Every Breaking Wave

Allie typically does not like to share her ASL videos. However, this is a season of stepping outside of her comfort zone and since ASL Interpretation requires being in front of people she is working hard to get comfortable sharing her work. It's a season of STRETCH. 

Allie has been working on a big project.  Her ASL mentor/tutor strongly encouraged Allie to get out of her comfort zone and enter the Eric Malz Malzkuhn ASL Literature Competition sponsored by the National Honor Society of ASL. 

This challenged Allie to sign in "pure ASL" rather than simply interpreting English to ASL sign words. This is more of a flow of thought - focusing on meaning and emotion rather than a word for word English translation. That is why this is more dramatic than many videos she has previously done. It is also why her mentor informed her dancing and smiling was not appropriate. ::grin:: 

Allie finished the video early so she could help CyRi move on the 18th. The evening of the 17th she was informed her teacher had overlooked a few things Allie needed for the video. She had one day to redo it all and turn it in again. We wanted to go out into the ocean...but Alaska being what it is, we decided not to. By entering this competition Allie will be eligible to apply for an ASL scholarship. 

Without further ado, I present to you our Allie preforming "Every Breaking Wave" by U2. 

 Of course, there were bloopers...pretty funny bloopers even if you don't know ASL. 

Alaskan Spring Day

I automatically find myself looking for tulips in Feb, because that is when tulips are supposed to show up....not so around here. Spring was once my favorite season. It is NOT my favorite season in Alaska. It's unpredictable...50* mixed with 26* highs...bright sun tempered by spring snowstorms...everyone posting garden and flower photos while we still have 2 feet of snow on the ground...and it's MUDDY. It MUST get muddy before summer arrives....I was excited to live in a place with SEASONS. I love the variety and cycle of the seasons. Many of our assignments had us in locations with basically summer year round. Growing up in Africa and the Philippines we had hot and rainy seasons....four seasons are lovely. After the first couple of years I began to HATE winter. This year I have intentionally embraced each season in it's time. So much so that I'm a bit sad for winter to give up. Spring/Summer and Fall mean MUCH work and activity, this winter has been more home-bound than most and lazy. I think I like lazy. 

I'm told we DO have spring in AK, but it lasts about 2 weeks. Maybe. Michael and I have decided we basically have 3 seasons here...summer, fall, winter (and muddy winter - BREAK UP - what the rest of the world calls spring). 

The calendar says it's spring...here are some shots of our place on the first day of Spring. The chickens are finally chancing the mud and coming outside. They seem to enjoy being out of the coop after the long winter. 

Note - this is shavings on TOP of ice!

Pietro, a rooster we hatched from an egg,  is the prettiest AND the gentlest rooster we've had. He does a good job of getting the hens away from hawks and other such predators. He did take out Phoenix, our 2nd rooster.  We aren't quite sure what happened there but about a year ago we found Phoenix all bloodied and he didn't make it. Pietro, however, is TERRIFIED of US. I enjoy these traits in a rooster. LOL 

We are down to 9 or 10 hens this year. They haven't been laying well. Most of them are 2 years old...some are 3 or 4 years old.  We didn't buy new chicks last year, but plan to purchase a couple of dozen this year. The Novogen Reds were GREAT layers - but they turned on each other. We didn't have a rooster. We are wondering if a new batch with an adult rooster and other adult hens in the mix would tame the novogens cannibalistic tendencies. 

I like to see a variety of breeds in the yard and I would love a colorful basket of eggs, but more than that I need the majority of the hens to be good layers.  We are debating how many novogens to get to have that foundation for the flock. Having chicks shipped up here hasn't proven to be a good option for us...we are trying to find local chicks. 

The trees in the orchard seem to have come through the winter fine. This will be their 3rd summer. We are hoping for a bit more fruit. They are starting to bud. 

So....if you look closely in the corner of the ramp you can see a yellow sunflower, and there are Christmas signs up as well. I thought I was being smart to get the fall yard signs out before the ground froze....but um...they've had to stay out all winter....so I have all the seasons in the yard. LOL 

The driveway is starting to show more bare spots - most of it is still an ice rink. It is much easier the last couple of days to get Dad's paper at the top of the drive. 

There is still MUCH snow in our yard. 

This is always the first spot to melt - over the septic clean out....its the only grass on our place at this point. 

Still a lot of snow to melt before I can hang clothes out here. 

