we all sat down to our pizza and talked about our Grammatical Pet Peeves (his is “irregardless” and mine is “a whole nuther”)

I also got to meet his guinea pig, Ginger = what a cutie pie! He sounds just like a Tribble!

Ocean Blue Card Set

I wanted to show you all this set of cards I made this weekend. They are for two of the scientists I worked with in Costa Rica, Anna and Tamara.

I originally thought to make Turtle cards, since it was a Sea Turtle based expedition – but I fell in love with this set of papers by Graphic 45, so used it instead. 

It’s a lot of cards to make in just one weekend, and I have to admit I was fairly worn out by the time I finished them, but I am very pleased with how they turned out.

I do make cards on order – so if you want some, just let me know the theme or color you like and I’ll see what I can do.