Back on Line Woo Hoo

Well finally, I am back on line. The internet was out for three weeks. Due to weather conditions and the "ice free" harbor in Homer icing up, they couldn't send a boat over. Talk about serious withdrawals....lol. Thanks to everyone that sent emails asking what was up... and a special thanks to Gordon. He used to live in AK and was worried after not seeing me. He called the Soldotna Highway Patrol and they checked on me. I appreciate the concern.

Check out the new slide show!! Pics from the last three weeks.

So let's see. what adventures have I had? I had a great trip over to the mail shack on Xmas day. The weather was perfect. Had several boxes and lots of mail. One box was for Spike - a scratching post, catnip, and a comb. He was in cat heaven. Here is a pic of one of his favorite indoor hang outs.











Boy talk about a change in weather. The wind started whipping through here Monday night 12/25. By the morning, it was snowing so hard, you couldn’t see anything. Stayed this way all day. Probably dropped 6 inches. Then by late afternoon the temp went up and everything started melting. Snow was thumping off the roof. Really neat the way it curves off the roof before falling. Wind died down. Around 10:30, after I got off the phone with Jeremiah, I started hearing a beep like a travel alarm beep. The temp alarm for the heat box under the house was going off. It was down to 39. Bulb was out.

This heat lamp keeps the incoming water from freezing up. I have to climb over a railing, drop down about 6 feet and crawl under the house. Of course there weren't any heat lamps up here so I had to go down to the laundry room to get one. Picked up a 250 watt (the only ones down there), came back up, managed to get under the house without killing myself and discovered I needed a screwdriver to get into the lamp housing. (Jon, that little tidbit needs to be added to the caretaker instruction manual!!). Went back and got a screwdriver, changed the bulb. When I checked the thermometer in the house it had shot up to over 100 degrees. Far to0 hot. So back to the laundry room, grabbed some 100 watt regular light bulbs, another 6 foot drop and crawl under the house. Lots of fun in seriously high winds and of course 11 at night and dealing with about 18" of virgin snow. At least it would cushion me if I fell.

Now understand there isn't any ladder or anything and I am 5'3. Once down, decking is about chest high for me. I had to haul myself up and heave myself over..Only got a couple of bruises.

While I was out the weather changed again and it started to thunder and lightning. No rain but the temp started rising.

(Found out why Spike loves it under the house - it is all dirt and is a perfect private litter box...lol.)

A warm front came through and lingered for three or four days. Everything was melting and falling off the roofs. Had a lot of paths to unblock. Spent a lot of time on the dock shoveling snow pack. hard work but at least I am developing some muscle and losing the flab. The days were beautiful and sunny. By warm I mean around 40 degrees..lol. Actually feels warmer around 32. It becomes a damp cold at 40.

So what did I do with my time without the internet you may ask? Especially since I spend a LOT of time online...I started working on the projects I brought over. Embroidery, Jeremiah's bday gift, reading, played some gamecube, lots of work outdoors. Did some snowshoeing, cleaned the skis, watched way too much TV.

I just finished the John Sandford Prey series and ordered the four I didn't have (did that after I got back on line). They should be here in a week or so. Also finished the James Patterson/Alex Cross books. I just started the Kathy Riechs/Temperance Brennen books. These are the books that the Fox series Bones is based on. They are pretty good but the character on TV is vastly different than the books so if you read them and watch the series expect differences.

Had some new birds show up - A flock of Red Polls with some Pine Siskins. They stayed for a few days. Huge flock of at least 50 birds. A flock of white winged Scoters are hanging around the cover.

By 12/29, we had high winds and it was snowing pretty heavy again. Got about 7 inches overnight.

Baked some bread. Used the bread machine here for some of it but it didn't really rise like it should so went back to the over bread. Turned out wonderfully. I added Parmesan, garlic and rosemary. Smelled great.










1/3 - I got about 10 inches of snow here and according to the weather report, it was a blizzard. I would believe that - very high winds and no visibility. This is the back of the Crows Nest Cabin. Tutka Bay is in the background.












1/4 One of the baby otters stayed on the dock most of the day. He is getting very big and I think Mom is tired of carrying him. She kept bringing him food and occasionally would get up with him. I also saw a new baby this week. Once in the cove behind the lodge and then on the dock. Mom picked him up by the scruff and dove in the water when she saw me coming down the dock.

Leif, the internet guy, is supposed to come out on the 9th, weather permitting. He is also bringing my groceries when he comes. This isn't going to happen. The weather dips down to zero and below in Homer and boats can't get out of the harbor. Was in the teens over here. not much snow though. After about three or four days of really really cold weather the water froze up coming into the house. EEK!!! Talked to Jon and started a heater in the pump room. After a couple of hours water started. Yeah!!!.If it had been one of the underground pipes, I would have had to haul water up here until the pipes unfroze. I had already brought some up just in case.

1/14 - had an earthquake!!!! There was an 8.2 in the Korel Islands around 7:30 PM. I was on the phone with Jeremiah and a bunch of roof snow fell off. The whole lodge house shook pretty hard. I didn't realize it was an earthquake until the weather alarm went off. We were under a Tsunami watch for a couple of hours. If you don't know where the Korel Islands are, get a map and look above the last island of Japan. They are part of Russia.

We had a good amount of rain this week as well. Melted a lot of the snow pac. Make it easier to shovel off the dock.

1/18 - WOO HOO - Leif and Eric made it over. Internet is fixed and groceries delivered. I had plenty of food. Just nothing fresh. Eric checked out the dock. It has two broken hinges. He is not sure when he will be able to get back out to fix it.

Started snowing a couple of days ago. Pretty heavy. I measured 18 inches two days ago on top of what was already here. I keep part of the deck railing clear so I can measure. It is snowing pretty heavy right now. It was a sunny beautiful day this morning but now it is gray. Spike is outside. He totally loves it out there. He doesn't care if it is raining, snowy,windy, cold as hell. He is kind of like the post office motto..lol.

I saw 7, yes 7, blue herons perched on a rock ledge behind the lodge. Wish I could have taken a pick to share but my digital is too small. Oh how I wish I had the new Nikon D80 or D70 with an AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4D IF-ED II. SWEET!!