I got excited when I began seeing things about "Planting seeds in the snow." Closer inspection showed the raised beds were dry, in fact I didn't see a bit of snow in any of the gardens shown. THIS is my garden.  I haven't started seedlings yet as they are always too old and spindly before I can get into the garden. The white arch is the wind tunnel Michael built last year. The storm did some damage to it and to the little one I used last year. We'll need to fix the twisted frames before we replace plastic.  We'll have some work to do before we have a space for seedlings.... We are in gardening zone 4b....and our last frost date is predicted to be between May 21 - May 31st. 

My spring garden

Temps are getting into the 40's. Yesterday it was actually in the 50's. As it is WARM enough to be out, I'll probably shovel some pathways so we can get out and start repairs on the greenhouses. 

This is spring in our part of Alaska. 

It's Been Busy

 We have had a couple of busy weeks. Here are some random shots from the week. I do not have photos of lunch with friends, three haircuts, GG's appointments, GG's times with Arielle and the boys, church, Wholesome Food Co-op,  or MAN CAMP (which plays big in our upcoming week). 

MAN CAMP  - Michael was gone the 10th - 12th. The reports we hear both from Michael and others is that it was a really good time.  The week after Man Camp Michael developed an abscessed tooth. His medical and dental care is all through the VA. This is good and bad. This time it was bad. They set him up to be a WALK IN patient on FRIDAY in Anchorage. He began to feel bad on Wed night. A week after man camp and his throat was raging, he was dizzy, had a headache and the tooth thing. He called the VA. They wanted to rule out strep and have him seen before he visited the dental clinic. They approved a visit to the local urgent care clinic.  What do you know? Michael CAN test positive for Covid.  Yep. They gave him antibiotics to keep the tooth at bay as Michael fights covid. Day 5 for him is Monday. If he is symptom free on Monday, he can be a walk in at the dental clinic on Tuesday.  Michael began isolating Wednesday night. It's odd not to see him when he's HERE all the time.  We've studied the new CDC recommendations and will follow them carefully. I didn't realize how lax those guidelines have gotten, but I am happy not to have to quarantine for 14 days automatically. Fun times? 

Danny is developing a bit of stranger awareness. We weren't sure how he would do with Baachan watching him while Mommy works. He did just fine. 

Usually, about the last hour of the stay, Benny talks me into snuggling on the couch and watching a movie with him. 

What would life be like without apples and peanut butter? The perfect snack...carbs, protein, fiber, fat...

Game Night

Alaskaopoly

The weather has been in the upper 40's...and even got up to mid 50's lately. We've still had a few snow showers, and rain....it's muddy...but oh so exhilarating to go on walks again. 

Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza

I took one of Benny's favorite games from my house to his one of the times I watched the boys. He loves this flying banana game. LOL 

We also played operation. Benny was surprised I knew how to play it. That's a game that's been around a lot of years. LOL 

Allie continues to work on application essays, scholarship essays and here she and Michael discuss the difference between an opinion paper and a research paper. She turned in her final research paper for ASL this week! Way to go, Allie! 

Stacia tried her hand with a new recipe. 

The girls keep Michal busy editing papers.

At this point, we thought we'd be having the family over to celebrate March birthdays on Saturday, the 19th. Stacia baked a quick cake. We also had plans with a couple of families from church for the 20th. 

Stacia enlisted Allie's help decorating this little cake. I think Allie saw she could do more than she thought she could.  

The girls weren't entirely sure about the green potatoes....Stacia was pretty impressed I got such a dark green color. 

Our plan for the 18th was to drive into town and help CyRi move to their new home as soon as Alex was off work and Stacia was done with Japanese.   Michael wasn't feeling well and needed to go to the urgent care. This meant I needed to stay home with GG. Allie had received word she needed to redo a video she had completed earlier in the week...and it needed to be in Friday.  

Cory swung by and picked up Stacia and Alex. They moved all the big things from Anchorage to Eagle River.  

We are so excited for CyRi. Stacia says the home is gorgeous. Um...and WHY can't they get Cy's head in the shot? 

Meanwhile, we received word from Michael that he had covid. Since all of them have had covid within the past 90 days or are vaccinated, and since Alex and Stacia hadn't been around Michael at all....they went ahead and finished helping. In fact, Stacia stayed in town with Luke and Krista. She spent Saturday out in the wild with them before coming home - to stay home. Our 5 days since seeing Michael will be up Monday....and we are supposed to wear masks for another 5 days if we go about. 

Stacia and Krista

Luke and Kyle

It's been a busy couple of weeks! 

GG Turns 81

We always thought STACIA had quite a count-down to her birthday, but that is nothing compared to GG. He has been talking about his birthday for months.  

It finally arrived. Grandpa is 81 years old today. We went treated him to dinner out. We had cake, presents and there will be more at our family celebration.  

 Sadly, Saturday was to be the extended family celebration for both Cory and Dad and we've had to postpone due to Michael being ill. 

Glacier Date

 March 14th and the sun is shining. We still have lots of snow, but Michael and I decided to drive up the highway during respite care today. The drive was beautiful and provided uninterrupted time for talking. We once again found the house we'd looked at online...the one I fell in love with...in Chickaloon...and realized it was quite a bit further than I thought from Anchorage. I'm glad we ended up where we did. 

Matsu Glacier

We arrived at the parking lot where we intended to tramp around a bit and view the glacier. It turns out the parking lot is closed in the winter - though this is spring. Next year we must remember to bring snowshoes or at least snow boots and poles. 

That is the glacier behind us

Though the parking lot was closed there was an open outhouse - score.  We laughed to see a favorite camping spot in the winter. 

This was fun for a spur of the moment outing. Next time...snow gear and a picnic lunch. LOL 

SAT - CHECK!

 Around our home we celebrate big and small achievements. Many prefer the celebrations include ice-cream.  And so, tonight, we gathered in the kitchen with mugs of ice-cream and milk (AKA Gherkin shakes) to celebrate Allie and Stacia. 

They've been working hard to prep for the SAT.  This is Allie's Senior year. We tried to juggle letting her get as much prep done as possible before the last SAT of this school year with the need to have a practice run at the test. A practice run is always wise, for homeschoolers it is especially needful. This allows them to get used to the testing site, 25 other students, and the whole "thing."  Ideally, Allie would have taken a test last spring and again this spring. We had too much on our plate last spring to think about the SAT.  

I had the girls at the site at 0700.  I commented on how gracious God was to provide each girl with a friend with which to walk through the day. None of our others have had that advantage.  

GG and I went to pick them up...and we waited...and waited. A full  hour after they were to be done we began to see students leaving the building.  It turns out a proctor didn't show up for one group - so the test started late. 

AND there was a 5.1 earthquake in the middle of the test. Stacia still gets rattled with "big" quakes.  She knew just what to do...pulled her thoughts up short and addressed the shaking...."Not NOW - I'm taking the SAT." ::snort:: 

Both girls felt the math was tricky and that they did well in the reading and writing. This is what we'd expect. They also both felt the time they've spent in College Prep Genius was very beneficial. They plan to continue working through that material before taking it again in May. 

Neither a missing proctor, nor a 5.1 quake could deter the girls from their stated goal. They conquered the SAT. We met Alex and Nolan at McDonald's and celebrated with lunch.....and then Michael came home from Man Camp and we celebrated with ice-cream. 

A Compendious Account of Monday

 A compendious account of the day is the Scriptural admonition to love others deeply, from the heart. 

Michael and I have been taking Mondays for 3 hours of respite.  

Michael and Alex have been meeting on Fridays for one-on-one study. Alex's work schedule has changed. Arielle can't come over on another afternoon. 

Arielle and the boys haven't been over for nearly a month....Grandpa was sick, they were sick...he was eager to see the boys today. They showed up and I hugged their necks before I left. 

Michael and Alex left for study. I assured Michael I could put 3 hours to good use. Two friends met me at a new-to-me lunch spot. The 3 hours FLEW. It was wonderful.  (I didn't take a photo). 

I got home and had one hour before I needed to head out again.  I was blessed to spend another 3 hours socializing.  Even got in a game of laser tag where I was NOT the worst. ::snort:: 

Some days one needs to be alone in order to refresh. Some days spending six hours with friends is exactly what one needs.  I am blessed God has provided both for me recently. 

There was a whole lot of loving well today. Arielle and the boys loved Michael and I and Grandpa well. Michael loved Alex well. Michael also loved me well by taking care of Grandpa and dinner. My friends loved me well - changing their Monday plans to spend 3 hours together.  And tonight - what's not to love about spending time with friends in the center of fun for the valley? 

Note: Today's word is compendious.